Oh Phuket (Pronounced poo-ket)

April 30, 2007-May 7, 2007

Over the May holiday (yet another full week when China's economy shuts down for a little R&R--the country has three of these "Golden" weeks, one in February, May and October), Derek and I visited Phuket.

Phuket is Thailand's largest, most populous and most visited island. Or as Derek and I like to call it: the land of wonderful seafood, lady boys, the best snorkeling we have seen and where board shorts are in the minority.

Located in the Andaman Sea, we highly recommend it as a vacation spot.

First stop: The Blue Canyon Country Club, where Derek was able to golf in sweltering heat.









We dined on delicious seafood.

Check out this 2.2 kilogram (around 4.5 lb) lobster.





Soaked up the gorgeous views...



And then we hit the most awful horrendous show: Phantasea. A performance that was highly touted as Las Vegas-esque, fell well short of our expectations. Overall, the show was as corny as its name. $120 well spent (thumbs down).



Funny thing was, everyone else thought the show was superfantastical. The day after our Phantasea experience, the tour manager in our hotel inquired as to whether we had seen the highly acclaimed performance. He gushed about Phantasea and informed me he had seen it 5 times.

But then I thought, he promotes tours, he's just full of it.

Fast forward two hours, we run into an Australian couple who were on their third trip to Phuket. They gave us amazing local restaurant recommendations and strongly encouraged us to see Phantasea if we had the chance. WHAT?



So I decided to look for other people's opinions about the show. And by other people, I mean other people who think like me. Thank goodness for Martine's blog entry:

"The closest you get to Disney in Thailand. Perhaps Disney on LSD. So overblown and ridiculous that you can't help but smile. Basically a theme park where the attractions are energetic Thai cover bands in peculiar costumes (only theme that unites the groups' look seems to be 'utter bonkers')....Phantasea is not the kind of thing we normally do. We had been heavily misled by Lonely Planet that we were in for a cirque du soleil-esque night of acrobatic, trapeze mayhem....Sadly there was just not enough of this kind of entertainment for us, too much flouncy about and traditional dance....We declined the offer of the mouse mat, DVD, soundtrack and t-shirt on the way out."

See, it's just so ridiculous that if you are planning on going to Phuket, we would recommend that you see Phantasea. The irony.

(Below) More Phantasea pictures:





So then it was back out on the course, but not in the fairway.





Backwards form:



Much better:



And let's give props to the loving wife who followed her husband through 18 holes in 90 degree/90% humidity weather-then pouring rain-was only going to walk 9 holes with him but then he realized that the ninth hole didn't wind back to the clubhouse-and because she didn't have a required collared shirt, she had to wear a collared black zip-up jacket in the scorching heat while hiding from the golf marshal who spoke to her sternly in Thai. I'm lucky Derek didn't make me carry his bag.

After a hard day on the course, we hit the beach. The ocean, a beer and a good book...what could be better?



I'll tell you what's better...a baby elephant in your hotel lobby! Hello Babar.







(Below) Our view:



(Below) The city of Phuket...



Island hopping. We visited the Phi Phi Islands, located 60 minutes by boat from Phuket. Classic white sandy beaches, surrounded by impressive limestone cliffs and sunlit crystal water, Phi Phi consists of two islands, Phi Phi Don and Phi Phi Ley.

Unfortunately, 4,000 people on the Phi Phi islands perished in the 2004 Tsunami--the majority of whom were tourists.









(Below) Maya Bay, where "The Beach" was filmed. Or as they now call it: DiCaprio Bay (unfortunately, no DiCaprio in sight).













(Below) Our last night in paradise...