When I was living in Thailand, I knew that I wanted to go and see Pukhet (as it was for me on my to-do list). I took on a friday night a flight to Phuket for the long weekend (it was the anniversary of the king, so this is why we had a day off, which was perfect for discovering another part of Thailand).
After a quick flight and trying to find our Airbnb (even with Grab, who is the same as Uber), we made a little detour, but we did it!!!
The next day, we woke up (I was with one of my colleagues at school), and we decided to have a nice breakfast in a coffee named Lafayette (and their pastries were so good). We headed to Kamala bay where we spent a lot of time in the water (playing with the waves, it was so cool…because in Pattaya the water is just so dirty ). Then we decided to book a tour for the next day to Jame’s Bond Island. We rented a motorbike for the afternoon (with no insurance. I don’t’ know why but this is the way it is working in Phuket). So we went to Phuket old town (and trying to find our way there was not easy, especially when you can’t put any GPS on your moto bike…), but I did it!!!! We stop in a vegan restaurant (where I had a nice salad with quinoa…it was perfect, because I don’t’ eat this kind of food since I came here…). Then we walked around the town. The town was long before flip-flops, an island of tin mines and cash hungry merchants. Attracting entrepreneurs from the Arabian Peninsula, China, India, and Portugal, Phuket town was a colorful blend of cultural influences. Today, it stands as a testament to the island’s history. Wander down streets lined with Sino-Portuguese architecture housing arty coffee shops, eccentric galléries, bright textiles stores, and fantastic restaurants, and peek down alleyways to incense cloaked Chinese Taoist shrines.
Century-old houses are being restored, which gives a nice touch (but to be honest it is just a town with a lot of traffic and always noise!!!!).
We were there during the vegetarian festival. We saw so many little restaurants on the road, and sometimes, you just had no idea what they were cooking, but for sure, everyone was there!!!! A lot of people were wearing white and doing all kinds of celebrations outside!!! The festival (who takes place during the nine days of the ninth lunar month of the Chinese calendar) celebrates the beginning of Taoist Lent when devout Chinese abstain from meat, dairy, and alcohol. Most obvious to outsiders are the fast-paced daily processions winding through town with floats of ornately dressed children, Thai transgender, and cross-dressers), armies of flag-bearing, color-coordinated young people, and most noticeably men and women engaged in outrageous acts of stomach-churning self-mortification. Shop owners along Phuket Town’s central streets set up altars in front of their shopfronts offering nine tiny cups of tea, intense, fruit, firecrackers, candles, and flowers to the nine emperor god invoked by the festival.
We went back almost under the rain and stopped on Patong Beach, where the sunset was amazing!!!!!
