Hello Phuket
When we arrived in Phuket we were greeted by a driver who took us to the best Accord we have ever seen. It had full leather interior and the side mirrors would automatically fold in out when it was turned on and off. It may seem like something small, but it shows the level of detail that was put into the car. We felt pretty classy and it helped to justify the price of the trip.
Once we got to the hotel in Pa Tong we unpacked our things then headed off to the beach. The beach was about a block away from the hotel. The beach was a pretty big cove, but something you walk from end to end in about an hour. It wasn’t the best beach I had ever seen, but it was exactly what we needed before heading to training for 3 weeks. We decided to check out the town via the beach and started walking to the south end of the beach.
One of my major goals was to find a spot that had more people around our age. Although there wasn’t a spot that had such a bounty, the did see a few topless women making their way back from the surf. However, the parasailing was equally impressive. It was unlike anything that I have ever seen before in the states, both takeoff and landing were done on the beach. The boats would take off as the rider stood on the beach. Once they were off the ground someone would climb on their shoulders and steer the sail. The landing was also executed right on the beach and was remarkably smooth. It would almost be worth trying just for the experience.
We headed back to our our end of the beach to spend some time in the water. The waves were quite impressive. They were about 5 feet when they would break and were perfect for body surfing. We spent about 45 minutes enjoying the water knowing that it might be a while until we get back to the beach. After a nice pruning, we headed back to the beach to enjoy the sand and sun.
We were all starting to feel a little crispy so we made our way back to the hotel to enjoy the pool and get out of the sun. Although it wasn’t the biggest thing, it was perfect given the location. After spending another half hour or so in the pool, we decided we had enough water for the day and headed back to the room to get changed and check out the city from the streets.
Just outside of the hotel we found a food market that was built and broken down daily just for dinner. There were about 4 or 5 stands that all serve the same food. All the food looked fresh, but were weren’t completely convinced. We played the safe bet and ordered the shrimp fried rice as to avoid food poisoning. It wasn’t the best we had, but it was good enough for a quick dinner.
It was about time to go out for the evening, so we headed back down the beach to check out the nightlife on the south side of the city. We took the beach route, but there wasn’t as much to see this time other than all the locals loading up their jet skis and boats. My favorite part was the sunset over the India Ocean. After the sunset, we headed back to the streets to do one more round of shopping.
We all got a few things, but the best thing ran us all 200 bhat. We were pretty tired from walking and decided it was an appropriate time for a Thai massage. We decided on a price and the agreed that we would take the first one that offered that price. It only took walking to one or two places after we took it seriously.
We went upstairs for the full body massage and none of us really knew what to expect. We didn’t know if it was going to be a normal massage then get awkward at the end or what. There were about 6 sectionals against a main wall and each sectional had 2 walls on both sides with a curtain facing the rest of the room. Between each set of sectionals there was a window with a curtain so you could see between your partners room. Garret and I both had tiny Thai women, but Jeff’s was a little bit taller. I kept quiet most of the time, but Jeff couldn’t stop talking. It was really funny listening to him, but it got him in a little bit of trouble. At one point, his masseuse told him she was a “lady boy.” In other words, she was claiming to be born a boy, but had since switched genders. We all knew it was quite common, but you would never know just how common it really is because it’s really hard to tell sometimes. Either way, we never really knew for sure if she was a man or woman. My massage was amazing. She did things to me I never would have imagined. For example, I was on my stomach and she wrapped my legs inside of hers then leaned forward to massage my back. In doing so, she bent my legs up towards my back and stretched me in a way that only a tiny Thia woman could. It was an amazing experience and I highly recommend it for anyone going to Thailand.
After our massage, we walked back to the hotel and did a little more shopping along the way. It was a nice relaxing way to spend the evening knowing that we had to be up bright and early to get to our boat tour the next morning.