Squid tentacles on sticks at the Phuket weekend night market
Water beetles, snakes, crocodiles, balut (google it), crickets. Last night I added two more things to the tally of what I suppose people would call "weird food" I've eaten. A...
April 30, 2012
April 29, 2012
An afternoon with a rather sizeable Buddha
In the south of Phuket, Thailand sits a cross-legged and sleepy looking Buddha looking out over the island. He is under construction at the moment, so its kind of like visiting a construction site - only a bit more spiritual. A roundtrip from Patong costs about 1000B in a taxi which isn't too bad if you go with others. Try and barter with the drivers...
April 27, 2012
So this one time, in Thailand...
They filmed part of James Bond: The Man with the Golden Gun in Thailand 38 years ago and its still a major tourist attraction. James Bond Island (real name Ko Tapu) forms the crux of many day trips through Phang Nga Bay which leave from Ao Po on the west side of Phuket, Thailand. Perhaps the significance was lost on me, but I don't understand the...
April 25, 2012
Welcome to Thailand
I arrive in Phuket under the cover of darkness. My immediate surroundings masked by the night. It's warm. 29 degrees, according to the captain. Muggy,too. I step out of the arrivals area and I'm immediately approached by people offering me a taxi to where I need to go. This was the part I feared the most - fresh off the plane and prime for the ripping off. I get rushed off into a taxi, but God knows whether the driver is taking me where I need to go. Its quite a long trip from the airport, about 45 minutes, mostly along straight highways. Patches...
April 23, 2012
No turning back
After all has been said and done, the time has finally arrived. Weeks of meeting old friends, vaccinations and planning are over and the adventure starts, well, tomorrow.
Today is my last full day in New Zealand until I get back in December for a wedding. Or possibly until I run out of money. Or get bored. Whichever comes first. All I have left to do is pack proper which to be honest won't take very long. I spent most of Saturday doing an inventory of the things I had and things I needed and realised I have an abundance of large winter jackets...
April 16, 2012
April 10, 2012
Shots on me, everbody!
My arms have had it. Had enough of these needles (I don't know how intravenous drug users do it. Is the high really worth it? I suppose it is if you do it all the time. I digress.) The needles in my deltoids are all in preparation for six months in South East Asia - an area more prone to some disease and sickness than New Zealand. Rabies, Typhoid, Tetanus, Hep A and B - I'm more or less immune to them all like I have some array of super powers, except I feel no different. But, like travel insurance, people say its necessary. A...
And so it begins
Hello! (Or should I say, Sawatdee Khrab? No? Ok, I'll stick to English.)
This is the official first post documenting my trip through South East Asia. First stop Phuket (not pronounced as an F), Thailand. You'll have to excuse the lack of content - I haven't left New Zealand yet. You'll have to make do with photos and test posts I did during a week-long road trip around the South Island in January.
Anyhoo, its two weeks to the day that I leave for Phuket on a one-way ticket to explore South East Asia for the rest of the year....
