Phuket, revisited

Phuket, Revisited, 1999
by Mike Myers
In September ‘99 Doug McNeely and I made another trip back to Phuket, Thailand. This is where the On-Road Gas World Championships were held back in 1995, and there’s a good chance that the same fellow who put on that race might be trying to organize another World Championships someplace close in the next few years. So, if you missed the first opportunity, you may get another chance. J

Getting There
I guess it’s mandatory in life for nothing to ever go smoothly. This year’s trip started off miserably for me. My schedule was to fly to Orlando, then catch a Delta plane to Los Angeles, where I’d meet up with Doug. My first problem was that the plane to Orlando landed, then got stuck in a nasty rainstorm while taxiing to the terminal. Right about then they shut down the airport (it’s a good thing we landed before that), and sat near the runway for almost an hour. I was sure I missed my connection, which meant I’d probably have to wait forever for another flight from Orlando to LA. That meant I’d never meet up with Doug in LA, and I’d have to figure out how to get to Phuket on my own. Fortunately for me, because the airport was closed, my next flight to LA didn’t leave either - they were waiting for me at the gate when I ran over to it - it’s nice that they did wait! Then, as the plane taxied over to the runway for takeoff, the pilot first announced "we’re next in line for takeoff", followed by "we’re going back to the terminal to try to get our right engine started". Just the thing you want to hear for confidence in flying... Oh well. I decided I had enough of that, and fell asleep, sleeping almost all the way to LA.
I did meet up with Doug, then spent forever on planes. Almost two days worth of flying - it took 39 hours. Yuck. Let’s see, the 12-hour flight from LA to Seoul left at 2am Friday, and arrived at 6am Sunday, so did the flight take the 12 hours on which I sat in the plane, 4 hours as per the clock, or do I get to add 24 hours to that, as we completely missed Saturday when we passed over the international date line? Actually, the flights weren’t too bad. They serve lots of meals, lots of drinks, and we got to watch five or six somewhat interesting movies. The hardest part of the trip was changing planes in Bangkok. We arrived at the International Terminal and needed to go to the Domestic Terminal, but we were bounced around like ping pong balls, with everyone telling us to go to a different place, which never turned out to be the right place. Fortunately, there was more than enough time between flights that we never were close to missing one.

Sand Inn Hotel
When we arrived in Phuket, we were met by Yat, Pia’s nephew, and Fon, Doug’s friend from last year. Fon was as beautiful as ever, and now speaks very good English as well! They drove us to Patong Beach, where we would again be staying at the Sand Inn Hotel. Naturally we stopped along the way to pick up a bunch of Singha beer - after not having any for the longest time, it was great to be able to drink it again. Singha beer packs more of a punch than most American beers, and it really does taste different. Anyway, we continued our drive into Patong Beach, stopping at a construction site where a dozen or so laborers were building a new bar. As we later found out, this was to be Pia’s new bar, the Rendezvous Bar, and it was scheduled for a grand opening the next day. I didn’t think there was any way they’d ever have it done that quickly, but as I later found out, with enough work, anything is possible.
We walked the one block to the Sand Inn Hotel. That's it in the photo at the right. Doug and I each got to stay in the same rooms we had last year, Doug’s room had a nice quiet view overlooking the back of the hotel, and the mountains. They were going to give me a similar room, but I asked for (and got) my noisy room looking over the busy intersection where the hotel is located. We checked into the hotel, and each of us also got a "safety box" where we could keep important stuff like passports, airline tickets, or extra cash. (As Doug suggested years ago, it’s better to leave your passport in a safe place, and walk around with a copy.)
I think the hotel rooms had been fixed up quite a bit since last year. The air conditioning worked better, the TV seemed newer (and the programming better). As before, the room key is attached to a small block of wood. You insert this block in a special slot near the door, and everything is turned on for you. This also means that when you leave, all the power is shut off, saving money for the hotel. It’s a simple way of keeping costs down. You can carry the key and block around in your pocket, but it’s easier to just check it at the front desk when you leave, getting it back when you return.
The Sand Inn also has excellent food, and since they bake their own bread, it’s as good as back home. They also make excellent coffee - it’s hard to find good coffee in Phuket.
Black Rose Bar
The Black Rose Bar, as last year, became sort of the focal point of the trip. While there was lots of other stuff to do during the day and evening, most nights at least for a while, we all ended up at the Black Rose Bar, talking to Pia and all the interesting people who came there.

