Phuket Day 1 (2)

After lunch, we flitted from agency to agency in search of cheap excursion tours to fill up our next few days. We settled at a really good shop which offered us two excursions with the lowest rates we could ever find: one was a full day trip to Phi Phi Island and Khai Island, while the other one was a half-day trip to Bang Pae safari. We snapped them up.

We then took a walk along Patong Beach, but it wasn't very fun seeing so many tourists sunbathing there and the Thais pestering us to rent chairs and umbrellas, and jetskiing and parasailing packages from them. Somemore, storm clouds started to gather and it started to get dark.

The stormy and crowded Patong Beach

What I have been waiting for for months: wash away my FYP stresses into the sea

Seeing the weather was starting to turn bad, we hurriedly made our way back to our hotel and washed up, before going for dinner.

Relaxing at the balcony of our room

Patong Beach really came alive at night, with all the bright lights and music from the pubs, bars, classy restaurants and discotheques. The atmosphere was really good. Unable to afford to dine at the high-class and elegant restaurants, we sought the beachside homely restaurants instead. We finally settled for one called Sabai Beach Restaurant, and our table was on the glittering soft sand by the shore. We ordered an economical meal of deep-fried calamari rings, stir-fried mixed vegetables, pork with spring onion and ginger, and clear soup with minced pork and tofu. Wow, dining with your feet buried in the sand, with the seabreeze ruffling your hair and listening to the gentle waves!

I pity those angmohs who come to Thailand and stick to their boring western food and not giving themselves the chance to sample Thai cuisine.

After dinner, we walked along Bangla Road, famous for its pubs and discotheques and tranvestities. It is basically equivalent to Singapore's Geylang-cum-Boat Quay-cum-Joo Chiat. Sluggie and I roamed through the bars and shops and oogled at the many sexy trannies. I was sniggering when Sluggie was molested by a tranny, he wasn't flattered. Also saw many angmohs walking hand-in-hand with Thai women (Well, we all know what they come to Thailand for.) There was also a muay thai boxing match going on.

Behold all the tempting barbequed meats on skewers!

Seafood-lovers will be spoilt for choice because there are MANY seafood restaurants around. We came upon this Savoey Seafood Restaurant which apparently is the largest, best-decorated, and most crowded one around with the biggest variety of seafood. All forms of shellfish and sefood are displayed and after you have chosen what you want, they are weighed and priced accordingly and cooked in the style that you want. The tiger prawns were HUGE, really. There were also stingrays, lobsters, mantis shrimp, squid, oysters, mussels and a whole range of fishes.

A feast for the eyes

Big and colourful lobsters

It was only 10pm and Bangla Road was in full activity, but considering that we had to wake up early at 7am for our Phi Phi trip, we retired to our hotel for a really really comfortable slumber.