Phuket

From the craziness of Bangkok, I took a quick discount flight to Phuket, an island off the Malay Peninsula in the Andaman Sea. I made the town of Patong my home base and checked into the Casa Jip Guesthouse, a laid-back place run by an Italian named Nicola who used to live in LA where he was a chef for movie stars. There are pictures of Kim Basinger, Pamela Anderson, Al Pacino, David Hasselhoff, and others autographed to him adorning the walls.

I was here:

I got in too early that my room wasn’t ready yet, so I stowed my bag with Nicola and went directly to the beach.

Further down the beach road, there was a medical clinic that specialized in the sorts of services visitors to Phuket are likely to want.

Heading back toward the guesthouse, I wound up on Bangla Road, Phuket’s boulevard of decadence. It was sleepy at that hour of the morning, but some people start their drinking early.

I also saw a couple of bar girls rehearsing their circular trapeze act; doubtless come nightfall they will be differently attired.

I stopped off at a restaurant for breakfast and got talking to an Indian from Srinigar named Robert. He hooked me up with a speedboat tour of the Similar Islands, which I took the following day. By the time I got back to the Casa Jip, my room was waiting for me.