Phuket - Tropical Beach Paradise

We spent longer than we had planned to in Phuket, staying in town and going to a different beach from there. Our hotel, Pengman, was real cheap (120 Baht, under $4 per night) and conveniently located near the wonderful Day Market (lots of fruit and cooked food vendors, which we mostly went to at night).

The first day we spent at Kata Beach, and hung around on a near-isolated spot on rocks. There was a small pool with schools of fish, mostly shielded from the sea by a wall of rocks, and on the rocks in the sea were also lots of green crabs.

Walking on water

We made a sand castle before going home, but with the rising tide it didn't last very long

It turns watermelon seeds are a food in this part of the world. Potato chips are available in either French Salad Flavor or with Seaweed.

Phuket town is full of colonial houses and has a few temples, and a sign saying the Buddha's instructions: Not to do evil, To do good, and To purify the mind. I can probably do that.

Praise to the king - I don't fully understand, but the images of the youngish king are everywhere and the country is run by a democratically elected government (except when there's a coup).

A clock tower roundabout on the way home

We went to Patong beach, which was crowded but an excellent beach. A day was also spent at Surin beach, which had amazing waves where we spent the entire day playing and getting dragged, and it was definitely the most fun we've had at a beach ever. It was a cloudy day, so it was less busy and not too hot, but I didn't wear sunscreen and got burned. Still though, it was a good time. Unfortunately we have no pics from Patong or Surin, we didn't want the camera getting wet.