After wandering around the historic quarter of Phuket town, I decided to finally go to where all the excitement is – the beach! Having stayed at the cheaper option, I needed to take transportation to the beach area. This should be a short ride since everyone is going there, transportation should not be a problem. I took a vehicle that looks like a cross between a bus and a Philippine jeepney. This vehicle was huge, almost as big as small bus, but the seats line both sides ot the vehicle, so passengers sit facing each other, just like a jeepney.
The amusing thing was that there were small fans to cool the passengers during their journey. I’m not any stranger to thing kind of thing, since Philippine jeepneys can also have fans, albeit only for the driver. This one was for the passengers. Obviously, they know they foreigners will also be taking these vehicles and should make them comfortable. It took us a while before the vehicle finally started to leave but I guess just like almost any other Southeast Asian city or town, vehicles need to be almost full before they leave to make the trip worth it.
Finally, with our haul of foreigners and locals we were off but it wasn’t a continuous journey since the vehicle needs to stop every now and then to pick up passengers. What was supposed to be a short 15 minute ride, dragged to a 30 minute one. Anyway, it was fun to see the outskirts of Phuket too. There were a lot of condominiums and shopping malls for retirees. I guess it shows since the foreigners with me in the vehicle were quite elderly. What’s with the naming of the shoppings malls, the Big C? Names like that make me wary of going in.
After passing through some mountainous terrain, the wondrous view of the sea came into full view. Coming down from the mountains we can see the beach area together with the many developments. I got off where everyone else got off, and tried to get my bearings, I didn’t know where the beach was so I just kept on walking. The road was Thanon Ratuthit Songroipi, try saying that. It was like a scene from the city of Manila, since it has been a while since I saw electrical/speghetti wires above ground. Okay, Myanmar doesn’t coun’t since they hardly have electricity at all.
Walking along the streets it was shop after shop after shop. Or hotel after hotel after hotel, obviously I would not be able to find a cheap place to stay here, staying in Phuket town was the right choice for me.
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