I’m at the the lake now, it’s called Bang Wad. Of course there’s a statue honoring the king

Bang Wad, I decide to walk around the lake, starting here

No idea what they’re doing here

Unfortunately this reminds me of NZ (at least the area where I live): trash dumped on the side of a backroad

I took my drone with me and I’m very eager to fly it, maybe I can fly it from that grassy area over there

I don’t normally care much for flowers but there are some nice looking ones here

These look like what we had as kids at birthday parties, some windmill of a wooden stick and when you run with them or blow on them they turn, that seems waaaay to long ago now (as in: damn, getting old!)

I’m guessing the bees will love flowers like this with the food so readily available

Not trash this time but a little house in honor of Buddha, often with some food and drink offerings

Some locals fishing

Look at this cutie!

Quite a few animals at the few houses along the road here here like these friendly chickens

And this lovely doggy that kept following me because it wanted more pets

I’ve finished my hike and on my drive away from the lake I saw this beautiful cow and decided to take a photo of it. It’s standing still now but this poor cow was constantly running around in circles with the rope – through its nose – tight, it was heartbraking to see. It was clearly wanting to break free from this torment. I don’t understand why they put a rope through it’s nose and not attach it to something like a collar around it’s neck. I don’t like how animals are treated here

After a long scooter trip via Phuket Town I’m back in Kata for yet another smoothie. By the way, those bottles on the left in the photo are how you buy your fuel for your scooter here: you ask for say 50 Baht of fuel and they’ll empty a green bottle in your tank. Quite handy

Another cutie

I’m hungry after today’s walk and go to have another Chicken Kebab at the Kata night market

Some of the many stalls here at the night market

The Karon Dragon Image by night

Small roundabout in Patong, it’s called Pearl Circle. For me it’s a right here to Nanai Rd where my hotel is

Karon Dragon Image

As if Buddha is saying “Thou shalt not pass”

Sunny Karon beach

I see this photo on many mud guards, but who is it? Is it Barry Gibb from the Bee Gees?

View from Kata Viewpoint, first beach is Kata Beach, second one is Karon Beach, Patong Beach behind the hills in the distance

I think this sign directs men to a place where they can peep at women?

Still at the viewpoint

Many people came here to enjoy the view, I would love to send up my drone but I’ve learned it’s not strictly allowed or possibly even strictly not allowed, so I keep it hidden in my bag

I followed a dirt road, not knowing where it would end, turns out it leads to Nui Beach, cool!, or so I thought but then it turned out it costs money to visit this beach, even to park my scooter cost money, sorry but I’m too Dutch for that, so I took this photo and left again

I stopped at the Seaview Elephant Camp, paid some money for bananas to feed to the elephant. That was kind of nice but some of the elephants here are chained at their feet and I’m not a fan of that at all. Luckily Seaview Elephant Camp gets a really bad rating op TripAdvisor and the likes to hopefully more and more people will avoid this place like the plague!

Besides feeding elephants you can also feed monkeys here, which I decided to do as well. In hindsight I should not have come here. Once inside the monkey area it turns out they are all chained up and the chains are short too. I don’t understand this is allowed and I hope this place goes bust

I mean, yeah, the monkeys are cute but why chain them up like that?

So sad

Right after taking this photo the monkey grabbed my hand and looked at me with a desperate “PLEASE SAVE ME!” look on its face, really disturbing

At least no worries at…

…Nai Han Beach

Playground

Ko Man as seen from Windmill Viewpoint

Seafood, lots of seafood in this street just east of the Rawai Pier, see here for photos from a previous visit

A lonely fisherman

The Rawai Pier

Me having another awesome smoothie back in Kata and petting the cat that chose my backpack to have a nap on

I’m hungry, I’m in Kata so there’s only one place to go: my beloved Koi Restaurant, I must have been heer a hundred times over the years, it is that good

Garlic & Pepper Chicken curry, the best!

Kata by night, it has changed a lot since I was first here, the place had bars everywhere with bar ladies wanting to play Four in a Row with you and get you to pay for all their drinks. That has all but gone, at least from Kata, it’s now much more family oriented and 80% of the tourists seem to speak some Russian language

It all looks really cosy here, much better than back in NZ where everything seems to be lit by bright fluorescent lighting

A big night market, again full of ‘Russians’ (I can’t tell by their language where they’re actually from but it’s all Russian to me) and food stalls

I’m having some Chicken Kebab, affordable and tasty

And a curry, unfortunately the food was rather bland here, Kiwis would have loved it. That really is what makes the Koi Restaurant so great: it’s where the locals go, so it’s authentic and spicy and not catered to tourists that can’t handle spicy

But it’s really nice what they have done with Kata, good atmosphere

And so much cheap fruit, I wish mangos were affordable in NZ, love them

On the way back to Patong I stop at the Karon Beach Roundabout where they are celebrating something Chinese, looks nice all those lanterns

I do however rent a scooter and drive from Patong to Kata Beach to check for myself what happened with Kata Big Rock. And it’s such a shame what happened to it! This place used to be absolutely bustling with people, most of them diving students. Unfortunately the owner (living in the gorgeous villa up the hill there) wanted to sell the place (pool + hotel) but was asking way too much, so nobody bought it and now it’s just kind of left to rot

This used to be the kitchen where I ordered countless curries, diet cokes and whatnot, really sad

What is however still there is the best restaurant in Phuket : Koi Restaurant. So for lunch I order my favourite dish: the mussaman curry. Om nom nom!

I can’t get enough of Thai food so my dinner is another curry, from a restaurant close to my hotel in Patong this time, it’s not bad but not Koi quality either