The King and the Mangosteen

Today was another great day in a completely unplanned way.  I didn't really do much except a few errands but I met a really nice couple and I kinda sorta saw the king!

So lets see, where did I leave you?  My teacher had recommended the weekend market so I headed there last night after a well needed shower.  It was great, possibly one of my favorite markets, although swarming with tourists.  It was like a combination of a market, a mall and a carnival.  They had all the normal things: shoes, clothes, electronics.  But there was also a toy store, a pet shop and even a moon bounce.  But, of course, my favorite part was the food.  Someday I need to learn not to go to markets when I'm tired and hungry because I just can't resist all the interesting and delicious foods!  I stuffed myself on junk food.

Crazy backpacks

Potato chips on a stick

Desserts! (Believe it or not I actually didn't
get any of them)

First time I've ever seen a bar in a market

Mmm, black sesame paste rice dumplings in
ginger soup

Chicken and duck... I'm not sure if you're supposed to take
them home or eat it here

Mini sewing machines! Pretty neat

Muay thai apparel

Fishing gear

Inflatable fun!

Toy store

Puppies and bunnies

I set out today to do a few errands, but of course first things first, lunch.  I'm in an interesting area, there are a lot of Chinese stores around.  There also happen to be several vegetarian places nearby, including one that is pure vegetarian, not just jai, so I don't have to worry about fish sauce.  I had a delicious lunch of papaya salad and stir fried morning glory with brown rice and then followed it up with a thai tea I think it even had fresh soy milk, and it was super cheap, only 15 baht!

I decided to walk to the mall to get a few things that I've run out of, most importantly Ziplock bags because my soap exploded in my bag the other day.  I came across lots of interesting things along the way and as a rare treat, I found someone selling grapes!  I had to get some, even though they must be imported because they were significantly more expensive than the local fruits.  I also ran into a woman selling Durian which is an interesting fruit, it's big and spiky and smells terrible.  It's actually banned at my hostel!  But as bad as it smells people here love it.  Normally they sell it whole or in plastic wrap but she was still cutting it up and had some small pieces so I asked her if I could try a piece and see what all the fuss is about.  It was pretty good!

fish pieces?

At the 7-Eleven, incense and other religious items,
right between the car soap and packs of gum

I spent a couple hours wandering around the mall looking for my toiletries and new shoes since my flip flops broke the other day and the cheap ones I got to replace them are giving me blisters.  Dad, I know how you used to feel now.  I had the hardest time trying to find shoes in my size! All of their shoes are so small!

At the grocery store, Buddhist 'goody bags', I'm not sure if
these are supposed to be given to the monks / temples, or
if they are for the people when they go to pray

Love this!  Tanning oil for the Europeans, whitening cream
for the Thais and sunblock for the rest of us

Thai Red Bull, and European Red Bull

They had a lot of Western foods in the
grocery store, including Amy's!

There's a kids train driving around the mall

After the mall I headed over to the weekend market for dinner.  

I've seen a lot of birds here

Ah, now I feel like I'm home.  A BMW and a pickup with
a lift kit

Supposedly you can see this huge Buddha from almost
anywhere on the island

Buddha from afar

I love pineapples!  They have a ton here

Spirit house store (I'm slightly obsessed with them and
have been taking pictures of the most interesting ones
I pass)

I missed the street and when I was walking back a policeman stopped me and told me I had to wait.  By some lucky coincidence, the king was going to be passing by and they had closed the street.  And had I turned at the right time I would have missed it!  Ok, so I didn't really SEE the king... there were about 40 vehicles in the caravan and they all had tinted windows.  But still an exciting experience!  The man I had talked to seemed really excited too.

There are some restaurants with seating at the market, but most of the stands don't have anything.  There are some benches and tables by the bathrooms though so I picked out my dinner and then headed over there to eat.

Fresh spring rolls, and fried spring rolls

I sat at a table with a nice couple, the woman was Thai and the man German and we had a somewhat hilarious conversation due to our varied levels of English skill.  They were really kind and after we talked about me being American and vegetarian the woman ran off and brought back corn on the cob and some type of bean / nut.  They look like peanuts but they taste different and they're soft.  Good though! She also shared with me some of her mangosteens, I've never had them before but they were yummy!  The inside kind of looks like a lychee except in sections like an orange.  People here are so wonderful!

Mangosteen 

Ice cream with coconut, nuts, lychee and
something similar to chia seeds, yum!
Served in a coconut of course

Fancy fish

I feel guilty but I just couldn't resist, it's probably
a good thing that the weekend market is over

The never ending journey

Sunset at Thong Sala pier

Finally!  I have arrived in Phuket after a very interesting 24 hours of traveling via various methods and vehicles.  I took a minibus from the travel agency in Haad Rin to the pier in Thong Sala. I had to wait a couple hours before the ticket people arrived, I checked in and watched the sunset and then went off in search of a restaurant with wifi and power outlets.  I found the perfect place down the road and ordered a delicious thai tea with coconut milk and pad thai and had a nice dinner while researching places to stay in Phuket.  The women working there were really nice, and in true Thai fashion they didn't try to rush me even when they were closing up.  I finally noticed when they started turning the lights off!

This road is barely wide enough for one
lane, let alone two!

