Phuket
Posted by Rebecca Lynch on Sunday, July 1, 2012
After spending the week on Koh Phi Phi, I was ready to get back to a town where there was more to do than lye on the beach and swim in the sea, as much as I love doing that a I do need to do some exploring. So it was over to Phuket for a few days. The hostel was lovely and had a massive flat screen and surround sound, perfect for movies at night.
The weather in Phuket was difficult to get used to, it was extremely humid, a walk down to the corner shop and you would be boiling. We went for the cheapest room in the hostel which didn't have air condition, which in such weather probably wasn't such a good idea, and after the first night Francesca moved to an air-con room. I decided to just stick it out.
We spent the first morning dragging ourselves up a very large hill to a viewpoint looking across the town, over the hills, and out to the turquoise sea. The view was worth the trek, and the trek was worth the chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce and chocolate sprinkles at the top. After spending so long in the heat we thought it was time to head for the air conditioned shops to find some more weather appropriate tops as we were still in our cover-up-Chinese clothes, it was about time we got some loose strappey tops, and wow it made a difference.
The next day Francesca decided to sit the heat out, so I headed for the Phuket Temples. I followed the map quite well at first, finding all the close by temples, but then when i headed further out I lost my way (typical me) so jumped in one of the little 'golf buggy' type cars and got him to drive me to all the temples that were left to tick off the map, and it only cost me about £5 and was driving me about for around 2 hours, bonus. Each temple was slightly different, some were very plain from the outside but incredible inside, some were tucked away at the back of a little restaurant or down a small alley, some were massive unmissable and had such intricate detail all over, there were dragon carvings, birds, snakes, eagles...so many differences. Inside there were giant Buddha statues, shrines to different Gods, statues decorated in clothes and draped in fabrics, incense sticks burned everywhere, there were many lit candles and every shrine had flowers and fruit layed down in front of it as a giving. My favourite of the shrine decorations were miniature heads, the size of a small doll, of animals and Gods, which had decorative headdresses and were placed on spikes in front of the shrines.
Phuket was really good for exploring temples, and I had a great time there just wondering. Next stop, Bangkok!
The weather in Phuket was difficult to get used to, it was extremely humid, a walk down to the corner shop and you would be boiling. We went for the cheapest room in the hostel which didn't have air condition, which in such weather probably wasn't such a good idea, and after the first night Francesca moved to an air-con room. I decided to just stick it out.
We spent the first morning dragging ourselves up a very large hill to a viewpoint looking across the town, over the hills, and out to the turquoise sea. The view was worth the trek, and the trek was worth the chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce and chocolate sprinkles at the top. After spending so long in the heat we thought it was time to head for the air conditioned shops to find some more weather appropriate tops as we were still in our cover-up-Chinese clothes, it was about time we got some loose strappey tops, and wow it made a difference.
The next day Francesca decided to sit the heat out, so I headed for the Phuket Temples. I followed the map quite well at first, finding all the close by temples, but then when i headed further out I lost my way (typical me) so jumped in one of the little 'golf buggy' type cars and got him to drive me to all the temples that were left to tick off the map, and it only cost me about £5 and was driving me about for around 2 hours, bonus. Each temple was slightly different, some were very plain from the outside but incredible inside, some were tucked away at the back of a little restaurant or down a small alley, some were massive unmissable and had such intricate detail all over, there were dragon carvings, birds, snakes, eagles...so many differences. Inside there were giant Buddha statues, shrines to different Gods, statues decorated in clothes and draped in fabrics, incense sticks burned everywhere, there were many lit candles and every shrine had flowers and fruit layed down in front of it as a giving. My favourite of the shrine decorations were miniature heads, the size of a small doll, of animals and Gods, which had decorative headdresses and were placed on spikes in front of the shrines.
Phuket was really good for exploring temples, and I had a great time there just wondering. Next stop, Bangkok!