When we talk about Phuket, what would we think of? We are reminded of the sea….Patong….foreigner’s sunbathing….expensive cost of living…..the important person that we have left…..Oh, come on, don’t play too much… Let’s seriously start story….P’Bo…
On this 17-18 October, I’m going to Phuket.
Do you wanna come with me?
Oh sure…..
Oh, you are so free, haha.
On the 16th evening, we are supposed to meet at Don Mueang International Airport. That we need to check in at least an hour prior to departure and that I stay so far at Ayuthaya and the traffic at Asia road could not be any worse, I call P’Bo to let her know that I have a chance to miss the flight. I was gonna tell her that If I can’t make it on time, she can go first and I will follow. But……no answer.
Ring…ring….ring…..
I then didn’t feel so good because P’Bo is quite uncertain. She likes to do whatever she wants. It is quite difficult to make a guess on her. So I just have to think positively that she might just be playing with me and would go to surprise me at the airport.
Ring…ring….ring…..
Seriously…….
You can really pick the right time to play with me. I really feel not good now. But then I thought she could have just forgotten her phone at home. But to be sure, I called her friend to help me contact her. And I got the same answer that she didn’t pick up her phone. Then, everyone helps to contact her by calling and lining her.
Ring…ring….ring…..
Um…what can I do? I might have to go by myself (crying).
Then I park my car at Soi Muang Ake as it’s cheaper than parking at the airport. While I was walking to check in, I thought that I would meet her there, she would just come and greet me there. And while I was busying finding my ID, she walked in….
Did you forget your cellphone?
Yeah.
That’s what I thought….
This trip we got a cheap ticket from booking via Jetradar. We booked about a week in advance and the price was good, it’s about 2,000 THB. You can also try this application out or visithttp://www.jetradar.co.th/flights/ : )
:: I come to Phuket very often that it’s almost like my second home. Whenever I come to Phuket, I tried to meet with seniors, friends, and someone I know here. The van comes pick us up at the airport and drops us at the hotel. Tonight, we will be staying at “Mee Tang Nang Non”. This place is so cool. Before I came, I asked someone who used to stay here and they said it’s not so good. But I loved it. Anyhow, let’s put our stuff in room and go out as someone is waiting to see us….
:: Khun Pla, the owner of Marina Sugar Surf Hotel at Kata is one of my acquainted sisters. She has been waiting for us about an hour in order to see us and take us for dinner. I must say that I’m very hungry as I went straight to airport after work so nothing has yet gone to my stomach. And then P’Pla take us to delicious restaurant in Phuket.
:: We come to Jae Nid Restaurant. They serve Dim-sum like in the photo once we arrive. So we just pick whatever we want to eat and pay afterwards. Well, Khun Bo is an eater, she likes to find delicious and famous local food here. So coming to Phuket, we must try dried porridge. Ok, then, let’s try. You really must try it out yourself. Personally, I can’t eat it as I love hot and watery porridge more. That night, we enjoy our food and chitchat until 11 p.m. and Khun Pla then brought us back to the hotel.
:: Usually, I don’t plan much in advance for my travel. So while Khun Bo was taking shower, I roughly planed the trip like this:
Friday
– Fly to Phuket and sleep there
Saturday
– Morning, go for Phuket Vegetarian Festival
– Afternoon, go for adventure activity
– Evening, spend a night at Kata Beach area
Sunday
– Dolphin watch at Koh Mai Ton
– Fly back at 11 p.m.
:: I think this plan sounds good. Ok, let’s take a shower and go to bed and tomorrow we will be ready to go explore the Phuket Vegetarian Festival, Yay! ><
:: I’m not sure what this temple is called, you can zoom in to see it yourself, haha. Well, staff at the hotel is so kind. They volunteer to take us for a morning tour. We leave the hotel at 6 a.m. sharp. Everyone is still half-sleep sitting in the car and then we head towards this festival. Here, I will let photos explain things. For the deeper information, I also think Google is a better choice than my explanation, haha.
