Phuket, Thailand

13 things we did in Phuket
September 18-20, 2012

1. Palm Beach Hotel
2. Phuket Old Town
3. Cashew Nuts Factory
4. Chalong Temple
5. Big Buddha
6. Promthep Cape
7. Snorkeling
8. Banana Boat Ride
9. Underwater Scooter Adventure
10. Coral Island
11. Elephant Safari
12. Patong Beach
13. Food Trip

Photos

Trip Notes

• Our one way ticket to Phuket from Singapore cost P5,447 with 15 kilos of baggage via Tiger.
• Our one way ticket to Singapore from Phuket cost P6,636 with 30 kilos of baggage via Jetstar.
• Phuket is 1 hour behind from Singapore.
• Airport is about an hour away from Patong.
• Booked our hotel through Laterooms.com
• Our 3 nights at Palm Beach Hotel in Patong cost P2,012.
• Our city tour was booked through Gembira Tours.  It cost THB1,800 with airport pick up.
• Our Underwater Scooter Package and Elephant Safari B was booked through Phuket Easy Tour.  It cost THB6,600 and THB2,800 respectively, with free hotel-airport transfer.
• THB1 = PHP1.40

This is the third and final leg of our 3 country vacation.  Coming from Kuala Lumpur, we went back to Singapore for our flight to Phuket.  We could have gone straight to Phuket but there were no more promo flights available and we already purchased our bus tickets.  We stayed here for 3 days in Patong at Palm Beach Hotel.  We visited the old town of Phuket, did some island hopping too and their famous elephant safari.







September 18

Arrived at the airport at 9am and picked up by our tour operator at 10am for the city tour.  Our tour is private so we were the only couple in the van.  I just enumerated to them my places of interests, including the airport pick up, and skipped some in their itinerary that doesn't matter to me.  The tour is due in 5 hours with additional THB200 for every hour, but they let me extend for two more without additional cost.  But still, 7 hours did not cover everything because we stayed a bit longer in each place to enjoy it.  So I requested 1 more hour for THB200.  Lunch is not included in the tour, they just brought us to a restaurant along our route where we can have some nice seafood with a bay view.

Our tour van.

• Phuket Old Town.  This is the first destination of our tour.  A place of beautiful architecture with British and Portuguese influence that are centuries old.   Perfect for taking pictures because of the vibrant colors of the buildings.

• Sri Bhurapha Orchid.  This is the cashew nuts factory and retail outlet.  Bought P5,000 worth of cashew products to bring home.  

Buying some flavored cashews.

• Phuthai Souvenir Market.  I'm not really into souvenir items but we decided to drop by and might find something to buy.  As usual, none.  I think we only stayed here about 15 minutes then we left.

• Chalong Temple.  The most famous Buddhist temple in Phuket.  Do not miss this, although I'm not a Buddhist, I spent some time getting curious and taking picture because of the beautiful structures.  

• Even on the inside, didn't bother leaving my Kobe VII outside just to see the interior and the Buddhas.  

• PhongPhang Seafood Restaurant.  It's a few minutes away from Chalong temple and sits along the bay area.  Not too fancy and the food is a little bit pricey.  

• Big Buddha.  One of the most admirable landmarks and sits on top of Nakkerd Hills that can be seen from far away.  It was under rehabilitation during our visit which you can see the scaffolding around the statue.  However, the lofty place offers the best panoramic view in the island.

• Promthep Cape.  A perfect place located in Rawai, southern part of the island, for views of the Indian ocean and other islands of Phuket.  There's also a museum, restaurant and view deck but the place is very well known for its spectacular sunset.

• Karon View Point.  It's another place that offer views of the Kata and Karon beaches which is on the west side of the island.

After a whole day tour of the island, we stopped by at Kata and Karon beaches to take some pictures before heading to our hotel in Patong.  But the best thing for the day is yet to come.  When we arrived at our hotel, I was expecting an average accommodation as I have always patronized budget hotels for my trips to save money.  As we enter the building, the lobby is warm and neat, they have a cafeteria that offers international menu, courteous receptionist and a thing that I never had in my hotels before, an elevator.  I'm really impressed with what I'm seeing, but the one that really made my jaw drop and put me in awe is when the receptionist showed us our room.  Wow, it's like a 5 star hotel, complete with TV, ref, PC with internet (and also wifi), closet, safety box, air-con, carpet, bathroom with amenities, hot water, electric kettle, free coffee, daily room make up and towel change, almost everything that we need is in the room, not to mention the inviting and comfy bed with towel folding presentation.  It was like prepared for a couple's post wedding or honeymoon.  It's so cool, I could stay here all day and all night.  But with all that being said, it didn't tempt us (or me) to conceive, hehe, not yet, not now.  Live life, stay single.  I just can't believe I got a room like this for P700 a night.  Although it's a 10 minute walk to the beach, it's still a good place to stay, lots of spas, shops and restaurants nearby.  Even though I have read good reviews about the hotel, I didn't expect it to be this convenient and accommodating.  I don't think I wanna try out another one if I come back here.  Palm Beach Hotel is highly recommended by yours truly.

