Onboard - Day3

Day 3 – Woke up really early, the night before I watched “The Blood Diamond” in the cinema till past midnight. When I caught the sight of a stone formation in the sea, I knew I am in Phuket already! I read before they are called “hongs” which refers to limestone formations (millions of years ago!!) which were flooded when sea water rises millions of year ago. The best place to see all these beautiful “hongs” is definitely Halong Bay in Vietnam, which is a World Heritage site. Ok too much of “hongs” talk.

We arrived at the Port of Phuket and got on a minivan to drive us to Phuket Town first to do some shopping. I found out there’s a Naraya boutique in Central, a spanking new mall in Phuket Town and bought 3 bag/totes. After going to a few malls,we took a cab to Patong Beach, well known as the most touristy part of Phuket. There’s a nice big mall there too..called Jungceylon. Shopping aside, which is quite predictable and half as fun as Bangkok, the beach is not so fantastic to me but the “come let’s have a whole lotta fun” atmosphere is very strong here . I walked into a post office and as I began sending postcards, the friendly clerk started talking to me…he said I should be in Krabi if I want beautiful clean beach and with very high points for romantic getaway. To me, Patong is more for party-fun people..it’s almost like Kuta Beach in Bali but I would say more well maintained and more chain of foreign pubs to choose from. Considering this side of Phuket was devastated by the tsunami in 2004, I thought it looked pretty great and the crowd is very groovy. Tourists will greet you and smile at you incessantly, the mood is fantastic really although it is a scorching afternoon. I can imagine coming here when I WAS 21 and having loads of fun. It would be like the song “Mambo No.5”..’a little bit of Erica, Monica, Rea, Tina’….except that this would be a little bit of James, Chris, Matthew….u get the picture. Lazy chairs and parasols lined the whole stretch of Patong Beach .. you need to pay to sit on these lazy chairs, ok.

Before long, it is time’s up for us. We made a mad-rush back to the port, 15minutes later than we were supposed to =P The lady who drove the taxi was ala Michael Schumacher and I must tip her for the effort for ferrying us there sooner than expected. I hope there isn’t any traffic summons collected that day!