:: But if I have to explain the origin of this festival atmosphere, I would be glad to do so. It definitely is the Unseen Thailand. I think no other country, city, or province will do like this much. People come here with faith, they believe in gods. They offer their bodies for the gods to be in them and then show the magic. Some put the sharp thing into their bodies, mostly in mouth. Then, they can no longer speak Thai speak but alien languages. They are also shaking while walking. They can no longer walk in normal. Some become the Monkey King, Sun Wukong and some become Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. When they walk pass each house, they will also have a sip of tea, why? I’m not sure too. But I’m sure this is all new to me. And if you have never been here yet, you must come once. Oh, more importantly, be careful of your ears as fire crackers are playing all along the way, haha.
:: After having enough fun with this atmosphere, Khun Aong and Khun Kukkai (the owner of Mee Tang Nang Non Hotel) volunteer to take us to eat around Phuket but mostly at the old town Portuguese which is an important area for tourism in Phuket. It is very famous, if you yet come here, you must. And you will be amazed by the civilization, and the arts of housing decoration. But well, I come too here often that even with the camera in hand, I didn’t bother to get a single shot, haha. But yeah, it’s the same area as the Phuket Vegetarian Festival. So now let’s go to our first restaurant. This restaurant is for Kanom Jeen (Rice Noodle).
:: This shop is called Kanom Jeen Noi. It is an old and traditional restaurant that the building stay the way they were. No washing, no cleaning, no…..No!!!! not like that, they might have cleaned it too. What I meant by say is that the classic of the building remains unchanged. Well, I’m too much into eating that I forgot to take some photos of it. For me, this restaurant is a pass, full set of everything, haha.
:: The second restaurant is called “Arun Phochana”. It is my third time now here. It is an Islamic restaurant that has strong taste and the highlight is Mataba and teh tarik or pull tea. And we did order many things to try, did we finish them all? Noooo, haha.
:: And our last menu is egg ice cream.It’s like you have scoop of coconut ice cream with a fresh egg on top. And since the ice cream is cold so the egg is frozen. And when the egg freezes, we get the feeling….No, not that story. Let’s say it’s delicious but a bit greasy as when ice cream is melted, the egg also get melted. For the location, I really can’t remember. If anyone remember, please help comment below for other friends, thank you so much 🙂
:: It’s time to go back to hotel now. In the afternoon, we will be going with Flying Hanuman according to the plan. I feel so grateful to both of them for taking such a good care of us. More importantly, the place is really great and cheap, only 1,040 THB per night and during high season, it might be 1,240 THB if I remember it correctly. But, overall, I love it here. So before we leave, let’s get a shot for the memory.
:: For more information of the hotel, please click here: https://goo.gl/y5oUsK
:: The van comes pick us up in front of the hotel, so we wave a goodbye to both of them. If chances allow, I will definitely come back here. Actually the distance from Mee Tang Nang Non to Flying Hanuman is not far, with no traffic you will reach there in no time. But…..Phuket is a nightmare for traffic. We hire the van to pick us from the hotel to Flying Hanuman and pick us back to another hotel, which we not yet sure where, with 300 THB each. This price is normal here. You can inquire with hotel or the agency. But…now GrabCar in Phuket offers free ride. I’m not sure about Promo Code. You can try download the application and it will come up. If I remember it correctly, it will expire by the end of this year.
:: Hello Flying Hanuman. Let’s see how grand it is. Here, there are 3 main packages. Package A, B, and C. For more information, you can check it out at its website. For us, we choose package B which allow us to only do the zipline and the food is excluded. Ok, after getting ready with the dress and safety protection equipment, now we are ready to fly.
:: This place offers 22 platforms, 18 ziplines. And the crazy peak is the 400 meter zipline. So no more talking, let the photos tell you the story.
:: Well, in fact, some part is not as fun as in the photo, it’s too slow. I thought may be I’ve been too adventurous. But when I asked P’Bo, she said it’s not that scary. So, if you are scared of height, you will have no problem here. Below is my video when I went for 200 meter zipline.
