Traveling during the rainy season in the tropics is always a bit of a cat and mouse game.  It never seems to get really socked in and rain for days on end like you see in the movies, but there is certainly a good chance that it might rain every other day or so.  Typically the sky will start to cloud over and then with not a lot of notice the sky will just open up and rain heavily for about an hour or so and then you can carry on with your day.

After spending many weeks in Thailand over he last few years during the rainy season we have been fortunate enough to never really have our any of our plans impacted by the rain.  The rains have come overnight, or we have been able to do something else like stop for lunch while an afternoon storm passed.  It now seems that statistics have caught up with us, and since our move from Chiang Mai in the north to Phuket in the south we have encountered some sour weather for a couple of days.

The sun is out in the morning, but my younger travel companions seem to have a little sluggishness in the morning so they are rarely up to see it, but I did manage to get a couple of hours by the pool yesterday as can be witnessed by the change in my skin tone.  My brother once mentioned during one of his vacations that people in our bloodline seem to only come in 2 shades – pasty white, and red – I can verify the accuracy of his claim as I have traded in my pasty white for a much more Canadian reddish tone.

Because the rains have come a couple times per day it has been hard to commit to much in the way of tours or anything, so we have mostly been hanging out at the hotel – going for a quick swim or catching up with the rest of what is going on in the world via the magic of the internet!

The weather is supposed to change on the weekend so hopefully we have paid our dues to the rain overlords and we can get some beach time in.

We started the beach part of our vacation by flying south from Bangkok to Phuket.  Phuket is actually an island (Phuket Island, Phuket Province) and there is also a city on the island named Phuket; however, when tourists talk about going to Phuket they are usually referring to one of the many beach towns on the west side of the island.

We decided to start our vacation in the beach town of Karon – about 3/4 of the way down the west coast (just below the horse-shoe bay that is Patong Beach) – this is the beach that I had stayed at last year when I was here, so it gave us a semi-known starting place to begin our adventure from.

We were pleasantly surprised when we got to our hotel (the Sugar Palm Karon) and found that they had upgraded our $18/night rooms to the deluxe poolside rooms.  These rooms have a terrace that opens out directly to the pool, so you can literally walk out from your room and 4 feet straight into the water.  Needless to say the kids were very excited about this.

We had originally booked our rooms here for only 3 nights, but after settling in and unwinding here and at the beach, Mrs. Columbus and I decided to book some additional nights here and spend all of our Phuket time at this hotel.  We will make day trips out from here, but this is home for now.

Karon Beach is know as one of the ‘quieter’ beaches in Phuket as there is not a lot of night life here.  After the sun goes down you can take a quiet walk on the streets to find a spot for dinner, or do some shopping at the night market.  The beach itself is incredible, the sand is a soft fine powder almost like walking on flour or powdered sugar – in fact the sand is so fine that it sort of ‘squeaks’ when you walk on it.

We have spent our first few days here mostly just lounging about (and getting massages) but are planning an excursion to Phi Phi Island, and likely a day tour around the island with a private car.  We have so far been able to fill our days with walking on the beaches and around the streets.

I may have to upgrade Mrs. Columbus’ status to maybe Lewis or Clark, as she has now stepped up and eaten the street food!!  After saying fairly strongly that she was unlikely to eat anything ‘from one of those dirty carts’ she succumbed first to the banana pancake, and now to the chicken-on-a -stick….

We took a tuk-tuk up to Patong Beach yesterday to have a look around and do some shopping.  Patong Beach is like the New Orleans of Phuket – it is a much busier beach, and shop after shop after shop, all peddling the same knock-off goods as the last store.  I suppose if I was say, 5 years younger and single it would be the place to go, but now it just seems like a whole lot of busy to me.  Even the Great Adventurer herself had gotten her fill after a couple of hours.  Of course as the suns sets, the more adult-oriented part of Patong comes alive, and all of the illicit things you hear about become available – fortunately for us we were ready to leave before I had to answer a bunch of difficult questions from the small people.  It was good to see and have something to compare to, but made us that much more grateful for our quiet little place back in Karon.

We have moved on to Phuket – Karon Beach – from Bangkok, but I will talk more about that in another post.  For now I need to just wallow for a bit in a topic that is near and dear to my heart – massage!

I became quite enamored with the joy of a good massage last year when I was here with my brother and my parents.  I was a little cautious at first as the thought of a strange person touching me was out of my normal comfort zone, but I was convinced to give it a try – well after the first time it was like being addicted to crack, and became part of my daily ritual.  And at 300B (about $8 US) for an hour, who could refuse.

Well I would be lying if I did not admit that appeal of returning to Thailand for some of that oh so splendid self indulgence was not part of my motivation to return here, and now that I am back by the beach it was time to dive back in.

For those that have never experienced Thai massage, it shares very little with what we would think of when we get a massage at the Gene Juarez, or even those saucy moves you used back in college when trying to impress the ladies.  Thai massage can only be described as a woman half your size trying to teach you body how to become a pretzel.  The first time you experience it, you get part way in and think that you are really a punching bag at a Thai kick-boxing school, and wonder what on earth have you committed yourself to.  But by the time the massage is complete you fall into this gelatinous state of nirvana and wonder a) why it has taken you so long to find such a wonderful thing, and b) when can you sneak away for your next one.

As you lay there in your tiki-style hut and just let yourself relax while the masseuse works you over you very quickly tune out the world around you and let the gentle breeze just soothe and relax you.  My words here don’t do it justice, but if you ever get the chance to get a decent massage on a beach it is an experience you will not soon forget.

So 2 days in at our spot in Phuket, I am a couple of massages to the plus column, and getting down into a very zen-like spot.  Even the Great Adventurer herself tried one out yesterday and she is quickly realizing why I like it so much.  Oh yes, and much to my delight I find that the off-season has caused some contraction in the local economy, and the price for my 1 hour session has dropped to 200B (about $6) – ahh the life…