Phuket - Day 3

Day 3

Day three in Phuket started with breakfast in downtown Karon and a drive to check out Kamala Beach. This turned out to be more difficult that you'd assume. See, Thailand is a third world country and Phuket has dozens of beaches. Those two factors combine to create a situation where road signs are infrequent, inaccurate, and, sometimes, just totally lacking. Essentially what you need to do is get a general idea where the beach should be and then just head that direction. We ended up roaming some really narrow, residential streets in Kalama before finally stumbling upon the beach.

At this point I'm going to skip describing the random beaches and just say this: they are ALL incredible. I've seen beaches in the Greek Islands, Mexico, Florida, etc etc and none of them could even be mentioned in the same breath as the beaches of Phuket. The water is crystal clear and totally free of debris or seaweed or anything. The waves range from still water in some bays to nice, rolling breakers on others. The sand is super fine grain and, like the water, is absolutely spotless. For about $2 you can get a chair with an umbrella and basically enjoy life.

After a quick swim and some time lounging on the beach I commented that it looked like it might rain. About 2 minutes later it was a downpour. We managed to find a beach restaurant just in time and watched the rain roll in from the comfort of a covered patio. It rained for about 45 minutes then it let up to a fine mist. We decided it was time to make a break for it and rolled out in search of more waterfalls in the center of the island.

Notice I didn't say it had stopped raining. It was misting, which when you're riding along mountain hills at 50mph is enough to get you pretty soaked. I feel silly admitting this, but at one point, I was actually cold. I didn't think cold was possible in Thailand. After about 20 minutes of riding the rain completely stopped, the sun returned, and all was well with the world.

Finding the waterfalls proved to be impossible. We kept checking maps, following road signs, and coming to dead ends. All was not lost as we got to see some pretty nice countryside and any time spent riding the motorbikes around is fun anyway. After a few hours of searching we headed back to the hotel for a shower to prepare for the nights festivities: Muai Thai Boxing.

We decided to take a "tuk tuk" taxi to the boxing stadium because we were under the impression that it was in Phuket Town and we had no idea how to find it. Tuk tuks almost warrant a entire blog but I'll sum them up as best I can. In Bangkok they have three wheeled taxis where the front on a motorcycle and the customers ride in the back in a crudely fashioned cab. The name "tuk tuk" refers to the fact that they have 3 wheels. Well, in Phuket they keep the name but change design. Here they basically have mini Safari buses. It is like a tiny conversion van where the back is open air. I'll include a picture so you know what I am trying to describe.

Tuk tuks, along with massage parlors and suit tailors, are the most annoying thing in Phuket. Everywhere you go in Patong these jerks constantly come up going, "Tuk tuk?" over and over. You can't go 10 feet without seeing a tuk tuk yet they feel the need to constantly ask if you're searching for one. Despite their annoyance they are pretty cool looking and I thought it would be fun to ride in one so we hiked downtown and went to where they usually hang out in Karon.

We somehow got screwed royally and ended up in a normal van. Also, the boxing stadium is in Patong, not Phuket City, and seeing how we go to Patong twice or three times a day we easily could have ridden there ourselves, especially if we weren't going to get an authentic tuk tuk ride. We arrived at Bangla Boxing Stadium, bought "VIP" tickets in the 2nd row for about $50, and we to have some dinner before the action started. We settled on an Irish pub, ate a nice meal, played a game of darts, and headed back.

Funny side story. I'm not a watch wearer and I don't carry my Korean cell phone around with me so Ben's watch is our only source of telling time. Today, on the 5th day, we realized that his watch has been an hour early this whole time. It just shows how relaxed our vacation has been that we've been living an hour a head of time without ever encountering a scenario where it mattered.

So we arrived at the stadium at what we thought was 9 p.m., which is when the fights were supposed to start. Of course, knowing what you now know, we were an hour early. We sat listening to the propaganda message that was playing over the loud speakers outside over and over and over. It swear to God it was like torture. They should try that at Guatanamo.

The actual Thai boxing was awesome. The first fight was a bit awkward though. It was two kids, who were maybe 8 or 9, weighing 60 lbs, kicking and punching each other. The lady behind me said it best when she commented, "I just want to give him a hug." We were sitting next to a really friendly Aussie who just before the fight commented "100 on red?" and I insta-accepted. 100 Thai baht is about $3 but enough to keep it fun. We alternated picking fighters throughout the night and I ended up winning 100B after losing 300B on the main event.

The fights were incredibly action packed. After the kids were done the next fight ended in a first round KO. Actually, most of the fights ended in knockouts. There were some really brutal fights, including one where a white guy got a huge cut above his eye. People at the scorer's table were shielding themselves with paper to avoid getting splattered. In the aftermath we found a drop of blood on our program so, rest assured, our VIP seats put us in the middle of the action. The best fight of the night was a title fight for some obscure belt. This old asshole was in the ring doing all this showboating and showmanship before the fight. I'm all for doing the traditional Thai rituals before the fight but this guy was actually taunting his opponent and playing to the crowd. He also did a cartwheel during the fight, totally for show. He reminded me of Apollo Creed in Rocky 3 when he knew he couldn't win but he was more concerned with putting on a show. Well, this guy ended about the same way Apollo did. Late in the first round his opponent landed a vicious left hand and he went down like a sack of potatoes. I went apeshit. "Apollo" was really out of it and he couldn't walk out of the ring under his own power. He was just stumbling around like he was blackout drunk with this "What the hell just happened?" look on his face. Justice was served.

Take it easy, but take it.