Thailand Trip - 2018 - Day 2

Day 2  - Arrival in Phuket


The flight leaving Dubai was a little delayed due to illness of another passenger.   45 mins after the scheduled time we finally took off.   The plan was to have dinner and watch The Kingsman 2.  I think we both enjoyed the film - it’s a ridiculous movie but I think that is part of the charm.


We landed in Phuket just after 8am.  Having managed to sleep / doze for about 1-2 hours on the flight.  The immigration queues were pretty long so baggage and everything was out and waiting for us - the carousels had even been switched off!   

Now to find our transfer to the hotel - and the adventure began when the transfer car didn't turn up and on calling the company the advice is get a cab & claim a refund from trailfinders. 

We sorted out the cab, paying for it upfront and then met the driver and started the trip to Patong.   5 mins later the driver pulls into another little car park and gets out of the car - not saying a word. As it turned out he just didn’t know where we were going although a lady came out to check the location and then started asking about brochures etc.  I tend to not trust people by default and my instinct kicked in that this was to start the hard sell so I said we were fine.

The next worry as we head on a 45 min journey is the fact that we reckon the fuel tank is low on the car.   The rest of the journey was less of an adventure - including a refill stop for fuel.

It took about 50 mins altogether but at about £20 it was an absolute bargain!  We checked in and were presented with a lovely lemongrass ice tea and cool towels.  Our room is nice with a balcony overseeing the Andaman Sea so not too much to complain about there.  

We were absolutely wiped having only had 1.5hours sleep on the plane from Dubai and essentially having been travelling for what now felt like 24 hours so we settled in and grabbed 2 hours sleep.  We both set some alarms and it took significant effort to actually get ourselves out of bed again - we managed.

Freshening up, we put on some shorts and T-shirts and headed out to explore the resort!   How wonderful to be too hot in Shorts and Ts in February!   

We found one of the restaurants on the redsort and settled in for a late lunch. I had the best Pad Thai I have ever had!  Next on the exploration was a wander to the spa where we booked ourselves in for Wednesday morning - I've selected a head to heel option - 3 hours of relaxation and treatment.

After wandering back to our hotel via the main bar (where I had a delicious watermelon juice) we chilled out for a bit before heading out into the main Patong Beach area.


We headed to see Bangla Road which was, well - needs to be seen to be believed. There were all sorts of people pushing signs for all sorts of things I hope my mother never sees and my dad would probably want to see - for a giggle though! 

We wandered through and then opted for somewhere a bit quieter. We eneded up in a bar which faced onto the beach and had a few cocktails and some snack food there. As we were waiting for the food Steve asked if I smelled burning. Then one of the staff looked panicked and rushed into the back while people on the street were yelling to us that the building was on fire.

We all went onto the street but after a few minutes the barmen had poured water on the building, and then coaxed everyone back indoors. Guess that is how they roll.

Such an eventful day I am so ready for bed.