Sun, Sea, Sand, Buckets and Fire!

Right im in Phuket airport ready to fly back to Chiang Mai after a hectic few days in the south. I stopped writing the last piece after arriving in Phi Phi so I’ll go back there. When I was sitting there sunning myself and basically enjoying the afternoon I met a few people off the program who I hadn’t seen since the orientation. It was especially good to see the two other irish people for some civilized company ;). So I spent the rest of the day chilling with a gang of friends on the beach, everyone swapping stories about the trials and tribulations of teaching thai kids English. In the evening my friends came back from their day trip (eventually) and I got to go to the hostel to refresh myself. We went in search of food and aimed to start our night’s drinking. We settled on an “Irish” bar which was doling out free pad thai and potato salad for some reason and that’s when the first batch of buckets appeared. For the uninitiated a bucket is a shitload of alcohol (vodka/whiskey/whatever) with a few ice cubes, a dash of mixer and a few straws all lumped into a plastic bucket you might have used as a kid to make sandcastles. Dangerous stuff! We started moving between bars as there were countless promotions on everywhere but the most enticing one was the offer of “FREE BUCKET!!” in a specific period of maybe 10 minutes or so. So as a few of the beach bars had this offer going staggered throughout the night we headed in this direction, the cheap alcoholics that we are.

Now I mentioned before that im not a strong drinker (except compared to thai people) and these buckets took their toll. Anyway I got to enjoy the various fire shows at each beach bar for a while, from fire limbo to fire jump rope to guys playing with fire poi or firestaffs. Basically if you could set in on fire these guys were either throwing it around or getting drunk foreigners to dance under it or jump over it. They also had glow in the dark face paint as the pictures can show so this mixed with the fire, the sand, the buckets and a clear night sky led to a memorable countdown. Oh and there was a load of fireworks as well!!

The next day I began paying in earnest for the buckets of the previous night. I wasn’t alone in this as the gang I was staying at the hostel with were suffering similarly. But I had hoped to go on the same boat trip they had done the previous day with a gang I got talking to last night. Well lets just say several hours spent on a pretty narrow boat didn’t seem like a barrel of fun just then. Reluctantly I pulled out of the trip and decided to go with the guys to Maya Beach instead. This also required some travelling on a boat, but it was a short hop in comparison so I wasn’t too concerned. Maya beach is part of the set of the movie “The Beach” and boy was it beautiful. We got dropped around to the far side of the little island it inhabits in an effort to try and dodge the fee they charge when you drive right up. This wasn’t as simple as we thought as the longtail boat couldn’t get too close to the shore due to rocks. So we sent the boat with two of the group as we all had bags with us(there were 14 of us) around to pay the fee while the rest of us swam the short distance in and walked the rest of the way. So sandals in hand and with my suncream in my shorts pocket (in case it took ages for the boat to get to the beach) I jumped into the clear water. I then proceeded to flounder my way to the shore (I cant really swim) losing my suncream along the way and climbed a big ladder over rocks to the other side of a gap in a cliff. Then we walked the short distance to “The Beach”. It’s an extremely beautiful location with powdery white sand, clear water and a picturesque backdrop. The tide was out so it was a bit shallow but this meant I could walk around in the water and look at all the exotic little fish scuttling about the place. All in all it was a nice, relaxing way to spend an afternoon.

After returning to the main island in our longtail boat we decided to go up to the viewpoint (top of the hill) and watch the sunset. This was much harder work than we had anticipated and we huffed and puffed our way up a pretty steep hill. Once we got to the top, though, we forgot our complaints and just took in the beautiful sight of a sunset over Phi Phi island. Once we descended again and refreshed ourselves we tucked into a beautiful meal and hit the beach again for a few chilled out beers to complement our equally chilled out day. This was a low-key and early night which was just what the doctor ordered for most of us there.

I had an early start the next day to catch the first ferry to Phuket. I was flying out the following morning and wouldn’t make my flight if I stayed on the island so I was bound for phuket to look up some accommodation. Luckily I wasn’t alone in this quest and I attached myself to a small group and we found a nice spot right beside Kamalla Beach. We then slapped on our beach gear and lounged around for the day. Weather wasn’t spectacular that day but it was pleasant. The beach was nice but nothing compared to what id spent the last two days on. Then as we were walking back we got hit by a little shower of rain which was kind of refreshing. For the evening we determined to seek out the famous Bangla Rd where all the ‘fun’ is to be had in an area called Patong in Phuket. I regretted not bringing my camera with me this night as we happened upon one of the sleaziest places im likely to see where every bar had a gang of scantily clad girls pulling customers into these places. Then there were the other places that had pole dancers on show to the street in order to get attention. On top of that you have the constant propositions of seedy shows, trinket sellers and if you walked near a shop they would almost tackle you to get you in and buy something. It was an experience to go there but I wouldn’t be in any great rush back, it was all a bit too much.
All in all, Phuket is a bit overcrowded and too touristy for me. You simply cannot escape someone trying their damnedest to sell you crap even on the beach. The constant harrassmant wears on you. Phi Phi is altogether more chilled and would be worth a revisit. But for now im glad to be on my way back to cooler climates and a much more relaxed way of life in the north. I should mention I got badly sunburnt on my first day in Phi Phi despite suncream and cover. This got me a lot of “what happened to your legs?!” which I explained was due to my being irish, redhaired and the sun being my mortal enemy. God knows what the kids will make of me tomorrow…….