Old friends, bubbles on Bali Hai and Bangla Road

Catching up with old friends after a few months apart is always great but particularly so when they have come all the way from Australia and Ghana to visit you!

Bubbles on Bali Hai – still Peter travelling from Ghana, to come

Boat Lagoon in Phuket was the perfect venue to meet up with our friends as it is quite near to the airport and the resort provides a range of accommodation where weary travellers can sleep off their jet lag and have long showers before taking off on the boat.

As our guests were arriving at different times of the day it was decided that a two night stay would be the way to go. We were able to have bubbles on Bali Hai, drinks by the pool, a swim and a sleep for our guests and for us, a gourmet lunch at one of the restaurants with Marilyn and Richard, friends from the Indonesian rally.

A gormet lunch in Les Diables Restaurant

Richard and Marilyn outside their temporary home while they do major work on Charon

Jonathan was feeling decidedly full by the time it came to dessert(s)!

The next day we hired a people mover and our first task was to drive to Ao Chalong to obtain clearance from Customs, Passport Control, Quarantine and the Harbour Master.

The 800 metre pier at the end of which is the Customs/Immigration building

We had intended to sail there on our way to Boat Lagoon but as described in previous blogs, we ended up very short of time and had to head straight for the marina to rendezvous with our guests.

Refreshments required after the long hike along the pier

With the formalities over, fortified with a cold drink, Jonathan drove us all around Phuket and we bought data for our mobile devices, had a poke about Old Phuket Town and stopped for lunch at a pleasant restaurant on Kamala Beach.

Our lovely (but slow) provider of data. She did give us this new to us fruit which was delicious

As the sun began to sink we did some shopping and walked along the main beach in Phuket, Patong Beach.

Wedding photos on the beach – Western style!

In contrast to our rather quiet life on Bali Hai, Patong, and particularly the infamous Bangla Walking Street, is full of noise and colour, goggle eyed tourists, bars, restaurants, more bars, more restaurants, street food stalls, “lady boys” , touts for live sex shows and large screens with every football code and multiple other sports showing, competing with each other for precedence.

Good to see but great to leave behind. It had been a long day and we were sailing away the next day so after a seafood dinner we made our way back to the marina again.