Pick Ten: FIL'n'K8 Do Phuket

My wife, Kate, and I have recently returned from a short holiday in Phuket. This was our first time in Thailand, and also our first holiday since both our wedding and the birth of our daugher, Mikah. There were so many enjoyable moments while we were there, that picking out 10 photos was a bit of a challenge. There are many more photos from the trip in my flickr account here. In the mean time, these are 10 of my favourite shots from the trip.



After landing at Phuket airport, we caught a taxi down to the first of two hotels, the Paragon, at the northern end of Patong Beach. We quickly headed for the pool, checked out the pool bar, then got ready to hit town for dinner.



No sooner had we left the hotel, than it started to rain. Thinking this was just going to be a quick tropical blast, we decided to keep walking. By the time we found shelter, we were absolutely drenched and were questioning our own sanity. However, once we did find shelter, we also found a nice little food hall where we had dinner. By the time we were finished dinner, we'd dried off enough to keep on walking and ended up making it to the Jungeylon shops where we did a spot of shopping, picked up a few supplies we hadn't bothered bringing on the plane and then caught a tuk tuk back to the Paragon.

Phuket is definitely alive with building activity at the moment. From small sets of villas to apartment buildings like this one. wherever you head, you'll pass several construction projects along the way. As you can see here, scaffolding methods, or more precisely, materials, are a little different here to those in Australia.










The outdoor bars in the OTOP Markets are a relaxing place for a cold drink or three during an afternoon exploring Patong. The markets are a short walk south of the popular Jungceylon shopping complex in the middle of Patong, and the market stalls here are a lot cheaper than those in the Junceylon basement, although the night markets in Phuket Town seem to be where the real bargains can be found.







We headed a little out of Patong, down to the Kok Chang elephant park, where Kate and I took the time to get up close and personal with an elephant.

The Wat Chalong temples in Phuket Town are an impressive sight, and of course, crowded with tourists. The Wat Chalong temple is considered the most important of the 29 Buddhist temples in Phuket. This photo is not of the main temple, but of a smaller temple in the complex.











One of my favourite meals of the trip was also the cheapest. 440 baht for barbecued catfish, chicken and pork, with a side of salad and some fried rice, two cokes and a king brown of Chang beer.



That night we headed to the weekend night markets in Phuket town, where I couldn't resists sampling some of the local delicacies, in particular, the deep fried insects on offer.



This is why we were there, highschool friends of my wife Kate, Marcus and Danelle, had chosen Thailand as the place they wanted to get married. Danelle was one of Kate's bridesmaids at our wedding, and we were honoured to be invited to join them in Phuket for their wedding.



Not that there's really room for error when you're landing jet aircraft anyway, but Phuket international airport really stresses the point.



Now we're back in Australia, back to our respective day jobs, with the usual sides of a lot of motorsport coming up, and a busy family life as well. Much like our previous USA trips, discussions on the next trip started before we'd even landed, although, again, much like the previous USA trips, it's entirely possible that the next trip will be nothing like we thought it would be either.

Pick Ten: WASCC Twin Trophies Race Meeting

On the weekend just gone, I shot the WA Sporting Car Clubs annual Twin Trophies race meeting, formerly known as the Torque Trophy (for Street Cars), but now renamed to include the Tander Trophy race for Improved Production.

Without too many words, here are 10 of my favourite shots from the meeting.

Toyota 86 visits AFARCC Meeting

Toyota's 86, inspired by the legendary AE86 and known across the planet as the GT-86, 86 and Scion FR-S, and also available as the Subaru BRZ, is making it's way to showrooms in Western Australia at the moment. Last week, the All Fours and Rotaries Car Club of WA were lucky enough to get a sneak peak at the 86 when Toyota WA's Adam Song brought the first 86 to hit WA, a red GTS, to their club meeting.



While some of the loyal Toyota fans (myself included) are having trouble getting past over the Subaru boxer motor under the hood, the price is low enough to leave an 86 buyer with a plethora of options to help them get around that little obstacle, from aftermarket exhausts and turbo kits, to complete drive train swaps, with these cars having already received Toyota V8's and turbo 6's.



The build quality and trim is nothing short of Toyota and Subaru's usual levels, with little touches like windows that lower themselves slightly while the doors are open just the icing on the cake.



Although the Toyota 86 has yet to officially hit WA's streets, there's little doubt that we'll soon be seeing this vehicle, and it's stablemate the Subaru BRZ, become fairly prominent in club level motorsport.



Huge thanks go to John Fowler, for keeping the doors open at Wheels World for us to have the meeting. John has been a friend of AFARCC for many years, and has helped me out several times in the past as well.