Life is always walking up to us and saying, "Come on in, the living's fine," and what do we do? Back off and take its picture. - Russell Baker

PHUKET - A day in the life...

The day broke early but, as it so often happens when holidaying, one delays arising until just before breakfast is about to finish. Then it is a mad rush to get to the dining room before all the food is removed.

At dawn, the hotel looks much the same as it did yesterday

The Breakfast:

As with most modern resort hotels, the Royal Paradise lays out a superb breakfast spread. It is on for young and old, you can eat as much as you like and there's only ONE RULE: Don't try to smuggle any food out for later.

We observed first hand the dressing down one unfortunate guest got when trying to take three rolls out of the dining room. The rolls were confiscated and consigned to the rubbish bin. The offending guest was admonished and banished from the dining room.

Foods to delight all tastes are available for breakfast

Wot! No Mai-Tai? Lidy and Russell enjoy another sumptuous breakfast

Soon, our car arrives and we are off on our day tour

The Beaches:

To lovely, pristine deserted beaches

The Wat:

Wat Chai Tararam, or Wat Chalong, Phuket’s most popular, biggest and famous temple, was built in 1837. Located approximately 8 kilometers from the city, the temple houses the relics of the famous “Luang Po Cham”, a monk who helped the locals fight the Ang Yi rebellion during the reign of King Rama V (in 1876).

Wat Chalong, Phuket

A recent addition to the temple is a 61.4-meter high chedi containing the Phra Borom Sareerikatat relic, a piece of the Lord Buddha’s bones brought over from Sri Lanka. The chedi is a mixture of southern, central and northeastern architectural styles and is the first in this region to house the holy Buddha’s relic.

The 61.4-meter high chedi at Wat Chalong

Lidy looks at the holy Buddha’s relic

Close-up to the holy Buddha’s relic

On the road again...

The Rice:

Lidy had decided she wanted to find out how to farm rice; So we asked the driver in our best pidgin English to "...take us to rice farm please." This caused some consternation and we eventually understood that as it was no longer rice growing season, the best he could do short of showing us empty fields where the rice HAD grown, was to take us to "Island Safari" a theme park with elephant shows, monkey shows and... a demonstration of rice farming.

Seems we need to buy a ticket

We arrived at "Island Safari" and were conducted to the ticket office. There we were told we would have to buy a ticket for the elephant ride, monkey show and other attractions if we wanted to see how rice was grown (that was at the end of the "tour".) Lidy explained we didn't have that much time and our only interest was in how rice was grown. The ticket seller said: "if that's all you want to see, the rice field is over there and you can just go over without buying a ticket."

The paddy

So off we went to the area where the rice was being grown, just one paddy. As we approached, we noticed a young man holding a rice winnowing tray. He seemed to be in charge of the rice demonstration. Lidy tried to engage him in conversation but, alas he only spoke Thai.

Thai speaking demonstrator

Nearby we noticed some tools which seemed to be involved in rice cultivation. Lidy went over and examined them.

The rice tools

There was also some rice grass that had been beaten on a log of wood.

The rice grass on the log

Lidy also found some freshly cut rice grass with rice still attached. Picking this up, she examined it closely declaring: "This must be rice!"

Lidy examines the rice grass with rice attached

Finally, Lidy came across a winnowing bowl containing winnowed rice. At last she had the story of how rice was grown (or as much of it as she would get on this trip.)

The winnowed rice

The Dinner:

That evening, we wint in search of the famous Karlsson's Swedish restaurant. This is a hot favourite with ex-pat and visiting Swedes and is set up as a tiny bit of Sweden in the confusion that is Phuket.

Karlsson's

Certainly one of the most genial and well run restaurants in Phuket, if not Thailand. The wait service was timely and efficient, the food was served on time and piping hot, wait persons were always nearby, ensuring near instantaneous service. They were well organised and the foods were delicious; so much so that we neglected to take many photo's.

The evening at Karlsson's begins with the (by now) traditional Mai-Tai and Pina

The sendoff:

After dinner, and walking home to the Royal Paradise hotel, I remarked to Lidy to have a last look around as tomorrow we will be leaving Phuket to continue our adventure in Bangkok. Suddenly, we heard an all too familiar sound. Frogs! It was our old friends the Hmong hilltribe people from Chiang-Mai. Here they were in the centre of Phuket, serenading us with their frog duet as if to wish us a safe trip tomorrow.

Hmong hilltribes people 1000km from home

Continuing on, we heard a series of loud bangs. Startled to begin with, we looked up to see a fireworks display. Clearly, Phuket was sad to see us leave.

A special fireworks display to celebrate our leaving Phuket

The Boy-Bars:

Did I mention our hotel is situated in the heart of the Boy-Bar district? Well, it was. This provided some exotic entertainment when Lidy and I returned to the hotel late. We even became patrons to one notorious Boy-Bar that just had the very best and fastest Internet connection in town. We spent hours there, and got to know the staff. The clientèle were a show in themselves and kept us constantly entertained.

On our last night we strolled back through the centre of the Boy-Bar area.

Past Mama San's

And we met up with some of the boys. They were so sad to see us go they insisted on a photo with us. We obliged and then they demanded 100 Baht each for the privelidge!

The boys...