A Travel Journal by K.A. Lim
Go Holiday DIY Package Itinerary
Flight Information
Departure : Aug 10 2008(KUL - HKT) AK 872 12:45PM
Return : Aug 13 2008(HKT - KUL) AK 873 1:35PM
Hotel Information
Hotel : The Royal Paradise Hotel, Patong, Phuket
Room Type : 3 nights Superior Deluxe Room - 2 rooms
No : 4 Adults
Total Amount : RM2,100
Currency conversion: 100baht = RM10.20
1st day - 10th August 08 Sunday
"Sawat-dee Khrab" - Our flight on Air Aisa AK872 touched down at Phuket airport at 1:30pm local time. Checking through the Immigration was a breeze. We boarded an air-conditoned Toyota Camry taxi (550baht) straight to Patong where we had booked our accommodation at The Phuket Royal Paradise Hotel . The journey from the airport to Patong takes about 45 minutes.
The name Phuket is derived from the Malay word bukit, meaning hill. The island was previously named Junk Ceylon on European charts, a corruption of the Malay Tanjung Salang meaning Cape Salang. Later it became known as Thalang, after the name of the main town on the island. The island did not come to be known as Phuket until quite late in its history when the administrative centre was moved to a mining town in the centre of the island called Phuket.
Along the way, at a traffic roundabout, we saw the famous
two heroine statue atop a monument. In 1785, Phuket was attacked by the Burmese as part of a wider campaign to invade Thailand (then called Siam). The wife of the recently deceased governor, Lady Chan, along with her sister Lady Muk, realizing they were outnumbered, rallied all the island women to dress up as men thus fooling the Burmese into believing that the island was too well defended and they fought ferociously and broke the Burmese siege. The statue was bestowed honorific titles by the king of Siam.After checking in at the hotel and feeling
hungry, we walked the 
streets looking for food.Most of the shops were not yet open for business, so we finally ended up with some snacks from a convenience store much like a 7-eleven shop. Later we found a side-street stall selling 'Phat thai' (ผัดไทย) Thai fried noodles (50baht) and 'Khao phat' (ข้าวผัด) fried rice with some pork (muu) or chicken (kai) and egg mixed in (50baht) for take-away.
After a good rest, we walked the streets of Patong Beach. The road by the beach is jam-packed with hotels, restaurants, travel agents and shops selling varieties of goods. We settled for the night’s dinner (910baht) for 4 persons. After dinner, we found a reasonably priced travel agent along the road and booked our tour trip for the next day to Phi Phi Island (1300baht) per person for 4. At the pedestrian walking street of Bangla Road, there was a hive of activities. People were at the bars drinking and a-go-go girls were pole dancing at most of the drinking bars. On the way back to hotel, we were persuaded by a few charming masseuse and went in the massage parlor for a feet massage. The feet, hand and shoulder massage cost (250baht) for a full hour of relaxing massage.
2nd day - 11th August 08 Monday
The pick-up van arrived at 8:00am at the hotel lobby. After a few more pick-ups along the way for other tourists headed for the Phi Phi Island tour, we arrived at the Chalong Bay where groups of day-trippers assembled at a sea-front shed. The tour operator, Anda Varee Co. gave everyone a briefing on the activities of the day and the number of stops. At 9:00am we were led to the speedboat parked along the beach front. We boarded the 3 engine speedboat and speeded through the waves with about 36 passengers onboard straight for Phi Phi Leh Island. The distant is about 37 kilometers with a traveling time of 45 minutes.
Regarded by many as being one the most beautiful beaches, our
first stop at Phi Phi Leh Island is the famous Maya Bay where the movie ‘The Beach’ was filmed http://www.krabi-tourism.com/phiphi/maya-bay.htm. The white sandy beach was full of tourists and many speedboats were seen parking and unloading day-trippers. The scenery was really beautiful with spectacular cliff faces on an inlet bay. The water was clear but because boats constantly moved in and out of the bay area, it is not safe to snorkel in this area.Next, we passed through Loh Samah Bay, Phi Leh Cove, Viking Cave and stopped ashore at Monkey Beach. There were many monkeys at the island and they were seen taking bananas from tourist. Later, we stopped for snorkeling. The corals were not as beautiful as compared to other places in the world and the waves were so strong that we had to struggle to keep afloat. After the snorkeling activity, we stop at Phi Phi Don Ton Sai Bay for a buffet lunch. This is one of the worst-hit beaches during the tsunami disaster in December 2004. There were no longer signs of destruction by now as most buildings were quickly rebuilt to restore the tourism industry. After lunch, we travelled for 45 minutes to our last stop at Khai Nok Island for a 2 hour relaxation at the beach. Rental of 2 beach chairs per umbrella is 150baht. We had fun time feeding bread, bananas and watermelon to a melee of small fishes racing for a mouthful on the clear water beach. The speedboat raced back to the Chalong Bay Pier at 4:30pm and transferred us back on the earlier van, sending us back to our hotel at Patong.
