We had breakfast at the coffee shop around the area.

Tene was enjoying the cantonese fried yellow mee.

…and some satay. 5 were pork and 5 were chicken….:p first time for pork satay

Beautiful flower

Another one…

This is Phuket Center Apartment. One of the accomodation that I have enquired for my trip.

Here he is, our cab. On the way, he was kind enough to drop us at some places that we have not visited, like below.

History of Heroin Monument.  It was a history behing this monument. There were these 2 island heroin sisters name Thao Thep Krasattri (Chan) and Thao Sri Soonthorn (Mook), that helped to ward off a planned invasion of Phuket by Burmese troop back in 13 March 1785.  They gathered 500 women and dressed up as men and hold fake weapon to parade around the city day and night. Burmese troop thought that they have too many soldiers and withdrew. Thus, King Rama I built the monument to remembered the brave sisters.  Every year between 7 March to 22 March, there will be ceremony to celebrate the 2 sisters.

The sleeping buddha…donno what’s the name in Thai.

We stopped by a local shop for some local food too.

Next, we reached the airport and checked in, for home.

[Chapters]

Home

Day 1 – Phuket City tour

Day 2 – Phang Nga Bay (marvellous view of Phang Nga Bay!!! James Bond Island at Ao Phang Nga National Park)

Day 3 – Phuket City tour 2 + Patong Beach (by local bus!)

Day 4 – Island hoping 2 (Koh Khai Nui + Maya Bay + Loh Samah Bay + Pileh Cove + Viking Cave + Phi Phi Don Ton Sai Bay + Monkey Beach) + Phuket FantaSea Show

Day 5 –  City tour (Sea Gypsy Village + Abalone Farm + Wat Chalong + Phromthep Cape beautiful sunset!)

Day 6 – Heroine Monument & back to KL

Bonus – location & transport  (Tips on travelling to Phuket!)

We woke up bit late and relaxingly enjoy the lay on the bed, and enjoy the laziness. Until we willing to wake up for shower and ready for food.  Well, let’s have a look at how On On Hotel is.

The single bed is bigger than the normal size, which can sleep 2 persons if you don’t mind a bit squeezing.

Simple toilet and shower room too.

As we are more familier with the town by now, we no more need the map to go around.  Turn right from On On. About few metres away, there is a second hand bookstore! (I have been wanting to show this fantastic bookstore but decided to do the journal day by day without skipping)

Book store few shops away from On On Hotel.

SouthWindBooks is the bookstore name.

I love books, though I might not read all the books I bought. Ok, to be exact, I think I love books instead of loving reading.  There was no one around to look after the bookstore which consisted of 3 shops.  I can see several languages books were on the racks.  There were English, Asian, Japanese, French, German and Norwegian.  I wandering at the bookstore for sometimes. If I were to come back next time, I would spend time on them.

The we headed for our brunch.  Yes, the tasty soup noodle again. Actually I love the coconut drink more. Then we walked to the market again, which was just around the corner.  And then, slowly we walked, to the bus terminal!  It is quite far. But I think, I can only get to know the place, by walking. Then, we walked to the Robinson complex.  There, we had our KFC and sausage! The KFC was spicy as it was Mexican style.  I thought we should try the normal KFC to have a fair comparison?

Some of the decorations at the soup noodle shop. Where is the soup noodle photo then? Find out at Day 3.

Old radio

An iron which function by putting burning charcoal within to heat up the iron.

Bus terminal

KFC Mexican falvour and Pepsi

At 2pm, we decided to take a cab to go places further.  I agreed, why we keep the THB for? Let’s use it.

We met this driver at the Robinson.  We asked him how much he charge for few places like Sea Gypsy Village + Abalone Farm + Wat Chalong + Phromthep Cape for sunset.  After some negotiation, we agreed at 400THB.  Here we go our final trip.

Here is the sea gypsy village. The dog was camera pro. It walked to the bar and standed there waiting for shooting.

Sea gypsy children.

The village.

Selling fish that was caught on the day itself. Must be really fresh.

Boy playing with fish.

After that, we headed to the abalone farm.

Abalone of 1 year old.

There were 3 pools there for abalone of different age. Abalone has seaweed as food.  There is a restourant here that serve abalone to customer too.  For 1 kg of abalone, it is 2400THB. For a plate of 4 abalone, 450THB. For 6 abalone, 600THB. For 8 abalone, it is 800THB. Find out more on Phuket Abalone Farm.

