At the airport, it was interesting to see how standardized air travel has become around the world. I had booked a ticket online with Air Asia – the local low-cost airline. Before I left, I printed the receipt from my email. Scanned the barcode at the kiosk in the airport and printed the boarding pass. Very easy. Could have been anywhere in the world. No need to know Thai at all!
We landed in Phuket around 10:00 AM. I am staying at the Kata Beach Resort in Kata, recommended to me by Puk at work – he lived on Phuket for eight years. The airport is in the north of the island and the resort is in the south, but the resort is right on the beach. Many of the hotels in Phuket are set back a ways from the beach (maybe anticipating a tsunami?) so you often have to take a shuttle. But the Kata Resort is right on the water so I guess it’s worth the schlep from the airport since once I’m there I can just walk onto the beach.
The hotel is in fact very nice, with an open air lobby and atrium, and a restaurant overlooking the water. Beautiful view of the ocean – blue-green water, with good waves.
I spent the first afternoon just laying on a deck chair at the beach. The water is very warm – you can walk right in, which is a nice change from the Cape. Very soft, fine sand. Some serious waves. Quite a few people attempting to surf – not really sure they’re big enough for that but certainly big enough to toss you around if you’re not paying attention. Pretty strong undertow too, when the ocean pulls back out.
Phuket is definitely a tourist destination. Mostly Europeans here – French, Italians, and Germans. And a surprising number of Russians – so many, in fact, that many restaurants offer menus in Russian. Guess it’s relatively close and it is warm ocean water – not something they have a lot of in Russia. Quite a few Australians too – which seems odd, given the beautiful beaches there. But it is their winter now so maybe this is a warm-weather get-away.
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