Phuket

I can't believe how good I felt to be back in south east Asia. It was weird; even coming into Bangkok airport after the flight from London, seeing all the Asian faces; it just felt more like home somehow, more comfy and familiar.

We arrived on the island of Phuket at night, so we really couldn't see what was around us until we woke up, jetlagged and groggy, in the morning. What a beautiful place we have ended up in. Our villa at the Treetops resort is perfect for our last fling before home; private, gorgeous view, lovely deck, little pool, lush garden, outdoor shower, etc etc. Asian hotels really know how to do luxury; the attention to detail is brilliant and the Thai love of beauty and balance is apparent everywhere. It's the kind of place where you just want to flop down on the big white bed with the great big view and not get up for a week. Sounds good to me.

We both felt a little funny about coming to Phuket after what has happened here in recent history. Not because we are scared of another tsunami; more a feeling of not wanting to celebrate and be decadent in a place where people suffered and died in that terrible event. But on the other hand, the people of Phuket rely on tourism for an income, so we are contributing by being here, and indeed the Thais have really pushed for tourists to return in the two years since. So we chose a place on the hill, near a beach that was apparently not badly affected by the disaster. You would never know, sitting on a lounger on our deck, that anything bad had ever happened here. In fact, that applies to almost everywhere we've been on the island. If you didn't know, you wouldn't know.

And yet it is on my mind at the same time as I enjoy this beautiful place. It is so beautiful; looking at the water on our little beach, Saron, it looks so benign. The same at Patong. It's very hard to imagine that water hurting anyone. But over 500 people were killed in Phuket, and the devastation was huge. It's a tribute to the spirit of the Thai people, I think, that things are so positive and normal now.

Thai people are so lovely. They're beautiful and graceful and compact. They smile readily and genuinely. They drive like crazy people; steering their motorbikes with abandon and without helmets through the traffic loaded up with everything from soup pots to toddlers. (I've seen some things that would give road safety campaigners in NZ a heart attack.) And they seem to sincerely love to talk to visitors. The people in Phuket seem quite philosophical and resilient about the tsunami. I guess they have to be. A nice man in a tiny shop in Patong showed us photos of the street we were standing in, in the aftermath, and pointed out the shop itself. It appeared as a bombed-out crater. He smiled and showed us a selection of books of photos and dvds of photos of the tsunami which were available for sale. We declined, but gave him the cover price anyway. You have to admire the sense of enterprise. One of our waiters seemed to think the people were partly to blame for the deaths; they'd been warned about tsunami, he said, they just forgot. His view was that it could have been much worse; it was a Sunday and there were no school groups on the beach, as there would have been on any other day.

Patong beach, the town, at night, is a bit of a G-rated version of Patpong Road in Bangkok (See pussy ping pong, back in the August archive). There are a few token transvestites, a few go-go girls, a few hawkers for shows (it's not "pussy ping pong", here; it's the more coy "ping pong show". They will show you eye-watering photos of the show though, which I wish I had not seen). Mostly it's lots of shops and stalls selling all sorts of things; fake handbags and watches and clothing, tacky souvenirs, pirated CDs and DVDs. And tourists; lumbering, pale, sweaty tourists, us among them. Most of them (us) are harmless enough. But you see the icky sight of old, pot-bellied guys with pretty, pubescent Thai prostitutes. And the usual fashion crimes that come with beach resorts. Really, what is it about tropical climates that makes white girls think that cornrows look good? Or tight leopard-print items? Or velcro sandals? (oh, how I hate velcro sandals). Last night's winner was a middle-aged guy in a knit fabric track suit so thin it was almost transparent. The legs of the suit flopped above his ankles, which were clad in - not joking - socks and sandals (velcro). There was also a bum bag just to top the whole look off. I sincerely hope the poor Thai girl who was with him was being paid extra for her tolerance of such a tragically-dressed escort.

There also seem to be more than a few oddballs and misfits among the crowd. Some of them live here, I think; attracted by who knows what - girls, boys, cheap living, perhaps. You see far too many bald heads and ponytails, old tattoos, tie-dyed T-shirts, denim cut-off shorts. Inevitably they are middle-aged guys, 50-ish, weathered. And they always have Thai girls in tow.

Of course almost everything we've eaten in Phuket has been fantastic. More on that soon.