Phucket...Phucket real good

(By Miller)

We arrived and shrugged off the motos and taxis persuading us that it was a long way into Phuket town. After walking a few kilometers and night approaching, we ate our words and hopped motos to the On-On hotel. It’s a converted old firehouse so plenty of character…not much else. The princess died last year and her cremation ceremony had been playing on the television all day. Things had been randomly closed so we had a quiet dinner and settled in for the night.

The main draw to Phuket for westerners is the strip of beach along the west coast. It is apparently world renowned and apparently very expensive; at least on our budget so we steered clear. Opting for the butterfly house and insect museum sounds far more enticing than sandy white beaches and drinks out of coconuts right? We thought so too so we walked across town to it. Greeted with chilled nectar of something or other, we then continued on to see the exhibits of tarantulas, millipedes, scorpions, and other creepy crawlies I was just as likely to see in my latrine in Benin. Spent some time walking around the butterfly sanctuary and it was time to go. That was our big event for the day so, satiated, we went back to try and find food and more things to do.

A shopping mall presented itself and James Bond just happened to be playing IN ENGLISH! Sold! That’s how we spent our afternoon and loved every minute of the experience, watching an English movie and sucking in the perfumed air that is piped into the theatre, and listening to the fat western dude next to us chomp down his popcorn.

That night we tried to locate all the fabulous bars written up in the LP with happy hours and trivia nights. Again, due to the passing of the princess, they were all closed and we had another mellow night. We’d decided to breakup the long haul from Phuket to Bangkok by stopping in the Kao Sok national park. Phuket was lovely but don’t really need to go again. The islands are where it’s at, and even all the diving trips from Phuket ferry their clients right back to where we’d come from. No more time was needed and we were excited to see some of Thailand’s preserves! Caught a 6am bus the next morning.