Donna Day Twelve

We travelled to Phuket via Koh Phi Phi on yet another mode of transport today. We took a ‘ferry’ to Koh Phi Phi, though this was little more than a speedboat. After quite a rough journey, the boat stopped in the middle of the ocean and Joanne and I were told we were transferring to another boat as we were the only travellers going to Phuket. So we (along with hand luggage and suitcases) has to hop onto another, larger boat, in the middle of the sea. It was all rather exciting.

I’m undecided about Phuket…. it’s the biggest and busiest place we’ve visited so far. I loved the craziness of Bangkok but Phuket, for me, is a bit more westernised, a bit brasher and in your face and some of the people who work here seem a little more jaded. The smiles have faded a little here.

After we’d settled into our lovely hotel – Meir Jarr in Pa Tong, we went to a beautiful  restaurant and ate delicious food, drinking secret wine from coffee cups. We were told it was a Buddhist holiday and no alcohol could be served but the owner and the waiters were lovely and winked and suggested we had ‘coffee’ with our meal.

Later on I witnessed the sleezy side of Thailand. We accidently stumbled onto a huge bar serving not just beer to packs of sun-burned men. We bought a wine and a water each but I felt uncomfortable so we headed off home. This wasn’t the first time I would witness this kind of thing happening. Joanne tells me that the Thai ladies are in charge and know what they’re doing. The owner of the bar, a woman, came over to speak to us and she certainly didn’t look or sound vulnerable or exploited so I suppose I should respect this way of life but still, it all made me feel a little wary of this city and I’ve not felt like that in any other place we’ve stayed in Thailand.