We arrived in Thailand with about 20 close friends in the early afternoon (pinch me.... my life can't be this much fun!). The weather was beautiful, the pool at our condo was cool and refreshing and Henry, the sternsperson from the team (a Canadian who lives full time in Thailand and arranged our accommodation) had more beer than we could drink ready and waiting in the fridge. The perfect reward for the paddlers who had worked so hard for their triple-medal result in Malaysia (see previous post if you don’t know what this means).
The next morning Shawn and I hit the gym and lap pool at the condo for an early workout then joined our friends on a boat trip to some islands near Phuket. The boat driver took us to a small island where we could snorkel, although the sandy bottom of the region didn’t afford very many interesting snorkelling opportunities. We also took a trip to a beautiful spot with scenery that was featured in the famous James Bond film “The Man with the Golden Gun”. The high vertical rocky islands were breathtaking and we were able to avoid the crowds of tourists that go to “James Bond Island” by instead touring a nearby island that is of similar geography. We ended the boat trip with a stop at a pearl oyster farm / resort (my request). The resort was pretty much deserted but we managed to buy ourselves a beer and enjoy the quiet beach.
Henry arranged a magical oceanfront dinner for the whole group that night. The restaurant owner brought us dish after dish of delicious Thai cuisine. We ate by candlelight with a crescent moon descending over the breaking waves. Exquisite.
The next day Shawn and I zoomed off on a rented scooter to see the city of Phuket. We wanted to check out the local market but after a few tries at finding it, we asked the woman who made us a delicious lunch and she told us it was temporarily shut down while they were doing renovations. On our way back to our condo we stopped at a local pearl factory for a tour. I tried in vain to ask about the hatchery and grow out practices, but the “tour guide” was only interested in giving us the typical story and hurrying us into the gift shop.
Our final night in Phuket, Shawn and I went to watch Muay Thai (Thai Kickboxing). We bought our tickets and were promised front row seats but were worried that we might miss the opening fight when the shuttle arrived late to take us there. We arrived with enough time to order a beer and take our front row seats and were surprised to see the first match on the fight card were two 7 year-olds. It was an interesting fight, and the rest of the fight card was older fighters. It was interesting to watch and we got a kick out of the open betting. After the fights we went for a midnight meal and then returned to the condo.
From Phuket, we flew to Kuala Lumpur for an overnight layover then on to our final destination – Cambodia.
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