Today was mostly a travel and transition day. Leisurely breakfast at the hotel started the day. I haven’t mentioned that our hotel was the Galleria 12 Sukhumvit. Overall, a nice place to stay, and we were able to get some great deals online for the room – breakfast included. We had arranged for a taxi to the Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok. This is the older, but refurbished airport that mostly handles domestic and low-cost regional international traffic. Our carrier, Air Asia, flies out of here. Traffic was surprisingly light, so we had plenty of time at the airport to get checked in and relax. The flight to Phuket was on-time and smooth. We landed at Phuket and after some negotiations with some local drivers were able to get a ride to our hotel. He took the longer, yet faster route – that basically doubled as a nice island driving tour. The scenery here couldn’t be any more different than Bangkok.
Checked into our hotel. Room is clean and efficient and just across the street from the beach. We hit the strip to find a tour and travel agent to book our boat trip to “James Bond Island,” and other sites tomorrow. Basically this is the boat tour that will take us kayaking into caves and get us up close to the limestone karsts that are one of the hallmarks of Phuket.
We were able to find the tour we wanted at the price we wanted – quick and easy. Lesson learned from last year… use the tour services on the strip. We paid more by going through the tour service at the mom-and-pop hotel last year.
Then strolling down the strip, we found delicious fresh seafood on display. My wife chatted it up with one of the hostesses that were beckoning people to the restaurant. The young lady told my wife she could get the “Thai price.” Well, that did it. It was on like freakin’ Donkey Kong. Squid, lobster, clams, a whole lotta shrimp, and probably as much garlic later – I think we were there for two and a half hours. Plenty of ice-cold Singha beer in the “combat bottles,” were consumed. Following dinner, a walk down the sidewalk to find desert – mango and sticky rice. We didn’t have to go far. Simply delicious.
Getting a bit late, back to the hotel. Early rise for the boat trip tomorrow. That’s going to do it for today!