Patong Beach
Patong Beach can be considered the "party district" of Phuket. It’s always packed with people, and the local economy seems to be built around the huge numbers of tourists including "Fahrangs" (round eyes) who come to visit each year. There are many kinds of bars, shows, stores, and small booths set up, each one selling something or other to the crowds. As you walk by any of them, the people try their hardest to get you to stop, and partake of whatever it is they’re selling. Outside the stores there are various groups of people walking around, all selling something or other. One group is selling cigarettes. Each of them has a basket filled with packs of cigarettes. I guess if you smoke, they make sure you’re never without. Then there’s a younger group selling flowers, either on stems, or made up into necklaces. There are also other groups walking around with snakes, huge lizards, eagles, etc., anxious for you to pose with whatever it is they’re carrying, so they can take your photo for you - for a price, of course. If you meet someone who you’d like to help out, it’s probably better for you to buy them some food from one of the local bar-b-ques than to buy whatever it is they’re selling, as any money given to them goes to their "boss", whoever that might be, while food goes to them.
While you can easily get around by walking, there are hundreds of motorbikes anxious to take you to wherever you want to go, and an equal number of "Tuk-tuks" (small cars with a passenger area in the back) equally anxious to take you around. The typical charge for a local trip on a motorbike or tuk-tuk is 20 or 30 baht. Considering that you get 40 baht for a dollar, this is pretty reasonable. Of course, if you don’t know that, and simply ask to be taken someplace, the charge for a foreigner might be 40 or 50 baht. I enjoy walking around, so that’s pretty much what I did for the first day. It’s amazing - not only did I recognize lots of people I met last year, but lots of them remember me as well.
I didn’t really know how tired I was - although I spent the first day walking around, going lots of places, my body really wanted to go to the room to get some sleep. My feet were telling me to quit for a while, so I headed to my room where I slept for almost 24 hours - I woke up not knowing what time it was, what day it was, or even where I was! I did feel much better though after such a great sleep. First stop after that was the Rendezvous Bar, where they were indeed holding the Grand Opening. The place was packed.
I spent the next couple of days just "hanging out", going to the beaches in the day, the bars at night, and just talking to lots of people. I didn’t really have any plans of any particular thing I wanted to do - it was relaxing to just walk around, not really buying anything much, just talking to people, taking some photos, and enjoying the beautiful weather and scenery. Last year I brought along a 35mm camera. This year I bought a new Fuji Endeavor 3500ix Zoom camera especially for this trip. It uses the "Advanced Photo System" which has smaller film containers, and allows you to take pictures in several different formats. While the camera worked great for the whole trip, the special "remote" that came with it didn’t last out the first day - it must have gotten bumped while in my pocket, and somehow the LCD display got damaged. As a side note, this camera sold for $270 at Eckherds Drugs in the USA. With my discount, it was $250. I had originally planned to buy a camera at the duty-free airport shops, but their price on the exact same camera was $350! (When I got back to the USA, I found the sale price at Eckherds had dropped to only $220!) Despite damaging the special remote card, I’d recommend this camera to anyone. It’s got all the features you need or want, fits easily in your pocket, and has a good wide-angle lens for group photos. The zoom isn’t too powerful, but I figured the wide-angle ability was more important for taking travel photos. There are lots of places in Phuket to get your film processed. The above photo is the shop I usually went to. Quality-wise, they did as good a job in Phuket as I've ever gotten in the USA.
I spent a lot of time on the beach, lazing around drinking beer, and talking to people. There’s lots of stuff to do there if you want, such as going up for a "parasail" flight, renting a jet-ski, renting a sailboat, or going for a ride on a "banana boat". This is a flimsy rubber craft that’s towed behind a high-power speedboat, and due to its flexible construction, it sort of "flows" over the waves. I didn’t get to try it, but it sure looked like fun!
Over the duration of my visit, time sort of blended together. I lost track of what day it was, as that wasn’t very important. I sort of had a mental clock ticking away with how many days I had left, but other than that, I had no idea what the day or date was.
Costs
While it’s sort of expensive to get to Phuket, once you’re there, the prices are extremely reasonable. Most evenings I ended up heading over to some of the bar-b-ques that were set up, and buying dinner for a group of local people I remembered from last year. For up to eight of us, that cost a grand total of 250 baht or so, with my food included. That’s maybe 6 bucks. The food the local people eat is great - if you go, make sure you try some. The bar-b-q food is also excellent - a beef bar-b-q on a stick is 5 baht, or about a quarter. Bar-b-q chicken is 10 baht, a dime. Translated into dollars, everything in Phuket is very reasonably priced. To go up in a parasail, or rent a jet-ski, or go sailing, it costs only about $10. I found it easiest to just carry a credit card, and go to any of the numerous "money exchange" booths when I ran low.

