Caitlyn woke up very early, having trouble sleeping, and spent a few hours reading into the history of Israel and Palestine so she could educate and inform herself more about what is going on. David woke up later and the first thing we did when both up was turn on the news and check our phones. More and more undescribably evil things done by Hamas were being revealed. We spent a bit of time this morning watching the news and checking the internet. We also started to feel a little bit off today, with some very slight stuffiness and congestion. We eventually headed out a bit before lunch time and got to explore the city for the first time in the light. It was absolutely beautiful here, and very different from other places we’ve been so far. It is hot and humid, but we have noticed that our bodies are starting to get used to this.
We walked towards Patong beach to get some lunch with the intention of walking along the beach after. We ordered a flat rice noodle chicken dish “hot and spicy Thai style” as well as a mixed seafood red curry. They first brought out the noodle dish, however the mentioned when putting it on the table that the kitchen made a mistake and did not do it with rice noodles and asked if it was alright. We looked at it, and seeing that it looked like spaghetti noodles, asked if they could remake it as ordered. They soon brought out the red curry dish, which was nice with a little bit of spice and had shrimp and two kinds of squid in it. They brought out the noodle dish which was good, but the chicken was a little dry. The rice noodles themselves were delicious, though.
Suddenly, Caitlyn started feeling very light-headed and dizzy, with a strange nauseous feeling, seemingly very similar to David’s experience the night in Singapore we got the crab dishes. We decided to finish up quickly and walk back to the hotel for a while to recover. Pretty quickly, Caitlyn realized that with the heat and this strange sick feeling, we would be safer getting a cab. We pulled up a ride app and ordered a ride to the hotel. It arrived in 6 minutes and we took the short <10 minute ride back to the hotel. We got in the room and Caitlyn napped for a bit under two hours, David falling asleep for the last 20 minutes or so. Caitlyn was feeling improved, but we decided that maybe we push walking along the beach to a later day. We decided to go check out the hotel pool, and found a nice spot with an umbrella and two seats next to each other. We noticed that the pool had a bar with a happy hour of buy 1 get 1 free for all cocktails from 2:00-5:00pm daily! We were lucky and got there while it was still happy hour, so we grabbed a cocktail each and hung by the pool for a little while. We got in the water and swam for a bit, really happy with the pool.
Eventually, we decided we wanted to explore the city some so we went back to our room to shower. Before showering, we wanted to check out the swim-up pool out our back door. Caitlyn hopped in the water and enjoyed the novelty of this unique experience, while David dipped a foot in and decided that this was far too cold for him (this is a covered area where little to no sunlight gets in, causing the water to be a little cooler than the big pool). David hung on the side of the pool with his legs in the water while Caitlyn enjoyed her swim. We put some music on as there was no one else outside and hung out for 20 minutes or so before going inside to shower.
We decided to head out and explore Phuket, walking towards the more lively areas. We eventually found a cool Jamaican/Bob Marley themed outdoor bar and decided to get a beer. There wasn’t really anyone here, but after a few minutes a live musician went up to the stage and started an acoustic set, so we enjoyed a beer and listened to some good live music.
We eventually headed out to go to a dinner spot, along the way spotting a cart on the street selling cocktails at a very cheap price! We decided that we had to check it out and each ordered a to-go cocktail to continue our walk with. They were absolutely delicious and we were happy to taste that they weren’t watered down either.
We get to our restaurant for dinner and order a pad Thai chicken, a chilled spicy beef salad, and crispy shrimp with garlic and hot peppers. The food was nice, but we were especially happy with the spicy beef salad, as this was easily the hottest food we have had in Asia so far. It wasn’t overwhelmingly spicy, but it was hot enough that we didn’t even finish it!
We finished up and walked back home to get some sleep. Of course, we had to check out the news and stayed up a little bit late getting caught up.
David’s thoughts of the day: We kind of mentioned it already, but both the restaurant employees and the massage girls are relentless when trying to get you to engage with their services. This is wild and we’re trying to figure out how to best decline politely but firmly.
Caitlyn’s thoughts of the day: It is a shame that I had a few rough hours today, but if it was going to happen somewhere, this is probably the place. I planned out this part of the trip to be way less intense as far as sightseeing and exploring, so having a day like today where we didn’t do much at all is totally fine.
Steps walked: 11,451
Miles walked: 5.57
Bluming Travelers 