Catshanghai

This blog is a collection of articles about the things I am passionate about: technology, music, films and life in Shanghai. It is not a vessel for travel writing, but I have just come back from a five day holiday in Phuket and I figure that this part of Thailand is vaguely within the Shanghai sphere of influence. After all, it as a popular winter getaway and lots of my colleagues are still in Phuket enjoying their Christmas holiday.

Phuket is an island in southern Thailand. Most holiday makers head down to the beach resorts at Patong, Karon or Kata. They were hit badly by the tsunami two years ago, but the only evidence of this destruction you can see are the DVDs, t-shirts and evacuation notices bearing testimony.

Patong is not so much a resort, but a big city of foreign holiday makers by the sea. We first saw it late at night on the way to our hotel. It was teaming with western and Indian tourists enjoying hundreds and hundreds of bars, hotels, restaurants, coffee-houses, shops and markets stalls. It reminded me of the bustling, tacky Spanish holiday resorts I went to as a child. Don’t go to Patong expecting to find Thai Buddhist temples or forest monks collecting alms. Do come here if you want to find an international beach resort full of sunshine, tuk-tuks, fat foreigners, cheaply priced food, beer and tat.

We stayed at Karon, which is a much smaller resort just fifteen minutes south of Patong. Karon is the smaller, brasher version of its neighbour. Arriving here, I struggled to recognise what planet I had arrived on. It is a total paradox. On one hand, the resort is full of noisy bars frequented by bloated, middle aged western men being entertained by young, flirtatious Thai girls of questionable moral virtue. On the other hand, there are families and couples obliviously enjoying the warm weather, bars, restaurants and market stalls. Nighttime Karon is almost as seedy as a red light district, but it is also a peaceful and good natured place. There are no undertones of drugs and violence. Still, I clutched my wife’s hand even tighter scared of the unwanted attention I might receive as we walked past the prying eyes of yet another girlie bar.

We stayed at the Little Mermaid Guest House for the first night. It is a basic backpacker’s place, but it is only 125 RMB a night and the rooms are clean. Our room backed onto some green space, which seemed to block out all the party noise. The Little Mermaid did not have any rooms for the rest of our stay so we went upmarket and booked a penthouse room at the elegant Karon Beach Inn. We were won over by their delicious Danish pastries. The room they provided was spacious and very comfortable, right up in the heavens away from all the noise of the late night bars. 400 RMB a night is quite a lot for a guest house in southern Thailand and I was happy to pay it as insurance for a good night’s sleep. How wrong we were, because the windows in our room were rattling until next door’s bar kicked out its last punters at 3am. For the remaining two nights, we adopted a new tactic to also stay out until the early hours of the morning. Remind me in the future not to be misled by first daytime impressions when it comes to booking a hotel room in Jekyll and Hyde party towns.

Phuket’s holiday resorts are noisy and tacky, but they have a lot going for them. The beaches are beautiful. The air and the water are clear blue. Everyday is warm and sunny, which is a big deal when you are escaping from the dark winter and pollution that is Shanghai. Just being here seems to restore you and makes you feel it is good to be alive, even if you only had a few hours sleep the night before. Now it is the cooler, dry season but that just means it is thirty degrees with a pleasant sea breeze.

Other highlights included taking the speed boat to Phi-Phi Ley Island and snorkelling among the tropical fish. That island seems to be a little more remote and has a younger, hippy vibe than the Phuket resorts. We were both impressed and would definitely stay here in future, rather than in Phuket. The next day, we spent some time in the forest at Phuket’s nature reserve, canoeing and elephant trekking. I tried to imagine life in Shanghai where the skyscrapers and taxis were replaced with jungles and elephants. I think it would definitely be an improvement to start the day in the morning by going to the bus stop on an elephant.

Thai food can be fantastic. We had a couple of ordinary meals, but I prefer Thai food over Chinese. The local cuisine is heavily oriented towards fresh fish and seafood. It is often a little spicy but it often tastes fresh and clean without being too oily. There are many international restaurants, but I think it’s a shame to come to Thailand and not eat some of the local dishes.

We spent our first day in Bangkok, traipsing around the Grand Palace and Wat Pho. These were amazing temples, glittering with gold and colours. Phuket is so different. It is a seaside tourist construct and has no obvious signs of traditional Thai culture. The market stalls did sell fisherman’s trousers and Thai jewellery, but they mostly dealt in counterfeit Dolce Gabanna t-shirts and caps. It was more like a commercial hybrid of Southend, Marbella and Xiang Yang Market. On the final night, we stumbled acrss a new shopping mall in Patong called Jungceylon that offered a glimpse of local crafts. Jenny’s eyes lit up as she found some genuine Thai silk scarves and lamp shades. The biggest shop in the mall is Carrefour, which is about as Thai as bangers and mash. Ultimately, Jungceylon is to Patong what Xintiandi is to Shanghai. They are both global shopping emporiums with a touch of something local.

Now we are back in Shanghai missing Thailand’s sunshine, but thoroughly rejuvinated and ready to tackle anything that is thrown at us.

PS. I almost forgot to mention that one of the best things about being in Thailand over Christmas was that the festivities were in the background. There were Thai girls wearing Santa Claus hats, but not too many bad Jingle Bell renditions.

Links:
phuket.com