When the Liveaboard Dive Boat M.V Mariner docked we had to wait a few minutes for our taxi to Patong beach.
After an hour and a half ride we reached the town of Patong Beach, where we had a room booked.
On arrival at the hotel we had to wait an hour for a room to be allocated, as the owners were unhappy that Booking.com had made the reservation at a super low rate, at one of their peak periods. But holding to their word our booking was honoured.
When we got the room it was a very nicely furnished and decorated suite. The only drawbacks were that the front of the room overlooked a main street and the back overlooked a canal that was basically an open sewer. (This is Asia, you have to accept these things.)
We spent a few days unwinding because David had a terrible ear ache. We tried out the local restaurants, lying on the beach and doing a bit of shopping. The streets were packed with traffic and people and no one seemed to know who was allowed to use the intersections first. I know Jo didn't feel to safe crossing roads at all. Just seemed like mayham! We also visited the Tiger Kingdom where you are allowed to go into the enclosures with the tigers and pet them. The following day we went into the rainforest to ride zip lines through the canopy.
As David was ill with his ear infection he went to bed soon after our dinner on new years eve. The fireworks were going off all around the town from about 7pm until 2am on January 1st. Jo ended up watching most of the fireworks on her own but managed to wake up David at midnight to wish him a Happy New Year.
The next leg of our trip is to go to the famous island of Koh Tao.