| It is paradise:
A place so perfect and beautiful it heals your heart
and fills you with the burning fire of life from a
sun so benevolent everything it touches turns to life
and gold. It is Thailand. Phuket Island, Thailand.
A spur of land disjointed from the dog’s
leg of the Thai peninsula between Malaysia and Myanmar,
Phuket Island is a shining gem brilliant in the golden
setting of the Andaman Sea. You will not believe such
a place exists. So pristine and idyllic a setting
that it has been the focal point of James Bond movies
(1974:The Man with the Golden Gun) and a Leonardo
Decaprio film called The Beach that dispelled the
myth of ultimate paradise. But that movie was fiction,
and the place it was filmed is real, and it is here.
Triathlon event producer, athlete agent,
general heavy-hitter and multisport bon vivant Murphy
Reinschrieber took Hollywood’s lead and came
here to stage a race in a place so perfect for our
sport it begs one question: Why don’t more people
come here to do this race?
2003 was the 10th anniversary of the
Laguna Phuket Triathlon. This year the event attracted
405 athletes from 20 countries. The race is a 1.1-mile
swim (roughly), 34-mile bike and a 7.4-mile run on
Phuket Island beginning and ending in the magnificent
resort of Laguna Phuket. The event is produced in
cooperation with several agencies promoting tourism
in Thailand, on Phuket and within the resort itself
and Thai Airways International. As a result the normal
logistical concerns over producing a race are non-existent
here. The Island wants the race. The Thais want the
race. It seems like most of the Island supports the
race in some way. I have never seen so many police
on a racecourse. The only place I have seen aid stations
so well staffed with such well trained volunteers
(many of them complete strangers to the sport until
race day) is Ironman Hawaii.
How cooperative are the local authorities?
Well, put it this way: Two days before the race a
group of athletes (including myself) wanted to pre-ride
the bike course. Race Director Murphy Reinschrieber
had no difficulty arranging a full police motorcade
for us complete with Thai Police on BMW motorbikes
and police cars with lights flashing. We had a police
escort the entire way and a sag vehicle as well. They
also closed the freeway and re-routed traffic so we
could train on the course. When was the last time
you got a presidential escort for a training ride?
The host resort for the event is Laguna
Phuket. Laguna Phuket is what happens when a resort
is done correctly. It melds well with the environment
and only barely “feels” like a resort.
I am not a resort person, but it is easy to love this
place as an athlete and traveler. It’s perfect
for a triathlon. Accommodations are spacious, so luxurious
Conde Naste travel magazine voted one of the hotels
within Laguna Phuket “The Best Resort in the
World”. The service is so impeccable and attentive
you understand what it must be like to be a Saudi
Prince, British Royalty or some other elite.
I also have to give credit to Deepak
Patel of Premium Plus Sports in Chicago, Illinois.
I made all my travel arrangements through Premium
Plus Sports and recommend them highly. Premium Plus
Sports has been dedicated to organizing and providing
logistical support at multi-sport events for over
16 years. Patel himself has visited the venues of
every race he supports travel too. He is fluent in
English, Arabic, Italian and Hindi. Deepak Patel has
been in the travel business all his adult life, and
he understands the logistics and details involved
in athlete travel as well as the unique requirements.
Premium Plus Sports arranges complete travel and lodging
packages for athletes going to events around the world
such as worldwide Ironman events (France, Brazil,
New Zealand, etc.), the ITU World Championships and
virtually every other high level marathon, triathlon
and adventure race around the world. I made one phone
call to Deepak Patel (who answers the phone personally)
and he made all my travel and lodging arrangements.
I made some additional inquiries using Expedia.com
and Northwest Airlines as well as another travel agent.
Premium Plus Sports was over $300 less expensive than
the next closest alternative (which was Expedia.com).
They provided extras such as ground floor accommodations
(easier when you travel with a bike case), free bike
flight on Northwest and Thai airlines, a four star
hotel at my layover in Bangkok and even excellent
ground transport. It is worth pointing out I received
no additional discounts or incentives for writing
about Premium Plus Sports. Deepak Patel didn’t
even know I intended to do a story on the race.
