This is where Bambo should have gone (lots of pics)

[eTiMaGo]

Had I been able to come down here in December... You'll have to visualize the little guy here

Lunch at my mom's place yesterday... All the staff had a day off for Songkran (the Thai New Year), so we stuck around in the afternoon... Roast pork, potato salad, followed by bread and cheese, then creme caramel (not pictured, photographer too busy stuffing his face)




Weather was weird, bright sun but light rain as well, made for some nice nature pics









It was damn hot later so I went for a dip in the pool (not pictured, I'll spare you the horror)


So yeah, a big plug because I can... If anyone's looking to go on holidays to Phuket, I can highly recommend my mom's place www.lejardin-phuket.net

But anyway, in the town proper, it was madness. As you may or may not know, the celebrations of Songkran is also known as the Water festival and people just go wild in the streets drenching each other with waterguns, buckets, etc... We stayed away from all that though, but here's some pics of the madness when we headed out for dinner:





Today, though, my mom and I went out most of the day, to do some sightseeing, and meet some friends on another part of the island, Rawai in the south. The road there is one of my favorites, as the island is quite hilly, this road follows above the western coastline and is quite twisty. Unfortunately there were a lot of people on it ...





First stop of the day was the "Big Buddha", a large statue that had been in construction for several years now on top of a hill, overlooking a large part of the south of the island. It is 45m (135ft) tall and covered in marble, quite impressive. There was a TON of people there so we didn't stick around soooo long...






Some spiritual words:



There's some really nice viewpoints on the way up there, here is Karon beach:

And on the other side, Phuket Town, the main city:



Then we went to pick up some friends and have a refreshment at their lovely house...



And we went off for lunch... to a very secluded little bay nearby with a simple but delicious restaurant by the water. My cousin, who also lives here, met us along with his adorable daughter. I hadn't seen her for over a year, those lil things sure grow fast





Then we headed back home, so here's some interesting pics along the way...



Kata Beach, always some decent waves here, not surf-worthy but fun..



Next beach over, Karon. Used to spend a lot of time here with my friends as a kid:




Mom didn't feel like getting out of the car:

(That's talcum power on the hood, mixed in with the water people splash on each other. And the car is a Honda City, essentially a Fit sedan, heckuvalot of fun to drive I must admit)

And finally the long way back to Le Jardin, over the hilly roads (I used to really rip along these back when I was here with my motorcycle... good days... til I got my mom's car in a ditch )





All right, I hope you enjoyed the ridealong Phuket's getting more and more developed, in the year since I last came there's been so many new buildings and more and more people, but still, this is the place I grew up, the place I consider home, and I love it dearly