Phuket – An island of persistant merchants, Thai massages, and, of course, Thai Ladyboys

Ali and I had been wanting to go to Thailand for a long time now. Ali was first excited by the idea of Thailand in highschool and ever since had been wanting to see the country firsthand. Thailand is known for its beaches, full moon parties, massages, shopping, and (in the north mainly) its temples. Tourists going to Thailand go for very different reasons than tourists going to Malaysia, so we were kinda excited to meet new people and see a new country with a different vibe.

Our flight left Kuala Lumpur at 7:30am and arrived in Phuket at 7:50am. There was a time change, as Thailand is an hour behind Malaysia in most places. The guy beside us on the plane, Adam, was also hoping to go to the backpackers’ area – Patong – so we agreed to get a taxi or bus together. He had an iphone which was actually super handy for looking up a suitable hostel. After an hour, 300 Baht ($1CAD = 30 Baht), mini bus ride from the airport to Patong we arrived at our hostel, Patong Backpacker’s Hostel, and the three of us found a room. It was a pretty nice hostel – air-conditioning, wifi, a kitchen, and a great location (right across the road from the beach). Adam started talking to a girl in the hostel, Simone, so he invited her to come get breakfast with us. The four of us searched for a good restaurant for a while and finally found one that was up to Adam’s standards! Haha! Ali and I ordered a traditional Thai breakfast – a kind of vegetable noodle soup with FAR too much ginger. Not that enjoyable. After breakfast we decided to try to get traditional Thai massages since Ali and I had never had one. We found a massage parlor in the bottom of the mall, paid 300 Baht each for the hour, and felt totally relaxed afterward. We grabbed ice cream (of course!) and walked back to the hostel for a bit, and spent some time relaxing. For dinner Ali and I decided to eat in the “food court” in the basement of the mall since it was the least expensive place we could find (Phuket is kinda expensive by Thai standards). We both ordered Pad Thai. It was during that meal that I realized I really don’t like Pad Thai, haha! We then went back to the hostel to use internet and go to sleep early.

I woke up at 6am the next morning feeling really nauseous, dizzy, and had a bad headache. I spent the next couple hours in pain in the common room with a garbage can beside me and the toilet not far away. I didn’t feel well for most of the day but I still managed to hang out on the beach with Ali, and do a little bit of shopping around town. Dinner was again in the food court – I did NOT get Pad Thai again (although Ali did – she’s OBSESSED with Pad Thai!). On the way back from the mall we stopped at a local jewellery stall to buy some rings. Ali and I wanted to buy two each, but the prices were far too expensive for us. This was our first real experience with haggling with the vendors. The price started at 3800 Baht for 4 rings, but we got the shop owner down to 1800 Baht after about 20 minutes. We went to grab the money to pay her and realized that we only had about 1300 Baht on us! We told her that was all we had. She wanted us to go get more, she felt our bags for coins, and she was really upset that we did not have enough. We ended up telling her that she could take it or leave it at 1300 Baht because we were not going to get any more money. She finally gave in so we got the rings for a reasonable price after all. Successful haggling! That night, since I was feeling a bit better, we decided we should check out the Phuket night scene. After all, Phuket is known for its ladyboys (don’t know what a Thai ladyboy is? Read the next post for more information), so we wanted to experience that part of the culture firsthand. We headed out with Simone, grabbed a table at the bar, and let the people watching begin. There were many ladyboys in extravagant outfits, drunk tourists, and camera happy Japanese all around us. We did not stay out long as I was still not feeling well and we were hoping to catch a bus to the ferry in the morning. Around midnight we went back to the hostel, packed, and got ready to head out the next morning for Railay! Two days in Phuket was more than enough and we were excited to be leaving the busy, stressful, polluted city for a more peaceful area such a Railay.