The trip to Thailand itself is perhaps
the only deterrent from Detroit. It is almost exactly
half way around the world, 12 hours and one day different
on the clock. My flight took me non-stop from Detroit
to Tokyo, (13 hours), then Tokyo to Bangkok (7+ hours),
a one-day layover for shopping and seeing the legendary
Muay Thai (kick boxing) in Bangkok and then an hour
and a half flight across the Gulf of Thailand to the
Andaman Sea and Phuket Island.
Bangkok is, well, Asia. It’s an
important place to visit if you intend to see the
world before you die (I do). It is a lot of what is
good and bad about Asia today. Crowded, polluted,
frantic, perpetually in a state of being simultaneously
torn down and built up and riding an economy as jumpy
as a mongoose fighting a cobra.
But what you learn is that the average
Bangkokian loves their country and city, is happy
and wants to welcome you to Bangkok and show you everything
there is to do and see here. Unlike some urban settings
removed from western culture this society seems exclusively
friendly. Thais are always smiling. They love to be
in your photos and are quick to lend a hand with detailed
directions even over a fifty-foot language barrier.
They are passionate about their food and tireless
in being sure you experience the culture to the fullest.
Their hospitality is second to none I have experienced
around the world.
Bangkok Airport can be a bit tricky
to negotiate though. It is an old airport with antiquated
security, small elevators, poor signage and long lines.
Patience and a sense of humor serve you well in your
transit through Bangkok International.
Adjacent to Bangkok International was
my headquarters for my almost one-day expedition to
Bangkok, The Airport Amari Hotel. It is a fine but
unremarkable four star hotel with a courteous and
enthusiastic staff roughly equivalent to a U.S. Hyatt.
Once I got a shower in Bangkok it was time for some
Thai food, a shopping trip and then the spectacle
of the Muay Thai tournament.
Shopping in Bangkok is incredible. Thailand
is the manufacturing origin for companies like Nike
and The North Face. The goods are sold here in huge
malls at prices that range from normal U.S. retail
(when you do the conversion from the Thai baht) to
nearly free. I bought Nike sandals for the Thai equivalent
of $6 U.S. I saw clothing discount 96%. The volume
of goods is incredible, far too much to cover in even
a week. Counterfeit goods are sold alongside the genuine
articles, often produced in the same manufacturing
facilities and sold “out the side door”.
Curiously, the counterfeits are labeled as such to
avoid confusion. Thai retailers often refer to them
as “reproductions” or “tributes”.
But the preponderance of stuff being sold is the real
thing: Nike shoes never seen in the U.S., new 2004
The North Face apparel, all the designer stuff I’m
not into, an amazing array of stuff. Retail stores
vary from street vendors and warehouses with long
tables randomly stacked with stuff in no particular
order to beautiful, state-of-the-art brand concept
stores with amazing lighting, polite, soft spoken
staff and piped in techno-trance muzak.
But the main spectacle for a one-day
layover in Bangkok is the ancient Muay Thai martial
arts matches. Muay Thai is the original kick-boxing
martial art. It is a brutal spectacle, barely an update
over the gladiatorial combat of ancient Rome. Two
diminutive athletes, neither tipping the scales much
above 120 pounds in the best matches, enter the ring
and (following a protracted ritual) proceed to beat
and kick the down-south shit out of each other. Although
there seems to be some administration of “rules”
it is basically anything goes. Kicks and punches are
merely precursors to the deathblows dealt by knees
and elbows. A strategic, lightening fast knee to an
opponent’s face sends him whip-lashing to the
floor spraying an arc of blood above the ring. Thousands
in the smoke choked, sold-out packed house erupt in
maddened frenzy, chanting and jumping, bookies shout
unintelligible commentary into four cell phones simultaneously
cupped in their hands. It is bedlam. I’ll be
the first to tell you the brutality and overall “weirdness”
of this is overwhelming, but it is so “real”
you can’t help but be awestruck. It is an ancient,
raw ritual: Violent, primitive and unflinching. Nothing
like this could exist in the U.S. It is too insane.
