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).]

PhuketTrip-Day3

DAY3 - 24 Feb 09, Tue.
"Tropical Island Paradise (Phi Phi Island, Maya Bay & Khai Island) - 1000 Baht"

We woke up at 6:30am and had a breakfast which we bought from 7-11 last night. Van picked us up at around 8:00am. Before us, driver already picked up one lady. There had 3 groups of people which including 4 of us... total 8 peoples took this tour. I think we took around 1 hour journey from Karon/Patong to the Asia Marina Harbor where we have a cruise pick all the tourists. We can enjoy the facilities on board. Snacks and soft drinks are served throughout the journey.

1st station, we arrived at Khai Nok Island. I 1st time saw such small island can be as a tourist site. Can see that how small is it? This island is famous for snorkeling. " Snorkel over beautiful coral reef and colorful fishes..." To be frank, there have not much colorful coral there and the area it occupied is not big. Maybe I did not swim more further away from the island. Happy to say that there have quite a lot of fish but not may kind of species. in the island, there have handicraft stall, t-shirt stall, beverage stall and restaurant. We stayed here around 1 hour and went back to the board for the next station.

2nd station, Phi Phi Island. At the beginning, I thought we will have a snorkeling in the Phi Phi Island. Do you know what is the purpose we at here? ...Just for lunch! We had a International buffet lunch on Phi Phi Don ( Chao Koh Restaurant). This restaurant have no grand or fancy decoration... just simple and clean. Spaghetti, rice, tomyam soup, fish, vege, chicken, fruit...etc. Taste? Hmm... so so. Spaghetti is nice. After lunch, we explored the surroundings. Well, we only have 1 hour in this island for lunch and exploring. Lunch already took us about 45 minutes... wait and eat. We only left 15 minutes for exploring. I think here is famous for diving because I saw quite a lot of diving center. Hotel, resort, restaurant, pub,cafe, internet cafe, and a lot of stall can be found here. Very crowded... a lot Ang Mo Lang ohh! No much time relax and explore, anyway, will consider to take diving trip and stay at this island...if possible.

I think around 2pm, we arrived at Monkey Beach. This beach only around 3km away from the Phi Phi Island port. Since we taking cruise, we need to take a small boat to this beach. But... no small boat provided here. So our cruise only can park at the sea level where it can stop as close as the beach. How close was that? Ha.. actually quite far. I think 400 meter from our cruise to beach. I thought we will have chance explore this beah...touch the sand, see the monkey and feel the environment there. No no no, we only can swim at this point. Tell you, I'm not good in swimming. Me swim + 400 meter = died. Anyway, I had thought to swim for a while... but I not dare to jump from the cruise. While waiting for me to get ready to jump, I only left 15 minutes to swim because they only gave us 30 minutes to swim. End up, I just stayed on the boat. You know, I just realized that at the end of the boat, there have a staircase which easily for us to go down/come up from the sea (-_-|||...

After that, sightseeing around Bidah Island and Viking Cave. Viking Cave is famous for its its harvesting of swallow nests, a Chinese delicacy. Boooat boooat boooat... only passed by the cave and not really can see clearly how this cave looks like. Don't think that I was so close to this cave if you look at the picture below. Actually, I used zooming of my camera to capture it. That's why I am saying that not clear how it looks like. Bidah Island... Honestly, I did not see that. Boat just keep moving forward, I did not hear tour guide telling us what cave what island we passing off. After that, sightseeing around Pi Leh Cove and Loh Samah Bay. Time for our last stop at Maya Bay, the beach featured in the movie "The Beach". Same as the Monkey Beach, we only can swim around for 40 minutes. This time I did not miss it. I go down from that staircase and swim around... not so far, just swim close to our boat because I scare I will lost...haha. After this, transfer back to Asia Marina Harbor and back to our hotel around 6pm.

Looked back this tour's catalog, the daily itinerary is a bit different from what we had. According to the catalog, we should have a chance to swim in Pi Leh Cove and Loh Samah. I feel this trip quite rush and most of the time is on the boat. Not really enjoy the activities. This tour cost us 1000 baht per pax includes transfer to/from hotel, life jacket, mask& snorkel, lunch, tour guide, full insurance, fruits & soft drinks & snacks.
Travel agency: Fah Suay Nam Sai Travel.

Viking Cave

Pi Leh Cove


This is the map of this tour

Time is limited. After we took a bath and diner, we went to the travel agent to rent the motors and direct drive to Patong area to experience the nightlife of Patong. We can see the Simon Cabaret is on our left hand side when on the way we going to Patong. Simon Cabaret is hugely popular tourist attraction. The show is performed by the famous "ladyboys" of Simon Cabaret. We did not go to Simon Cabaret and see the show. Why? Because my 'boy friends' said that they are not interested.

Arrived Patong, the environment is not much different between the day and night when we walking along the Patong main street/beach. But... Surprisingly, when we walk to Bangla Street, there is totally different when we came here at day time yesterday. Very happening and crowded! Pubs and disco are along the street. Lightful, music... hullabaloo. You can see that a lot hot girls wear sexy and dance sexy. By the way, they also have different kind of handicraft selling there.