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After a very bumpy flight to Phuket we pushed past all the loud taxi drivers yelling at us and found a shuttle service for a more reasonable price. We piled into a tiny van with about ten others and headed for Karon beach. Half way down the road we stopped and all had to get off and tell the driver where we were staying. In other words these ladies were trying to rip us off with good value tours etc. We finally made it to our resort Bauman Casa in Karon beach. Perfect location across road from beach with free wifi and a huge buffet breakfast complete with a chief just for eggs. It was really nice just relaxing at the beach and pools after a busy time in KL and Singapore. We spent most of our time at the beach during the day and in evenings went down to a wee shop selling cheap booze for a few drinks. Beautiful views of the sun setting. The first night we taxied to Phuket town to go to the night markets. They were huge with heaps of stalls selling bits and pieces and lots of food. We had dinner there trying all sorts of things. Some things were delicious such as Thai omelette and some things not so nice like spicy octopus. We definately got ripped off by the taxi driver which we found out later but at the time had no idea.
On Tuesday we did a tour to phi phi island by speed boat. It was a fantastic day. There was about 25 in our group with 4 staff. Our guide looked like captain jack sparrow so was quite fitting. The first stop was to bamboo island where we did some snorkelling. The fish and coral was stunning. We had one hour there and then went to mosquito island for some deep water snorkelling. Amazing coral that had grown back after the tsunami. We went to monkey island where the guide through bananas to heaps of monkeys up in the trees and rocks. We didn't stop here for long but was amazing to see the monkeys jump off rocks into water and swim for the banana. Next stop was to a lagoon for some jumps off the boat. Our guide had an amazing memory for names and where we were from so when we jumped off he would yell our name and which country we were from and everyone clapped. We had a buffet lunch at the main part if phi phi island before heading to the beach where the movie the beach was filmed. We had an hour there of swimming and looking around before heading back to Phuket. Amazing day. While we have been in Phuket we have had two massages, a traditional Thai one on my birthday which was an experience. The wee lady was pushed and prodding all over our bodies. Some parts were sore but we just had to laugh and go with it. We had a foot massage which was more relaxing. Our favourite restaurant to eat at was called sweet and sour. Each main dish cost about $3-4 nzd and drinks were always cheaps since we ate when it was happy hour. For an entree, two mains, egg fries rice, two beers and two cocktails it costed us $24 nzd. So cheap. Another good place we ate at was called red onion. One night we got a tuk tuk to patong to check out the party central area. It was insane. People everywhere trying to sell us tickets to all kinds of shows. The amount of lady boys around was ridiculous. Was definately worth having a look around. The market stalls were filled of every pushy and rude staff. In one particular stall I was asked to get out since I wasn't interested in buying anything. On my birthday we just relaxed and did our usual routine of buffet breakfast, beach, cocktails, dinner and then got the Thai massage. Was a really great day :) Next stop Ko Samui. We were going to bus but that was going to take the whole day so last minute decision was to fly bangkok airways. No shuttle bus was going to pick up from our hotel so we has to order a taxi costing 800 baht. Crazy driving to the airport!! We passed three nose to tail accidents in about 100 metres. Another update from Ko Samui !
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