30/12/09 Koh Phi Phi to Phuket

We had a ferry going at 9am to Phuket, Thailands largest island connected to the mainland by a bridge. We were waiting at 8 when the tuk tuk arrived for the journey to the pier. We walked down the pier and got on the very full boat. We travelled out of the port for about twenty minutes and then the boat came to a stop. Noone said anything was wrong but the engine didn't go out of turnover so we thought maybe there was an engine problem. Another ferry pulled up along side and to all the Westerners amazement they transferred some passengers over to our boat...in the middle of the sea!!!!! We travelled for another hour into Phuket and chatted to an Aussie girl next to us who had been in Thailand for 6 days before her baggage was found..what a nightmare!! When we arrived in Phuket we encountered the usual idiots clambering over people to get their bags instead of just hanging on and waiting. We got our stuff and got on a minibus to drive into Patong Beach where we were staying. The driver had to call our hotel to find where it was and we had a drive through the town to ge tto it. Phuket is a really developed island with huge shopping centres and really modern facilities so a real change. We arrived at our hotel and were greeted by the lovely owner Ann a glamorous Thai lady. We were given welcome drinks while our bags were carried up to the room. Ann then took us up to see the room and we are pleased to say it was so much better than the Phi Phi room. We have hot water, air con, huge bed and it was only a couple of pounds more than we'd paid on Phi Phi. Thankfully we had a lovely room for our last few nights in Thailand, we realise we quite like the finer things after slumming it for a while!!! We chilled in the room,enjoying the facilities and catching up on the news then went out . We needed to post a few bits home and get some laundry done too. The guys in the Post Office were very helpful and we sent off our parcels then dropped off our laundry . On the way to the post office we had passed a pub recommended by Mick called Nickys Handlebars which was a Harley Davidson themed bar with Harley club t shirts all over the walls. They played great music and the menu was brilliant. The drinks menu were on gear cogs and the food menu on bike wheels with ash trays from piston heads, all very well done. The menu was brilliant and we ordered Thai food which was delicious. The owner Nicky a Thai man owns two bars and has two ferarris, a mercedes and ten Harleys. Thai mafia springs to mind as this guy has more money than two bars would get you. After lunch we spent some time catching up the blog and going onto Facebook as its always nice to have a quick chat. Mick was in Phuket and we arranged to meet him in Nickys Handlebars for a drink. We chatted to Lizzies mum and sister then went off to meet up with Mick. We chatted and ate some more food which was delicious and Mick introduced us to the infamous Nicky who was a real charmer. We went off to bed after arranging to meet MIck for drinks on New Years Eve the next day.