Mook Phuket Pearl

Different pearls are displayed here.

Cashew nut factory.  I wanna see the real tree and farm instead of this factory, which asking me to buy then.

Wat Chalong

Wat Chalong at sunset.

Thai.

After that, we went to Promthep Cape for sunset!  There are many locals and tourists that were enjoying the beautiful view. It was lucky that, we were able to view the sunset.  Right after the sunset, it started to rain!

Beautiful sunset.

After the sun has set into the horizon.

a small boat cross the sea.

From the cape, the Phuket Big Buddha is in the view.  There is this Bread Mountain in Brazil with a status of Jesus, Rio De Janeiro.

That’s a 400THB trip and with dinner at the end, we called it a day.

[Chapters]

Home

Day 1 – Phuket City tour

Day 2 – Phang Nga Bay (marvellous view of Phang Nga Bay!!! James Bond Island at Ao Phang Nga National Park)

Day 3 – Phuket City tour 2 + Patong Beach (by local bus!)

Day 4 – Island hoping 2 (Koh Khai Nui + Maya Bay + Loh Samah Bay + Pileh Cove + Viking Cave + Phi Phi Don Ton Sai Bay + Monkey Beach) + Phuket FantaSea Show

Day 5 –  City tour (Sea Gypsy Village + Abalone Farm + Wat Chalong + Phromthep Cape beautiful sunset!)

Day 6 – Heroine Monument & back to KL

Bonus – location & transport  (Tips on travelling to Phuket!)

Today, we are going to Koh Khai Nui + Maya Bay + Loh Samah Bay + Pileh Cove + Viking Cave + Phi Phi Don Ton Sai Bay + Monkey Beach. If you are curios how the route looks like, see the map below. By the way, the trip cost 2400THB/pax.

For this trip, some of the island and bay are just sight seeing, means you don’t get to go near or not to go walk on the sand there.  For example, Viking Cave, we just passed by the cave, where observing some long bamboo sticks structure was built. According to the guide, it was used to collect the cave bird nest.  I was thinking, the bird nest that I drink everyday back at home, where does it comes from.

Here is the photos.

On the way to the pier in the morning, passing by the sea gypsy village at Siray Island.  Sea gypsy is the real locals of Phuket. Current day, there are rare such local village in the island, and this is one that is on the Phuket map.

Here this is the pier, Asia Marina.

Before we depart, fins for rent.

Viking Cave, where the bird nest is collected.

On the speedboat, Pileh Cove.

Snorkeling at Loh Samah Bay

Maya Bay, a famous place after the ‘The beach‘ was filmed here in 1999, acted by Leonardo DiCaprio.  The film has become the inspiration for a lot of traveler to make a trip to Phuket.  Will ‘Mama Mia‘ does the same for Greece?

Beautiful Maya Bay

Monkey Beach, where a numbers of monkey on the tree and beach.

Phi Phi Don, where we had our lunch.

Phi Phi Don, Ton Sai Bay.

Khai Nui, for swimming and relaxing.

Beach for fun! Go nearer to find out why!

See the colorful fish just near the beach!

Beautiful water and sky.

Another one

The beach from the spec

oh…

Personally, I would think the trip is too rush and pack with too many spots to visit.  I thought that if it covers more spots, it worth the price. But the rush really doesn’t worth anything.  Advise to myself, let’s don’t be greedy. I would opt for more relax trip in the future.

We reached back at the pier around 5pm. We actually asked the van to transfer us to On On Hotel as we have checked out Mook Anda Place and will check in On On Hotel. The driver wasn’t fussy as On On was in the town too and he was Okay to send us there.  Once reached On On, we rushed to the tour agent which about 5 shops away from On On to buy the voucher to FantaSea Phuket! Really spontaneous huh!  Well, 2000THB/pax! Which include van transfer, buffet dinner and the show.

Ops, did I tell you, On On cost 40THB for a night? It was aircond, twin share room. Not as clean and cozy as Backpacker hostel though.  But well, it was okay.

It was 5:45pm and the van transfer would pick us up at 6:30pm to FantaSea! We caught a shower really quick at On On and it was just on time for the van transfer.  It took about 45mins to reach Kata Beach where the  FantaSea is.  Basically, it’s an area with things to see, nice buffet and local cultural show.  The setup was great and nice to see. See photo for prove.  The buffet, it’s a really big hall  with various type of food.  As usual, I would go around the food for few rounds before chosen what to eat.  I got myself some Indian food and sat down. Hup got some sushi and fresh fruits.  I got some fried noodle too. I really like Thai fried noodle, it’s different from the one we have in Malaysia.  We had it for lunch during the trip to Phang Nga Bay on second day too.

