Thursday 27 November 2008

'Escape' to Phuket, Southern Thailand

Where to go next?
We check the weather maps, and it seems that Phuket has more sunshine at the moment - so that's where we fly. I've also heard the diving is great, so this location suits me.  We book a room for two nights (we then extend this to a week) in the Millennium Resort, Patong Beach - it's 5* hotel and we get a good deal. 

Patong Beach, Phuket

There's a nice swimming pool, gym and spa.  We like!

Millennium Resort, Lakeside pool


The central courtyard of the hotel

We wander to the beach - it is a nice beach, with big waves and tons of water-sports on offer. The drawback is that it's jam-packed with people. There is a nice breeze so it's a good place 
for us to walk.

A least we know which direction to run....
Patong Beach

Early in the morning, before the crowds arrive

I wander in and out of a number of diving places, and decide on Marina Divers, based on Karon Beach. I sign up for doing my advanced course, beginning the next day.

Jungceylon, is the shiny new shopping centre which is actually attached to our hotel! No need to even step outside. It really is a nice place to cool off - nice shops & stalls and places for pampering at every corner. There are some decent restaurants and bars. 

The walkway through to Jungceylon
We happily spend ages wandering the aisles of the supermarket, finding all kinds of potions and powders! Many of which are for whitening skin - amusing us both, as we are here to turn golden.

"Alleviates freckles and other dermatological conditions'"- em, excuse me?!

After many, many Asia dinners we opt for some Western grub. Tastes good. 

A "light" snack!

Day 1: Diving
Picked up at 7.30am, and off I go with a group of other eager divers. It's about 1.5 hour drive through the hills, to the boat pick-up point at Chalong Bay. 

Mother is going to have a peaceful day sans moi.

Hoards of divers dropped off at Chalong Bay

Everyone scrambles for their dive boats on this busy pier

Today we are headed for Koh Racha Noi. Sitting up on deck I begin chatting to Kat, a Polish girl who is also doing the Open Water Advanced Course. We hit it off straight away! The boat is big, and there are many people diving today - some students and many more 'fun-divers'. 

It takes about 2 hours to get to the dive site, so we have plenty of time to chat. Coach, our dive instructor, briefs us on part one of the course, deep diving. I am a little nervous as I haven't dived in a while, but after a bit of a pep talk from Coach I'm ready to go! Before leaving the boat we do a timed reaction test, and then re-test under water to see how the depth (30 metres) affects our reaction speed. Sure enough, my reaction speed has slowed by 30 seconds! Just shows the importance of knowing all the safety and emergency dive procedures inside out. It's a nice dive, and it feels good to be in the water. Although, I seem to be guzzling air at a rapid rate so obviously not entirely back into the swing of it just yet!

Upstairs
Kat, my new dive buddy
Coach, our appropriately name diving instructor

We have a lovely lunch - with salad, curry, noodles, rice and coca-cola (hmmm tastes so good!). 

No time to digest and we are in the water again. This time we are learning navigation skills. We also see some nice fish in these shallow waters, the visibility is pretty good. And, we (or should I say, Coach) spots a Manta Ray - wow! What a sight, we are lucky ladies. I must buy a fish chart as I have forgotten some of the names....


Manta Ray

I had forgotten how tiring diving is, and have a nap on the way back to the pick-up point. After a bite to eat, I fall asleep and have fishy dreams (apparently I chatter through the night)!

Elaine, the diver

Kat & Elaine - new underwater friends

Choppy Waters
Blue-spotted Stingray
"I'm OK" - Kneeling on the seabed, getting ready for the navigation test

I am welcomed home with a pint!
Back from diving, to find Mother has turned into a Ballerina

Day 2: Diving
Next day, we are headed for the Kingfisher wreck - my first wreck dive. I find it slightly eerie and visibility is poor. The winds are up today, the waters are choppy, and the currents are incredibly strong. Not very pleasant diving conditions, so the dive master is warning beginners against diving today. Kat, my buddy, gets stung by some underwater creature and a little black fish bites my hand (little brat!) while I do my safety stop. As part of the 2nd day of our advanced course, we get to choose three types of dives - we chose wreck dive, fish identification and naturalist. There are more exciting options, but all involve extra dosh.

