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...
Patong was... Different. I thought Ao Nang was built up so I was expecting Patong to be on the Georgetown scale of things. It's no so bad however, it's still under heavy development though, so this could change quickly. The road near Central Festival was like riding through Fountain Gate, a very odd sight for SE Asia.
Here are some "highlights" for my ride into phuket:
It's not that any of that kind of traffic behavior is unique to Phuket, it's just I had the camera on and the traffic nonsense seemed to be more frequent there. Everything in the video occurred within half an hour of riding. Generally the traffic is a lot better than Malaysia though.
Thrown in to this mix is the thousands of tourists getting around on scooters, most unhelmeted, I'd say a good majority are unlicensed too. Then there are the odd few on R6's or Harleys. I don't know about anyone else, but even though it's stupidly hot in all my gear I can't get on the bike without it. I saw a news story about the fatalities in Malaysia while I was there, I don't have the link but it was some ridiculous number like 1000 in the period they were reporting on (2 months?). That seems to line up with the 2009 figures of 6745 deaths. The point of the news story though was that trucks were collecting bikes that were stopped on the side of the road. I'm sure Thailand wouldn't be far off, my quick calculation from that wiki page sets it at about 12000 a year (more people in Thailand however).
Anyway. Patong is ok. Of course it caters to all the tourists, who are mostly sad looking Russians, drunk Australians and drunk New Zealanders. The drunk Australians were the worst, I witnessed one trying to start a fight in Jungceylon because someone said something he didn't like. I guess that's how Australians talk to people, I've been away for a while and I can't remember anymore. It's very easy to find western style food and it's a lot cheaper than Australia of course, and alcohol is much cheaper too. But everything is still inflated over other parts of Thailand, I think I kept it to 1200b a day. If you had a 2000b a day ($60AUish) budget you could eat/do/see/buy anything though.
There are touts EVERYWHERE. Taxi? Suit? Massage? One massage lady even latched onto my arm and told me that she loved me while I was just walking past (I have that effect). The touts don't work for me, if the shop has something I might want I'll just walk past if it has a tout because I hate it. I'm not sure how it works either. I see you have a taxi and if I need it I know I can ask you to take me somewhere, but for some reason preempting that is a good sales tactic.
I had a cold for the entire time I was there so I didn't feel like drinking much, plus it was too expensive for my budget. Didn't end up doing that much at all really.
This is the next beach north of Patong. It's a lot more quiet.
A photo off the side of the road. It's only here because there was some weird dream-ja vu about it.
Then it was time to leave this wretched hive of scum and villainy. I had nowhere booked and I had planned to head around towards Ao Nang again and try stay in a national park on the coast. On my way out of Phuket I could see the rain in the distance, so I stopped for a bit to adjust my chain, then had some awesome crab fried rice right on the beach.
These are the beach huts! (this is past the airport, where the road splits into two between the customs shed and the bridge).
The view, with the rain in the distance.
My crab fried rice!
After I was satisfied the rain was gone I left the island, and because I could see rain coming in from the east where I wanted to head, I headed north instead. There was a town called Khao Lak that should have somewhere decent to stay. The lonely planet guide mentioned some bungalows that were just outside of the town that I decided to check out. They were down a dirt road off the main highway.
THAT'S WHERE I SAW THIS ELEPHANT!
It was so quiet and had little tiny eyes. I stayed to watch the elephant get a drink for a bit, then I went to see if this road went all the way to the beach.
And this is the beach!
While I was there I searched for the bungalows on my phone and found a number of negative reviews and a price of 900b/night. I thought it wasn't worth the risk so then went on to Khao Lak where I eventually found a fan only room 200m from the beach for 400b/night.
Khao Lak
This is a big dive tour town. Apparently most places shut down in the off peak season, everywhere looks open now but not very busy. There are lots of swiss and germans here too. And of course every 3rd shop is a tailors or massage. The touts here are a bit more obvious too. When you walk up the road on the opposite side to the shops they will spot you and cross over then wait. One of them even got into a big long conversation with me to try and get me to buy a suit, I didn't care, I was wasting his time, I'm never buying a suit! I told him I started travelling because I didn't like working, and then he tells me that he doesn't like what he does but does it anyway. He's a tailor in a town with 50 other tailors, I can walk 10 meters either side of his shop and go to a different tailor... The term "market saturation" hasn't quite caught on here. If he doesn't like it he should go something he likes, at least open a different business so people have a reason to visit. There must be some point in the year when EVERY tailor is busy here, otherwise why would there be so many?
Rant mode off.
And now, some beachy sunset photos:
Now it's off to the beach to get some more sunset photos!
So I went over to Langkawi again, another 2 hours of ferry trips for about $12AU (18RM each way). This time the chairlift was running so I could actually do the thing I wanted to. So it was a $13AU (40RM) taxi ride from one side of the island to the other.
The scaffolded eagle, next to the jetty
It's about 30km from the jetty to the cable car. I'm not sure how that all happened, they have one small town for shopping next to the jetty on one side of the island, then not much in the middle, and all the beaches and more expensive resorts and things to see on the other side of the island. Even the airport is on the other side. It also seems odd that given the distance between the main things to look at there is no real public transport. As soon as you get out of the airport there are Taxi drivers and people offering rental cars constantly. There is a taxi stand further out (next to KFC, if you're looking for it) which is where you're supposed to get a Taxi coupon for a fixed price to the destination, and then you are given a driver from those waiting in line. But I guess over the years the drivers got bored of waiting in line and started creeping closer and closer to the exit from the ferry until you have to fight through them to get out. It gets rather annoying, if you happen to be walking towards the ferry no one says anything, but when you turn around: "Taxi?" "Taxi?" "Rental car?" "Taxi?" "Motorbike?" "Taxi?".
Next to the Jetty is the Legenda Langkawi park. It's a theme park with all these odd statues through it.
The entrance, with a model of all the islands in the group.
The beach next to the park.
An odd statue... This one was giants fighting. I seem to recall that being a famous story, with one using the swordfish bill.
Parking, again it's whatever goes here, this time in motorbike spots.
Or just the middle of the carpark...
Anyway, it was out to the cable car! At the bottom there is a little shopping area called Oriental village. Souvenirs, chocolate, alcohol and tobacco mostly. I did have the best Chicken Rendeng I've tried while wasting time for the clouds to go away. It was from the place on the right as you walk in.
The best toilets ever!
So then it was time for the cable car! Another 30RM to go up ($10AU), costs are starting to add up. I didn't get any pictures of the first little leg going up because the card in my camera was full, but here's where it starts:
From the top of the first section looking back down to Oriental village and the coast. It's quite steep.
More islands, as seen from the top.
The curved walkway! covered in cloud.
The top!
The really really really old rock.
More cuved walkway!
I followed a little path down to here. It keeps going down to the base of the central support there.
Another view of the walkway.
WE HAVE TO GO DEEPER!
Looking out over the coast again.
The view from inside the cable car before it heads down... It accelerates just as it's going over too.
Looking out over the drop off.
And back up towards the top.
So after that it was another $13AU taxi ride back to the ferry terminal.
I sampled this while there too! About $16AU for 50ml. Totally worth it.
And after another hour on the ferry back to Kuala Perlis, of course it was time to take more photos of the sunsets!
Yesterdays example. [this is now my background!]
This was the sunset from the day before.
The western digtial bus! They have a shop too.
And now it's time to get my free breakfast, pack up, and then deal with paperwork as I cross into Thailand!