31/12/09 New Years Eve

We had a nice lazy start not wanting to get out of probably the most comfy bed we've had since sleeping in our own back in the UK. We were awake about ten but couldn't be bothered to get up till about 12 !! At about 1pm we went out and wandered towards Patong beach to find somewhere to eat and found a Swiss hotel where we had some Thai food for lunch. We carried on to the beach which is a long sweeping bay all the way along Patong resort/town. The beach was very busy as its peak time for New Year and so there were rows and rows of sunchairs and umbrellas with bronzed tourists on them. We had a quick look round for Mick who said he might be there but couldn't see him. We went over the road to Graceland resort which had a huge pool and confidently plonked ourselves on a couple of sunbeds. We sat there for a few hours, until the sun started to set, people watching the many speedo clad Russian and German tourists. We headed across to the beach again and watched the sun go down for the last time this decade. It was a beautiful sunset and the beach was still busy with local children playing in the water and many people sat on the sand. We noticed there were people buying big paper lanterns and setting them off from the beach, there were loads of them going up and they looked really lovely against the sunset sky. We walked along the beach for a while and watched the goings on, on the beach, than went back to the hotel to change for the night ahead. We sent a few messages to people on Facebook and emails for a few minutes. We met up with Mick at 8 outside Nickys Handlebars then walked towards the beach to another bar called Legends. The bar was owned by an Australian and so the Sydney fireworks were being shown on the bar TV screens. They were amazing and we had a beer there and met Micks friend Nuang, one of the bar staff. We decided to go back to Nickys for food as we were all starving and decided to spoil ourselves. Liz had Tiger prawn thermidor and Phil had filllet steak...delicious. We went back to Legends hoping that Nuang would be allowed to finish work early and join us on the beach for midnight but her boss said no!!! We all went down to the beach and it was fab, there were hundreds of lanterns floating up from all the way along the beach as well as a few fireworks. We bought a lantern for us to light and sent it up into the sky with a few wishes. We sat on the beach just watching all the lights and listening to the sounds and at midnight the skies erupted as firework displays along the beach lit up the skies all around. There wasn't just one display but many from the bigger hotels and the main areas of the town. We stayed there watching all the fireworks for ages and trying to avoid the fireworks being lit by the locals all the way along the beach too. We wished each other Happy New Year and then went back to Legends to meet up with Nuang. Her work colleagues were all going to have a drink down the beach near the Bangla Road, Phukets famous party street full of clubs and go go bars as well as lots of ladyboys!!! We walked down to meet the others after stopping on the beach and sending off two more lanterns. As we walked towards Bangla Road the music got louder, there were more people (and MacDonalds) and the number of bars got much much more than where we were staying. Nuangs friends were on the beach sitting in a beach bar so we sat with them. There were still hundreds of lanterns and fireworks being set off so there was plenty to see. We stayed there drinking a couple more cocktails until heading back about 4am. We went back in a tuk tuk with Mick and Nuang then went to bed.

01/01/10 New Years Day/ Happy 2010 Everyone

We woke up feeling nicely dehydrated at about 10ish but stayed in bed for ages watching the TV. We got up and went out for some food at about 1pm. We popped some underwater cameras in for processing from our dives then went to the hotel to use the internet. We finally managed to just about catch up the blog so we will be up to date when we arrive in Dehli. At 9pm we went to Nickys bar to meet Mick and Nuang for a meal. We all then walked ten minutes down to Bangla Road which was banging with music and really busy. There were go go bars with girls calling us over to have drinks and loads of really busy bars all the way along. We found a good people watching spot in an Australian bar where we had a drink watching the madness in the street below. There were a few ladyboys to spot and a few nasty Ting Tong couples to see but Nuang was really tired so her and Mick went back to bed leaving us there. We walked around the area for a while taking in all the crazy farang activity (farang is the Thai word for Western tourists). We went down a side street lined with small bars with tables down the middle where there were a few ladyboys dancing on a podium to entertain the crowds. We settled on a table there to have a cocktail and watch as we'd not seen ladyboys before. (at least thats what Phil claimed) The "girls" were pretty funny flirting with the men in the crowd and lip synching to the music. There were many of them sat around the bars looking ultra glam and making Liz feel very dowdy !! One of the "girls" was flashing her boobs to the crowd and we realised she wasn't wearing any underwear at all. Some ladyboys go for the full operation to remove their dangly bits and some keep their dangles !! We could tell which was which as the ones with dangly bits kept their knickers on !!! We'd had a drink and were about to leave when one of the "girls" came over and started talking with us. Her name was Angel (very Thai name) and she had been a ladyboy for years and worked in the bar for a long time too. We offered to have a drink with her but she only wanted water to "keep pure". She started to give Phil a massage and his face was a picture when he felt two hard bumps pressing into his shoulder blades then another bulge pressing into his lower back. Liz wished all his friends could see him!!! Angel then gave Liz a massage and also plaited her hair into a very lovely up do. Liz chatted to her asking questions about the ladyboys as only Liz can !! She hadn't had the full op as she wanted a boyfriend..makes perfect sense!!! She told Phil that she wanted an English boyfriend as her Swiss boyfriend had died. She was playing some serious footsie with Phil at this point, so he suddenly felt the need to use the loo. His second drink had been gulped down at a rate of knots once Angel took an interest. He had to run the gauntlet to the toilet past a few ladyboys waiting for some business!! In the loo there was a lady in the toilets so he thought he was in the wrong ones but then realised "she" was stood at a urinal. When Liz went off to the loo she had a boob flashed at her by on of the girls. We sat drinking with Angel for a little while longer and watching the dancers. Some were really pretty and had amazing bodies and others were just a boy in a dress. As the night wore on the ladyboys got more explicit with their dancing, flashing their new lady bits to the crowd. It was really hilarious watching the crowds reactions including our own but we decided to call it a night. Angel makes her money from having photos with tourists and taking tips for chats etc so we gave her a couple of pounds then walked back to the hotel. It was about 3am !!!

