Was it bad chicken? Or moldy rice? Perhaps the ice wasn’t made from bottled water. Or, maybe the cook didn’t wash his hands after using the toilet. Whatever the cause, the result was that Paul, Lindsay and I spent our first day in Phuket taking turns running to the bathroom.
The morning we were meant to leave Railay, Lindsay started feeling sick. We bought her some Gatorade and crackers, and left her to rest, while we started our trip to Phuket.
Paul and I had elected to take the long, roundabout transportation from Railay to Thailand’s largest island, which involved a longboat and three minibuses, because it was the cheaper option. Lindsay, wisely, paid for the direct ferry from Railay to Phuket. As we were about to board the boat, Paul began projectile vomiting. He then endured six terrible hours of sitting in a cramped van captained by a crazy Thai driver.
Though his face was the color of curdled cream, somehow he made it through the drive without soiling the interior of the van. We arrived in the main town on Phuket at 3pm.
Phuket is a huge island, taking over an hour to cross it. At the bus station, we learned that the buses that go to the southern part of the island, where we were staying, left from a different bus station, which unfortunately was a mile away. Not suffering from any malaise at this point, I cajoled Paul into walking to the other bus station, with his heavy backpack, in the sun (a very mean thing to do).
Once there, some taxi drivers told us that the bus we were looking for was not in service. Believing them to be dishonest and trying to drum up business, we ignored their offers to drive us. After an hour of rudely brushing them off, another bus driver confirmed that indeed, the bus we sought was not running, and our only option was to take a taxi, which we did with some embarrassment.
This was one of the times we had used hotel points to stay in a very nice resort, and it was exactly what we needed. It would have been horrible if we were booked into a run-down guest house with a shared bathroom.
I checked into the resort, while Paul ran to the bathroom and expelled Gatorade from his body. While he rested, I had a brief chance to enjoy the four swimming pools on the property. Lindsay arrived about an hour later, worse for wear after the ferry ride, and we sneaked her into our room.
It was about this time, that my body decided it was missing out on all the fun, and I too vomited. Team Tucker Trio down for the count.
Fortunately, it didn’t last long, and we had more or less recovered by the next day. Still, we didn’t want to push our bodies, thus we relaxed by the pool. By the afternoon, we had regained most of our strength, so Lindsay ventured into town to do some shopping, and Paul and I took advantage of the free yoga class and paddle boarding offered by the resort. 
The following day, we flew to Bangkok, and Lindsay flew home to Australia. It was an anticlimactic end to our vacation with her, but at least the sickness was short lived. It was bound to happen. No trip to southeast Asia is complete without a case of food poisoning.
Beer of choice: Phuket lager
Yes, we did still manage to drink beer, despite feeling nauseous.