At that time Sleep was not yet born, and men passed the whole of their lives awake. - The "Elocutio Novella"

Images of Phuket by Night

The evening is when Phuket really comes alive.

Deja Vu!

But not EXACTLY the same!

"Walking Street" Phuket is where it ALL happens!

Bars

Barbecues

Nibbles with your drinks

But watch the time

You don't want to be dragon the chain

And look good

And buff up

Or shop

For just about anything

Yes, anything

And a taste of home (older schoolies week gone bad!)

And a good feed

Meet some new friends

And back to the hotel to sleep it all off until tomorrow night.

Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it's a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. ~Theodore Geisel

Phuket Fantasea

Fantasea. The main entrance

Where everyone gets a traditional welcome

Nothing causes shutters to click like the Koi pond at the entrance, where a writhing mass of orange, yellow, and white fish battle for food and an even larger writhing mass of tourists jockey for a good photo position.

At the Koi pond near the entrance

Performers roam the streets of Fantasea and are happy to pose for a photo

There’s no shortage of ways to pass the time before the show starts. Jump aboard an elephant for a trip around the Songbird Luminarie. Head to Similan Adventure Center, a sea-themed arcade full of games. Watch the bartender spin, flip, and toss bottles while dancing a techno-jig at the open-air bar. Shop for that perfect memento; there’s a store (or stall) for every taste and budget.

Russell tries his hand at the pistol shooting gallery

And, wins a prize for Lidy

Outside the Palace of the Elephants, We are given a lift Thai style

The Golden Kinnaree Restaurant

The 4,000 seat Golden Kinnaree Restaurant is described as the largest buffet restaurant in the world. The building is of a classical Thai design and is situated in the middle of a pond filled with lotus flowers and teeming with fish, it is a very beautiful sight.

The entrance to the Golden Kinnaree Restaurant

The buffet dinner includes international and Thai dishes, something for everyone’s taste serving a mix of Thai and international food, while a selection of feature dishes gets their own kiosks at the front of the room.

Inside the Golden Kinnaree Restaurant

Lidy enjoys a Pina' before dinner

Russell samples the Fantasea Mai Tai

Are you sure you want another Mai Tai?

The Palace of the Elephants, where the show is performed

The Palace of the Elephants is a huge theatre which is capable of seating 3,000 people. It is rigged for illusion and can accommodate a cast of hundreds on stage with elephants and all manner of trained animals.

Lidy hopes for a dose of good luck beneath an elephant statue

After dinner and time to look around, it is time to enter the Palace of the Elephants. This is not as straight forward as you might think. Cameras aren’t allowed inside, and they take it very seriously with tighter security than at most airports. Video cameras, digital cameras, camera phones and anything short of a pen and paper that can create an image must be checked in. The process is quick and almost painless, and two minutes later you enter a large hall full of costumed staff, baby elephants, and young tigers, all of which will pose for a photograph with you for a price.

The audience entrance in the Palace of the Elephants - No cameras at Kamala!

Sukhothai-era facade of the Palace of the Elephants

Fronted by a glorious reconstruction of a Sukhothai-era stone palace and guarded by intriguing elephant statues, the theatre puts on a spell-binding show combining culture and illusion that is almost beyond belief.

The stage is huge, but the performance space is even bigger. Aisles, ceiling, audience – every part of the theatre is used. While the eye is treated to modern effects like smoke, explosions, lasers, rain, soaring performers, the show gives an insight into Thai culture in the form of traditional dances from different regions of the country, shadow puppets, and a fascinating wardrobe. It’s not tough to believe elephants can become accomplished actors, but this show also employs goats, roosters, water buffalo, and doves in supporting roles.

The show ended, Lidy relaxes while waiting for our car

All too soon, the show is over and we are left wondering about the storyline with it's amazing costumes, dance scenes and trained animals. Perhaps to dream of Kamala, until next we visit.

For now, Fantasea and the mystical kingdom of Kamala is simply another memory, a kaleidoscope of colour that we will take back home with us.

One of the nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever we are doing and devote our attention to eating. - Luciano Pavarotti

It's called SAXOPHONE

Lidy had heard about the famous Saxophone Club in Phuket and was determined to pay a visit. It is located towards the north end of Patong along the beach road, sort of opposite the Loma Park on the beachfront.

Cloned from the original Saxophone in Bangkok, famous for its quality jazz, R & B and reggae Saxophone Phuket has some excellent musicians and a relaxed unpretentious atmosphere. It's the kind of place where you can just get up and dance to quality live music and feel totally unembarrassed.

The Saxophone Club

Saxophone certainly lives up to its reputation. Offering a wide range of refreshing drinks, with a fabulous dinner menu, great wine and tremendous live jazz and R & B music.

A great band with a world class sax / clarinet player and pianist

Saxophone has a funky atmosphere and great live music played by competent musicians. Music ranged from jazz to blues to soul and funk. Lidy and I enjoyed its excellent selection of Thai and European food, and choice of cocktails. (Guess which ones!)

Russell, caught with yet another M_ _ T_ _ (fill in the blanks)

Lidy gets stuck in to her Nasi Goering

The band blasts out another favourite

After leaving Saxophone, Russell decided to haggle with a tour operator to secure tickets to Fanta-Sea. Successfully secured, the tickets positioned us near (but not too near) the front row of the theatre for the best view of the extravaganza.

More haggling: This time for Fanta-Sea tickets

On our way home, we were treated to an impromptu Thai Boxing demonstration - from the back of a ute!

What's that you say punk?

Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells... - Alfred Lord Tennyson

CHIANG-MAI, BYE, BYE...

As the condemned man dreads the coming dawn, so it was with us today. Today was a day touched by sadness and joy. The sadness of leaving friends in Chiang-Mai, The wonderful staff at the Lotus Pang Suan Kaew (pronounced "Lotus Pung Shwan Cow") Hotel, surely one of the friendliest hotels I have ever stayed in in my life and, dear friends and family who are reading this, you know I have spent some years of my life in many "great hotels", few of which would hold a feather to the wonderful, if a little tired, Lotus Pang Suan Kaew. To our minds one of the great hotels of Thailand, if not the world. Not only the hotel and it's staff, but our wonderful guide, Nonny, without whom, we would not know one tenth as much about the beautiful and enchanting history of Chiang-Mai, it's Kings, the people who formed it and, it's colourful history.

So it was that it was a restless night, and just before dawn, I awoke and as if to prepare myself for the coming of the executioner, took one long last look outside the hotel window.

At first, only darkness... but as my eyes grew accustomed to the early morning darkness, I could make out the shapes of lights, and buildings.

As the dawn approached, at last I could make out my beloved Chiang-Mai, a sight I will not see again for some time, but a sight engraved into my heart along with the very many other sights and experiences we have had the honour and pleasure to experience on our only too short time in this wonderful city.

And looking up onto the mountain of Doi Suthep, for the last time, we could see Wat Prathat Doi Suthep clearly and I said a silent prayer and a 'wai' with a whispered 'kruup' to our favourite Wat.

The packing, as usual was left for the last minute and at that minute, Lidy discovered our belongings had outgrown the size of our bags! No worries I said, We can get another bag in the shopping centre (did I mention there is a massive shopping centre that forms a part of the hotel?) So we went to the shopping centre with only an hour and a half to spare and found it closed!

"Ok," I said to Lidy, "You go back to the room and see what you can squash into our bags and I will get a Tuk-Tuk and go to the luggage store near the Night Bazaar (you remember the Night Bizarre don't you?) and see if I can get a bag."

So off I raced to the Tuk-Tuk rank out the front of the hotel and in my best broken English I said to the unfortunate driver: "You get me to the bloody Night Bizarre bloody quick and I pay double! Chop, chop!"

WILDEST TUK-TUK RIDE EVER

Off we went, and for the first time ever, I experienced just how fast one of these Frankenstein vehicles could go. He went through red lights, between cars and into spaces I wouldn't take my 'bike! and thrashed the poor engine until it screamed. Magically, he delivered me to the front door of the luggage shop where I jumped out of the still moving Tuk-Tuk amid shouts from passers by who must have thought I was doing a 'runner' from the Tuk-Tuk.

I ran into the store and shouted at the lady shop assistant, "Am I your first customer today?" "Yes." she replied. "Ok, I need a suitcase, chop, chop." She pointed to a suitcase and I asked the price. "Two thousand eight hundred Baht..." "Too much, five hundred Baht." "One thousand two hundred." "Six hundred." "One thousand one hundred." "Seven hundred." "One thousand." "Eight hundred." "Nine hundred." "Done!!!!" I exclaimed. I gave her the money, grabbed the bag and bolted out the door, nearly knocking over a couple of bystanders who had followed me into the shop. I run for the Tuk-Tuk, bag flying after me and launched myself into the back seat. My driver gunned the engine and screamed through the gears. With his horn constantly honking, he squeezed his way through the peak hour traffic, through traffic lights of many colours and delivered me safely, if a little rattled back to the hotel. I paid and tipped him, almost throwing the money at him as I made for the lobby and lifts. Up I went to the eleventh floor and rang the bell to our room. Lidy answered the door with a "Haven't you gone yet?" "No, I'm back, here's the suitcase." "That was quick." "I'll tell you about it later" (and I am now!) Lidy threw the remaining gear into the new bag and I zipped it up.

And, just as suddenly, the executioner's knock on the door. The bellboy had arrived for our bags. We knew it was time to leave. As we walked down the balcony for the last time, I couldn't help but reflect on the wonderful moments we had enjoyed here in the Lotus Pang Suan Kaew hotel. The day of HRH's visit, The evenings with Elvis and Roy Orbison, the wonderful surprises of a room full of flowers for our anniversary, our lovely sweet, unobtrusive maid, the great drinks, great meals.

We pressed the lift call button and as if on cue, the Princess's lift came for us. It was as if the hotel itself had decided on this simple parting gesture to wish us a safe departure.

And then to the lobby of the Lotus Pang Suan Kaew where the friendly staff wished us well on our departure.

So, it was off to the Chiang-Mai airport, and after completing check-in formalities there was still enough time for a coffee.

After another serene flight courtesy of Thai Airways lasting one hour and forty minutes, we arrived at Phuket Airport and after some initial confusion where Russell thought we had transfers to the hotel, and so buggered around trying to find someone holding a sign with our name on it. After about twenty minutes of confusion during which Lidy tried to hire a car to take us to the Baiyoke Suite in Bangkok, Russell eventually got the itinerary out of his bag and discovered we had to supply our own transfer. Again, Lidy came to the rescue, commandeering the last two seats in a mini-bus for the trip to Patong Beach. After settling in at the Royal Paradise Hotel, we went out to get food and Russell had his first Mai-Tai in Phuket.

Followed by his beloved TIGER PRAWNS (or was that a lobster?)

Lidy had (cold) pepper steak - taken away and re-cooked to be hot

So now... The blog continues in...

PHUKET!