Wednesday 18 October 2006 – Patong, Phuket, Thailand
My accommodation includes a full breakfast. For a while this morning I was the only guest in the restaurant – me with about six staff. But the buffet is extensive, definitely no need for lunch.
I sat around the pool reading for a couple of hours. It tried to build up for rain at one point, with a few spots falling, but nothing eventuated (at least in this area). Went for a walk to the northern end of the beach then back to the hotel to meet Mr Boon, the Tour East rep. Booked and ‘island tour’ for tomorrow morning, an Andaman canoe trip for Saturday and a ticket to the Simon Cabaret show for Thursday evening.
Another walk to the southern end of the beach (see photos of interesting trees and some extraordinary electrical distribution infrastructure). Bought postcards, so back to the pool to write them.
Found a much better Thai massage place – C&N. Young Charoon wasn’t big, but very strong and gave me a good workout, stretching every tendon & joint. I took an hour. He was keen to do two, but one was enough for now, but I will go back.
Noticed a place offering Thai cooking classes not far from the hotel, so thought I’d have dinner there to try it out. Food was balanced but bland, definitely aimed at the untrained Western palette. Classes are quite expensive – then I met the chef and teacher, Damian, a kid from Canada! It also turns out that this is part of a chain, with restaurants in Phi Phi and also France!. I’ll keep looking.
While I was at the restaurant it started to rain quite heavily, cooling the air down nicely. Fortunately it eased off a lot and quite soon and I didn’t get soaked heading back. Watched ‘The Life Aquatic with Steve Vissou’ on cable TV – Cate Blanchette, Noah Taylor and more in a very quirky comedy from Wes Anderson.
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