Phuket town 11/27/12

   Yesterday we rented a motorbike in phangnga and took in into the nearby jungle covered hills under the advice of the man who rented it to us. Our first stop was a waterfall just off the main highway down a trail into the jungle. Unfortunately we didn't get to see the main falls, just the river and short rock falls leading up to it. The trail was cut short by a large jungle vegetation fall, made only possible by wading through river. So we turned around drove onto our next destination, a food market in Thap Put. It seems the further you get from the beaten path the more interesting the people get and the cheaper the food gets! We collected our lunchtime feast of Thai snacks from 3-4 different stands and sat down to eat. Soon following us was glassy-blood shot eyed local man, missing his 4 front teeth, eating a small orange, who sat down at our table. My first thought was " Oh great what does this guy want". But then perfectly formed English sentences came out of his gap toothed mouth, asking us where we were from, and casual small talk. Turns out he was vegetable stand owner at the food market. He then went on to explain how happy he was with his life. How he had many friends around the small town and was perfectly content with his modest income. One of my favorite parts of traveling is the interesting interactions with the people you would never meet if you were to stay home on the couch. Traveling shows you things not even your television can show you. Hear that America!  :)
    So this morning we jumped on a bus to head down south to Phuket town, where we will stay for a couple nights before we fly out. A couple blocks away from where we got dropped off in Phuket we landed on a dorm style room hostel called Backpacker Phuket. The room was pretty cheap (250 baht, $8) and the nearby market has some good local food. Next post I should be in the Hong Kong airport waiting to get my visa, until then.
Sawadee kap