Phuket

The plan was to go to Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), however, due to misinformation we thought that we could buy a visa for Vietnam at the airport in Ho Chi Minh City, which, unfortunately, wasn’t the case. So there we were at Bangkok airport with a ticket for Ho Chi Minh City and unable to get into Vietnam. Luckily, Marije had the marvelous idea to fly to Phuket instead. So at the spot we decided to rebook our tickets and we flew to Phuket without having booked a hostel or anything.

When we arrived the first thing I noted was the heat (at least 35 °C) and the pressing humid air (Bangkok’s temperature, approximately 25 ° C and smog weren’t so bad after all, hehe). The second thing I noted was that the islanders have a different idea of time. "When does the bus to Phuket Town leave?", I asked. "As soon as it is filled with 10 persons", the man answered. "Okay, when is that approximately?" "I don’t know. Could take a while," the man said. Eventually we had to wait for the next plane to land in order to get those 10 persons in the bus. Arrghh. I guess that I’m used to a well a organized infrastructure and public transportation system and I’ve to learn to be more patient and laidback when traveling in Asia.

Phuket is characterized by a dichotomy. On the one hand, the island is extremely beautiful; the beaches are surrounded with waving palm trees, the water is translucent, when taking a dip in the lukewarm water you swim between tropical fish and the beaches have fine white arcs of sand. Perhaps you know the movie The Beach. Well, it was partly filmed at Phuket and as you may remember the scenes were breath taking. But, on the other hand, the island is ruined by mass tourism. What was once beautiful has been destroyed by mass tourism. This means that the beaches are nowadays also characterized by a large number of (fat and burned) Europeans, natives who try to sell almost anything (from bracelets and fake tattoos to overpriced guided tours), longtail boots and ugly, cheap looking boulevards. The Lonely Planet Guide sums it up quite nicely “Phuket is so beautiful it will evoke tears. Shed another few when you realize that you have to share it with every speedo on the planet”.