I also headed over to the newest Internet Café once a day or so, where it was enjoyable to read up on the Starting Grid Computer Conferences. The internet connections now are greatly improved over what I found last year. There are also many more places providing internet access. The one I usually went to had about a dozen computers set up, where for 40 baht ($1) every 15 minutes you can check mail, or surf the web. Last year, the connections were often pretty terrible. This year everything was much faster. Most of these "Internet Cafes" have cold drinks and/or hot coffee, making your time on the computer that much more enjoyable.

Bangla Seafood
About a week after arriving in Phuket, I got to wondering what Doug was up to, as I hadn’t seen him since the first day. We must think alike, as he was wondering what had happened to me. I left a note for him, asking about getting together for dinner the next night, and he asked the cleaning people to tell me to stop by at his room. Doug was on an "opposite" schedule - when I was awake, he was asleep, and vice versa. At any rate, we did get together, and made plans for a nice dinner the next night. The dinner was great - we walked over to Bangla Seafood, where they treated us like royalty! I had a bar-b-q lobster dinner made in garlic butter. They got other tasty things. I don’t know for sure what they all had, but it was delicious. (To you guys in New England who ordered the lobster dinner for the after-race buffet at the National Championships, there’s a world of difference between New England lobster and Phuket (Thai) lobster. In Phuket, the lobster is all opened up, all the work done for you, no work required.
There are lots of good restaurants in Patong Beach, and many of them appear to have really good food. By comparison, Bangla Seafood is rather unimpressive - it just doesn’t "look" like the best place in town. What’s most important though is the food, and I’ve never had a better meal than at this one restaurant. The service is great too - it’s a very relaxing place to go.

Doug’s Adventures
While having dinner, Doug told me about a few of his adventures. The following is one of them.
Wat and Pon, two of my friends from the Patong Beach Police Department told me they were in training for a big football game in Phuket Town, I assume against the Phuket Town Police. It was Thailand game #24, meaning it was to be played on September 24^th. I said I’d like to go see it if they could arrange a ride to Phuket Town for me.
Many of the ladies from the bar also wanted to go to the game. Pia or Pon arranged for everyone to meet at the Rendezvous bar, and told us they would provide transportation..
We met at the bar, and Pia provided a case of cold beer and a cooler. I was expecting a minivan or a bus to take us to the game, but much to my surprise, the ride to the game was in the back of a Patong Beach Police pickup truck. There had to be about 8 or 9 of us in the back of the pickup, with a uniformed policeman driving. So, we are off for Phuket Town, 25 or 30 miles away, with the ladies singing as we drive. Five minutes later, Pia got a phone call from another bar owner, wanting to know why Pia’s staff was being hauled off by the police. J
Shortly after leaving, we got into the cooler of ice cold beer, but Thailand hasn’t yet discovered twist-off caps. Pia’s son Champ, saves the day. He knows how to take two bottles and open one using the other. The first one he opened went to the police officer who was driving of course. So, obviously we are getting many strange looks from Thais and Fahrangs alike, singing along in this police pickup truck, with beer flowing everywhere and the girls singing as loudly as they can.
We arrived at the stadium and much to my delight, many other groups of people with their own coolers of beer, Thai whiskey, etc. were there. The thing that surprised me, is I didn’t expect to find a Thai band playing Thai music as the game was going on. The girls ended up by the band, singing and dancing. Between watching the game, drinking lots of beer, eating lots of BBQ, I was really having a hard time figuring out what to watch, the game or the singing and dancing.
The game came to an end, with the Patong Beach police losing 2:1 with a last minute goal. Now it’s time to get back to Patong Beach. Much to my surprise, they piled about 15 of us into another police truck. This time instead of only beer, there was Thai whiskey and Thai barbque floating around as well. Needless to say, with many ladies singing and screaming at everything that moved, it was quite an experience, surrounded by so many beautiful ladies, and being chauffeured by the Thai police!
Doug had many, many adventures. I know he got into a Dominos game, playing for several hours at 100 baht per game, which went up to 500 baht per game, and then 1,000 baht per game. At the end, Doug was 12,000 baht ahead! Of course, once the game was over, all that went into refreshments for everyone, so everyone won. Advice from Doug: "Don’t go directly from the bars to the beach at 8:00am, unless you want to get a nice sunburn! I’m still peeling!!"

