PHUKET_DAY FOUR

Last day. Basically, its a nua nua day. After many episodes of sickness, we just wanna be a slime. haha.

 

Bye bye Phuket. We probably wont be back. *wink*

PHUKET_DAY THREE_PHI PHI ISLAND HOPS // July 2013

Remember how we enjoyed the local’s mookata last night? Never try local style food with a weak stomach. You will have to endure the pain that comes after the pleasure of enjoyment. The pain of diarrhea and pukes. IT WAS A TOTAL DAY-MARE. Our resort package came together with the island hopping tour. However, our friend gotten theirs from Groupon. Package like this were selling like hotcakes at the point of time. They got it for close to 60bucks. However, i would still advise you to book with their local tour agency (they are everywhere) when you are there. Much cheaper and makes it easier to bargain when you book them all together.

Early in the morning, a shuttle came to pick us up to bring us to the jetty. The ride is about 1 hour.

Arriving at the jetty on the minibus

Thats when Mascot starts feeling the discomfort in the stomach. After that we were given a sticker and boarded the ferry. Ours is a huge ferry, you know those kind with 3 levels. If you wanna get a cool looking sunburn, you can jolly well stay on the top. Its a open deck.

Middle deck

Mascot looking stoned

We opt for the lowest deck as mascot gets seasick on top of already being sick. Choose your seats wisely i say. This indian lady beside us started puking the moment the ship sets sail. and for the rest of 3 hours, i can only see her hair and her plastic bag. Sucks to be her. Mascot on the other hand was not any better off. Frequent trips to the loo has made him a walking corpse.  The fishes must be thanking him for the buffet spread.

Fast forward 3 hours later, we finally made it to the many islands! Everyone was rushing up out to the decks. Poor mascot was in no appetite for an eye feast.  The sights are so pretty! But the waters so clear yet i spot trash. WHYYY! :[ The huge ferry has to stop really far from shore. Because there is no way a elephant can enter a small door. As i admire from afar, i noticed the shoreline were packed with speedboats, crowded with tourists. Oh man, isn’t low season now? A mere 10 mins and we set off to our next destination or activities. Everything was so rushed. We felt like sheeps being rounded up and herded up as we transfer to another smaller boat for out snorkeling. One that could bring us closer to the shallow waters.

Herded into the waters

Fins can be rented at 10 Baht per pair. The mask and the snorkel were given and it look kinda gross. ew.. dont thing they clean it. You have to sign in and sign out with it.  The waters were not as clear as i thought to be. An visibility of perhaps 10m. Most of the corals were dead probably due to the high volume of human traffic (or sheeps).

A fish (or two) and dead corals

Not wanting to miss out on the highlight of the day, Mascot dragged himself  into the waters. Wow. how surprised i am.

YAY!! Our first snorkeling together

After some 45 minutes, we were rounded up from the waters and herded back to the mothership. They took us to phi phi island. FINALLY!! we stepped foot on the island. There was some maintenance and entrance fees we had to pay.

Tickets to Phi Phi Island

Then i smell it. WHAT IS THIS SMELL OF TRASH?! Our guide brought us to our lunch place where we bumped into our friends yay! and mascot discover that he was not alone!

3 sick kiddos

There isnt anywhere we can go with mascot feeling like shit. So we board the ferry rather early and awaits another 4 hours of painful journey back to our resort.

PHUKET_DAY TWO_WHITE WATER RAFTING // July 2013

ITS DAY TWO!!! WATER RAFTING DAY!! Woke up hyped and refreshed!

~(^▽^~) (~^▽^)~ (ノ/^ω^)ノ /  \ヘ(^ω^\ヘ)

Ytd sleep was good! The main highlight of the trip is probably this – DA WHITE WATER RAFTING. *･゜ﾟ･*\(^O^)/*･゜ﾟ･* Not my first time but i always enjoy my WWR trips immensely. This was mascot’s virgin trip! Booked this trip together with the Simon Cabaret yesterday. Always book your tours when you reach phuket! There are many tour operators, very competitive hence its much cheaper. Never ever booked online. Prices online for 5KM starts from 1300B up but was quoted less than 900B when we were there.

