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!)

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!)

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!)