Day 15: Kata beach - May 22, 2009

Well I haven't updated the blog for a while, so I'll be covering a lot in this one and I suppose I have a lot to cover. I left Patong beach on the 14th due to a little incident with the police there and not because I had to but more because I was just paranoid about sticking around town after what had happened the night before. I'm not going to go into too much detail about it but long story short, I went to a beach club for a few hours and about 8 beers and one glass ashtray later I was being hauled away by the police and ended up having to bribe them to let me go. It was a real buzzkill let me tell you, but it definitely gave me an idea of how the place works and its obvious the police are running some kind of huge money-scam in that town. Anyway, after they had let me go I left town and moved to the much more quiet Kata beach which is about a 15min drive south of Patong. I really think I should have just come here in the first place because its such a relaxing area compared to the rather seedy atmosphere of Patong. Kata beach is covered in white sand and its never too crowded unlike some of the others, mainly due to the Club Med that is right off the shore here and they keep the whole place really nice for everyone. I met a Thai guy who works at the bar there and him and I sort of became friends and hang out every once in a while when I'm at the beach or go out for a beer at night. The food is a little more expensive and the walking distance to get somewhere is a little more than in Patong but I would say it is worth getting away from the hustle and bustle to get some peace and quiet. I'm staying at a guesthouse that is really nice and only $4 more a night than the place I was staying in Patong so its a great deal and the beach is like a 400m walk from my room. There's plenty of stuff to do here, I went jet-skiing the other day and rented a car to go across to Phuket town and up to a temple on the mountain just adjacent to Kata where Thailand's biggest Buddha statue is being built.

Me and "the big buddha"

It certainly has a spiritual feel to the place, and every Thai person you see there has great respect for the temple, the monks and the land itself. It makes a 'farung' like me feel a little bit out of place at times, but I figure I am there to see more of their way of life and hopefully get some insight into the spirituality of the Thai people, even if I myself am not a Buddhist. From the temple at the top of this mountain you can clearly see pretty much the entire island of Phuket and the surrounding beaches and little islands that make the area so picturesque.

Looking out over Phuket town and the isl...

I was lucky I rented a car and not a bike though, because the weather has been on and off and that day it really poured down on the way home and I just know it would have been terrible for me if I hadn't been nice and warm in that Toyota. On the way home I saw the Phuket rifle club and thought I would check it out. For about $30 you can go in and let off a couple clips down the range and I had a go with a 9mm. The guys there are really trying to be careful when they give you the gun and I can understand why but at times it seems a little over-kill, but I guess it is a gun. But either way I had fun, I just wish I hadn't had those lunch beers beforehand because I think I would have done a lot better haha.

That night I went to a pretty popular seafood place just down the road where I had heard they make a really good lobster bisque and so that is what I got and damn right it was good. They have some of the catch out the front on ice to show you what they have in the kitchen and some of the fish and crab they had looked great and apparently they have the local fishermen come in every morning and night with a fresh batch. Now I don't know if it was this lobster bisque or not but about 24 hours later I had a stomach infection which I am only just getting over, luckily pharmacies are all over the place here and the Thai know their stuff when it comes to stomach infections and pretty much over night I am feeling a whole lot better but it was really miserable for a while. I've been in my room for most of the past day and a half just sitting on the balcony and working the tan but I think by tomorrow I should be my old self again. I am hoping to do an island tour within these next few days before I head to Bangkok which I think will be the highlight of the trip and I really can't wait to get going but I'm also trying to watch my money as that police bribe didn't come cheap! Well its been an interesting time here so far with its ups and downs, and I suppose you can't expect everything to go smoothly but on a whole I am happy so far I just hope that a police-bribe and bad lobster is the limit of my misfortune on this voyage.