The lady quoted us
Rafting 5KM ->> 900B
ATV half hour ->> + 500B
Elephant trekking ->> + 500B

I initially planned on rafting 9KM but due to food poisoning, i was quite worried that its might be too xiong ( taxing ) for me (╥_╥) but yet I did not want to miss out on it! So i settled on the 5KM hoping that it will rain in the morning ( Raining increase the water level and the speed of the river flow making it more exciting). Our friends took up rafting + half an hour of ATV so it cost them 1400B each. We  were told that we probably spending more time in the waterfall while our friends went ATV but it wasnt how it went!!! Felt kinda cheated!

The minibus picked us up from our hotel at 8:30am, took an hour to bring us to the Suwankuha Temple (Monkey Cave), part of the itinerary. Your can get bananas or nuts from the street vendors and fed them to the monkeys but beware the monkeys are quite aggressive and will snatch whatever food there is from the people. They sure can tell why are you hiding the yummies.

Outside the temple. Admission Fee is required to enter!

The monkey climbed up the guy to grab the food in his hand.

Mascot with his distant relative. hahaha~

After the Monkey Cave, we took another 20 mins ride to the ATV place where those peepos who took up ATV in their package have their ride here. Being the only ones who didnt get the ATV, we were told to wait for the rest of them at the place. Why didnt Mascot and i do ATV? Thats because we did it at other places previously ( mine in bintan and his in korea ) and we kinda find it boring. Haha. ┐(- ヮ. -)┌  Wells, where was the extra time in the waterfall?

Drav & Rach with their ride

Getting all ready to vrrroooom away!

They were actually very well organised. At the ATC ‘reception’, hangs a board that documents the no of people at various timeslot and when the people at the designated slots arrive , they will strike it off the list. It was an hour long wait. There was absolutely nothing to do over there! The people there treated us to a whole bag of Chiku chiku and rambutans! They kept peeling and offered it to us. Super grateful!! No wonder Thais are known for their hospitality and generosity. The rambutans came fresh from the trees!! It was still warm when we had it ( hot sunny day ). Our driver actually went into the forest and emerged with a whole plastic bag of rambutans soon after.

Enjoying our cornetto~

After the ATV is done, those that have taken up elephant trekking will proceed to do it while the rest were brought to the white rafting location to have our lunch. There was this wooden bridge, suspended on cables we had to cross before reaching the place. It was really scary and fun at the same time cuz it sway really hard and you couldnt keep your balance on it. Lunch was simple, kampong style. We dined next to the river which we will be rafting in later.

Having fun swaying~

NOW COMES THE HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY!!
We were given lockers to deposit our stuff in. After which, we were briefed on the safety, what to do and not to during rafting. I heard from my friend who went phuket and rafted complain that they was not allowed to raft and it was only done by the guides. Such is further confirm when we saw people paddle-less in the raft going down the river during our lunch. Therefore i had no expectation that i will be paddling so imagine my surprise when they hand us our paddles. WEEET! We get to do it afterall! The ride was really fun! It would be more exciting if it had rained in the morning 😦 Nevertheless, we enjoyed it tremendously! Even mascot who was quite reluctant to do it in the beginning was grinning from ear to ear. Nobody says no to rafting! The whole rafting took about 30 – 45 mins.

All set to get wet!

One shot before we sets off

YAYS TO RAFTING!!

Midpoint pitstop

Happy faces with our guide!

Love all the expressions here. Bought this photo at 200B per piece. They have professional photographer station at various points to snap us!

Packing up to head back! Dunno how they stack all the rafts up.

All happy people onboard!

This pretty house makes the picture looks so sweet.

