I waved goodbye to our friends at Kho Yao Noi and we all boarded another wooden ferry to Phuquet for our final few days in Thailand. As expected, Phuquet is a sprawling resort island with numerous beaches and our destination was Karon Beach on the west side – an area hit by the Tsunami in 2004. Before arriving here, were were taken into the island through rubber tree plantations where elephants dozed in the shade chewing on bananas, to visit a Gibbon sanctuary. Gibbons/ monkeys/apes are not really my thing but I showed a polite interest in the information provided to us and looked at a few swinging gibbons before retreating from the heat to find an ice coffee at the nearby cafe. From there I could here them whooping in the trees and once the group had reassembled it was lunch in the cafe before a long and tiresome journey in heavy traffic throuhg Phuquet town across to Karon Beach. A nice modern hotel awaited us and after dumping my bag I walked 10 mins to the beach and paid a small price for a lounger and umbrella, did some swimming, reading and meandered the streets until dinnertime. The island is predictably crowded with people getting winter sun to top up their leathery tans whilst getting drunk on the cheap beer and buying cheap knock off clothing and souvenirs. This is not my favourite environment but for 2 days of sun before returning to England it was just about ok. For my 2nd day here I took a taxi with Phil (the Kiwi) to nearby Patong Beach for more sunbathing/swimming from the comfort of a sun lounger. According to the Lonely Planet, early February is prime ‘gaytime’ for Patong and the evidence was everywhere on the beach, couples of same sex walking along the shoreline and sharing cozy sun loungers - I never want to see another pair of leopard print thonged speedos ever again….
So this is the end of my southern Thailand experience and my time in this Land of Smiles and the culmination of 5 months travel around Australia and New Zealand. I return to England via Bangkok on Wednesday . Put the kettle on, I need a nice cup of tea!
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