March 4th, 2013 - Panwa Beach

Panwa is just a tiny corner of Phuket, but it has plenty to offer. After having explored the main areas of Panwa (primarily Cape Panwa and the Ao Yon beaches), we’re now pushing out a little further to see what else we can find. It’s a slow process, mind you—we are going to be here a while so we’re trying to draw it out as much as we can—but a worthwhile one.

Today we wandered up the hill, then up a few more hills because wow this place is hilly, past Ao Yon Senior and Ao Yon Junior beaches and all the way up to Panwa Beach. We’re talking a 40 minute walk, at 3.1 km one way, so a good trek but not unreasonable.

Wandering past Ao Yon beach.

February 26th, 2013 - Pancakes, Storms, and Possessed Air Conditioners

My pancake addiction is unrelenting. Geogirl and I went to Secret Cove this morning for a delicious pancake breakfast and enjoyed a brief but pleasant walk along the beach—brief, due to the heat.

It was 33^oC. I’m used to insane temperature changes at home—sunny one moment, freak snowstorm  the next—and I barely notice most of the time (only enough to complain about it, naturally). But here, three degrees higher than usual seems to make a huge difference. It was positively sweltering today, even though it was overcast. And, of course, we walked the 3 km roundtrip to Ao Yon and back, which includes multiple hills, so by the time we returned home we were both exhausted and in desperate need of air conditioning.