Fanta Sea Phuket

It was decorated like this…

like this…

Most of the nicely decorated shops are souvenir shops.

GOlden Kinrare, the buffer hall.

I found my seat and 2 guys was sitting on my right.  As usual, I can’t be sitting down with people around and I keep quite. Further more, I think they are from Greece. I told Hup that, they are from Greece.  he said no. Let’s bet (that’s where the caurage came!).

“Where are you from?” I started the conversation.

“We are from Greece.”

Greece friend. Ops, I forgot what his name on my right. On the left is Thodoris.

Yeah!! I told him that he really looks like Greece.  I have a special feeling towards Greece after Mama Mia.  We started conversation and took photos together.  Now he is in my Facebook too! See Thodoris in FB. He told me that his religion is Ortodox.

Er . . . @.@

After the dinner, we walked around the area.  There is elephant ride and Thodoris and friend was afraid of it’s stinking smell.  Then, the show start at 9pm. Camera was not allowed.  We got to secure our camera at the locker prepared and we were given a color card with a number.

Palace of Elephant, the show hall.

I was helping some other visitors taking photo with their P&S camera and notice that, P&S can’t get such a nice photo like this.

Do you know this? Cat fish. It can grow as big as big as you!

Elephant, the holy statue of Thailand.

The show was fantastic.  12 elephants was moving in the hall and stage! Birds were in! Chicken were in! Even buffalo was on stage! Some Thai cultural was performed.  As I watched the theater in UK before for Les Miserable play, I think the stage here was well built and structured too.   The show last 1 hour.

We came out from the hall and walked toward the locker to collect our camera.   I notice that, there were few queues where each color represent a queue and we didn’t even wait a minute to collect back our camera.  It was well planned and I must give credit on this as few hundred of people were collecting their cameras! It was raining.  We walked along the shops and finally get to the exit. Got into the van and going back to hotel for rest.

Before we go to bed, we saw some newspaper available to read for free at On On reception.  So we did some reading and having a can of Heineken.

Finally, I see myself in traveling. I love new things (things I never know before) and interesting things.  Every fresh things excites me and keep my enthusiasm fired.

Travel, is like knowledge.  The more I travel, the more I like to travel.   When I travel, I feel like I am doing a ‘research’ or ’study’.

Something really hit me, when Eli (the Israel friend) said,  ‘my country is really small, and the problem is bigger than the country.’

The more I see/know, it simply means that, different perspectives. Nothing really right and wrong.  Nothing really big deal.

Take it easy, to live.

[Chapters]

Home

Day 1 – Phuket City tour

Day 2 – Phang Nga Bay (marvellous view of Phang Nga Bay!!! James Bond Island at Ao Phang Nga National Park)

Day 3 – Phuket City tour 2 + Patong Beach (by local bus!)

Day 4 – Island hoping 2 (Koh Khai Nui + Maya Bay + Loh Samah Bay + Pileh Cove + Viking Cave + Phi Phi Don Ton Sai Bay + Monkey Beach) + Phuket FantaSea Show

Day 5 –  City tour (Sea Gypsy Village + Abalone Farm + Wat Chalong + Phromthep Cape beautiful sunset!)

Day 6 – Heroine Monument & back to KL

Bonus – location & transport  (Tips on travelling to Phuket!)

The breakfast, as usual.

Phuket dimsum

This is what he ordered from the lady boss. Looks common but it is too salty. I noticed that food in Phuket is much more salty, sweeter, hotter or what-so-ever than Malaysian style.

It was Sunday morning. City was still quiet. A bit cloudy and good for me to walk.

Here I found Teow Chew Association of Phuket. I am Teow Chew by ethnic.

The traditional chinese culture to put meaningful quotes at the door frame.

Common advertising in Phuket

Here, On On Hotel, the oldest hotel in Phuket. We spent the last 2 nights here.

The price for On On Hotel is cheap.

I found this beautiful water lily by the road.

Artistic door carving

Thalang Rd. Sino-Portugese style double stores houses.  Notice that, most of the house here, the ground floor operate as shops.

