We were awoken at 5am rudely by thai's shouting 'GET OUT GET OUT, Surat Thani, get your bags get out!' So we had arrived at Surat Thani safely enough after our lovely night boat! We were then rudely ushered into a tuk tuk where they tried to cram 8 of us, plus all our bags into the back and then were dropped off at an equally rude travel agents where I was told off for not leaving my shoes on the right hand side of the door - because I was supposed to know that?! And was told after transferring my sticker onto my t-shirt as it wouldn't stick to my arm 'NO! Sticker on arm, not t-shirt!' So this was all between 5am and 7am! Chandler and I went to 7-11 for breakfast cheese toasties while we waited til 7am for our bus to Phuket, it was then a very long 5hrs until our arrival at Phuket, during which they proceeded to blast out a film in Thai at full volume for half the journey.
Upon arrival we were ushered into a minivan to Patong Beach - as our bus was headed to Phuket Town - and another half hr later we arrived! We got dropped at the place Devyn's friend had told us about, Sawasdee Mansions, where we managed to get a room for 600 baht (200 each) with aircon, tv, private bathroom etc - we aren't doing too badly on this accommodation front!
We then went for lunch and just chilled until Devyn arrived and went out for a meal at this awesome Biker dude's restaurant that was Harley Davidson themed after which we booked our trip for the next day to James Bond Island! After that we decided to head to Patong Beach's main draw - Bangla Road! Bangla road is basically a Khao San road, but bigger and seedier! And boy it did not disappoint, it was like a mini-vegas! The only downside was that literally every bar and club was a strip club, GoGo bar, or Ping Pong show! So we walked up and down, to admire the absolute riot that it was, had a couple of drinks in a couple of bars. And then, as the girls hadn't seen one yet, and we were in Patong, THE place to do it...we went to a Ping Pong Show! Ahhh yes, my 2nd one and it was just as eye-opening as the first, though a lot less seedier than the one in Bangkok I went to with Laura and Laith on my first trip to Thailand! Then after the delights of a woman...playing Ping Pong in areas she shouldn't, we figured that was enough for tonight so we went on home!
The next day we were picked up from our hotel and had a long drive to PhangNga on the mainland where we were to start our day long boat trip. First we were taken through Phang Nga National park, which is kinda like Halong Bay in Vietnam, loads of amazing karsts jutting out of the green sea. Then we went to some cave, which we had opted out of kayaking into to save 50baht, then we wanted to do it and they were gonna charge us 300baht EACH. But we were told by our travel agent we booked with that even if we didn't kayak we'd still get to go through the cave...but alas we didn't so we tried complaining but that didn't work, so we'd try complaining again tonight! So, instead, we piled onto a floating 2 story dock and drank our welcome juice/tea while others chose their blow up 2-3 person canoe captained by a local Thai guy and took it through the cave.
After, it was time to make our way to James Bond Island, the one used in 'The Man with the Golden Gun'. Once there we had half an hour to take pictures and admire it from the beach, it was tourist central and we had a hard time trying not to get other people in our pictures but we managed. Obviously we took some jump photos too! We then climbed into some caves for some more photos.
Lunchtime arrived where we moored up onto a floating muslim community, kind of like the floating community in Halong Bay, it was all looking very similar! We shared a table with 2 guys from Morrocco and the Asian family from our bus and enjoyed a delicious meal of chicken and veggie stir-fry, rice, fried chicken and shrimp tempura, and a bamboo, fish and vegetable soup. It was then time to head back to the dock from which we came and drive to our final destination on our trip which was Monkey Cave, where dozens of wild monkeys roamed around eating bananas or peanuts and providing lots of entertainment for the mass of tourists!
We started off by just admiring the monkeys and then decided to get a little closer to take pictures amongst them. While I was about to have my picture taken in said way, all of a sudden a little monkey just jumped right up onto my knee and started climbing up me! Obviously I was very concerned about rabies and was pretty scared, but then I noticed why this little critter had climbed me - he was thirsty! The little bubba had wrapped his hands around the water bottle I was carrying in my arm and was pulling quite persistently, looking up at me with his little rabies eyes! lol So being the incredibly kind person I am, I then gently lowered the water bottle onto the ground, whilst little monkey slowly crept down and then when he reached the lowered water bottle, he instantly tried to snap the lid off, but failed, so I did it for him! I then tipped it a little for him to start drinking, but he was so thirsty that after a while this was not enough for him so I simply just let him push it over and he slurped away! Once I'd walked away he then decided to drag the bottle away from other thirsty monkeys which tons of people found hilarious and continued to sip on until it was empty!
