- View from the room of our villa. (We have a villa!)
It
is a blissful 30°C (that’s 86°F if you prefer the oldschool version),
and as a Canadian who just last week thought -1°C was a significant
improvement, I cannot overstate my appreciation for the weather here.
I’ll take melting at 30°C over chipping ice off my eyelashes at -30°C at
home any day.Phuket has the exact same feel to me as Mexico does. It has that same humid warmth when you come off the plane, even at night. The downtown core was a little sketchy too, the way Puerto Vallarta is near the airport, but once we were past the Phuket City district and into Rawai, it looked a lot nicer.
Rawai is a very nice little area. It's more dressed-up for the tourists than some of the others.
Got back to the hotel easily enough around 2 a.m. after our flight. Geogirl, unfortunately, found that someone in the TSA/bag-search had stolen her camera and some Thai money, so she was understandably upset, though she’s much more zen about it now. At that point we were pretty much just exhausted and freaking out and wanted to go home (the only thing stopping us was the dread of going back on another plane for 27 more hours).
We got up at 7:30 a.m. this morning, went for breakfast at the resort, cleaned up, and then took a walk all the way down to the beach--about 20 minutes or so away, though we were out for the better part of three hours. We found a few places for rent just looking at the options we came across walking down the main road.
There are lots of little markets with fresh food, particularly fish, lobsters, and chickens—which were still alive. When they say something is fresh here, they really mean it. My vegetarianism was definitely validated. But there were fresh fruits and vegetables, too. Lots of little tourist shops and taxis like in Mexico, only they aren't nearly as aggressive as they are in Mexico about selling things, which is nice. There are a lot of elephant-related trinkets, as well as small birds in ornate cages for sale on the streets. It is awfully charming, I must say.
We walked down near the Rawai beach—not so much intentionally, as by default. You see, we followed the road downhill from our hotel until it ended and suddenly there was a beach.
- View of Rawai Beach.
So it’s almost like we had that destination in mind when we started, even though, truth be told, the only reason we ended up there was because the prospect of crossing the road at any point was about as appealing as sticking our hands in a blender.
The first time I saw someone driving into oncoming traffic, I assumed it was an anomaly. Like those occasional psychotic drivers on the Deerfoot that decide they are single-handedly responsible for reaffirming every other driver’s appreciation for life by making it flash before their eyes. Alas, it was not an anomaly. I don’t even know why they bother painting those solid yellow lines on the road in the first place. People drive wherever and however they please.
And, to make it even better, there seems to be no such thing as a sidewalk or a pedestrian crosswalk. That’s right, it’s a free-for-all! But honestly, after witnessing the massive lack of traffic safety rules, I’m feeling a little deceived. In grade school we were taught in no uncertain terms that if we rode a bicycle without a helmet or drove in a car without a seatbelt on, ever, we would meet a swift and horrific demise. I saw the public service videos. They were very clear on the horrific demise thing. (I’m still a little traumatized to this day.) And yet, here is an entire island of people driving like they are trying to get into an accident, and they’re totally fine. Was it all a lie?
- See all the crosswalks? Neither do we.
But I digress.
We went to Rawai beach.
Beautiful place, but not the kind of beach that you can swim in, more the kind that’s pretty to look at.
There were dozens of longboats in the water. They were all made from the same kind of wood, but with their own colourful and unique decorations.
- Longboats at Rawai Beach.
We then accidentally wandered through a sea gypsy village (nice people) and back out again. It wasn’t awkward at the time, but now that I know where we were, I feel like I just walked into a stranger’s house, through their living room, and right out the back door, all while they looked on in bewilderment. They didn’t seem to mind though, so perhaps it wasn’t the mortifying deviation of social norms that it felt like. And when we almost wandered onto a side-road that (judging by their expressions) I can only assume would have led to our untimely deaths at the business-end of a rabid animal’s claws, they even helped redirect us.
Anyway, Phuket is quite a touristy island, and while that quality is considered by many to be a drawback, it does have certain benefits. I mean, we are tourists, after all. In many ways, it’s convenient to be catered to. All the multilingual signs around, for instance, are fantastic. I get lost easily enough as it is when I can read the signs.
The quantity of tourists here also has an interesting influence on communication. When everyone seems to speak a different language, it’s like an entirely new language is spontaneously formed—one based primarily on context, hand gestures, and the universally-embraced exchange of currency for goods and services. And it works. No one needs to speak the same language. There’s just an implicit understanding between people.
We also visited the Phuket Seashell Museum just down the street, which Geogirl says she’ll go into detail about later as well. We saw what we assumed was a replica of some crazy-looking, ancient lobster which, as it turned out, was probably the real thing, since we saw the exact same monstrosity for sale at the market (you can check it out on Wikipedia if you feel so inclined: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panulirus_ornatus). It was an honest-to-god Tropical Rock Lobster—just like in that ridiculous late-70s/early-80s song by the B-52s, which is now stuck in my head. And maybe it is now stuck in yours. You’re welcome.
- The Seashell Museum (in case you missed the giant “Phuket Seashell Museum & Shop” sign).
I’m obligated to mention that we also saw a lot of lizards here at the resort, which Geogirl was thrilled about, so you will no doubt be treated to a detailed post about them in the near future.
- Here’s a picture of a lizard/gecko-thing.
Plus, the absence of pedestrian cross-walks or sidewalks makes things more of an adventure. Like an Indiana Jones movie; all fun and games until you get rolled over by a boulder. But I'm just kidding, it wasn't that bad. It was bad, but not that bad. We're very careful.
tl;dr: In short, we’re having a great time so far. Phuket was definitely a good choice for our first real long-term adventure.
-LuckyStar
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