After a few false starts, I finally caught up with Cara and Mike last night along with several of their friends. Dinner was a whole barramundi and another cocktail 🙂

The Kamala Beach sunset through the eyes of a Mai Tai cocktail

After dinner we bumped into Mum and Dad shortly after they had arrived. Following drinks at Smile Bar, it was time for a foot massage. To my surprise, a guy (with an Istanbul t-shirt on) came up and spoke Turkish to the Thai massage parlour manager. I find out that the manager had lived in Antalya for 8 years so it was good to practice my Turkish with her. I will be back there for my next massage, hopefully later today.

I was again up by 6am for another long walk. This time I went a different way, past Phuket FantaSea. After buying a local sim card, I had chicken and rice along with coriander flavoured soup for breakfast at a menu-free place. Judging by the clientele, it was one frequented by local Muslims. When I first arrived, I was surprised at how many Muslims lived here. I shouldn’t have been as I knew Thailand’s south has a large Muslim population. There are many head-scarfed ladies and my taxi driver from the airport displayed Arabic calligraphy.

Resort Pool Reflections

Come here to eat all sorts of carp

You want cable?

An old dilapidated longboat reflecting on life

Thankfully, single and group dating are okay

Catching ALL types of crabs is prohibited at Kamala Beach, not just the crustacean kind

A Kamala Beach Resort swimming pool reflecting coconut palms in the early morning still

I arrived here yesterday after an overnight flight from Perth via Singapore. One of the first things that struck me about Phuket (besides the throng of people waiting at the airport) was the amount of electricity and other cabling lining the streets.

I’m not used to staying in a resort, but I’ll manage to survive 🙂

From observation, the majority of resort guests are from the European continent. The spiciness of the restaurant menu reflects this with few dishes having a ‘1 chilli’ rating, let alone the hottest 2 chillies level. Yesterday I ate a 2 chilli Thai basil and pork dish rather easily (and the waitress wanted repeat assurance when ordering that I wanted it hot). At least Dad’s mild preferences will be well catered for when he arrives with Mum.

The weather is hot, overcast and very humid with intermittent showers – it is the low season for tourists. I can see how some people from cool climates are happy to come here and not even leave the resort.

After 24 hours in Phuket I’ve arrived to the conclusion that best part of the day is the early morning. Today I woke up before 6am and went for a walk along up and down Kamala Beach and along the main street. Following are some photos from this walk.

Kamala Beach in the early morning

Once you have taken 50 baths you can enjoy a 6 hour happy hour

Reflections

Monument commemorating the 2004 Tsunami disaster

Thai long boats

Cables everywhere – Kamala’s main street

The purple team on the way to work

The Thais take their fish sauce very seriously – filling up 3 bays of a supermarket