Alison: Phuket is a huge island off the west coast of Thailand and, like Phi Phi, was effected by the tsunami. Any damage caused has now been repaired and the island is now very built up and touristy. Although the beach could be potentially beautiful, it is absolutely packed with sun loungers and hundreds of people are crowded on to it. Instead of the lovely secluded island feel, it just feels like you are in a sleazy Spanish resort! For this reason, Phuket is our least favourite Thai beach destination. We couldn't really face squeezing on to the beach so we checked in to a reasonably priced hotel with a swimming pool. It was a very peculiar place. On our first morning at the pool we noticed that the only other people there were old German men. And they all seemed to know each other. And they all had attractive young Thai girlfriends!! Over the time we were there we did see a few other backpackers but in general it was an older crowd of Germans who seemed to be residents there. Our next door neighbour was the best. He was very camp! He wore denim hot pants and had a Harley Davidson with leather studded accessories. He had also painted his outside light pink! Despite his campness, he had regular visits from Thai ladies in the evening...well I think they were ladies!

We spent my birthday in Phuket and we had a fun filled day! First on the agenda was an oil massage. Due to the general sleaziness of the place it was difficult to find a massage parlour that looked like it didn't offer any 'extras' so to speak. We eventually found one that looked professional and had reasonable prices too. The massage was quite an experience though and left me wondering if we had indeed wondered in to a dodgy one! I've never had quite so much of my body massaged before! Enough said I think. In the evening we went out for a nice meal together and then went to an Irish bar which had a live band playing. The lead singer played the guitar and he was amazing. He didn't have a list of songs to follow, he relied on the crowd to make requests. Virtually every song he could play. It was a really good night. Unfortunately, we decided when we got back to the hotel that we would have a midnight dip. Even more unfortunately, we lost the keys to our room in the pool! Reception was now closed and so we had to search the pool in the dark. Somebody must have been looking over us because the moon shone down and we actually managed to see the keys shimmering on the bottom of the pool. I won't forget that birthday in a hurry!!