We awoke relatively afresh after the satisfactory rugby win over Ireland last night. This morning we would head to the west coast of Phuket, a small town called Karon which was situated just south of Patong. We packed up our gear and enjoyed some toast and said goodbye to ghetto childs hostel and Kai for now at least. We caught the local town bus and waited for our departure about 10 minutes later. The bus weaves through the town and negotiated various hills picking up locals at random locations. As we approached the west cost the iconic figure of the big Buddha came into view perched on the mountaintop, it did look quite an amazing sight. The bus meandered through the coastal towns but we were not very sure where to alight. Eagle eyed Laura spotted a sign to our guesthouse town the alley and we quickly pressed the buzzer which signalled the driver to stop and we hopped off with our bags. It was a very good spot by Laura and we walked up the steps and into the pineapple guesthouse.

On arrival we were informed that we could sleep in the massage parlour adjoined to the guesthouse. Me and Laura looked quite bewildered but the owner was very serious and actually saying it was better than the dorms. We asked to check it out first and there were a couple of mattresses on the floor surrounded by curtains like cubicles. Although a bit hesitant we agreed and the room did have air conditioning which the dorms lacked. We did later find out that it does act as a thoroughfare to other rooms so the outside door could not be locked. This was a bit alarming but we could put all our valuables in a safe which was behind reception. This did expose our bags whilst we were out but this trip had taught us you just to have some faith at times. We dumped our stuff in our personal massage parlour and in true form hit the beach immediately. The guesthouse was located in the south Karon area which meant it was in easy reach of both Karon and Kata beach which are located just south of our position.

We strolled onto Karon beach and was pleasantly surprised at the amount of space considering the sun loungers lined up the whole length of the beach. As half the day had now elapsed we felt hiring loungers wouldn't give us much value so we set out towels down just by the shoreline. The seas was quite powerful with the tide obviously going out, it would retreat a good 10 feet before rushing back in which made Laura a little nervous (her tsunami fears again). The water was much clearer than Patong beach but you did see jellyfish being washed up. They had no real tentacles so I was unsure if they could sting and these Russian lads were just picking them up and throwing them! The afternoon consisted of dips and sun loungers and I made the trip to the supermarket for beer. The south part of the town seemed quite chilled out with the usual local hawker shops, massage parlours, fish baths, restaurants and of course Subway! At the end of the afternoon we headed back to the guesthouse and had a freshen up ready to find come cheap, good food.

We opted to walk up towards the north end of town which was quite a trek because of the bendy road. We the entered the obvious hub of Karon where the restaurants were packed with tourists eating pizza, chips, steaks and the occasional one having thai food. The prices were ridiculous and I know it is cheap for a holiday maker but when you know the local food is just as good and usually even better for half the price it gets on our nerves. The locals must eat somewhere around here!! We decided to head back the way the came and stumbled across a little stall with a kitchen... well a wok on a gas burner and a few tables out back. There were a few locals sitting in there so we decided to have stab in the dark! It turned out to be a good gamble as the green curry Laura had was one of the best she has ever tasted accompanied with rice. I had the noodle soup with an omelette which was equally impressive plus it was very cheap! Satisfied with our find we explained we would return tomorrow. On arriving back at the guesthouse we had a shop bought beer, read and eventually rested for another full day tomorrow.