Phuket Thailand Travel Tales

Phuket

November 12 continued...

Flew from Koh Samui to Phuket.

Nai Yang Beach Resort unfortunately did not live up to it’s web site. Before leaving home we had checked out the hotels available as some of them were damaged or destroyed by the tsunami. The lady at the front desk said all the beach stalls had been wiped out and the buildings in front of them damaged extensively but the water had only come up to the floors of their raised buildings.

The sun had already set when we strolled the beach and settled at Lee Pizza and Pasta's red and white checker clothed tables for a light dinner. The thin crust pizza was delicious – Sherrie claimed it one of the best she’s ever tasted. It is amazing what can come out of a bamboo shack on the beach with a makeshift pizza oven standing on a pile of bricks with an open fire below.

NOVEMBER 13

The “resort” did not offer breakfast as most Thai accommodations do. Sherrie, walking passed some of the closed up beach businesses, found Terry on the beach sitting on a high stool under the canopy of a grass roofed shack serving coffee and toast with a sea view.

Sherrie convinced Terry to have another ham and pineapple (fresh thin crust) pizza for breakfast (once Lee Pizza and Pasta opened)followed by a stroll along the beach where we watched deck chairs and umbrellas being set up and wiped off for daily rental.

A couple of ladies were waist high in the surf fishing.

There was still evidence of clean up from the tsunami and new buildings complete or near completion.

People are resilient and, albeit still recovering, Phuket is open for business.

We walked back along the street which borders the beach front, stopped to talk with locals, watched new construction and saw the meat vendor sell his cuts from a scooter side-car.

An elephant stopped on its way to work to pick up a watermelon cut in quarters. He ate three and took the fourth with him.

Our itinerary changed at this point. Our plan was to rent a car and drive up to a national park and explore its lakes for a few days. It was hair-raising enough to be in the back seat of cars in Asia and, as driving ourselves meant sitting in the front seat, we decided to pass.

The decision was made to go to Koh Phi Phi. A large portion of Koh Phi Phi’s inhabited area had been wiped out by the tsunami.

If we took an early boat, we would still have enough time to catch a boat onward to Krabi, on the mainland, if no suitable accommodation was found.

A taxi ride from north-west Koh Phuket via Phuket Town to South-east Koh Phuket took about half an hour. At the dock time was passed by playing Skip-Bo and talking to two English speaking birds (not English girls ... real birds ... with feathers).

After a few more bodies arrived we were taken by van to another dock where a great many people were already aboard the vessel. This time we stayed on deck for the two and a half hour crossing (we thought it was going to be about an hour) and suffered a bit for it that night.

click here to continue November 13 and to Koh Phi Phi ...