Friday afternoon

We headed back to Kata Beach with Hamish. Thankfully we did, as it has basically been raining since. We had been super lucky with the weather prior to yesterday; so no complaints, it just means we have to think a bit more carefully about what we’re doing.

Friday evening we had dinner in the Kata Beach “Walking Street” market. This busy little area boasts so many different options for food we did 3 laps before we decided on what we’d have!

Hamish – roast potato with cheese and corn

Belinda – roti with coconut and cheese (I think this was a dessert I accidentally had for my dinner)

Rod – fried seafood

We also got a few gyoza, but Hamish wanted to leave room for his mango sticky rice and Rod wasn’t feeling great – in fact “queasy” was the word he used, potentially from his deep-fried seafood and/or passionfruit juice combo. It didn’t stop him saying “yes please” to a Singha!

Saturday

Saturday saw some proper wet-season weather arrive, with constant rain, occasionally getting heavier. This day was already planned with some indoor activities, so we weren’t fazed. Rod and I had our Thai massages: I think Rod summed it up perfectly: “How can someone so small cause so much pain?” It was indeed painful enough for me not to get lost in my own thoughts during the 30 minutes, as all I could concentrate on was the next muscle/sore spot this tiny Thai lady was going to find.

Hamish went off to his pasta cooking class – the next paragraph is from him.

Hello, Hamish here!  I want to talk about the cooking class I had. I had the option of pasta, pizza, waffles or pancakes – I chose the pasta because I like pasta. I had to choose between a bolognaise and a carbonara sauce – I chose carbonara, because I like it. So I sat down in the restaurant on a chair and I was given a glass of water. I was ready to start. Luckily for me, the foods were already cut up! I don’t like cutting up foods because I cut myself once cutting up an onion and it really hurt! So in this cooking class, I just had to follow the instructions that the instructor gave me, such as:

Pour the pasta in here (the pot)

Shove the other ingredients in a frying pan

After about 10 minutes I was done and I got to eat it. It was delicious and I ate most of it, but I couldn’t eat it all, so the rest was delivered to our room. Mum and Dad ate the remainder of it and they loved it too. In fact, they can’t wait until I make it at home!

The afternoon saw us saunter back into town for a few unnecessary items, which is when Hamish got his curled ice-cream (he made a TikTok and I have posted it to my socials). A swim, then dinner basically saw our day out.

Sunday (today)

The rain has continued so we looked up “things to do in Phuket when it’s raining” – there are a few, but  we settled on a trip to the Jungceylon Shopping Centre. We got a ‘Grab’ (SEAsian version of Uber) there which was interesting, as we were able to suss out Karon Beach and the very large and bustling Patong Beach. Both places are way busier than Kata Beach and we are pleased we are not staying there.

The shopping centre is massive. It’s loaded with tourists (us included) and many western shops. No matter, the boys leave me in peace for an hour and I look around a combo supermarket/department store. It is called The Big C and is bit like ASDA in the UK.

I buy some souvenirs and other bits and pieces and meet Rod and Hamish for lunch. We have ramen which is delicious. I may need to dedicate an entire blog to food, but the ramen is tame in comparison to some of the spicy fare we have been eating.

We’re all back in the hotel waiting for a break in the weather before we go for a walk down to the beach – Rod tells me it’s high tide. I don’t know why this is important, but he’s obviously keen to venture down. Hamish says he’s got a headache, so we leave him with some Panadol to do its thing and wander down to the beach.

It’s not great weather, but it’s not raining. It seems most tourists (and some chickens) in KB have the same idea, as there’s lots of people around. We walk from one end of the beach to the other and back again; it’s a very pleasant way to spend the afternoon. Up the busier end of KB, we find some waterfront cafes which we aim to visit before the week is up. We have a quick swim and then relax with a couple of super-sized Changs on the beach for a total of $5 each.

Tomorrow we have a half day tour booked from 0830. Perhaps more beach time if the weather holds. We have entrusted our dirty clothes to a local laundry service (booked through the resort) – clothes washed and dried for $5 per kg, as the resort has no guest laundry. It’s tricky weather to dry things, so basically everything goes in the dryer…hope our clothes don’t shrink! Or it’ll be back to the markets for a bunch of stuff to get us back to Aus!