What to pack for Thailand

Thanks for all the luggage tips from Meg and Nikki F.

(As I type this blog post, I am eating an apple I bought at Chinatown in Kuala Lumpur).

Literally, this is all you need, even if you like to be prepared like me.

1. Bathing costume - useful for lying around at the pool, on the beach, or for wearing with shorts.
2. Short shorts
3. Flat strappy thong sandals - lots of them
4. Sleeveless tops. No T-shirts (too hot for them) or if you insist, then just take 2 or 3.
5. Cap or hat
6. Lots of sunscreen
7. Capri pants for evening. Still wear with those same sleeveless tops in the evenings.
8. Short pyjamas
9. Magazines and books

Leaving Phuket 28/10/06

After a quick breakfast, we were ready for our 7.30 pick up. We were collected on time but it still took an hour and a quarter to get us and the 2 other couples to the airport.

When we were in the queue waiting to check in, we noticed that we were behind yet another two Aussie girls. We picked our queue well because these girls had bulging suitcases so after them, our luggage would actually look normal.

The four of us chatted about whether they'd charge us anything extra but all that paranoia was in vain - the lady hardly batted an eyelid.

We bought a coffee at the Burger King and then changed the rest of our money to Malaysian Ringgits. Now here's where the problem came in.

We asked her what the R/ Ringgit exchange rate was and she said R100 buys you 33 Ringgit. So the whole holiday we assumed that it was the same. When we got back to SA, we discovered that the exchange rate was R2,12 to the Ringgit.

What does this mean? We could have bought a lot more in Malaysia. Aarggghhh!

Oh my word but that airport was packed - I was very tempted to jump into the Singapore queue.

Our flights were late but eventually we boarded the aircraft and flew out of Thailand.

Introducing Kata Kitchen's new sales reps...

When we went back to this place, another couple was looking at the menu and we said, "don't even bother to look, just go in and eat. We liked it so much last night - we're back for the second round."

And they were sold!

Our last day on Phuket - 27/10/06

Rene's birthday today - Aussie neighbour

Woke up late, had breakfast where we met a South African couple from Cape Town, Weston and Isla (Hi guys).

We went straight for massages after breakfast - Dion for the Thai massage - and me for a 9-step facial that lasted 1 ½ hours. It was DIVINE. While the specific treatment is on - let's say the cucumber - the lady gives your arms a massage. Next treatment she'll do your legs, etc, etc. No waiting around idly. So I got a head, neck and back massage too. Well, well worth the 550 baht (R115).

After the massages, we went to read in the room and then down to the pool. Spent some time chatting to Weston and Isla.

When we eventually were ready for lunch, we went to a place overlooking the beach. This was our most expensive meal in Thailand at 410 baht (R85) and not for the food, but for all the delicious drinks. I had a chicken baguette, coconut and pineapple shakes and D had a prawn cocktail and papaya shakes.

Then Dion went for a swim while I people watched (one of my favourite things to do). We saw some cute little boys whose parents had bought them miniature dusters for the beach chairs. These little boys were eating, drinking, undressing but they would not let go of those little dusters. Too cute.

Here's a picture of a big boy with the duster :)

I also bought two bracelets for 100 baht (asking price 150 baht each - yes!)

Back to the room for showers - while Dion had his shower, I crossed the street with wet hair to have it blowdried for 200 baht. We then met in the hotel lobby for drinks (like we were dating).

Can you see why I called this (the place on the right) the Happy Restaurant? This photo doesn't do it justice but all those lights are just so pretty at night.

Went back to the Kata Kitchen where I had sweet and sour chicken, and D had Thai red curry with chicken.

Afterwards we went for massages again - this time oil massages - variation of Thai massage but not so sore. Of course, then came the worst part of all - trying to pack everything back into those same suitcases.

Monkeys, water buffalo and coconuts

They also showed us how they train the monkeys to pick coconuts. They reward them with cute little bottles of milk. Here is the monkey getting his reward for getting the coconuts.

Then we watched a lady demonstrate how to cook a Thai curry. They were selling curry paste afterwards and, of course, we bought some.

Next, the water buffalo.Those who wanted to could take a picture on him.

