Saturday 21st February

We were sad to leave Langkawi but we had to move on, its a place we would like to return to in the future. We caught the ferry to Satun southern Thailand at 5pm. The crossing took about an hour and was a bit rougher than the last ferry trip to Langkawi. We were picked up from the terminal and taken to the bus station to wait for the bus, it was very very remote and we had to wait for two hours for it to turn up. We eventually left at eight O'clock. We were told when we booked that we would arrive in Phuket at about six O'clock in the morning, we actually arrived at three a.m, with no hotel as we had booked the hotel for the following night. We decided to get a taxi to the hotel anyway, unfortunately there wasn't a twenty four hour reception as it was only a small hotel, so we sat on the patio by the pool until someone arrived at seven O'clock.

Sunday 22nd February

were very tired so decided to spend the day on the beach, chilling out. The area we chose was not the busiest beach on the island which was nice but it was still busy. The sand was some of the best we have seen so far and the sea was very clear, not as warm as Langkawi though. We had decided to try and eat the foods from the country we were in and had resisted the temptation for Thai food until we arrived here, we were not disappointed, the red and green Thai curries were wonderful that we had for tea.

Monday 23rd February

Decided to have a scooter out for the day to see as much of the island as we could. The roads in Phuket were a lot busier than Langkawi especially around Phuket town, it was good fun and got most of the way round, calling at a lot of small beaches on the way. Filling up with petrol was interesting, there were some petrol stations dotted around or you could fill up at a stall on the side of the road either by a pump or by refilled alcohol bottles by the litre. It was a bit worrying when the man filled the tank from a bottle with a lit cigarette in him mouth!

The electricity is a little worrying too, the main electricity cables run about two meters above your head down the roads and across the front of the buildings. There are lots of reminders of the threat of a Tsunami around the island.

Tuesday 24th February

Today was Robins birthday, we decided to visit the big Buddha on top of the hill just out side Karon where we were staying. We asked a few taxi drivers for a quote and were given ridiculous quotes of 1000 bhat £20, so we decided to have a bike out again for 200 baht £4, much cheaper!! The Buddha is in the process of being built, and there were great views from on top of the hill. We booked some tickets for a boat trip to the small island of Phi Phi for the following day.

The daughter of the people who owned the hotel, was one today same birth date as Robin and they had a small gathering, when they found out it was Robins birthday as well he was given a piece of cake and we both were given a bottle of beer, which was very nice of them.

Wednesday 25th February

Got up early to catch the ferry to Phi Phi island, the bus collected us from the hotel, we weren't ready when it turned up even though the watch we had said we were early. The crossing took about two hours, it was calm though and when arrived the sea was crystal clear and the sand white, very picturesque, not many buildings and two beaches in walking distance from the ferry port. We made our way to the beach and grabbed a couple of beds, had a great day on the beach.

About half an hour before departure we made our way back to the ferry, thinking we were a bit early we sat at a restaurant for a drink, It was at this point we realised that the watch battery was on its way out and that the ferry we were supposed to be on had gone about ten minutes earlier. Stranded! We ended up having to buy another ticket with a different ferry company so we could get back to Phuket. To make matters worse the ferry went back to a different place, so we had to get a taxi back to the hotel. It was a good day though!!

Thursday 26th February

Last day in Phuket today so we walked down into the town and had a look around, before retuning to pack. Phuket has turned out to be a lot busy than we thought it would be, very commercialised and changed beyond recognition from when Robin was here twenty three years ago, after four days we were ready to move on. We were picked up at three thirty to catch the bus at five pm for the twelve hour bus journey up to Bangkok.