Little bit of everything in Patong

Our day started off with a swim with a baby elephant on the beach after breakfast, which was pretty spectacular. It lay on its side & let the waves roll it around in the water squealing with excitement. It let it’s owner climb up it’s truck, over its head & back flip off, which didn’t seem to bother the elephant at all, they seemed to have a good bond & the elephant was happy to follow him around. All the hotel guests stood on the beach watching with excitement. On our way in to town we noticed that the elephant lived at the top of our hill, it must get walked down to the beach fairly often as we’d seen it twice in a row now.

The weather has been so up & down for us we haven’t really been able to make any exciting plans, so Instead of writing any more about how lazy our days have been I thought I’d write about the atmosphere in Patong & what we’d experienced so far.

Although the weather was horrible some days, we still found ourselves in town frequently checking out the shops. We had one man come up to us several times with a baby sloth in his hand, who’s little arms were reaching out to me & hands grabbing at the air between us. It was so cute I just wanted to hug the poor thing, but in doing so I knew I’d have to give the man some money which would encourage the capture of more animals.

As it started to rain all these balloon animals started to appear. Every one put on their tinted full body, almost condom looking raincoats. It was quite funny seeing hundreds of people wearing them driving on scooters & running in the rain, almost like a circus.

The people didn’t seem to be to phased by the rain, they still opened most of the shops & still ran up to you on the streets putting all sorts of items in your face.
“You buy, you buy, good price!” & if you’ve already brought an item similar to what they’re selling they say, “Same, same! Good price” trying to get you to buy another.
It was as if they could tell when the rain was about to hit, the temperature dropped slightly and winds blew hard, every one ducked for cover & giant waterproof wraps were thrown over stalls. Whilst waiting for a taxi Nathan & I huddled in a corner failing at sheltering from torrential rain which was pouring almost horizontally in our faces. Luckily, an Ozzie bloke with his girlfriend shouted out to us & sheltered us with his umbrella. This was the first Ozzie we’d met in Thailand, actually, first couple who spoke fluent English. They were over on a medical holiday, boobs & teeth jobs. Waste of holiday money if you ask me!

Walking around with Nathan & his beard has been quite amusing, several people have asked if he is a Muslim, he’s been called Bob Marley, Jesus & Ali Baba, that’s just to name a few!

Haggling has been good fun too, Nathan doesn’t seem to get the hang of it, but I’m a bit of a bargain hunter. We had one lady offer us 5 singlets for 1,300 baht, I walked away because I saw a sign out the front of the same shop saying 100 baht each the other day. It was a rainy day however, so business must have been slow. As we walked away she began shouting out to us:
“Ok, 1,100! Ok, 900! Good price! 700! Ok, 500!”
She was very quick to drop her price but unfortunately we had walked to far & were to lazy to turn around. To be honest, some prices were not finding to be much different than in Australia. In the shopping centre most of the clothes are quite dear unless on sale. Juncgylen (Or however it’s spelt) Is the largest shopping centre in Phuket, Nathan & I have visited more than a few times as that’s where the free taxi bus drops us off. We thought we’d seen it all until today, we were looking for a particular shop but for the life of us couldn't find it! We hadn’t realized just how big it was & that there was two parts to it, we somehow kept wandering between the two previously not noticing.

Today felt a lot more relaxed than usual, I don’t know if it was the warm weather or that it was later in the arvo, or maybe because it was Friday, but we didn’t get hassled as much as usual. Except one guy we walked past a few times, he showed a leaflet to Nathan about a ping pong show whilst saying: “Good time” & making a popping sound with his lips! We walked away giggling.

The drivers around here go for gold, they don’t care what they hit or who’s right of way it is. Our taxi bus last night struggled to get out of a tight spot so instead of waiting for the front truck to move they bumped them slightly & drove off without a care. Most of the Tuk Tuk’s sound like they’re on their last legs & haven’t ever been to a mechanic. On our first day we stood at a traffic light for what felt like ages waiting for the traffic to stop. Until we finally realized that they didn’t work & you have to cross a 4 lane road where traffic won’t stop for you or anything else. You wait for a gap, then you run. We figured its better to wait a little bit for a heard to gather then go with the crowd - less chance of being hit!

I spent the last three days recovering from bad food poisoning, I can’t even say the word of the food that made me sick without my tummy curdling. (Begins with ‘F’ & swims in the sea) *Shudders*
Our first day of clear skies & sunshine I was bed ridden, typical timing! Luckily it has lasted a few days & we’ve been able to spend some time relaxing in the water.
Our hotel has been pretty fantastic too, Nathan went down to breakfast & asked if he could take me up a plate of toast & fruit. By the time he’d finished breakfast they’d already brought it up to me. We get free water every day & we eat breakfast right on the beach which is a buffet with a great variety of food. Sometimes our plates end up very peculiar though - A bit of noodles with cheese, sausages, pancakes, fruit & bacon if your lucky.
With a glass of very sweet juice & a bitter coffee or sweet tea.
Although our hotel has hundreds of rooms, possibly over a thousand we haven’t come across any one English speaking yet & they all seem quite rude. They mostly sound German or Russian, can’t quite tell, we’re surprised though, thought there be a lot of Aussies! We met more Aussies in Germany which is twice as far away!