Phuket Town

Although waking up with little sleep I still feel full of energy; I think the adrenaline from Alex’s almost arrest is still getting to me, along with the relief I know he is safe. Jon and I slowly get ready and pack up, well I do. We are still waiting to hear from Scott to let Jon back in his room. Finally we get an answer to where he has been when Jon tries once again to knock on their door: Scott answers, apparently he was in the whole time just slept through all the door knocking and doesn’t have notifications turned on, on his phone – a trait I find annoying at the best of times, let alone when you’re travelling. Anyway he is here now and we all get ready to go, drop the bikes back and meet at Sandwich box for my final egg drop. Yes I have had one every single morning I have been here and I stand by that decision. Once we are all packed and checked out we realise we have a while until we will be able to check into our next accommodation over in Phuket Town so we decide to kill some time at a nice bar/restaurant called A Blanket and a Pillow, on top of the hill, with a lovely view over the beach and sea. It is a great place to just chill out relax and chat. We are joined once again by our hero Bee who borrows a T-shirt from Alex and, unfortunately for her, is given the free Mr Bean shirt he got in Siam Reap. Scott finds a hammock and goes back to sleep for a few hours, I write blogs and Jon starts on another drawing – we all just relax and chill for a few hours, decompressing from last night. As we are about to leave a live band starts playing and they are actually really good, a big difference from the singer from last night in the pub. The guitar player manages to play the trumpet without a trumpet using his mouth to do the trumpet parts of the song. It is a really lovely setting and I wish we had been able to stay there a little longer but Phuket Town was calling.

After James Bond Island it time to head to our next stop the floating village of Ko Panyi, our lunch stop. The guide tells us this village with a population of roughly 1800, descends from the original Indonesian settlers who created floating villages in this area due to the bay’s predictable steady tides as well as the bay naturally providing tsunami and earthquake protection. The buffet is okay and we are given a little time to explore the village but after a quick look it seems that the parts which we have time to explore have been turned into rows and rows of shops to sell stuff to visiting tourists, so I join Jon in the restaurant and just chill enjoying the sun and watching the world go by. Once everyone returns to the boat we head back to the port and are then on the buses for our last stop. A cave temple with multiple Buddhas carved into the stone, the temple itself isn’t much to behold but it is interesting reading the board finding out that no-one knows the actual date this temple was first created. The oldest record found is that in 1858 the king ordered a restoration project, telling us that in 1858 it was old enough to need restoration. Other than that there doesn’t seem to be records going further back. The opening to the cave is overrun with monkeys. Alex, as he has done with every pack of monkeys we have found, is determined to get a picture highlighting the relatively massive size of the male’s ball bags. Where his fascination with monkey bollocks comes from is beyond me, but it is funny watching him trying to get a photo before the monkeys move. Once photos are achieved we are back on the bus heading to the hostel. We are dropped off and head out for a quick meal before heading back to the hostel. Luckily most of our roommates have left and Jon and I now have blankets. We have another travel day tomorrow so it will be nice to get a good nights sleep.

Relaxing at A Blanket and a Pillow

Busy street market of Phuket Town

The Band at A Blanket and a Pillow
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Boat trip around Phang Nga Bay
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Kayaking around Phang Nga Bay
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Scott, Jon and I load into a Grab car with all our luggage and Alex’s, as Bee kindly offers to drive Alex there. I will be honest, for this drive I sink into my phone with my headphones on; a little anti-social but the others are doing the same so I don’t feel too bad about it. I notice as we get close we hit some bad traffic. We are only a block or two away and our driver pulls up and asks if he can drop us here, I think he sees the curious looks on our faces and explains that the road to our hostel is used for a weekly market today and we can’t get there easily. We agree to walk which I think may have been a mistake, the crowds are big and it is hard to walk these streets normally let alone with a massive backpack on. Finally we get there to find Alex and Bee waiting. We check in and get to our room, Jon and I both are missing blankets but unfortunately the reception seems to have clocked off by the time we go down to enquire about it. So after showering and having a little rest we all head out to the market. It is a lovely little market. The road nearest to us we breeze through as it is arts and crafts, clothes and other bits and bobs. What we are after is the next street – the food! We slowly wander up and then down the street stopping each time a stall catches one of our eyes. Once we have walked the whole market and filled ourselves up on a array of different meats on sticks, dumplings and other assorted deliciousness, Scott heads back to the hostel, still tired. The rest of us go to a local restaurant that Bee knows and go for a drink on their rooftop bar before heading back to the hostel. A drastically calmer ending to the day than yesterday unfortunately it is hard to sleep with one roommate who is clearly ill and slams the door every half an hour as he runs to the toilet, two others that come in at 3am and make no effort to stay quiet, and on top of that I am freezing with no blanket, but hey beggars can’t be choosers I guess.

We all wake up early the next day as we have a tour planned. We get picked up by a mini-bus in the morning and I, of course, fall straight asleep on the bus as we make our way to Phang Nga Bay. The bus drops us at a port were we join many others loading onto a boat that is taking us around the bay. As the boat starts pulling out into the bay our guide gives us some information about this part of the coast line which has over 400 square miles of mangroves along the banks of the main land and all the islands in the bay. During our journey we pass the heart island, so called due to its shape, as we head to Goh Talu island. We pull up next to a floating dock were we are paired up and put into Kayaks. Alex and I pair up and so do Jon and Scott as we are taken around the island into various sea caves and enjoy the sun and the amazing landscapes around us, we even spot a few sea eagles soaring over the islands. Once back from our little kayak tour we want to tip our guide but I am out of money and Alex only has big bills that everyone on this barge refuses to split even though they have a shop that clearly has cash, so unfortunately Alex and I have to awkwardly walk away without giving a tip. After a quick snack and a lovely drink that I don’t like to think about how much sugar is in, we load back onto our first boat. The next stop is Khao Phing Kan Island and, along with Koh Tapu island, is otherwise known as James Bond Island. These islands were used in the filming of the James Bond movie The Man with the Golden Gun. It is a pretty cool island but it is hard to get any decent photos as it seems that every tour company in the bay has a stop here, so it is overrun with tourists many of which are pushy and rather rude.

Koh Tapu, James Bond Island