Phuket

The part of the Phuket area we stayed in was called Patong. The beach was quite nice but there wasn't much in the way of scenery. However, there was always a lot going on! We caught up on sleep after our ridiculous journey and caught a tuk tuk rou nd the place to see what there was to do. We'd seen a go-karting track on the way to our hotel so that was the first stop! It was so cheap so we zipped around for 20 minutes then asked our driver what else we could do. He took us to a quadbike track, but it was so expensive (even by UK standards) that we decided to do something else. The next place he took us to was a shooting range!

I've done the odd bit of clay pigeon shooting before but nothing more than that, therefore I went for the most powerful handgun they had, which was a Colt .45! It was damn hard to fire, the recoil was huge, but I did quite well and it was so much fun that I went for another gun. This time I tried an M16 replica that shot 9m bullets. It was easier to control and so my scores with that one were better than the Colt.

That night we went to see some Thai Boxing. The locals were all going crazy and you couldn't even move without someone trying to make a bet with you! The Boxers were so quick, I dunno how they managed to move around that fast, let alone fight each other! We saw 4 amazing fights then walked around the town a bit, trying to avoid being pulled into the gogo bars by crazy Thai girls (and sometimes ladyboys, scary!!).




Andre and Matt in our tuk tuk



My positin for taking the picture above, the driver was crazy, very scary!



Me shooting the Colt



My target, pretty deadly huh!



The M16 copy



Looking down the barrel of an M16



And my target, even more deadly!



The guys at the range calculated my scores for me



Phuket at night, the streets were packed....and its supposed to be low season!



This girl won her Boxing match to the relief of the crowd (she's Thai, her opponent was from Norway)



Two boxers squaring up!

The Journey to Phuket

After seeing the Grand Palace we stopped off at a travel agents to see about getting to the island of Phuket, far in the South. I had thought we'd get a train and a connecting bus but this was very expensive. Flying was a possibility but this was even more pricey, so we decided to get a very cheap 'VIP' bus for 450 bhat (about 8 quid). After booking it I thought I must be mad as I get really travel sick and I'd just booked a 15 hour bus ride - the longest bus ride I've ever been on! We also only had 30 mins to catch the bus so we bought some food and got our stuff. Amazingly, the bus ride started well. We did about 5 hours and stopped for some food, then another 4 hours and were dropped off at a random cafe to wait for another bus.

Unfortunately the other bus took 2 hours and only took us down the road to another bus station which was closed as it was only about 7am. At 9am the bus station opened and the scamming started again.... The woman at the bus station said that the bus wouldn't be there til 12.30 but luckily we could pay another 700 bhat for a minibus for the final leg. Grudgingly we said we'd wait. About 5 minutes later she came out and said that the first bus was cancelled and we'd actually be waiting til 3.30pm for the next bus. It was probably a lie but we were too pissed off to argue about it, so we bartered her down to 500 bhat and took the minibus the rest of the way.

Anyway, we got to Phuket and found a nice hotel with air con for a mere 200 bhat (about 3 quid) per night. Annoyingly the two guys I travelled with had had stuff taken from their bags on the journey. I always keep the important stuff on me so I was alright but it was annoying that something like that would happen. We looked around Phuket for a bit. It wasn't an amazingly beautiful place, and was full of old white men with young Thai girls (another thing Thailand is famous for), which was a bit disturbing. Anyway, we chilled on the beach and had a good meal before playing some pool to round off a tiring two days!

Scam Dodging and The Grand Palace!

The plan for the following day was to see the Grand Palace area and then to travel south to Phuket by train....

We checked out of our hotel and headed for the Grand Palace. On the way a guy started chatting to us, saying he was an English student and that he would soon be doing some time as a monk. He asked us where we were going and told us that the grand palace was closed for a Bhuddist holiday and would only be open in the evening. He then suggested some other places to go and told us that tuk tuks with yellow number plates were government cars and cheaper on this holiday. Surprise, surprise, one happened to turn up as he was speaking to us!! He even got bartered down the guy's price for taking us around to the places he suggested. Although he sounded genuine, I was convinced it was a scam but the others wanted to go and, as the car price was so cheap (about 70p for three of us), I thought it couldn't hurt to go check it out. The first place we went was a temple with a huge golden buddha statue inside. It was quite impressive and made me wonder if I was wrong about the guy's motives. However, on the way to the second place, the guy kept trying to stop at places where people nagged us to buy stuff! In the end I made him take us back to the Grand Palace which, surprisingly, was open!

