Lay Zee Day in Phuket

MONDAY

Today was scheduled to be a downtime day. Turns out to be a great decision. Rich started feeling poorly last night and really needs to rest. We are supposed to go on a "refresher" dive tomorrow in order to be ready for our liveaboard boat, but now we are thinking that we should probably cancel that so that Rich can completely recover before the liveaboard. No big deal, really - non of us were too keen on doing the refresher. In the meantime, I am popping antibiotics in hopes to ward off the evil illness. (got to love Thai pharmacies - you can walk in and get amoxicillin over the counter!)

We all decide to mosey out on our street to scrounge for breakfast. Janel suggests that we stop at a cute place close to our guesthouse that serves "Breakfart." We decline.

enlarge this pic to read the sign

We walk down the road aways and choose a really tiny restaurant that is empty. Looks like our kind of place. Janel asks them to make her a fruit shake with Dragon Fruit, banana, pineapple and lime. It is delicious.

Beautiful Dragon Fruit

We sit and enjoy our breakfast while doing some serious people watching (and bashing). Janel quips that most tourists here are "offensively uncool." It appears to be somewhat true. From what we see, the tourists here in Phuket are overweight, sloppy and decidedly not having any fun. We wonder why they are here.

These tourists are having fun

Oh well, we enjoy guessing about the lives of the passersby and acting like we know what we are doing here.

Cool or uncool?

On the way to breakfast we found an open air tailor shop where Janel drops off a dress she purchased in Chaing Mai. It needs a few minor alterations and somehow we manage to communicate what we want. (mom - you would love to see all the tailor shops here where they will make you a complete suit in 24 hours!). They understood the word "dart" so we are confident it will be done correctly. We are supposed to pick up the dress around 6pm - we think.

Since we have only seen the beach here at night (during our black tour), we decide that we should walk down and have a look. We have chosen not to stay on the beach here in Karon since it is very expensive and we will be spending a week on the beach in Koh Lanta later. Therefore, it is a bit of a hot hike to see the water. The vibe at the beach is not one we are used to. It is really more like Waikiki than what I would have expected. Lots of really sunbaked tourists, trinket shops, and loads of chairs and umbrellas. Not really our scene, but the people watching is great.

Miles of umbrellas

Pretty, but crowded

We stroll the beach for a little bit and then return to our guesthouse for the a/c, napping and blogging since we are so far behind in the blog. The remainder of the day is very lazy. We read, we blog, we nap, we swim, we turn in laundry (yeah!).

productive day

oh yeah, tv too

Janel and I are a bit hungry and go downstairs to the restaurant to scope it our. We haven't eaten here and there are never any customers so we are skeptical. However, it is really hot (did I mention the heat, yet?) and we don't want to venture far so we decided to look at the menu. We order the deep fried prawns and a noodle dish with chicken and greens. Since there are no customers everything is made fresh to order. It is delicious!! We eat it all up like we are starving and then order a second plate of noodles "to go" so we can take them up to Rich in his room. He loves it and scarfs it up.

After some more pool lounging it is time to head into the next town - Kata Beach. We are supposed to meet up with Janel's landlord to pay him the rent on her house in person. Since it is around 6, I head out to the tailor to see if Janel's dress is ready. They have just finished it - looks perfect and then she even irons it in front of me. Total cost - 60bht ($1.50).

Porn Laundry & Tailor (yes, Porn) (no, not x-rated)

We snag a taxi outside our guest house and zoom off towards the Kata Beach Resort where we meet Janel's landlord (John). She conducts business and we are through. Kata Beach seems to be a little more populated than where we are staying in Karon. It is still a bit strange, though with tourists just kind of idly wandering and not looking very happy.

Suddenly Janel gasps! She has found the illusive Mangosteen fruit!! I have heard of it from a friend who has been to Thailand. Janel has told us that mangosteen is the most delicious thing she has ever tasted. We have been looking for them, but were told they were not in season. I was so disappointed that I thought I wasn't going to get to try them. And then - there they were right in front of us. Oh yes - we would like some, please!

Mangosteen (the purple fruit)

We puchase 2 of them and ask the proprietor to open them for us. They are really strange-looking inside. They are all purple with a few precious white pieces that you consume.

Getting the goods

Only the white part is edib le

Wow! They are super succulent. Can't eve describe the taste. I know I am going to want to be on the lookout for more. Great find.

With renewed energy we are now ready to wander. We want to find the bar/restaurant that belongs to our new friend, Lek, from our bike ride. We kind of know where it is, but not exactly. We wander for a while and try to remember if anything looks familiar.