This is Wi, our tour guide, showing us how it's done. Now amazing thing about stereotypes – two of the three make-up girls actually got on that hot, smelly beast to have their picture taken.

Dion and I, being the adventurous sorts of people we are, decided to rather take a photo next to him. The water buffalo's coat is hard, bristly and sweaty. Quite gross actually. We also took a ride on a wagon pulled along by this water buffalo.

They also showed us absolutely everything to do with coconuts - how to de-husk, how to get the water/ juice out, how they make dessicated coconut, coconut milk and coconut oil. These people do not waste anything - the husk is used as a sort of chocolate flavoured topping for cakes.

Then we went to lunch where we sat with a New Zealand couple, Duncan and Rebecca (by the way, they didn't have the strong NZ accents). They also got married at the end of April like we did and this was their honeymoon on the way to England where he was being transferred for a year.

We were also in the same transport to the drop-off point and back to our hotel - this is how I could get all the details!

At the hotel, we rested for a bit, then changed and went to the pool. At 4.30 it looked like it was going to rain so Dion packed everything up and we went back to the room. I sat on the balcony updating the journal for about an hour and then spent some time chatting to our Aussie neighbours, Rene and Maria.

After showers, we set off for the Happy Restaurant which is actually called Kata Kitchen. It had bright pink and blue tablecloths and lots of lights, hence the nickname. This one had free rice and soft drinks. D had pad thai with seafood and I had THE MOST DELICIOUS MEAL EVER - chicken with cashew nuts and pineapple.

Afterwards, I stopped by an internet café for 45 minutes. Dion went off in a sulk because I was taking too long and wouldn't come for a massage. So I went on my own - independent Marsh strikes again.

Well, that was my first and last Thai massage - it was very sore although to be fair, some of it was very nice.

Elephants! 26/10/06

After the rubber tapping, we saw a baby elephant show. Very, very cute. I won't even try to upload the video we took because my dear friend blogger lost an entire post earlier and I'm not messing with fancy stuff.

We took photos with them and some of the tour group fed them fruit. They charged 50 baht a basket.

This is the platform where you get on the elephants. These are the 3 make-up girls!

Dion and Marcia just setting off

Then we went riding on the elephants for about 40 minutes. We had what we call a Jhb elephant who kept overtaking the slower ones. My kind of animal. When we started out, we were number 6 or 7 in the queue. Because our elephant was having none of this slow stuff, we ended up number 3.

The view was beautiful and we enjoyed the ride thoroughly.

I bought an elephant necklace for only 80 baht (R17) at the elephant compound. Stuff was amazingly cheap at this place, especially so because it was a real touristy place.

Siam tour & rubber tapping - 26/10/06

Woke up early again as the tour pick-up time was 8.30. Had hard-boiled egg on toast and fruit salad.

We were collected at 8.50 and the guy then hurtled through the streets to the Siam Safari meeting point. There were these 3 very young girls in the Jeep with us - you couldn't find people who looked less like they were going on safari. A modeling shoot - yes, but safari, no. These 3 were doing their hair and makeup like you cannot believe. Now remember it is BLAZING HOT and after the first day, I didn't even bother with eye pencil, let alone make-up. A quick dab of lip gloss or lipstick is about all you have the energy for. I thought I was the only one shocked at these girls but once we got there, the other people were all, "can you believe those girls?!" Too funny.

The Thai people seem to focus only on the actual start of the tour, and not at all on the beginning and end bits. There is absolutely no communication whatsoever and lots of disorder until the ACTUAL START. I always itch to get involved at this point and I really have to remind myself that it's not my business and to butt out. But it's difficult, people.

Like this morning. We're all dumped there; we get out of the Jeeps and all sit/ stand around. No-one knows what's going on. Fortunately or unfortunately it's too hot for us to really care enough to do something about it. Then we're taken to the Elephant Centre for more hanging around. Turns out that there are too many people to start the tour at the scheduled beginning so we're going to start with the rubber tapping. They book people on the tours who all pay beforehand so surely they should stagger times or something? Anyway!

