Thailand, Part 1

Phuket

8am flight from Changi airport Singapore to Phuket, Thailand.

Met lisa at the hotel. We walked down to the beach.

Patong Bay

The streets are filled with hawkers, up in our faces to buy DVDs, suits, anything. They kept asking us if we were Australian. I guess a lot of Aussies come here.

A momentary quiet on the street. notice the telephone lines.

We decide to take a tour of Phuket. Bus comes, and we go pick up one other couple, some kiwis. Our tour guidde, Son, is Thai. His English is hard to understand. He told us Thailand has no world cup team, but has the #1 elephant football team in the world. He pointed out that America doesn't even have an elephant football team. Touché, Son. It's really cool to be someplace that really cares about football (soccer) during World Cup.

kids playing some soccer-hackey sack hybrid game with a wicker ball

We go to old Phuket town, to a couple markets. Stray mangy dogs and ferrel cats everywhere. And the streets are filled with scooters and motorcycles, all of them lane-splitting. Nuts.

We go the oldest Buddhist temple in Phuket,

Wat Chalong

then to the largest marble buddha in the world, on top of a large hill with a view of the bay. We get blessed by a monk. pretty cool.

the big buddha is 45m tall

Then to sunset at some other bay, and back to the room.

A quick walk to the night market. The daytime shouts of DVDs! Turn to "go-go show! Dancing girls! You like very much!" makes bourbon street look like Sunday school.


NEXT POST: Thailand, day 2, our sea canoeing tour