Thailand continued...

ISo behind the resort was a little village. To find it you were supposed to take the path behind the bar. Well, one pat leads way into the jungle and the other path is by the OLD bar and is crawling distance. There were about 10 ramshackle huts of restaurants and one of them had like 6 kinds of seafood, for two, for 600 baht. Thats about 18 bucks. But we chose to eat at the fancy Thai fusion place instead. I couldn't find the fusion part but it was delicious and up on the hillside near the spa. So the village is a series of huts and then there is a monstrous footbridge. I'm not sure how much stuff was pre-tsunami and how much was post tsunami. There are signs everywhere with the directions to flee in case of tsunami. A small tsunami really would have made this vacation even more exciting! Or cannibals. Since it was off season you can really see evidence of how many tourists will show up in the winter months. I bet the place is hopping but luckily its not like ton sai bay where you can get Che Guevera shirts, McDoobie shirts with pot leaves and any number of cheesy bullshit american-ized crap souveniers.
When it was time to go back to Phuket we caught a ferry back. First we had to take another speedboat around to Ton Sai bay and then get on the ferry. The ferry is gross. It was packed to the gills and pretty rocky. It didn;t leave until 2:30 so we checked out at 12, caught the speedboat at 1ish, then waited some more for the ferry. Asian people, apparently mostly Chinese and Japanese, push a lot. It makes you want to pop them and tell them to cut it out. It happens getting on elevators, escalators, they steal in line for the bathroom, and yes, on ferries too. But I am much bigger and stronger and I block them well. Push away tiny lady, I'm still in front of you and a giant. Oh, and someone puked on the ferry and just left it. And then someone had to sit next to it the entire ride. I would rather bake in the sun on the upper deck. In fact I just gagged thinking about it. Once we arrived at port we had another ride and it took about an hour to get to the next hotel. It was really far from Phuket town and the debauchery of that place so we didn't get to go. I was tired from all of the travel anyway so it was nice to hang out at the Naithonburi hotel. We swam in their gorgeous pool and then ate there. The food was good and sleep was much appreciated. We had to catch our cab at 7 am so we just relaxed.
The next day we got up, ate and took our ride to the airport. We did the customs game again of stamp out and then waited for two hours in the airport. Its a tiny airport and we had much time to try and spend the rest of our bahts. I succeeded with gusto!
Once we got back to Singapore we waited to get our stamp into the country and by the time we got home it was 1:15 to 1:30. Thats the problem with travel is that it takes for-EVER. Basically from 1pm sunday until 1pm Monday we were working our way home.
Yesterday after getting home, dropping off our bags and resting for a bit we headed out to Bugis Street mall. We ate lunch in the basement food court. It was like the mall food court but there were tons of places with food on sticks and there weren;t any places to sit unless you went to a restaurant that had its own seating. I ended up with fried scallops, fried shrimp, and miso soup. YUM!!!!! Scott got a delicious noodle bowl of sorts. This place really knows how to hook up some rice and noodles! Afterwards we went to the Bugis Street market. That place sucks. It could be cool but only if you are in the mood for swealtering steamy alleys of shopping for tacky clothes and cheap trinkets. There were hundreds of pushy people and with 4 people in our group its a pain in the ass to keep up with each other. So we got out of there quick. We eventually met up with Scott's dad and we decided to go to the night safari! The animals were so close you could touch them. There were fishing cats and giant tapirs. The binturong was cool too. The night safari was completely pitch black dark except for these lights that weren't too bright but bright enough to help you spot the critters. They feed them so the animals are out and about when you're going by. Hyenas, tigers, rhinos, and a variety of cool deer. I loved the night safari!
I'm not sure what all we're going to see today. My feet are dying a slow painful death but I must press on!

PS- Susie, I will be home Friday night super duper late. The plane lands at 9:30 or so but by the time we get through customs it'll be like 11:30 or 12 I imagine.