Following my spectacle in Bangkok I
am greeted upon landing on Phuket Island by a neatly
dressed young Thai in a lapel-less suit, the kind
villains in James Bond movies wear. I am no more than
four steps out of the jetway:
“Ahh, good morning Mr. Dem-mahr-yee.
Was your trip of pleasants? I have arranged for your
baggage- it is already in the car. This way please…”
I am ushered to a waiting black Mercedes
“E” Class. My bike case and duffel have
already been secreted into the boot. I am seated in
the left rear, like a German bank president, adjacent
to my driver in the right hand drive Benz.
“You are at the Hotel Allamanda?
We will be there in twenty minutes Mr. Dem-mahr-yee.”
My driver delivers me to a comfortable
seat in the reception area of the Hotel Allamanda
inside Laguna Phuket. An attentive Thai waitress brings
me a glass of juice laced with honey as a concierge
issues my room key and gives me a map tour of the
grounds including the lagoons, pools, restaurants,
water taxis, beaches and elephant trails. I don’t
even see my bike case or duffel. It just materializes
in the living room of my condo when the concierge
opens the door.
Left to my condo the concierge politely
excuses himself, but before he does, asks, “May
we get you a kayak, sailing boat or riding elephant
for this afternoon Mr. Dem-mahr-yee?”
“Ah, no sir, I am preparing for
the race this afternoon, thank you…”
“Very well then Mr. Dem-mahr-yee,
and my wish to you on a good birthday Mr. Dem-mahr-yee.
Welcome to Phuket Island.…”
The man disappears and I am left to
explore Phuket Island.
Phuket Island is a small, 502 square
mile jungle island ringed mostly by white sand beaches
hemmed with graceful palms. The center of the island
is home to short, steep jungle hills and rubber plantations.
The triathlon bike course crosses three of the steepest,
the lair of the dreaded “Tiger’s Back”
on the outer rim of the rubber plantations. The majority
of the course is easy- except that it is contested
in the environmental Asian blast furnace that is Phuket
in November. Temperatures routinely crack 98-100 degrees
Fahrenheit with 100% humidity. There is no breeze
through the dense jungle, but stiff sea-headwinds
on the roads around the rubber plantations. But to
finish the bike course and graduate to the scorching
run you must first ride the “Tiger’s Back”.
The “Tiger’s Back”
is, like the shoulders of the predatory jungle cat’s
back, a series of three difficult climbs that begin
at exactly 8 kilometers on the bike course and lasts
until 15 kilometers. And exactly like riding on a
tiger’s back, if you make one slip on this steaming
jungle road, it will bite you. One descent is so harrowing
it is neutralized by a crowd of yellow-flag waving
race marshals and marked on the pavement as a “no-racing
zone” where racers must place their hands on
their brake levers, are not allowed to overtake other
riders and cannot exceed 20 kilometers per hour. The
hills are steep and difficult, rivaling the toughest
climbs in triathlon anywhere in the world. St. Croix
has “The Beast”, Ironman has “Pay
N’ Save Hill”; Laguna Phuket has “The
Tiger’s Back”. Race instructions specified
a minimum 39/23 low gear for “Tiger’s
Back”. I used a 39/23 but wished I had a 39/25,
which is what most experienced Phuket veterans (and
the owner of the day’s fastest amateur bike
split) had. My speed up the three lumps on the Tiger’s
Back was about 6 m.p.h. on race day when my back was
bothering me and about 10 m.p.h. at an honest 85%
effort the day we pre-rode the course. The climbs
are steep, no doubt, but mercifully short. The descents
are tricky and the race organization did well to neutralize
one short area.
For the week prior to the race you will
be able to explore the island. Phuket and the resort
itself are ideal destinations for someone new to international
travel. You can leave the resort area for daily sojourns
into Thai culture but return to the comfortable familiarity
of western plumbing and accommodations at your leisure.
This is a great introduction into international travel.
Within the resort there are over 20
restaurants with menus varied from traditional Thai
to seafood (usually caught within hours of being served)
and even excellent Italian fare at two four star restaurants.
