After our Everest to Purgatory roller coaster ride courtesy of the remote and stunning isle of Koh Phi Phi, my saint of a mother graciously booked us at the Holiday Inn Resort at Patong beach in Phuket. Another den of solace from the parade of travelers fully equipped with their Chaing beer wife beater (or singlet as the Aussies deem it), fanny pack and vapid stair. We settled into an amazing room with clean sheets and two options (firm and soft) for the world’s best pillows. Heaven. Also, two firsts for this trip were a shower with a door and a toilet without a bucket of water next to it to flush and a bum gun. Happy girls for sure. I ventured onto the Canal…