Week 2 in Party Town Phuket

Phuket,Thailand
Tuesday, June 4, 2013

We haven't been able to update the blog as frequently as we hoped this week after an idiot from the Ukraine (Dmitriy if you are reading this, no offence meant!) DNS attacked us resulting in our hosting company blocking us from our own domain. We have tried resetting the router on our hotel floor to no avail and explaining to the hotel staff we need to reset the main hotel router just isn't possible. So at the moment we can only access our domain by using a VPN, which is highly frustrating and makes updating the blog a slow and painful process. We've been hoping for a power cut this week but annoyingly other nearby streets have had one, but of course we had no such luck.

Terrifying Speed Boat Ride

Following on from our terrifying speed boat trip back from Raya Island in our last blog we were not over exaggerating the sea conditions. The following day we read in the Phuket Times a Phuket to Phi Phi ferry got into trouble when a wave crashed over is bows and broke part of the deck. The ferry then started to take on water and to prevent it sinking they ran it aground. Over 100 passengers had to be rescued. Although Phi Phi island is further out to sea than Raya island we still felt the storm, and we can honestly say we weren't being wimps about getting splashed by a bit of seawater.

Monsoon Season

This week the weather has been surprisingly good and although the showers are less frequent, when the black clouds appear the showers seem to be even more intense. All in all though we can't complain as the weather is great for the time of year.

US Navy

The US Navy arrived on Tuesday docking the humongous Nimitz aircraft carrier just off the island. Thailand is a favourite place for the Navy personnel to take in a bit of R&R (enough said) so much so they come a few times a year and we have been 'lucky' enough to be here before when they sailed in. With 3,000 personnel descending on the island it certainly didn't seem like the green season. In fairness they were well behaved and we didn't see any problems but a small city can only handle so much testosterone at the same time, needless to say we were happy when they sailed on.

BBQ

We were invited to Steve & Nuch's home for a BBQ. Steve and Nuch are entrepreneurs and currently own 2 hotels, 3 bars and 3 restaurants. We met them a few years ago and are currently staying at one of their hotels. They were nice enough to lay on transport and after being picked up we headed over to one of their restaurants to pick up a chef and the food for the evening. The house was beautiful and as we were shown round we tried to spot the bit we might have paid for in all our visits to their bar! We enjoyed a lovely night with great company before heading back into town for a lively night at their bar, which ended just before sunrise.

Fishing Round 2

Another trip another bargain, this week we managed to haggle the trip down from 2500B to just 900B a person. So let's start with answering the vital question 'did we catch any fish?' In a word no! But we have good reason.... we didn't even pick up a rod. The first half an hour of the boat trip was leisurely but as soon as we got away from immediate islands and into the open sea it took a turn for the worst. If we have any sea legs they weren't working! After a good hour at sea we had to lie down and pretty much by the time we could get up the morning had gone. Before lunch we did manage to take a dip and enjoy some fantastic snorkelling and then it was back on the boat for another couple of hours of hell. If it wasn't for the snorkelling the day would have been a disaster, we are both glad we opted for the smaller tour which was cheaper and didn't go as far out to sea. Sonya is still committed to catch a fish and we will go again at some point on our trip preferably on dry land.

Fishing tour 1/10
Snorkelling tour 5/10

Condo Hunting

We visited a few of the many stalls advertising new build condo's, although we did decline the many offers to show us the show condo's as we didn't want to wet our appetites too much. Compared to UK prices what you can get for your money is still unbelievable even though prices have rocketed in recent years as Thailand has become increasingly popular. We looked at many condo's spread over the whole of Phuket island but don't worry Mum the ones which would be a good investment with the right location were out of our budget. We were offered a two story, 2 bed condo at a 25% discount fully fitted and ready to move in. If only we had 9m Baht to spare we are sure it would have been a great investment but alas we don't. Also foreigners can not directly own a property in Thailand, there are ways around it by setting up a company but hey that sounds like too much paperwork for a holiday home. Our dream of owning a holiday home will have to wait a bit longer.

LadyBoys

Sorry we haven't been forthcoming with our promise to put some photos on the blog. But although there are a lot in and around Phuket most of them dress up as Queens for photos with tourists. Exactly the mental image a lot of people have and exactly the one we want to quash. We hope to get some in the next few days to put on our final Phuket blog.

Back on the sea, road & rails

We have decided not to stay in Phuket for a full 4 weeks and will be leaving early to depart for Koh Phi Phi. We plan to spend a night on Phi Phi before heading to Krabi for a few nights and then Hat Yai where we are planning on catching the direct train to Butterworth in Malaysia. After a short stopover in Penang we plan to take the train to Kuala Lumpur and then finally Singapore which will complete our land based travels for now at least.

That's it for this week folks

Team Chip

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