Phuket looks far nicer in daylight...

...in fact, it reminds me a lot of Mexico. Except they speak Thai, not Spanish here (go figure). Today we woke up fairly early (since Japan/Korea are two hours ahead), checked some email, and decided that we needed to figure out our plans for the next two days. Today was pretty easy - the beach sounded like a good idea. After talking with the front desk at our hostel, we booked a trip to Ko Phi Phi Island for tomorrow. For about $50, it'll take us about 1.5 hours to get to the island where they shot most of "The Beach," that really crappy, post-Titanic Leonardo DiCaprio movie. It's also known as "James Bond Island" since one of the movies was shot there, though no one seems to know which one... Dad, Kris, wanna help me out? Anyway, we'll do some snorkeling, get lunch, and swim. Lonely Planet says the place is definitely high on the list of Most Beautiful Places in the World. I'll be sure to take pictures.

Armed with a life plan, or at least a plan for the next day, Rach and I headed to the beach. We'd heard Patong was nice but incredibly crowded, so we opted for Hat Karon instead. Rach bartered with a lady by the beach for sarongs, and we enjoyed the sun for several hours. It was indeed as pretty as people had promised. Except for the 7 topless ladies and countless hairy men in speedos. Those weren't so pretty. We worked out that most of the tourists to Phuket tend to be older and European. Perhaps it's because it's closer and cheaper than Hawaii. Anyway, we also realized we're a little spoiled coming from Hawaii... we probably would have appreciated the beauty a lot more were we not frequent visitors to Waimea and Kaanapali. Most of the people are our hostel are from Australia, New Zealand, and England. Speaking of our hostel, it's quite cute. Not in the best part of town, but it's safe, the staff is nice, and there are always people in the lounge watching dvds.

After grabbing a yummy chicken curry sandwich near the beach, we left Karon (no, not Karen, KQ) and made our way back to our hostel by bus (for a whopping 25 baht each... something like 75 cents), showered, and discovered how sunburned we are, despite the fact we both used sunscreen. I guess I underestimated the intensity of the sun here... we are pretty close to the equator, I suppose. Now we're off to dinner at some place nearby that Lisa recommended.

I'll provide an update tomorrow about our little day trip. :)

And where are the comments, my friends?!