A long lie after the rather disturbed noisy night then ashore to take the local bus into Phuket. It is really slow but you are out of the sun and you have plenty of time to look around which I certainly cannot do when driving on these really busy roads. We bought some new fishing tackle some new flipflops each and a stroll through the old town which is very attractive and very Chinese in style. There are a lot of Chinese visitors as this is the Chinese New Year and at each well painted house front they would stop do their pose and take a photograph. We were back to the boat by mid-afternoon for a rest and drinks. We went ashore to the Cruising Club for Taco Tuesday but it was a special night to celebrate Brent’s wife birthday and Jason ( a young American who lost a leg and an arm in a motorbike accident a few years ago and decided to take up a new interest, bought a boat and sailed the pacific and ended up in Phuket for at least a year) who was now about to sail off to south Africa. There was a Philipino band with 2 attractive singers who seemed to encourage the old sailors -much older than me- to get up and dance very energetically. There was about 35 people there – a wonderful selection of food provided and great Margaritas at £1 each. We did notice a large group -again of very senior sailors passing round their reefers sitting back and enjoying the evening. All of whom were either going to get onto a motorcycle to drive home or manage a dinghy and outboard of a bumpy windy beach – but they had survived doing the same thing for many years.