We then went into the cave, which wasn't all that and left on our journey back to the hotel. After getting back we went to freshen up and then went for an expensive splurge at Hard Rock Cafe and perused the night markets. We went back to the travel agent to complain but got no where so took our customs elsewhere for booking our tickets to Phi Phi. Turns out the morning ferry we wanted tomorrow was fully booked, so we opted for the afternoon ferry instead! So excited...I'm going back to PHI PHI BITCH!
Upon arrival we were ushered into a minivan to Patong Beach - as our bus was headed to Phuket Town - and another half hr later we arrived! We got dropped at the place Devyn's friend had told us about, Sawasdee Mansions, where we managed to get a room for 600 baht (200 each) with aircon, tv, private bathroom etc - we aren't doing too badly on this accommodation front!
We then went for lunch and just chilled until Devyn arrived and went out for a meal at this awesome Biker dude's restaurant that was Harley Davidson themed after which we booked our trip for the next day to James Bond Island! After that we decided to head to Patong Beach's main draw - Bangla Road! Bangla road is basically a Khao San road, but bigger and seedier! And boy it did not disappoint, it was like a mini-vegas! The only downside was that literally every bar and club was a strip club, GoGo bar, or Ping Pong show! So we walked up and down, to admire the absolute riot that it was, had a couple of drinks in a couple of bars. And then, as the girls hadn't seen one yet, and we were in Patong, THE place to do it...we went to a Ping Pong Show! Ahhh yes, my 2nd one and it was just as eye-opening as the first, though a lot less seedier than the one in Bangkok I went to with Laura and Laith on my first trip to Thailand! Then after the delights of a woman...playing Ping Pong in areas she shouldn't, we figured that was enough for tonight so we went on home!
The next day we were picked up from our hotel and had a long drive to PhangNga on the mainland where we were to start our day long boat trip. First we were taken through Phang Nga National park, which is kinda like Halong Bay in Vietnam, loads of amazing karsts jutting out of the green sea. Then we went to some cave, which we had opted out of kayaking into to save 50baht, then we wanted to do it and they were gonna charge us 300baht EACH. But we were told by our travel agent we booked with that even if we didn't kayak we'd still get to go through the cave...but alas we didn't so we tried complaining but that didn't work, so we'd try complaining again tonight! So, instead, we piled onto a floating 2 story dock and drank our welcome juice/tea while others chose their blow up 2-3 person canoe captained by a local Thai guy and took it through the cave.
After, it was time to make our way to James Bond Island, the one used in 'The Man with the Golden Gun'. Once there we had half an hour to take pictures and admire it from the beach, it was tourist central and we had a hard time trying not to get other people in our pictures but we managed. Obviously we took some jump photos too! We then climbed into some caves for some more photos.
Lunchtime arrived where we moored up onto a floating muslim community, kind of like the floating community in Halong Bay, it was all looking very similar! We shared a table with 2 guys from Morrocco and the Asian family from our bus and enjoyed a delicious meal of chicken and veggie stir-fry, rice, fried chicken and shrimp tempura, and a bamboo, fish and vegetable soup. It was then time to head back to the dock from which we came and drive to our final destination on our trip which was Monkey Cave, where dozens of wild monkeys roamed around eating bananas or peanuts and providing lots of entertainment for the mass of tourists!
We started off by just admiring the monkeys and then decided to get a little closer to take pictures amongst them. While I was about to have my picture taken in said way, all of a sudden a little monkey just jumped right up onto my knee and started climbing up me! Obviously I was very concerned about rabies and was pretty scared, but then I noticed why this little critter had climbed me - he was thirsty! The little bubba had wrapped his hands around the water bottle I was carrying in my arm and was pulling quite persistently, looking up at me with his little rabies eyes! lol So being the incredibly kind person I am, I then gently lowered the water bottle onto the ground, whilst little monkey slowly crept down and then when he reached the lowered water bottle, he instantly tried to snap the lid off, but failed, so I did it for him! I then tipped it a little for him to start drinking, but he was so thirsty that after a while this was not enough for him so I simply just let him push it over and he slurped away! Once I'd walked away he then decided to drag the bottle away from other thirsty monkeys which tons of people found hilarious and continued to sip on until it was empty!We then went into the cave, which wasn't all that and left on our journey back to the hotel. After getting back we went to freshen up and then went for an expensive splurge at Hard Rock Cafe and perused the night markets. We went back to the travel agent to complain but got no where so took our customs elsewhere for booking our tickets to Phi Phi. Turns out the morning ferry we wanted tomorrow was fully booked, so we opted for the afternoon ferry instead! So excited...I'm going back to PHI PHI BITCH!
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