After a good nights sleep we got up for the smorgasbord breakfast which was part of our accommodation package and the plan for the day was to be simple, relaxing and just about getting the feel of our hotel after the epic travel day we had had the day before. Breakfast was amazing so much to choose from they cater for all different nationalities so there is a myriad of selections of food from all over the world to choose from. First point of call was a custom made omelette, the chefs are so skilled at making them takes no time at all and looks so simple. Everyone ordering an omelette watches intently trying to glen the secret of the perfect omelette. Thailand has the sweetest pineapple you have ever tasted I just can’t get enough of it and the cut it in beautiful fans I bee-lined for that as the second course.

I find it so interesting watching what other people eat for breaky, the Chinese load up on noodles rice & crispy bacon, the Japanese love soup, the French pick at a croissant with extra strong coffee, the Italians smoke and the Americans have everything and make sure everyone else knows they are from America.  Seriously is it necessary to tell the world you are from god dam America at the top of your voice first thing in the morning? Hello… no one cares; we are on holidays and stop being so rude!

After breakfast and a shower we got our cameras out and decided to go for a wander over the beach to take our first pictures of Patong beach. For those that know us photography is Robbie and my hobby and we are always looking for something new and exciting to take pictures of.  We don’t compete against each other but love to spy something before the other and get the first shot, it’s fun and a game for us.

Unfortunately that plan was short lived as my camera had decided to die so I was gutted.  I had had a bit of trouble with it at Christmas but Robbie had managed to fix it & it had been ok since and it was working fine before we left home, but this time it wasn’t cooperating at all it was completing stone cold dead.

For us a holiday is about taking pictures and capturing the feel of a place and the culture.  So now our agenda for the day was to see if we could get the camera fixed and if not, we would have to buy a new one. We found a camera store in Jungceylon, the International Shopping & Leisure centre in Patong.  It was only a short walk away and the girl is the store told us that there was a canon repair centre at Central Festival shopping mall in Phuket, so next dilemma was how to get there, that was not a short walk away about 15kms so we had to negotiate a taxi to take us there. Of course Robbie had to do the haggle with the taxi spruiker to take us there. Everyone wants your business but want to take you to a myriad of places on the way for their kickbacks which is ok if you have the  time but we weren’t interested.

Robbie negotiated a price with the spruiker and said ‘no stops’ and then he summonsed someone else over to take us. He was a very polite young fellow and told us it was his first job as a taxi driver and he was really proud that he had the job and was also a bell boy at a hotel. The work ethic in Thailand is amazing.  He really was unfamiliar with the shopping centre so he took us there but wasn’t a great deal of help, however the amazing thing was he dropped us at the right entrance & all the photographic stores were together. We found the canon store very easily but then also found out that in fact all repairs are sent to Bangkok which wasn’t an option for us so we had no choice but to buy a new camera.

We had the dilemma of whether to buy a good one or a cheapie just to get me though the holidays so in and out of all the stores we went comparing prices and they were all exactly the same, no room for negotiation in this shopping centre the price is the price it’s just a matter of deciding who you want to buy from. So we choose the camera we wanted a canon G12 it’s a semi SLR not overly expensive but not cheap either and the same price as we would pay in Australia so we bought from the girl with the best English and product knowledge as our Thai was very limited.

Armed with a brand new camera it was time to hitch a ride back to Patong, no shortage of taxi’s and was a set price so haggling was limited also. We got dropped off around the corner from our hotel and we went and had some yummy Thai food for lunch. Only cost us about $9 for two which included the drinks, bargain.

We had chosen a nice authentic Thai restaurant that had access to a small back street and we enjoyed watching all the activity in the street as we ate. Street hawkers, suit sellers and massage girls – there is always something exciting to watch, or take a photo of.  Even the condiments on the table made a lovely photo.

A beautiful small little Thai girl came along, seriously pretty little thing all dolled up to the nines with an arm full of orchid leis which her mission being to get one around a tourist neck for a small donation.  My little social worker hat was on and I am thinking “where is this kids mum?”, she would have been no more than five and she was laying on the charm big time.  I had to remind myself this was Thailand and it’s a different world to where we come from but still I was disturbed.  The little girl was doing her best sales pitch and I was saying no thanks to her and her English was very good I might add and then she shooshed me and pulled a mobile phone out of her pocket holding her finger up to keep me quiet while she spoke Thai to the person on the other end. This kid was a serious little entrepreneur and when she got off the phone Robbie asked if he could take her photo which of course was yes and then the hand went out for payment, everything is for sale.She headed over to the Indian restaurant where another couple where sitting there smoking a fruity concoction from a water pipe and she snuggled up to them planting kisses and hugs on them and got a double sale. She then moved on, I saw that child many times and she knew the streets very well in my mind I was telling myself that her mum was close by keeping an eye on her and this was just a means to an end for the family (but I don’t really think so.)

After this I needed to put the new camera on to give it a good charge and just I felt like lazing around the hotel for awhile so Robbie went to have a massage and to take some more pictures, his get up and go is amazing he never wants to miss a single minute of anything when we go away! When he got back we decided to have a swim and a drink in the pool bar but only problem was the pool was freezing, so we swam around trying to get warm and sat in the spar jets for a while.  It felt like the water had been chilled through ice and it would have been about 34 with very high humidity but the pool felt like about 10 degrees so you  would think two people from North Queensland would be able to handle it but I had to wimp out I am afraid.

We didn’t end up having a drink and choose to head out and get some dinner and drinks somewhere warmer than the pool and to take some photos. We wandered around the beach for awhile and back on to the beach road to check out all the food street venders. All the food looked yummy and inexpensive but we didn’t have any, preferring to sit down and relax in a restaurant. After dinner we wandered up to Bangla Road  for our first look this trip and it was still as crazy as last time we visited 2 ½ years ago.

Along Bangla all the go go shows, ping pong shows, bars and entertainment happens. It really has to been seen to be believed. There is a real mardi gras atmosphere and the crowds are made up from singles, groups of girls on holiday, boys on holiday, oldies from cruise boats & families pushing prams with toddlers in tow, fully burqa’d Muslim women and their husbands and the Goddens. Some of the sights aren’t really ideal for kids but it doesn’t seem to faze anyone except old social workers from Townsville, LOL.  There is so much to see and people upon people trying to convince you to visit their establishment.

The lady boys are amazing they are gorgeous, prettier than some of the girls and love nothing better to show you their latest gender reconstruction surgery. No Adams apples here, I was busy sucking on the straw of my Mai Tai when a lady boy lifted her dress to reveal a newly made vagina. Seriously, I have seen everything now and she was so very proud, all this on the street no seedy little night clubs all out in the open. This place seems to have no limits.

You can have your picture taken with a monkey, iguana, a man in a President Clinton mask or a fully sequined lady boy all for a few Thai baht. Hill tribe women peddle their wares to the families, the drinkers in the bars, the seething crowd was made up of many cultures and were illuminated by the mass of neon signs.  Neon and LED lights are the go here, everything possible flashes and strobes.  Right in the middle of all music and excitement the crowds are snapping photos to attempt to capture the moment but actually, how can you capture a picture of ‘insanity’ the only way to truly understand is to see it with your own two eyes.  Hopefully some of our pictures will give you and idea. But it also needs to be said that amidst this decadent and indulgent place there is also a sense of peace and safeness and not a police officer in sight.