Anyway, we learnt how they tap the trees for rubber for only 2 - 3 hours a day at around 3am because the sap doesn't flow when it is hot. We got to touch the sap - it is white like glue and when it dries, it peels right off.

They then mix it with water and some acid (I didn't catch the name) and roll it to make a tiny little rubber mat. V. interesting.

You all know what they use rubber for... yes, that's right - car mat and, of course, condoms.

Tesco Lotus - Wed 25/10/06

Another lazy morning.

Today I decided to ask for what I wanted (novel idea!) at breakfast. So I asked for banana (they brought 3 of the cutest little bananas I have ever seen - about 10cm long and 2cm in diameter) to cut up in my fruit salad and yoghurt, and a boiled egg. I had a delicious sandwich of wholewheat toast with sliced boiled egg and tomato. Yum! I love this combination.

We then read at the pool, sunbathed and swam until lunch time. Back to the room to change and then to Tesco. (They all say TescoLotus like it's one word - because it's at a shopping centre called Lotus Centre)

The hotel taxis are 50 baht more expensive than the ones on the street but we usually tried to get them down another 50 baht from that. So, the hotel rate to Tesco is 400 baht so we paid 300 baht. Thank goodness the car was airconditioned because it was very far.

This picture is actually from the Burger King at the Phuket Airport but it's the only fast food one I could find so there you go!

We got there at 4.30 and first walked around the food court to check menu, prices, etc. before settling on KFC. We shared both a zinger and a chicken tortilla. The zinger was lovely but not the tortilla - too much creamy sauce. Then we went to Dunkin Donuts for dessert before hitting the shops.

I am only slightly embarrassed to say that I went a bit wild - 2 handbags, 2 pairs shorts, 2 capri pants, 2 long pants, 6 t-shirts, some baby things for my sister, notebooks…and that's beside Dion's things. All that came to …wait for this…2089 baht, or R435! A bargain!

We also bought some toiletries at my favourite health & beauty store, Watsons (like Clicks, only better) and an Amy Tan novel. And then I spent the equivalent of about R50 on some glass rings and about 4 bracelets from a lady sitting outside one of the shops.

We were so tired of walking that we were happy to rest for supper at the Santa Fe Café for chicken before going back to the hotel. The taxi again wanted 400 baht but this time we paid 350 baht.

All in all, a very, very nice day.

Blame it on the rain

okay, blogger was messing me around again in that previous post.

When we were on the island, we saw this rain waiting for us back on Phuket.

This picture was taken from one of those small boats.

Phang Nga tour - part 2

Next, we travelled for about 1 ½ hours to a secluded beach for swimming. Isn't it beautiful?

This is the small boat that we used to travel to this island.

The locals charged 100 baht for beach chair rental which of course, I wasn't prepared to pay for just 1 hour. So I sat on Dion's beach towel, chatting to Jan, while Dion and Mick had a swim. We stopped there for an hour.

You can see the beach umbrellas on the right of this picture

While we were waiting for the small boat to arrive to take us back to the big boat, all of us had a weird/ interesting discussion about what a miracle a long-lasting marriage is, and how so many people don't even bother to get married these days but just have kids. Apparently the average length of a marriage in the US is a mere 26 months. Very sad.

We were all very quiet (tired out from the day in the sun) on the way back to hotel where we set off from. Amazingly, those floating blue things were now on the sand because it was low tide.

The guy showed us the pictures he'd taken of us in the morning when we set off - very nice one of us, but we didn't buy it at 150 baht, and I was tired of bartering for the day.

We went to the loos, and then back to the hotel. Sad thing is we didn't get to say good-bye to the Australians but we did with Mick and Jan since we traveled back with them.

Overall, a very nice day - especially chatting to people who could speak English!

Funny thing happened on the boat - Jan started chatting to the Australians and she said, "oh by the way, we're from England". Now Jan speaks in a very English accent so it really is obvious. But Anthony says in a real deadpan way, "yes, we gathered"

Jan & Mick were from Windsor, England. She'd worked for British Airways for 39 years and just retired at the end of September. She was at home for 2 weeks before getting bored, so she got a part-time job working in a dept store two days a week. Mick retired 7 years previously and now works from 3 - 6pm 4 days a week as a bartender.

