Hi All,
We have now been joined by Ross' old friend Sean in Phuket. Thankfully he managed to make it to Thailand in one piece and didn’t end up in Taiwan where he initially thought he was going! Ross met him at the airport with his birthday present - a pair of baggy and bright paisley trousers (wrapped in newspaper of course) to welcome him as an honorary backpacker.
Based in Phuket town, we have spent the last few days eating, drinking and visiting a new beach each day by local bus. We’ve had fantastic red crab curry, slow cooked Thai style pork, tempura prawns/ crabs, mango with coconut sticky rice and the not so authentic (but very delicious) choc chip cookies with ice-cream.
Busy Kata Beach was where we spent our first day just swimming and relaxing. The next we visited equally as crowded Patong Beach. Tempted with parasailing but alarmed by the price, we decided to have a go on the ‘storm’ - a round inflatable sofa pulled by a speed boat. In an attempt to push Danielle off, Sean ended up in the water himself, frantically swimming after the boat! That evening we gingerly ventured to Bangla Road - most famously known for its ‘shows’ and go go dancers. It certainly lived up to its reputation. After a couple of beers, we had seen all we wanted to (and more) so headed back around 11 through the huge crowds.
We spent our final day exploring quirky Phuket town. The boys were excited to collect their tailor made suits. Ross had opted for grey with a silk patterned lining while Sean chose navy lined with blue and gold paisley- both looked very suave. As well as noseying around each of the little boutiques and cafes, we also took a long walk to see the monastery and golden Buddha that overlooked the city. Back in the main town that evening, we stumbled across a local music, art and culture festival. On one stage a live band was playing out of tune covers, then it became increasingly bizarre from there. Around the corner was a pen of sheep and a singular cow (who the boys named T-bone) alongside a fancy retro car; we are still clueless to as why they were there. On the second stage, a live auction was taking place selling oil paintings. Then third and final stage belted our pop music while 5 and 6 year old girls strutted on the stage modelling their crop tops and fish net tights. The ballet performances that followed were much cuter. We watched all this with a selection of street food, including yummy pork dumplings, from the various food vendors.
Next stop Phi Phi island. The view from our resort was absolutely incredible. We were thankful to have chosen somewhere so beautiful out of the touristy town centre but only a short walk from the amazing nightly fire show. We woke up each morning overlooking the azure waters of the bay below. As if breakfast in a spectacular setting wasn’t enough, it was made even better on ‘Sean’s Birthday’. Having said it was his birthday that day to get the rooms with the best views, the staff surprised us with cake and flower garlands. We all suppressed our laughter and thanked them as Sean blushed like a ‘cooked prawn’; something a local subsequently described him as because of his Brit abroad sun-burnt skin.
We set off in the opposite direction to town through the jungle for an hour to reach a secluded beach with a reef for snorkelling. The sheer number of fish and beautiful corals were worth not only the walk but the long swim through very shallow rocky water to reach the reef. Sean on the other hand wasn’t so impressed and found the huge school of fish swimming round his head pretty overwhelming. We all enjoyed relaxing on the beautiful beaches though, both here and in Phi Phi town.
The boys, who had got it in their heads, were on the hunt for a deep sea fishing trip. They came up trumps and managed to charter a private speed boat for the morning with two fisherman. 4 hours and around 30 reef fish (grouper, coral fish and mullet), 3 large trevally fish and a beast of a barracuda later, we returned to shore pretty proud of ourselves (apologies vegetarian friends). Reeling in the 80(ish)cm barracuda, affectionately named Barry by Ross and Sean, was certainly the highlight of the morning and had us all shocked by the sheer weight of it. The 3 large fish were caught by trolling with rubber squid lures, while the smaller ones and the barracuda were caught with fishing rods and bait over the side of the boat. The staff at the hotel were surprised by how much we had caught and all jumped in to help Ross descale and fillet the bucket of smaller ones. They let us use the kitchen to pan fry half of them which made for a very tasty lunch served with salad and fried rice. The resort restaurant then cooked the rest of the smaller fillets in a delicious, zesty, lemongrass tom yum soup which we had for dinner. Absolutely stuffed, we decided to take the barracuda and 2 remaining trevally with us to our next stop... Railey beach.
That’s all from us for now, hopefully we will have another post up shortly with an update on how Barry turned out on the BBQ.
Love R, D and S xxx
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