September 19

It's time for our underwater scooter adventure.  There are two kinds of this tour, one is a group tour in a large boat and the other one is a private tour in a speed boat and have your lunch in a restaurant, it is a bit more expensive.  We chose to be in a group tour, included in the package are accident insurance, hotel pick up and drop off, complementary drinks on board, lunch buffet on the boat, 5 minute banana boat ride, swimming, snorkeling and the underwater scooter ride which is about 15 minutes.  The clear canoe is not available during these times and we were not able to do that.  After all these off shore activities, we headed to Coral beach, which is on the other side of the island, it's your free time of about 1 hour, you can snorkel again if you want to or relax on the beach, they have some souvenir shops and a small bar so bring along some extra cash.  Distance from Patong to Chalong pier is about 15 minutes, and from pier to dive site is 30 minutes.  Upon boarding the boat you will be asked to take off you foot wear and have a sea sick pill which is provided.  This is a whole day activity around 8am to 4pm.   The tour is operated by Joy Dive.

                                                    Underwater Scooter Adventure Video

• Swimming and snorkeling.  After arriving at the dive site off shore of Coral Island, the crew prepares all the equipment.  While waiting for your turn, you can go swimming and snorkeling in the clear waters and feed the fish.  

• Banana Boat Ride.  They have a double model with two seating tubes side by side, it's wider and less prone to flip over.  The ride is about 5 minutes

• Underwater Scooter Ride.  It's an underwater vehicle that gives you a scuba experience with speeds up to 4 mph and rides 4 meters deep.  It has a double and single seater models.  It's operable by a push of a button for the motor and handles for steering.  One diver in scuba goes along during the ride.  We tried the double seat, I did the driving and Jona is the passenger behind me.  It rides so slow that it looks like we're sitting still, you will notice that you are moving when the fish runs after the food  as the scooter drags us.  

• Lunch Buffet On Board.  After all those activities, we had our lunch while on our way to Coral Beach.  We had two chicken dish, soup, rice and fruits.  

• Coral Beach.  It's a beautiful place to relax with white sandy beach and blue waters.  They also have shops and bars.  Stayed here for about 1 hour.

• On our way back to the pier they served us 1 round of rhum cola to celebrate the day.   Everything went great except for 1 that bothers me, they literally asks for tip.   There's nothing wrong with 'tips', but for me asking for it is unethical, should be voluntary and please leave the box alone, don't push it to each one of us.  Sorry bro, I'm not giving any.  

On our way back to the hotel we passed by Patong beach, so I asked the driver to drop us off to enjoy for some time at the beach and watch the sunset. We had our dinner and walked back to hotel ourselves.

Arm bar girl at Patong Beach

Jona did her last minute shopping.  She hasn't bought anything yet from Singapore and Kuala Lumpur so she's burning it all out here before she goes home.

September 20

Our tour for today is the Elephant Safari Program C.  But this time, it went a little bit rough.  The pick up time for this tour is 7:15am, so we were at the lobby 7:15am sharp.  We waited and waited until it's more than an hour and all the guests in the lobby were already fetched by their tour operators.  So I started texting and calling but got no replies so we went back to our room.  After a few minutes I got a call from the tour agent saying that they were there this morning and we were nowhere to be found so they left.  Of course I insisted that is not true.  Clearly he is lying because even the receptionist didn't see them.  So after arguing, I just asked him to do something about it and not waste our time in Phuket.  We both hang up and after a few minutes he called back, he downgraded our tour to Program B, which starts a bit later in the morning.  So I settled with that, waited for his driver to pick us up.

The Elephant Safari Program B has a duration of 3 1/2 hours and an hour less from Program C, also cheaper.  It includes accident insurance, hotel transfers, 30 minutes elephant ride, ox cart riding,  Muay Thai show, buffalo picture taking, rice farming demonstration,  Som Tai making and tasting, rubber tapping demonstraion, monkey show and elephant show.   We missed the fish spa, 4x4 mountain safari and nature canoe from Program C.  The tour is operated by Island Safari.

Elephant Safari Video

• Ox Cart Riding.  Takes you from the reception to the elephant ride take off pad.

• Elephant Trekking.  A 30 minutes ride on an elephant just inside the vicinity, no panoramic views or jungle as they claim on their site.  This is the best part of the tour though.

THB800 for both souvenir photos with frames.

• Muay Thai Show.  Brief history and demonstration of Muay Thai.  I even volunteered as a trainee.

• Buffalo Picture Taking.  Take a picture on a buffalo with lush greenery of plantation.

• Rice Farming.  Demonstration of farming rice then and now.

• Som Tai.  A cooking show on how to make Som Tai, a spice papaya salad.

• Rubber Tapping.  Demonstration for farming rubber from trees and how they are made.

• Monkey Show.  Monkeys performing tricks and stunts.

• Elephant Show.  Elephant doing crazy stuffs such as soccer, darts and massage.  Also one of the highlights of the tour.

Elephant massage.

Good thing our tour agent did something to make this happen instead of just cancelling it and return our money.  We really enjoyed our safari and it's a nice experience.  

After the safari we went back to our hotel.  We were done by noon so we just wandered around the area, went to Jungceylon Mall and Patong beach.  

Watching the parasails. 

Got back to the hotel and relaxed a bit.  Prepared our things and checked out of our beloved hotel by 7pm for our 10pm flight to Singapore.  This time, our service from the tour agent was not late. 

Please see my Singapore post.