The other Australian couple, Lee-Ann and Anthony, was from Melbourne. She's an ex-chef turned office worker and Anthony is an interior designer. She stays in Richmond and he in St Kilda. The cool thing is we've been there - we had a whole story to tell her of how we got lost in Richmond.

It rained heavily once we were back for about 3 hours (most it ever rained while we were there). We tried waiting for it to stop but eventually at 7.30 we set out with our umbrellas. And you know what? The rain was lovely - warm and tropical and actually quite pleasant.

We ended up at the Kata Café (opposite Natalie's) where we had spaghetti marinara (D) and carbonara (me). We didn't enjoy it very much, not so much for the food (although the portion was really small - fine for me but not for D) but for the attitude.

Free salad with some bread but you have to pay for the butter. You pay for ice, etc. so it's almost like are you charging me for the glass and cutlery too?! In the end you're too scared to ask for a wedge of lemon or a serviette in case she says 10 baht, which was the answer for any extras.

Phang Nga Tour - 24/10/06 part 1

A quick breakfast before we were collected. We were the 3rd couple on the minibus and we then went to collect the 4th – Mick & Jan from Windsor, England.

We were all taken to a central hotel together with all the other groups from Tour East where we had a quick tea/ coffee/ water (us) before setting off.

We walked on a water float (v scary as the whole thing moves and I'm NOT a water person) to get to the big boat. We were 11 people besides the 2 guides.

We saw beautiful limestone cliffs on our way.

Our first stop was James Bond Island. !

Obviously not it's real name but since the making of The Man with the Golden Gun, that's what everybody knows. We transferred to a smaller boat and because of that, we had to wear life jackets

After the guide did the talk, we were allowed 30 mins for photos, hiking, shopping, etc.

We took photos mostly and watched Japanese tourists setting up tripods to take a picture. Weird. The photo in our profile was taken by an interior designer, Anthony, from Melbourne, Australia. Just thought you should know that!

We then went to a Sea Gypsey Village for lunch – rice, prawns, omelette, crab, soup. I didn't really enjoy it because it was too oily for my taste. Dessert was fresh pineapple which I always enjoy. However, the company was lovely. At our table, Jan took charge and made us all introduce ourselves – Jan & Mick from England, Lee-Ann and Anthony from Australia, and Dion and I from SA.

Then we went "touring" through the village – all suspended on water, families living in shacks, people selling things, people cooking all around. Terrible place to live but I suppose they don't know anything else. This is what I said to another English girl who looked quite traumatised at the thought of kids living there.

I was also inspired by Aussie Anthony who paid just 100 baht for a necklace where the asking price was initially 750 baht. (this was before this tour). So! I bargained a lady down from 150 baht to 25 baht for a glass ring.. Cool.

Stay tuned for the rest of the Phang Nga tour!

Lazy days at the pool...

Had a lovely lazy day today.

Woke up late again but we'd put out our clothes and bags so it wasn't too bad.

By the time we got to breakfast, there was no more cut tomato (my morning veg) to have with my wholegrain bread and eggs so I asked for a few slices and I get a whole plate full.

Same with the fruit. The waiter asked what I'd like, so I said a little bit of each and he brings a HUGE plate of watermelon, pineapple and papaya. D and I did our best but we couldn't finish.

This is exactly the view I had most days. The building directly opposite is called Mali Spa - the ladies used to do poolside massages over there. In the left corner, you can just see the waterfall. I love the sound of water falling - it is so soothing...

We then went down to the pool for reading and dipping legs (me) and swimming (D). At 2:30 I went back to the room to cool off with a bit of aircon and update the journal. D had left hours earlier for the same thing.

For supper, we went to Natalie's for the second time where we had Thai Mussamen Curry – D had beef and I had chicken. As usual, it was delicious!

After detouring to the 7-11 for water (as is our custom), we went to the hotel. Early to bed because tomorrow is a 7.45 pick-up time!

Patong Beach

Absolutely geared for tourists. But too much, you know? We were so glad our hotel was away from all the bedlam. Just one street alone had about 20-30 eating places. Crazy.

