I did a bit of a motorcycle beach crawl today. I visited Patong, Karon and Kata beaches along Phuket's west coast.

Patong was where I spent the most time. It turns out that it's actually an amusement park shaped like a beach. A few hapless fools still go there thinking that they can go swimming, and then spend their afternoons dodging jetskis and speedboats towing parasailers. I rented one of the timber banana chairs and sat down for an hour or so. But even while sitting quietly, you are still a customer for the amusement park. There are dozens of deckchair to deckchair salespeople selling everything from icecream to t-shirts to fried chicken to carved wooden parrots. Occasionally touts will try to convince you that you want to go for a parasail ride or hire a jetski. I considered going for a parasail ride, but the price was ridiculous.

Karon beach was more exposed to the sea than Patong and had bigger waves. It was also much less crowded, but I didn't stop there long. Kata beach is right near a Club Med, so it was fairly crowded. All three beaches had numerous formerly white people who had baked themselves to various shades of reddish brown that I'm sure no human being is supposed to wear. Despite my best efforts to avoid it, I myself am slowly developing a tan too, though I haven't acheived the cooked lobster look yet.

After my beach crawl, I went back to Phuket town. It was about this time that I realised it was my 26th birthday. Days and dates are not so relevant to me at the moment. I measure time relative to today, as in "I'll go to Phuket in two days" or "I'll have to cash a travellers cheque tomorrow". I celebrated my birthday by getting a haircut and eating curry and rice from the night market.

I think I'll move on from Phuket town soon. I was going to stay here longer, but the town itself is not a great place for tourists like me. I think I'll go to Laguna beach on the north west coast of the island, and then leave Phuket and go to Ao Pha Nga.