The Hilton is located on the Karon beach. When the sun started to go down, we left the serenity of the resort to walk on the beach and explore the town further north.
The beach is nice although not exceptional. Like for most beaches in Asia, it's time to start collecting waste on a daily basis. It's sad to see so much garbage on the sand brought by the tide or left behind by non respectful tourists.
The town is small and full of restaurants, shops and everything you need to make a tourist happy in Thailand: travel agents to book tours, massage salons, and bars with hostesses. We witnessed the arrival of a group of men in a street full of bars and the Thai hostesses running to them trying to lure them in their respecting bar. I was chocked and disgusted especially when seeing the smile on the faces of the men. Clearly they came to Thailand for something else than the sun.
We had been told Phuket would be more expensive than Chiang Mai and indeed it is. People asked us 40 bath (that's the Thai currency) for a can of diet coke. So far the most expensive one was 20 bath a can and that was in a remote area. We said no and searched further. Seems the standard price in Phuket is 25 bath. Massages are also more expensive: 250 bath for 1 hour vs. 200. On top over here chances are higher that something extra will be offered, especially for men. Thus we decided to stick to women for masseuses and in visible area i.e. no room or back room. Just to be on the safe side.
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