Oh, Phuket!

I’m so sorry, please forgive me, I DO know it's pronounced FooKET, but why does the name STILL never stop being funny to me?

After a sleepy start (I guess we were both thinking “Phuket”…I HAVE TO STOP!) but a beautiful sail-in seen through my port-hole at 7am with rainforest hills, beaches below and the odd wooden fishing boat nearby, we got the 12pm shuttle into downtown Phuket.

Some of the beaches Phuket is famous for, Patong and Kamala, are still being straightened out after the tsunami. Indeed, the beach we went to had “Tsunami exit route” signs by the main road, as a precaution against the terrible scenes created by the tsunami ever repeating themselves. The signs made me quite sad, as if, had they been there beforehand, something could've been done to get more people away in time.

After a big iced coffee, and a stop in Mister Donuts (best donuts in Asia) to buy this huge Duraemon sippy-cup (LOVE the sippy-cups on a cruise ship. IMAGINE all the hot water I can take from the mess in this li'l baby!), we plumped for Kata beach, which wasn’t too far away on the South -West coast of Phuket, and apparently good for swimming, but less commercial than the most popular beach, Bang Thao.

Another fresh breeze in another, slightly different but equally bumpy tuk tuk (it’s the only way to travel in Thailand) another cool barefoot driver and 300BHT later, we got to Kata beach, which was a lovely, if cloudy sight. Check it out.

We swam in the cool pleasant water for around half an hour, and there were a few great sets that rolled in just for us, perfect ones for body-surfing. This is one of the few areas in which I can give Eric good coaching, I’m like a fish in water and I love playing with the waves although I’ve never tried actual surfing yet.

We were running out of time due to Eric’s 4pm rehearsal, so got dressed and stuck solidly to our plan to go get a massage (they’re cheap, and they’re good here in Thailand, just look for the foot with all these colourful reflexology points drawn on, and you know you’re on to a winner) Eric on his arms and hands because they get sore after a lot of playing and I don’t want my man to get carpel tunnel syndrome (it’s actually a very real worry to some musicians) and me on my feet and calves, typical dancer sore-spots.

We only had time for half an hour’s worth, and typically all treatments are an hour, but the women were very obliging. I had a weird possessive moment, when they took Eric away into a curtained-off mattressed area for his massage. Did they think Hand Massage meant something else? Why did he need to go behind a curtain!? I’d heard some stories, and my concern was further piqued when a young man went behind the curtain with a waitor’s pad, as if to take an order and write down what “sir” wanted!

I later found out the boy actually wanted to know if Eric wanted rice, with the food he’d ordered for us as a surprise for the journey home. Bless his heart!

The massage I got was harder than I’d anticipated, she had a stick which she poked into various points on my foot, sometimes making me wince, but I think it’s all good and beneficial. The food in the taxi on the ride back was awesome, spicy squid and lemongrass shrimp, WITH rice!