Phuket Trip 2010: Part 1

ALERT: THIS POST IS LOADED WITH PICS AND DEFINITELY COMES WITH A LONG STORY FOR YOU TO READ! :p

ENJOICE!

The trip started with a little bit of chaos since we overslept. Our flight was at 7.25am but we woke up at 6 without proper packing on the night before (saye flat sbb kepenatan yg x tahu berpunca dari mana. Nak sambung packing lagi.. bersiap lagi.. then nak drive from KL to LCCT amik mase brp minit lak? giler kan). We rushed to the airport and luckily we managed to check in (i think we already late for 10-15 mins.. but thank God the AA officer still allow us to check in). Fuhh!! okay, enough of the running scene at the airport ;p

The view from my seat... we are reaching Phuket. Yuhuuuu :)

Anyway, we even took our breakfast onboard since i left the food stocks at home (see... i told you it was a chaos. total chaos! penat je borong mknn, last2 tinggal jugak. selamat x tertinggal passport and tickets.. kalau tak naya je). The best part of our flight? The view of the skies in early morning.... and the landing process! very smooth :)

Arrival..  The airport is at the seaside. Feeling excited already :p

They provide FREE simcard at the arrival hall. Do take one.. it will be very useful throughout your trip

Basically, our first day is about getting used to the transportation system in Phuket :)

Prior the departure, we decided to take the bus from the airport to town and then rent a car to move around (since i thought it is good to try something challenging.. tapi saye je kot yg suke cari jalan susah. hehehe). But since we arrived quite early, we had to change the plan. There are few choices besides taking bus. You can hop on a minivan (will be shared with few other passengers) or you can get personal car that will send you directly to your destination. Airport taxi might be a little bit pricey, unless you are very good at bargaining (seriously, i am not good at it... huhu). Well, at last we agreed to take a car from the airport since the driver offered us a charge of THB650 to go to Kata (i think the price is  quite reasonable since usual rate will be around THB800 -- what i've read from other bloggers). Our driver Chareef (pronounced as Syarif among typical Muslim in Malaysia) even offered to drive along Patong and Karon so that we can look around before we travel on our own. His car is a new Toyota Altis (definitely cannot give negative comment on the car's condition -- it's very comfy. I nearly fell asleep otw to Kata but since i am very excited, i decided to stay awake to enjoy the scene). Chareef is very reliable and punctual, he  also speaks good English. We even booked him to send us to the airport on our last day. He charged THB600 from Patong, whereby our hotel charged THB750 for the same trip. We know we can get cheaper rate around Patong, but it's not easy to look for one. Besides, we already felt comfortable with him.

We went to Kata area on the 1st day since we decided to cover Kata and Karon area first. We stayed at Hotel Ibis, opposite ClubMed (will give the review on the next post)

So, what do we do on our first day? 

We went to see the most renown temple in Phuket -- Wat Chalong

The main building

Sacred gate? :)

Half part of this building is under renovation

We did some shopping at Wat Chalong since we heard that the price for souvenirs are much expensive at the beaches area. Try to bargain as much as u can (since i'm not good at at it.. i just pay at whatever price that i thought reasonable).

After our visit to Wat Chalong we went to Chalong Pier. Our initial plan was to have our lunch there but since we couldn't find any halal restaurant there, we went to hypermarket nearby and bought some bread, tuna and juices for lunch. We added some cereals and milk in our cart since the breakfast for the next day did not included in our room package (we bought the room without breakfast. it came out super cheap compared to the published rate! kudos to Agoda).

Chalong Pier -- where most of the tourist boat took off for trip to other islands

HomePro Village Phuket -- where we bought our food supply

After we finished our lunch, we headed to Karon View Point (i think it is situated in Kata district, but i don't know why the name refer to Karon)

Karon View Point -- where you can see 3 main beaches in Phuket (Patong, Karon and Kata)

Then we headed to Promthep Cape (famous as Sunset View Point). We stopped by Nai Harn beach before we continue our journey to the cape.

Nai Harn Beach -- a little bit secluded. Not many people here. The water is clear but the beach area is not so clean

Crystal clear water

Evening @ Nai Harn

Promthep Cape -- where we had our dinner while watching the sunset. Very overwhelming ;)

Sunset view

We got back to our hotel before 8 PM. We cleaned ourselves, got some rest then went out for another dinner (or should i say supper?). Well, there's nothing much you can do at night while in Kata. If you want to taste a happening nightlife you better stay in Patong :D

The symbol of Thailand = Elephant (its everywhere). I found these at Promthep Cafe. Cute isn't it? :)

So, there goes our first day. What happened next day? We strolled along Karon and Kata beach. The wind was strong and the wave is quite high. Most of the time we saw red or yellow flag is on. So we do not dare to swim. We just played around, soaked our feet and kept ourselves busy with the cameras :p

Get ready for some tanning ;)

Early morning @ Karon beach

Karon... it's a beautiful beach :)

Kata beach

So.. that's it for the first part. I will continue the next part with our days in Patong. Stay tune......

Till then :)


Regards,