Yesterday, I took a plane from Bangkok to Phuket and took the bus then walked to my hostel, the Backpacker's Hostel. It's a really nice place in the largest town in Phuket, aptly named Phuket. After settling in and grabbing some eats around the area, I suggested to some fellow guests at the hostel that we rent scooters and cruise around the island. One guy, John (an Australian carpenter) was willing.
This morning I rented a scooter (200 baht, about $6 US). We decided first to head over to Patong beach, the most popular beach on the island.
The way they do paragliding in Phuket: You run off on the shore and a Thai guy grabs onto the parachute as you're taking off. He sits up with you during your trip. When the time comes, he steers you down on the shore where two other Thai fellows grab on.
After a brief run-in with the law (not me being naughty, John got a ticket for not carrying his Australian license with him), we went to Kamala beach.
We did not heed the "No Swimming" sign and swam. It was magnificent. After that we headed towards a national park.
We saw some elephants on the side of the road. They had elephant rides available but I passed. I had a perfectly fine mode of transportation as it was.
We got to the national park, which (according to our map) has a waterfall. However, there was an admission fee for the park and John had spent all his money on his unexpected ticket, so we decided to head back to our hostel in Phuket. We took a thirty minute break, did a 7-11 run, got some gas, and headed towards the southern half of the island. On the way there, John and I got separated: he was speeding ahead of me and took a turn which I didn't see him take. So I finished my touring of the island by myself.
I forget the name of this beach but it was beautiful.
This is at the Karon Viewpoint, where I buckled down and asked someone to take a picture of me. Now I have proof that I was actually in Phuket (unless you think there's some photoshop conspiracy).
This is Promthep Cape, which is advertised as the best place to see the sunset on the island. I got there about 4:30 and the sun didn't set until 6:41, so I grabbed some eats at nearby foodstands, did some souvenir shopping, took a few pictures, and hopped back on the scooter.
This was taken from the Promthep Cape Alternate Power Station, which is about a 5 minute drive away. They have a couple wind power stations there.
Here's the pic I got of the sunset. Clouds were blocking the horizon, but still got a decent snap.
(I have a few more pictures on my Facebook album, take a look.)
So here I am back at the hostel, a little sunburnt, tired, and satisfied after a full day. I was thinking about going to Phi Phi Island tomorrow, but the weather doesn't look very promising. I might just have a laid back day around here, which would also be pretty fun. (I could put up my other Bangkok photos too!) On Tuesday I'm heading back to Bangkok and then flying to Dubai then Bahrain. I'll keep y'all up to date!
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