Outside the resort the options are even more endless.
Traditional Chinese cuisine as well as the excellent
Thai and seafood are everywhere. While you should
stick to bottled water everywhere in Thailand (for
that matter, all I drink is bottled water here in
Dearborn) I found there is almost no risk of food-borne
problems if you exercise common sense. The food in
Thailand is so incredible you realize how crappy we
truly eat here in the U.S. Even simple things like
the chicken in the delicious, spicy Pad Thai, has
a level of flavor gone from the synthetically produced,
genetically altered U.S. factory farm food. On early
morning training runs you can see trucks bringing
in fresh fruits, vegetables, bags of rice and tea
and live chickens to restaurants in the resort. Prices
in restaurants are below reasonable with a fine dinner
in an elegant setting going for under $20 max for
one person and much less for the restaurants on the
beaches. My last night in Phuket I had an incredible
dinner on the beach, watching the sun set into the
glowing Andaman Sea, complete with three courses of
appetizer, salad and main dish with a desert plate
of fruit and three diet Cokes and bottle of water
for $8 including a 100 baht (roughly $2.30) tip.
Your first night in Phuket is an introduction
to one of the most beautiful, ethereal experiences
of the Southeast Asian jungle: The night sounds. The
quiet bird, insect, reptile and amphibian ensemble
melds a nocturnal lullaby so beautiful I left both
my sliding glass doors open all night for the performance.
Gentle night breeze billows your sheer white drapes
in a scene familiar to a Sultan.
Rooms within Laguna Phuket range from
the least expensive (where I was staying) at the Allamanda
for about $75 a night for a large condo. The condo-suites
have a huge bed, full western style bathroom with
U.S. voltage converters in the wall, beautiful lighted
closets, a nice kitchenette with refrigerator (restocked
with drinks daily by the hotel at reasonable to very
cheap rates), full living room with TV and movie channels
and the British edition of CNN. There are two big
sliding glass doors with a balcony (even on the ground
floor) and view of either the golf course and jungle
or the Lagoon for $10 extra a night. The breakfast
buffet is about $7 U.S. depending on the exchange
rate for the Thai baht and has fresh fruit, rice,
potatoes, eggs, cereal, French toast, excellent coffee,
every kind of juice and omelets made to order. Breakfast
starts at 6:00 A.M.
If you have a taste and the pockets
for a more exotic dwelling you can spend over $1000
U.S. per night in Laguna Phuket. The Banyan Tree has
enormous, private pool suites each with its own pool,
balcony, hot tub, wait staff and every imaginable
amenity including the most luxuriant: Total seclusion.
There are room rates at all stops between
the Allamanda and the Banyan tree within the five
hotels of Laguna Phuket. Including the minimal cost
of food and the reasonable room rates this is an incredibly
inexpensive vacation/race destination. Even airfare
to Laguna Phuket from Detroit was at a low due to
a weak economy and lingering, erroneous concerns over
the S.A.R.S. virus in Asia. I paid $1070 U.S. round
trip for my entire flight. I accumulated almost enough
air miles for a free domestic U.S. airline ticket
on Northwest also. Doing Laguna Phuket, including
all food, airfare and race entry is probably about
the same cost from Detroit as doing Ironman Lake Placid
from Detroit (driving) when you consider the outrageous
room rates in Lake Placid, expensive (marginal) restaurants
and common “mandatory” 5 night stays in
local Lake Placid hotels.
A system of water taxis connect the
lagoons and run about every ten minutes from hotel/resort
complex to complex through a series of jungle canals
and waterways. On the water taxi you’ll see
marvelous birds, leaping fish, an occasional water
snake, frogs and toads in abundance, wandering elephants
(elephants are the Thai equivalent of our squirrels-
they are wandering around everywhere it seems) buffalo
and the obligatory daily 4:00 P.M. tropical cloudburst
that lasts about 20 minutes.
Laguna Phuket is remarkably uncrowded
and the beaches are never busy. There is never any
wait for a restaurant or anything else for that matter.
