PhuketTrip-Day4

Day 4 – 25 Feb 09, Tue.
“Free & Easy in day time; PHUKET FANTASEA in night time, booked from travel agent – 1600 Baht (Expensive!)”

Today no need rush for wake up. But, don’t know why… we still can wake up around 8am since yesterday we back from Patong and slept around 1am+. Maybe we “kia su”… catch more time to explore this island. But, we took more time to plan where we should go. We really don’t have any ideal. We avoided going to town area because the traffic there is crazy. So, we choose the near by attractive places - 1st station- Wat Chalong temple. We blocked by police officer when on the way going to this temple… actually is road block for checking motorbike rider. Luckily we got Malaysia driving license which is legal use in Thailand. I think there have few Ang Mo Lang do not have international license and received summon. We heard that they are going to the Big Buddha temple while they talking to the police officer. After finished checking our license, we tried to ask the police officer how to go the Big Buddha temple. The police man is nice. He shown us how to go and actually we can see the big Buddha statue just up side behind us. Wow, so big and near! So we went to the Big Buddha temple 1st since it was just a few minute riding.

This temple is build on top of the hill so we can see it obviously when we look up. This temple is still under construction. We donated 300 Baht for the white marble which is use to build the (another) Buddha statue. We can write our name and wish or whatever on the marble… of course better no dirty word la~. Happened one interesting thing. The worker there found a big snake while working on the sand removing. They shouted and called us to come and see. The snake is ALIVE! We not dare to get closer it. End up I don’t know how they manage this snake… cook and eat?! We found the entrance to go up and get closer to the Big Buddha. From top, we can see the nice view of Karon/Kata town (I think) and the sea. Wow, wow, wow... very beautiful scene.

After that we went to the Wat Chalong temple which only 1km+ away from the Big Buddha temple. Search from internet, Wat Chalong is Phuket’s most important Buddhist temple and is the biggest and most ornate of Phuket’s 29 Buddhist monasteries. The architecture is typical of wats found throughout Thailand. Wat Chalong is associated with the revered monks - Luang Pho Chaem and Luang Pho Chuang, both of whom were famous for there work in herbal medicine and tending to the injured. Many local Thais and Asian tourists will set off fire crackers and ask for the lucky lottery numbers, and have their fortune told. We did not set off any fire cracker or “shaved bamboo chopsticks” (Qiu Qian in mandarin), just walked around. After few hours, ~2pm, we went for lunch in near by shopping mall. And around 4:30pm, we went back to hotel and get ready for that night big show – FANTASEA!

Van picked us up around 6:30pm. Just took around 20 minutes from Karon to the FANTASEA which at north of Patong, Kamala Beach. The staffs there were very friendly and polite. After we enter the main entrance, we came to ”the amazing Festival Village 嘉年华村 for a truly unique shopping experience. Here, visitors can buy a wide range of souvenir products and enjoy all night long festivities, parades, craft demonstrations, street shows, live bands, elephant rides, games and much more.” Since we did not take the buffet in our package, so we went to a “fast food corner” to have our dinner. You can see that every shop have their unique design/structure… very creative and beautiful. That’s why I almost captured all the shop by my camera.

After you passed all the shops, you will arrive another area where The Golden Kinnaree on your left and Fantasy of a Kingdom on your right. The Golden Kinnaree［金娜里皇］家雅宴字助餐厅 is a buffet restaurant which is the world’s grandest buffet, can fit in 4,000 peoples. “Amidst the mystical Himmaphan forest setting, visitors can indulge in a sumptuous feast of Royal Thai dishes and international delicacies, prepared by some of Thailand’s finest chefs.” – We did not go in because it not in our package (heard my friend said that the food is not nice. Shhhhi…). Well, the Fantasy of a Kingdom 梦幻王国剧码 is a cultural illusion show. “Las Vegas style production spectacle colorfully blending the beauty of Thai culture with magical illusions, 4-D effects, aerial ballet, acrobatics, pyrotechnics, special effects, exciting stunts & an elephant circus featuring over 30 elephants, all into one unforgettablyunique theatrical experience.“ Actually, I feel that this show only ‘so so’ because the story was not attractive. Anyway, all the background and instruments they used were good. Yes, before we go into the hall, they are not allowed us to bring camera or any recorder. They will check and ask you to pass your stuffs to the counter where there have their staff to take care of your belonging. After finish the show, you may queue up and take back your stuff. Even though the queue is long but efficient, you can take back your stuff very fast.

[If we take a show+buffet+transfer = 2200 Baht; now we only took show+transfer = 1600 Baht where show=1500 Baht and transfer only 100 Baht per person (we have 4 persons).]