Phuket - The Big Daddy Of Thai Islands

We really didn't know what to expect from the island of Phuket. It's Southern Thailand's biggest tourism moneymaker. It doesn't actually feel like an island due to its sheer size (810 sq km in total) and commercial development.

From the North-Eastern pier it took us 30 mins by bus to reach Phuket town and then a further 30 mins by a giant sized tuk tuk to reach the beach town of Kata. Phuket town is large, noisy, polluted and busy so we had made a quick decision to stay by the coastline. Plus it was going to be awhile till we would be near a beach again so we figured we should make the most of it whilst it's on offer.

Unfortunately Kata wasn't the quiet beach town we were hoping for. The main street is lined with go-go bars and neon lights with a backdrop of uninspiring concrete buildings. We were so close to jumping on the next bus out of there when a lovely Thai lady/restaurant owner gave us some helpful advice. Not only did she ease our irritable heads but she satisfied our grumbling stomachs. Shortly after we checked into a nice bungalow situated on one of the side streets. We felt much better about Phuket knowing we'd secured a room in a friendly place, had spotted some nice restarants nearby (very important criteria!) and was only a 7 min walk to the beach.

The next couple of days followed the same routine - wake up, shower, eat breakfast at nearby swiss cafe, spend 5 relaxing hours on the beach, read our books, internet session in the arvo, dinner at local thai hut and ice-cream for dessert from 7Eleven!

Phuket is like Benidorm in Spain for the Brits and the Gold Coast in Australia for Aussies. It's a package holiday paradise. The would be lovely stretches of soft sandy beaches are dominated with hundreds of beach umbrellas and chairs. This place is full of cheap thrills and we figured you either like it or loathe.