Patong Beach #Day3

Today we were off to do some sight seeing! 

After asking around we found our private taxi driver for $1000 baht which is $40aud. We managed to get this cheaper than any of the tuk tuks! It is an air conditioned modern van exactly the same as the one from the airport and he drove us around for 4 hours. 

We drove past the next beach down from us, Karon beach which had a completely different vibe to Patong. Not as busy and much more laid back. 

It’s still crazy to see the way people drive as it is nuts but at the same time it just seems to work as no one is impatient and they wait there turn without any traffic lights. 

First our driver took us to the Big Buddha! A huge statue on top of the hill, 45 meters high built in 2004.

On the way in you get given scarfs to cover your shoulders and skirts to cover you legs to be conservative and respectful. (I was okay in my long skirt and t-shirt) 

Beautiful views from the top of the hill-

Monkeys!! 

From here we went to Wat Chalong Temples. A collection of different temples worshiping Buddha:

We went to a jewlery shop where I’m sure our driver got a commission for taking us there. Of course all we could afford was the sterling silver! 

My suspicion got confirmed when we went to a food store and yet another jewlery store even after insisting on taking us back to the resort. But we eventually made it back in time for the resorts pool party which was good fun! 

We ordered room service from our tv for dinner, so nifty.