We're up! Had a well deserved sleep. It's 08h30 in Phuket. The folks in South Africa are still asleep since it is 03H30 back home in Cape Town.

We're off to breakfast and then hitting the streets. The weekend market is top of our list. Been to the local ATM last night and had no problems drawing money with my VISA Credit Card. I just need to get some smaller demoninations of the local currency. I'll ask the hotel reception on the way down to breakfast.

Today we woke up at about 10H30. Michele had a migraine. We had a light breakfast downstairs at the Bamboo Kitchen and Michele went back to bed after taking some migraine meds. I went out looking for some last goodies for the guys from Maftown. I also got some backup migraine meds from the Bamboo Mart, a little mini supermarket with a pharmacy, right next door to our hotel. The pharmacist was very helpfull. He looked-up the meds in his book after I told him the names. He also wrote down the dosage for me. Must say, the Thai people are very hospitable and patient.

I got back around 230pm and found Michele feeling a bit better. We decided to take a taxi to Kata Beach for lunch. After browsing the Kata Plaza we had lunch @ an American-like restuarant on Kata Beach. I can't recall the name. We both had burgers. Must say these guys make a tasty burger.

We strolled along Kata Beach under the trees to get to the main road but stopped halfway for a refresher at a little shop. Michele had Chocolate Iced Coffee. I decided to try the local Coconut Juice. It is served directly from a huge coconut. Not for me so I'll stick to my pineapple juice.

Along Kata main road we took a taxi back to Karon and headed straight back to the hotel for our air-conned room to escape the heat. Michele went to nap. She's still napping. I dediced to channel hop the tv and found a french movie with subtitles. I watched for while until now. No good tv channels. Unless you're from Europe. But what the hell, I'm not here for the tv.

Gonna get a pizza for supper. Las Magharitas around the corner is apparently thee pizza place in Karon so I'll go get a take-away from them. In fact I'm going now.

e'll it turns out Las Magaritas are promoting their mexican menu rather than pizzas. Anyway, a pizza would have been too much and when in Thailand do as the Thais do. Don't waste food. So I got some prawn tempura & garlic roll starters from Karon Cafe for supper and also shopped a jar of Thai coffee & biscuits from the Mart next door.

Since we stayed-in tonight a movie would have been fitting but the tv channels are useless and I did not buy any dvds to play on the mini mac in our room. (Will buy some tomorrow). But alas! Free internet! So I did some googling and found the movie "The Rite". And just streamed it from the internet. Wasn't a good copy and ended prematurely but hey, it was better than watching Aussie movies from the 60's on the hotel tv.

It's midnight now and Michele is sleeping already. I'm gonna surf the net. Slowly cos I'm not use to using Safari as a web browser and a mouse with buttons on the side. Urrh! But it's free and I'm not complaining. Just getting accustomed to it. Might as well since I'm considering an iPhone4 as my new mobile phone next month. Note I said considering. I'm a Microsoft Man and will always be. I sold my soul to the devil from Redmond years ago. And maybe the Nokia/Microsoft deal will produce the Windows Phone we all want it to be. Until then (that's the next 24 months, enough time for MS & Nokia to get themselves back in the mobile phone market) it's iPhone4 or Samsung Google Nexus S. The little Microsoft voice in my head is saying: Get the Nexus S so long.

Tomorrow night we attend the Phuket Fantasea Show. We got Gold Seats (that's pole position I'll have you know) including Buffet Dinner and transport to & fro.

We now have a few items on our to do list: I need to get a haircut from the barber shop opposite our hotel); we wanna go to Patong to see the Jungcelon Mall (apparently good guys go to heaven & bad guys go to Patong Beach); also see the temple up the road and have full course Thai meal somewhere. It's what you call going to Phuket with nothing but flights & hotel booked. Works for me!

Up at midday and then....... Michele went & got a tatoo on her ring finger. Looks very nice. A string of colorful flowers.

Lunch was at a small Indian resturant called The Kashmir. I had Mutton Tandoori. Michele had Chicken Jalfrazi. We also shared a Buttered Naan. Delicious Indian food which Wembley Road House back home can't beat!

