Today we arrived in Thailand at Phuket Airport. We caught a Air Asia flight from Singapore - one of the more budget airlines. I thought the service was particularly good for a $80 international flight, Chris on the other hand thought the flight was a bit rough - physically speaking. We got here all safe and sound :)

Our travel guide (lonely planet guide book) told us it should cost us around 340 baht for a taxi from Phuket Airport to Phuket Town. So when faced with a local trying to sell us a 400 baht ride to town we said NO and promptly walked away from him and out of the airport. Soon we realized that was about the only option around and tried to get back into the airport to accept his offer and were denied entry. Shame. So we sat outside in the heat for a while until finally somebody asked us if we wanted to mini-van it to town. Yes! Only 100 baht each (that's about NZ$3.50). Sweet.

Phuket Town is sorta what we expected, hot and kinda run down. However, the people and the place just seemed a lot friendlier than Malaysia - both Chris and I feel a lot more at home here than we did there.

We didn't actually have a place to stay booked so we followed our guide and found "Thalang Guest House" on Thalang Road. For only 330 baht for the room with bathroom and hot water and two breakfasts included, it was quite a steal. Smelled kinda funky tho.

We ventured down to Hat Kata / Hat Karon on a Tuk Tuk that afternoon to finally see one of these beaches that you hear / read about / watch on tv. It's quite touristy but amazing nonetheless. And HOT! The sun beams down and we sweat. A lot.

Tomorrow we are going to grab our packs and try to find a place at Kata Beach - hopefully we find a nice place that doesn't cost a bomb!