Finally there is a side street that Rich thinks he remembers travelling when we were coming home from the bike trip. Ok - we'll try it. We wander up one side for a while, dodging vendors/hawkers trying to get us to shop/eat in their place or maybe to order a tailor made outfit. They are not really very agressive, just a bit annoying. Nothing looks too familiar around here and the few people we ask have not heard of Lek's Bar. We dedide to turn around and try the next street over. Just then across the street we spy Lek waving and shouting at us! We found it! He welcomes us in to his place.

We found out that Lek is a musician who has played in a lot of different cover bands. He is very proud of the music mix that is played at his place and has lots of rock music memorabilia on the walls. His wife is the chef and his children tend the bar. Rich and Janel order a caphirina which is a drink made with rum, lime and brown sugar. Janel notes that Lek's little girl is making the drinks! I have a Planter's Punch. The drinks are yummy and Lek visits our table frequently between helping all his other tables. We are sitting at a table streetside and enjoy the people watching once again.

Caphirinas at Lek's place

Finally we decided to order some food. Lek recommends the fresh spring rolls, chicken satay and duck with tamarind sauce. They are all yummy and get munched right away. It is around 9pm and we had planned to hit up Patong tonight so we ask Lek how to get transportation. He quickly snags his son to drive us there for 300bht. Pretty steep - but we have heard that tuk-tuks/taxis are extremely expensive in Phuket. We have even heard the term "Tuk-Tuk Mafia" which suggests that the drivers all get together and jack up their prices just because they can. Anyway, we say farewell to Lek and jump in the car.

We have all heard of Patong in Phuket. It is really the "hub" of the tourist areas and can be a place that is really wild. We are not too sure what to expect, but we have heard that it is kind of a sleazy "must see." Ok - we are game. We get dropped off on the famous Bang La walking street. Wow - as soon as we step out of the car our senses are assaulted. The neon is blinding and the throngs of people are amazing.

Just a glimpse of the insanity that is Patong

We are not really sure what to think so we basically stand around with our mouths hanging open trying not to look like tourists (yeah, right). There are old men with young Thai girls on their arms, there are loads and loads of bars with tables of one young guy surrounded by several beautiful Thai girls (or Ladyboys maybe), there are gorgeous Thai girls/Ladyboys dressed to kill dancing on open bars and then there are "lookie lous" like us who can't believe what they have stumbled upon. The vibe is kind of sleazy, but not uncomfortable.

Patong Patong

What is everybody doing here?

In addition to all the bars and such, there is a a ton of shopping. There are shops upon shops where you can buy fake designer bags, shoes and clothes. The hawkers try to entice you to come in and the signs are in your face.

Whaa?

sort of makes sense now

Of course, no real tourist destination would be complete without a McDonalds. I was very intrigued with the statue of Ronald doing the Wai.

Doin' the Wai

We stopped wherever a group gathered to watch the goings on. Especially intersting were the bars that showcased groups of Ladyboys dancing. They don't really "dance," they just kind of sway a little and try to entice people to come in to the bar. It is hard to explain the concept of Ladyboys (or Kathoeys) and I don't pretend to understand. I suggest you look it up from the link above. Be careful if you choose to search on "ladyboy" - who knows what you will come up with. You have been warned!

Yes, these are boys

Boys or girls? This guy is not certain either!

Sea of people in Patong

We stroll into a side street of bars and see people engaged in a game of "hammer the nail." From what we can tell the players put down $ and each have a nail that is just barely started into a large block of wood. Everyone gets a chance to hammer his nail in completely. The person who does it in the least amount of strokes wins the money. Don't worry - we didn't try it.

"I can hammer this nail in 3 strokes"

It was in this area that Janel makes a great find - the elusive "Matched Set." For those of you who are unaware. A Matched Set is a couple (usually found in Waikiki) that is walking together and are dressed in matching aloha shirt/mu-mu). Once spotted, they are then dubbed "Mr and Mrs John Deere." We play this game of "Find the Matched Set" every time we go through The Keys (Waikiki) when we are in Hawaii. We are usually pretty successful at that venue. But in Phuket? We weren't even thinking about it when up they popped. Wow - call National Geographic!

Mr and Mrs John Deere

Patong is getting more interesting by the minute. Of course, the things we find interested other people just would not understand. Like when I looked up and there it was - the PHUKET FANTASEA!!! You KNOW I was calling it the correct name - POOket Fantasea. . .

It's the POOket Fantasea (don't even go there)

We are about to wind down our evening when we make the final (and maybe the most impressive) sighting of the evening. Remember the Mullet guy from a couple of days ago that Janel and I were making so much fun of? Who would have believed we see him in Patong. We trailed him for a couple of blocks and then snapped these photos just for you guys.

Mullet on the move

Still tailing him

The money shot

One of our proudest moments of the day - getting the Mullet man's photo. We decided he looks like Dee Snyder of the band Twisted Sister. What do you think?

We grab a tuk-tuk and head for home. We plan on relaxing again tomorrow since today was so hard on us.