On the way back to the hotel we found the "Big 1 Supermarket" and shopped some muchies. Michele also bought some face cream that cost a fortune back home. The rest of the afternoon was spent under the aircon in our hotel room watching the Aussie channel. I fell asleep. Michele woke me at 8pm and we decided it was time for a seafood supper. So went looking for a resturant down the road and choose Up Seafood on account of their variety but more importantly their coffee menu.

It was a difficult choice with number of dishes available. We eventually decided on......Wait for it......Wait for it...... Michele chose Seafood Royal Hawaain served in half a pineapple. I had Lobster Thermador. Absolutely Fucker Mucking "A". Also had some bread, coffees and pepsi. All for 200 ZAR. Food is great and cheap here. Right up my alley as I'm a "Kos Gangster"! --- That's food lover.

It's now 22h50 here and we best get to bed early cos tomorrow is our cultural tour with Dang, our English speaking taxi driver.

ust got back from 4 hr tour with Dang. Visited the Phuket Cobra Show where we saw many different snakes including the King Cobra, Python, etc. The snake handlers put on a show with 3 Thai Cobras and a huge King Cobra.

Next we were off to The Big C. A shopping centre where the locals shop. It's sort of an all-in-one store like Carrefour in Dubai and Makro in ZA. We did a bit of browsing and bought some toys for Adam. Just outside we found "Mister Doughnuts" and sat down for a quick bite.

Then it was off to the Big Buddah on the hill. A long but scenic drive up the winding road through the forest. A Majestic view and very humbling experience it is. The Big Buddah stands 45m tall. It's still under a bit of construction but almost complete. We took some pics and visited the local temple up there. Also lit some candles and donated a personally inscribed piece of marble for the construction.

On the way back we saw some of the local housing and old architecture along the road. I made some videos and took lots a pics thus far. Unfortunately I cannot upload it from the mini mac in our room. It's locked-down. I'll do it when we get home.

Just gonna relax for the rest of the day as we actually did not get to bed early as we planned. I searched for a live stream of the Real Madrid & Barcelona match and then watched it. Michele read. We both got to bed at 4am only and was up at 10am.

Tomorrow is our last day in Phuket. On Saturday we're off to Singapore early morning. Top of the list for tomorrow is a visit to the temple up the road. Not to see the temple but to sample that Mango & Sticky Rice dish sold outside the temple. I suppose we'll take it easy tomorrow and also pack-up.

Last blog from Phuket. Went looking for that Mango & Sticky rice @ the temple up the road but the vendors are only there over the weekend. Tough, so we had brunch @ our favorite coffee shop on Karon Beach.

Then we decided to spend the last of our local currency since they give you next to nothing if you want to exchange it for dollars. So we shopped some more goodies. Michele also went for an hour's foot massage and a fish spa. You put your feet in a tank and tiny little fish nibble on your feet for 10 mins. Since I had no intention of being eaten by fish I wondered around and bought me a watch. Haven't worn one in years though.

By now it was almost 7 pm so we decided to have dinner @ The Summer Inn (another favorite with waiter Amir).

An hour later is was time to pack-up. Lucky I bought that backpack cos we needed it. Yes we shopped a whole extra bag while we were here. A quick check on the hotel scale indicated we're not over-weight for our flight. Need an extra padlock though but will get one at the airport before we're off to Singapore where our stop-over is 12 hours. We'll be doing the Singapore City Tour (available @ no cost to travelers transiting Singapore Airport) and perhaps catch a movie @ the airport before leaving for Dubai and finally Cape Town.

We had a wonderful 8 days in Phuket and I would recommend Karon Beach as a base while here. It's in the middle of the other beaches and not far from the town. For good food consider The Karon Summer Inn. For good coffee and smoothies The Andaman Coffee Co is tops. Best shopping is at the Weekend Market in Phuket Town every Sat & Sun. A must see is the Big Buddha on the hill.

I best get to bed now. It's 1030 pm. Our wake-up call is at 530 am and our taxi arrives @ 7am. If possible I'll blog some more from Singapore.

It's midnight in Singapore. We just entered the boarding area for our flight to Dubai. 7.5 hours. I'm knackered and I'm gonna sleep all the way. Then it's another 2 hours in Dubai before we depart for home. We'll be home at about 5pm.