Day 6

It was time to leave the beautiful Khao Sok and continue our trip to Phuket. We got a lift from a local on the back of his truck to the bus station at the edge of the town on road 401. The bus ticket to Phuket is 220 baht each, very reasonable for 5 hours of travel. The bus was scheduled for 9.30am but had arrived earlier around 9.15 and in 5 minutes we were gone! They don’t really keep to the timetable here 🙂

I gotta admit, we slept most of the way on the bus which had an AC and was generally quite comfy.As we arrived to Phuket, it was clear to see that this will be a different kind of Thailand, very touristy and very “in your face”.Our accommodation is on Patong beach, so took a taxi from the bus station, as an advice, use Grab (the local Uber), we saved over a 100 baht by not booking the taxi at the station.Patong beach is gorgeous, beautiful white sand, amazing massive waves and an unbelievable sunset.

It does however, have a different side, full of massage parlors, girls and lady boys pulling you in promising you a “good time”. Tuk tuk taxis wanting to take you around, shouting at you constantly.At night, the main attraction here is Bangla Road, a walking street selling everything from good and clothes to alcohol, drugs, sex shows…

Check out our YouTube video of walking through Bangla Road

While this is not really our scene, it was interesting to see this side of Thailand as well, the one you would mostly associate it with through the western media.We decided though that we are very happy to not come here first, and to have seen the Thailand full of culture and wonder, not just the one made for tourists.

Day 7

Woke up to the news that Liverpool won the CL (yay) and Anthony Joshua lost to Ruiz Jr. (sad).Slept in today, we got up around midday, in all fairness we had nothing planned for the day except chilling on the beach.

Had a chat with our host, Rasmus, a Danish guy who likes to play PlayStation on the big TV downstairs. He rents the hostel we are staying in from the Thai owner and runs the place, selling the rooms out. He left Denmark because he didn’t enjoy the stress of that life and now lives here running a hostel, why not!Grabbed an iced coffee from a street vendor down the road, 20 baht, yes please and thank you! Delicious too, he put loads of condensed milk in, which has made it super sweet.Pretty much all day we were at the beach, getting our tan on, swimming in the sea, enjoying a nice, relaxing Sunday.

Ohh and also our hotel in Luang Prabang, Laos, has cancelled on us, this is the second one in Luang Prabang that is closed but still taking bookings on Booking.com… Had to pick a new one, hopefully this one is open and ready to give us a bed to sleep in!

Day 8

Saying goodbye to Phuket today. This evening we fly back to Bangkok, stay in a hostel next to the airport and fly to Laos the next day.We have spent our last day in Phuket well, on the beach, swimming in the sea and sunbathing!

The day actually went quite quickly, because our transfer to Phuket airport was leaving at 6pm. By the way, always buy your minibus tickets at a kiosk and not at a tour office, you will get 20% cheaper prices.The ride to the airport was very picturesque, as the sun was going down, and the Phuket sunset is one of the best I have ever seen.At the airport we had pot noodles for dinner, cheap and delicious food on the go, and even at the airport you can get it for 40-80 baht, 1 or 2 quid.

Tomorrow we are flying to Luang Prabang, Laos, we are really excited, but Evie is afraid of flying so she can only think of panicky things until we actually land 🙂