The night had been a bit unsettled as mostly due to loud people returning in the evening and walking past our beds, the air conditioning did make a nice change though. The shower in the morning was warm, which felt so weird we even turned it down to cold haha!!

We decided to head south to Kata beach today and strolled through the town and onto the beach. The first impressions were not good, sun loungers packed in everywhere and the whole shore line turned up the jeep and quad tracks. I looked at Laura who appeared quite frustrated and we turned around on the spot and headed back to Karon beach (stick to what you know I always say).
A bit hot and bothered we hunted for a sun lounger on the front row which proved difficult and had to settle for a position behind the lifeguard station (which was just 3 umbrellas pitched up with 3 cocky looking thai lads sitting underneath). We paid the attendant and set ourselves up for the day with the factor 30! The morning was relaxing but it turned bloody hot and the shade from the umbrellas was essential along with dives into the water (no jellyfish this time). Laura felt a bit uncomfortable because one of the lifeguards kept looking at her behind sunglasses not on a subtle manner. I observed the boys for a while and noticed they were just ogling women all the time, never hardly looking at the sea. A giant squid could of been attacking the town but they still wouldn't of been any of the wiser. I then surmised they were the ones offering the jet skis, paragliding, banana boats etc. no very successfully because no one was going on them. I do think this is because they charge the equivalent of 20-30 pound which is ridiculous but I guess someone pays it.

After some people watching I decided to head for lunch but Laura was happy with fruit. I headed back away from the beach (my economising head on) and stumbled across a place offering noodle soup packed with locals and being on the road a while you quickly realise these are best places to eat. I ordered the noodle soup with crispy pork and it was amazing served by these young brothers whose mother obviously owned the eatery. All cost under a pound as well which is what I like. I grabbed a beer from the supermarket and you can actually open it in the shop (with their bottle opener) and just drink it, amazing stuff but it does quickly get warm in the heat. If you buy from the bars at double the price or more you get a little holder which insulates the beer and keeps it cold for you. I returned to Laura who was still moaning about the lifeguards who had for some reason gone into the sea with an apparent fishing net. It became obvious they were catching all the small fishes near the shoreline which looked like anchovies, that we were admiring earlier while paddling. They collected masses of them, leaving no one on duty of course but they had amassed a crowd. You then spotted the local restaurant owners slyly heading into the beach and taking some fish! A little bit of back market operation I think and these lifeguards don't miss a trick on making a buck. It made me realise that phuket people as a whole are quite wealthy and the tourism is pumps a horrendous amount of money to people which is a good thing but it makes it difficult for budget backpackers. This is down to hiking up prices on everything and not willing to negotiate or barter because they know that a package holiday tourist will come along after us and just pay the inflated price. Like I said before it is not that stuff is stupidly expensive but you end up paying the same or more that you would at home basic stuff like a hat! Anyway back to the blog after getting side tracked there!

As the afternoon rolled on towards four a significant black cloud was looming of the mountains to the east. A few people started to move away but no one was really bothered. The sun lounger attendant spotted me and said 'its coming very soon' and that's it, sounded like the apocalypse of something!? We packed up our things and saw the black cloud passing over us as we headed back to the guesthouse. All of a sudden the heavens opened and rain fell like I had never seen before. We just stood there in it and in 5 seconds you were soaked through it felt amazing however, like the scene at he end of the Shawshank Redemption on the front cover. Rivers were running down the streets and we realised everyone else part from us was in cover! Absolutely sodden wet we waddled into the guesthouse as I couldn't walk because my shorts were welded to my legs.

After drying off I did a bit of reading and this American chap was outside cracking out his bong with a few others. We got talking to a pleasant couple from Washington who were currently working as teachers in Shanghai. After the pleasantries and beers we headed back to our restaurant we visited last night. We had spoke highly of it at the hostel which lead to another couple arriving shortly after we did, I hoped to get a free meal, but no such luck. At the moment they arrived we heard a very loud 'thud' and everyone turned in unison wondering what the hell had happened. To our horror we realised a dog at been hit by a vehicle and was staggering over the towards us. By the noise of impact I was initially amazed it was still alive. For a moment we thought it had been lucky but there was blood from the dogs head and he went out of our view. The owner explained its head has been hit and the people around said it didn't look good. The dog was carried off and it was likely the inevitable would happen. It was quite upsetting but I suppose with the amount of stray animals here and the craziness of traffic these things would invariably happen. Was just unfortunate we were right there for this one. However Laura was visibly upset and lost her appetite... The meal was amazing though and we headed back to the hostel solemnly where we chilled out and got an early night because we knew we had a good trek early tomorrow.