After a few days in Bangkok I decided it was time to move on, so I got a bus ticket to Phuket. I had romantic imaginings of bumping around in a 30-year-old camper van with no roof or suspension, but in fact this was a quite plush air-conditioned coach with DVDs for our viewing pleasure. Or at least it was for the first 12 hours or so; after that, those of us who were Phuket-bound transferred to a people carrier thing and that took about another 6 hours. All in all it wasn't too traumatic, as there were food stops along the way, but I think I'll probably fly back.
I ended up in Patong Beach, which immediately struck me as a Thai version of Benidorm. It's a nice beach and obviously it was sunny and hot, but it was massively overcrowded and full of fat sunburned English people (like me) and not really what I'd been aiming for. I suppose I should have known that Phuket was more of a touristy than a backpackery place, but it was still a disappointment.
In fact I found myself having one of those moments of doubt - why have I travelled all this way just to sit in a pub with obnoxious fellow Brits, with noise everywhere and me sweating like a Jewish transvestite in a mosque mensroom? Why am I here? It almost made me feel like packing up and going home, until I remembered that 'why am I here?' is a question I had been asking myself everyday at work for the past umpteen years and was the reason why I came out here in the first place. Anyway, one of the great things about backpacking as opposed to package holidaying is that you can up sticks and move on any time you feel like it. So I did. I got a tuk-tuk to Kata Beach, just to the south, and lo and behold - it was like being in a different world, like going from Benidorm to Monaco.
I've spent all of today learning to surf. I got the hang of the theory pretty quickly, andI did stand up on the board on several consecutive occasions, but my instructor had been working me pretty hard and I hadn't realised just how much physical exertion is involved, especially in the arms (for paddling and for hauling oneself up into a standing position), and before the day was half over my arms were starting to wobble in the way they do when you try to do one press-up too many. But I stayed out in the water, just getting used to the board and gauging the waves and generally soaking up the sun.
So anyway, after a hard day's surfing, it's now off for a nice Thai curry (about £2) and a beer (£1) and then back to my deliciously comfy hotel room (£8). Tomorrow, hopefully I will have regained the use of my arms and will go back down to the beach for a bit more surfing. I will also take some pictures.
Football on Saturday!!!!!
