Location: Patong, Phuket, Thailand

I wanted to get out of Patong today and see a bit more of the island, so I booked a van tour. I KNOW I KNOW I went to the pharmacy first to get something to help don’t worry! After a little gesturing and translating they handed me a sleeve of pills that I was reasonably certain about taking.

I took one of the mystery pills (spoiler: it was definitely the right thing) with my spicy prawn and eggs breakfast, and hopped in the van. Well half an hour into the drive and yay! I was not carsick… but I was definitely something else.

I don’t think it would have been totally legal for me to drive a vehicle is all I’m saying.

I originally was just going to catch a taxi or something over to old town Phuket and explore on my own – but the main sites are actually super far apart and taxis here are triple the price from anywhere else. Tour it is!

First stop was a viewpoint in the middle of the island, which is one of the things I actually wanted to see most. I usually try to get to a viewpoint on the first or last day in a new city and so far this trip I haven’t been doing a great job keeping that tradition up. It was stormy over the ocean but the lush green island was visible from all sides, right down to the little beaches along the coast.

Another hop in the van and we made it to Big Buddha, the aptly named massive white marble coated statue of Buddha looking out from the highest point of Phuket. We were up so high that his head was wreathed in clouds and the wind blew my umbrella inside out. Wild monkeys scampered around and I even saw one steal a bag of chips and start violently shoving them into his mouth. We were warned that these guys will bite, so I stayed a healthy distance away and cringed as other tourists decided that three feet seemed to be enough distance for them to take photos.

Our next three stops were basically commercialized stops where they tried to sell us a bunch of stuff. A cashew factory, a honey farm, a jewelry shop. WHO on this $30 van ride is going to buy a $40,000 necklace today? People must do it often enough otherwise they wouldn’t bring us here but still! I’m not sure who it was but someone ingrained in me when I was young that you could tell how well off someone was by the kind of shoes they wear. I laughed a little as water squished through my toes when I walked. Me and my dirty Nikes will not be buying any sapphires today.

The last stop was the four block long old town market. Our guide sent us out into the absolute torrential rain and said ‘come back in two hours!’ Two hours?! This might as well be a monsoon!Lights strung up between the colourful European buildings set off a beautiful glow in the rain above the tent stalls and I resolved that I might as well just go for it. Despite my little umbrella I got soaked right to the bone. And I didn’t care at all.

I tried a bunch of things I’d been seeing at market stalls that I hadn’t had a chance to yet, most of which I cannot spell and wasn’t 100% sure what it even was. Meat?? Who knows. My favourite, weirdly enough, was a cup of fresh roasted corn with butter and sugar. I did finally settle into a packed Chinese restaurant and ordered a drink just to get out of the rain.

I ended the night by eating dessert and visiting in my dorm with a very sweet Canadian girl named Susanne, before the day really caught up with me and I had to call it.

Tour days are exhausting!

Sav