6 Week Gap Year

28th November (Tuesday)
Off with my new faithful Passepartout Jim, who is taking me on a tour of the Southern part of the island. We start off heading for a hill area just outside Phuket town called Khoa Rang where the views of the town and the bays are regarded as being excellent. As we ascend the hill I can already see we are not going to get the clearest of views today. At the summit we can look across the town and far away to the bays and sea but there is a haze which spoils the clarity. What is interesting is the amount of new houses being built and they are easily identified by their orangey red roof colour. New 2 bed houses are selling in good locations for around 2 to 2.5 million Baht (£30,000 to £36,000) and are set to increase due to demand. Locals as usual are priced out of the market but tend to rent anyway. We make our way through Phuket town and aim for one of the main Temples of the island, Wat Chalong. Thailand is a Buddhist country and temples are a common sight around the towns and villages with some truly spectacular looking ones popping up here and there. Wat Chalong is a working temple with a population of Buddhists Monks.
Go to the headland overlooking Kata and Karon Bays and drive through them. like being in the Costas in Spain. Drive on to Patong where I ask to be left for a couple of hours as Jim reckons I should walk the town and see what their most liveliest town is like. I have a different agenda though because I read somewhere a few months ago that Keith Floyd was opening a restaurant in a hotel called Burasari in Patong. I had mentioned it to a few people back home but no one else had heard of it and I couldn’t find the article again so I began to think I had imagined it. How ever the Burasari Hotel website confirmed that Keith Floyd was indeed opening a restaurant. Jim dropped me outside the hotel and I wandered in. It is an interesting hotel which at first feel seems a little cramped. The central part of the complex has the pool and sun area and the rooms obviously surround it. I walked along a small corridor and turned right at the end where there was a casual dining area but set amongst hanging gardens of greenery and small pools and plant. A fine mist was constantly sprayed from the eaves of the rooves and pergola structures and gave a cooling effect. Just ahead and to my left there was a large wooden open structure which held a bar and seating area and seemed agreeably comfortable. Back out of there was the open kitchen area and beyond that was a restaurant room. Being inquisitive I walked in and enjoyed the air conditioning for a few moments. It was an ordinary restaurant style, clean and quite bright with pictures of Keith dotted around the walls in the sort of poses we have come to know him for over the years complete with hat. Well, he’s obviously got the business going but he’s not in residence today. It would seem that meals from the restaurant are an evening event so looks like I’m disappointed. Turn around and walk out and one of the chefs is walking towards me and her uniform has Floyd’s embroidered on it, I ask if I can photograph her by the kitchen and the result is on Snapfish as usual. With the normal delay too, sorry. Return to the open bar area and decide to have a bar lunch and treat myself to a Singapore Sling. Got a taste for them in Singapore. Sit down and Yaaayyy the man himself walks in and sits down on the other side of the seating area. Cool! His distinctive tones are heard across the bar and it is obvious he is working out menus and stuff. I order a beef sandwich having been dissuaded from the Tuna one by the young bar waiter who was very attentive. I was trying to take some photos of the bar when suddenly I got Keith in the viewfinder and whoops! Got a sneaky photo of him. Unfortunately for me I had pressed the “turn flash on” button accidentally so every one knew what I had done. A young, very elegant and tall lady got up from Keith’s table and approached me. That’s it, I’m about to thrown out of a very upmarket hotel in front of a man I have enjoyed watching cook over the years and not be able to finish my drink or delicious beef sandwich.
“Hello I’m Lily the General Director for the Hotel, how are you enjoying Mr Floyd’s food? Are you visiting us for lunch?” I explained why I was there and she said she would talk to Mr Floyd and if he had a moment he would come over and chat. And he did. Stayed and talked for about 20 minutes or so and gave me an insight into his vision for the restaurant and bar and how it would look when opening night arrived on 22nd December 2006. He is great. Easy to talk to, full of ideas and still had time to listen to my adventures and answer my questions. The restaurant will have 2 distinct menus. One, exclusively Western and the other distinctly Thai. No crossover of styles or tastes, just each as they should be. The bar area we sat in was his also and will be rejuvenated and known as Hector’s Bar. Hector is to be a parrot and will have a partner but final details are yet to be planned is my impression. The waiter brought him over a drink of whiskey and water but it had an unwanted addition, a piece of lime. I and the waiter then got pure Floyd repartee and wit but all done in a generous fashion. Keith left soon after clutching menu ideas but introducing me to his wife Tess, suggesting we exchange blog addresses. I then spent the next hour and a half with Mrs Floyd which seemed to flash by in an instant. I am invited to return during the week and Keith will willingly provide photo opportunities for the blog.
Dinner this evening is, at the suggestion of Jim, at a café the locals and boatyard and marina workers visit. It is very basic, as is the menu. Boiled rice, fried rice, Red curry, green curry, garlic and pepper, chilli and so on. Turn the menu over and you can choose from chicken, pork, beef or seafood. Going against all my instincts to leave immediately I order red curry chicken and fried rice with chicken and a Singha beer. This, I know is going to come tasting of coconut and yoghurt which I hate, hot with chillies which I love, but none the less which must be tried and tasted to say that I have done so. It is delicious. Very hot, way up in the Schovilles range as expected, but has a great taste of aniseed which almost hides but somehow compliments the creamy coconut and is really a great explosion of hot, sour, sweet and aniseed in the mouth. By the end I’m swea…… sorry David, perspiring profusely but full and satisfied. Outstanding value at 105Bht. (£1.50) including the beer. Went back to the apartment and drank half litre of water and 2 cans of beer to try and cool my mouth down!