Next dive, is our naturalist dive at Shark Point. The water is still so choppy, and we have a long way to swim before going under - which is so exhausting - we are knackered before we reach the reference line! Never mind, once we are under we see the most amazing sea-life. The highlight was coming across a leopard shark, who poses happily for the photos! Coach's ability to spot the tiniest creatures under the sea astounds me (I only see things if they are right in front of my nose!). This is a wonderful dive, and I feel much more relaxed than yesterday. I don't want to emerge from the calmness underneath....

Lunchtime! Then, our last dive of the day, AWARE fish identification - at Koh Dok Mai (Flower Island). Another amazing dive site - the fish, coral, colours and creatures are so beautiful. The current is a force not to be reckoned with however, so we have to be very careful not to veer off course. I'm suffering with some pain in my ears towards the end of the dive so need to surface earlier than planned, we are also getting chilly. 

The photos just don't do the sealife justice......


Mr. Leopard Shark & his little friend
Kat, Mr. Leopard Shark and I!

A jellyfish floats by


Look it's a shark!


Swimming, swimming, swimming towards this bloomin' buoy!

But, it's worth it in the end.......

Swimming through shoals of fish





Nemo!
Moray eels

Moray Eel

Mr. Swiss, our hilarious and animated Dive Master

Wohooo, we get a slip of paper to say we have passed the test!

The award ceremony

The other divers are great (divers always seem to be lovely!)  - we have good craic on the way back to land. 
Driving home, the scenic route after a day's diving

I rejoin with Mother who is now feeling energised and elated as a result of all her pampering (massage, pedicure, and trip to the hairdressers) not to talk of her 35 lengths per day record in the 50 metre pool. We venture outside of the confines of our hotel and shopping centre (there is no reason to leave, as everything we could ever need is here - but it gets rather boring after a couple of days).

Bangla Road, Patong
Our first trip down the famous Bangla Road, which takes on a very different persona by night!

Live music bars, beer bars & go-go bars are everywhere!

A walk down 'Happy Road'
There are a good few Irish pubs around (as always!)
Lots of men with iguanas everywhere - they chase after us everytime
Swept away with excitement..
There is a guy who is trying to get me to go into his shop & everytime I walk by he says "Irish potato" in his best Irish accent, followed by 'Conas a ta tu?!'....

My Mother, now a lady of leisure....

And I (proudly) have many new freckles.....

The plan is to relax some more, and go to Phi Phi at the weekend (where The Beach was filmed). I'm really looking forward to diving there!

To be honest neither of us are crazy about Patong (yes, I know we are being snobby and it is what it is, but it is chavvy & seedy!!!) and certainly not the kind of nightlife to be exploring with one's Mother!!! There are Western men (of ALL shapes, sizes and degrees of ugliness) with beautiful and not-so-beautiful Thai ladies everywhere. Unions of using? I'm a cynic, what can I say? I'm sure there is some love around here. Anyway, there are many other weird, wacky people and things to be seen. Patong town is made up of bars, hotels, market stalls selling t-shirts, tattoo parlours, "massage" parlours, salons and Thai boxing rings.

Looking beyond the seediness....there is nothing to do other than dive, shop, sunbathe (under the umbrellas if you are of Celtic origin!) and be pampered. Which I guess when you put it like that, doesn't sound so bad at all! ;-) The beaches are lovely. We are both action-oriented and not used to this lazing about (surely we should be doing something productive or seeking out some cultural sites?). Temple-withdrawal perhaps?! We are reading and exercising which is good. The weather is a mixed bag - today is cloudy and grey, but most days there has been sunshine in the morning and rain in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, even if we wanted to escape....it may not possible given the recent events where Thai protestors have taken over both of the airports in Bangkok. Most locals we have spoken to seem to be losing patience with these protestors - tourism accounts for 6% of the economy and 3 milllion Thai jobs depend on it  - the country cannot afford to lose more tourists (they have already suffered the tsunami, SARS, earthquake, bird flu and bomb alerts...what next they ask?). Our hotel is really quiet (and this is high season) - and lots of businesses around Patong seem to be suffering from the decline in tourists.

Fingers crossed for a prompt and satisfactory outcome with the current situation. We are due to be flying from Suvarnabhumi in 5 days - we are considering back-up plans, Malaysia perhaps?

It could be a lot worse, we could be in Mumbai...

Breaking news - the situation is becoming more serious here in Thailand....the Prime Minister has sacked the Chief of Police and has ordered force to be used to end the siege. This is not looking good - there is a dangerously high risk of this turning violent.