Get a job, phuket about it!

From Pattaya, Blake, Lizzy and I boarded an overnight bus to Phuket.  Over fourteen hours later, we got off the bus in Phuket town with ALL our luggage and tried to find a way to get across the island to Patong, where we had booked a hotel.  Most of the normal taxis were too small to fit all our stuff so we had to hire an entire songthaew (covered pickup trucks with benches in the back, also referred to as a baht bus) to take us up over the mountains in the center of the island and to the golden beaches on the other side.  Our hotel, Rico's, was right off the main drag of Patong, a more tame version of Walking St. in Pattaya which allowed for a couple fun nights out.

Kata and Karon Beaches

We originally planned to stay just 3 nights before heading up to Bangkok and get real jobs.  However, we had made a list of things we wanted to accomplish while there such as learn to surf, scuba dive, get tan and just relax.  Not surprisingly, we ticked all those things off our list, but in doing so, four days turned to ten and our bank accounts went from healthy to looking pretty empty.

Kata

Since Blake had already done everything on our adventure list, he took to being my and Lizzy's teacher.  First on the list was surfing!  Now there is nothing wrong with Patong Beach, but the waves did not meet Blake's expectation so we asked around for the best waves which lead us to Kata beach, where we would end up spending most of our afternoons on the island.  After getting ripped off the first day by taking a taxi to Kata, we opted to rent motos for the next few days from Tom, a friendly moto guy along the beach.

No wonder I didn't want to leave...

At Kata, we walked along the beach until we found a surfboard rental place, there we made friends with the worker and got a foam board to learn with.
Before I knew we would be surfing that day, I had chosen a strapless swimsuit so, as you can imagine, that was my biggest obsticle of the day.  After a couple hours, Lizzy and I had both stood up of the board on small waves, and in my case, flashed the entire beach a few too many times.  From there, we spent most days moto-ing to Kata and alternating between surfing a longboard, laying out and tossing a frisbee with each other and a few new friends.

Our biggest goal was to go scuba diving.  This also proved to be the most difficult.  Since we didn't have the biggest budgets we asked around at a lot of places and decided on All 4 Dive.  Unfortunately, we thought we could catch a better deal by heading directly to Koh Phi Phi on the morning ferry, going on an afternoon dive and getting back to the pier in time to catch the afternoon ferry.  We didn't quite budget our time right, and after arriving realized it wouldn't work.  Realizing we were on one of the most beautiful, if not most touristy, islands in the Andaman Sea, we set off to find some snorkel gear as to not waste the entire day.  We got some flippers and masks and headed towards the far end of the marina.  A couple hours later we got back on the ferry and headed back to Phuket.  I was so content on this ride.  I was tired from snorkeling so I layed out on the front of the boat and let the rocking from the waves and late afternoon sun lull me to sleep as I watched flying fish skid across the surface of the sea.

Koh Phi Phi

Scubaa scub-ah-ah

A couple days later we were back on a boat, this time on an actual scuba excursion.  Blake was scheduled to go with other certified divers while Lizzy and I were on a discovery dive with just us and our two instructors.  I was so nervous that I felt sick to my stomach so it didn't help that we were about to experience our worst weather while on the island.  The overcast day turned to rain and the waves began to grow along with the force of the monsoon, so much so that I was actually happy to get off of the boat and into the water for my first ever dive!  It took a bit to get used to, but I ended up loving it and I hated when we had to get out of the warm water back on to the rainy and rocking boat.

After a quick snack, we made it to the next location and suited back up for our second dive.  This one was better than the last and I got to see tons of fish, a morrey eel, swam right over an octopus and her baby and see all the pretty coral.  Unfortunately, the rough weather and cloudy skies meant lower visibility, but it was still amazing...until we got back on the boat.  Lunch was great but as we set back out over the rough waves, I grew seasick and saw my lunch for the second time :(
The boat labored back to shore but the nearly three hour ride back was hell for my head and shaky stomach.

Overall, I had a great time on Phuket, got a decent enough tan and wanted anything other to head to Bangkok, but we had it in our heads that we wanted to work in Bangkok.  So after 10 amazing days, we had to kiss the golden beaches and turquoise water goodbye and head into the smoggy and overcrowded capital.