12th - 1th May 2006 - Phuket
The flight was brutally early, at 7:05am, as most of you know I'm not a morning person. A 5am start followed by a 5:30 taxi and we were on our way, the flight was 1:45 which was used to catch up on some sleep, we took a minibus from the airport and they then did the old Thai trick of dropping you off at their tour shop to try and persuade you to buy a tour with them. Finally we got to our hotel at Patong beach. The hotel was pretty good and a buffet breakfast was included in the price. It's a stones throw from 1 end of the beach. the restaurant is called ocean view which is a bit of a stretch since you can only just see the ocean through some trees ;-)
We decided to catch a bus (only 20 baht) to Phuket town itself. After a couple of hours wandering we decided it was a waste of time. There's not much to see or do. Back to Patong beach...... We had lovely Thai food (a wee bit too spicy for me as I turned a funny colour) as we watched the sun go down. Some bars were shut and some weren't serving alcohol due to Buddha's birthday. To be fair to Buddha, that's why we had a long weekend J
Saturday
Jessica went off to James Bond Island and I decided to chill out and explore Patong town/beach. Also not a huge amount to see or do unless you like lying on a beach or drinking. Fortunately I enjoy the 2 nd and managed to find the odd bar with a decent Belgian or German beer :-)
Sunday
We took a tuk-tuk to the national park on Phuket and the Gibbon rehabilitation sanctuary. That cost 500 baht. The gibbons have died out in the forests on Phuket. The Gibbons have been rescued from bars (as entertainment for tourists) and from lives as pets. The government has banned anyone from having them as pets or in bars. The Gibbon sanctuary volunteers rescue them and try to rehabilitate them. Why? Once they reach sexual maturity and their hormones start flowing, they get very aggressive. Some of the owners had even removed their canines L if they are to be released into the wild, they need to be in control of their aggression (so they don't attack people), they need to be de-domesticated (so they find their own food and they keep away from people) and they need to be in a family group the help repopulate the forest. You may wonder why they are kept in cages? The kids are kept in cages to get used to being with other gibbons. As they age they get put in bigger and bigger cages. As they approach sexual maturity, the GRS tries to pair bond males and females. The gibbons are monogamous and mate for life. If they find a couple that match and can have kids, then they release them back into the wild in a secret location. They leave food for them every day and then less and less as time goes on and they start feeding themselves. It takes a long time and a lot of money to rehabilitate the gibbons. I wish the volunteers at the sanctuary all the best :-)
We hired a tuk-tuk for 3.5 hours for 800 baht to travel round the island. You can probably do better than that as we bumped into an Aussie couple that booked a driver for 700 or so for the whole day.
At the airport a girl at the food and beverage shop attempted to shortchange both Jessica and myself of 100 baht each!
Personal note: - A half bottle of Thai whisky costs 85 @ 711 shops and 150 baht at airport…!
