Phuket 2008 Number 6
Finally this is the last of my reports; we arrived home last Friday 29th August after spending 5 nights in Singapore and 3 months in Phuket (plus various places in-between)

I have already covered all of our time except for the last 10 days in Phuket which were actually pretty boring due to Gary being sick with a chest infection.

Just a couple of eating places, we went to so many different restaurants etc and I have lost track of many places etc.

Bushranger Bar & Grill is a little bit south of Jungceylon on the opposite side of the road. We had mixed grills and they were very good, came with all the norm like steak, lamb chops, sausage, eggs (cooked perfectly), bacon etc for 420baht. That lamb chop sure taste good as it’s the first time I had eaten lamb in 3 months.

La Boucherie Steak House, which means The Butcher Shop is on Sawatdirak Road same street as Friendship Leather, it was lovely nice sitting out the front with the water features behind us. You also start with free appetizers, I ordered a T-bone steak which was a huge 250 grams, and it was ok and cost 350baht.

Gary ordered Chateaubriand which was delicious and cost 490baht. Drinks were 100baht for a Bacardi and 60baht for a glass of Singha. They only use the best beef from Australia and New Zealand and offer free transfers.

We went to Quokka Bar to say goodbye to Mey and Elle then decided to have dinner at one of the little Thai restaurants that run down the side, the one we went to was called “You and Me” we ordered a drink each, 2xcheese&garlic bread, crab omelet and chicken with chili paste, bill was 460baht, the food was very bland and next morning it would have been handy to have 2 toilets in our apartment.

Molly Malone’s chip butty 145baht, onion rings with garlic & mayo 100baht, Bacardi & coke 150baht, pint Singha 150baht. I was hanging out for chips and bread & butter, it was ok, would have been better with real chips not frozen ones. This was a late lunch and over the years we have had some nice meals here but they are massive serves!

A few days before we left we went to Kok Chang to say goodbye to Chiani, we have been there so many times I have lost count. I decided to do another 1hr elephant trek and Gary said he would stay talking to Chiani.

This is the first time I have done it on my own and its totally different, was a little scary in places as some of the track was pretty boggy but no problems for my huge elephant. I rode on her head down from the summit and it was fantastic. We stayed quite awhile and Charley & Lum Yai visited.

I also took Chaini a few photos I had taken in July and had enlarged, so if you go there have a look they are under the glass on the big table in the bar.

We met Mark on his birthday at Laem Hin Seafood Restaurant; Cha Cha his beautiful wife came as well as her little boy Wood. It was a lovely night and we let Cha Cha order for us and the food was delicious. Total bill was about 1300baht. Very cheap for the amount of food we had and a drink each.

Somewhere during the last week Daj and his family wanted to take us out for dinner again, Gary was to sick to go but of course I still went. We went to Tang Kae Seafood Restaurant at Palai Bay, I loved the food here and the setting is beautiful with views of Chalong Bay, Cape Panwa and Koh Lon.

I will definitely be taking Gary here next year. Dah ordered so much food, we had 2 whole fish, tempura prawns, shell fish, vegetable dishes, and then a plate turned up with 2 chicken legs. This was for me and Matahari only as I had taken a photo of the both of us at Fantasea eating chicken legs, so Daj thought it would be nice for another photo lol.

We talked and talked for ages (and ate) they are just a wonderful family and we are so lucky to have them as friends.

Our last big night was 2 nights before we left Phuket. Gary decided to have his last Penang Curry Chicken Pizza, surprise surprise, the chef wants Gary in the kitchen ha-ha. I have already told the chef to cook me whatever he wants, after 3 mths it was a pain deciding what delicious food to eat.

I stayed in the kitchen about 2 minutes and took a couple of photos then headed back into the bar, I mean there were people to talk to and drinks to drink. Then Gary came out with the food. The pizza looked great, he was not allowed to watch the chef making it, he had to make it himself from scratch, then while it was in the oven, chef says to Gary ok now you make Tom Yum Gung, fried rice etc for Cathy.

Well done Gary the food was perfect, even Nicky gave the pizza the thumbs up. This was such a highlight for Gary, he loved being in the kitchen (thank god someone in the family enjoys cooking).

This turned into a huge night as it was also Nicky and his girlfriend Pingy’s last night as they were flying to Sydney the next day.

About 12.30am Kai (the manager) decides we are going out, oh no here we go again, so goodbyes were said to Nicky and Pingy, I wish people would not cry as it gets me going as well, so off we go in a tuk tuk, Gary, Me, Kai and another Aussie couple with Pingy standing there bawling her eyes out and me crying away in the front seat of the tuk tuk.

Anyway to cut a long story short we ended up at the Black Cat Bar, then the Euro Deli, we came back to our hotel about 4.45am!!

If anyone remembers the empty site on Rat-U-Thit Rd where there were markets for many years (they were under blue tarps with wooden planks to walk on, they moved last year and are now Banzaan clothing markets).

