Sun, swims and shopping

Due to Breakfast only being served until 10:00 am we dragged our jet lagged bodies out of the air-conditioned room and through the muggy heat to lap up the resort like atmosphere of the buffet offerings. At least 200 people were getting into it, however due to the size of the facilities and the amount of choices available there were no queues (we do miss them terribly) and it was quite pleasant sitting in the breeze of the fan watching various people settle into position around the pool. Realizing that this was a good option to start the day with, that’s what we did as well for a few hours.
Mid afternoon saw us hit the shops in what we thought was the main drag (as we drove in through here yesterday). It’s dirty, noisy, smelly and confusing – at least the traffic is only one way in this area (an outcome of the tsunami inquiries). Everything also seemed a little quiet (maybe too quiet!) as in some sections we were the only tourists walking the stalls and some of the keepers seemed a bit surprised to see us. Walking the streets here, you face a barrage of locals trying to push their wares onto you. It’s annoying and sometimes confronting. Scams abound – we are starting to get attuned to them – sometimes it feels like you need a suit of armour to keep them at bay. Unfortunately we left all of those in the tower of London, so we need to resort to saying “no”, sometimes “no thanks” and avoiding sarcastic remarks like “if I wanted a taxi I would have taken up one the 10 offers I had in the last 20 meters – but thanks anyway so much for the offer old chap”. They actually have T-shits printed saying “No to massages and Tuk Tuks” combined with astutely placed swear words. Not polite but very funny.
After being insulted, chased down the street and sworn at for not buying a wallet he did not want , Dad decided retreat was the best option and left the others to the shopping spree and stomped back home, discovering another way avoid being hassled. Walk by yourself, don’t slow down, don’t make eye contact – it’s then pretty obvious that it would be best not to offer a manicure to this person. Perhaps the T-Shirt is a better option after all.
For dinner we headed down the main beach road of Patong Beach. We probably should have come here in the first place. Whilst the noise and the pressure is the same, at least it’s not as smelly (and the stall holders don’t swear at you). Possibly it’s more pricy though as this is where everyone that was missing earlier was hanging out. It’s very colourful at night - and noisy too as there are lots of TukTuks with Doof Doof. Which, like any vehicle in the world with doof doof; the only people who really appreciate them are their owners.
The girls got to have really cool drinks whilst we all had a great meal of Tai curries etc. Not that much cheaper than home, however the flavours were fantastic and we were all very happy with our choices. Braving the strip again to headed back to the hotel though the chaos ( incl. doof doof) stopping occasionally to get base prices from which to bargain with tomorrow.