Phuket Arrival
Tue 06 Jan 2009
A couple of interesting flights saw me arrive at Phuket International. Travelling from Au to Thailand was the usual fare, in flight food, rushed service and a row of yobbos tanking up on the free in-flight alcohol. Bangkok airport is modern, long concourses and plenty of processing, the ever popular concrete on concrete look. Phuket Intl, by contrast was aging and commercial. Taxi drivers and tour operators hawking busily in the arrival hall. Taxi was the only way I was going to get to Chalong Bay with out drama... First a quote of 650 Bh (27 AU) yielded to a 2nd of 550 (AU 24). The driver turned out to be a charming lad, engaging despite the lack of language skills. He had great trouble understanding that I was going to Charlie and Betty's boat in Chalong Bay, and keep prompting with "Phi Phi" - the name a resort island. In the end I drew a stick boat and stick man waving on my tourist map, in the bay and poked him in the face with it to show what I meant. He now understood - despite this he made the excuse of stopping at the office to "sign" his register.... This was an obvious plot for them to try and sell me something. Sure enough a lass wandered to, and opened my car door to check that I was having a good day and what plans I had. Once again, the map, with stick Charlie waving was invaluable, and the sham quickly eroded as my young smiling driver shoved out into the traffic once more.
The city scape is wondrous, flash cars along, people on scooters, cement trucks and semis carrying pre-fab concrete pillars. Tangled telephone wiring massed from telegraph pole to the next with tidy power lines above. 1/2 built malls along street side vendors of all manner of things.
A highlight of the ride was learning some basic phrases. Thank you to a guy and girl are slightly different. Despite the lang barrier I was able to get a laugh from my driver about which thank you I should use for the lady boys, the female or male. He then proceeded to teach me to say "I don't like lady boys" - which hopefully I would not be needing!
Arriving at the Chalong pier carried a little trepidation as lower grade taxi drivers and speed boat drivers hawked as a pack, enquiring about my plan. Over shoulder came a "Hey fella" and a turn revealed a rather trim Charlie, in a Cumberland Charters shirt prompting for a handshake. A welcome sight.
We were shortly onboard "Seventh Heaven", drawing anchor and heading for the islands. Charlie and Betty are truly in their element, and the stories were soon flowing about their cruising. They love it, the boat has been great and the seas kind as sound keen to spend a couple of years in Asia. Over the radio they were staying in touch with fellow cruisey's as plans were made to catch various for drinks in 1, 2 or many days. Over overnight destination was little phi phi island, containing a magic little bay with high limestone cliffs, some flogged out coral and assortment of friendly reef fish. A very popular day trip destination, the long tail boats, speed boats and cruises crowded the bay in a way that made the Whitehaven beach scene look peaceful. Despite this, it was an amazing to be part of it, check the scenery and tip into a couple of beers as the sun set and day trippers departed. Wow, I had not pre-painted a picture of my time here, but the darkness of evening allowed the return flood of images from the day - a surprising change from the home island paradise to another.
