Phuket Day 2

Breakfast at the resort is quite a banquet with so many options it was hard to decide. I stuck with fruit and croissants while Tina went for the bacon and eggs and some yum cha. They had boiled eggs so Charlie ate two with some toast and sausage. Not a bad effort for her. After breakfast Tina was keen for a massage which was 300 Baht ($10) for on hour in a little shelter on the beach, very relaxing. Charlie and I went swimming which she absolutely loved, lots if jumping into the deep water then bobbing up for air. She is very close to being able to keep herself afloat. After Tina had finished I went for a swim at the beach which has water so clear and blue and a perfect temperature. I definitely understand the appeal of Phuket. I don't think I can remember swimming at a nicer beach.

We then decided to head out for lunch so we walked to the next beach (Kata) and could only find very touristy restaurants so we negotiated a taxi to take us to Phuket town where we hoped to find some better food. The taxis are much more expensive here but we managed to get him down from 600 Baht one way to 600 Baht return and he would wait for us while we spent a couple of hours in Phuket town. It was also a very nice air conditioned car with seatbelts and the driver spoke good English so lots of plusses there. We asked him to take us somewhere that the locals eat which he was happy to do. He took us to Rimtang@Chalong which was much fancier than we expected but the prices were good and we were the only westerners there. We ordered Pad Thai, curry crab noodles, spring rolls and a steamed egg dish for Charlie. I got a mango smoothies and it was unbelievable! A definite highlight only lessened by having to share it with Charlie as she isn't the best at sharing! The Pad Thai was wonderful and not too sweet with a strong tamarind base. The crab noodles were rice vermicelli with a divine spicy coconut cream yellow curry sauce. Both of Charlie's dishes were also great. After lunch it was 1:30 and later than we realised so we asked to the driver to take us back to the resort for Charlie's afternoon nap. He was a great driver and told us a lot about the local ways and how the restaurants pay the drivers kickbacks etc. We liked him so we asked for his number for tomorrow.