Phuket

I was in Phuket - a place for indulgence.

The impression the island has is not entirely what I expected. The whole island is really developed to be the heaven of tourist, other than the natural breathtaking scenery, the windy sunny weather, the smooth soft sandy bay and the crystal clear water with surfer’s delighted waves, every other things starting from the hotels, tourists spots, to the services by the locals are done to its best effort.

Arrived at night, we went hunting for dinner at 10pm. Most of the restaurants were already closed. While we were desperately searching for food, one of the off-duty hotel staff, which happened to pass by saw us and volunteered to bring us to the nearest restaurant with good Thai food. That was the “first moment of truth” for us – the impressive warmth from the locals.

The morning scenery from the balcony of the suite was simply magnificent – the 700m beach with clear blue water. It was so inviting that I almost forgot that I don’t know how to swim and joined the fun of surfing. With the waves hitting on me and swallowing me, it was scary. The believe that there are so many people there to save me if I drown, and the trust that I was in good hands brought me to slip myself onto the surf board and let the waves pushed me to the shore. It was simply great! This qualifies as the “second moment of truth”.

Thai food, it was so good no matter which restaurant we went, whether it is a small store, or a roadside stall, to a bistro or a pub. We had tom yam kung as and when we can find it in the menu, and none of them disappointed us. With the frequency of having tom yam, this is considered “repeat purchase” in Procter’s term!

Phuket is full of tourist; the number of tourist most probably outnumbered the locals. The scars from the tsunami in 2004 had been left behind… and the tourism industry has once again back to action. Everywhere we went; it was full with farangs – Mat Salleh. Fortunately, we were staying at the south of the island – Nai Harn bay, which is about 30mins away from Patong Beach – THE place where all the “farang”s go, shop and get drunk, it was not as touristy and crowded, thus, it was more relaxing.

This trip to Phuket has a few “first moment of truth”… hopefully; this leads to many more moments of truth.