A-Broad in Education: Traveling in Thailand: Third stop... Phuket

Hello from Krabi! Sadly, my trip will be coming to an end soon. My time in Phuket was very short and overall I spent about a day there. I didn't see too much of Phuket but my experience was great.

After the two hour flight from Chiang Mai to Phuket, my flight didn't land until about midnight. Patong, the beach area that I was staying in, was about a forty minute drive from the airport. It had been raining so much before my arrival, however I wasn't going to let that ruin my trip. I arrived to the hotel around 2am and of course it was a mess. There was construction on the sidewalk area and I literally had to do a balance beam gymnastics walk across a board, just to get into the front door. Once I got inside, the room was fine. They just needed to quickly update the front entrance, but I assume they were aware of that. Either way I had to hurry and get to sleep because I had booked an island tour for the day and I was going to be picked up at 8am.

I got up then next morning and I was so tired. I guess I hadn't realized how much moving I had been doing. The entire trip thus far had been so much that all I really wanted was to sleep. Surprisingly, I got myself up and got ready for the day. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect but the plans entailed a speed boat tour to four islands (Phi Phi Island, Maya Bay, Monkey Island, and James Bond Island). To give a little bit of history, Phi Phi (pee pee) Island is where the movie The Beach was filmed. The star actor in that movie was Leonardo DiCaprio. If you haven't seen the movie, its worth seeing it. Also James Bond Island was where the film James Bond was filmed. It was filmed in 1974 for the film The Man with the Golden Gun.

When the van picked me up, once again , I was the ONLY representation of my people! The van was full of Chinese people and a few Australians. On the way to the port, I was very surprised to see the looks nearby. It was later explained to me that Phuket and Thailand as a whole, has a large population of Gypsies. These people are coming from Indonesia. From the information that I received, the Thai president welcomes them to come to the country with open arms, however their living arrangements look like this. Most of the people driving the boats were Gypsies. Please don't quote me because I haven't done any research, this was just the information given to me when I asked.

When we arrived to the docking area, we were greeted by Miss Gina! Miss Gina made it loud and clear not to call him "Mr" because he was too sexy to be a "Mr"! Miss Gina was a lady boy and was proud of it. The first thing I noticed was these nails!

Miss thing had it goin on! When I address her in this post, I will refer to her as "her" and not "him"! Miss Gina made my trip worth while!

When we got on the boat, Miss Gina made it loud and clear... "ladies and gentleman we have a toilet on board...pee pee only.. don't leave a big BOMB!" I knew right then and there that I liked Miss Gina.

She also mentioned, " I know its raining outside, if you want nice weather, don't talk to me... talk to him." She pointed at the sky!

When I got on the boat, I saw a few folks looking at me but before we could even pull off, it all started... excuse me... can my mom take a picture with you? I heard that when Black folks visit China, they are so amused with us that they will often ask to take a picture with us... but damn... in Thailand? I haven't even been to China yet. Ya know I took the picture though... I wrote that down as request number two! The first was the Emirate guy on the bamboo boat. There was a German couple on the boat as well and from the looks, the man was more interested in me than his own wife. I sat down and got comfortable and do you know... his wife turned, tapped me and said... photo? I was thinking she wanted me to take a picture of them but her ass wanted a picture of me too... the husband pointed at his camera and all I saw was a flash.... request number three. Ol girl couldn't speak dang near any English but she knew how to ask me for a picture. I could already tell what kind of trip this was going to be...

We took off and made it to the first island and it was beautiful. I mean clear water and beautiful scenery. The water was so clear, you could see the fish swimming from the boat.

I have seen beaches before but nothing like this. This was definitely another moment when I had to just sit back and thank God for the many blessings in my life. We were able to get off of the boat and sit on the shore for about hour. Its funny because I always laugh at people who take selfies. Especially after the new song, I think it's hilarious. Everybody on the island was doing it! Shoot I took a few myself. It was too perfect of a view not to.

We stopped by Monkey Island next and of course there were monkeys living on the island. There were so many monkeys in the trees. People were feeding them; throwing bread and bananas and they were fighting over the food. They were cute but of course I had to keep my distance. I've heard about monkeys attacking people and I know they can get pretty dangerous.

We headed to the next Island to have lunch. I was sitting and eating with the German couple and of course I was invited to come to Berlin to visit them. They gave me their contact information and basically said if I am ever in Germany, feel free to get in touch. I probably wont though! I think that husband has a hidden agenda. I've always heard that German women love Black men but the German men aren't too far behind.

After lunch, we got back on the boat and Miss Gina saved me a seat right next to her. She said to me... and you Miss... follow me... I thought she had smuggled something fun on the boat but she just wanted some company. We started talking and I was asking her about Thailand. My first question was about the boat drivers because they were dark skinned like me. She was the one who explained to me that they were from Indonesia and why they were in Thailand. There were a few remarks that didn't sit well with me so I said... well they look like me... and she quickly responded with...oh no... your skin is beautiful. In my opinion, they didn't look any different from me. They are as dark as I am. I guess it was orgin that played a role in this conversation.

I didn't notice before but you can see the two boat drivers in this picture.
They look like a mixture of Indian and Asian features but they have dark skin.

Then I asked her why it was so many Chinese people in Thailand. She said about ninety percent of the deaths in Thailand are Chinese folks. They come to Thailand and see the beautiful water and with no experience with snorkeling and swimming, they just jump in the water. She explained that in school, Thai people learn to swim. I thought it was funny because she made a reenactment of what a dead person looks like when they drown snorkeling... she said when we see them doing this...we know to get help!! By then they are already gone anyway....that was sad. It looked like a person snorkeling with their arms out... but their head never comes up. She mentioned that there was a death at Phi Phi Don last week and they had to get someone out who was floating... I'm sorry you all if you don't think it's funny but coming from Miss Gina... it was hilarious. Not at death but her telling the story of how it happens. Lord forgive me... I know I'm wrong.

Moving on... While I'm on the subject of Chinese folks... they are going through a new era of wanting to change dominant and critical features that make them who they are. I saw it for the first time in Bangkok but as I've kept traveling, I've seen it more and more. There is this new contact lens that they are putting in their eyes to make their eyeball look bigger to create less of a squint. It's amazing because it really works...I'm not sure if it's safe to swim in salt water with contacts but they were. Here is a photo of what it looks like.

Overall, I can't give much feedback on Phuket itself because my entire time there was spent on the islands. I didn't see much of it but according to some other tourists, I don't think it's much to see. I heard many people go there for the beach and to do the island hopping. On the way out, I saw that much of the area is under construction. Just like my hotel, they are trying to reconstruct the whole area and right now it's not that beautiful. I did enjoy myself though. I also found Miss Gina on Facebook. Thanks Mark Zuckerberg... Facebook is a wonderful tool for me to keep in touch with my international friends!!