A shop which is filled with ancient style.

A wat (temple) near by Thalang Rd.  Do you see the hair-wire cable?

being naughty

Phuket town in the noon.

I notice there is a shop selling ‘Hokkien mee’ but it is soupy. For me, Hokkien mee is the black soup thick mee type. But Hup said, Penang style Hokkien mee, is soupy, like below. . .(PS: got a comment from Praew that, Hokkien mee is called Mee Hokkien in Thailand. Thanks Praew.)

It is tasty though . . . especially the coconut drink, I really need a cooling drink in such a hot weather.  We have the noodle twice, and we tried the dry style too. The last day before we left the city, we thought to have it again, but the shop was closed.

Normally, we would share a meal from each shop or stalls. In that way, we can try more choice of food.  Hup was still carving for the ma-muang khao niew Khao niew ma moung (PS: thanks for Praew for correction) (which is mango sticky rice).  My experience was, I had it in a local market.  So, I told him to go forward the local market that we see in the map.  Here it is. . .

Ma-muang khao niew

Fresh mango with soft sticky rice . . .60THB

We finished the tasty mango + sticky rice at the corner of the stall itself before carry on the journey. And then, we moved forward to the really local market at Ranong Rd.  Some taxi driver trying to convience us that, the market is only open in the evening (so that we can go with them for other city view).  But the market open in the afternoon too.

Here, it starts the very local food . . .

The local market

Dried insects . . . should I asked how much for one?

Another one, according to my grandma, this is Siamese food.

A well-maintained cultural building near the market.

If you are aware, there is a Backpacker Hostel in the Phuket City too, located at Ranong Rd.  Yes, it is near by to local bus to beaches and the local market too.  You can view the room before deciding whether to stay or not. We had a visit to the room.  It is cozy and clean. A comfortable and suitable place to interact with other backpackers as there are hall and seats available open to the guest here. So, you know what to do if you are on a budget travel.

Here, we reached the local bus station to the beaches.  Yes, we  have been walking around the city since the morning.  This is the transport we took to Patong Beach.  The charge is 25THB/pax to Patong Beach.

So, you know what to do if you are on a budget travel.

Songthaew to beaches. Some buses has window and some are open like this one.

Someone is showing superhero power.

Da~rang Patong Beach

Here you are, famous Patong Beach. For me, Patong Beach is a commercialized beach which full of people.  If you like place with lots of conveniences, this is a place for you.  But if you prefer peaceful and quiet atmosphere, you may want to opt for some other beaches like Kata Beach and Rawai Beach.

Sunny day

Colorful umbrella

Parachute

Landing . . .

Here we saw a stall crowded with people.  Pad Thai is fried keow teow in Thai.  It looks tasty and we wanna have a try too.

Da~rang. Looks really good right. It taste sweet though as they put a big bunch of sugar into the pad thai.  Besides the ‘extra sweet’, as what the chinese always said ‘it is enough fired’.

And if you know me well, jagung, sweet corn, is my all-time-favourite

Remember the tragedy back in 2004? There is a booth with the tsunami photos. One of the biggest incident in the history of Phuket – Indian Ocean Tsunami.

There is a board with tsunami guidelines too.  I think I have to be extra alert on the ‘all clear’ signal as I would go to beach often.

After the sight-seeing, pad thai and photo taking, we on board the bus back to city.  If not mistaken, it was the last bus from Patong to city at 5:30pm.

Bus runs every 30mins interval, with 25THB/pax/way.  We were early, so there was not many people in the bus yet.  When the bus about to go, all the aunties working at the beach had filled the bus.

The journey from Patong Beach to city bus stop was bumpy. It took around 45mins to reach as it would go around to drop off passengers. I did notice that, for the local, they would charge less, like 20THB.

Now, we were back in town again.  The market has different kind of items at the stalls now.

See this big shell.

And this, prawn?

Fried potato ball. Nice, we had this for 15THB.

Food for the local’s dinner.

yes, it’s getting dark. We walked back to the Mook Anda Place Hotel too. It was tiring but, I am contented.

[Chapters]

Home

Day 1 – Phuket City tour

Day 2 – Phang Nga Bay (marvellous view of Phang Nga Bay!!! James Bond Island at Ao Phang Nga National Park)

Day 3 – Phuket City tour 2 + Patong Beach (by local bus!)

