Phuket, Thailand

We flew to Phuket from Chiang Mai but made sure we took a car taxi rather than a tuk-tuk to avoid being soaked on the plane. Billy and I also took our super soaker guns since we weren't sure whether Phuket was going to celebrate like they did in Chiang Mai. As it turns out Phuket does celebrate but with a few twists. The people at the airport all laughed at us but we wanted to be prepared for battle.

There had been a bike rally that ended on the 11th so they decided to start the New Year festivities on the 12th rather than the 13th in Phuket. This worked out for us because when we arrived on the 13th it meant the last day of water fights. Phuket celebrations were like Mardi Gras with water. Lots of young people and the festivities went on ALL night.

Day 1:

When we arrived into Phuket our mini-bus driver was supposed to drop us off at our hotel. I am not sure if he was lazy, confused, or frustrated by the crowded roads but he dropped us off at the beginning of an alley and told us to walk to the end where our hotel was. We couldn't find our hotel and were beginning to get frustrated because as we stood there with our luggage we kept getting doused and shot at. A nice Scottish man and his family tried to help us. They offered us shelter in their store while Billy looked for help and a map. Once we found a map we realized the driver dropped us off on the wrong side of town and a taxi trip to our hotel was out of the question.

The nice Scottish man offered us rides with our luggage on his moto to our hotel. Billy went first with his suitcase and backpack while I stayed with his family. He then came back for me and my luggage. He was nice enough to go around town to try and avoid being completely soaked. It sort of worked because we arrived only half-way watered down. He explained on the ride that the city gives free water and ice for two days to the people. This explains why the water was freezing.

We quickly changed into our fast drying clothing and set out with our guns to find fun. We quickly realized that in Phuket they didn't play nice like Chiang Mai so as much as we tried to fight back it was a loosing battle.

We walked the major streets for a few hours then sought refuge in a restaurant for dinner. Unlike Chiang Mai they didn't stop at 7pm.

Day 2:

The second day, much to our excitement, the water had stopped. We walked along the beach, in town, and just spent the day strolling. Phuket was a much nicer city to be in without all of the water and ruckus but still a bit to much for both of us. Billy knew Patong was the most popular beach but it wasn'tquite what he had hopped. We tried twice to return to the massage parlor where that the Scottish man and his wife own but both times they weren't there. We had wanted to say thank you again and get a massage by his wife.

That evening we bought tickets to see a Moi Thai boxing match. We arrived about 40 minutes early since the seating was first come first serve but we had to listen to a pre-recorded msg about the fight for 40 minutes. Even three days later we sing it in our sleep. The fight had six major matches but three pre-matches. The warm up matches were between boys as young as 7 and as old as 13. Two of the fights were determined by the judges after three rounds. We were hoping that this was a "real fight" since you hear many are staged for tourists. At first we thought they were but when the women's match took place we realized it may have been fixed for betting. Either way we saw lots of skill.

The most advertised fight was between a Sweed and French man but the most exciting was between two locals. The crowd really got into it and the three hours of fighting and nine fights, time quickly passed. After the fight Billy and I headed to the main drag to people watch. There were sights and sounds not G-rated enough to write about but thankfully we had been warned so we had a few good laughs.

The following morning we had to wake at 6:30 to catch the bus and boat to Ao Nang.