" where you going...??"
...my instinct since getting to Thailand has been to reply....'... it's ok we don't need a taxi...'... to any asian asking me this question...:) but I stopped myself when I realized that they weren't Thai at all. They were in fact, Japanese tourists...complete with typical tourist garb and dangling cameras...
They proceeded to inform us that there was a nice clean guesthouse just up the street from where we were standing that was very cheap....only 200 Baht....the equivalent of approx. $7 Canadian. Sairaa and I were quite surprised because up until that point everyone who tried to talk to us, was trying to take our money.... and these people were actually helping us find a decent place for really cheap....We thanked them and never saw them again..
Thank you GOD!!
We actually ended up staying quite a few days in Phuket Town.....one of Sairaa's friends from Van. Island was teaching English there....so we hung out with her and her friends...which was a cool experience because we ended up going to a restaurant that 'Farang' (that's us white people) don't normally go...........I find I actually enjoy the times when there aren't any tourist around...I feel like I'm experiencing something more legit....
Phuket turned out to be a cool little city...it had a lot of the comforts of home...( internet cafes and coffee houses with vanilla lattes) One night I even play a full music set at this little restaurant...they couldn't understand a word I was singing but they recognized a couple songs....and they liked my voice, so that was cool...
We spent an entire day (literally!!...no exaggeration) walking through this huge market....they were selling everything from t-shirts to pirated dvd's, pets, strange food and fruit, random electronics..(cheap electronics)...sunglasses, used shoes, old video game consoles, random handicrafts......everything and anything was at this market.........my feet hurt so bad that night. Sairaa loved every minute...;) Haha
Before we left Phuket Island we spent a day at Kata Beach which apparently is the only place in Thailand that has decent surf. It reminded me of Tofino. The waves broke the same way....I hate beach breaks... We spent the afternoon surfing and then ate at a restaurant on the beach.... It was a nice break from the city....and it was good to do something active...
Our next stop was the famous (or infamous) Koh Phi Phi. It's an island off the western coast of Thailand known mostly for being the location where they filmed "the Beach".
To get to the island we had to take a 1.5 hour boat ride from the pier just outisde of Phuket. When we arrived at the pier we were told that the boat was 600Baht for one person....now for those of you who can't figure out the conversion rate...that's approx. $20 each Canadian. Now I know what you're thinking, ' 20 bucks isn't a lot of money for a 1.5 hour ride....', and in Canada you'd be right.....but see, we're not in Canada, we're in Thailand, where an 8 hour bus ride is less than 10. We were in shock......' there is no way that we're going to pay that much to see the Beach that 'Leo' stood on....I don't like him that much.....'
So we sat there...on the benches at the pier and we waited. As we are sitting beside the ticket counter we notice how many Thai people are getting on the boat and paying considerably less for the same trip....I tried to bribe 3 different guys to get us on the boat for cheaper....none of them budged... We decided to call their bluff. We would pay no more than 800 Baht total for the two of us....that's a full 400baht less than they were asking....I told them that was our final offer...and when they refused, Sairaa and I picked up our packs and started for the parking lot to look for a taxi back to town......
All of a sudden this man in a suit comes running over...'Excuse me sir...' He proceeded to explain that if we had booked the ticket through a travel agency then we could have had it for the price we we're asking..blah, blah, bullshit, blah ....What he really means to say is ' We charge tourists this much because they're stupid and they will pay it, but because you are not stupid we will let you on for less '......then he says..."this i do for you...special price.." He discretely took my 800 baht and walked over to the girls at the counter, who did not look impressed by the situation, and practically wrenched the ticket book out of their hands....yelled at them in Thai and wrote up our tickets for us...Not sure who he was...but he was someone who had pull. We got on the boat with minutes to spare....
That is how it's done in Thailand.........;)
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