There are local grocery/convenience stores and stocking
your refrigerator with fresh fruit and food for the
week including sports drinks, bottled water, diet
Coke, soy milk, cereal and snacks costs about $25
U.S. In the days before the race an excellent Thai
bike shop experienced in race service sets up shop
in Laguna Phuket for any technical problems you may
have.
In the days before race day there are
organized training runs and rides usually attended
by 12-25 athletes. On one of the training rides I
got in a group with triathlon super-star and Ironman
winner Scott Molina and German “uber-biker”
Norman Stadler as well as an elite French age grouper
named Thierry. In the course of the ride Thierry and
I discovered a shared interest in extreme endurance
events and spoke at length about the Marathon des
Sables, the Raid Gauloises and other so-called endurance
“raids”. I had a wonderful conversation
with Scott Molina, whom I have always been an enormous
fan of. Molina is such a friendly man with a wealth
of knowledge and experience about the sport (he’s
one of its inventors)and one of the winningest records
in history. He gave me substantial insights on the
upcoming Ironman New Zealand. I rode on the wheel
of Norman Stadler as he pounded into a head wind at
26 m.p.h. Riding on these beautiful roads over the
“Tiger’s Back” and through the jungle
plantations with these legends of triathlon on a hot,
sunny Thai day was the nicest training ride I may
have ever been on.
The swim course is up a few days before
the race and well marked. You can swim it at your
risk but it is wiser to stay closer to shore since
there are no lifeguards and that darn shark attack
scene from the movie The Beach just wouldn’t
leave my head. The water is that mystical, crystal
transparent fluid you only see on postcards, usually
from Thailand. I am not a big swimmer but the warm,
calm, clear water and white sand bottom makes open
water swimming a joy for anyone. There are a few jelly
fish here and there and I somehow managed a bit of
a jelly fish “rash” on my neck which still
stings a bit and is pretty ugly.
One of the many great benefits of staying
in Laguna Phuket is the incredible sports massage.
There are a number of massage tents along the beach
where you lay on a low massage table under a big canopy
and a platoon of big Thai women give excellent sports
massages for about $8 U.S. including a 100 baht tip.
I had a massage every day I was there. Awesome.
With the 12-hour time difference I developed
an odd routine in Thailand. I woke up about 4:00 A.M.
local and took a shower and straightened out my gear
for the day. At sun-up I went for a run or a swim
or a hike to shoot photos. Before breakfast I got
a massage at the beach then had breakfast back at
the hotel. Following that I usually went for a ride
but also went into Phuket town to do the tourist thing
or to Patong Beach, the place made famous by the TV
travel show “Wild on E!” with its shady
massage places, wild dance clubs, bars and night life.
Patong Beach is quite a spectacle and not to be missed
at sunset. The dance clubs are meeting places for
the “beautiful people” from all over the
world and the wild (and daring) garb seen here is
a total suspension of normal conservative Thai attitudes.
Exquisite specimens of both genders from around the
world decorate the beaches clad minimally in postage
stamp size bathing costumes, mostly one piece of a
two piece ensemble. The micro thong is the uniform
of choice at high noon on Patong. In the evening I
had dinner around 7:00 P.M. and hit the hay immediately
after. This is not a bad way to live.
Eventually, race day does arrive. Registration
and packet pick-up is the day before the event. Your
race bag is a cool little nylon drawstring backpack
with your race number silk-screened on the bag. In
it you find all your stuff (race shirt, chip, etc.)
and your race number pre-attached to a nice number
belt. You bring this bag to the swim start with you
and put your sandals, sun screen, warm-up top or whatever
else you took to the swim start with you that you
are not swimming in inside the bag. The race organizers
leave the bag at your transition spot before the end
of the race. Awesome. The race numbers are on nylon
fabric and silk screened, not made of Tyvek paper.
There is a mandatory pre-race meeting the evening
before at the Sheraton Grande Laguna Phuket. Race
Directors Murphy Reinschrieber and Michelle Payette
went into detail about every aspect of the event and
answered questions from athletes. The diligence and
attention to detail put into the race were evident.
