jeremy snyder’s meta|remix

i just got back from a week-long vacation in phuket, thailand over christmas. and in the end, here’s my verdict: it was ok. not great, just ok.

some of my additional thoughts:

• the food was decent, but overpriced. we were really looking forward to it, but there’s a flood of non-thai food on the main street in patong (lebanese, russian, german, austrian, swedish, etc) and it’s all overpriced, based on serving the european “aurinkomatka” (sun holiday) market.
• consequently, i saw the following direct flights to phuket arriving: helsinki-phuket, brussels-phuket, rome-phuket
• the best food was in the food court at junk ceylon. go to the basement and get a cash card. it’s stuff from all over thailand, and much better prices.
• the big buddha was really nice. it touched my younger daughter a lot, to the point where if she could declare a religion right now, she’d probably call herself a buddhist now.
• i didn’t really enjoy the elephant trekking we did. the elephants don’t get enough rest and are in a bad mood because of it. ours sneezed/snotted on us like 5 times, and the driver beat the elephant at least once with a cane. my older daughter was rightfully disturbed by this, as was i.
• the beach really was nice
• seafood was good, too
• it got very annoying having someone trying to sell you something about every 2 minutes, literally
• the montana grand phuket kind of sucks. i don’t recommend it at all.
• let’s say that seeing the hedonistic side of things all the time didn’t sit well with me either. there are plenty of “weekly relationships” available and that was sad to see.

overall, it was an ok time. i probably won’t go back, though, especially not with kids.