There are plently of hotels here. If you want to pay a lot try the Novotel. Sand Inn is quiet, cheap, and has in-room Internet access (just for me though).

Last day in Phuket

We got up late and had breakfast at World Foods, south of Sand Inn on the 200-Year Road. I had instant coffee and an excellent Western-style Thai Omelet for three times as much as I would have paid in a less touristy restaurant.

Today was a shopping day. Mike picked up some disposable Thai luggage (average life: six months, but it looks good) and I bought some prizes to bring back to America. We walked around town and bargained dramatically until early afternoon. Then it was time to eat so we took a cab to Baan Rim Pa, the excellent Thai restaurant by the beach. We ordered set menu #3, which included a variety of yummy Thai dishes such as chicken wrapped in banana leaf and duck with peanut curry sauce. The bill was 2035 baht ($48.50) including a rare 10% service charge.

After lunch we walked back along the beach. Two small U.S. Navy supply ships were moored in the harbor, Patong Beach being a favorite R&R stop what with the cool refreshing drinks offered all around town. February was still high season and European sunbathers packed the beaches end to end. The weather remained delightful with a cool breeze balancing the hot sun all day.

We rested and cleaned up before dinner. Since we had such a late lunch we relaxed outside at the Rock Hard Café and had a few drinks for happy hour as we watched the people walk by and the drivers load the Pepsi truck, sorting all the empty bottles dexterously into several blue plastic cartons. Around 9:30 we decided to have for our final dinner a repeat of Aloha Villa so Mike picked up some wine at the supermarket while I went to Sand Inn and left a note in case our friends from the dive boat came looking for us. The expensive gifts I had bought for friends back home had depleted my baht reserve for I went to the ATM and picked up some more cash for dinner and paying the hotel bill tomorrow. It’s always amusing to see my bank balance in baht.

Once again we had delicious lobster Thermidor and barbecued tiger prawns. The wine service improved dramatically although a new, older waiter was now the guardian of the holy corkscrew. He refused to open the red wine until the bucket had arrived for the white and then he opened both, precariously pulling the cork out of the red wine lying almost flat in the wicker basket. For a change we got some fried beef with plum sauce as an appetizer and some yummy green curry chicken. The bill was about 1800 baht ($43) including tax, excluding the two bottles of wine.

As a rule I don’t eat dessert but Mike wanted to go for Bud’s ice cream. It was closed 15 minutes early so we went for Baskin-Robbins instead and I had just one small sundae for 80 baht ($2). I put in an obligatory visit to the Rock and then went back to Sand Inn to catch up with FlyerTalk and email. I got to sleep after one.


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