bigfoot

wow. phuket. wow. flying into the island of phuket is like a dream from which you wish not to rouse. it's like god cried tears of land into the ocean made of limestone and palm trees. the airport is basically on the beach, and so is our hotel. first off, the cab ride of death included 45 minutes of no rhyme or reason as it pertains to lanes and/or traffic laws. there are about three million mopeds here. secondly, none of these said mopeds carry less than three people including children that aren't even walking yet. in some cases they're steering which can't be good for anything. lastly, we saw a pickup truck with 21 people in the back. good times. we had the cab driver (who consequently took us to some back-alley place where two women tried to sell us hotels that were no where near our intended destination) drop us off along the southwest side of the island (karon and kata for our readers at home). we were 0-3 on hotels, in a terrential downpour before finding a fantastic room with views of the mountains for as far as one can see. this place is paradise. we got up at 4am (dang time change) and watched ping pong in chinese until the sunrise. we had breakfast (fried rice, mini-bananas, croissants, thai pasta and some of the strongest coffee on the planet: (read) at least three venti's in a small glass), had a hour long massage by the beach on tatami mats, had lunch in a swiss family robinson hut in the trees by the ocean (sans pirates), and are planning on a day long kayak trip to james bond island (man with a golden gun) tomorrow. according to the friendly women at the reception desk, our room also comes with bigfoot free of charge. so at least we have that going for us, and i hear he keeps one warm while sleeping. phuket is like hawaii, but much much more tropical, and the sand is unlike anything you've felt before (more soft than velvet... kind of like walking in brown sugar though bad to the taste). boy, it's really inexpensive here: an our long massage: $8, breakfast on the beach: $3, being on the other side of the world: priceless.