29 April

We woke up at 07h45 showered and headed for breakfast, omellete, toast, fruit platter and coffee again to keep us going for the trip to Phuket. On our way out we run into Fabia who had just arrived in Krabi and were on their way to find out more about the Phi Phi Islands. A Sharwang passes and I run to Haggle about the prices, first he starts with 40 Bhat, I start with 10, he escalates to 75 and we agree on 20 pp to take us to the bus station. (I still don't understand their haggling). At the bus station we have two options, take the VIP bus (aircon bus with toilet) at 10h00 or wait 2h for the local bus costing almost half the price to come. Utilizing our day at Phuket carries more value and we opt for the VIP bus departing in 5 minutes.

The bus arrives and is quickly filled with only a few spaces left open, we pack our baggage in and take what's left. We depart for Phang nga, where we had previously departed to do the James Bond islands, here we stop again to fill the bus to the brim with some commuters having to stand in the isles. The bus trip is just over 3 hours long but for some reason Leanne and myself feel queasy not being able to understand why, considering we had travelled vast distances by train and bus never feeling that way. In the end we find that the window appears somewhat warped causing us to become visually nauseous. Luckily we are able to sleep for a bit before reaching our destination at Phuket Town, feeling somewhat better we disembark and head for the accommodation recommended by Lonely Planet. On On hotel built in a colonial style looks brilliant from the outside but what's inside is debatable but then again we are only paying (250Bhat) R60 for a room with a fan and attached bathroom. We drop our bags at reception and head out to scout for other options, the first the price is 40% more than in the book and after greeting the woman in her own language she looks up and mentions the price for a room. We try to haggle a little but she only says "Room 500 Baht, you want cheaper go somewhere else". A little taken aback by the Thai hospitality we head to 7/11 where the other guest house is located, here the room and bathroom is nice but if you lie on the side of the bed you roll off, we opt to avoid a case of nocturnal concussion and head for another one. In the end we head back to our original accommodation and decide to stay for the night and head to Patong beach the next day to scout for other accommodation.

We head out for the market to find food considering it is 16h00 and we have only had breakfast, we find a quaint little restaurant attracting many locals and decide to order Thai noodles and chicken and rice and chicken (yes I know we always order this but every time its different and that's what all menue's are made up of). After lunch we head home, I head over to the 7/11 to buy some water and on the way back chat to another guest who I was sure spoke either Flemish or Afrikaans, unbelievably it's a South African. They had been touring Asia for 3 months and had another left before heading to New Zealand where he and his wife were scouting for possible locations to emigrate to.

We end up spending the evening chatting to them about everything from tour itineraries, costs, politics and much more. It was absolutely great to speak Afrikaans with someone who has the same background, culture and belief! By the time we look at our watches the time had gone from 17h00 to 23h00! They head up for a sleep before their scuba diving the next day while we head to the 7/11, the only place still open to find something to eat.