We knew we were in for a long day. The alarm went at 5;45 for a 6:30 pickup from the Spark Hotel in Ha Noi. In true Vietnam style this ended up more like 6:55, but we had sort of built that possibility into our calculations. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time for the flight to Kuala Lumpur, due to connect in plenty of time to our flight to Phuket. It was sad leaving Vietnam - we loved this place, the people, the food and the markets....
No dramas at Ha Noi airport - nice and clean and we were organised, apart from leaving one pointy Vietnamese hat in the waiting lounge. As Air Asia is a point to point airline, we had no transit and had to formally enter then leave Malaysia. The flight to KL was just under 3 hours, and we cleared immigration and customs quickly. The only hiccup was the loss of a second hat, one James had bought in Hoi An and really liked
We finally relented on the food stakes and dined on Big Macs, Quarter Pounders, Filet-o-fish and chips at the
airport. The outward bound processing took a little longer, but we eventually took our seats for the 3:30 KL to Phuket leg - our 7th flight in 15 days.
The plane arrived early and after getting some local currency (another conversion rate to get our head around) we boarded a mini van for the hour trip to Patong Beach. We had the obligatory stop along the way at the travel agent (they get you early to charge the highest possible prices for any connections or tours), but being the seasoned travellers we now were, told them everything was booked on line and we didn't need anything further. This of course was a blatant lie, but suited our purposes.
We were dropped of right at our hotel, down a dingy laneway that had us in a bit of a panic at our hotel choice when we had to enter by the side door. Our concerns were quickly dissipated, as the hotel was new and clean and the facilities were fine. It was now 6PM and our longest day of travel up until now was over.
We had a quick swim, sampled to local beer by the pool, saw a magnificent sunset and walked into Patong Beach township. Of all the locations in Phuket, Patong beach has the reputation of being the party town. Lots of music, lots of locals saying 'G'day mate' in broad Aussie accents and lots of pretty girls that may in fact have been boys...
Table tennis must be very popular in Patong as lots of people were asking us to attend ping pong shows. We passed.
We had a meal by the beach, complete with bitey things and flying cockroaches and strolled home. Some friendly rats popped out to say hello, but we dodged them and made it home safely. A late night swim and we collapsed into bed. Sarah was due to arrive the next day with travelling buddies and housemates Flick and Nohj to celebrate her 21st
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| Waiting for our 6:30 trip to the airport |
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| The view opposite the Sparks hotel in Ha Noi |
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| Some lighter moments on the plane |
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| Flight #7 |
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| The pool at Phuket |
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| A local beer after a long day |
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| The sunset |
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| A few minutes later |
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| A differeent camera setting |
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| Cooling off |
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