We had looked around earlier on our way back from Danny's for tonight's dinner and almost opposite was a street restaurant which looked very popular, had a great display of seafood out front. We had watched them get it ready while we were having our beers at Danny's place; o.k., choice made.

It looked very busy when we arrived. I guess it was peak hour so we popped back into Danny's for a few beers and we could see when the rush was over. Just after nine all the screaming kids and their parents had left leaving those that live in the grown-up world to enjoy their dinner in peace. I opted for the spicy chicken cooked with basil rice and fried veg; still makes me dribble now, it was so good. My partner had oh um oh well spaghetti bolognese. This was a great meal and less than half the price of the one on the beach. We stayed longer after we finished our meal and had a few more icy beers. I ended up feeding a street full of stray dogs with the left-overs from the restaurant; even the woman working there gave me bits of chicken to give to them, poor things.

Next morning was the eve of my birthday and two American friends of ours that live in China had flown out to help us celebrate and we did. Started quite early in the afternoon with a few more beers - like you do. A quick wash and brush up after a day at the pool, plus Ting Tong in tow. We got a tuk tuk to Patong. Well, this took me back to Patpong in Bangkok some twenty years ago but this was on a much bigger scale. The moment we got out of the tuk tuk, herds of hands flapping menus of tonight's food and sex that was available. Luckily, we had all seen this a hundred times before, but it still makes me laugh. Drones were hurtling overhead, fluorescent bits of plastic fired into the air: who buys all this rubbish? We headed for a bar in a huge hanger of a place where there were chunks of trees with nails in it. The idea was to hit it right on the head, the winner gets a free beer. Our American friend took on a ladyboy and with one fell swoop he hit home: one free beer won. The ladyboy obviously wanted revenge but, the same again, two free beers. We had worn our welcome out, time to move on.
We headed for the 7 Eleven and stocked up on beers, went hunting for somewhere to eat. Our American friends knew Patong very well and we were soon sat down, going through a huge menu. 
We decided to order about six main courses between us and and share. It was a mouthwatering feast. You just can't beat Thai food: spicy with a fresh clean taste.

It was just about getting dark by now, so we popped into our favourite shop, filled a bag with beers and headed back to the hotel for a shower; ready for tonight's entertainment. We just got through the gate and who was there to greet us, you've got it, kitty… Well, kitty deserved a name and instantly Ting Tong came out of my mouth, Ting Tong it was. He followed us up to the room but we wondered if the hotel staff might not like this. Too late; he was in and hunting around for the bag with the cat biscuits which he found rapidly on a table next to the TV.
We got ready to go out and he happily played around, running behind the curtains out on the balcony, Ting Tong wasn't scared of anything. We finished our beers and it was time to go out. Ting Tong just followed us downstairs but there was someone at reception; I thought ‘oops, we've been caught’, but no reaction. I asked who's was the cat and they said it arrived at their hotel some weeks earlier, they thought he’d come from a cat in the hotel next door. They didn’t mind him being there, so that was it: his official home.

I would just like to add here that we did look into bringing Ting Tong home with us. I contacted KLM and they gave me details; it was all very reasonable except on checking through the Internet on Thai rules, it meant that he would need injections at least 21 days before travelling. Of course, we wouldn’t be there that long (who would?) So, after a lot of discussion and hard thinking in my head, we decided his life was there, not in the city that is Amsterdam. Rightly or wrongly, we will now never know but I wished him a nice long life when we left. I hope the staff in the hotel look after him. As a parting gift we gave them the largest bag of cat biscuits we could find.

I must say the car journey from the airport to Kamala was pretty uneventful. There is not much to see until you climb a hill and catch sight of a long beach on your right. Past Phuket FantaSea, the theme park, which is, in my view, a torture chamber for elephants. FantaSea happened to be around the corner from Kamala Beach, our destination. Passing the usual massage parlours, shops selling flip-flops and t-shirts, both of which I will almost certainly get, before pulling up at our hotel, called the Layalina. In we marched, by now pretty knackered. After the usual information overload on arrival we finally get to see our room. Our room was on the first floor, large enough with a spiral staircase just inside the door, leading to a roof terrace with a day bed and a canopy over; far too hot up there. By the time we left, we hadn't used it. The only odd thing about the room was that the toilet, bath and shower where only partitioned by a Venetian blind from the bedroom itself so privacy, if needed, could be an issue, as it turned out for us it wasn't a problem.
We decided to go for a sleep for a few hours. It is recommended that a cycle of three hours is enough, so that's what we did. I only snoozed at best but when it was time to get up I was ready to go and explore. It was just the right time, the sun being over the yardarm already. Off to ‘7 Eleven’. Armed with a bag full of beers, peanuts and crisps we went back to our room.

Coming out of the the lovely cold shop we turned right passing Danny’s Place, which we would come to know well over the next few days. Close to the hotel is a local tsunami monument, to which, it seemed, many tours pulled up. On we plodded coming across a BBQ restaurant - highly recommended by Trip Advisor - only to find it was closed till the autumn. Next we headed over a footbridge onto Kamala beach itself and, luckily, found a good few beach bars and restaurants one of which we earmarked to have dinner in later that evening called Smile. By the time we got to the main road, we realised there really wasn't more this end, so we headed back to the hotel having done our first bit of exploring. Time for a wash and brush up.
After a drink in a small beach bar, we went to Smile, to have dinner with ‘our toes in the Thai sand’. Smile has a BBQ at the front with a display of fresh fish, lobster and large prawns, making it very difficult to make a decision. I eventually chose the prawns barbecued with rice and vegetable. My partner went for chili beef fried rice, all washed down with more freezing beer. In hindsight this was to be the most expensive meal we had in Kamala; though we did go back to Smile, I left the seafood alone.
After our yummy dinner we headed off to look for a bar for after dinner beers. Apart from a couple of girlie bars there really wasn’t the kind of thing we were looking for. We quickly learned that just going into any restaurant and asking for a beer was fine. By this time it was well gone midnight and the street was all but empty: time for bed.