Phuket, Thailand

Phuket, Thailand
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