Course Preparation Managers Kriangsak Damrongcholtee
and Pipop Thabhuwan did an incredible job marking
every section of the course. Considering the number
of marshals, many of who are from the Phuket Hash
House Harriers (On! On!) and the excellent marking
as well as the army of Police it seems like it would
be impossible to get lost on this course.
Race morning invariably dawns warm (hot)
and sunny. It is an on-beach start and the swim is
a typical triathlon mass-start affair. Consensus among
athletes was the swim course may have been long this
year or fought an unusual current or tide since swim
times were pretty slow. Two days before the race I
did the first (Andaman Sea) section of the swim course
in 29:33 but on race day I stopped my watch at over
34:00 when I hit the beach and at 44:16 when I exited
the Lagoon and crossed the timing mats. By contrast
I did the 1.5 mile Alcatraz swim with a full wetsuit
(with a strong current behind me) on absolutely no
swim training in under 34:00 two years ago.
I had great form going into Phuket and
11 weeks of strong training. I got a bit of a chest
cold the week before leaving then managed to screw
my back up on race day. From a performance perspective
I would say Phuket was either my worst or second worst
performance ever.
For a complete insight into my race day go here.
Realistically though, it is impossible to have bad
day in Phuket. I had a lot of fun during the race
and used it as familiarization for next year.
This year's course featured a one-mile
beach run that I thought was the highlight of the
run course. The beach was utterly secluded except
for a topless girl who looked like Anna Kournikova
and her boyfriend who looked like Fabio (no shit).
I was feeling like a pale, ugly guy from Michigan.
I caught up with one of our customers, Laura Earley,
and ran with her for a while. We vowed to finish in
less than 4 hours, which we both did easily. Laura
is a teacher along with her husband living in China.
The finish venue is at the Banyan Tree
and is beautiful and enormous. The entire race is
on the same caliber as the biggest Ironman events.
You get a unique finishers medal and all the typical
race finisher stuff along with a nice lunch and, typical
of Laguna Phuket, a free shuttle to your hotel and
back to the transition area. All in all an incredible
event- one of the top five in the world for triathlon.
Why more people don’t do this
race is beyond me. It is a tough event, something
to aspire to, and in a setting that can’t be
matched anywhere on earth. There is so much to do
in and around Phuket- from elephant riding to kayaking
to horseback rides on the beach and snorkeling and
SCUBA expeditions for whale shark and manta ray and
day excursions to James Bond Island and Phi Phi Island
(where they filmed The Beach), hikes to exquisite
jungle waterfalls and the night life at Patong as
well as the incredible food and more. In every way,
it exceeded my expectations. I will back next year.
My only regret is that it is a year away.
Notes and resources on Laguna
Phuket Triathlon, Thailand and this article:
Premium Plus Sports,
the travel agent I used for Laguna Phuket and am using
for Ironman New Zealand, can be reached at:
800-282-3636
www.PremiumPlus-Sports.com
info@premiumplus-sports.com
401 N. Western Ave. Suite 250 • Chicago, IL
60612
Information on the Laguna
Phuket Triathlon is available on: www.lagunaphuket.com/triathlon/
Entry for the 2004 Laguna Phuket Triathlon
will be available on Active.com. Search under the
event name.
Photos for this article were shot using
the new digital Canon EOS 10D and Canon Image stabilized,
“L” series lenses from Adray Appliance
and Camera in Dearborn, Michigan. No film was shot
in Thailand. Visit www.adray.com
for more information or phone them at (313) 274-9500.
Over 800 photos were shot for the roughly
50 you see here, all stored on a 1GB High Speed, digital
Compact Flash card. Photos were processed using Adobe
PhotoShop and Canon’s new Zoom Browser EX and
File Viewer Utility software on a Panasonic Toughbook
ruggedized laptop computer as well as our own home
made desktop built by Mike Aderhold of Bikesport,
Inc. Web layout and design is always by Kim Ross of
Intuitive Business Solutions, (313) 359-7000. All
text and images are property of Bikesport, Inc. and
Tom Demerly and may not be reproduced without permission.
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