Phuket stress

I had one last Indonesian meal and got a taxi to the airport. Unfortunately the driver took me to the wrong terminal so I had to get a sweaty shuttle bus but I was still early.

I've got eight nights booked in Phuket for a stag do (bachelor party) and wedding of an old school friend. I've always avoided the area in the past but this is a great way of giving it a chance. I arrived at the airport around 7pm and did what I often do and found some people to share a taxi with me. However, they backed out as they decided to go for the slightly cheaper option of the mini bus. That meant I had to get the bus too as a taxi on my own would have been far too expensive.

We waited about 15 minutes in the hot bus for it to fill up and then we were on our way. The A/C didn't seem to work so it was a very sweaty ride but I knew I'd have a nice shower waiting for me at my hotel. The bus stopped after a little while and we were told to get out and have our tickets checked. I quickly realised that it wasn't anything to do with our tickets but instead we'd been taken to a travel agency and they tried selling us tours. Unfortunately one of the groups spent ages talking about a tour while the rest of us had to stand around waiting. When I questioned the whole situation (scam) I was told the group were having their tickets checked. She just outright lied to my face. My brief experience of Phuket back in 2012 when I passed through on the way to other islands had included other scams. Unfortunately places like Phuket, Koh Phangan and Khaosan Road seem to turn a nation of lovely people in to hostile, rude con-artists who just see you as a walking cash machine.

The fun didn't end there. I was asked the name of my hotel and the driver said it back to me wrong so I repeated it a few times and showed him the name written down. He didn't seem interested. Although I was having trouble with my phone, I managed to have Google Maps open with GPS so I was following the route and I'd marked the hotel on the map. As I suspected might happen, he took me to the wrong hotel. I showed him the map my phone, explained that my hotel had a different name and that we were still at least five minutes away. He shouted at me, tried to shut the door on me and walked away not wanting to look at my phone or engage in any kind of civil conversation. He got very aggressive, insulted me a few times and threatened to make me walk. He was so sure that I was wrong.

The bus was full of Chinese tourists and they were all shocked by the driver and offered to help me (including borrowing a phone to double check the real location). I didn't let the driver intimidate me or force me to leave the bus and continued to track our location by GPS. Luckily the hotel stop for one of the other passengers was right by my hotel so I got off at the same time and quickly found it. It would have been a hell of a walk if I'd got off at the other hotel.

My stressful day ended on a very positive note, however. Amazingly some of my New Zealand family are on holiday in Thailand en route to the UK and we've got a few days together. After a quick shower and change in my hotel, I got a (much friendlier) taxi to the next beach along and met them after dinner for a few drinks and to celebrate my uncle's 50th birthday. I haven't seen some of them for eight years since I was in New Zealand last. It was so great to see them and the stress of the day vanished instantly!

From left to right: Saffron, Roman, me, Phil, Annie & Theo.