Tuesday 1 May 2007

Island Hopping




From Hat Yai, we travelled to the island of Ko Lanta, then Phi-Phi and Phuket, merely for purposes of a proper compare-and-contrast to Coral Bay, or course - not for our own enjoyment...

The islands of Thailand are undeniably beautiful, but the rampent commericalism that accopanies all but the most remote (and we don't have camping/cooking gear), stopped me from really relaxing. It's not that the tuk-tuks, hair braiders, paragliders, jet-skis, and go-go bars felt like they shouldn't have been there, but more that I was missing the point. Why would I just want to lie on the beach?? Crazy talk. Got to spend some money!

Wandering down to a resort-dominated Phuket beach, lined with beach umbrellas, we assumed they existed for the comfort of guests at the resort - and so we plonked down. Materialising out of nowhere was the propritor of this gold mine business - 100 baht for an umbrella.

"Oh, sorry, we thought they were free..."

"Ha! No free! No free Thailand!"

"Ok, we'll just sit on the sand, thank you"

"Sand, that no good for you!" Was the reply.

Now, 100 baht is about $4 AUD. It's nothing and we could certainly afford it. But why not just sit on the sand?







Dinner







Riding off into the sunset (Free due to the fact I was able to actually get the pony onto the beach. I know I lok like enormous giant woman on poor little pony, but the bugger was strong!)



Empty beach on Phuket...

1 comment:

d said...

That first photo is divine.