I woke up Wednesday morning feeling like a kid at Christmas - only one more sleep 'til I reach Phuket!

Breakfast was French toast and then I escaped the heat by heading down to Kuah Town, where the 'shopping centre' was. I needed a Lonely Planet and thought I could pick one up there at the bookstore, along with a new book. Um - think again. There was no bookstore there. In fact, I asked one of the shopkeepers and she said there was no bookstore on the whole island!!

As Langkawi is a duty-free island, I treated myself to a perfume - La Parisienne by Yves St Laurent. I've been in love with this perfume since it first came out - Sarah and I went down to David Jones in Melbourne and scored a sample vial each of it, and I'd brought that with me to Malaysia but it had since ran out. I managed to get a great price for it - almost half of what it is in Australia. There really weren't many shops to look at, so I headed over to the ferry terminal which was close by. The ferry terminal was the most commercialised place on the whole island - there was a Starbucks, KFC, donut shop etc. I found a bakery and bought a loaf of bread and butter - it's a struggle sometimes to continually look for lunch and dinner that a) is vegetarian and b) isn't too heavy - I can't do noodles for every meal - so vegemite sandwiches sounded perfect. I also booked my ferry to Satun (Thailand) for the following day.

From there, I wanted to get a taxi to the cable car, which was the number one tourist attraction in Langkawi. Unfortunately, it was closed for maintenance!! Damn. I taxi-ed it back to the hotel instead, reading for a while and then walking along the beach.

I'd noticed a yoga flyer in one of the shops and decided I would head down to the afternoon class which went for 2 hours. It was held in the house of the instructors - a Malaysian/Irish couple. I introduced myself to the Irish instructor, who said, "Ah, my sister's name is Emma". I asked his name - Mark! What a coincidence. 'What's your sister's middle name?' I asked Mark. 'Louise' he said. Eerie ....

There were only two us for the class, and it went by quickly, with a background of water buffalos and rooster. We did a funky move where we basically 'stood' on our shoulders .. although my back regretted it later.

After a quick dinner I headed to an internet cafe, determined to catch up on my blog, including posting all of the photos for the past week that hadn't yet made their way on. When I finished, I did some research on the trip to Phuket the following day. I'd thought it was an hour's ferry ride to Satun, and then a 3 or 4 hour bus ride to Phuket (it was only about 400km). All of a sudden, I started reading blogs stating it was a 7+ hour ride! If the ferry got in at 11:30am (the earliest one left Langkawi and 10:30am), then the earliest I could get to Phuket was 6:30pm. That was assuming that a bus left straight away and was on time. I started freaking out - it was low season after all, what if a bus didn't leave in the afternoon? Or what if it didn't leave til night? What if the bus took longer? (This is Thailand after all - getting in within 3 hours of the estimated arrival time is considered good). I started investigating other options - there were no direct flights from Langkawi; Penang was the closest airport but there were no direct flights to Phuket on a Thursday; I'd have to fly to KL and then up to Phuket, which was expensive (plus, I couldn't book a ticket online since it was less than 24 hours away).

The reason I was freaking out so much was because my reservation at the Le Meridien started tomorrow, and I wanted to get there early to make the most of the resort. Luckily this was Asia and there were thousands of travel agents, all still open. I've always been suspicious of travel agents, as there are so many stories about them ripping off tourists, booking them on transport that doesn't exist or in a lower class than expected, but I found a great travel agent who arranged for transport from the ferry terminal in Satun to the Satun bus station, and then from the bus station to Phuket. He said the bus would leave at 12:45pm and take about 7 hours, so I would get into Phuket by 8pm. He even arranged for transport to the ferry terminal the next morning, and the whole thing cost less than $30. Deal!!! I started to feel confident that I would reach Phuket tomorrow ....