The Grand Palace was where the king lived (until the current king, who just stays there on occassion), and the compound contains the kings private temples of worship, which are the only Bhuddist temples in Thailand that don't have monks living in them. Forgetting everything my book had told me I was wearing shorts, which aren't allowed in the compound. I had to borrow a pair of the most ridiculos green trousers you've ever seen.....but I wasn't the only one! When we got in we paid for a guide to walk us around and tell us about the history of the place, he really knew his stuff! I could write all day about it but one of the most interesting things was the emerald Buddha (a Buddha statue actually made of jade) that was encased in plaster for a while, stolen by different countries, and then struck by lightening, cracking the plaster around the nose and revealing the treasure inside.

The temple buildings were some of the most spectacular buildings I've ever seen in my life. They are covered in gold-leaf and glistening mosaic tiles that look like precious gemstones. Everything is perfect, down to the trees and grass inside. We were allowed to go inside the temple that houses the Emerald Buddha (not allowewd to take pictures or wear shoes!) and I was amazed at the amount of gold and gems inside!

After the temples we went to the actual Grand Palace and walked around the grounds. The palace was again spectacular and there were 'whitecoats' (like redcoats but wearing white obviosly) with big bayonetts (was scary taking a picture of them incase they knifed me!).




Me and a street seller on Kho San Road, she was trying to get me to buy the amazing hat....



A cool looking rounderbout at night



How to serve a drink in Thailand - Fill a bag with ice, pour drink into bag, add straw, refreshing!



This was inside the first temple we went to on the scam run...



...and the outside of said temple



The big Buddha!



Me standing next to it to give it some scale



Me, Andre and Matt just before we went into the grand palace showing off our loverly rental trousers!



Us again near the temples



The roofs of the temple buildings were amazing



This is a Cambodian-style roof



This is a Thai-style roof



This is an Indonesian-style roof



There were lots of amazing trees in the compound



The temple that housed the Jade Buddha was under repair, that meant lots of new gold leaf!



These lions stand at the front of the temple housing the Jand Buddha



We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the temple but I got this one from the outside. You can just about see the Jade Buddha at the top of a lot of gold!



The half-bird and half-man creature guards the temple housing the Jade Buddha



The white monkeys are 'good' and the green monstors are 'bad', they all hold up this golden temple



Who's bad and whos good?!



Looking up at the temple!



This 5-headed serpent is a protector of the King



The good people sit above the evil monstors



These bad monstors are used to protect the King



The Grand Palace



Us with our guide!



Another amazing (and probably expensive) roof



Twisted trees at the Grand Palace



A final palace shot

Here snakey snakey snakey!

The best thing that we did yesterday had to be visiting the snake farm! We got there at about 12ish and had a look around. The place was really run down and there weren't that many snakes around (and the ones that were weren't doing anything). The woman told us to come back at 2pm for a talk and a snake show so we ate then came back. The guy giving the talk had possibly been bitten a few too many times (he was completely crazy!) but he really knew his stuff so made it really interesting.

After the talk we went to watch the snake show. As the bloke was introducing it a snake handler suddenly appeared with a huge king cobra in his hand! He set it down and circled around it, while the other guy explained some things about it, jumping out the way as it tried to bite him! Next a kid, who couldn't have been more than 16, came over with two different cobras and baited them into trying to bite him! The guy talking said that all the handlers had been bitten at least once, one five times! After seeing a few more species of snake they showed us the 'milking' of a snake, where they extract the venom to make anti-venom. Finally, we were all allowed to hold a huge python, which weighed about 25kg!

After the snake farm we went to a different area of Bangkok and found another good hotel. We looked around the Kho San Rd. area and went to some night markets. We met a couple of girls from London in a 'bar', which was actually some plastic chairs on the street, but great fun! We sat in the bar for the rest of the night swapping travelling stories and talking about home.....




Scary stuff!



The Venomus King Cobra was trying to bite him all the time!



It was one mean snake!



This guy was unlucky enough to be bitten on the finger before the days of anti-venom!



The kid 'playing' with two cobras....



We were allowed to touch this venomus snake



The same snake being milked



Me holding a 25kg+ python!



Andre', Matt and me holding the python. Just as this picture was taken the snake tried to bite me on the shoulder! Lucky it's not venomous (and that it missed!).



The chaos that is a normal Bangkok street. Crossing these roads are near impossible!!