Day 4 – Island hoping 2 (Koh Khai Nui + Maya Bay + Loh Samah Bay + Pileh Cove + Viking Cave + Phi Phi Don Ton Sai Bay + Monkey Beach) + Phuket FantaSea Show

Day 5 –  City tour (Sea Gypsy Village + Abalone Farm + Wat Chalong + Phromthep Cape beautiful sunset!)

Day 6 – Heroine Monument & back to KL

Bonus – location & transport  (Tips on travelling to Phuket!)

Price list for the pork noodle shop. I believe it is 50THB and so on.

It’s a brand new day and exciting day! We were going for a full day Phang Nha Bay Islands Hoping.  Been island hoping in Malaysia as well as Krabi before, what is special about this Phang Nga Bay? Let’s have a look at where Phang Nga Bay is and how does it look liked.

Phang Nga Bay, where Phuket is on the bottom of Phang Nga. Phang Nga is a shallow bay with 42 islands, comprising shallow marine waters and intertidal forested wetlands, with at least 28 species of mangrove; seagrassbeds and coral reefs are also present. (from Wikipedia)

With so many islands in the bay, while the boat or ferry going along the bay, it forms a special view that it’s surrounded by mountains and small islands, rather than the normal scene that we always see while island hoping, whereby a horizontal sea was seen.   Such natural setting of the environment is really beautiful.

After breakfast, the transfer van arrived and we were transfered to Ao Por Pier, located North-East of Phuket.

Ao Por Pier

On the way to Ao Por Pier, I saw this mosque. As Buddhism is the main religion for Thais, it’s only a few of mosque in Phuket if compare to the wat (temple).

Getting in the ferry and the tourguide was explaining to us, the journey of the day.  He was explaining about the geographical location of Phang Nga Bay as well.

The captain was driving the boat.

After leaving Phuket Island, approaching Phang Nga Bay, beautiful mountain scene was getting closer.

It was this scene that I saw.

Nearer and nearer we are towards this place. Looks like heavan.

From far, there was this bahtera ship.

Sunny day.

Hup & tene. Photo courtesy of Hafiz. A friend that we know during the trip too. He was with another 2 of his colleague, working in Putra Line as engineer.

The best thing in this trip was to get to know Eli and friends from Israel. I was excited cause finally I met Israel friends. If you don’t know why I was excited for, check your passport.  Eli has been in Thailand many times and this was his second time in Phuket, with the purpose to bring his friends (the red shirt guy) a visit.

Incredible thing happened, my camera was out of battery on the way.  The photos after this was given by Eli and Hafiz.  Really appreciate the simple friendship with the meaningful photos.

We visitted Koh Tapu or well-known as James Bong Island.  This is where the 1974 James Bond movie starring Roger Moore, Man with the Golden Gun, was shot.  Thanks for Hafiz for this photo.

The famous sliding stone at  James Bond Island, Ao Phang Nga National Park.  Photo from Eli.

After that we were having lunch on board.  You got to know something, the lunch was fresh prepare on board too! It was delicious I would said. I was a great lunch.  There were calamari, fried noodle, fried rice, mixed vegie, fried chicken. Of cause, for those that are muslim, not a worry as the food are halal.  Some of the tourist from Iran was worried that the oil used to cook the meal wasn’t vegetable oil! There is also cater for vegitarian.  When we were on board, the tour guide actually asked us how many of us is vegetarian on board.  Food is totally not a worry.

After that, we went to Hong Islang for canoeing.  Hong, means ‘helang’ in Malay and ‘eagle’ in english.  I did saw an eagle, so coincidentally!

Finally, in the canoe. Photo from Eli.

Canoe stopped by a beach full of died and dried shell on the sands and stone.  Photo from Eli.

Hup was canoeing.  We passed through the cave and got to lay on the back to get through.  On the wall of the cave, there was mut where the canoe boy called it ‘milo’. Photo from Hafiz.

Tene would like to try too. The water was not deep actually.  If I were to stand in the water, probably it would reach my knees.  But the shell on the ground that prohibit tourist from doing that.  We can’t swim or play in the water here though. Photo from Hafiz.

After that we went to Koh Panak for another canoeing. Panak, means ‘monkey’.  There were monkey dwell in this island, that’s why the name.

That’s end the canoeing but another interesting thing just get started.  The tour guide put 5 botols on the table, and started an IQ games.  The prize for the winner, a sigha beer!  Everyone started to crack their head.  It was happening and fun along the way back.  The boatboys came out with some eye-trick too.  At about 4:30pm, we reached Ao Po pier and transfered back to hotel.

