After a few days, seaside paradise gets old (well, not really), so we booked a driver to take us into Phuket City, also known as Phuket Town, and by either name it is the capital of the island and province of Phuket.

We took the one-hour ride through some fairly severe local traffic for two reasons.

1. To go to the outdoor market.

2. To eat at a resto that gets lots of positive reviews — the Natural restaurant, which is a sort of Swiss Family Tree House meets Bobby McGee’s (two dated cultural references!) while serving some really nice Thai food.

First, the resto. It was pouring rain by the time we got there, but members of the staff ran out with umbrellas, and most of us got inside without getting too wet, and they took us up to the third floor (more or less) of a really oddly laid out building. Little rooms here and there, off the stairway. A table for six, one for four, etc., etc., and all the rooms set inside lots of green foliage and hundreds of orchids, and for all I know it could have gone up another floor or three. Yes, a tree house.

We made one great discovery during the appetizer phase — curried chicken bits inside a hollowed-out chunk of potato, with a bit of chili pepper. Outstanding. We liked it so much, we ordered it again as one of the main courses.

It was your basic Thai. Curries, noodles, shrimp, chicken, duck, squid … but a little better and fresher and in a unique setting.

Then we had the driver take us over to the outdoor market … where some of us wanted a chance to buy something cheap and tacky.

It was a big market … rows and rows of stalls selling junk and T-shirts and caps and elephants carved from wood, and it was busy in there, too, with people from all over the world, from looking at them walking past. Perhaps the most memorable stall was the one selling sushi.

I never particularly like these “go shopping in another land” excursions, but this one was relatively painless because we fairly quickly found what we were looking for (an incense diffuser; never knew I needed one) and because we had used up our three hours of cabbie-waiting and had to leave or risk a surcharge.

Phuket is not to be confused with Bangkok, though we did see the Aphrodite Cabaret on the way out of town.

And as tacky as the market was, we got a sense that Thailand is in better economic shape than, say, Sri Lanka. Stronger infrastructure (four-lane roads!), more motor vehicles, no tuk-tuks, fewer beggars …

I would never recommend making the trip to Thailand to see Phuket City, but if you find yourself on the island and you have time … it has at least one memorable restaurant and a sprawling market.