After rafting, we proceed to trek to a nearby mini waterfall. The trek took mmm.. 5mins? It was really quick and we reached the waterfall. It was not spectacular but still beautiful! We went for a dip in the water! Water’s quite murky tho.

Waterfall dip.

It was end of the day tour and we were brought back to our hotel! On the ride back, we made friends with 2 Singaporean guys who introduced us to a place where they had my favourite Thai steamboat aka mookata buffet in Patong! We swear we would be there for dinner. Always wanted to try out the authentic Thai mookata. Trial and error, with a map in hand, we tried to figured out our way there. All we know is that it is located opposite a fire station. While it feels like a repeat of yesterday, we managed to get there in half an hour! Quite a feat. Saw the boys from earlier during the tour there as well! A thing to note is not to bring the Singaporean habit of kiasu-ness. you will be charge for food wasteage.. 100 baht per kg!

Map we use to navigate! Red cross is the fire station!

Fire station directly opposite.

The airy settingFreeflow meat ❤

One can make your own mango salad at the table!

The sauces garden.

Mascot figuring out what to have~

Lets dig in!

Be warned., A strong stomach is needed to stomach the food. Cost us 199B per pax. Drinks additional charges. Place opens from 5pm till 2am. The dinner was good. I finally got appetite for food! However, after this meal, horrors awaits the 3 of them. The 3 of them were unwell after the meal and me, who have been lining my stomach with a protective layer of charcoal from the past 2 days was perfectly fine!

PHUKET_DAY ONE // July 2013

TRAVELOGUE // PHUKET_DAY ONE

PHUKET_DAY ONE
PHUKET_DAY TWO_WHITE WATER RAFTING
PHUKET_DAY THREE_PHIPHI ISLAND
PHUKET_DAY FOUR

This is our 1st time to Phuket. We had grab our flight when the fare was on sale for $90! I think its quite cheap! But the worst had to happen just hours before the flight. I was hit by food poisoning and it was horrid. I was running for the toilet 4x and had puke like 3x. It was really really bad. I went all weak and sore from all the purging. I swear I clear out like 8L of water. Amazing.. where did all the water came from?
The flight was at 8am but I was kept awake by the cramps the entire night. There is no way I could cancel the trip when everythin is all paid for! I dragged my body to the airport, up the plane, down it and once my feet touches the soil of phuket, my spirits suddenly lifted! And so were my body. I attributed the numbing of pain to adrendaline.  Haha! Before entering the arrival hall, there were maps for you to grab and you can also get a thai SIM card free provided you top up the value of minimum 100baht. we gotten 2, 1 for each couple so that its easier to keep in touch since we aint staying at the same resort.
Previously we gotten a package from our hotel which includes airport transfer. Initially I thought it was gonna be a small car but turns out its a 12 pax minibus. LOL kinda too big for just the two of us.. our friends whose hotel is just next door at patong paragon hopped on to our ride and paid for 200B per pax. If not there will be many cab drivers trying to get you on their cab and the cheap airport minibus transfer is also within sight.

45mins ride from the airport and we reach the resort, Sea Sun Sand Resort and Spa. OMGGGG! The resort is yippeeee aweeesomeee!! I was prancing around the room squeeeing at the amazing view from our room! We had booked a room with a garden view as we didnt think that a sea view (which cost more) was needed since we will be out of the hotel most of the time. But they were so nice to give us the one on the highest floor so it came with a partial seaview. Hahaha.. I am in heaven 😀

Whoop whoop!! The sea!

Me (looking not so bad afterall) and mascot

Spacious balcony

Bigger than huge bed.

FAVOURITE! HUGE BATHTUB. (can watch mascot do situps while i bath)

They even prepared umbrellas for us! In case it rains.. And in the cupboard was beach towels and bathrobes.

They have a gym, a games room, table tennis room (darts too) as well.

