We moved from Bang Tao to Kata a couple of days ago, and there is definitely a different pace going on here.  Bang Tao was very quiet, part of that is the layout – as I mentioned before it is not really a town, mostly just a strip of hotels, and not necessarily all that close together, so walking around there can be quite quiet and peaceful.  Kata is one of the 3 main beach towns on Phuket, and the difference is obvious, there is a lot more going on here even tho it is the low season, and the town and beach are quite busy – it feels like they are even busier than perhaps when we were here last year (even though everyone says tourism is down because of the protests earlier in the year) – shrug, go figure!?

We have not really done much since we got here except hang out by the pool 🙂  We did walk down to the beach for about an hour or so when we got here, and did do a bit of exploring today, but Mrs Columbus was drawn back in by the cool refreshing pool so we spent the afternoon lazing about.  We did walk down to the Red Chair for dinner as it was a favorite of ours from last year (someone recommended it to my parents on their first trip here).  The food is fantastic, and like last year we ordered a ton of food – Spring Rolls, Phad Thai, Chicken with Cashew nut, a Thai omelet, rice and 3 drinks all for just under $9US!! When it is good and cheap you just can’t do anything but walk away stuffed and happy.

We are thinking about walking down to Karon Beach tomorrow (it is about 8km) so that will be a nice long walk along the coast (unless the sun is beating down) but we will have to see how we feel in the morning – it really adds to the relaxation to feel no need to maintain any sort of fixed agenda.  I will enjoy it while it lasts 🙂