Asia 2016

Day 20, February 7

Krabi - Phuket

Asia 2016

Itinerary

At 11 a.m. a small minibus came to pick us up at the hotel, collecting people around the city. Then it took us to something like a tourist bus station, from where we went to Phuket in the same kind of small minibus. It takes about 3 hours to get from Krabi to Phuket City, and the time flew by quickly. I dozed off and listened to music. On the outskirts of Phuket, for some reason, we were transferred to another small minibus and taken only to the bus station on the edge of the city (at least 5 kilometers from the center). People grumbled a little, saying, how can this be Phuket, but the extremely unpleasant driver played dumb and insisted that this was already Phuket. It seemed pointless to argue with him. So everyone took their backpacks and went their separate ways. At the bus station we asked how to get to the city.

It gave the impression that the whole bus station works for taxi drivers, because all the ladies in the ticket windows, the security guards, and the drivers of other buses were all saying in unison that we had to take a taxi, period, and that there were supposedly no buses. It was hard to believe. Only one honest man suggested that there was something like pink shared minibuses - they go to Phuket city center. And indeed, we did find that minibus after all and got in happily. They didn’t manage to outsmart us!

Pink minibus. We’re the first passengers.

We finally made it to Phuket City itself. It was already around 4 o’clock, and we had to get a moped — without one we wouldn’t get to the hotels we had booked, as they were all located out in the middle of nowhere.

At first we were almost about to take a moped, but then the owners started demanding a passport. Our fake one didn’t work, and they stubbornly wanted a real passport. We had to отказаться. We kept walking down the street and saw the next rental place — there the man was more accommodating. He didn’t even bat an eye when he saw us hand him the fake one. That’s how we became the owners of a rather old, but charming little moped. We made it to our first hotel on Phuket Island.

Our little room. This is where we were greeted by towel dogs

The hotel is located in a strange place — it would seem Phuket, such a tourist island — but it felt as if the local population sees tourists here very rarely. The food in the local “cafes” did not impress us much, so we went to the nearest supermarket, where we found a KFC chain — and ate a plate of rice with a piece of chicken. And on the way back home we also bought two pancakes.