Ping Pong Phuket

We took the 2 hour ferry ride over to Phuket for our last two nights together as a group. We stayed in the quiet yet bustling town of Surin beach. It is a small beach nestled on the North West coast of Phuket far enough away from the over crowded Patong, Karon and Kata beaches in the Southern end. We all enjoyed 8$ massages on the beach before getting ready for our night out on the town in Patong. We were briefed on what to expect there, but no one could prepare us enough for what we were about to see that night.

Patong is in the heart of Phuket in what we would call the red light district. It’s very run down and full of street vendors peddling their knock off goods. Very often, the electricity goes out as it did this night on one side of the street. Their electrical line organization has a lot to be desired. 

We ventured down the main drag which is something like a poor mans version of Bourbon Street. Hookers, ladyboys, strippers and the legendary ping pong show. Let your mind wander as far as you can to imagine what kind of ping pong show you could possibly see on a street like this. No....let your mind go further into the deepest, sickest and most derelict of your imagination. Now think real hard about how ping pongs could make their way in the company of strippers and hookers. Still confused? Ok....I’ll give you a hint......the ping pongs are being tossed by women, but none are using their hands or their feet or even their mouths to toss them. Capice?? Ok, now that you have a more clear picture, substitute ping pongs for bananas, darts, whistles and even......(insert shock and awe expression)......birds and goldfish....4 goldfish to be exact. I can honestly say, I will never look at a birdcage the same way again.

Now that we had seen what the lovely center of Phuket had to offer, we felt a need to cleanse our souls the next day and take a tour of the beautiful Northeast coastline towards the limestone cliffs that erect high out of the water at James Bond island. 

We took canoes through caverns, trekked through the forest on elephants and played coyly with miniature monkeys. Just what we needed to escape the aftershocks of the night before.

It was our last night as a group. The girls were scheduled to head back to Singapore the next morning and I decided to stay in Phuket for a few days to enjoy some peace, quiet and solitude.

I booked two nights in Karon beach, but after arriving I quickly realized it wasn’t what I was looking for. It was very crowded and quite a bit of a walk to the beach from the hotel I booked. I really just wanted a beautiful, quiet hotel somewhat secluded with direct beach access. Somewhere I could pamper myself and do nothing but sleep, read, write and relax. 

Enter Dewa Phuket. A four star hotel located very near the Phuket airport with direct beach access and a full size swimming pool, an infinity pool, fitness center, spa, complimentary everything including a bicycle to hop around in and a staff that treated me as if I had reserved the Presidential suite. They upgraded me to a beautiful one bedroom apartment with a balcony, view, a beach bag, fruit basket and a fully equipped kitchen. I was in heaven. Exactly what I wanted and needed. I spent the next two days sleeping on the beach, writing, swimming and bicycling around town decompressing before I was to leave Phuket and head to the next destination, Bangkok.

Goodbye, Dewa Phuket for now. I hope to see you again one day. 

PS- As I lay on my beach chair while at Dewa Phuket, I looked up and decided to take a picture of the scene before me. Just as I  held the camera up and began to snap, a little boy ran into the frame. This is what I captured......