Phuket, Monsoon to Meet You

Sawasdee (welcome)! So far Phuket (through no real fault of its own) has been a bit of a bummer. I accrued a raging cough on Day One, which Chris then netted on Day Two in our first Thai city. Then there's the fact that it's currently monsoon season, averaging 10 inches of rain per day! Here's a summery then of the past four days: breakfast, watch the rain fall, learn about Phuket online, watch the rain fall, eat lunch, go for a walk, play pool at our hotel and decide if we're too sick to consume beer (no, of course not), eat dinner, watch National Geographic and fall asleep. Rather a pathetic existence from my point of view as a traveler in a new country, in a beach town no less - we're staying on the Southern end of the island at Kata Beach. Althouth we did manage a rousing game of mini-golf at an elaborate Disney-like dino-themed park.

Flooded street

Fortunately we love our hotel, the cutely named Southern Fried Rice. Breakfast included, and cable tv! Free wifi and a cozy bed, pretty much all we're really looking for - but the tv is a bonus especially since we're sick. And since Chris' laptop (in slow decline since Australia) has finally decided to die. The Bangkok Post is available for us to ready during breakfast each morning as well as the weekly Phuket Gazette. I should not have read this publication, however, it left me with the desire to hole up in the hotel and certainly never take public transportation or a tuk-tuk. It's full of crazy (but apparently true) stories of tourists getting raped, abducted, robbed at machete point, even drugged on the bus so it's easier to relieve them of their belongings. Not to mention the tuk-tuk scams, and several recent poisonings from locally made alcohol. Good God. Anyway, we playfully ignore most of that and filed it away as potentially useful information for later.

Wat Chalong

Day Four. We have a plan to leave hotel - gasp! The rain has been holding all morning to our delight, but has just broken into a torrential downpour. A taxi picks us up (since now we are scared of any other transport), and is to take us to the Big Buddha, followed by Wat Chalong, and some lunch and shopping in Old Phuketsitting atop a very high green hill overlooking the Southern part o Town. Umbrella: check! The Big Buddha: we saw it through the window on our way from the airport, a massive stone statue Phuket. The Big Buddha reaches 45 meters high and 25 meters across at the base, and cost roughly 30 million Baht to construct - entirely through donations by the way - he stands alone on the hilltop amid a virgin Thai forest, and is a favorite spot for sunsets. I have wanted to visit him ever since we landed in Phuket. We're on our way and suddenly hit a line of cars waiting to cross a lake - a lake! - in the middle of the road. It turns out there are two more "lakes" we must cross, and they are caused by the monsoon, which has rapidly blocked up the already massive drains on the side of the road. We try to remain calm as water can be felt sloshing the underbelly of the car below our feet. We ask our driver if this is normal monsoon behavior and nervous laughter issues forth from him. He doesn't speak English very well. But we do gather that the Big Buddha is not going to happen.

Wat Chalong

Fortunately we are near Wat Chalong. The primary religion in Phuket is Buddhism, and there are over 40 local Buddhist temples and shrines. This is both due to the size of the Buddhist population, and to their great appreciation of beauty. Wat Chalong was built over a century ago, and stands as picturesque today as it must have on its very first day. It is the largest and most popular temple in Phuket. There's a long driveway lined with elephant topiaries and palm trees. Wooden signs are etched in gold Thai calligraphy denoting each temple, there are quite a few in the complex. The Grand Pagoda is bedecked in gold and red, with several gold statues of the Buddha presiding over it's entrances. Smaller outdoor temples mark each of its four corners, and have colorful dragons in place of bannisters. This is one of the most beautiful, elaborate temples I've ever seen. It's still raining, but we're both so happy to be out seeing some of the island. We hear the occasional firework, which seems odd since it's afternoon and pouring rain. I have just learned this is a common practice at Wat Chalong, they even have a giant beehive devoted to setting off the fireworks. People come from all over Thailand to pray to the famous monks who began the temple here, and when their prayers have been answered they return to the temple to launch fireworks as a sign of appreciation and joy.

Wat Chalong

There's a small house next to one of the temple buildings and we wander over to check it out. Aside: one of the things I love about Southeast Asia, you can be barefoot everywhere! We leave our shoes at the door and I strap on a sarong because, according to Chris, "There's dudes prayin' in there!" We enter the house, which feels a bit like a dusty old museum, and there are in fact two Buddhist monks praying in bright orange robes. Chris stands in front of one of them daring him to move, watching him for an entire five minutes, in awe of his focus. There's a third monk in the back of the house sitting on a chair holding two scepters. This is when I realize they are wax statues, not real people. Whoa. I look at Chris and he still hasn't figured it out yet, so I go outside to wait. Chris pops out a few minutes later, all a-twitter about how the monks didn't even move an inch. I tell him it's because they're wax and he looks at me like I'm dumb. I told him to have another look and he says "No way, those guys are real," but hops into the house for another look anyway. He comes out slightly sheepish and I'm just happy that today, he's the blonde one. We have a good laugh.

The amazing faux monk

Our taxi driver takes us to Phuket Town, which is looking pretty ghetto as we're rolling through. He looks at us to confirm "Old Town?" and we nod reluctantly. He stops at the corner of Pick-Pocket Avenue and Poor Man's Lane and we grab his card upon our exit, no way we're taking the bus home from this place. I am cursing the Phuket Gazette at this point. Once outside the cab, we see colorful albeight run down little apartments all squished together in a charming way, and a few tourists are poking around braving the rain and we breathe a little easier. We make our way up Thalang Road through the old tin town. This is where all the tin miners lived a hundred years ago and it was suitably fitted with bars, brothels and opium dens. Today its buildings maintain an ancient character but the shops are fabrics, bookstores, antiques and cafes. It also has the apperance of Chinatown with red paper lanterns strung across the streets. We stop at a cafe where ladies draped in head scarves make us a banana roti. This is an amazing treat, one of my favorites. They take a small ball of dough and slap it several times on the stainless steel counter until it is the size of a paper thin pizza dough. Then it's thrown onto hot oil on a round concave burner, similar to a crepe pan. They fold up the sides of the dough to make it square, more oil on top, bananas in the middle, fold it in half and chop it into bit-sized squares. Then it gets topped with condensed milk and sugar. Yum.

Lunch is served at Kopi de Phuket, a coffee shop with an extensive lunch menu, chalked in ornate Thai lettering on the walls. More paper lanterns. I'm a bit confused as to whether this is part of Thai culture as well, or if this indeeed is Chinatown...Lunch is delicious: fried chicken in a creamy lemon sauce and a very spicy Massamun curry with roti. And finally: Thai Iced Tea. This is a favorite treat for me and Chris when we eat Thai food back home, but we're having trouble finding many places that serve it in Phuket. After lunch we waddle over to the big shopping plaza, which is a huge disappointment. It is neither authentic Thai, nor effective Western, but somewhere in between, and not well-kept. We decide to walk toward the bus station, which we think is in a good part of town.

Several tuk-tuk drivers harass us on our way over so we decide to just call our taxi guy to come get us, it'll be dark soon. There are several communication failures, and an hour later we park ourselves at a nearby cafe for a beer. The waiter is a sweetheart and helps us call our taxi driver and tells him where we are so he can pick us up. We are so happy to be back at the hotel. A long crazy day and we are soaked through. At least it's warm here. Hot and humid would be a more accurate description. Think Florida. Although today was not the best, I think any day when you're traveling is better than a day being bored at home, and I am grateful for the opportunity to explore.