A couple in Phuket…. With company! Holidays in Thailand

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We're back here, after 2 years since our first time in Phuket we wanted to return to this wonderful island that had impressed us so much. This time we are four. It will be aggregated, for their first time, our son and my brother, a little 'out of curiosity, a little' to open a "hot" brackets over our cold winter ... but just to see for yourself all that we tell on these sites and especially on these people.
The period chosen were the first two weeks of March, and frankly, I could not have chosen better. Wonderful time, temperature from 36 ° to 38 ° (with a peak of 40 °), but ventilated, dry and sea sublime. After some considerations on where to base, we opted for the location that the previous Karon Beach and also for the same hotel, that given the high season, we proposed a good daily rate. This choice has proved to be apt because Karon area proved to be a much more 'peaceful of Patong or Kata, and the structure confirmed the high standard of the rooms, the service (very clean), breakfast (which is not bad) and all the staff in charge. Two years later we did not find many changes on the island. The prices have remained virtually unchanged for both the sleep (around 1000/1200 baht per day room and breakfast), for food (from 800 to 1200 baht in four, depending on whether cenavi meat, fish or their typical type thai noodles with any sauce or pad), the beach life (200 baht for umbrella and two chairs) or scooter hire (200 baht per day with gasoline to 30 baht per liter). Perhaps one discordant note is the fact that they are building a little 'too, especially near the beaches, but tourism, the primary source of income, unfortunately, leads to this. Although my wife and I had prepared for the reception which reserves to Thailand and Phuket in particular, I have to admit that the emotional impact and climate has again impressed, I leave you to imagine the two neophytes!
After an initial period of normal acclimatization schedule we thought the holiday a bit 'on our previous experience and a lot of living for the day, boxers, thongs, hats and sunscreen (absolutely compulsory) and as the only "annoyance" to think that the beach go and what to eat for dinner ... .. it was hard work but someone had to do it!
So, riding our scooter, we have traveled far and wide the most 'can the island, returning to the beaches of us already know (Freedom Beach, Kata Noi Beach and YaNui in particular) and discovering for the first time the other as Laem Sing Beach with its steep and numerous steps, going up to Surin to those even more 'Bang Tao Beach to the north or type Nai Yang Beach, but all with the same common denominator: idyllic beaches, crystal clear sea like an aquarium the amount and variety of fish, feasting on fruit platters, watermelon and banana shake shake for lunch and massages, many regenerating massages, a true panacea, the benefits extend even once back in Italy. Of course, it is said that the appetite comes with eating and not content, so to speak, we decided to visit one of the many islands of the archipelago offers and this year we opted for the Phi Phi Island. And it is precisely this circumstance that the two "novices" have firsthand another feature typical of Thai culture: the art of treating every way. After choosing a trip which proposed three different islands in one day, we are delighted with this art, and after several proposals from various tour information (every 50 meters. Find one) we have torn a great price from a figure of 2800 List bath and going to 1100 baht per person all inclusive ... .. proud and happy with the deal done, but probably well aware that this was the right price. Apart from this exhausting, but folk effort (it will be useful mainly in the continuation of the holiday during the various purchases), we must recognize the professionalism of the company organizing the excursion: exceptional punctuality, perfect service, route guessed (almost landed on the beaches most 'famous like Maya Beach when they were not tourists and sailed on arrival), dwell times in different places to do enough in peace-related activities (including lunch), all accompanied by the usual warmth and kindness ... a success. At night, you were not spoiled for choice. You could stay in the area Karon / Kata for an evening more 'soft, walking among the stalls of the numerous markets in the evening come alive, and then stop for dinner, where more' inspires you. Otherwise the alternative was to take a tuc tuc (typical means of transportation) and for 300 baht you did bring in messy, but beautiful because of it, Patong. Do not recommend to go with the scooter because, although it is not far from karon, the streets are a bit 'rough and dark, very strong traffic and driving on the left and maybe a beer too much you risk a little bit. Patong at night goes lived at least once because it is unique. Leisure and pure carelessness especially on Bangla Road, a particular way because during the day is the only road with right-hand drive (like us) and the whole evening becomes pedestrian. Hundreds of markets, shops, restaurants, music pubs of all kinds, where the watchword is fun.
What is most 'beautiful remains, however, enjoy the island freely, sometimes even without a default destination. Despite being the most 'used for tourism are still uncontaminated and genuine. Everywhere you went breathless by the beauty of the places, beaches, landscapes, lush vegetation but also by the simplicity and warmth of the people, never intrusive but always ready to help with a natural kindness and respect, sometimes embarrassing for us Italians are used to to be defensive in the face of anything. You could get lost in most areas' inside the island that he always found someone who showed you the way back, or, as happened to us, a hole in the wheel of the scooter (they still have the tube), did not know who contact for repair and suddenly find yourself literally accompanied by a mechanic who stopped work in progress to help them immediately. This is what we found for the second time and that my son and my brother were first discovered, promising seriously that for them there will be a second! For us, probably a third, a fourth, a fifth if not in Phuket, surely the Land of Smiles.