At 5am we very tiredly and grumpily checked in. The flight was on time though which was good and we got into Phuket at about 7:30am (1 1/2 hour flight). We got a minibus to our hotel in Phuket with a load of other people who got dropped off at their hotels on the way. It was all a bit scary as we had no idea what our hotel would be like. We were staying in the Aloha Villa hotel in Patong beach. When we saw our hotel we were very pleasantly surprised - it was very clean and we were given a free drink on arrival. The room was also clean and very modern with air-con, tv etc. At this point I must remind you that this trip through southern Thailand to Phuket, Phi Phi, Krabi and Ko Samui, was all booked weeks ago in Bangkok and we had not much of an idea of what the accomodation where we would be staying would be like. After dumping our bags Dave had a bit of a sleep as he didn't sleep much at the airport, then later we went to explore Patong Beach. Where do we start when describing Patong? The first word that springs to mind is TACKY followed by chavy then neon! Patong beach is basically like Blackpool in the heat. It is packed full of overweight, sunburned chavs from around the world, but mostly Britain and Australia. Everywhere you look there are sex clubs, strip joints and hostess bars with the odd "Irish" pub nestled in the gaps. Balding ugly middle aged western men stroll hand in hand with young beautiful Thai girls in scanty clothes. Oh why did we not read the guidebook's description before booking our trip here - "Patong is the most developed and expensive resort with an increasingly seedy nightlife". However we mustn't grumble as our hotel is really lovely and this place does have a fantastic choice of eateries. Today was spent catching up on various chores such as getting all our photos onto a CD (which you can see in the photo gallery), handing in our laundry and posting a box home with the clothes from Hoi An and Dave's Velvet Underground bag which he bought in Bangkok. For tea we found a nice seafood restaurant away from most of the hostess bars where lots of the locals seemed to be eating. Although we didn't get seafood, we got chicken and cashew nuts and a lovely curry to share - it was fantastic!