Traveling to KL in Late August

Hi

We are spending 5 nights in Patong then 5 at the merlin resort near Khao Lak.

I know it%26#39;s a bit out of town, but we are looking for a wind down so sounds good to us.

I have read that a lot of places seemed to be closed this time of year. We will still have a variety of places to eat out each night?

Also are the taxi%26#39;s easy to get?

any further advice on things to do around the area would be great.

One last question, can you hire a taxi for a longer period eg if we wanted to see a few things, can we hire a taxi for say 4 hours?? if so any ideas on costs??

Thanks

Steve

Traveling to KL in Late August

Taxis won%26#39;t be difficult to get, but price will depend on where you are going - and I am not sure - others can tell you that.

In my opinion, the more popular and better restaurants tend to stay ope all year around. I was in Khao Lak two weeks ago and my favorites were open. Jai in particular - and a couple of my favorite places are resort restaurants (for specific dishes).

While probably 1/2 of the restaurants are closed for low season - they may not be the ones you would have gone to anyway (at least that is true for me).

Traveling to KL in Late August

JO Seafood is within walking distance of the Merlin and I would think will be open as it, deservedly, gets a lot of business from the Merlin. Not sure about this one though. Turn right on the highway back towards Phuket and on your right about 800 metres is the excellent Baan Khao Lak restaurant (not to be confused with the equally excellent restaurant at the Baan Khao Lak resort which is in the opposite direction as you enter Khao Lak. It%26#39;s very local and caters for Thai businessmen, sailors on shore leave, workers in KL and round about and the odd visitir, like us who were recommended to go there. It%26#39;s setting is on stilts over a small lagoon in a mangrove inlet and the food is both excellent (more spicy than the purely tourist restaurants) and cheap. A lovely venu for lunch or dinner.