Got a taxi for 800 baht to Patong which was about a
40 minute ride from the airport. Luckily no traffic so we made it to the hotel
in a jiffy(Surprisingly there were no multi-colored cabs like we see in
bangkok here in Phuket except the limos/reserved ones or the red open back type
jeepneys blasting latest chart toppers which are hiked up pricey depending on
your thai speaking skills)...
We booked out hotel on Agoda and since we all had
no idea about Phukhet, we were glad we booked Patong because it happened to be
the happening scene of Phuket with beach, night life and great choice of
restaurants. We arrived at about 6am at a small reception of the Paton Bay
Residence Hotel located right by the entrance and even though we had early
check in on our agoda settings, they were slightly hesitant on handing out our
room keys but seeing our half awake faces she were empathetic. The rooms were
ready and we got the keys and off we hit the beds right away. No such scenery
from the window but a lot of construction adjacent to our rooms on the 4th
floor. That morning we weren't bothered by the noise of the drilling at the
site as fatigue came in sooner than we imagined. We all slept till noon and
decided to freshen up and head out for lunch.
We came by a restaurant PS2 by a connected resort and
had some Thai Food and made out way to the Beach. On the way to the beach we
decided to book a tour for the next day to the islands. we chose Phi Phi
Islands from a local tour operator called Top 10 and paid 1300 Baht per person
to visit Phi Phi Islands+May Bay and Green Islands via Speed Boat starting at
8am inclusive of Lunch and return back in the evening with Hotel pick up and
drop off. We are not sure if we were ripped off on the price but we saw on the
brochure that it cost about 3000 Baht per person and we managed to get a good
deal for1300 baht. (Not sure if it was a good deal or not as we forgot to
ask the other passengers on the boat regarding their fare per person that
day)...
Then we headed towards Patong beach. A nice place
to walk around under the trees and the guys took a dip into the sea while I
took refuge under a palm tree watching them gleefully swim in the salty waters
under the scorching sun along with a few hundred other people on the beach as
well.
I slipped away from the hot sand under my feet in
search for bottle of water to drink but instead found myself walking
towards a blue ice cream lorry playing a creepy tune (the ones that play in
the movies and a clown is selling the ice cream) attracting people on the
beach as it moved along slowly up and down the beach pathway. I had a
plain choco bar and it sure tasted good after a really really really long
time.
The boys took a dip twice in the sea before calling
it quits for the day as the excitement meter was slightly falling due to the
hot sun and the salt in the water I guess. I was dressed in pants and hadn't
come ready to jump into the sea like them so was left along the sands people
watching and getting amazed at people and society...
The beach was mostly filled with foreigners (I
could identify a lot of Russian speaking tourists and Chinese tourists). I
didn’t expect a lot of Russians to be visiting Phuket so did a slight homework
research and found out that a lot of Russians have settled here in Phuket and
Pattaya after the Soviet Union with settled businesses and illegal operations
running in the market. It is said that Russian mafia runs alot of the
businesses here from restaurants, cafes, hotels to night clubs. Bangkok post
reported that Russians are involved here in Phuket with gambling, casino, money
laundering, buying national forests, luxury houses and real estates, and paying
off corrupt government officials and police individuals. The gang that is
prevalent here is called "Spachiba"...
