Before we crack on with the events of today we would love to say a big thank you to everyone who liked, shared, commented, retweeted, read out loud to their office colleagues or however else you let us know you were reading. We had no idea so many people were engaged in our daily adventures and it’s really great to see. For all those tech savvy enough to have Instagram, you can see us on there too.

Right. So today. Things are looking good. Sam is still alive. Soph hasn’t turned into a jelly fish over night. I’m still looking outrageously handsome. All is well. Nobody was sick last night and there were no amphibian intruders either so we all got a relatively good sleep. Not perfect, but good.

We wanted to mix today up a little bit by heading to a new town. You can’t spend everyday on the beach…no..no actually can. Very easily. But anyway we wanted to explore. So after breakfast we asked the guys running our guesthouse where the best place in Phuket to do a little shopping may be. Hartfield is only here for a few more days and needs to grab some bargains.

We were advised to head over to the near by hot spot of Patong. So we found a taxi/tuk tuk driver that wasn’t a conniving little cretin and set off for our 20 minute journey up the west coast of Phuket. The tuk tuks down here are nothing like the baskets attached to mopeds that they call tuk tuks further north. Here they are like modified mini vans with massive sound systems and flashing LED lights. Like they are all owned by the kids that hang out in car parks on a Tuesday night pretending their 1 litre, S reg Corsa is really cool. But I suppose these tuk tuks are pretty cool. They’re different anyway.

Arriving outside the Patong shopping centre we quickly realised we weren’t going to be picking up many bargains. Unlike the 7 story knock off paradise mall we visited in Bangkok, this place was full of designer stores with goods more expensive than in the UK. You could maybe have saved a couple of quid off a pair of Levi’s, but nothing you couldn’t get cheaper in an outlet somewhere. Poor. We got out of there pretty sharpish.

Today was ridiculously hot. Possibly too hot. It was a heat we hadn’t felt since our first days in Bangkok. When the air is thick with a muggy, dirty heat that you can barely stand up in. It is very busy in Patong. Not just with the thousands of holiday goers but with tons of street food stalls all chucking their waste in to the street. We decided to get out the heat and chill with a drink and maybe some food for a while. We found one spot that looked great. Great food, great drinks, great staff. It was a little out of our price range but I thought it would have been a great place to spend the rest of the day. Can’t remember the name of the place now…..

…really friendly staff though.

We found a place on the beach with a good deal on that we could all afford. So we sat down in this Mexican restaurant, ordered our meal deal, saw it away and asked for the bill in that waving an imaginary pen in the air way that is universal all over the world. Recently we had done really well in avoiding any scheming locals trying to get their hands in our wallets. But when the bill arrived we realised we had been had again. The hidden 7% VAT charge that was written on the menu in size 0.01 font. Bloody furious. We could have eaten at that other place for that. Whatever it was called…

We walked along the beach towards the main strip of bars and market stalls. The beach is much longer and way more touristy than in Kata. It is full of locals advertising excursions around Patong and market stalls trying to drag you in by shouting the words ‘Yes’ and ‘Welcome’ in your face as you walk past. I mean it is impossible to go anywhere and not have the word ‘Massage’ bellowed in your ear by ten woman at a time, but here it is crazy. Soph was missing the icing sugar sand of our beach until she spotted another baby animal. Yesterday was the frog, today was a little dog. A tiny puppy that she couldn’t help but scream at. Pretty sure it’s owners were worried she was about to run off with it. She loved Patong after that.

The bay is busy with cruise liners delivering excited holiday goers to their bit of Thai paradise. Little do they know there is a cleaner, quieter and altogether nicer destination just 20 minutes down the road. For the normal holiday goer Patong has it all. A huge sandy beach, tons of restaurants and bars, hundreds of shops. But for a couple of backpackers traveling the world, it is very much like any other European hot spot. Like a Magaluf or a Malia perhaps. For a couple already over spending their budget, Patong is a place to visit rather than somewhere to call base.

We headed back to Kata to spend the last remaining hours of sunshine on the beach. We stayed to watch the Sun drop below the horizon before heading out for dinner. We decided to continue our pattern of mixing things up by adventuring a little further up the strip to find a restaurant. But our journey was interrupted by yet another baby animal none of us could ignore.

This baby elephant was hugging this little girl in a way it had clearly been trained to since the moment it was born. It seemed rather unhappy. The elephants in Chiang Mai seemed much more comfortable. Living in the jungle, eating tons of bananas with numerous generations of their family. Sure they had to put up with humans paying to sit on their heads but you can’t have it all. We felt sorry for this baby elephant. But not enough to knock out its owner and ride it back to the jungle.

Dinner was pretty poor to be honest. It was alright but not great. It did have a surprise 20% off all food discount though, which obviously made up for the hidden VAT charge from our lunch bill. So that was nice. A couple of cocktails for Soph and I, as well as a coke for the still poorly Sam, and we are back at our apartment. It’s been another good day to day and hopefully tomorrow will be too.

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