So I'm here in Phuket, and don't be offended by the title, it's on a t-shirt sold all around here!

Yesterday was spent travelling around the Krabi area on motorbikes, myself, Chloe from England, Jo Paolo from Italy and Ellie from Norway, (Quite an international bunch!) trying to find a number of beaches on the map, only to find that they were inaccessible from the roads or blocked off by the police for some reason. Slightly disappointed but it was still very cool to be out on a bike, I could get very used to it!! Just chilled around Ao Nang in the afternoon and evening after, didn't really get up to too much. I said my goodbyes at the end of the night, as I was up early this morning to go to Phuket!

Bus was supposed to leave at 10.30, or so I was told. Turns out, the minibus to bring me to Krabi left at half ten, the actual bus to Phuket wasn't leaving til 11. Needless to say I was expecting a nice big coach for the journey, but alas, it was the same little minibus that brought us on the two-and-a-half hour journey to Phuket! Wasn't as bad as I was expecting, as the journey seemed to go quick enough. Was then put on to a public local bus in Phuket City to bring me to Patong, the main beach here in Phuket.

Now, it's supposed to be low season here, and if it is, I really don't want to see high season!! The place is crawling with people!!! Though in hindsight, I had been told by a Swedish tour operator that this was a particularly high low season for Phuket, as loads of Swedes are coming over in some bizarre form of.....i don't know...forgiveness..sympathy..something like that as they were the nation that lost the most people in the tsunami (after the Thai, I presume). The work of the wave can really be seen here, all along the sea front is scaffolding and boarding, some with predicted dates of reopening, others just surrounding empty spaces where it can be presumed that buildings used to stand. Whole streets are closed off and shops, even bout 100 metres from the beach are empty. Tis kinda humbling. Though, that said, there are still plenty of hotels and shops open for business!

Speaking of hotels, booked into the Sweet Apartments. A but pricier than what I'd like to pay (BHT500 a night), but it's just around from the beach and it's a helluva lot cheaper than some of the other places I asked in and is actually quite a good room, double bed, hot shower, air-con, tv. It's more than I need but it's only for two nights and still is only a tenner a night.

Just wandered around the town for a bit, tried renting another bike over here, but appears I need a license here (maybe I did in Krabi, I presumed not when the renter didn't ask for one) so I'll have to give it a skip, unfortunately. Going to try and get to Kata-Karon tomorrow for a bit, there's supposed to be good swells there over the summer so here's hoping for some surf!!





Shane:
If you're still planning on going to Khanchanubri before you go home, can you put it off till Sunday? I should be in Bangkok by then so I'll tag along. Give me an e-mail if it suits.

Anyway, I think that's all the news for now.

Again, happy birthday Daire!!

Niall