We found a dept store called Ocean Plaza with aircon (heaven!) and you could not pry us out of there for a good few hours. When we were done there, we decided to get something to eat and then to head back because our feet were sore from all the walking on the tour, and then some more walking around the shopping centre.

We heard that there was a McDonalds around and since I was craving "normal" food, nothing would stand in our way. Thankfully, the directions were accurate and it was only 5 minutes away.

That McChicken meal was the best burger I have ever tasted! Fresh roll, succulent chicken patty and fresh lettuce with mayo. Yum - I could have another one.

While we were eating, I noticed two people with Watsons carrier bags. Now Watsons was one of my favourite shops in Singapore (after the bakery) so we decided to take a short walk to see if it was anywhere close. Close?! It was two shops away from McD.

We quickly popped in (30 minutes) and came out 742 B poorer. Watsons is a bit like Clicks, only better. I bought a bag there which I then used every day for the rest of the holiday because of all the pockets.

While walking, I saw a vendor with T-shirts that said, NO THANKS, I don't want a massage, tailor, tuk-tuk or anything else. That pretty much sums up life on Phuket Island.

Got a tuk-tuk taxi back to the hotel where we vegged out, showered and watched "Meet the Fockers" on HBO. We were too full to go eat supper after the big McD "lunch" at 4:00 so we had 2 ProVitas each.

****************************************

By the way, this was taken at Natalie's - the place where we first had supper.

Introduction to Phuket - city tour

Today was our first tour - I couldn't wait. We mixed up the pick-up times of two of our tours so we were ready at 7:45 for a 9:00 pick-up.

We realised when we were still at breakfast so Dion went up the million and one steps back to our room to get our books so we could read. It was lovely - reading while gazing out on a tropical paradise with the sound of the sea and an occasional bird chirping.

At 9:00 we left as we were the 3rd out of 4 couples to be collected from our hotels, and the only SA couple amongst Australians from Sydney. They were all honeymooners (2 couples had just got married the previous Saturday, and the other two weeks prior to that) and of course, we were old hands at this after 11 ½ years. Too funny.

Our guide was called Bee and she promptly handed out stickers which we had to wear "so that you all get on the right bus". Good plan!

We went to various lookout points - absolutely beautiful unspoilt beaches.



Hard to think that a natural disaster happened less than 5 years ago.

We asked Bee about that and she said that most of Phuket was rebuilt in 3 months! They were forced to work quickly because tourism is the main industry. I was amazed at the resilience of the Thai people. I'm sure here in SA it would have taken us a lot longer to get over all our victim mentality, but that's another post!

When we booked the tours I was warned that I wouldn't be allowed inside the Buddhist temple in skimpy tops because shoulders have to be covered, but Bee told us that this temple is very touristy so they don't mind our naked shoulders. The Thai people set off firecrackers to celebrate good things and also to ward off evil spirits so one way or the other, the firecracker industry does well. LOL.

The Buddhist temple

Dion and I hurried through the Buddhist temple (I'm not particularly interested in sights like that - I just go because it's there) to get to the market opposite. Our guide told us that we would get t-shirts and the like much cheaper than anywhere else so we were quite eager to check out the selection. Dion got some shorts and a t-shirt while I bought… yes, you guessed it…souvenirs.

Next stop - cashew nut factory.
It is amazing how much work goes into producing a single cashew nut. The ladies sit and remove the shells from the nut, one at a time. They have three bowls - one for perfect nuts, one for nuts that break but are still good, and one for the bad nuts. They don't throw anything away - absolutely everything is used. It was a real eye-opener, especially what those ladies get paid, something ridiculous like R20/R30 a day.

Notice the three piles of nuts. This lady's eyes must be so sore from all that concentrating every day.

All of us bought quite a lot of stuff there - personally, I felt guilty and that I had to support those ladies. Dion and I got sesame & honey, and chocolate cashew nuts.

The last stop on the tour was the Gems Gallery (all along we thought she was saying James Gallery). Very nice if you're into jewellery (I'm not) and only one piece really interested me - string of pearls but it wasn't very practical so I left it. The one Ozzie girl then bought it.

