The Scene: Phuket Town, Thailand

Figure 2. The Local Bus Depot

The good news is that during the festival Phuket offers some of the best value accomodation, in some of the most scenic areas, in all East Asia. The bad news is that the festival is nowhere near those scenic areas. It is not in any of Phuket's wonderful beach towns, but in Phuket town itself - a noisy, polluted, predominantly drab typical Thai hub. There are buses between Phuket town and the beach (shown in Figure 2), but they stop running at 6PM and most of the festival events are after 7PM (the remainder are at 7AM or earlier). There are some options:

• Stay at the beach and rent a car or motorbike. This means adding the risks of night driving (and slippery roads, since the festival is near the end of the monsoon) to those listed below. Very, very bad idea.

• Stay at the beach and take a taxi to/from the festival. Budget about $US10 round-trip.

• Stay in town and commute to the beach during the day. The scenic round-trip bus ride takes about one hour and costs about $US1. This means paying more for accomodation that is much less appealing, however.

WARNING: Road-related Injuries

A widely distributed pamphlet, published by the Bangkok Phuket Hospital, sums it up: Most roads are two-lane and most vehicles are motorcycles displacing 150 cc or less. There are numerous samlors, three-wheeled, modified motorcycles used mainly by small vendors; these drive slowly. Larger vehicles often exceed the speed limit, weaving in and out between slower traffic by entering the oncoming lane. It is not unusual to find oneself being passed on the left shoulder. As a result of these and other factors, serious accidents affect nearly five-percent of Phuket's registered population yearly, and a large percentage of these occur in the tourist areas, frequently involving tourists. You've been warned.