After a good rest, we had our buffet dinner at the hotel where we stayed. The Royal Paradise Hotel promotes the cheapest buffet in town of (250baht) per person. The streets were full of life as we walked to the newly built shopping complex, the JunkCeylon. A display of water fountains and water screen and laser images showed on a water screen against the background of a huge junk ship built inside the shopping mall tells the story of the king’s rule.
We walked to the same travel agency and booked our tour for the next day - a morning tour of Camp Chang Kalim on an elephant. It is one hour elephant trekking costing (575baht) per person after a good bargaining. We also bought tickets for the famous Phuket FantaSea, a carnival-like night-time “theme park” buffet dinner and show at (1700baht) per person.
3rd day - 12th August Tuesday
At 8:00am, a van came to pick us up from our hotel and took us to the Camp Chang Kalim . We were seated two 
people on a 30 year-old 3,500 kilos female elephant with an elephant handler who lead the elephant through treks uphill. At scenic points, the elephant handler would jumped down from the elephant and help us to take our photos with our camera. Passing through some 
cashew nut trees orchard, the elephant walked along the road and crossed the street towards the seaside. The scenery overlooking the sea was beautiful and again the guide stopped and took many photos for us riding on the elephant. The elephant walked back towards the camp with a total traveled journey time of an hour trekking. We left with an unforgettable experience of the elephant ride. The van
then took us back to our hotel.[The Kingdom of Thailand's elephant population is rapidly diminishing. You can help keep the remaining elephants alive by supporting trekking enterprises like this. By earning a living taking tourists through the cool mountain jungles, rivers and beaches of Phuket Island, local elephants get a new lease of life, away from the harsh logging camps of the north and the pollution of Bangkok, Those not interested in the trekking can simply take a look at these magnificent animals, feed them bananas and learn a bit about their history and plight.]
After a bath and short rest, we walked towards the Patong Beach.
At the beach road, we saw a shuttle bus and decided to travel to Phuket town. It was an experience of a life-time. There were a few Caucasian on board this small bus (songthaew). A songthaew is a converted pickup truck with wooden seats facing each other on both side of the vehicle. At the center of the flooring was a long bench for more seating spaces for passengers. The bus moved slowly along the beach road and each time the bus driver spotted a customer, he would stop to let the passenger come onboard. Slowly, the bus became jam-packed to the maximum, carrying at least 30 passengers. For such a small vehicle, some locals were packed right to the back hanging onto the bus as it traveled its journey. At each drop stop, the passenger would alight and walked towards the front and pay the driver the fare. But towards reaching the final destination of Phuket town, the bus driver stopped the vehicle by the roadside and collected from each passenger the fare (25baht) per person. I guess he would not want to see all his passengers disperse and him unable to collect their fares at the final stop. At the roundabout where the bus finally stopped, we boarded an air-conditioned taxi after some bargaining on fare. We wanted to pay only 20 baht for a 5 minute ride to the nearby Ocean Shopping Center for the 4 of us. After agreeing and boarding the taxi, the taxi driver insisted for us to allow him to make a stop at a tourist centre selling gems and local handicraft. He waited while we shopped, and promised to take us to our destination whether or not we bought anything. We had no intention of buying anything, however at the centre, the ladies could not resist and picked up a few souvenirs of brooch and Thai silk scaft. Later we realized that the driver got to collect 2 litres worth of petrol voucher each time he brought customers for a stop at the centre. Working out, 2 litres of petrol costing 35baht per litre would earned him 70baht plus our fare of 20baht, making a total collection of 90baht for his effort. We did our shopping of clothing at the Ocean Shopping Center. Later we boarded a taxi for 400baht back to Patong.At 5:45pm, we were picked up by a van for the famous Phuket
FantaSea show , just 9 km from Patong with a 15 minutes drive 
close to Kamala beach. Buffet dinner was served in a huge restaurant building inside the theme-park from 7:00pm to 9:00pm. A spectacular sculpture of elephants walled the building housing the viewing arena. It is an award winning, Las Vegas-style production spectacle, 
colorfully blending the beauty of Thai culture with magical illusions, 4-D effects, aerial ballet and acrobatics as well as a special performance featuring over 20 elephants on the theatrical stage. The show started at 9:00pm and ended at 10:45pm. After the show, we walked out through the exit to our waiting van and headed back to our hotel. We went to the same massage parlor and had another round of one hour feet massage, before we went to sleep.4th day - 13th August 08 Wednesday
We had our breakfast provided at the hotel in the morning and took our last walk along the Patong Beach. Patong beach is simply where Phuket’s action is! It is by far the most frequented destination in Phuket and has just about everything a tourist gets entertained. The beach is jam packed with hotels, restaurants, bars, discos and shops located alongside dive shops, travel agents and the outlets that cater for windsurfing, snorkeling, sailing and parasailing that goes on around the beach.Back at the hotel and after packing, we boarded a taxi (530baht) to the Phuket airport. Our AK873 Air Asia flight from Phuket to KL departed at 1:35pm and we arrived at KL LCCT airport an hour later.