Happy day with a little bit of  unlucky.  I would remember to make sure my camera is always fully charge next time.

I got a cold shower and decided to relax before going out for dinner.  After back from dinner, the camera was charged. Hup was playing with the camera while tene was reading some guide book.

That’s end a happy day with new friends.

[Chapters]

Home

Day 1 – Phuket City tour

Day 2 – Phang Nga Bay (marvellous view of Phang Nga Bay!!! James Bond Island at Ao Phang Nga National Park)

Day 3 – Phuket City tour 2 + Patong Beach (by local bus!)

Day 4 – Island hoping 2 (Koh Khai Nui + Maya Bay + Loh Samah Bay + Pileh Cove + Viking Cave + Phi Phi Don Ton Sai Bay + Monkey Beach) + Phuket FantaSea Show

Day 5 –  City tour (Sea Gypsy Village + Abalone Farm + Wat Chalong + Phromthep Cape beautiful sunset!)

Day 6 – Heroine Monument & back to KL

Bonus – location & transport  (Tips on travelling to Phuket!)

Phuket Airport

When we walked towards the exit, there are taxi driver and mini bus driver looking for business.  Mini bus is 100THB to Phuket City, deal.  But we waited for about an hour before depart from aiport to the hotel.  From the airport to the hotel that we booked in town, Mook Anda Place, about 45mins drive.  We met Ann, the lady that we booked the hotel via email, check in and have a little rest in the room.

Mook Anda Place, 800THB/night

After some rest, it was 11am, but due to time difference, it should be 12pm in KL.  Biological clock was working very well and we went out looking for the very first meal in Phuket.  No far from the hotel we saw a coffee shop openned.  We were ordering in English and opss, they can’t understand what we trying to say!  And I realized, it’s a big different with the tourist spot/location. The cook trying to get another local chinese as translator and finally, we get some food, and not a bad one.

I saw some fried banana and pointing to it mean “I want some of this”. When I had my first bite, well, it wasnt banana, it was fried fish!  Nice food though, fresh and hot from the wok.

Fried rice, with port, vegie and egg. Nice one.

After the fulfilling lunch, we walked around the area near the hotel, towards the Robinson complex along the Kra Rd.  On the way, there are numbers of goldsmith. However, most of the gold sold in Thailand are 18K gold instead of 24K gold that normally sold in Kuala Lumpur.  We met a songthaew driver and his mate. He said would bring me around for 20THB for several spots in the town.  Thus, we followed him to buy island package for the day after.  With him, we went to the Gems Gallary, birst nest shop, together about 2 to 3 hours.  Before we left, we asked him how much he wants.  He said “up to you”.  We paid him 50 in ringgit malaysia.  After that, I think that was way too much for the few spots in the town.  By the way, we have book the Phang Nga Bay trip for THB2400 and Phi Phi Island trip for 2000THB.

Birdnest from the APB Phuket Birdnes

Gems Gallery

After that, we walked around the area near the hotel for dinner.  It was 5:30pm. Foodstalls started to operate.  We came to this foodstall.  Well, we can’t understand the wording but could guess what they were selling.

Foodstalls

I remember that Thailand is famous with duck noodle.

After that, we had another chicken + pork rice, which commonly seen in KL.  But the new thing is, there is this plate of chillies + spring onion + garlic on every table.  I saw this almost every other stall around Phuket I went.  I never eat any of this actually.

Phuket City scene

Phuket city scene 2

This is the market nearby the river, which you see in the photo above. Most of the thing sold here are cooked food which is for dinner.

Outside the market, there is this uncle selling pineapple and guava.  Notice the little guava, it’s priced by weight.  We had twice of this small little pineapple for around 20THB one.

Phuket city approaching night.

We decided to go back hotel for a rest and shower.  Phuket is way much hotter than KL.  It can go up to 43 degree celcius. So, I need a cold shower.  When I went into the room, I saw the sunset has colored the cloud into orangish red.

Beautiful

Another one focus on the cloud.

It’s not the end of the day yet.  What is the Phuket city night look like?  After the shower and nice photo, we went out for a small walk. And here it is, the very first spicy tom yam kung (kung means prawn in Thai) that we had in Phuket. I would say the kung is fresh and compare to another tom yam kung, this is a better one, somewhere near to Mook Anda Place.

