First Day In Phuket

Beach outside our hotel

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Our Phuket experience got off to a slow start. We knew our flight was scheduled to land a little before midnight and the airport was an hour from our hotel. The price we were quoted for a ride to the hotel seemed reasonable, but that was before we realized that we were being herded into a large but overly packed van with guests staying in other hotels and towns. I was wondering why the driver never asked what hotel we were staying at, and the reason was that he was driving us to a central tourist office, where we could tell some better English speakers of our intended destination. The workers in the office, after trying to sell some tours for our stay, put together an itinerary for the driver and then back into the van we went. We were the 4th stop, and got to our hotel sometime before 2 am.

Breakfast buffet near one of the hotel pools

The Hilton Arcadia is a huge resort. It was obvious just from the drive to the front desk, which was deep within the property itself. We checked in and were pleased to see we were upgraded to a corner room with an ocean view on the 9th floor. The room was very nice, and we went to bed in the wee hours of the morning.

The next morning we headed to the hotel breakfast buffet, which was included with our package. It also had a nice sampling of foods from around the world, and was probably a step above the buffet in Chiang Mai. The restaurant had outdoor seating right by the pool, which was nice, but after sleeping in a bit the day was already hot and humid and we had a table in the sun. We ended up switching seats after the sweat was dripping faster than the fat from my third plate of bacon (just kidding, Dr. Sussman).

View from our hotel room balcony, as the rain storm was coming through

We headed back to the room to change, psyched for our beach day ahead. As soon as we had changed into bathing suits, the skies opened up and it started pouring.

We had planned Phuket as the third leg of our Thailand trip in part because the rainy season ends in November, so the later we arrived the better chance we had at nice weather. Unfortunately it seemed we were still getting the tail end of the season.

A couple hours later the rain let up enough that we felt ready to venture out and head to the convenience store for supplies. I asked a staff member, which way to head into "town" and he started laughing hysterically at my choice of words. He informed us that there was a 7-11 down the road. I guess we booked a hotel a little ways from the main downtown spots.

With umbrellas in hand, we made it down the street (after taking a shuttle from the front desk to the street. Again, very large property). We bought some extra bottled waters (tap water is not drinkable in Thailand) and snacks and other supplies for the stay.

Beach near the hotel, after the rain stopped

The sun finally came out by the time we made it back to the room, so we headed to the beach, which was located on the back end of the property, across a different road. The beach was lovely, and the water was as warm as ocean water can be.

Later in the evening we decided to head to Patong Beach, which is the party central area of Phuket, where lots of the youngin hip tourists stay. We grabbed some street food dinner, walked around the outdoor markets, and walked through Bangla Street. There were enough naughty things going on Bangla Street to make Amsterdam blush with shame, so we headed out as fast as we could. Back at the hotel there was live music playing in the hotel lounge, but we were sleepy and with an early wake up planned for the next day, headed to bed.

Bangla Street at Patong Beach