We enjoyed our trip with fond memories and
experiencing a different culture and people. Thais do not shake hands but instead have the ‘wai’ – a gesture made by placing your hands together in front of your face as is in prayer and bowing a little. It is indeed a land of a thousand smiles. "Kap Koon Khrab"Some simple Thai conversation
Hello - Sawat-dee Khrab
Thank you - Kap Koon Khrab
How are you - sabai de mai
I am fine - sabai dee
Sorry - khor thot
I don't want - mai ow khrab
How much is this - ra ka thao rai
Can you make it cheaper - lot noi dai mai
Yes - dai
No - may dai
How much is it to go to Patong - bai Patong thao rai
One - nueng
Two - song
Three - sam
Four - see
Five - har
Six - hok
Seven - jed
Eight - bad
Nine - gao
Ten - sib
One hundred - nueng roi
Two Thousand - song pun
It had the benefit of a good location, close to shopping and sightseeing areas. After checking-in and a quick change of clothes, we went for lunch. We then proceeded to our first destination, Qingping Market 清平市场 Qingping Lu 清平路 located North from Shamian Island. There were many shops and stalls selling Chinese medical herbs of a wide variety. Further along the streets, aquarium and pets shops were seen. On the roadside, vendors were selling tiger claws, bear paws, buffalo horns and many exotic wild animals trade. There are shops selling turtles kept in plastic containers as well.
Next, we went to Liwan 荔湾 Mansion, a former Hong Kong Bank manager’s house. It was a huge garden with fishes in pond and a green landscape. In the centre was a large rock collection (it is typical to have a collection of large lava rocks displayed in the courtyard of a rich man’s mansion; the bigger the pieces, the more riches it denotes). The mansion was constructed in a combined Chinese and Western tradition. The in-house guide briefed us on the history of the lifestyle and living habits of the rich as we were taken through several sections of the building, such as the living hall, second hall, bedroom chambers, kitchen and a well in the backyard. The upper floors housed a museum collection of Chinese jade carvings and embroidery, arts and crafts carvings as well as vases for sale.
which was the next attraction. Animals such as monkey, bears, tigers and elephant were seen in enclosures. We saw only one Panda, not being active but was, in fact, sleeping in the cage. We next went in to see aquariums that 
contained fishes, stingrays, turtles and sharks. As the next performance show was about to start, we sat at the gallery of Ocean Theatre to watch a performance featuring seals and dolphins. We went back to the hotel by taxi at 5 pm and after a shower, we went for a simple claypot rice dinner before heading to the riverside to board
the Pearl River night cruise 珠江夜游 at Tianzi Pier 天字码头. The fare was CNY120 per person. The two hour evening cruise is a great way to see the Guangzhou skyline along the Pearl River 珠江. A host of decorative lights were displayed along the river bank, buildings, bridges and colourfully decorated cruise boats plying the river. We sat and 
relaxed on the upper deck while having ice-cream, peanuts and Chinese tea, enjoying the beautiful coloured lights and laser lights display. Back on the pier at 8:45 pm, our guide who was waiting for us took us back to Lido hotel in a taxi and bid goodnight and parted with us. Still feeling energetic, we walked the Beijing Lu Pedestrian Street 北京路步行街. 
