Phuket Preview

Phuket was so much better this time round! I did less and enjoyed more. It changed a bit since the last time I was there - bigger stages and more entertainment and more malls. Some things didn't change though - people asking you if you wanted a massage or tuk-tuks, the number of ang-mohs with Thai girls dangling off their arms and the warm and friendly demeanor of the Thais.

Also the plentiful lady-boys. If there are this many guys who want to be girls, there must be many repressed people in the world!

Patong is a wonderful place to discover. It seems straight-forward enough when you first get there. Finding your way around is easy and transport is available at all hours of the day. Most of the happening places (Bangla Street arhm) are within walking distance. However, it's the "hidden" treasures and allure was not (just) bars armed with cheap alcohol and good music, but the people.

There was the auntie in-charge of the seafood place who preferred to be called "auntie" instead of "sister" and has a Teochew grandfather. (She also attempted to converse with us with a few words of Teochew.) The tranny who started off in massage but switched to doing hair because her boyfriend who was from some Middle Eastern country didn't want her touching other guys. The "captain" of our raft who joked incessantly with us and paddled into rocks so that we bounced off them and U-turned sharply and ended up rushing downstream, backwards.

I really need to be there more often.

This time round it Si Hua, Sequeena and I went for dinner at various places, chilled out at Patong beach, went white water rafting, dipped in a waterfall, tried roadside stalls, played UNO, camwhored, watched the rain from our room while being distracted by the TV showing Hancock, shopped in malls and bargained in stalls... We were kept on our toes all the time literally and figuratively, smelling unfamiliar scents, taking in the sight of unfamiliar streets, tasting unfamiliar food, feeling unfamiliar textures.

Anyway, some photos from Sequeena's marvelous 2nd-hand DSLR:





















I had great fun. Hopefully I will find the energy to blog about it proper instead of turning it into a picspam like my Jakarta trip!

Also a shoutout to Si Hua and Sequeena - you guys made everything awesome. THANK YOU!