Hello everybody, the weather outside isn’t the prettiest, I know but today I’m taking you with me to Thailand, island of Phuket.
A little warning, it won’t be a cute, little post, not this time, unfortunately.
Patong supposed to be THE place to be. I’ve seen so many beautiful pictures of Phuket that I was sure we will love this place. That’s why we decided to stay there for so long (10 nights) and I found us a hotel just by the sea. Just like I always wanted, dreamed. But no, this won’t be a post were I’ll tell you a beautiful story.
There were tsunami alerts just a few days before our trip to the island. I wasn’t sure what we should do, especially that our hotel was so close to the ocean. Small research showed me that Phuket was one of those places where tsunami in 2004 hit the hardest. It didn’t make me feel any better. The alert was quickly cancelled and any of next earthquakes, in Indonesia, didn’t trigger it again so we decided to continue our trip as we planned. I even signed up for the early tsunami warning (they would send me a message warning of a tsunami that had been triggered).
As I said, we were based just by the water, but we couldn’t really see much because of electric cables. A ton of cables which almost completely covered the view. Those cables must be some Thai thing because they are basically apart of the country landscape.
Our room was really bright and colourful, but hotel wasn’t the cleanest. We had to use the back door to come in and out because the main entrance was only open when the restaurant downstairs was open. Plus nobody ever really closed this door and we didn’t have any security there at all. The only good thing about it was the complimentary essentials which they were giving us everyday and we could keep them in case if we would need it in the future.
About Patong. This place was one of the biggest mistakes during this trip. Patong is a party place and we aren’t party people. There is one, quite nice, beach there but nothing much to it. We didn’t feel like we were still in Thailand there. It’s a very touristic place and everything was way more expensive than in Bangkok or Chiang Mai.
Once we hired a motorbike (very pricey) and we went to see Big Buddha and a few temples. Quite surprisingly, entrance to both places was free. We tried to find a nice beach but the access fee was horrendous and some people (who just hiked back from this beach ) told us that is not worth the price.
Reassuming, it was the worst 10 nights of my life. I couldn’t sleep because I thought that we won’t have enough time to run away from a tsunami if I’ll fall asleep. I was checking on earthquakes and tsunami news at least 4-5 times a day, plus before going to bed and ever time I woke up during the night. I couldn’t enjoy the beach because of a huge alarm tower in the middle, even the walks were terrifying because of tsunami warning signs every few hundreds metres. I know, it’s good they are so well prepared for it but I really couldn’t relax there for a minute. Patong is definitely a place for young people, who are looking for some good parties but I wouldn’t recommend it for romantic or family trip.
I would like to underline that everything I wrote is my own experience and you don’t have to take it as advice. I’m only being honest about my own feelings during this trip and it doesn’t mean you will feel the same there. Maybe it’s a case of better organisation or choosing the hotel further from the sea. Maybe.
Love, Klaudia.
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