Video : https://goo.gl/h6XN3P
:: After more than 2 hours, it made us somewhat tiring but very fun. For me, it is my first time. It is very fun, I love it, especially the 400 meter zipline. Thumb up! After taking off all the safety protection equipment, the staff give us scarf and Flying Hanuman shirt as souvenir. For more information of booking, prices and other inquiries, please visit its website at: http://www.flyinghanuman.com
:: While we are having the fruits provided by staff, we searched for tonight accommodation right then. I found this application via my foreign friends who also love to travel by backpack. He said this application is convenient and you can also get discount even just minutes before checking in; the same way you would get if you were booked a month in advance. At first, I didn’t quite believe it until I experienced it myself. This application is called Hotel Quickly. Open the application and shake, it will help us find the nearest accommodation. But no, the price is still too high. So I go to zone map and click where we want to stay and the prices come up. Finally, we got FOTO HOTEL. From 5 digits prices, now it is 5,000 THB. Why wait? We book it right away.
For the website of Hotel Quickly : https://www.hotelquickly.com/th/
:: Well, since I’m a grey tone color lover, staying at the place like this makes me so happy. We just need to show the replied mail from the application to the staff and sign the agreement like any other hotel and we are in. Staff help us carry our luggage to our room, they are so lovely. Really well take care of us….so, this is FOTO HOTEL.
:: Well, I came here once already, so I know that they have a fantastic swimming pool upstairs. So I talk with P’Bo and we both agree to enjoy the pool a bit. I will also take sexy photos for her so she also get changed. But we need some energy. After Flying Hanuman, it consumed all our energy. We order a set of food and enjoy while waiting for the right time to come.
:: This trip, I also bring my Drone. I get a chance to fly the Drone to take high angle shots of the hotel. It only takes about 5 minutes to assemble the Drone and then there it flies…..
Video Clip : https://goo.gl/6vXDAv
:: Ok, now let’s go up and check it out. Let’s see what FOTO Hotel has to offer.
:: If I remember it correctly, the owner here is a photographer so the hotel is designed in monochrome style,
Or just anything related to photography. So clearly, the hotel has the sense of photography.
Like the hanging photos on the wall or the tone color of the building that is very comfy, not too bright nor too dark.
Here, grey is the dominant tone but with black and white color as well. Personally, I love it here.
:: I think another highlight here is this Silhouette Pool that attracts so many people to come.
Because I think the swimming pool here is very beautiful and lovely. It is made from marble and the atmosphere around is so great like in the photo.
It is especially great in the evening time. And that it was named Slihouette Pool is because of this reason as silhouette means the dark shape and outline of someone or something visible in restricted light against a brighter background.
Every evening you will see the sunset here and you will get the silhouette photos.
You will see dark shape of people. And If I understand it correctly, this is the origin of Silhouette Pool of Foto Hotel.
:: Tonight I will be staying alone as P’Bo urgently needs to go back to Bangkok.
So lonely now. Anyhow, the hotel has many activities for us and they are very supportive. When we ask for anything, we usually get it all. We have the speaker in the room, so I listen to music while zipping beer. Then, I sit in the warm bath and get relaxed by the sea breeze. It is also quite a happy time. Anyway, I can’t be drunk nor sleep late as tomorrow we will go to Koh Mai Ton with Medsye Travel > <
:: You want something real? The bed is so good that I didn’t even want to wake up. But I must. As according to the plan, we will be going to Koh Mai Ton. Ok! Let’s go fill up our energy before going on today trip. There’s so much choices, too much that I don’t know what to eat. Oh well, whatever I want to eat, just have them. After that, I just sit there to appreciate the view, zipping hot drink while soaking my feet in the cold water before we actually set off to this place.
:: Staff of Medsye Travel called and informed that they have arrived at the hotel already. I feel sad that I have to leave this bed. I want to stay another day. Oh well, it’s time to leave. So I packed my stuff and go to the pier. Today, we will be sailing the boat. In fact, this is quite a private trip as there’s only 7 passengers on board. The van takes us to the Dolphin Pier.