The entire road is outlined with many retail outlets and departmental stores selling mostly clothing. We found many locals wandering the streets and vendors were busily going about their business. Beijing Road also provides some historical significance. At both ends of this famous road and in the center of the pedestrian walkway, the municipal authorities encased in glass an excavation site of an ancient Chinese road. We peered down the hole and were able to distinguish the cobblestones far below. A plaque nearby provides all the details. At 10 pm, we walked back to the hotel.
saw the famous Five Rams Stone Sculpture 五羊石像, the city emblem of Guangzhou. Legend tells of five celestial beings riding into the area that is now Guangzhou on five rams and carrying sheaves of rice. The celestials bestowed blessings on the land and offered the sheaves to the people of the city as a symbol of prosperity and abundance. After the celestials left, the rams turned into stone, and Guangzhou quickly developed into an affluent and influential city. Due to this legend, Guangzhou has gained several popular nicknames: Yangcheng (City of Rams) or Wuyangcheng (City of Five Rams
At the park, many elderly people were seen exercising in a game of badminton, ballroom dancing, line dancing, swords display and so on. Further in the park, on top of Yuexiu Hill, the commonly known Five-Story Tower, the Zhenhai Tower 镇海楼 is located. Built in 13th year of the Ming Emperor Hongwu’s reign, its roof and eaves are covered with glazed tiles while its two-story boundary wall on the bottom is made of red bricks. It now houses the Guangzhou City Museum.
the last resting place of the second king of Southern Yue, which was an early kingdom of the Western Han Dynasty and had its capital on the site of present day Guangzhou. We explored the Nanyue Royal Tomb Museum 南越王墓. The king, Zhao Mei who ruled Nanyue State (203 BC – 111 BC) was buried in the tomb along with other people and animals, sacrificed to attend to the king in the afterlife. Four of them were his concubines. The king’s burial suit containing thousands of jade pieces as well as jade and gold jewelry belonging to the concubines was enthralling
The weapons, musical instruments, drinking vessels, ivory, tools and implements that were stored in the tomb gave us an accurate glimpse into life in 111BC. More than 1,000 burial relics were excavated from it, most of which were made of bronze except the unique first golden seal of the Han Dynasty. After completing the tour, we went back to hotel. At the 6th floor of the hotel, we had dim sum and noodles for lunch. We then walked the streets and bought a China Mobile phone card ¥78 to SMS and call back home.
there was this extremely large HongXing Seafood Restaurant 鸿星 with many patron savouring the seafood and exotic Cantonese cuisine. After being allotted a table, we went to the several tanks that kept a large variety of fresh lobsters, prawns, clams, crabs, eels and fishes, to pick our choice of food to be cooked on the spot by the restaurant chef. There were also several varieties of herbal soup, sharks fins, abalone and snakes soaked in medicinal herbs in glass containers. There was even a live crocodile for sale! The meal was delicious and the price was reasonable. We walked back and again went to the Beijing Road for a stroll.
factories after factories manufacturing goods of the world. One noticeable feature is the air quality around this region; the air is polluted and the skies were overcast, without any hope of a glimpse of blue skies. The journey took about 2 hours before arriving at Huanggang check point/Bus 
Terminal, Shenzhen. We went across the road using the overhead bridge and boarded a local bus CNY5 for 2 persons to a bus stop at Window of the World (Shijiezhichuang世界之窗
We took pictures of the front entrance and purchased two entry tickets for CNY120 per person. Walking up the steps to the park entrance, we entered the park and walked in a clockwise direction, as we visited many replicas of world famous landmarks. 
We spend 2 ½ hours in the park walking and taking pictures. After exiting the park, we had a KFC 肯德基 meal, at a KFC outlet located on the right of the grand entrance. We walked below 
the pyramid structure into the Shenzhen Metro 深圳地铁 station and rode the MTR to Luohu station. There were 17 stops along the line 1 and the 
fare was CNY5 per person. The MTR reached the last station and we exited from the metro station and headed to the upper floor to purchase our train ticket at CNY75 per person from the Shenzhen Rail ticket counter. The ultra-modern, high-speed D840 train (200 km/hr) departed at 3:30 pm. The journey took 2 hours with 2 short stops along the way and we arrived at Guangzhou East Station 广州东火车站. We proceeded to the metro station located at the same rail station and rode the MTR for CNY4 per person to station 7 stops after. We exited the metro station Gongyuanqian 公园前 and walked back through the Beijing Road, back to Lido hotel.