Phuket

Our master bedroom at the hotel room.

This past weekend, a group of four teachers, including myself, travelled to the south of Thailand to visit Phuket.  While there, one of the teachers ran a half marathon (and placed very well).  We were fortunate to be able to stay at a very luxurious hotel (the Best Western) in the Laguna resort area.  I was not being sarcastic; our two hotel rooms were joined by a set of in-wall doors, and we were privileged to a living room, television, dining set, and small kitchen.  We even got the luxury of a fridge with freezer, which is something we’ve had to go without so far, even at our apartment.

 We made this trip once again by plane, which is far more convenient than it would be to drive or train.  The flight was once again short, just over an hour.  The night that we arrived, we were all very hungry from rushing to the airport directly after school.  We were shocked to discover that Phuket does not have near the amount of 7 Elevens that one would find in Bangkok, or any of the other places we have visited so far.  We checked into our rooms and asked the front desk where we could find something to eat.  By that time, it was nearly 11 o’clock, and the hotel restaurants were beginning to close.  The hotel directed us to another hotel, and we were able to take the free Laguna shuttle there.  Unfortunately, we seemed to have been sent on a wild goose chase, because we wandered the other hotel for nearly an hour (it was huge and complicated to navigate), and never came across any place that served food.  We went back to our hotel room disappointed and hungry, and ended up raiding the mini fridge supply of ramen noodles. 

Our lovely hotel kitchen (complete with granite tops!)

The next morning, the continental breakfast we had MORE than made up for our disappointment the night before.  We gorged ourselves on freshly made French toast, bacon and eggs, fruit, pastries, and traditional Thai breakfast (normal supper foods).  I even had black tea with milk and sugar, which was a huge treat.  The buffet reminded me somewhat of Aalto’s in Winnipeg, and what made it better was that it was entirely free.  That meal put me in a good mood very quickly. 

After breakfast, we began to lounge by the hotel pool (which had a very nice view onto the lagoon).  At one point, I made the small walk to the actual beach, but was disappointed to find out that the waves were too hazardous for swimming.  Phuket had apparently just been hit by a storm a few days prior, and the beach was covered in garbage.  Many umbrellas that were rooted deep into the ground were also uplifted.  It was unfortunate that we could not spend time on the beach, or do any of the water sports that we had been planning.  It was very lucky, however, that our hotel was so nice and pleasant to stay at. 

The beach.

For lunch, we took advantage of the hotel stovetop (while avoiding the overpriced hotel food), by making pasta with sauce.  It was nothing fancy, but still kind of a treat because it had been so long since we had anything close to spaghetti.  It felt weird to be able to make your own meal after eating street food for so long.

 

The waves were huge.

Later that day, we caught a very overpriced taxi to Patong, a small town nearby.  Everything in Phuket was much more tourist-oriented than what we had experienced prior, and the prices of everything were much higher than what we were used to.  We spent some time at the mall in Patong, and ventured a little bit into the markets around the area.  I felt a lot more uncomfortable in those markets than any others I have been to, because the vendors seemed a lot more desperate to sell their merchandise.  They were much more pushy and abrasive than any I had met before.  I speculate that they may be desperate due to the flooding Thailand recently experienced, which may have devastated their business and income.  Overall, I did not really feel comfortable shopping in the markets, and did not buy anything there. 

The next day in Phuket, we really just relaxed.  There was not a whole lot for us to do, so we enjoyed another amazing breakfast and spent time lazing by the pool.  I got a fair bit of reading done both of the days.  In the late afternoon, we had lunch at a restaurant and got dropped off at a national park very close to the airport.  The beach there was unfortunately quite dirty as well, although the waves were calm enough to allow for swimming.  There were also a large number of wild dogs at that beach.  We waited around in the park, keeping ourselves amused, until it was time to go to the airport and catch our flight.  Overall, this was one of our more uneventful weekends.  I don’t know that I need to go back to Phuket, but I do not regret the experience, and it was rather relaxing.