After the hot and spicy soup, we decided to go back and finally called it a day.

[Chapters]

Home

Day 1 – Phuket City tour

Day 2 – Phang Nga Bay (marvellous view of Phang Nga Bay!!! James Bond Island at Ao Phang Nga National Park)

Day 3 – Phuket City tour 2 + Patong Beach (by local bus!)

Day 4 – Island hoping 2 (Koh Khai Nui + Maya Bay + Loh Samah Bay + Pileh Cove + Viking Cave + Phi Phi Don Ton Sai Bay + Monkey Beach) + Phuket FantaSea Show

Day 5 –  City tour (Sea Gypsy Village + Abalone Farm + Wat Chalong + Phromthep Cape beautiful sunset!)

Day 6 – Heroine Monument & back to KL

Bonus – location & transport  (Tips on travelling to Phuket!)

The very first research that I started with was the Phuket accomodation, where to stay. I do not aim for 5-star but I am not positive enough to sleep at bus stop too. Thus, getting a suitable and convenient place to stay is a must-do for a trip.

To determine what hotel to stay, first should know which part of Phuket that you want to stay. Check out the Phuket map below.

Map of Phuket Island with Beach location

Phuket Airport is at the north part of the Phuket Island. My flight will arrive at 7:30am. I plan to stay in Phuket town, the eastern side of the island as most of the day trip are free pick up from the town and I am not worry for the transportation as the bus terminal is located mid of the town.  I believe the town is a ‘gathering’ of most of the culture and Thai food, which I could explore easily.

Phuket City map

There are a numbers of hotel and apartment rental in the Phuket town. Checking through the price, I find that the apartment has a cheaper price compare to the hotel.  By looking at the photo of the apartment, I think it should be good enough for me. I sent email to Phuket Center Apartment, SP Mansion, and Ekkamon Mansion. Phuket Center Apartment(800THB/night twin room) and Ekkamon Mansion (600THB/night twin room) responded. However, when ask for further query, PCA did not reply. Ekkamon Mansion require online full pre-payment to secure the booking. I suppose it is ok but I actually found Mook Anda Place when browsing Thaiways Magazine. I sent email to Mook Anda Place and Ann replied, room for 800THB is available. I asked further and she said that, payment will be made upon check-in. So, here it goes, we are going to stay at Mook Anda Place for 4D/3N. By the way, it has free WIFI!

It actually took us 2 weeks time to research on the accommodation for the 6D/5N trip. What activity that we plan to do will affect where we want to stay in a way. We plan to do a 2D/1N at Phi Phi Island (min 2000THB/pax). Having a 3D/2N (min 2900THB/pax) is a luxury that we can’t afford with 6 days that we have as we plan to spend some days for cultural/city tour besides the swimming and snorkeling.  By the way, hotel in Phi Phi Island is way too much over-priced compare to the hotel in Phuket Island.

Transportation in Phuket Island

Basically, distance is not far in the island. There are a few transport that would be important for tourist like you and me.

1. Airport bus – there is bus station of the left when exit the airport. Bus goes to several destinations: Phantep Condo, Suraku Stadium, Complex (Central, Big C, Lotus), Boat Lagoon, Heroines Monument, Pranang Sang Temple, Indigo Pearl Hotel, airport, city bus terminal.  From terminal to airport cost 85THB and vice versa.

2. Local bus to beaches – located at Ranong Rd. near to the fresh market.  It’s near by the Phuket Backpacker hostel too.  We took the bus here to Patong beach for 25THB/pax.  The bus fare is fixed and stated on the board near the driver seat.

3. Songteow – it’s everywhere and you can get it for any price, negotiable and reasonable.  However, they might start with some expensive price and expect you to negotiate for a lower price.  They would bring you anywhere in the town as no route fixed.

4. Tuk-tuk – famous in Thailand but pricy vehicle to travel on. Always negotiate before say ‘yes’.

5. Mini bus/van – There is mini bus that transfer people from airport to hotel in Phuket. From airport to city, it was 100THB. However, you need to wait until the whole mini bus is full before depart.

6. Taxi – it’s worth if travel in group for a taxi. Again, negotiate.  Well, most of the taxi is Toyata Camry model.

How I plan my trip?

By the schedule, we will be in Phuket for the first 3 days. 4th day and 5th day will be at Phi Phi Island and back to Phuket on 5th day evening. On 5th night, we might be at Patong beach. 6th day is the last day and we will be flying back to Kuala Lumpur, in the afternoon.

