Steve and Emma's Travel Tales

It’s holiday time again in Malaysia, this time for the end of the fasting month celebration(Hari Raya), so we’ve had to set off on another jaunt – it’s a tough old life here in Asia. Malaysia shuts down at Hari Raya so it’s best to head overseas at this time of year. We decided on Phuket in the south of Thailand as Emma had never really been there before, except on a stopover on the way to one of the smaller nearby islands, Ko Yao Noi. Oh yeah and she wanted to visit some funky gibbons!

Ours, and most people’s impression of Phuket is crowded beaches and tacky go go bars and this is true if you stick to the main beach area of Patong, but we had booked a hotel on the quiet beach of Nai Thon in the rural, undeveloped northern part of the island. Unusually for us we had booked four nights in one hotel, Naithonburi Beach Resort. It looked great on the tinterweb but we have been fooled before and at only 1500 B a night we were a bit sceptical. However, on arrival on the Friday night after a short 15 minute taxi ride from the airport, all doubts were dispelled. Even arriving in the dark we could see that it is a fantastic hotel. Our room was really nice with a large balcony overlooking the lush gardens and huge pool. We quickly checked out the bar after dumping our bags but, after finding KL prices we decided to take a wander along the quiet road which separates the resort from the beach. Due to it being off season a lot of the places were closed but we found a nice restaurant at the far end of the beach with cheap cold beer and tasty Thai snacks and meals.

Next morning we were up early to stuff our faces at the brekkie buffet before checking out the surrounding area in the day light. The beach is a lovely stretch of clean white sand and the hotel provides loungers on the beach under shady trees – they even give you complimentary water every time you go to the beach. The sea in the morning was fair pounding in so we decided to check out the pool. It’s one of the best we had ever seen! A massive pool, with elephant water fountains, a swim up bar and a man made beach – a great place to relax and cool off.

After lounging at the pool it was time to go to see the gibbons at the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project at Khao Phra Taew Wildlife Reserve. We had hoped to hire bikes and cycle there but couldn’t find any so settled on the lazy option of a taxi. We had seen a programme on TV called ‘Gibbons – Back in the Swing’ which documented the good work done by this project so Emma just had to see for herself. There is not much to see; just a few of the gibbons in cages but the information and the stories are well worth reading about. Basically they rescue gibbons that are used in the tourist trade, particularly on Patong Beach, where tourists pay money to have photos taken with the gibbons, or gibbons that have been maltreated as exotic pets. Some of the tales of them being drugged and having their teeth extracted to be tamer are heart wrenching. Of course Emma had to adopt one to add to the menagerie of adopted animals she already has. However, at only 1500 B to care for a gibbon for a year it had to be done. The aim of the project it to release them back into the forest and they have done so successfully 16 times so far. Emma chose ‘George’ and they have high hopes that he can go back to the forest as soon as they find a suitable mate to go with him, as they are not very good on their own. After spending some time with the gibbons we decided to go into the forest but as it was Saturday it was quite busy with locals visiting Bang Pae waterfall. We hiked past the falls and up into the forest to see if we could catch a glimpse of any of the rehabilitated gibbons. We weren’t sure where the track was heading as there wasn’t any signs so after 30 minutes we headed back. Back at Nai Thon the sea had calmed down and the tide gone out so we spent the rest of the afternoon lazing by the sea and splashing about in the waves before watching a spectacular sunset with sunset beer procured from the mini-mart of course!

Sunday morning was Derby day, so I woke up excited but of course it was hours till kick off. We decided to head into Phuket town in the south of the island for the afternoon. I don’t think many tourists come here and it was deserted when our taxi dropped us off. That’s a shame really as it a nice town with lots of fascinating old Sino-Portuguese colonial buildings. We spent a while wandering round, checking out the architecture and a Thai wat (temple) before having a late lunch. I had made it my goal to try and fit in as many of my Thai favourites during the short break – red curry, tom kha gai, etc and the Tom Yam Gung we had in town was the best yet, delicious and spicy. After lunch we walked up Khao Rang (Phuket Hill), a short 30 minutes walk north of the town and we were rewarded with fine views of the jungle, coast and town. Kick of time was drawing close so we got the bus over to Patong beach – yeah I know we said it’s not our bag but at least the match would surely be on there!

We arrived at the beach which is actually quite a big town with loads of hotels, bars, restaurants and shopping centres. We had a wander around and checked out the beach. Costa Del Thailand or what? The beach was packed and lined with loads of brightly coloured umbrellas and loungers with fat speedo and bikini clad Europeans everywhere – horrible! We had a look around the markets and I bought a few fake t-shirts but our hearts were not into shopping so we retired to the Billabong Bar to wait for the football. Now there are loads of seedy bars but this sports bar was fine and promised to show the game. The bar filled up with united fans from every part of the world except Manchester and we enjoyed a great game until the ref decided to play on until united scored – the usual Old Trafford treatment hey. We managed to get a songthaew back to our beach for me to sulk for the rest of the night! (Actually he is still sulking and bangin on about it 5 days later – Emma).

Monday was our last full day and we spent it by the pool, enjoying a cocktail at the pool bar and on the beach before heading back to KL on Tuesday morning. Phuket has got a lot more to offer than the tacky tourist resort of Patong and a lot of the island is undeveloped and has beautiful scenery. So if you do visit, check out other beaches and the rest of the island and you will see a very different side to Phuket. It is also worth going in the off –season (May-Oct) as you get amazing deals on hotels and we had fantastic weather but the sea is a bit rough in the morning but then again so were we after the derby!

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