the continuing saga...

Day 3:  Up early and I'm down to a local joint for some Tom Yam and a fresh pineapple shake.  Meet up with Risto and we walk down Sukhumvit Road where, at night, the Lonely Hearts Club come in droves to the Patpong area to drink, be milked of their baht, and perchance get lucky with a person of indeterminate sex.  We see an unbelievably intricate Hindu temple and stop at a fruit vendor for some mangosteen, rambutan, lychee, mango and something that looks like a red bell pepper but tastes like an apple.  I eat a garlic sausage from a street vendor and get a thankfully quick bout of GI distress. We walk to the Chao Phraya River and are accosted the entire way with calls of, "Tuk-tuk?" and "Where you going?"  The Chao Phraya is big and muddy like a lot of rivers.  Back at the guesthouse Risto and I treat ourselves to the famous Thai massage, which involves a lot of contortions and cracking of joints.  It loosens me up nicely for the bus ride to Phuket.  At the bus station we hear the national anthem announced with a blast of static.  Everyone stands, including those on the buses.  Side-note: the Thai people are inordinately fond of their king who, it must be said, sounds like a genuinely good & intelligent man, and is a jazz musician and composer as well.  His picture is everywhere.  We get on the bus and ride into the Thai night.

Day 4:  We step off the bus in Phuket Town at eight in the morning and are immediately queried as to where we are going and if we should desire a tuk-tuk.  The answers are, to the latter: no, and to the former: we are going to the Phuket Grand Royal Hotel to meet with Risto's friend Martin who does a good bit of business in Phuket, renting motor-scooters, taking people SCUBA diving and helping run the Rumblefish Hostel.  He takes us to Kata Beach where I have heard of a hostel (Martin's place is full).  The owner of said hostel asks us for 1200b per room, up from the 600b listed on hostels.com.  I smile and say, "No, thank you."  I'm really getting the hang of that.  We drive back into Phuket Town where Martin turns us on to the On On Hotel, the place where Leo finds the map in "The Beach".  I'm intrigued, not because of its Hollywood associations but because it's the cheapest place in town.  For 180b how can you go wrong?  Answer: bedbugs.  It turns out that that big can of poison fog on the door frame is meant to be used on a daily basis.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  We wandered around Phuket Old Town, checking out the cool old architecture, found a great place for Tom Yam and wound up the night at Roxy's, an expat bar where I get to talking to an Alaskan who teaches English at the University of Phuket half the year and runs a setnet site in Alaska during the summer.  Through him I meet Shirley, a Chinese couchsurfer who will figure in my story later.