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Phuket town our next stop was a hub for tin mining in the 18th century by the Chinese, this can be seen by the Chinese shrines and temples that dot the old towns roads. The Europeans later join the tin trade in the 20th century, influencing the Portuguese colonial architecture of the main buildings in old town. Our hotel was one of these buildings on the main street with wooden shutters and decorative columns.
To reach the old town we took a pick up truck taxi to the pier on Koh Yao Noi island with other locals, who paid considerably less for the journey. Luckily we then got the last two seats left on the speedboat back to Phuket, but had to sit at the tip of the boat with life jackets on for safety incase we were thrown out by the choppy ride. After all this fuss we just needed a taxi from the Phuket port to Phuket Town. Nicole had never felt her 'teacher' side coming out more than watching a collective of 5 adult male taxi drivers walk around like headless chickens incapable of organising taxis for the small bundle of tourists who disembarked the speed boat. We had to ask each of those adults until finally the last man got us a taxi. The hilarious thing is the amount of money these taxi drivers are raking in, the taxis are new 4x4s not people carriers! They are referred to as the "Taxi Mafia" here, due to there extortionate rates and angry behaviour towards public transport. The local buses here don't have an official timetables as they don't want to upset the taxi drivers!!
Staying in the Old Street was the best place to be in Phuket Town. We had a lovey time exploring the streets and buildings in 34 degree heat and hibernating in a local bakery for lunch and a Thai Chinese fusion restaurant in the evening to cool down. Although most of the restaurants and shops were closed for the New Year.
On the Sunday evening the street outside our hotel was transformed into a colourful market, lined with stalls selling food and drinks along with the usual tourist trash, probably manufactured in China. Its a shame more locally made items aren't being sold on the stalls, as we are sure this would appeal to more of the tourists. However it was the food we came for, so we wandered the stalls, snacking on different sweets and savoury snacks, it was both a cheap, tasty and we'll spent evening.
Before boarding our 8am fight to Malaysia we checked into a quiet plush hotel right next to the airport. With taxis being so expensive we hopped onto a rough looking government bus to the station, that was tricky to find with the lack of signage due to that "Taxi Mafia" lot! The hotel was lovely but our morning lift to the airport at 6:00 was fast asleep on the hotel sofa and quiet unresponsive to the extreme jangling of our keys. Luckily we could just walk round with our bags instead, we hope he had a good sleep.
Thailand wasn't a country we had a huge passion for visiting it was just there and easy to see from Cambodia. Plus everyone raves about Thailand so it must be good. After visiting a range of Asian countries from the modern and pricey streets of Japan to the poor communities of Cambodia, you being to compare countries. Thailand has moved up in the Asian world over the past few years, it is no longer a backpackers paradise of cheap food and authentic cultural experiences. The country thrives on its tourism and its beginning to cut out those low budget travellers who started it all off. The accomodation is of a low standard with every room we have stopped at not cleaned properly as well as a lack of professionalism, which both Vietnam and Cambodia excelled at. The activities provided are overpriced and often fake, with fake tribes and zoos in which you can have your photo taken with drugged up tiger posing all day. We have found it hard to find the real culture of Thailand, it seems hidden from the tourists crowds and replaced with a sparklier version, unlike the hard shocks of culture from every other country we have travelled through. We've only experienced snippets on our Sukhothai bike tour and the cooking class in Chiang Mai. It maybe that with Thailand being our 6th Asian country to explore it is at an unfair advantage. We have enjoyed all the tours, meeting elephants up close and personal, learning how to cook Thai food and later serving it to actual customers! As well as the exploration of temples and rice fields on our bike tour and learning so much about the Thai history. We have most certainly enjoyed relaxing by beautiful beaches and stopping on a beautiful island. But its time to see our last Asian country on the list and say good bye to Thailand.
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