Well a new plaza started being built about 2 weeks ago called Sainumyen Plaza. Not a proper shopping centre more market style but looks like loads of shops will be in there.

Went to Friendship leather as I wanted to have some boots made, I had been in a few weeks before and the woman quoted 4800baht for a pair to be copied from a catalogue, (to buy from the catalogue they were just under 500 pounds).

Went back a couple of weeks later and the nice friendly guy was working, I showed him the picture and asked what his best price was, he said 3800baht, so I said measure me up.

This was on a Wednesday and he said to come back on the Tuesday night at 7pm. Tuesday arvo they rang and said come back Wednesday night at 10pm as they were not ready

So Wednesday night I walked back and sure enough once again they were not ready, they said the power was off for 5 hours that day. Now its come back on Thursday night, big problem though we will not be here as we leave Phuket Thursday and were getting picked up at 12pm which they knew from the start.

So they promised they would be ready at 9am that morning we were due to leave. Once again we go there, this time it’s the woman and she says no not ready yet have one sole to finish, now I’m seeing red, I explain we are leaving at midday, so she says no problem come back at 10.30am. Gary is fuming as well so we walk over to Patong Tattoo to say another goodbye to Mit & Wat.

While we were with them it started bucketing down with rain, it was torrential and the heaviest rain we had seen in our 3 mths in Phuket. Great, look our sandals are floating away, now we have to swim to the leather shop; we can’t get a tuk tuk as we are in a laneway that has no cars etc. Well we did bring one umbrella with us.

Mit & Wat tell us we have to stay as all flights are cancelled due to rain ha-ha, well its time to get my bl***y boots so another sad goodbye happens and Mit says he will ring for a jet ski.

The water is about 6 inches deep already and I cannot walk in my sandals at all, it’s too slippery so off they come, but then it’s to slippery on the footpath barefoot, so no choice but to walk on the road barefoot.

We arrive at Friendship Leather absolutely drenched, I go inside and hooray the boots are ready, I ask for a towel to dry my legs and feet to try them on, she hands me 2 rolls of toilet paper, well at least I could dry off enough to try them on and they are perfect.

Meanwhile Gary has grabbed a car & driver to get us back to the hotel, we have an hour before we leave and need to unpack and get dry clothes, dry off, pick up my hair dryer from reception (they store a few things for me) redo the face and all that ****. When we got out of the taxi everyone was in the reception area and rolled about laughing at us, we looked like 2 drowned rats.

Finally we are dry, clean clothes on and go down to reception to check out and wait for our transport which will be there at 12pm, then my mobile rings, our driver who also has Daj’s wife and daughter with him cannot get through due to flooding and has to turn around and come into Patong the long way, so they will be late.

We sit there clock watching, our flight leaves at 2.45pm, the minutes are ticking by its now 12.45pm.

One o’clock they turn up, it’s was a 140kph trip to the airport, we arrived about 1.35pm, plenty of time. Gary slept the whole way, he was still a bit sick, he did not even feel Daj’s daughter Matahari pulling the hairs on his arm, for some reason this had us all in stitches lol.

So it’s another sad goodbye, Daj’s wife Dah is such a beautiful person but when she cried of course so did I.

Ok lets check in now and we know we are going to be overweight but not by how much. (I had already sent an 18kilo parcel home from Phuket and 2 boxes weighting 15kilos from Chiang Mai).

Yikes, our 2 cases weigh 67 kilo!!. The girl tells us we will have to pay 15 kilos excess as they will allow us 52kilos (26 each)

We were very happy with this but when she handed us the ticket to take to another counter to pay the excess she said she had only charged us for 10 kilos excess luggage so it only ended up costing us 7500baht (its 750baht per kilo excess with Singapore Airlines) What a girl!!

After many hours at Singapore airport it’s a nice flight home, my little sister is there and of course crying when she sees us, oh no here I go again.

We arrive home to a clean house and 3 overweight cats. They look like elephants to me but I think it’s because the cats in Thailand are sooo much smaller.

The son has done well, so well in fact he can do it all again for us next year. The countdown is now on – only 35 weeks to go and we will be back lol.

A few highlights
Jubby&Russ surprising us in Singapore
Tiff&Rod surprising us in Phuket
Spending time with my family in Phuket
Spending time with old friends
Making new friends
Sailing again with Mark
Most definitely the 2 Phang Nga 3 hr atv tours
Trying new places to eat
Exploring more of the surrounding areas

I have just added lots more photos on food, shopping, Kok Chang, bars etc, here is the link
Picasa Web Albums - Cathy

Cathy

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http://www.cathyandgarystravelpages.com

absoloutly fantastic and I feel for you being back home that mixture of sadness and happiness at seeing people you have missed but missing Thailand already.
Hope that Gary is better now and such a shame that he was ill at the end.
Have loved the JBR's and will miss them
Love Jackie

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Kiss
God laughs at people who make plans.