Phuket

I love swimming!

After two nights on Similan we headed south Thursday late afternoon to Phuket, a new destination for all of us in Thailand. Phuket is rated as Thailand's most important and prestigious tourist destination. We headed for Phuket Town: remember Phuket is in fact an island, connected to the mainland by the Sarasin Bridge and covers quite a large area so getting about from area to area requires transportation, and as we discovered Phuket Town and most of the other built up areas on the island are congested. The Metropole Hotel couldn't find us a room, fortunately, and we ended up staying at Yuwadee Resort which we found by following signposts on the road. What a gem! It is on the Chao Fa (East) road from Phuket Town to Rawai, on the left side a few kilometres after Tesco Lotus.

Some flowers from Yuwadee Resort

Now I cannot rate Yuwadee Resort  highly enough and in fact if you had asked me what my ideal accommodation would have been in Phuket then this would have been my answer. Over the last couple of years there has been an influx of these types of resorts all over Thailand: high quality, modern, facilities rich and well managed. They are targetted at the burgeoning home market of  Thai travellers. We rented a beautiful wooden cottage and paid 1200 THB including breakfast. It was first class with a swimming pool, wifi, helpful staff, child friendly, restaurant, everything you could want. Off the beaten track and far from the main drag ( thankfully!) but neither an issue for us as we have transportation. Thank God the Metropole sent us packing as we would have paid a lot more and not gotten nearly as much.

Luna & Benny enjoy Yuwadee's swimming pool

Why does Luna like this store?!

A friendly welcome sign on the road in to Patong!

Sadly the weather was very wet and the rain hardly let up during our stay. We managed a drive to Patong.......a friend described it as a "shithole", I'd say that is about right! It had a good shopping mall, Jungceylon, and Luna was particularly keen on the above eponymous shop. She also bought some elephant carvings in the local artefacts stalls in the basement and was pleased with the price.

More of what's on offer in Patong - I didn't know Jack Daniels was a rum!

But Patong simply is the worst of Thai tourism. Fortunately we only saw the day time version of it and I guess by night it is very lively. Lots of Russian visitors once more and also lots from the Middle East too.

Patong Beach & Street Life

The international nature of tourism in Patong

We drove along the south western coast late afternoon and that was a really pleasant drive and quite beautiful setting. I imagine Phuket is hugely overdevelopped and that its character has changed quite markedly over the years.

I must say, weather notwithstanding, I enjoyed our trip and would certainly consider a return trip and would definitely stay at the Yuwadee Resort if I go back to Phuket.

Ko Miang, Similian Islands

An uneventful, near 900 km drive south brought us to Thap Lamu in Phangna Province, the staging post for the Similan Islands, situated in the Andaman Sea, the Thai part of the Indian Ocean. En route we had an overnight stop somewhere between Chumphon and Surat Thani. The noise and vibrations made it feel as if we were sleeping in the middle of the highway but it served to split up the drive and allow a short rest and a stretch.

Thap Lamu is in the Khao Lak tourist area, a collection of resorts and beaches to the north of Phuket. Lots of European tourists in evidence. At the Ko Similan National Park HQ we managed to secure some accommodation on Ko Miang, island number 4 of 9, and the park official organised transportation for us in a daytrippers boat, a very flash and powerful super speed boat taking what appeared to be a party of mainly Russian visitors out for sun, snorkelling and adventure. We joined in for a bit of snorkelling, hundreds of beautiful fish, and also had lunch on the island as part of the deal. For once I was pleased with the prices, not especially cheap but what I expected. I think the fact that the islands are under the Department of National Park's (DNP) management means foreign visitors will not be taken to the cleaners in the way that happens often in these parts.

Surf boy

Ko Miang is really beautiful, the only blight being the daily arrival of boats crammed with visitors who stop off here for lunch. Between about 11:00 and 15:00h these boats disgorge about 500 people for a bit of lunch and swimming. Outside of these times this island is very quiet indeed. The accommodation is basic but it is perfectly adequate and there is a restaurant as well, churning out rather bland, but perfectly edible, food. Once more prices are what I expected.

Family

Luna reckons the beach is the best she's ever been to in Thailand. It is immaculately clean and the sea water is blue and clear teeming with tropical fish. It is really is picture postcard stuff. How nice to stop here for a few days and have a bit of a rest. Benedict is in his element too and seems to be having a really good time.

A few more snaps......

Way to go .........stuff the environment!

Much as I  enjoyed our short trip I was glad to get back to the mainland. In the end the food was too bland! Basically it is prepared a long time before it is eaten so the beautiful fresh fish tastes tired and flat because it has been cooked three hours before it is served. Also the accommodation was just a bit too basic with no electricity during the day time hours and little real protection against the mosquitoes. Don't get me wrong; we enjoyed ourselves immensely. I think two days was about our limit!

A hermit crab

A passing catamaran

Benedict & His Paddling Pool

Tokyo Update

Note: I wrote this yesterday as I flew back to Thailad from Tokyo. I had no idea about the tragic events unfolding in north east Honshu. 24 hours later I'll say this: in most other parts of the world such an earthquake would have likely killed hundreds of thousands of people.

What can I tell you about Tokyo and Japan? Well I don't think three/four days was enough. My trip was to pick up my telescope and naturally I wanted to play with my repaired toy and as you know my primary focus is birds. So you'll need to head to botab if you want to see the results and learn more about Tokyo's birds.

As a younger traveller I wanted to meet people and talk. In my late teens and early twenties France was the place as I was virtually fluent in the language. In Japan in my fifties I have no Japanese and in truth I am not really looking to solve the world's problems with bar-room bull or to impress people with my ideas and patter! So my contact with people was very functional and very limited. But let me just say life is quite different here or should I qualify that and say its outward vestiges are different?