Interesting how everybody is sooo quiet at the start of the tour and as we all start taking pictures of one another and commenting on various things how people start to loosen up. Of course, I was talking the whole way through. At the Gems Gallery, people really started talking properly about jobs and all sorts of things, and after that, we couldn't shut the one girl up. We still didn't find out her name so I dubbed her Kylie, and she was all Ben this and Ben that. She and I got through her whole holiday to Vietnam - flights and everything - in a 15-minute drive to Patong Beach. I rest my case.

Dion lurves street scenes. I must say I can never see what the big fuss is about while he's snapping away, but when we're back home, they always do look stunning. Well done, Sweetie.

Please note - left of picture, there's a red tuk-tuk taxi and on the right side, you can see two tailor shops.

We could decide where we wanted to be dropped off if we didn't want to go to the hotel. We decided on Patong Beach to save money on taxi fare. Any taxi to virtually everywhere is 350 - 400 Baht (R75 - R85) one way, so at least this way, we only had to pay to get back to the hotel.

And that's all for now - these pictures have taken AGES to download.

Things I loved about the hotel pool/ Sat 21st

The pool was the place where I caught up on writing in my journal, read, read and read some more.

What I loved about the pool besides the stunning view overlooking the beach:

1. An abundance of (Dion says clean) lounging chairs
2. A table with lots of beach towels
3. An umbrella between every 2 chairs
4. A little table between every 2 chairs for my book, suntan lotion and water
5. The waterfall
6. The greenery

7. Jacuzzi jets

8. A bar in the pool with underwater barstools


Saturday 21 October (my father's birthday)
Breakfast
After a late start (I only woke at 9.50), we had a breakfast of cornflakes and yoghurt, slice brown toast, omelette, bacon, tomato and pancake, and of course, pineapple. They do the omelettes like little anteaters (Melody, please tell me the proper name in the comments)

Pool
This is what we did the whole morning after breakfast before our meeting with the tour guide.

Tour guide
We had an appointment for 13:45. This is where they reconfirm flights for you and try to sell you lots of tours. Not a very difficult job with us because we love tours.

Within just a few minutes, she'd racked up Thai Baht 7400 worth of sales (about R1600). It amazed me how easily she did it considering she was not in the least bit pushy. However, she listened well, considered our needs and honestly told us what she thought was best for us. And she was very professional which always impresses me.

Of course our DiscoveryCard was not acceptable (surprise surprise - we've had so many problems with this card because the numbers are not embossed like "normal" credit cards) so I used the Absa Mastercard.

We signed up for an Introduction to Phuket, Phang Nga (James Bond Island) and 4-in-1 elephant, rubber tapping, buffalo and gibbon tour for Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday respectively.

After the meeting we were both much more relaxed, the task-structured people that we are, knowing that we had some planned activities.

Lunch
We walked on the beach a bit after discovering that it costs TB 200 (R45) to rent a lounger for the day.

Had lunch at a plact right on the beach. There was no brown bread on the menu and I couldn't explain health/ whole wheat bread to the waiter so I ended up having a chicken salad. Dion had a tuna roll and we shared a pineapple pancake and icecream for dessert. This was the oiliest pancake ever! So we decided not to go there again.

Back to the hotel for showers, changing, reading and sleeping, and then out in the streets, window-shopping.

By this time, I'm too full to eat proper meals all the time so decide that a nice cheese and tomato on brown bread is just the ticket.

Except there is absolutely no brown bread in any restaurant and nobody speaks enough English to suggest an alternative.

Stay tuned for the next exciting post featuring........wait for this........the Tomato Restaurant (I kid you not)

Tomato restaurant - supper Sat 21st

We walked and walked the streets because the sheer choice of restaurants overwhelmed us.

Eventually we decided on Tomato Restaurant (no the, just Tomato!). I thought about getting some Western food but eventually went with Sweet and Sour Chicken. Dion decided on chicken with cashew nuts.

They had some games on the table so we played two games while we waited for the food. We each won 1 although I suspected that D let me win the 2nd game. (Dion says he was sleepy and overconfident).

this is a picture of Dion's watermelon shake. You can see the game we played on the right.

The meal was okay, not great, but after that I was tired of all the Asian food so vowed to eat nothing for the next 2 days.

