Boo-ket

Final thoughts on Patong Beach in Phuket:

It is the perfect place for a man to visit if he is looking for a Waikiki style beach, relatively cheap spicy food, relatively cheap massages, and relatively cheap sex.  Suffice it to say, Patong Beach was not our favorite place.  We think that it may have been a more naturally beautifully island at one time, but tourism has taken it's toll and it seems that, depending on your intentions, the sex trade has either ruined it or made it your favorite place on earth.

However, we think that there may be other beaches on Phuket that are more friendly to families looking for a resort style holiday.  But, we can't be sure.

Another quick note... Halloween is NOT celebrated in Phuket.  We made costumes and after a quick reconnaissance mission to the main strip of Patong, we realized that if we dressed up and went out, we would be the only ones in Patong.  So, instead, we decided to have some cocktails in our own hotel room.

I left my phuken backpack in Phuket

Tonight we are spending another night in Phuket... not because we want to, but because we missed our flight back to Bangkok.  We missed our flight because one of us, who shall remain unnamed, realized she left her backpack (containing passports and computer) at the hotel over an hour away from the airport.

The good news is that the backpack was not stolen or lost, and was still at the hotel.  The bad news is that the trip in an overpriced round-trip taxi to collect said bag took just long enough to miss the last flight out of Phuket.  So, we get to enjoy another night in Phuket (this time in a hotel near the bus station in Phuket Town).   

"book NOW... pay NOW"

While in Phuket, we decided to do the most touristy thing we have done on our entire trip... we shelled out for a package day tour.  For 1,000 BHT or $30 USD (I did some negotiating and got them down from their original price of 1,500 BHT) we spent our day hopping from one "must-see" sight to another.

First, an "air-conditioned minibus" or what we Americans like to call a van picked us up from our hotel and drove us to see the golden reclining Buddha statue in the Buddha Cave:

Outside the cave there were tons of monkeys to play with:

Once our 30 minutes of allotted time at the Buddha Cave was up, we jumped back into the van and headed to Tum Pungchang.  Here, we canoed, bamboo rafted, and walked through some really impressive caves which we were not allowed to photograph.

After a quick stop for Thai food lunch, we traveled to Phang-Nga pier where we boarded a long-tailed boat to carry us to James Bond Island:

We've never actually seen the James Bond movie where the island was shown, The Man With the Golden Gun, so we bought the movie from a dvd vendor here in Phuket and will be educating ourselves once we return to Bangkok.

All in all, the tour was a great deal.  For $30 USD we got lunch, a boat ride, a cave adventure, and saw some sites.  Todd wants me to make sure that I reiterate that "we also got lots of driving around in a van".  But, don't let him fool you... we had fun being tourists.

T.I.T

Yesterday we packed up our luggage for a week (ish) and took Bus #46 to the train station for our 7:30pm train to Phuket.

About 30 mins before our train was to leave, we noticed that the departure sign listed our train number and departure time on track 3.  When we got to track 3, we found another train whose departure time was AFTER our train was scheduled to leave.  Confused, we asked an attendant and she informed us that our train was cancelled due to flooding.  She then told us to "take a bus".  The information desk (where buses are booked) was swamped with people who appeared to be in the same predicament as we were (though they didn't know it).  And, because these things happen in Thailand, all of the buses filled up before we could book ourselves a seat.

Lost and confused, we stumbled into a travel agency on a seedy street along the station where they offered us plane tickets to Phuket today for about the same price as the train/bus combination.  We bit... $150 US and one day later, we are high and dry in a hotel room in Phuket where everything is more expensive, and the main drag looks like a cross between Waikiki and Vegas (hookers, lady-boys, and all).

But, after all, This Is Thailand.