Phuket

bed count: 15

In Phuket, but just for a few days and we're not planning on heading to the beach, which I know some of you will think is heresay.

However, having done beaches for the past week and a half, the main objective in Phuket was to find somewhere with aircon and a pool (sea is a bit rough to swim in on this side of the penninsular at this time of year and we had no air-con for 3 days in some of the hottest weather we have experienced so far). So - we have splashed out a whole 19 quid a night to stay at the Diamond Cottage Resort and Spa. (Lesley - you'll be pleased, this is the little bit of luxury you were telling Alec to make sure we had...). :)

And very posh it is too, particulalry when you're used to having to supply your own loo paper. We knew we were somewhere special when we were greeted at reception with cold, scented towels, (straight form the fridge) and a glass of iced water. I tried, but failed, to persuade the bell boy to let me carry my own backpack to the room, which was quite funny as it's a bit heavy he was quite a bit shorter than me...

So - our room has a pool view, aircon, a fridge (beer about 90p a can, but even cheaper if you go to the 7 Eleven and use the fridge to keep it cool) and satellite TV. The height of luxury!

The spa is great too. I had a body polish and a facial this morning for a bargain price and am feeling all luxurious now. So, we're being a bit spoilt, but we'll have to head back to the hostels eventually.

Off to Chiang Mai tomorrow. We have decided to fly from Phuket to Chaing Mai and then work our way back down the country to save time and avoid retracing our steps.

An update on what we've been up to follows, and more sets of pics are available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kirstenandalec/sets/