Bugs!
A few days later, Doug, Pia, Fon, and I walked over to a local bar operated by a friend of Pia. Fon went off to get some food for us, and came back with a plastic baggie of treats. So, here we are, all sitting around this new bar talking to the bar’s owner, and Fon takes out some of the food and hands it around. YIKES - it turned out these were huge bugs!!! To me, they looked like gigantic roaches, bigger than any I had ever seen before. You peel off the wings, legs, bone structure, and so on, and what’s left is supposed to be a real Thai delicacy! Unfortunately, try as I might, I just couldn’t get into tasting them. Doug said they really were quite tasty, but I couldn’t do it. Oh well, I guess I’m still too westernized... Doug later said they were a type of cricket. I guess I failed my "Phuket Visitors Test", as no way could I convince myself to eat one of them.

Sightseeing
Towards the end of my trip, I decided I’d go to some of the places I heard about, but never got to see last year. First off was the go-kart track, about fifteen minutes away from Patong Beach. I’m not sure what to say about this place - the track itself was nice, but the go-karts seemed to be pretty much worn out. It was 400 baht (about $10) for twenty minutes. My first impression was that the karts were fast, but handled terribly. Once I learned how hard I could drive them, it was much more fun though. I wish there were more people out there driving. After the go-karts, the next stop was Phuket Shooting Range. You buy bullets (at about a buck each) and they let you use whichever gun or rifle you like. I got ten bullets for a "357" and then picked a nice handgun. The fellow making sure I didn’t do anything wrong put a target on a holder, then moved it out 40 or so feet away from me. He then explained in terrible English everything I needed to know to shoot the gun. I wanted to tell him I already knew all that, but it was easier to just listen. I guess the gun was pretty good, as I got one bulls-eye, with 9 of my 10 shots being in the black, five of them in one overlapping hole! This fellow was pretty impressed, and made sure everyone else got to see my target when we were through. On the way back from the shooting range the next stop was at the Phuket Bungy Jump. No way was I gonna try it! Check the photos to see what it was like.

Other Comments
I wanted to buy a couple of Rolex watches while I was there, one for me, and one for Ron Paris. The price of a Rolex in Phuket is about $20, a bit less than the $5,000 going price elsewhere. I found out I shouldn’t have waited until the last day, as that was the day the "Copy Police" descended on Patong Beach to confiscate non-authentic items. I guess I’ll have to wait until my next trip, as there wasn’t a single watch for sale that day in all of Patong Beach. The stores with hundreds (thousands?) of watches were all boarded up, and the sidewalk venders were nowhere in sight.
Just like last year, the last night we spent in Phuket, Pia gave a huge birthday party for Doug. There were lots of people there, a table full of unusual food (I stuck to the sandwiches), and lots of drinks for everyone. As you can see in the photo below, Doug thoroughly enjoyed the party!!

Trip home.
While I thoroughly enjoyed my trip, by the time it was approaching two weeks, I was starting to get anxious to get home. We checked out of the hotel, and Yat and Fon took us to the airport. Getting home was pretty tedious - it seemed to take forever, even longer than getting there. While I had a great time in Phuket, and thoroughly enjoyed my visit, it was still nice to get back to the good old USA.