last day in Phuket

For the first couple of nights in Nai Yang Beach, we ate in an open air restaurant on the beach. Last night, with a storm on the way, we chose a place with undercover options. The lightning show did not disappoint.

It’s been a relaxing day today. Breakfast on the beach with a lizard as companion, a ten-minute trip to Nai Thon beach for lunch and a change of scenery.

Tomorrow we will be on our way to the airport by 5.15 am to travel to Mandalay via Bangkok. This afternoon, we’ll take another beach swim in water so salty that it’s impossible not to float in it.

more moments from Phuket

Marmoset monkey – Phuket

 

 

This Marmoset monkey is someone’s pet. We did not expect to meet such a creature in the context in which we found him. Five years ago, his owner paid 45,000 Thai Baht for him, the equivalent of 1,800 Australian dollars. Illicit trade in exotic animals is alive and well.

 

Phuket’s Big Buddha

We climbed up to the site of The Big Buddha in thirty-four degree heat, heat that was working up to a magnificent evening rain storm.

Patong Beach, Phuket

If Patong were a celeb, it’d be sprawled over the covers of trashy mags daily. It’s Charlie Sheen’s drug-induced meltdowns, Pammy’s boob job and Hugh Grant’s indiscretions. Its knack for turning the midlife crisis into a full-scale industry makes it rampant with unintentional comedy and the only thing pure is the white sand on the beach. If you wanna party, come to Patong.

Lonely Planet – Pocket Phuket

Here’s a selection of shots from today’s visit to Patong Beach.

a walk before breakfast – Nai Yang

There weren’t too many people on the beach before 8.00 am. Some working fishermen, and a few dogs.

More than ten years on, there are still reminders of the tsunami that devastated this small community of Nai Yang.

 

the first travel day

At the end of a long day which included an early start, a long flight on a budget airline where the people in front had their seats on the very biggest recline, an airport layover in Singapore, another flight and a taxi ride, there is nothing like a cold beer, banana roti and a mojito to ease the pain. (Nai Yaing, Phuket, Thailand).