Patong Beach

Our first full day in Thailand we took it easy. It was a day dedicated to the beach and relaxing. The night before we were wowed with an amazing authentic Thai dinner for two under $10. It was a multiple course meal which we could not finish. Soup, "egg rolls" (for lack of a better term), a cashew chicken dish, mushrooms and veggie dish, rice (of course) and fresh tropical fruit for dessert. I was introduced to Thai food when we lived in Virginia. A friend from college took me to a Thai restaurant in Richmond and I fell in love. Loving the food I knew I had to share my 'new find' with Rory. As we dined at our local Thai restaurant in Newport News, I never imagined we would one day be sitting on Patong Beach eating Thai! I would love to learn to cook Thai but.... The biggest problem would be they have spices that there aren't even English names for. So what do you want to bet the local Publix won't have what I need. Anyways we will get back to talking about delicious Thai food in later posts on to the beach. Before Breakfast the three of us took a short stroll along the beach.

Here Dylan is posing with the Long Tail Boats.
After Breakfast it was back to the room to lather up. We are all very pale and were in much need of sunscreen. Sweet Dylan gets to have his head covered in sunscreen as well since he has such light fine hair. Instead of leaving it a sticky mess, Mom gave him a mohawk
Family Beach fun!

Views down Patong Beach, Phuket, Thailand.

After spending time at the beach we strolled around the shopping areas nearby.Tuk Tuk (taxi) - taxis lined up along the street

OK look at the motorbike with side cart.

We saw these get ups everywhere. Some one would ride their job to where ever they decided to work that day. Many were 'roadside diners'. You could get full meals, smoothies, dessert waffles and much more at these carts. Very interesting to see how other cultures work with what they have.

This is a very large and ornate spirit house. Not all are so large nor adorned with so many offerings and decorations. These structures can be found everywhere in front of homes and businesses alike. The idea or purpose of the spirit house is to provide shelter for spirits which could cause problems for the people if not appeased. Offerings are to be brought to the spirit house regularly. We saw many different types of offerings. I must say that seeing a half drunk bottle of Pepsi on the spirit house had me wondering .

Many times the color of the spirit house is the lucky color of the elder - i.e. the President of the company or Head of the Household. I don't remember all the lucky colors but they correspond with the day of the week you were born. For example Friday is blue so anyone born on a Friday should have a blue car, plant blue flowers around their home, and paint their spirit house blue.

That evening a storm rolled in - here it is coming in over the water