I headed back to the pier and boarded the night ferry, a very interesting experience.  When we arrived in Surat Thani we waited for a while at the pier until trucks came to take us to a nearby travel agency... where we waited another couple hours and then were carted to a second travel agency.

Finally we loaded up in the minibus and drove the 4 hours to Phuket.  This is the first time I've booked any transport through a travel agency and I think I prefer just doing it myself.  I had, up until now, managed to miss the experience of drivers taking me places to try to sell me things, but we stopped outside of Phuket at another travel agency where they forced us all out of the bus and tried to sell us on various hotels around the island.  I finally got dropped off at the bus terminal, but it's a new terminal that's 5 km outside of town which I hadn't realized, so I had a bit of a walk to the hostel.  Fortunately its a beautiful day, and it was nice to stretch my legs after sitting for so long.

I though about taking the bus, but the route is all in Thai!
I saw stops for most of my walk though so I guess I could
have taken it

My hostel is twice as expensive as Chiang Mai, but cheaper than anywhere I've stayed recently, and it is really nice!  I'm pretty excited actually.  It's really modern looking and has balconies and a big bathroom, and the first floor is a restaurant / bar with couches and a pool table.  The motorbike taxi drivers have come up with an interesting solution to getting customers.  There were a group of them playing pool in the lobby waiting for fares.

A pedestrian walkway, finally!

Phuket Town seems like a nice place to stay for a few days, lots of coffee shops and restaurants as well as street vendors.  After I checked in and dropped off my big bag I went to one of the coffee shops down the street where I randomly ran into one of my teachers from my CELTA course!  It was nice to see a familiar face and he gave me some suggestions about what to do in Phuket.

Off to Phuket

Leaving Koh Phangan today and headed over to Phuket on the West coast.  Phuket is also known for it's beaches but is a much larger island and has an airport, so I figure I can spend a few days there before heading to my next destination.  Malaysia perhaps?

I'm pretty glad I'm headed out.  The full moon party was interesting but the island is far too touristy for my taste and water is still on and off.  I thought it was coming back on Wednesday night, and I started a shower but after I soaped up I tried to turn the water on to rinse off and nothing came out.  Fortunately I hadn't risked washing my hair, but I was covered in soap all night.  And then we didn't have any water when I got home Thursday either, which was a bit of an issue because I was covered in paint from the party.  I ended up rinsing off in the parking lot / garden with water from the rain barrels and was able to take a short shower later in the day, but when I tried to rinse off after going to the beach there was no water again, so I had to go to bed covered in sand.  I'm glad that it came back on again this morning since I won't have a chance to shower until tomorrow.

I had a last lunch with one of my friends and then took a songthaew to Haad Rin to work on booking the trip to Phuket.  The boats all leave from Thong Sala where I was before but I talked to a woman yesterday who gave me a decent price and I figured it would be more fun to hang out in Haad Rin while I wait for the boat.

Enjoying my last few hours on the beach at Haad Rin

I shopped around a little in Haad Rin, just to be sure, but ended up with the same agency I had planned on.  She gave me a (very small) discount, and was a lot more helpful than the other places I talked to.  Plus, they're going to give me a ride to the pier a few hours early so that, hopefully, I can secure a bunk on the night boat, instead of having to sleep on the pad that they throw out on the floor, next to a bunch of other backpackers.  I'm a little bit wary of this leg of my trip because I haven't read many positive reviews about the night boat experience, and I keep hearing that it has bed bugs which doesn't sound very appealing to me... but I also didn't want to arrive in Phuket late at night and then have trouble finding accommodations.

Anyway, I'm happy because I found the perfect place to sit and write!  I have a couple hours before I have to be back at the travel agency so I headed to the beach where I found an empty bar. Its shady, relatively quiet, and has wifi! It's a wonderful sunny day, I can see the fishermen out by the rocks, the colorful taxi boats in the water, and workers who are still cleaning up from the party.

The calm before the storm

Today is the day of the full moon party which I'm sure will be an interesting experience, the event draws up to 30,000 people each month, although since this is the low season it will probably be slightly less.

I went to lunch at a cheap street restaurant by my accommodation and met an American named Evan, an ex-Navy electrical engineer currently studying something about sustainability and eco-communities who is planning to go to Russia next year to teach English and yoga.  Some people have such interesting stories!  It turns out he's staying at my place and we decided to meet before going to the party tonight which is good because I didn't really want to go alone.

A look back at the jungle on Koh Phangan

We went to the beach nearby since it was so nice out and I read and walked around looking at all of the interesting sea life.  Theres some type of barrier out in the sea on our side of the island so the beach slopes very gently into the water and you can walk out 100 meters or so without going past your knees.  The water is clear and it's so shallow you can see everything.  I saw crabs scurrying about, well camouflaged fish, and found black and white things that looked like gigantic slugs.

I had an interesting pad thai for dinner.  It was pink!  I'm not sure if that was because the noodles were pink or if it was from the tamarind sauce that they seem to be so fond of down here in the South of Thailand.










I returned to my room to discover that there is no water.  I was reading something last night about how there is a water shortage on the island but I'm not sure if this is due to that or just some kind of plumbing problem.  The restaurant I went to for dinner didn't seem to be having any problems.  Either way, seems like no shower for me tonight.