Phuket

I arrived in Phuket 14 hours later and surprisingly not too tired. I catch a cab to the suburbs where Barry and Suzi live, my day was full steam ahead after that. Suzi and Barry's home is incredible it is like being in a museum. The whole house is full of beautiful Asian pieces.
All the doors in the house are solid carved wood of mostly flowers. There are Buddha statues throughout the home, stone work that is stunning, gorgeous rugs spread throughout the house, and furniture that you couldn't get in the states unless you paid an arm and a leg for it. The best part of the house by far is the garden. It is so lush it is like being in a hidden oasis. Sitting out on the porch is amazing I spent so much of my free time out there reading and sleeping.

The garden was also full of my favorite flowers, orchids. My first morning there Suzi was having a breakfast party with some friends so I helped her set up and get ready for the party. I meet two of Suzi's friends Bob and Christine who I would see a lot of the coming week. It was nice to have a home cooked meal and to just relax for the morning. After breakfast we ran errands before coming home to get ready to go out with more of Suzi's friends. That night we went to Bob and Christine's house for drinks and to meet some other people, Kirsten and Torbin. After introductions were made we ventured to Friendship Beach to have drinks on the beach. It was a nice place but the tide was very low and boats were just sitting in the sand/mud. We finished up there and went to a local restaurant which was a nice way to end my first day in Phuket. The week in Phuket was filled with morning walks with Suzi to the pier and while we walked we would feed the stray dogs. Even though I had to get up super early it was nice to get out and walk. Our days were filled with errands: either trips to the nurseries, grocery store, laundry place, or vet. Nights were filled with going out to dinner or little events with Suzi's group of friends. Even though they were older they were really nice and had a lot of great advice. They also have traveled all over Southeast Asia so I would pick their brains for places to go. While I was there Suzi and I did make to the beach. It was this great little hidden beach with not a lot of people. You had to travel up and down a couple of mountains but it was so worth it and the water was heavenly.

Even though we didn't go to the beach all that often we did spend plenty of times in the pool in the backyard which was just as nice. It was surprisingly deeper than I thought it was, I would swim laps once a day and then read my book the rest of the time while I sun tanned. Thursday was a great day in the morning we went to a local park to have a group walk and then went to this wonderful Roti place in Phuket town. It is run by these Arab women that have used the same recipe for 3 generations. Roti is this thin dough that is layered into a flaky bread that is eaten with a curry or made into a dessert. We had both Rotis which were amazing. The chicken curry with the Roti was amazing and the Banana Roti was deadly. It was a wonderful lunch and it cost us a whopping $3. After Roti we went to the outskirts of town to visit a friend, Wendy, who volunteered teaching Burmese children English. The school is run by this wonderful nun who accepts all Burmese refugee children. She is amazing she  runs the school off of donations and the teachers are all volunteers. The school is in an area of shacks where these Burmese people dry fish for eating.

What is horrible is the Burmese people are charged rent for these horrible one room huts with no electricity or plumbing. There are about 70 children of all age groups that study in this long outdoor room. The children were all so happy and well behaved. Surprisingly they were all very clean. All looked like they had showered and brushed their teeth regularly. We handed out sweets during their meal and unlike American children they waited until they finished their meal to eat the treat or they saved the treat to take home. They also didn't complain that they didn't like the flavor they were given or did we have something else because they don't like that treat. They were all incredibly respectful and had no problem doing what they were told. Seeing the children so happy and obviously learning something makes your heart swell. I am not sure that I could do what some of these volunteers do on a daily basis but I could see myself helping at least once a week.

I hope when I get to Bangkok I am going to able to help the way that these volunteers have helped these children. My week in Phuket was quite tame and I didn't do too much but eat, drink, sleep, read, and have fun. I will miss my time in Phuket but alas I have a job interview in Bangkok and must head out right away because even though I love the island lifestyle I need a place of my own and some funds because mine are starting to dwindle.