Thailand

Christmas Eve- Christi writes:

After a very hearty breakfast and a nice shower, H and I set off to explore the town of Patong. We have a few things on our agenda today: 1) Lay out on the beach 2) Book a boat trip to the Phi Phi Islands 3) Sightsee.

A Thai lady nearby our resort is nice enough to show us a 'shortcut' to the beach. We find the main road and happen across a row of bars.

We continued walking along the main road until we either found the beach, or a place to book one of our day trips. We stopped by a few places, each one offering us a cheaper deal than the last.

Everywhere we looked, there were signs that read: The Green Leaf, Poppa's Gold Lantern, The Tipsy Prawn-- we noticed that almost every hotel, restaurant, bar had a similar formula for coming up with their name: Article + Adjective + Noun = Name of establishment. Anyhow, it seems to work.

After holding off on our search of a day package, we see the white sands and sea green water. H and I paid a hundred baht each for an umbrella and lounge chair to lay on.

In between dips in the Andaman Sea, lying on the chairs, getting hot enough to go in for a swim again, Thai sellers and their wares would stroll along the beach chanting "Umbrella for you?" "Diesel bag? They're real, its very good", and selling peanuts, fruits, sodas, bottled water and my favorite to see, beers! Something about drinking on the beach is so tempting to me. Probably, because its ILLEGAL to do so in America. Damn our conservative ways! Anyway, not only did I have my beer, I had them with yummy Thai spring rolls!

Whilst laying on the beach, which was full of Europeans on holiday, I observed leathery men in speedos and topless sunbathers (and the 3 perverted men that kept rubber-necking each time one strolled by) walking the beach shore. Adding to that, were the many old farangs with their Christmas Thai girls, purchased no doubt, frolicking in the water and holding hands. No one seemed to turn their heads or mutter in disapproval. In Phuket, especially, Patong, one doesn't question the odd pairing of the 50-something White male and the 20-something Thai female. I know the sex industry is what makes up the majority of the Thai economy, but one also has to wonder about it, especially when its staring you everywhere you look. To see these 'couples' so populated in Patong is a bit sad, and in a very small way, also romantic.

After laying on the beach for hours, H and I went back into town and finally booked a speedboat to the Phi Phi Islands for tomorrow, tickets to 'Phuket Fantasea' (think: Thai Disneyland) for tonight, and a one-way boat trip to Krabi for the 26th. We found a really good deal on the day trip too! From the hotel quoting us a similar journey for 3,000 baht down to our agent who quoted us 900 baht, that's $25 each person that includes a round-trip speedboat ride that would take us to all the Phi Phi Islands, including lunch and snorkel gear, drinks, fruits, and snacks. What a deal.

H: In the words of Seinfeld, "maybe cheapness is a sense." Christi and I would go in back and forth 'battles'. Her wanting to buy the package from the second place we came to and me wanting to walk endlessly until we found the cheapest deal possible. Eventually we found a happy medium.

H and I walked around some more, I bought another really cute bikini for cheap and a Thai-style dress for tonight's Christmas Eve dinner at Phuket Fantasea. We headed back to our resort to shower, change and waited for our transportation to Kamala beach.