phuket revisited

this boy was in the mother's stomach the last time i saw him...heee. that was three years ago. we chanced upon this place while travelling ard on the motorbike. back then, we only made a pre-booking online for 2 nites at a place in patong, so we had to look ard for other accomodation. i'd actually made a list of places we could stay in, based on my research online, but they didnt quite come up to mark. dont get me wrong, i wasnt looking for some 5-star resorts, just a nice cosy place that's cheap.

the place looks quite nondescript actually. it lies on the hill along the main road linking patong to karon, and many would have given it a miss cos they'd be too busy concentrating on the uphill ride to notice it. we passed it on our way to karon and kata to check out the hotels there, and passed it again while on the way back. that's when we decided to stop cos the kapcai we were on was sputtering for dear life attempting the uphill ride.

we were greeted by a very frenly "good eveniiiiiiiiing" by an affable guy called joe, whom we later found out to be the owner of the place. we saw the rooms, LOVED the view, and immediately made bookings for the rest of our nites there. We were even contemplating extending our stay, but because we've already made plans to join our families in kl, we said our goodbyes reluctantly.

and the very next day, tsunami struck.

it was sobering. we had to entertain many many calls n sms-es from friends and relatives who still thought we were there, since we were not back in sg. and we were frantically trying to reach joe to see if he and his family was ok - his wife was pregnant then. and yes, they were all alrite, being on the hill. but we were affected, emotionally affected. we tried to do what we can with the efforts in sg, and spider had the opportunity to fly back to phuket to help with the relief efforts there.

so you could say phuket holds a special place in our hearts. we love the people, the food, the relaxing lifestyle of it all. yes it's way too commercialised, but look beyond the touts and you'll see people trying their best to make an honest living. yes there's too much debauchery but there are also many many pure things to be found there. like the magnificent views of minarets from the mosques littered around that never fails to make me gasp in awe.

so there we were again, 3 years later. we had a ball of a time, and we cant wait to go again.... "next time with yr children ok"...mrs joe's parting words to us :)

mr & mrs joe - the lovely owners

the aptly named hotel :)

~ S$50 per nite