Patong stories!

Well after yesterdays win with the hotel, the food I ate caused a fail. I went back to the brewery because it was close and I figured I could have a beer with some decent food and pay extra for the privilege. I got a seafood pasta thing just because, and it tasted good. But couple of hours after I ate I got reflux, just enough that if I had a drink or something else to eat it would go away, but then it got a lot worse. I was awake most of the night not able to lie down or lean back while sitting while my stomach was in extreme acidy pain. That is the worst I've ever had it. I took an extra nexium when it started to get bad but they take a while to work, so I had to do an emergency shops run at 4am to get some gaviscon as well. Then 3 hours later it's still getting worse, so I repeated nexium and gaviscon process. And it still got worse! So all I could do was wait it out. I couldn't eat anything again until late afternoon today.

Yesterday when I arrived in town I found a bike shop that services bigger bikes and I dropped in to ask if they could fix my front wheel. The rim has been warped or bent from shipping, not extremely bad, but it's just annoying to ride with. They said to come back again today at 10am to see if they can do it, but they were busy today and couldn't. They recommended a place on my way south that might be able to help though. If that fails I'll just wait until I get to Bangkok (or KL, if Bangkok has washed away).

So since I was on my bike in all my gear, I headed to the southern part of Phuket which I didn't get to last time.

This was the view from Kata view point.

This was only with the small camera, I didn't think to bring the SLR with me.

After the lookout you start heading back down and you go through a village that has lots of elephants! Unfortunately I didn't take any photos. They were washing a big one with a broom, and there were 4-5 others with saddles on (a howda? according to my googling), and a couple of baby ones playing too! Should have stopped for photos...

Not quite the southern tip of Phuket

I tried to get to the big budda on the hill but I missed the turnoff somewhere, I didn't know it was there until I saw it from the lookout. Given my stomachs state I figure it was best to go back to the hotel rather than back tracking to the budda which I may not find.

Tomorrow it's back towards Ao Nang, but at the next beach north this time. Found a place for 350b/night!

Then I have to figure out what to do about Bangkok. I was told I can get round it on the roads, but it's likely that a lot of the accommodation surrounding it will be booked up with people escaping. An option is to stay in Malaysia for a bit longer than just a visa run to wait out the floods rather than wasting my 30 day limit here again. The German rider I met back in Australia has decided to skip the rest of SE Asia and ship his bike from KL. Something I might have to do as well depending on how busy air freighters are after the floods. And with the recent grounding of an airline that's one less option for carriers, the others could be busier because of this now.

Back in Patong again

I'm back in Phuket again! I realised what a welcome break Khao Lak was from Patong once I got back here :)

Here's a few photos from Sunset at Khao Lak yesterday:

Your new background. You're welcome.

Smoothery watery time.

Sun is just about to disappear here!

Storm to the south.

On Phuket I detoured as much as I could from the main highway through the middle as I'd ridden it twice already, but my GPS kept directing back onto it. I did end up in some odd places however! Like a dirt road on the north side of the airport where I watched some planes take off. I didn't take any photos though because there were guards at the end of the road in a military looking uniform and I couldn't remember what the photography laws are here. I think military things are off limits, but I'm not sure if Phuket Airport would be classed as that. Australia is simple, from public land you can take photos of what you like, private land and public thoroughfares on private property are different however.

Hat Mai Khao

This is in front of one of the very expensive resorts on the island. There were security guards EVERYWHERE along the road next to it. I guess they get problems? Or is it just to create a sense of security? It was here, maybe it's the Marriot and the label on google maps is misplaced. Also looking at the map I didn't realise the runway spans almost the entire width of the island, this is where I got to.

Flower! 

The next exciting adventure of the day was my hotel booking! I booked into the cheapest-bestreviewed place on agoda for 450b/night (more than last time, still cheap for phuket) at a place about 30minutes walk from the main shopping and bar areas. When I get there however the lady at reception was saying there as a problem with my room, It was a new hotel so I was expecting something like, "we only have one room left, and it's not completely finished", I wouldn't care, it's cheap still! But she asked me to wait for the owner to turn up so I started unpacking everything from my bike while waiting.

When the owner arrived he had a long discussion with the receptionist and then told me that my room had a problem and that he would have to take me to a sister hotel to find a room. It was a lot closer to the busy area and that he would cover the difference in price. I thought that was fine! less walking for me! So I get in his car and, and on the way out of the street his hotel is on he says "how about these places? you want to check the room here?", but no, he offered the hotel near the middle of town first and now I want that one!  He takes me to the hotel he intended, but they had just filled up after he dropped off the last person there. So then he thinks, and heads even closer to the middle of town to another hotel. We go in and they have filled up, but they say to try across the road. So we go over to the PJ Mansion and they have some free rooms. We were shown a room, I say it's good, but then there's a discussion and we go to another room. It's a little smaller than the last one but it's fine for me so I say it's good too! I find out that he paid 800b/night for the room for me! Excellent! 350b/night upgrade!

We drove back to his hotel and I packed up my stuff. While I was there he showed me what the problem was. It was a leaking water system from the 4th floor which dripped into the rooms below. Nothing a bucket wouldn't solve...

Ao Nang and Patong!

Ao Nang

I still wanted that sunrise photo of the cliffs after my first failed attempt. So I got up at 5am the next day and headed down to the beach, a little earlier to give the camera time to defog itself this time. The clouds were a little better this time but still blocking the sun on the horizon. The lens was all clear, so then I try to take a photo and get a flashing message on the camera: "No CF".... I'd left the memory card back at the hotel...

Oh well, failed attempt number two. 

I did get some sunset photos that night though:

I wasn't getting up early the next morning because I had to pack. However when I did get up it was a much nicer clear day than the other days there. It would have been perfect for a sunrise photo. I did get these though:

Dumb non-sunrise photo of cliffs.

After visiting Arthits Coffee for breakfast again I packed up all my things and headed to Phuket.

Patong

The colour of the water here is different, you can see it as soon as you cross the bridge into the state. It helped that the weather was great yesterday too, just the right amount of clouds for photos.

A fishfarm/boats, next to the bridge into Phuket.

I'm staying in Patong, but a little back from the beach and closer to the residential areas in a cheap hotel. It's only 350b a night ($12AU?) and next door there is construction, but whatever, it's cheap! It's only a 15 minute walk to Jungceylon and Ping Pong shows, the beach is close too.

Patong! Look at that water!

So clear. If tilted slightly to the right...

After I unpacked I went to the brewery I read about here called Full Moon Brew Work. It's in Jungceylon behind the Junk, kinda hidden away so I don't know if it gets too much traffic. But when I was there, there were also some New Zealanders watching the rugby thingamabob. They were very very drunk, and quite loud about some nonsense or something :) Anyway, the beer is 'ok'. nothing special. They brew the darker beer with a black sticky rice, but it just tasted wrong. And at 170b a pint (cheaper than Australia, more than my budget) I'm not sure I'd go back there.

I went down to the beach for sunset, it is crowded down there.

People, cars, boats, jetskis everywhere.

This isn't even the peak season either, not sure what it would be like then. 

Then since it was after 6 and Soi Bangla was closed to traffic I had a quick look up there. This is the street with all the bars, ping pong shows and ladyboys. It was still early there, but the bars on the main street seemed to be full of drunk Australians, I didn't look down the side streets, my main concern was food (and trying to find a <300b meal). There are most definitely ladyboys there, you can tell because they just look like males in a dress. I guess there were many more that blended in better however!

I came back to the hotel because I was still extreme tired from lack of sleep from stupid failed sunrises. Maybe I'll go have a better look tonight.