That's right. I made it to Thailand!
But first, a few pics from the Sydney adventure
Ta-Da!
View of the skyline from the water
The harbor bridge with the opera house in the background
And also, as always, I went to the aquarium. :) This is a dugong, Australia's manatee. Don't tell the Florida manatees but I think this guy might be cuter.
Sydney was fun! I did the touristy things, as you can see and finished up all the stuff I needed to get done before leaving Australia. I stayed on Bondi beach, which was very beautiful until it got cold the second day I was there. Good thing I did the beach thing on the first day! But aside from getting good pictures of the opera house and getting to see a dugong (and a platypus that wouldn't pose for a picture) up close and personal, Sydney was pretty uneventful. A couple of relaxing days to play tourist and get ready for Thailand.
Which brings us to... drumroll please! Phuket! Where I'm currently staying! It was a long day of travel: an 8 hour flight, Malaysian immigration and customs, a three hour layover, an hour and a half flight and finally Thailand immigration and customs. When I got to my hotel, I immediately crashed out. I did not pass go or collect any food or souvenirs. I was beat.
Day two in Thailand started out much better. I wandered down to the beach, which is beautiful and covered in tourists. Mostly from Russia, which I find slightly odd, but I guess Russians like to holiday in Thailand too! Then, culture shocked as I was, I made the mistake of leaving quiet Kata beach and heading to the tourist mecca of Patong. Now, Thai is a completely different written language, leaving me pretty much clueless with street signs. Also, my mode of transportation to Patong was also pretty alienating. I got into a tuk-tuk (which is actually pronounced duk-duk. Go figure. This is a weird little vehicle, like a mini truck. The back is enclosed, with benches, except where the tailgate would be. Now, driving in Phuket, ALSO terrifying. There are no real street signs, no speed limits and no real rules. Awesome. So I shell out 400 baht to get inside a weird little truck and careen around skinny mountain roads with about a million scooters, going about a million miles an hour. So then I get to Patong and things just got crazier. My first impression was taking the seediest parts of Key West and New Orleans (think sketchy girlie bars, sex shops and bars) and adding the chaos of downtown LA and then throw in a different written and spoken alphabet. I think we need to spend a few more days in the quiet bits of Kata before we venture back to Patong. A little overwhelming.
Other than that, I've just been cruising around trying to get mt bearings. I'm staying in a little guesthouse on Kata beach, which is a nice name for a crappy hotel. But it'll do for the week or so I'm here! It's got air con and wifi, I'm happy. I'm going to be bumming around for 3 weeks until Mike gets out here... but hopefully I'll find some fun adventures to keep me busy. Look for pictures soon!
Love and fishes
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