Phuket!

Ok SORRY I've been so slack.. the last few days of our trip were spent in Phuket, pretty much doing nothing.. hence updating the blog would have interfered with the 'nothingness' and there really isn't that much to report on anyway!

We had prebooked ourselves a Deluxe Room at the Rayaburi Hotel at Patong Beach to celebrate the end of our 2 month adventure (and to try and cheer ourselves up about the fact that we were about to return home to work/study!).

Our days consisted of lying on sunloungers on the very-crowded Patong Beach, reading, swimming, shopping, eating.... that's it. I can tell you that I am not missing the constant "G'day Mate, want a suit?" or "Hello lady, you want massage?" that followed us wherever we went!

One night we ventured to the infamous Bangla Rd to check it out, and I can safely say that it was the seediest place we've been on the whole trip! Prostitutes everywhere, Thai girls (or ladyboys? hard to tell sometimes) dancing on bars, PingPong Shows etc etc. Absolutely packed with people! There were guys carrying around big iguanas, trying to get tourists to get a photo with their iguana so they could charge them money. Those things really freak me out... which is why I went running when about 5 guys with iguanas started cornering me. ARGH. There were also a group of ladyboys in costume standing on the side of the street getting people to take photos with them (and charging for it, of course). I went up for a photo... "Hold me!" squealed the ladyboy, so I obliged.. even though I'm not entirely sure why they'd want me to hold them, considering I'm a female. Steve didn't want a photo, but the ladyboys protested (Steve has a way with Asian men...) so Steve decided to lose his inhibitions and get a photo too. Turns out the ladyboys really like Steve too, as evidenced by the way one of them held Steve's hand to their 'breast'. Check the photo out, it's hilarious. Funny how they got a lot closer to Steve in his photo than they did to me in my photo....

After that we decided to escape Bangla Rd and head down to the beach and check out the party that they were throwing for the Chinese New Year. We lit up a paper lantern (which I've always wanted to do!) and sat in the sand watching it float away.

Next day was Valentine's day and we spent the day lounging around in true Phuket fashion. We both got Thai massages, and went to a really nice restaurant literally on the beach for dinner and delicious dessert. It was a really nice way to spend the last night of our trip!

The next morning we took a taxi to the airport, on the way we reminisced and made a list of things we would and wouldn't miss about SE Asia.. actually I might post that here on the blog if I can remember it all!

After aaages lining up at Phuket airport (there was a 10m line just to get in the door.. they really need to redesign that airport!) we caught our first flight to Singapore. At Changi airport we had a stopover for a few hours in which we used the free foot massage chairs, free internet and visited the Butterfly Room! Changi really is the best airport.

The flight to Brisbane was great.. I love Singapore Airlines. Plenty of leg room, seats recline a fair way back, your own personal screen and heaps of movies and tv shows etc, AND the food is great! Only problem I found was that they only turned the lights out for about 2hrs and then served breakfast straight away... which didn't allow for much sleep! We arrived at Brisbane airport at about 6am. It felt so good to be back on our home turf and to hear Aussie accents, even though it meant we were no longer travelling.

I've added a Thailand photo album.. but then realised really how 'on holiday' we were; we took about 4 photos in Thailand! oops! Sorry guys! But hey, we had fun :)

Amiee x