We stopped by our favourite jaunt, the 7-11, on the way back to the hotel to get water. However, we got sidetracked as we usually do, just gazing at all the different things that they have and we don't (in SA). Dion looks at all the snacks - chips, chocolates and so on, and I look through books and toiletries usually. We're a sad pair, aren't we?! Eventually we bought the water and left.

I decided to send an sms via email for my father's birthday since the phone calls to South Africa were so costly from the hotel.

20 Oct 2006 - Arriving in Phuket

Arriving in Phuket
The flight to Phuket was uneventful except for this momentous thing that happened – Dion spoke to his neighbour. This is ground-breaking news because he likes to be left alone to read – I'm more the socialiser.

When we arrived at the airport, I was very pleased to see that there were ATMs in the airport building so I immediately withdrew 4000 thai baht (with the exchange rate, this worked out to about R900).

The tour operators (Tour East) were easy to find outside the terminal building in their navy pants and green and white shirts. We'd been told on our itinerary to look out for them.

Unfortunately, all the smokers were also outside. I keep forgetting how many people smoke because at home, we're very rarely with smokers. None of our friends smoke so it's really weird for me. Anyway, we set off shortly in a lovely air-conditioned minibus with 2 other couples.

Some parts of Phuket reminded us of Margate in KZN. Typical beach resort town.

Hotel
Our hotel was aptly named Tropical Garden Resort. It looked like we lived in the jungle. Lots of beautiful, lush green vegetation everywhere with big palm trees and lots of brown wooden furniture.

The showers around the pool are covered by ferns and so are all the pipes and equipment so it's as if the pool was just built right in the middle of a tropical jungle. Lovely.

We were escorted to our room which was 6 floors up (but first there are a couple of staircases anyway so who knows how many flights of stairs in total). Those poor porters deserved a HUGE tip after hauling our luggage up all those steps.

It turns out that the gorgeous green suitcase is not very practical. While it is smallish in dimensions, when packed, it is very high so looks quite fat. Thank God for the wheels on that thing.

Room
The room was just as beautiful as the pictures I posted earlier on the blog. It had a tiled floor which was lovely and cool to walk on.

Our perfect timing ensured that we arrived smack bang in the middle of a power outage on the main street so we had no aircon.

I was so hot and tired that I unpacked, undressed and (Dion says) fell asleep for 3 hours. He also slept for some of the time.

When we woke, we showered, dressed and attended to our priorities – buying our internet card so we could do banking and pay some money into the credit card. I couldn't do it from home because I was so busy prepaying bills like Telkom, water and lights, etc that I exceeded my balances on the payment limits.

That done, we had cash, stocked-up credit card and we were ready to shop!

Walking around on the first afternoon & evening
It was very clear that we'd need more shorts because it was so hot. I'm not a person who gets hot easily but I was sweating buckets! However, everything was name brand and I'm just not a name brand kind of gal. I know I'm weird but that's me. I actually don't like the look of names on clothes unless small and discreet. Very.

So the search continues.

We bought lots of water, purple-sequinned slops (look very glamorous) and some souvenirs. We made a list of people while we were waiting for supper to arrive and very quickly we had 40 on our list.

Speaking of supper, literally every 2nd or 3rd shop is a restaurant. The hostess stands outside trying to get people to come in and eat, or at least come look at the menu. Aside from restaurants, the main businesses are massage parlous, tailors and clothing stores.

On our walk through the town, we identified a number of places we'd like to eat at – a place right on the beachfront and another place I called the Happy Place (lots of lights and bright coloured table cloths).

Supper
We eventually decided to eat at Natalie's – I was sold the minute the hostess said "free salad and fruit between 6 and 10". We had salad with lettuce, cucumber, cabbage, tomato, carrots and pineapple (M only). For main course, D had beef noodles with soya sauce and I had Thai style rice with chicken. Both delicious.

We had Fantas – strawberry and orange – and fresh pineapple and watermelon for dessert. Lovely and healthy.

Entire meal cost us Thai Baht 280 (about R60)

On our way back, we collected lots of tour brochures. I read through each, noting down all the salient points, so that we were prepared for our meeting with the tour guide the next day.