Our resort location is really ideal for us as we wanted come peace and quiet without being far out up in the hills. It is located at the far end of Patong beach (3 mins walk to the beach), away but a 15 mins walk from the bustling soi bangala road. Massage palours are everywhere, you can find a family mart, 7-11, pharmarcies every few metres down the road.

We had our lunch nearby at this No.9 resturant. They served western and thai cuisine. It wasnt too bad! But i got no appetite and all food looks disgusting to me.

TOM YUM OF THE DAY!!

Popped by family mart for some of our necessity.. they have this huge bottle of betagen (similar to vitagen ) for only 25B!! Thats really cheap! You should drink it everyday!

Betagen aka Thai Vitagen .. Source

Booked our tour ( water rafting and the Simon Cabaret show ) for the days after. Never ever book online! Its much cheaper to do it there as there are so many tour agencies around and they are very competitive! After our lunch we stroll along the Patong beach. Well, it wasnt as huge as I thought it would be! Comparing it to bali beaches, it was a narrow strip of sand. You see spot many surfers riding the strong waves.

Enjoying the water in our feet

That’s us and the beach!

Then, my scumbag brain decided to make this stupid suggestion of walking to Jungceylon shopping mall, not knowing how far it was. ITS DAMN FREAKING FAR. Not to mention the sun was bloody cooking us alive ( Damn weather forecast, you were so wrong about having thunderstorm ). We never been there before, we had no idea where it is or how is looks like. All my muscles and joints were still aching BAD, it’s worst than fever. After dragging my body around for 20 mins, we have finally arrived with me half dead.

Finally reaching Jungceylon!!

Told my friends they could go walk around, i just need somewhere to sit. Set our sights on MacDonald the Safe-house, we went in. Mac in phuket is a total ripoff. WHAT?! a 6pcs nugget meal cost some $8SGD. Thats so expensive!

Very expensive mac and you can spot my palette of charcoal pills.

After a mere half an hour, i decided i couldnt take it anymore. My muscles were so sore and i felt so dehydrated. I need a bed. Call up my friends and turn out they were tired too and we took a tuk tuk back. Tuk tuk cost 200Baht to get to any locations in Patong and it goes by per tuk tuk. So if u go in a group of 8, it will still cost you 200B~ which makes it more worthwhile!

Tuk tuk ride back to hotel

Spend the remaining hours sleeping on the comfy bed until its time for the ah gua (transvestite) show – the Simon Cabaret show. Its the glitz and glamour of the prettiest katoeys aka ladyboy. Our ticket cost us 500B includes land transfers.

They have their own theater and its kinda like those musical theaters, huge and comfortable. The various stage designs were so impressive! The ladyboys dressed in flamboyant costumes with sequins and feathers. We were seated on the 2nd level, we prefer that though as we got a full unblocked view of the stage and not being so close to the ah gua. Those seated on level one will be in for a surprise. While the stage is being set, some big fat ah gua will be waiting to rub your face in between her boobs or to steal a big fat kiss from you. Initially, mascot wasnt so interested but subsequently we were so captivated by the props, sets and costumes that we couldnt take our eyes off the stage. Instead it was our couple friend who fell asleep instead. HAHAHA! At the end of the show, the girls will line up at the entrance of the building. They will lure/invite you to have a picture with them. They will ask for a 100B after you took a picture with them. Sometimes they will sneak up more performers in the picture and you end up paying for all of them!

Luring you in for a picture~

Dinner was at a beach side restaurant, Baan Kalim Seafood Resturant near our place. No energy for cruising through bangala road  today. My appetite  is slowing recovering although i still couldnt eat a cow yet. We had our dinner while enjoying the gentle breeze and sound of the waves. The ambience excellent! There was a live band but poor girl, she had to sing without a mike!

The view from where we were seating!

Outdoor patio

From top left: Menu, Cashew Chicken, Fish Portion ( fishballs in fact =.= ), Pineapple Rice, Green Curry, Phad Thai