Onto Phuket and to what we hope will be some much needed R&R after the first half of our Asia adventure. We took a taxi from the Rikka Inn in Bangkok to the tourism police to file our police report about the scam we were involved in the day before then headed off to the airport. All the folks working for the tourism police were lovely and that made our leaving Bangkok a bit more positive. The airport logistics went off without a hitch and we enjoyed some pretty hilarious caught on camera antics from a Montreal television show on the plane ride over.
When we landed we were not sure yet where we would be staying and/or what area of Phuket we wanted to be in. We stopped at one of the hospitality booths where we met Joe (his real name I'm sure). Now, this whole trip has been somewhat of psuedo honeymoon as part of our real one was curtailed by the major snowstorms in Britain and western Europe back in '09. We were excited at the prospect of relaxing at one of the beachy places of Thailand and that we would get to experience something really honeymoon-ish and romantic. After telling Joe this, he was convinced we would love the Eden Bungalows at Patong Beach. They were private, were close to the shops, the beach and had a pool and restaurant. All sounded good, but we decided to just book 2 nights as we were not totally sure if that was where we wanted to be for all 6 days and I had contacted my cousin Jes about one of the resorts on Phuket that she might be able to book us into (she works for Starwood Hotels). Joe set everything up and we were off in a cab.
Cabs in Phuket are much more expensive than in Bangkok we came to find out. Despite the fact they have a meter, these are not used to set the price. Tourists are at the mercy of the inflated costs and whatever they can muster from their haggling sensibilities. We were able to get him down 50 Baht from his original request and we were off to Eden... Or so we thought.
We arrived at our destination, a little wary of how busy the approach to the place was. Shopping would be putting it lightly. There were tons of stalls, tailors, convenience stores and tourists walking around and this was not even the main strip. Matt asked to see the room before we fully checked in and the first bungalow reeked of cigarette smoke. Not quite the romantic room we were hoping for. The next room was better, but was right across from the swimming pool and the kids we had to manoeuvre around to get to the next bungalow did not boost the romantic ambience of the place. We decided that it might be alright for the two nights though and we finished checking in. After spending a few minutes poking around the place we realized how unromantic this place really was. There were holes in the window screens, the king bed was two twins next to each other, the toilet was leaking and all the decor was really outdated and starting to show a whole lot of wear. Matt was distressed. This was not the way we pictured spending this part of the trip. This was supposed to be the holiday within the holiday, the time to recoup and refresh before hitting the cities again and getting by on a simpler budget. He went to talk to the hotel manager and called our friend Joe. We also took a wander over to the hotel across the street - Thanthip Villa.
Thanthip Villa was a much calmer establishment with a really nice pool, better facilities and after taking a look at three different ones, much better rooms. We negotiated with them to get one of their best rooms, with private pool access for two nights for a bit of a discounted price and then just had to deal with getting our money back from Eden Bungalows. Matt worked his magic and managed to get back almost all we had paid with a "compensation amount" of 500 Baht negotiated for Eden Bungalow and their "troubles".
Thanthip Villas was what we needed and that evening we went for a cheeky dip in the pool which is a priviledge only granted to those people staying in the 4 rooms with private pool access. In the morning we did some more swimming in our pool and then hit the beach.
There we began to find out a little bit more about what makes Patong Beach tick. Everywhere we went we noticed that about every 5 minutes on the beach someone is looking to sell you some sunglasses, trinkets, parasailing, jet ski rentals, etc. This didin't stop us from taking a little dip in the massive waves of the Andaman Sea. The hawkers would leave us alone there.
After wave wrestling we decided to take in some of the town. We had no idea that Patong Beach was basically a mini Bangkok with hawkers at every corner, storefront and stall asking, "tuk tuk?", "taxi?", "watch?", "hammock?", "t-shirt?", "DVD?". Now, what individual is going to all of a sudden stop and be like, "Holy Bologna - thank goodness you asked! I am totally in the need of a bootlegged DVD and a hammock to hang in my hotel room! You sir, are a lifesaver!". I am not trying to knock anyone trying to make living, but I can't help but feel that more people would buy these items if the shops perhaps varied their selections from the merchant selling the exact same items next door and if people weren't hounded to cough up their holiday spend money. The tactics were varied too, with many holding out their hands to shake. They realized their mistake in doing this to Matt who would then look at them, nay, stare, and ask whether they wanted to shake hands, make friends, get to know us better, perhaps invite us out for dinner, or whether the shaking was merely a precursor to an attempted sell. Reading this you have to realize that shaking 50 clamy hands per street is not going to ingratiate you to even the most ardent of vacationer. The best way to walk through the mass of touts was simply to completely ignore them. When in Thailand, do as the Thais do.
After wandering through the streets for another hour or so we decided to head back to our hotel, but no sooner were we on our way when were stopped by a British girl handing out scratch cards. We tried to walk fast, but she followed along side and promised that all we had to do was scratch and if we won, we won. If not, we could move on. Well of course, Matt's ticket is a "BIG WINNER" (one of seven fantabulous prizes!). She explained that we would need to go on to a short time share meeting where we would learn about a new resort hotel on the island, could use the facilities for a bit and claim Matt's prize. She also explained that she would get a commision if we did this. She explained that she and her boyfriend used up their money in Thailand and that they were not stuck trying to bring people in to this new resort to save enough money to get to Melbourne where they would be looking for jobs and starting a new life. Her boyfriend then came along and they were all excited that Matt's ticket was going to get them some more money towards their plane tickets, etc. Well, now we felt bad and wanted to help them out so we went along to the office to fill our some paperwork and take the ride to the resort.
The car ride there was pleasant enough and we saw some of the other beaches along the way which was nice. When we actually go to the "resort" though there was not much to see and it seemed as if they were quite surprised to see us. They kept us waiting for awhile and we could hear some people arguing over what we could only imagine was our arrival. Finally a lady came over and apologized that no one was actually around to give us a tour, but that Matt and I could still claim our prizes. I had won a beach bag and Matt's ticket revealed he had won.... (drum roll, please) A DREAM VACATION! Problem was the dream vacaction consisted of a 5 night stay at their resort where you had to pay a $50 administration fee, provide your own transportation to and from the airport, pay for your own flights and you had to use the voucher within 6 months with at least 3 months notice of your desired dates. We got back in the cab and once again bowed our heads at the scams penetrating not only Thai society, but now even the ex-pats who stay there. I hope they got their money. Our loss, in real terms was another sensation of disappointment, forfeiting about 90 minutes of out "dream honeymoon" and another tick against Thailand.
After that incident, we decided that Thanthip was our haven and that sitting by the pool there and in our very nice room was a sure fire way to make it a honeymoon experience. We headed out when we had to for dinner that evening, but the next day hung around the pool. Patong Beach was also wildly expensive to eat out which we could not quite understand since Bangkok was very cheap and there was so much competition in the area that you would assume it would drive the prices down a bit. We did a little searching for a reasonable place with good food and we came upon Wai Thai. A little place on the beach.
This place had well priced food and drinks and a very nice location away from the madness of the main drag. It ended up being one of the highlights of our Patong Beach experience. We both just wished we'd put together a sign that said "We don't and won't buy anything, leave us alone, PLEASE".
After dinner we went to check out some of the nightlife around Patong Beach as we had been keeping it low key for the first couple nights and we knew that we were going to be resort confined for the next 3 days. We found a large place recommended by our British "friends" called "Aussie Bar" and a little night club called the "White Room". We hung out around there for a bit and then headed back for our last night in our little Thanthip Villa haven before heading out to Le Meridien for 3 nights starting the following morning - thanks Jes!
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