Phuket, Thailand

Starting Over

We flew from Penang to Phuket, not a very long flight. As we approached the airport in Phuket the jutting verdant islands of South central Thailand stood out. Already I had the sense we were going somewhere quite different from where we had been so far.

We spent 4 months absorbing the similar languages of Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Malaysia, which were relatively easy for picking up simple phrases, greetings and food vocabulary. It helps that the characters are in Latin alphabet, and also many people speak English.

Thai language seems to have very few cognates with the Malay languages. The Thai characters are completely different and quite confusing to the ignorant foreigner. The spoken language has different intonations and many sounds not found in the English (or Japanese). So getting to the basics of greetings and food vocabulary took a little longer. Nor did we practice any of these basics before getting to Thailand. Straight off the plane I went straight to an exchange counter to get some Thai baht, and realized at the end of the transaction that I had no idea how to say the most important phrase in Thai — Thank You.

Phuket

View of Eastern Phuket

Phuket is a large peninsula that hangs off the western coast of Thailand into the Indian Ocean. All along the coast It has many beaches crowded with resorts and hotels. We stayed in Kata Beach, almost an hour drive south from the airport, and one of the busy beaches though not as crazy as Patong. But really we came to Phuket to have some time at the beach. We were based in Kata Beach, which wasn’t bad. One evening when the tide was super low you could walk out 50 meters from the high tide mark. Going up and down the coast there are lots of beaches to explore some quite small and relatively remote.

As far as we could tell all of Phuket was overrun with Russian tourists. Presumably this is because Thailand (and parts of Vietnam) have the closest cheap beach destinations from Russia. Going to the beach in Kata we were literally surrounded by Russians, young couples, old couples, small families, large families. But there were tourists from other parts too, Italian, French and some Chinese, Korean and the occasional American couple. It was a constant reminder that Thailand has embraced the tourism industry. The density of tourism in Phuket was unlike anything we experienced since being in Canggu, Bali.

Sunset at Kata Beach

This made it a more expensive part of our trip. We spent 2 weeks in Phuket, staying in a condo rental about a 15-20 minute walk to the beach. Luckily we had a decent kitchen and found some good items at the two local markets. We also discovered, away from the beach, the main road with a stretch of restaurants and shops more frequented by locals.

Yanui Beach south of Kata

Something we ate…

One day we bought some raw chicken at the market and I cooked it the next day for dinner but probably not enough — that’s our best theory about what led to 24-hours of soul-draining food poisoning. It started about 12 hours after eating the dinner, and Kanako and I soon found ourselves increasingly unable to eat much of anything, much less stay in any position but horizontal, unless it was on the toilet. Quite luckily, Asa managed to avoid the food poisoning altogether (he didn’t eat more than a bite of the chicken). But we still needed to make some effort to take care of him while we could hardly take of ourselves. We managed to make some leftovers for lunch and then I tumbled down the street to get some takeout at a restaurant, and I made sure to get only non-spicy food.

I’ve had worse stomach problems before, but this one, because of the mild accompanying fever, was pretty exhausting. By the next morning we were pretty functional. Not until the following day were we 100%, and to continue our recuperation we took a motorbike ride outside Kata up to the newly built Big Buddha Phuket, visible from most parts of the southern peninsula. Signed charms of various sorts are often hung near temples for good luck or more specific wishes.

Signed charms near the Big Buddha

The Kings: Cremation Ceremony

Soon after arriving in Thailand we started recognizing the ubiquitous portraits of middle-aged man in glasses, usually with a very slight Mona Lisa smile — King Bhumibol Adulyadej the Great, also known as Rama XI. The portraits can be found everywhere from the airport terminals, to public squares, inside almost every single restaurant or business establishment in Thailand. Also, before every major event (including in movie theaters before the show starts), the Thai Royal Anthem is played with everyone standing (and singing). This is not to be confused with the Thai National Anthem that is played every day in public spaces at 8am and 6pm.

The king reigned for roughly 70 and a half years — Thailands longest reigning monarch, and at the time the world’s longest reigning head of state. October 2016 he died at the age of 88. For a full year Thailand prepared for a massive cremation ceremony held in October 2017 while we were in Phuket. On the day of the final ceremony all cable TV networks were shut down, and regular TV stations broadcast either footage of the ceremony or historical footage of the kind throughout his life. Footage of the ceremony showed thousands of mourners, seemingly average Thai citizens dressed in black lining up all day in the hot sun to pay their respects and for their chance to place specially prepared flower offerings. (A good NY Times article about the ceremony.)

King Rama IX and King Rama X

Thai people are very serious about their king, and I do not know all the reasons for his popularity, but the clear devotion itself was impressive. The King was succeeded by his only son, Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun (actually see the full name here), now given the title Rama X. The new king is not as revered and has had some scandals over the years. Still, he is the king, and special laws specifically prohibit any criticisms of the royal monarch. His portrait now is coming up all over the place, no slight smile on his portrait only a hollow look, perhaps showing the weight of his position to retain the love of his people if not their respect and loyalty.