moving south

Well we got a luxury liner for a bus to Chiang Mai - but Esther will remember it as the bus from Hell. She became carsick within the 1st half hour. It was the longest 3 hours of her life. Terry practiced surfing though, as she stood up the whole trip holding Esthers head with cold cloths on the twisty, winding road. Esther was fine after the bus stopped, but we had a drugged out girl (from so much gravol) the rest of the day. Lucky for her the 2 flights we had to take didn't bother her too much.
We arrived in Phuket around 8:30 pm and took a taxi to the west side of the island to the famous "Patong". A true beach resort. After checking into our musty smelling guest house, we went walking to check out the town. The water is only 5 min walk from our accommodation. We wet our feet and were amazed how warm the water was, and so refreshing. The rest of the town comes alive at night it would appear. Lots of "discos", lots of travel agencies, food shops, souvenir shops, bars, and yet still a dominance of Thai culture. Interesting blend. Already we observed lots of foreigners, many sound European. We searched on our tour for better accommodations.

Woke early and were on the beach by 9 am Friday. Interesting system of renting your chair and umbrella for the day ($3) each. And the shopping you can do without leaving your chair - Wow! Even a pedicure. The peddlars are by at least every 10 minutes with something. Theres a mix of all kinds here, and topless seems to be ok. Esther has a new stretch planned for us tomorrow!!!!

By noon Norrie and Terry had taken a stroll and checked out a hotel steps from the beach, that looked very elaborate, but what the heck... It actually turned out to be our home for the next 3 days - for $60/night split between 3 of us. This one tops anything we've seen so far, makes up for roosters, floor mats, leaking sinks, cold showers, frogs, spiders, ..... This has a KING bed and the most luxurious cot I've ever seen, a huge bathroom, with glass wall on one side of the shower, a counter a mile long when you first walk in, with a sink also. The room is divided into 3 rooms and sitting area by sliding glass Japanese style doors. And we have a small patio. All tile floors, its gorgeous, and to top it off we are only steps from the beach!!! We all are enjoying our newfound comfort.
Today on the beach, among the 3000 people sitting our there, beside us sat a Canadian!! Been teaching in Japan 10 years, on vacation from teaching.
Its supper time now - don't know what adventures we'll finish our day with. Will try find a tour or island trip for tomorrow - we all got a little much sun today!