PHUKET had a rally of its own over the past few days, and fortunately, it was a riot of fun. They call it Bike Week 2010 and it's the traditional lead-up to the Songkran Thai New Year Festival.

On Saturday, we found Patong alive with motorcycles of all kinds, but particularly big and beautiful ones. We talked briefly to a biker who had flown his machine in specially from Bangkok, and shook hands with another who had ridden up from Malaysia.

Tourists were queuing up to have their photos taken alongside his exotic machine.

A friend who had ridden with him from Malaysia had a Spiderman motif all over her bike, every bit as stunning and more easily removable than some of the artwork we'd see a couple of days earlier at the First Phuket Tattoo Convention.

Eating lunch nearby, we were almost joined by some bikers who had ridden even further to get to Phuket, all the way from Vietnam. We say almost joined because they sat at the next table but didn't have room for everything there, so proceeded to nod politely and transfer plates to our table as well.

That night, Patong was due to light up with the music festival at Loma Park and we caught the first bikers riding in to the football field opposite, setting up bikes by the hundreds to write Phuket 2010 in outline.

That night, we are reliably informed, there was a lot of fun to be had at the Hard Rock Cafe in the form of a beauty contest and talent quest.

Fortunately the biker language knows no boundaries,and on the road, it was easy riding. Overcast conditions made for an almost perfect day to roar to Cape Promthep yesterday, and according to accounts, about 170 bikes joined the ride.

We are indebted to Phuketwan reader Joe Blasy for most of the photos in the album above.