Using Google map

While planning the schedule, accommodation and activity to do, I would like to find out, how far it is from a location to the place-to-be. This would help me determine the time to travel and what is the transportation available. In this area, Google Map helps me a lot.  There is a function to calculate the distance between 2 spots on the map by defining the start and destination locations.  However, this would work in the satellite mode Google map. As what I am aware of, not all the location on the Google map has such information yet. The calculation might be an approximate value, but I think it is good enough for me to familiarize a little bit more about a place I have never been.

[Chapters]

Home

Day 1 – Phuket City tour

Day 2 – Phang Nga Bay (marvellous view of Phang Nga Bay!!! James Bond Island at Ao Phang Nga National Park)

Day 3 – Phuket City tour 2 + Patong Beach (by local bus!)

Day 4 – Island hoping 2 (Koh Khai Nui + Maya Bay + Loh Samah Bay + Pileh Cove + Viking Cave + Phi Phi Don Ton Sai Bay + Monkey Beach) + Phuket FantaSea Show

Day 5 –  City tour (Sea Gypsy Village + Abalone Farm + Wat Chalong + Phromthep Cape beautiful sunset!)

Day 6 – Heroine Monument & back to KL

Bonus – location & transport  (Tips on travelling to Phuket!)

I hope that, it would be a enjoyable experience for you reading my travel journal. Meanwhile, hopefully you would find some useful information for your coming trip too.

I will be going to Phuket in early March 2009. Hope to see you there soon!

[Chapters]

Day 1 – Krabi City tour

Day 2 – Island tour

Day 3 – Jungle tour

Day 4 – Back to KL

Bonus

Conclusion

Well, briefly, I explore and know a little bit about Krabi.

Thai massage!!

Massage, sometimes known as the lazy people yoga, is a manipulation of musscle and tissue for physical as well as psychological purpose. Massage theraphy helps to relax musscle, in directly helps to relax a person, emotionally. 

“Thai massage is a type of massage in Thai style that involves stretching and deep massage. It is known in Thailand as “nuat phaen boran” (Thai: ???????????, IPA: [nu?t p??n bora?n]), literally, the ancient-manner massage; or just “nuat phaen thai” (?????????). Thai massage originated in India and is based on Ayurveda and Yoga. It was believed that the massage art was brought over to Thailand by Shivago Komarpaj over 2500 years ago.”  from Wikipedia.

I really really love Thai massage. During the trip, we actually did Thai massage everynight available.  A rule of thumb to bear in mind is that, do massage an hour after meal, or have meal after 1 hour of massage. We went for Sunset massage center which located at the 2nd floor at the Sunset Hotel, Ao Nang.  It cost 250THB for a 1-hour session/pax.  Thus, it come to a total of 750THB for the 3 nights massage. After the massage session, they served us a warm drink which believe to help in blood circulation and calm down the mind. By the way, the center open from 9am to 12am!

Where is Krabi?

Let’s find out where Krabi located.

From the map above, we could see that Krabi was on the mainland of southern Thailand on the Gulf of Thailand.  On the left hand side of the map, we see Phuket Island. Zoom in the map, we see the Krabi more.

Air Asia will arrive at Krabi Airport. Krabi town is one of the place that we have visited, as one of the post that you read ealier. We stayed at Ao Nang.  

Day-tour packages

My experience on booking the day tour is, book with the agent on the spot when arrived at the hotel.  I have collected few day tour package brochures.  Although it might not be so much important, but it could give you some idea what type of day tour available.

1. Island hoping+snorkelling

2. Jungle tour

3. Adventurous

4. Horse riding

[Chapters]

Day 1 – Krabi City tour

Day 2 – Island tour

Day 3 – Jungle tour

Day 4 – Back to KL

Bonus

Conclusion

On the 4th day in Ao Nang, which is also the last day for the trip, we spent the morning walking around the Ao Nang beach area. We were taking the 1030am flight back to KL with Air Asia too.

Some notice near the beach

Photo before we left the Timber House Hotel

In the Krabi Airport, signboard “Seat for the monk”. Read more about the Buddhism in Thailand

Goodby Krabi, for now.

[Chapters]

Day 1 – Krabi City tour

Day 2 – Island tour

Day 3 – Jungle tour

Day 4 – Back to KL

Bonus

Conclusion