We reached Phuket Bus Station really early in the morning. It had been a comfortable journey and we felt well rested. Just needed a little time to stretch our legs. However, another challenge awaited us here at Phuket Bus Terminal 2. We were not sure how to reach our hotel on Kata Beach. The first thought was that we should hire a taxi, especially because we were dragging luggage. But that was going to be too expensive.
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We tried asking around about buses, but no one seemed to be willing to guide us about the buses. We sensed a nexus of taxi services that seemed to incite fear in the bus drivers and conductors, making them reluctant in sharing information about the buses plying to various beaches. We spotted a pink bus parked in one of the bays with a lone passenger (American possibly) seated in it. We asked this lady and she informed us that the same bus would be going to Kata beach. The charges were 15 baht per person. Instantly we realized that we had figured out the best way to commute in Phuket. These buses, blue and pink, cover all beaches in Phuket and are a really reasonable way to travel.
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We reached our hotel at around 9 am and were lucky to be allowed an early check in. We were staying at Le Thalassa Kata. The housekeeper was an old Thai lady who did not know much English. However, the owner looked European and was fluent in English. We checked in, took bath, stretched our legs for a bit, and then headed out.
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We walked to Kata beach, which was 5 minutes away from our hotel. The beach was quiet and peaceful at this time. However, it was really sunny, so we didn't stick around much. We came back in search of a good place to eat. Phuket turned out to be a little more expensive than Ayuthhaya and even Bangkok. However, we soon figured out some street food stalls that were selling tasty soups and noodles. After having our fill, we searched for a place to book a tour to the Phi Phi islands for the next day. After we had done that (details in Day-6 blog post), we decided to head out to Patong beach, which was supposed to be a more happening part of Phuket.
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We took a pink bus to old town. From there, we took a bus to Patong beach. As we had heard, patong beach turned out to be much more crowded than the Kata beach. But contrary to what we had heard, it was still clean. There were many more watersports happening here. We roamed around the beach for quite some time and only moved away from the beach when the sun went down. It was a beautiful sunset too, so it kept us on the beach for a little longer. After that, we headed to the famous Bangla Road, which is very close to Patong Beach.
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This definitely was a very lively place to be. With several bars, cabarets, clubs, massage parlours and a very active night life, this place made us wonder whether we had done the right thing by staying at Kata beach. This seemed to be the place to be in Phuket. It was slightly overwhelming, but still felt safe. We thought that we could get used to the noise and glitter. However, by now we were tired and it was getting close to 8PM. We had heard that there were no buses back to Kata beach later than this. So we headed to the main road.
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We were lucky enough to come across an airport bus, that charged us 100 bahts to drop us at Kata Beach. The bus took a different route than the one we had taken to Patong, through the old town. This bus ran parallel to the ocean as it had to drop many people at their resorts. It was from this bus that we saw the huge, lively market that lined the Kata beach and the Kata Noi Beach. We decided that we would visit this market next evening for sure.
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On our way back to hotel, we grabbed fruit, bread, and butter for our breakfast next day. Once back at the hotel, we realized how tired we felt. We showered and crashed and had soon drifted off to a dreamless sleep.
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