Phuket Day 3: Leisurely Day

At the north end of Patong Beach are these large rocks covered in shells

Our day was filled with more sand and sun! By the time we got out of the hotel at 10am the sun was already bearing down but we trudged on, doing our daily walk on the beach.

An amazing sunset with a parachute dragged up into the air

This time we walked all the way to the north end of Patong beach where we found some rocks covered in shells and barnacles. Nearby is an idyllic looking outdoor cafe serving drinks and food. We had more mango (why can't we get mango this good in Hong Kong?!) and a lemonade before heading back to the hotel.

A few observations along our walk -- many people, mostly Russians, Australians and Germans visiting here are severely overweight, and several women had no qualms going topless to have as even a tan as possible. They probably would have gone in the nude if they could! Obese and topless are an unsightly combination, of which we saw many...

Whenever I'm on the beach I like to hunt for shells. I find it a good exercise to be on the look out for nice-looking shells and see what I can find. Today I found more larger shells than yesterday and even a small sand dollar!

Phuket Seafood looks fancy but the seafood is well priced

In the late afternoon I checked out the hotel pool which was much longer than the one I swim in back in Hong Kong which was nice. I did a few laps and the others in the pool must have thought I was strange as they were all huddled around the pool bar or playing with their kids... what's wrong with doing a mini workout?

Nevertheless it was worth burning off a few calories because we planned to check out a restaurant called Phuket Seafood that we had seen before and full of people. Again it looked like a Chinese-run establishment, with one or two staff speaking Mandarin and a tour group of mainlanders came in for dinner.

Stir-fried kale with crispy pork

Fresh seafood was laid out on ice and we got to choose what we wanted. We chose a fish and it was weighed and priced for us on the spot which made the whole process transparent. It came steamed with chillis and lime, though hardly as spicy as yesterday's lunch. The fish was again perfectly cooked which confirms Thais really know how to cook their fish.

We also ordered fried rice with crab meat -- though it didn't look anything like the picture in the menu that featured giant chunks of crab meat... however the kale with crispy pork was delicious -- stir-fried with deep-fried cubes of pork that added flavour to the dish.

Expecting it to cost over 1,000BHT ($31.25), we were surprised to find the bill came to 845BHT including a bottle of water and young coconut.

Fish steamed with garlic, chillis and lime

We tried to ask the waitress for a plastic bag to take the young coconut home, but she had no clue what we were talking about; in the end another waiter gave us the requested bag. The level of English varies widely here and it's a pity that some have no clue what you are saying, and yet don't have the common sense to ask another person to come and assist you...

There goes our second last day in Phuket and we've enjoyed the leisurely pace here, involving lots of naps, walks along the beach and fresh fruit!