Won't you take me to....Phuket Town

So we have not been updating our blog of late but that is not to say we have not been doing anything. Our days seem a bit like Ground Hog's day (but in a good way). We wake up, eat breakfast, head to the beach just after 12 (wish we could go earlier but the sun is too strong here) and then stay at the beach until sunset and usually go straight to dinner before making it home to shower around 9 PM. Whoever said they would get bored doing this everyday is crazy. Since our last post we have been checking out the different beaches in our area, they are pretty similar but each cater to a different clientele and we also made a trip down to Phuket Town just for a change of scenery and to give ourselves a break from the sun. The best part about the past few weeks is that we found a place to play volleyball on the beach with some locals as well as westerners so we have been doing that every afternoon starting at 4 like clockwork. No one plays before then because of work and the heat. The other day we were at the beach playing volleyball when a quick 20 minute storm hit so we decided to take a video. I don't think this video does the storm justice but it was coming down so hard that we just decided to go in the ocean and wait it out (video is too big to upload, I will post soon). Luckily the storms here usually only last an hour or less. We continued to play after and it was warm and sunny again. The locals are friendly and most of them enjoy us playing with them, however a few get upset with our distinct height advantage. We have finally found a group of westerners that play REAL volleyball and although they did seem hesitant to let us join at the beginning, we now play with them multiple times a week and it's a lot of fun.

Our trip to Phuket Town was quite an adventure. We decided to take the local bus down and you can stop it anywhere to get on it and it is 25 baht to take the bus which is less than a dollar. Luckily the bus passes by our condo so we walked down the street to get on it. The bus has no capacity and basically you are sitting on top of other passengers. Phuket Town was pretty dead but it was still a small interesting place that apparently used to be wealthy because of metals found in the area. Here are some photos of our adventure there (they are known for Massaman Curry here and the food did not disappoint).

We have continued to eat at the same local restaurants and have expanded to find some new ones and we have always ventured down to the beaches of Kata and Karon which are a lot less hectic than the beach in Patong where we are staying. We have been taking a panoramic photo at each beach we go to so once we have been to a few more we will post all of them. Until then.

-ATG