Thursday! This really was like Christmas Day ... except I had a long journey ahead of me to reach Phuket. I was picked up at 9am and taken to the ferry terminal in Kuah. I had timed my money perfectly in Malaysia - I had less than $3 left in my wallet. As the ferry would be docking in Thailand, I needed to clear immigration before boarding the ferry. Surprisingly, for a ferry that was leaving at 10:30, immigration didn't open until 10am (like everything else in Asia), and there was a massive rush to pass (Asians don't do queues very well).

In Langkawi I had noticed a number of French boys around town. They were extremely noticable as they had massive bodybuilder arms and chest, but tiny (in comparison) legs, which they crammed into tiny rugby shorts, and tattoos all down their arms. I noticed them on the ferry and they also shared the ride all the way to Phuket with me. Of course, the bus didn't leave Satun at 12:45 - I think we pulled out about 1:20pm. I'd planned to buy lunch (or at least some snacks) at the bus station, but the only viable option was a packet of chips - 10c for about 5 chips. I was hoping the bus would stop for lunch somewhere along the way ....

It did - it stopped at the Trang bus station, but again there wasn't any viable food - I bought an iced milo, hoping that would stop the hunger paings for awhile. Then it was back on the bus - called a 'VIP' bus, but there wasn't anything VIP about it. It was bright pink and had this trippy blue lighting that looked like the lights they use in bathrooms to stop people doing drugs; almost no leg room and we didn't even get a meal! I was so desperate to get to Phuket that I didn't read - I just started out the window, hoping to see a road sign or something I recognised.

5pm, 6pm, 7pm ... the hunger pains were immense and so was my craving to get to Phuket. I hadn't realised there was an hour's time difference because Malaysia and Thailand, so 7pm was actually 6pm etc. It was about 8pm (Thai time) when we actually reached Phuket, and of course we were dropped into the bus station in Phuket town, so it was another ??? (felt like an hour) to get to Le Meridien. Consider this - I had left the hotel in Langkawi at 8am Thai time and arrived at Le Meridien at 9pm Thai time - that was 13 hours of travelling, in which I'd been on a bus for about 9 hours and had eaten a tiny packet of chips in all that time.

But after that marathon effort, I had finally arrived at Le Meridien, and it was definitely worth the wait. Sitting right on the cusp of Patong and Karon beaches, I was instantly calmed as the reception staff gave me a floral wreath, a welcoming drink and a cold compress, and then walked me to my room, pointing out the key attractions of the resort and features of my room. Needless to say, all I was interested in was the room service menu!

After 4 weeks in dorms and hostels, it is amazing the things you appreciate in a room. My own bathroom - a hot shower -  mini-bar - free bottled water and toiletries - a TV!! The TV had cable TV with over 40 channels, including an Australian channel - showing all of the footy finals live! Heaven! I'd booked a 'pool view' room but my balcony also gave me ocean views, which was a bonus. I'd also been given a voucher for 50% off at the spa; as well as a a map (yes, the place was so big it needed a map) and weekly schedule of the resort's activities (gym classes; recreational activities; Thai cooking classes etc).

Let's see, for the resort facilities there were -

* 10 restaurants/bars

* 10 shops

* Doctor, travel agent, internet cafe (free)

* Squash and tennis courts

* Running tracks with activites alongside

* Gym with daily classes, personal training and Nike store

* Rock climbing wall, mini golf, volleyball court, driving range, basketball court

* Private beach

* Numerous pools forming a massive lagoon

I'd definitely chosen the right place to stay. Patong is the main tourist area except there aren't any real resorts there as the place is packed with shops and cafes - and nothing beach-side either. All of the resorts were located on the other beaches. I'd wanted a resort that was large so that it would have 'all' the facilities - restaurants, pools, recreational facilities etc. It had been a toss up between this and the Sheraton Laguna but I'd ended up going with Le Meridien because of its location (on the cusp of Patong and close to Karon and Kata beaches, which had numerous shops and cafes, whereas the Sheraton was in the middle of nowhere) and I'd also scored an amazing deal as it was low season.

Now it was time to relax and make the most of my 'holiday from my holiday' ... my biggest problem for the next week would be deciding whether to have a massage, a cocktail by the pool, or a game of squash!!