Tokyo must be largest conurbation in the world. As many as 23 million people live in the greater Tokyo area depending on what criteria you use to limit that area. I didn't get a sense of “seething masses huddled together” or of a pressure cooker. I liked the gentle pace of life. Tokyo must be unique among cities in that it is not dominated by road traffic. There are plenty of cars, buses, trucks, lorries, and motorbikes. But I could hear myself think in Tokyo and could even hear the birds singing during the day, including the croaking of crows. Life is not dominated by the sound of straining engines, breaks, horns, sirens or the smell and smoke of engines and queues of traffic clogging up the roads. I don't believe London's congestion charge has managed to create a similar state of affairs. I think a lot of motorists there have decided to pay the charge and get on with it.

Fortunately you are unlikely to be struck by a car in Tokyo. However you may be struck by a cyclist! Pavements and cycleways are often adjacent to each other and some cyclists appear to have little regard for us walkers. In fairness though there are very few walkers. Most people appear to cycle short distances. So you cycle from home to the station where there are huge bike parks. It appears you don't have to worry about your bike being stolen as very few bikes appear to be secured in any way. Pushbikes appear to be very much the order of the day for short trips.

In general the streets are clean, virtually litter and graffiti free. There is next to no street crime in Japan so not only can you leave your bike unlocked you can wander around anywhere without a care in the world. There are vending machines everywhere selling all manner of goods: another benefit of crime free streets.

Finally the public transportation system is awe inspiring. You can get around on the railway and metro lines without too much difficulty: it is ruthlessly efficient, fast, punctual and well maintained and clean. I noticed something quite unusual on one line: on weekdays between 07:30 and 09:00h the final carriage is exclusively for the use of women. I am sure there is a reason why, perhaps because of groping which I understand is quite a problem, but I am wondering about how they could ever introduce something like this on the London underground.

Let me digress! One late afternoon while visiting The Meiji Shrine in Tokyo I had to answer the call of nature and I needed to find a WC - not a real problem as toilets are abundant and like everything else they are clean and usable. The shrine is in a huge park. It was very cold to say the least and I was fearful about catching the cold from waving my bum about. It was my good fortune to find a WC which had the ultimate luxury: a heated seat. I sat there for 20 minutes of joy! O luxury of luxuries: how utterly thoughtful!Back on topic. Now Tokyo is not Singapore or a a gated community. This is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. As I head home the question that is foremost in my mind is: how have the Japanese managed to achieve this happy state of affairs?  

I am mightily relieved to be back home in Thailand with Luna & Beneedict.

Tokyo

Well I wasn't expecting snow and sleet and conditions that made me feel as if I had woken in Glasgow! It was grey, wet and windy, what we call "dreich" in Glasgow, and freezing on arrival here in Japan. And I can't tell you the last time I wore four layers of clothing and needed socks! Anyhow I am used to this type of weather, historically, but remember in Thailand the temperature is in excess of 100 ℃ and getting hotter and at night it rarely dips below 20℃. On arrival it must have been about 3℃. As I left the aircraft I felt my ears tingle with the cold momentarily.

Not much to tell you about today as I was exhausted and cold and the priority was to collect my telescope in downtown Tokyo and sort out a couple of parts, which I did easily. Clearing customs and immigration at Narita Airport was very fast and in my case included a peremptory bag search. At immigration technology is used very smartly; there is a little screen aiding the process and it is programmed to use the passport holder's language. So it reverted to Thai for the Thais and English for me. Index finger prints are taken as well as photographs as part of this process but it worked very well and I cleared in less than ten minutes. Straight onto a very rapid train transfer downtown

Public transportation is impressive. I travelled downtown on the Keisei Skyliner to Nippori at a cost of 2,400¥, ( about 900 ฿ or £18). Clean and comfortable and very helpful staff, the train left on the dot and arrived on the dot. Real hi-tech, fast and smooth. Changing lines on arrival at Nippori was easy thanks to helpful staff. Automation is the order of the day. The platform barriers are easy to use with luggage unlike the "rottweilers" on the London Underground. All in all the underground and railway struck me as very efficient, clean and easy to use. It doesn't seem to be quite as noisy and frenetic as its London or New York counterparts.

The people around me seemed very somber quietly going about their business. Just an initial impression. Downtown Tokyo also seemed to be quiet too and easy going. I was struck by how people wait for the traffic lights to change before crossing the road - definitely not my style!  The roads were not clogged with cars and dominated by the sound of horns and engines. No congestion tax either. I get a sense that Tokyo is also quite low-rise perhaps due to seismic risks....there are towers but not like London or New York. Buildings also seems to be very modern. I do not know the extent of Second World War bombing but this may explain why.

I spent the morning sorting out my stuff and in the afternoon headed to the western suburbs of Tokyo to a neighbourhood known as Kasai where I had booked a room at Fifty's Resort through www.asiarooms.com. It is near Tokyo Disneyland and is also very near to Kasai Rinkai Koen, a bayside park recommended as a birdwatching location.  It didn't disappoint on a brief visit but a combination of freezing cold, wet feet and tiredness meant my first visit was less than an hour. It looks very promising. Fifty's Resort is perfect: a small, clean room with everything I need plus it is quiet and warm! And here they use lots of technology: check-in was done via a machine that  processes payments and gives out change and then issues a key! Plus they have wi-fi which meant I was able to chat with Luna. My mobile phone doesn't work and there do not appear to be an abundance of free internet hotspots in Tokyo. Thailand appears to be more wired-up or at least it seems to be easier to get online there.

I think I am going to enjoy my few days in Tokyo. So watch this space!