martedì 30 maggio 2017

Thailand and the Chinese tourists

In order to have something to look forward to at the end of our Florentine week, the husband has very sweetly booked a short break in Phuket, yay! He knows how to spoil me :D
Tired, absolutely unprepared but excited we make our way to Thailand on a Wednesday morning.
All goes well and we are welcomed in this beautiful hotel in the south of the island by its own beach, we check in and relax! Marco falls asleep pretty much instantly (admittedly we got up at 5 in the morning) and I do my challenging exercises (that I am more and more sure won’t improve my look but just damage my back..).
An hour later we hit the beach, looking forward to our break by the seaside 😃
There is no loungers on the beach, we are given towels and a plastic mat, which is ok, we are soooo thrilled to be there. Half an hour later I am deep asleep on the mat, covered in sweat like a mermaid (well, this is how I like to picture myself 😜).
The sky is cloudy, but I don't care and I go for a swim (or dip, however you want to picture it) in a darkening but still inviting sea.
It’s all good; we decide we don't need to take too much in, let’s take it easy and tomorrow, first thing in the morning we come down to the beach and we go a bit further down where you can rent loungers for the equivalent of 5 pounds a day, for 2!
In the evening we go to the hotel restaurant for Thai food, delicious even though not very traditional. Satisfied and happy to have booked a day to James Bond island we go to bed just when it starts raining.
The morning after is raining, consistently and heavily, through breakfast (which is by the way AMAZING), through lunch and all afternoon.
Nonstop. Until the day after.
We try not to get too much affected by it, we stay by the bar of the hotel overlooking the sea (people more desperate than us are actually swimming), we read, relax, sweat. The humidity is unbearable. It bring us all sort of creatures, geckos, flying ants, and massive flies are everywhere and don’t hesitate to get close to us even though we are sweating out all the DEET we are covered in.
The day after a bus comes to pick us up for the tour, yay!
We go to a pier to get a speed boat. It is still raining but we find a very entertaining distraction: Chinese Tourists.
And possibly the classiest in the whole world. They occupy an area with sofas and chairs just behind us, and without any consideration of being in public they sit in all sort of positions.
We start taking selfies of us in order to capture their poses in the background. 
(PLEASE try not to look at me, just focus on the people behind us!)






Here we go, the day has brightened!
The speedboat comes and I am sitting right under the hole in the tent above, it’s raining at speed on my head. I hate when it rains on my head. I can’t even describe how much I hate it. I 
By the time we get close to JB island, the rain easies and we are able to enjoy the scenery and dry up a bit.
No words to describe the natural beauty. It’s breath taking!
Too many tourists though. Too many selfie sticks, groups, children and vendors.
It is actually a bit sad that the ability of seeing places has been lost, I am as culpable as everybody else. Everything is watched and experienced through a phone or a camera in the best case.
The selfie poses are hilarious, from the Russian lady with a perfect body (aaarrghh!) and a flower in her head (fake boobs though), to the Chinese fat woman in a nonsense pose with arm sleeves.



This is not only reason for laugh with incredulity, it is all good experience, learning and a more open mind.
We are ecstatic. We loved the James Bond island and we cannot wait to go back and explore more of Thailand. Phi Phi island is on my list, as well as Krabi, Bangkok and the rest of the country.
Back at the hotel after the killing exercises (supposed to eventually give me the body of a 20 years old) we go for a swim at twilight, the sky is patched with dark clouds, but with some clear spots too, the lights of the hotel are illuminating the palm trees and the beyond green vegetation. Pure bliss. (I am also learning to enjoy everything, without getting to obsessed about the lack of sun, which usually is the main thing I want).
The day after is cloudy, humid like hell and miserable. We spend the day by the pool and dip into the sea just before we go and pack our bags.
The sun comes out, just when we enter a taxi to the airport.













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