Phuket Day 1 -- Sun and Sand

Catching the sunset at Patong Beach

This morning my mom and I took an early morning flight to Phuket. We haven't been to Thailand in a very long time and thought we'd like to take in some sun after a dreary winter in Hong Kong.

Everything went smoothly up until we were seated on a Dragon Air flight. It's a small plane, three seats each side. My mom and I sat in the middle and aisle seats and across from us another middle-aged couple. However sitting in both window seats was a young married couple and the woman pulled a long face having to sit apart from her husband.

Wearing a thin black shirt and jean shorts, and sporting sunglasses, she sat in her seat but was not happy and kept staring at her husband, he was also wearing sunglasses and looking at her. He asked the flight attendant to move them to have two seats together and the flight was pretty much full.

Tourists walk along the beach or swim in the ocean

The flight attendant asked us if we could move, but we refused out of principle -- it's a four-hour flight -- do you really have to be together? However the problem was solved and they were moved to another aisle which was good for us, having the window seat free.

My mom thought it was terrible that the husband had to give in to his wife's demands as she looked annoyed and threatening to have a temper tantrum.

Nevertheless, our flight was on our way and relatively smooth.

At Phuket International Airport, there's either transportation that's booked in advance or metered taxis so we went for the latter. We told them where our hotel was and it seemed like a flat rate of 800BHT even though his meter was running and came to just over 600BHT when we arrived.

Our driver was friendly enough, wearing a severely pressed shirt and he was quite professional; he only answered his phone when it rang -- an iPhone no less -- and even though he received many text messages he didn't check them while we were on the road.

And what a winding route it was! We took some side streets with many speed bumps and into what looked like remote areas which reminded me of Vietnam which I visited almost a year ago.

The last of the sun's rays

There are shacks and fields, and then a luxurious-looking tiled home, or a compound with box-shaped homes on stilts. We also saw many skinny cows at one point.

Finally we made it to Patong Beach and our hotel, which is just off the main road. We wandered around for some food and found a Thai restaurant where we were practically the only customers at 2pm.

The staff took our order but we waited for over half an hour for the food to arrive. But good things come to those who wait -- we had a large grilled fish enough for three to four people, vermicelli with vegetables and tom yum goong that was speckled with bits of red peppers but wasn't too spicy. The restaurant threw in a small plate of stir-fried vegetables probably to apologize for the delay.

Nevertheless the food was fantastic. The fish was perfectly cooked though a bit bland. It was enhanced with lime and a spicy sauce on the side. Pretty soon we demolished it along with everything else. Sorry but we forgot to take a picture of our feast!

After a nap we wandered out in the late afternoon the famous beach. The sand is so fine and soft, the temperature of the water is nice too. However the visitors to the beach come in a range of sizes -- mostly large sunburned ones from Russia...

A cute crab tile we found along the sidewalk!

Thailand is famous for its fruits, but we were hard pressed to find any fruit stands apart from the ones that sell cut fruit. On the edge of the beach we did buy a mango and guava and then on the way back to the hotel managed to find the only fruit stand on Patong Beach.

The mango was so sweet and smooth, hardly fiberous and the seed was very thin! Wax apples were crunchy and fresh young coconuts hit the spot.

Everyone seems to come out of hiding in the evening after the hot day in the sun and the nightlife here is bustling. There are shops selling tacky souvenirs, small massage places with young women trying to lure customers in, other stands with fake handbags and wallets, as well as bars and restaurants selling fresh seafood.

Many places seemed to have hardly any business -- which made me think of China where young people manning stores played with their phones while waiting for customers.

At one point we saw a bright red open-air taxi pull into a nightclub spot and several young pretty girls coming out -- straight out of the scene from Golden ChickenSSS when Sandra Ng's mammasan character leads her girls to entertain some clients...

We've pretty much done Patong and are looking forward to some adventures tomorrow on other parts of Phuket. Stay tuned.

Spoiled Convicted Offender

All in on the act -- Meng Ge, Li Shuangjiang and son Li Tianyi performing

It seems some spoiled children of China's super rich don't seem to learn from their mistakes.

Today the son of two celebrity singers for the Chinese military was convicted of rape and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Li Guanfeng, (previously known as Li Tianyi), 17, and four defendants met an 18-year-old woman surnamed Yang in a Beijing bar on February 17 and coerced her into a hotel room where they beat and sexually assaulted her.

Although Li pleaded not guilty in the trial last month saying he was drunk at the time, the court said he was the ringleader. Because he was a minor at the time, Li was sentenced to 10 years, while one of the other defendants is an adult and pleaded not guilty, was handed a 12-year sentence.

Sentences for rape in China usually range from three to 10 years, but in severe cases, such as gang rapes and causing serious injury or death can result in life in prison or even death.

Everyone in China was watching this case because Li is the son of Li Shuangjiang and Meng Ge, who usually perform for the People's Liberation Army and in television galas. The public wanted to see what kind of treatment Li would get because privileged people seem to get special treatment in the courts.

People close to Li's family spread information about the victim and the owner of the bar to the media before the trial to discredit Yang's testimony, while Meng said before the verdict that the court should consider Yang was a bar girl -- which the court said later her profession had "no direct relationship" to the charges.

In the end Li received a severe sentence, as the court said he was the main culprit, as Li grabbed the woman's arm, dragged her into the hotel and was caught on the hotel surveillance camera hitting her head and face in the elevator.

The court then said Li demanded that she take off her clothes and when she refused, he slapped and kicked her, and then stripped off her clothes with another defendant. It said Li was the first to force sex on the woman.

Li's defense was that he was so drunk at the time that he passed out and so he could not remember details of the incident.

Despite his weak defense his family will appeal.

Where does Li get the idea that he thinks he can get away with anything even though he was caught once before?

In 2011 the then 15-year-old without a driver's license got behind the wheel of a BMW with no license plates when a couple's car blocked his way coming out of a driveway in a residential area in Beijing. Li and another young man who drove an Audi both got out of their cars and assaulted the couple, while they told shocked bystanders, "Don't you dare call 110 [tell the police]."

Li was sentenced to a year detention for his road rage.

Maybe this time he will get the message? And perhaps his doting parents should stop meddling and realize they contributed to his out-of-control behaviour?