Friday, August 13 – Phuket

The weather looked iffy today so I decided to go to Phuket Town – the “big” town on the island. I checked at the front desk – you can hire a taxi to take you there for 450 baht (about $15). Walked outside the hotel and across the street to the bus stop – you can take a bus for 30 baht (about $1). Of course, I took the bus – the price certainly was a factor, but I also figured it would be more interesting.

There are no seats on the bus – just benches along the sides. Mostly other tourists at the start, but as we go along some locals get on as well. Two guys carrying what look like parts of a car bumper. A woman carrying bunches of palm fronds. And then a family – Mom, Dad, and a little boy – who all get into the front seat, with the driver. Dad is carrying bags of groceries from the local market and Mom is holding a rotating floor fan, still wrapped in plastic. When you want to get off, you press a button on the ceiling and it makes a sound like an old electric rattle from the 1940s.

Forty-five minutes later we arrive in the center of Phuket Town. And it immediately starts to POUR! Like a cloudburst but it goes on and on and on. I wait for a while under an awning outside a little shop and then decide to run across the street to a café, have lunch, and wait it out – an umbrella would be useless in this. By now, the street is starting to flood. Across the street, two women are trying to sweep back the water that is coming into their store – but no luck. Cars and motorcycles come through the intersection – or try to and end up being pushed out by their owners. Now I understand why all the stores are built up a good foot from the street level – it’s to keep them dry when the monsoons come.

About an hour later, the rain lets up enough so that you can get out and walk around a bit and not get soaked. I buy a rain poncho from the shop next door and set off.

Present-day Phuket is nothing special – just another seaside town, selling t-shirts, fast food, and souvenirs. I’m very glad that Puk advised me not to stay here.

But there is an “old” part of town with some buildings from the early 1900s. A plaque on one of them reads that these buildings are examples of the “distinctive Sino-Portuguese” style and were built by tin merchants. They are very cool, with lots of Victorian details. Most of them are shops on the first floor – old Mom and Pop stores run by Chinese merchants selling a little bit of everything – and what look like apartments up above. But a few have been turned into art galleries and bars. Guess gentrification happens the world over.

Found the bus stop for the return trip – conveniently located right outside a 7-11. 7-11s are to Thailand what Starbucks are to the US – there is always a 7-11 somewhere nearby. On our little side street at work there are three – two of them across the street from each other.

By the time we got back, the rains had cleared and it was sunny and warm again. Had time for a swim before dinner, which was a very tasty grouper in lemongrass sauce, with a side order of fried morning glory – a Thai specialty.