:: The price of the sailing boat trip of Medsye Travel is quite reasonable. It is 2,900 THB including food, snorkeling, boat, and the pick up and drop off services from the hotel. The conditions of the boat are great. It is such an ideal place to have a cool party for a group of 7-10 people. It is very private. They also have the net sitting in front of the boat and I love it so much. The boat is not sailing fast. It gives us more a relaxing feeling. And today we are going to Koh Mai Ton.
:: Wow….Koh Mai Ton also shows synchronized swimming. Everyone, can you help me on this as how they can dance in such a unity? And why they look just like dolphin’s fins……Oh wait…..are they dolphins? Wow…they are indeed dolphins. More than 10 of them are swimming there. OMG! I’ve never thought that I would see dolphins in Thailand. I’m the luckiest man on earth that day, so happy ><
:: And it also swims to our boat, haha.
Video Clip: —- https://goo.gl/v6tSTj —-
:: In the between, the staff also let us snorkeling where we found dolphins. But nothing is there when we actually go down. But well, just seeing from the boat is already very satisfied. And I must say there is no corals at all at Koh Mai Ton. Only stones are visible. Please don’t say that I’m this and that. Oh well, let’s say we come here to rest and relax.
:: I have to admit that this is the down point of here. Corals are really weak here. Oh well, it’s like the trip said.
They said that we come here to chill and relax. If you expect to see beautiful corals, please go somewhere else, haha.
:: I’m only snorkeling for a while before going up to the boat to enjoy the food on board.
Well, while we are snorkeling, the staff start barbecue and cook some food for us like fried chicken. So when we got tired from snorkeling, we can have a good time with food and we did enjoy a lot as everything on board is free, haha.
:: My stomach is almost exploded, I have to say, haha. Here, we have an hour time to chill on the island. You can choose to go or not to go. There’s swimming pool on the island too with a chill and comfy seat.
:: For me, I just need to go on island, record atmosphere, swim a bit and take my Drone for high angle view shots. Now, let’s see the photos I have whether it’s as great as many people have said, Yay! ><
:: These are just part of the photos. I didn’t take much photos for this trip as it was supposed to be my relaxed trip so I really want myself to be truly relaxed.
Most of view and most of atmosphere, I recorded them with my eyes. Only once in a while that I will take out my camera. From here, we will go back to the boat and back to the shore.
Hellooooo Khun Pla, where are you going this evening? I’m free.
I think I will go for surfing at Kata Beach, Mai.
I want to go too…
:: That I’m very easy going, this trip is again messy. Whatever comes as interesting, I just go for it. Not so soon after arriving the shore, Khun Pla comes pick me up and we head towards Kata Beach. Unfortunately, the wave is not strong enough to surf. But since we already come so we go to the wave simulation at Surf House Phuket. It may be a bit expensive but very fun. And before the Surf House, Khun Pla recommend a bar near to the beach. She said the cocktail is 50% discounted. Why wait, whatever on sales, we can’t miss. Here…..the atmosphere is so chill and we enjoy the sunset here.
:: 19.00 p.m. sharp, we move to the Surf House. We will go surf with simulated wave. This is my third time surfing here. It is very fun. Personally, I really like it. No matter how many times I have fell or rolled over, I’ve never given up. I want to be as good as the staff.
:: From here, Khun Pla invited me to take a shower at Khun Toon’s hotel, Sugar Marina Surf. After that, we go for dinner. I really like the atmosphere here, very chill. So then I take some of its photos as if I were staying here for a night, haha. In fact, I just came here for a shower and will be moving on to dinner.
:: Then we stop for dinner at MAMA Seafod, at Kata Beach. We can search it via Google and you will not miss it as it’s quite famous.Khun Pla again treated us this meal. I and Khun Toon are having a great time eating. This trip I’m very happy. Everything is new to me. Although I have come to Phuket several times, many things in this trip are my first time. This trip is going to be an unforgettable one. Thank you so much everyone for helping me on the way and all the way. In a few weeks, I will be going back to Phuket again. Don’t be bored of me yet, and see you again next block. Thank you very much.