02/01/09 Last day in SE Asia !!!

We woke up feeling shattered at 9am as we had booked a taxi to take us on a mini tour of the area. We met up with the taxi and he drove us out of Patong towards the next resort out called Karon. Nick and Natalie had been there and said it was lovely so we were looking forward to some time on the beach. Unfortunately the driver seemed to have different ideas and just drove along the beach after pointing it out to us. He had been chatting about different shops to take us to so we thought he must have his own agenda. We had plans to spend an hour on a couple of the beaches and then visit a viewpoint and one of Phukets biggest Buddhist temples. We asked him to stop the car so we could get out and he said "for a photo?", so Phil asked him to wait for us while we had some time on the beach. We had a quick snack in a little beach bar and walked along. The beach was a lot quieter than Patong and the resort was much nicer. It was much less developed and had more luxury resorts. The time of cute little beach huts seems to be over sadly. We got back into the taxi and drove just a few morw minutes untio we reached the next beach called Kata where we pulled over and got out again. The beach was a bit smaller than Karon but very nice with sweeping white sands and clear blue sea. Again it was undeveloped and quieter. We stayed there for a while then returned to the taxi to go along to the Kata viewpoint. There were loads of other tourists there...cheek, so it was busy. There was an impressive panorama view across the three beaches we had seen in Phuket and they looked really lovely from the viewpoint. We stayed there to take a few photos and then drove to the small town of Chalong to see Wat Chalong, Phukets largest Buddhist Temple. The temple was full of golden BUddhas and was on three levels so we could climb up to the top. At the top was the Buddha relic as is normal for Buddhist Wats. This one was very beautiful with a golden lotus leaf supporting glass jars in which the artefacts were displayed. The whole thing was covered in a huge glass dome and several Buddha statues were stood facing in towards the relics as if guarding them. After visiting the Wat we went to some small stalls set up in the grounds and Liz bought herself a dress....turning ladylike on our travels. We left the temple and drove nback towards Phuket. On the way we stopped off at a pearl shop. A lady there explained how the pearls are cultured and showed us some oysters growing the pearls inside. She then took us to see the jewellery. Most of the pieces although very beautiful were over 500 pounds so out of our budget. We could only afford some small studs so we didn't buy any. We just bought a couple of nice shells then got back in the car to go back to the hotel. It was about 2.30 when we got back to the hotel and we had a lunch then chatted to the owner Ann for about an hour. e spent the rest of the afternoon finishing off the blog update then went to pack the bags ready for the journey to India....we are spending our last evening with Mick and we might just go and see Angel again as it was such a giggle. We met Mick in our favourite bar Nickys Handlebars and had a nice Thai meal there with a couple of beers and then walked down to Banglar Road. Phil had to buy some new flip flops as his had finally given up after 8 months of over use !!! He bought some genuine designer Deisel ones for a couple of pounds..bargain!!! We went back to the ladyboy bar as it was so funny the night before. The same "girls" were there dancing and flashing there flesh at the crowd. One of the better performers from the day before was there, yelling "I love you" to the crowd in a really deep voice!!! We had a good laugh there for an hour or so before heading back to the hotel. Mick went by tuk tuk but we walked back as it was only about ten minutes away. We passed a ladyboy on the way back and he/she grabbed Phils groin !!! We went to bed as we had an early start the next day and about 24 hours of travel to get to Dehli.

The story will continue in India..............................................