Thailand - The Rough Guide to Southeast Asia on a Budget - page 801

rocky shore, the fifteen bungalows at this Swedish-Thai-
run guesthouse have generous amounts of space, hot
showers and balconies, some enjoying sea views; there's
also a swimming pool, internet access, free wi-fi and
motorbike rental. Get off the bus at the Poseidon sign
between kilometre-stones 5 3 and 54, then phone for a
pick-up or walk 1km. Double B950

- and the Gibbon Rehabilitation Centre
(daily 9am-4.30pm; B200 national park
admission fee; W gibbonproject.org),
which is in Phra Taew National Park,
10km northeast of the Heroines'
Monument, off Route 4027. It's
accessible by songthaew from Phuket
Town heading towards Bang Rong or
Ao Po (most frequent in the mornings;
about 40min; B40); ask for Bang Pae,
then it's a 1km walk.
Phuket's west-coast beaches are
connected by road; however, to get
from one beach to another by public
transport (songthaew) you have to go
back into Phuket Town, or take an
exorbitantly priced taxi or tuk-tuk.
Motorbikes can be rented on all the
beaches but be sure to wear a helmet, as
the compulsory helmet law is strictly
enforced on Phuket and the driving is
probably the worst in hailand.

10

EATING AND DRINKING
BANG NIANG
Khao Niau In front of the market. Rustic, open-sided
restaurant dishing up very good northeastern Thai food,
including loads of salads (from B60) such as som tam
(green papaya salad). Daily 1-10pm; closed 9th and 23rd
of each month.

NANG THONG
Happy Snapper North of Jai , east side of road. Khao
Lak's most famous dive-staff hangout has a folksy lounge
ambience and a drinks menu that runs to over a hundred
cocktails. There's live music Mon-Sat from around 10.30pm,
and a chill-out DJ on Sun - plus the occasional open-mike
session. Daily 8.30pm-1am.
O Rendezvous Next to Sea Dragon Dive Centre, east side
of road T 084 325 8106. Highly regarded, indoor-outdoor,
French-Thai bar-restaurant, where you can feast on duck
in orange and wine sauce (B400) or Thai specialities like
chicken matsaman curry (B140). Daily 5pm-midnight
(kitchen closes 10pm). Closed May-Oct.

Phuket Town
Most visitors only remain in PHUKET
TOWN long enough to jump on a
beach-bound songthaew; they run
regularly throughout the day from
hanon Ranong by the market in the
town centre to all the main beaches
(B25-40). However, it's a good place to
base yourself to explore the island, as all
songthaews connect here, and the town
has the best-value budget accommodation
and restaurants on the island. With
some fine colonial-style (so-called
Sino-Portuguese) architecture, this is an
authentic hai town, in striking contrast
to the tailor-made tourist settlements that
make up the rest of the island, and it has
a few art galleries, handicrafts shops and
a decent used-book shop on its central
east-west road, hanon Phang Nga. he
next road up, hanon halang, is
pedestrianized for strolling and shopping
as a “ walking street ” every Sunday
evening. Every evening, the night market
materializes around 6pm near Robinson
department store on the southeast side of
the centre. he town hosts the spectacular
Vegetarian Festival over nine days in
October or November, which features
mind-blowing acts of self-mortification
( W phuketvegetarian.com).

PHUKET
hailand's largest island and a province in
its own right, Phuket (pronounced
“Poo-ket”) ranks second in tourist
popularity only to Pattaya. houghtless
developments have scarred much of the
island, particularly along the central west
coast, and the trend on all the beaches is
to cater very much for package tours,
with very few budget resorts left.

WHAT TO SEE AND DO
Phuket is hailand's most important
diving centre, offering access to some of
the most spectacular reefs in the world.
he sea gets quite rough during monsoon
season (May-Oct), when diving is less
rewarding and swimming can be
dangerous. Aside from the beaches and
the reefs, the island's main attractions
include the dramatic headland of Laem
Promthep at Phuket's southernmost tip
- a popular coach-tour stop for sunset