Upon first sight I was a little leery to settle in the town of Thailand's largest island for a couple days. Most likely due to my current 48 hour travel schedule from Pai. At first I thought I was testing my character by putting myself through so many long hours of commute, then I realized just how dedicated l am to maintaining my budget. Night travel always saves on accommodation and food stalls are very near any public transport hub. If you can sit tight for a layover you can save plenty of money but not necessarily your sanity.
I didn't head straight for the beach because it was more cost effective to stay in town, on the plus side however there are public shuttles to the beaches that run from 7 a.m. until 5 p.m. for only 25baht. Phuket town is lovely on it's own with it's Sino-Portuguese architecture and a cool night breeze that washes a quietness over the town. There is a little strip of amazing amazing vegetarian food I can stop thinking about on Th Rangong that'll run ya 35 baht. Plenty of guest houses can be found west of the bus terminal on streets Phang-Nga, Thalang, and Krabi, but my travel book wouldn't tell me that because that would be to convenient...
A Rant by BB
Letting me know there a guest houses in walking distance of the bus terminal is great, letting me know in what direction would be even better. Getting a travel book is only worth it so you have a general idea of your surroundings, otherwise its all crap and a lot of information isn't correct when it comes to prices, plus these people are on a much more generous budget than I am. If I'm spending thirty dollars a night on accommodation I better be staying at the Hilton of beach bungalows. When it comes down to it just through yourself in there. If it doesn't work out, it still works out, trust me. I have a routine when I arrive somewhere new. Read the generic blurb about where you are so you don't feel completely retarded, tell the cab drivers who are grabbing you before you are even off the bus to suck it, and head off with your head high in any direction like you know where you are going. You will be pestered every three feet "where you go?" if I knew that I wouldn't be wandering around for an hour! And if I wasn't a cash cow to you I'd prob ask for help. Anyway, tranny stomp around your new destination until you found something reasonable at least for one night, get cleaned up, eat, and go in search of more guest houses. I tend to switch the second night is once I've got my bearings on where I am.
Which brings me to today. I stayed at an absolute crap box last night right at the bus station because I wandered around the opposite direction of where I should have been. Cheap, but overpriced for what I got, basically a family lives here and has a open second floor where they through some mattresses on the ground. So I'm packing up and staying at On On Hotel.I'mm going to spend the day exploring the beaches Patong, (which sounds like the Las Vegas of beaches) Karon, and Kata (both of which are just as beautiful but more upscale, its 300 baht just to rent a friggin beach chair, thats double what i spend to sleep at night! PASS) and I'm off to Indonesia tomorrow to find my homosexual life mate.
Fun Fact: it's 500-800 baht to get a cab to the airport from Phuket town, or 89 baht to take the public bus. A gentle reminder, ask questions. Never stop growing.
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