Phuket: Day 2 - Patong

Today started very slowly, we missed breakfast and someone didn't surface until after midday (hint: who was on stage last night?).

The afternoon session was filled in by sitting by the pool, swimming, sitting, swimming, a few beverages, swimming, etc.. Andy did go and have another massage.

We decided that for dinner we would get the courtesy bus into Patong (about a 15 minute drive North from Karon Beach). Patong was very disappointing. It is a dirty, westernised, commercial and touristy town. Such a pity because Phuket is such a beautiful island.

Anyhow, after experiencing Bangla Road, where we had a beer and watched the passing parade of touts, tourists and street vendors. Thailand must be very good at table tennis because every second person was offering us a chance to watch a ping pong show! We couldn't fit it in our busy schedule.

We found a massage joint recommended by one of Kristin's work colleagues, Cape Diem, where she had a pedicure and Andy had a foot massage (which is really a foot and leg massage and the last 10 minutes on back and shoulders).

We ate dinner next door at a restaurant  called East. We had spring rolls, red beef curry and a lab. All very tasty and spicy hot. Delicious! We then caught a taxi back to the hotel.

Early start tomorrow we are going on a boat trip to Phi Phi Island.

Cheers,

A & K

Phuket: Day 1

The trip from Athens to Phuket was very long and tiring, but we have arrived in heaven.

The last morning in Athens was extremely quiet. It was the religious celebration of The Assumption of Mary and it was like a public holiday, very few shops were open.

After our midday checkout, we knew it was checkout time because they cut the power to the room, we caught the airport bus to Athens airport.

The first leg was to Dubai. Only about 5 hours. Flying with Emirates is great. There is plenty of leg room in Economy and now you can access the Internet via wifi on your own device for about $1 for the whole flight - wonderful.

We had a 4 hour stopover in Dubai, and because of the length, Emirates gave us food vouchers. The next leg to Singapore was about 8 hours and it was a long time! Then another 3 hour stopover before catching the plane to Phuket (another 1.5 hours) and then a one hour transfer.  All up it took about 23 hours to arrive at our hotel, The Old Phuket Resort.

When we arrived at about 9:30 pm in our rooms we were more than ready for sleep.

Monday morning we rose and got to have a good look at our room and surroundings and it must be said Andy has found a little gem here. The room is very large, the bathroom a has a walk in shower and separate bath. But the standout feature is our balcony has its own direct access to the pool and a separate massage jets seats in the pool.

So after breakfast we spent several hours swimming and relaxing on the balcony. In the afternoon we both went for an Aromatherapy massage, very relaxing. Then a few more hours of swimming , relaxing and a few beverages.

When we did finally dragged ourselves away from the pool, we headed out to explore the town (village) of Karon. We stopped at several places for a drink and had snacks at a couple places and some tasty chicken & pork skewers from a street vendor.

We ended up at a bar close to our resort called Roadhouse. There was live music being played and the members of the audience would join in with the band (2 guitarists). Even some were seen to get up and sing! We had a few beers here (served to us by a couple of "ladyboys") and had an enjoyable time, but are paying for it this morning!

Cheers,

A & K.

Athens

It has been a very long day.

We arrived at the port of Pireas ( Athens) about 5 a.m.  with very little sleep under our belts. We then caught the metro (I think the first train running for the day) to central Athens, a 20 minute trip. The train was mainly full of people from the ferry but our carriage had some suspect locals as well ( A gypsy women who sat next to us and 3 young men who had a sizable dog each - no leads or muzzles!).

We emerged at the central Athens station of Monastiraki and had a magnificent view of the Acropolis. A short walk to our hotel (Astor) where we could check in our bags but wouldn't be able to get to our room until midday unfortunately.

So after sitting in the foyer to about 7ish we headed to the main square of Athens, Syngmata,  about a 2 minute walk away and had a light breakfast. Here we had to decide how to spend the morning.

Eventually we decided to catch the Hop On Hop Off bus and do a lap of the sites of Athens (90 minute tour) and then stay on it and get off at one or two of the sites. This is only second time we have done this - the other was in Budapest in 2009. Luckily we had done the big ticket items in 2009, like the Acropolis, Museum, Hadriam's Arch, Temple of Zeus, etc..

After the first lap we decided to get off at the 1896 Olympic Stadium, Panathenaic Stadium. A magnificent piece of architecture which was originally built in 566 BC. An audio guide explained lots of features of the stadium and it's history, also there was a small museum down the athletes/gladiators tunnel, originally a cave where the nymphs would dance nude for some obscure reason, unfortunately there weren't any today!

From the stadium we walked through the botanic gardens, which were looking in the need of a good soaking, and coming out at the Parliament House, passing through the metro  station which is a museum also. We decided to go to the hotel with fingers crossed, to see if we could get into our room, which surprisingly we could. From our room and balcony we have a view of The Parthenon.

Andy decided to go and watch the Collingwood  v Swans game at a local sports bar (actually used the Hop on/Hop off bus to get there) and let Kristin have a sleep. Although the result was disappointing, Andy had a few drinks and a light meal and chatted to some young Aussies boys while watching the footy.

When Andy returned, he was getting a bit weary, nothing to do with the beers, definitely  a lack of sleep! So Kristin let Andy have a nap and she went shopping.

We went out for dinner initially to the  Psirri area. We stopped at a little square and had a beer sample of 6 beers  and appetisers samples of 3 dips and  stuffed vine leaves at a very hip place called Beer Time. All was very good. We decided to walk around the Psirri area which had a few more cafes and bars and nearly every building had graffiti on it. Some of the graffiti looked great but most made the area look dirty and messy (in fact all of Athens is like this).

Luckily we had the appetisers, because later when we sat down to eat at a restaurant  near our hotel, we had a bit of a problem. After waiting close to half an hour for our meal ( it was 11 pm and the place was not busy), both our meals arrived cold. We told the waitress this and she said would fix it but having been up for the best part of 36 hours we decided not to eat the meals and left to come back to the hotel and sleep.

A very long day, Athens has some wonderful tourist sites but the city is very dirty and looking 3rd worldish not a vibrant European capital disappointingly. Anyhow only a stopover for us as we begin the journey back towards Australia tomorrow.

Cheers,
A & K