I sleep as late as I can, but that is only about 9:00! I walk mdown the main drag and find a small place that has a sign announcing that it serves American breakfast. OK. I have ham and eggs and potatoes and coffee and toast. 100B. OK, now I feel better! I walk back to the hotel and inquire about a room with a/c. Yes, today they have one available, and so for an additional 200B I move to a room on the first floor with a/c. Good!
I then walk west towards the beach. It takes about 10 minutes. As I go I pass a large construction site that is across the street from the beach. There is a lot of construction here in Patong. Gee, maybe one day it will be like Miami Beach?. There is a beach front road, and the beach is lined with small food vendors and beach chair providers. The standard charge is 100B for two chairs, a large umbrella, and a small table. Almost every chair is taken, and the language in the air is German. I see some amazingly large people with very little clothing! I also see an occasional body that is qualified to be displayed!
I walk north to the end, and then turn around and walk south. As I pass my beginning point I see a vendor selling watermelon. That looks good, and so I get a plastic baggie of watermelon slices for 20B. Hmmmm, good! I look for a place to sit in the shade and eat my watermelon, and I find a concrete bench next to the sidewalk with two young ladies who allow me to share the bench with them. I think they tell me that they just arrived from a northern Thailand city a day or two ago. They are sisters. One of them says she is looking for work as a hair stylist. They are 26 and 30 years old. As I get ready to leave the younger one says she wants to come with me! I smile to myself. I ask would she and her sister like to have lunch with me? They say OK, and so we walk up the street towards my hotel where we find a small outdoor café. After another tasty meal we say goodbye, and I go back to my room. I need to get my sunscreen.
I also need to arrange for my travel back to Bangkok for tomorrow. I inquire at the front desk of the hotel, and yes, they also are a ticket agent for the airlines. The cheaper flights on Thai Airways are all full, so I take a 1:00 PM flight on Bangkok Airlines. Cost is 2600B, about $70US. The taxi ride to the airport, a 45 minute trip, will be 500B.
I walk back to the beach and this time I walk south to the southern end of the beach. It is about 2 miles. I take my time, occasionally going for a short swim. The beach is packed with people in the beach chairs. There are very few people like me who are not using the beach chairs. I slowly make my way to the end. I find that there is a small river entering the ocean at the south end of the beach. There is a large cruise ship in the harbor area; lots of jet ski rentals, 200B for 30 minutes; parasailing rides for 600B; etc. And the water is sooooo nice!
The afternoon goes quickly, and I finally get back to the north end of the beach at about 6:00PM, just in time to watch the sunset! It is OK, but not as good as I had hoped. I then go back to the room, take a shower, and come back out for dinner. I walk north along the main drag, and find another small outdoor café where I have my usual. I notice that this place is operated by Thai Muslims. Here in southern Thailand there are more Muslims. Malaysia, a Muslim country, is closer here. Muslim or Buddhist, the food is good either way! My noodles tonight were dark and thick and wide and very tasty!
I consider going back to the bar area, but I just don't feel like it. It is a bit like a kid in a candy store. Yes, it's nice for a while, but eventually it is just sugar overload! Phuket, or at least Patong Beach, is very much a place for young single men with lots of energy! I walk around my part of town a little, but soon go back to the room, where I watch some TV, get my stuff ready for my trip back to BK tomorrow, and go to bed.
My flight is at 1:00 PM, but I want to leave no later than 11:00 AM. I walk down the street to the same place I had lunch the prior day and have breakfast. I get the Farmer's Breakfast, which is potatoes, eggs, cut-up hot dogs, toast, and coffee, all for 100B. It is very filling! I go back to the room, collect my stuff, and meet the taxi driver at 11:00AM. We get into the car for the ride to the airport. I tell him there is no rush, I have plenty of time. I had noticed that Thai taxi drivers all seem to drive like it’s a race, and every little advantage is taken. They will pass one car even if there is a red light ahead. It takes a little getting used to, although it is very similar to the other taxi drivers in Asia that I have experienced. It just seems that here in Thailand it is more so. But even though they are constantly trying to pass anything in front of them, there is also no reluctance to yield to a motor scooter, or bicyclist, or another vehicle as needed. Rarely do they honk at each other, and I never heard one yell or curse at another driver.
The ride to the airport is quick, and we arrive about 11:45. I go to the Bangkok Air counter and check-in for my flight. No problems. I have about an hour before boarding. I consider getting some lunch but decide against it. I am still pretty full from breakfast. I do stop in at one place a get a cup of coffee. This place, like most cafes in Thailand that serve coffee, has a coffee maker that grinds the beans and makes one cup of strong coffee at a time. What a great system. No overheated stale coffee! Of course, this being an airport, the prices were higher. My small cup of coffee was 40B.
I buy a Bangkok Post newspaper and then walk into the departure area. After going thru security I walk around and find the Bangkok Airways lounge. Ah, I should have come here before. They were coffee and juices for free! I just have some water. We board at about 1:00, and by 1:20 we are pulling back from the gate. The plane is a 717, and I am in 2A. It is 5 across seating, 2 and 3. The seat next to me, 2C, is an aisle seat taken by a young man from Bombay but who lives in London. We don’t talk much though--he knows some other people in the back of the plane and so he spends most of the flight with them. We are served lunch! What a nice surprise. It is noodles and pork, some white cut-up veggie, water, coffee, and ice cream! Very good, and I was getting hungry!
We arrive in BK at about 2:45. We park out on the tarmac, and a bus takes us to the terminal building. It takes a long time for the luggage to appear, but finally at about 3:30 I am outside getting into a taxi. The fare from the airport is whatever is on the meter, plus 50B airport charge. We also take the tollway for a while, and the tolls are another 70B. I pay for the tolls as we go. Our first stop is Chaleena Hotel. I pick-up my bags that I had left behind, and we go down the street about a block to the Chaleena Princess hotel, a sister property that is even cheaper!. Their advertised price is 479B per nite, but my friend T has negotiated a rate of 420B! Wow! The rooms are a little smaller, and the bathroom is smaller, but so what? And, it includes breakfast!
The taxi fare on the meter is 179B. There is the 50B airport charge, and so I give the driver 250B. About $6.50 for a one hour trip! I shudder to think what this would cost in the USA, or Japan! Check-in goes smoothly, and I am soon in my room. I call T and she agrees to come and meet me for dinner at about 6:00. I spend the rest of the afternoon rearranging my packing. I must start getting ready for our trip to Chiang Mai which begins on Saturday morning.
T arrives soon after 6:00. She comments on how small the room is, and I say small room, small price. Well, she gets on the hotel phone, and soon I am offered two other larger rooms. I take one, and we move my stuff. Yes, it is nicer. The room is bigger, and bath is bigger, and it is a newly redone room. You can almost still smell the paint! Thanks T!
At dinner across the street T and I discuss the trip to Chiang Mai. We agree that we will take the train up to Chiang Mai, leaving Saturday morning at about 8:30, and arriving in Chiang Mai at about 7:45PM. We will stay at a hotel arranged by her cousin, and we will fly back to BK after 4 or 5 days. T is being very kind to me, and I offer to pay for her train fare and hotel room, etc., but she declines. She explains that this is her vacation trip too. She has 15 days of vacation that I guess she must use or lose. While at dinner T asks one of the waitresses if there is a laundry service nearby, and yes, there are a couple down the street a few blocks. I will find one in the morning. T then gets a taxi home, and I go up to the room, where I do some more packing/rearranging, watch some TV, work on this journal, and go to bed.
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