Day 11: Porto de Phuket

A timeout from sun and sand was announced today. After spending the day in the air-conditioned apartment or on our terrace, hunger drove us out later in the afternoon.

Porto de Phuket was our destination today. This is a single-story, open-plan shopping center in Choeng Talay, a small district in the west of Phuket Island near Bang Tao.

This block is designed as an upscale shopping mall that gives the impression of a European outlet center, but is not.

Woven through the site, covered walkways connect the five buildings. The canopy provides shade and protection from occasional heavy rain, so you can stroll there without getting wet.

In addition to some more exquisite shops and restaurants, the “Supersport” is particularly worth mentioning, where you can find top brand sporting goods at prices that are quite high for Thailand, but still cheaper by European standards than at home.

Also worth mentioning is the food court with its own restaurant, a bakery with baked goods and delicious pastries, as well as a huge supermarket that leaves little to be desired and does not need to be afraid of comparison with local markets.

Of the excellent restaurants offering exceptional dishes from around Thailand or international gastronomy, we chose an obviously new burger joint, Prime Burger . The double burger with the lattice fries, which is an opening offer for 265 THB/approx. €7, wasn't exactly cheap, but it was all the more delicious. We've had far worse meat patties in local burger joints.

What struck you about the small but nice mall is the extremely clean facility and the fact that there are toilets on every corner.

We definitely enjoyed it there and will definitely come back in the next few weeks.