1. Let the Thai travels commence: a lengthy journey ending in the Old Town…

After writing many lists - often with the same things on but in varying format, I’ve tidied and cleaned my little house, packed up and set off for Thailand! My journey started with Aqua cars being typically crap, taking a booking then just never arriving or doing anything other than being ‘pleased to let you know, you’ll be picked up at 14.20’ all the way through to 14.35 when I cancelled the booking - but fortunately, Uber came to my rescue. My coach to the airport went well (I’ve not done that before - it was cheaper but also a 4 hour epic via Southampton and luckily not much traffic so was fine). Included on my list earlier was to make myself lunch and snacks - I’m wondering if I’ve over done it but it really is going to be a long journey door to door - 27ish hours I think, if flights are all ok!

An hour into my coach trip I was already wondering if I should crack open my extensive packed lunch! At the airport, I got checked in and through security without a search or feel up from a guard. Disappointing. I did witness a man having his many large shower gels and products taken away, a lady complaining that she didn’t know why her scissors weren’t allowed through because there was a bend in the (really huge) blade so she felt that made them ok and a man having his bottle of ketchup confiscated. I, however, had time for a massive fish and chips dinner at the airport!

The 12 hour flight was as much of a joy as you might imagine. My seat neighbours were mercifully quiet and well-behaved and only slightly too large for their seats so just some gentle thigh and arm touching over the armrest throughout! I watched the Barbie movie. I expected it to be different; there were elements of (limited) humour, some ‘serious message’ about the patriarchy and some bits of what was maybe meant to be morals to learn. I’m not sure it was for me. There was a A LOT of pink and they never really addressed how much of a hideous problem that is! It could easily have been reduced to a 90 minute film and been more enjoyable. I glad I didn’t pay to see it …. Just the cost of a flight but that’s different because the movies are thrown in ‘for free’!

Once at Bangkok, I joined the MASSIVE queue to get passports stamped and be ‘allowed in’ to Thailand. It was lucky I had a lot of time! At 5pm, it seems a lot of the Thai immigration officers finish for the day, close their desks and leave. That obviously works excellently - I was, by then, very close to the front of the queue so not too held up. The 300+ people behind me in the queue may not have been as thrilled. And I’m not even exaggerating this time; I counted all the people in each line of the queueing maze and did some calculations. There were likely even more people round the corner that I couldn’t see too!

Once allowed in, the wait did mean that all the bags were waiting on the carousel and I did a little cheer when I found mine! I am now sitting on some chairs in a cool(ish) part of the airport, eating some more of my excellent packed lunch supplies, waiting a little while for my internal flight down to Phuket, where I shall be for a couple of nights in the ‘Old Town’ to explore.

…. A little robot cleaner just whizzed by…. I think he’s coming back ….. at least I assume he’s a robotic cleaner and not either a runaway, wild one or the beginning of the AI mounted assault in their quest for world domination. He seems quite smiley; must be fine …

*****

After a final, successful flight and taxi ride (with driver Ju - she gave me her WhatsApp number because she says we’re going to be friends now. She had friends from all over the world. And also, she says I can call anytime I need a taxi anywhere and she’ll give me a good friend’s price), I got to my hotel. It’s right in the middle of Phuket Old Town and is a restored old mansion - which is what a lot for the buildings here are since much of the town was built around 1900 and although it was never colonised, the Asian cultures that came here and built it brought the colonial style.

Today, I have spent much of the day wandering round the old town, popped into any temples I saw and had (probably the first of many) pad Thai lunch in one of the cafes. I didn’t fancy the pork as I’m fussy about meat and prefer to avoid the cleaved up, gristly offerings you sometimes get in Asia, so I went for the vegetarian alternative. It had tofu in (I think - kind of looked like chicken cubes but with a consistently more like omelette…is that tofu?) and also a heap of prawns on top. I was thrilled; not sure vegetarians would have been!

The old town is a mix of old and traditional- including a man using a human trawler type net across the river to catch fish, restored buildings and tourist shops, including many selling authentic, high fashion goods. Apparently, this is a place many people come for the day to take their instagram photos; there is a lot of posing in front of buildings, pretty spots, graffiti covered walls & also zebra crossings, weirdly. Apparently, it’s the place to come for one’s wedding photos too. Who doesn’t want to remember the day by posing on the side of a road next to some traffic? To be fair, the zebra crossings remain little more than decoration in Phuket - they’ve tried really hard to pop them in where they think people would like to have a safe place to cross. Trouble is, they haven’t changed the road rules, cars always have right of way, scooters can go anywhere - including the wrong way up one way streets, onto pavements if there is traffic in the road or down the ‘walking streets’. Zebra crossings remain an attempt to help westerners cross … but they haven’t quite got it entirely nailed just yet.

*****

After a few hours back in my lovely room, drinking delicious tea (I’ve got a kettle and obviously packed an abundance of tea bags and my friend Ju stopped at 7-11 on the way from the airport so I could get milk) and having a rest - and trying not to nap to as to stave off the jet lag, I spent an evening wandering the local, famous, Sunday night market.

*****

I have just returned from the night market - it’s was busy and hot and sweaty but fun! It was a mix of interesting performances (including an aging Thai lady who was absolutely murdering ‘I did it …My Way’ but loving it), endless food stalls and excellent tourist treasures. You just buy samples of whatever takes your fancy - I had some (made and cooked in front of me) spring rolls, served a bowl made of leaves, two little BBQ chicken skewers and a bag of pineapple! I did also duck into a Japanese ice cream parlour as much to cook down in the air-con as to eat ice cream. I didn’t go for the bright green macha tea flavour one but for froghurt and berries. I think it’s Japanese because it’s served in a soft almost pancakey, crispy cone in the shape of a fish!

Off to bed with a delicious cup of tea now. Tomorrow, I have commissioned (I hope - his English was only marginally better than my Thai) a nice man and his tuc-tuc to take me to see the ‘Big Buddha’ - Phuket’s best known tourist spot apparently and then in the late afternoon, I’m to be collected for my dive boat trip!