Days 29 and 30 - Phuket
Friday, September 10, 2010
Monday 6th September
Tuesday 7th September
Monday morning I had arranged to have a tennis lesson at 8am but when I woke it was pouring with rain, so that was called off. I instead went to the gym and gave myself a thrashing with weights.
As it was raining it was a good day for shopping, so I went into Phuket Town to the large mall there. I didn't buy anything - although the Nine West shoes definitely drew my attention - but I loved the grocery store! It was like an 'ex-pat' grocery store with 20,000 imported items, plus combined with a very chic deli, in-house bakery, fishmongers etc. No surprise that I loaded up on fresh bread for lunch ...
In the afternoon when the sun came out I explored the back half of the resort where a lot of the activities are located. There was an outdoor rock climbing wall; archery; driving range; basketball and volleyball courts and mini-golf. I had a game of mini-golf with a couple of Aussies - it was an extremely tough course! Since we weren't keeping track of the score I didn't try very hard - just hit and hope!
Returning to my room I timed it perfectly to meet the baby elephant that wonders down to the resort everyday at about 3pm. It was soo cute - I'll put pictures up when I load the next lot of photos on. It was only two years old and lived up the road with a group of about 8 other elephants, on the road leading out of Patong to Karon beach. The rest of the afternoon and evening was quite uneventful, just relaxing in my room and eating at the Japanese restaurant (which was extremely authentic).
Tuesday morning I had planned to have a go at the Thai Boxing class that the resort held on Tuesdays, but after a game of squash I was exhausted. Yesterday whilst being driven back from Phuket Town I had organised for the driver to pick me up at 12pm for a 3 hour tour of Phuket (less than $30!) - I'd planned to see the factory outlets, Big Buddha, Chalong Temple etc. However, the driver didn't turn up! I waited for about 20 minutes and then asked the concierge if he could call the driver. He said, "We don't do that in Thailand - only Europeans - if he doesn't turn up then you can just leave no problem." He arranged for one of the hotel's cars to take me for my tour instead for the same price - and it was in a new 4WD, which was luxury!
Tuesday was the worst day for weather, as it poured all day, so I hit up the factory outlets in Phuket Town. t was like a ghost town - a flooded ghost town, as all of the paths were covered with water about a foot deep. The taxi driver asked me if I wanted to go to the 'world's biggest jewellery store'. Adam and I had been to the sister store in Bangkok - basically, the drivers get a stamp in their book for each passenger they take there, and then they can redeem their stamps for money. I didn't have anything else to do so I agreed to go. It is such an organised effort - you're greeted with a welcome drink and then have a personal host who escorts you through the jewellery shop. (I saw shop but it's about as big as a grocery store!) Every bit of jewellery you could think of was there, from emerald to gold, diamonds and silver. I pretended I was interested in a silver tennis bracelet - unfortunately at $10,000 Australian the one I liked would not be going home with me!
As I was heading to Phi Phi island the next day, the driver took me to a travel agency to purchase a ferry ticket. I'm starting to become less suspicious of travel agents, as the prices are actually working out cheaper than doing it myself as they generally throw in a taxi to get you to the pier/bus station.
For my final night in Phuket I ate at the Tonsai Bar by the pool. The food was nothing to write home about but the chocolate milkshakes were divine! When I returned to my room, I didn't want to close my eyes because I knew that once I woke up it would be time to leave Le Meridien!
Tuesday 7th September
Monday morning I had arranged to have a tennis lesson at 8am but when I woke it was pouring with rain, so that was called off. I instead went to the gym and gave myself a thrashing with weights.
As it was raining it was a good day for shopping, so I went into Phuket Town to the large mall there. I didn't buy anything - although the Nine West shoes definitely drew my attention - but I loved the grocery store! It was like an 'ex-pat' grocery store with 20,000 imported items, plus combined with a very chic deli, in-house bakery, fishmongers etc. No surprise that I loaded up on fresh bread for lunch ...
In the afternoon when the sun came out I explored the back half of the resort where a lot of the activities are located. There was an outdoor rock climbing wall; archery; driving range; basketball and volleyball courts and mini-golf. I had a game of mini-golf with a couple of Aussies - it was an extremely tough course! Since we weren't keeping track of the score I didn't try very hard - just hit and hope!
Returning to my room I timed it perfectly to meet the baby elephant that wonders down to the resort everyday at about 3pm. It was soo cute - I'll put pictures up when I load the next lot of photos on. It was only two years old and lived up the road with a group of about 8 other elephants, on the road leading out of Patong to Karon beach. The rest of the afternoon and evening was quite uneventful, just relaxing in my room and eating at the Japanese restaurant (which was extremely authentic).
Tuesday morning I had planned to have a go at the Thai Boxing class that the resort held on Tuesdays, but after a game of squash I was exhausted. Yesterday whilst being driven back from Phuket Town I had organised for the driver to pick me up at 12pm for a 3 hour tour of Phuket (less than $30!) - I'd planned to see the factory outlets, Big Buddha, Chalong Temple etc. However, the driver didn't turn up! I waited for about 20 minutes and then asked the concierge if he could call the driver. He said, "We don't do that in Thailand - only Europeans - if he doesn't turn up then you can just leave no problem." He arranged for one of the hotel's cars to take me for my tour instead for the same price - and it was in a new 4WD, which was luxury!
Tuesday was the worst day for weather, as it poured all day, so I hit up the factory outlets in Phuket Town. t was like a ghost town - a flooded ghost town, as all of the paths were covered with water about a foot deep. The taxi driver asked me if I wanted to go to the 'world's biggest jewellery store'. Adam and I had been to the sister store in Bangkok - basically, the drivers get a stamp in their book for each passenger they take there, and then they can redeem their stamps for money. I didn't have anything else to do so I agreed to go. It is such an organised effort - you're greeted with a welcome drink and then have a personal host who escorts you through the jewellery shop. (I saw shop but it's about as big as a grocery store!) Every bit of jewellery you could think of was there, from emerald to gold, diamonds and silver. I pretended I was interested in a silver tennis bracelet - unfortunately at $10,000 Australian the one I liked would not be going home with me!
As I was heading to Phi Phi island the next day, the driver took me to a travel agency to purchase a ferry ticket. I'm starting to become less suspicious of travel agents, as the prices are actually working out cheaper than doing it myself as they generally throw in a taxi to get you to the pier/bus station.
For my final night in Phuket I ate at the Tonsai Bar by the pool. The food was nothing to write home about but the chocolate milkshakes were divine! When I returned to my room, I didn't want to close my eyes because I knew that once I woke up it would be time to leave Le Meridien!
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