We flew to Thailand’s largest island (and a province in itself) last Wednesday afternoon. Located in the south part of the Andaman Sea off Thailand’s south-west coast, Phuket has an incredibly varied terrain: rocky beaches, sandy beaches, forested hills (in fact, it is said that Phuket is a corruption of the Malay word, bukit or hill and the island is pretty hilly) and tropical vegetation. With a population made up of Southern Thais and an indigenous ocean-going people (they all look quite dark, darker than those in Bangkok), Phuket has a culture of its own. About 30-35% of the population is Muslims.
I read that the island has incredibly varied terrain with rocky beaches, sandy beaches, limestone cliffs, forested hills and tropical vegetation. As is the case with most tropical islands, great seafood is in abundance. And as Bali’s Kuta, there were gaudy billboards, travel agencies and tacky craft shop located every few hundred metres in the southern half of the island (I didn’t find Patong to be as tacky as Kuta though). Phuket is also on the world’s top ten dive destinations. I didn’t go on any of the scuba-diving or snorkelling trips though as it was perpetually cloudy and raining on and off and the sea was choppy.
We could see the many surrounding tiny islands as the plane began its descent through the mist and haze (I just love little islands like that). It was an overcast Phuket afternoon when we landed and after collecting our bags, we bought a coupon for the cab to our hotel near Patong beach, some 45 minutes away from the airport. We ventured out to Patong town for some seafood dinner that evening before checking out Bangla Road (lined with stalls selling souvenirs, shops selling gems, tailors and pubs) and Jungceylon shopping mall. We took a tuk tuk back to the hotel – and you even have to bargain for this ride. We also learnt that a Patong-Phuket City tuk tuk ride costs about 400 Baht (about RM40) a way. By the way, Phuket tuk tuk is different from those in Bangkok. It’s like an open van and you enter it from the back and sit on the seats facing each other (a bit like the angkot in Bandung except that angkot has a much narrower space and you enter it from the side).
On Thursday morning, determined to still check out Phuket City, I studied the maps and discovered there was a bus stop to town. The receptionist confirmed that we could take the bus to the city and guess what, it costs a mere 20 Baht per person for a single trip. What a bargain! The bus we took was styled after the tuk tuk, with seats facing each other and a long bench in the middle to seat more passengers. The driver picked up passengers along the way even though I couldn’t see any bus stop or bus signs anywhere.
Phuket City is located at the east of Phuket Island and is about 16 km away from Patong town. It took close to an hour to reach the city. A chap was waiting as we alighted from the bus and I asked him for some directions. He then offered to take us around for a mere 50 Baht (which we bargained to 40 Baht, though finally we paid him 60 Baht because of his good service and company). Turned out he was a Thai Muslim. He took us to some plaza selling some gems and local crafts before going to Wang Talang, another swankier plaza also selling gems and crafts. Then we went to Sri Bhurapa Orchid which sells cashew products before visiting Gems Gallery, yet another plaza selling gems and crafts. We also visited Pornthip, a one-stop Phuket gift arcade. Then it was on to some showroom selling honey from Chiang Mai before we had a late lunch at a Muslim stall.
We parted ways with Abdul Razak, our local guide for the day, and took the bus back to Patong. Dinner was had at Ali Baba’s, a halal Indian eatery in Patong. It started pouring just as we were finishing dinner so we took a tuk tuk back to the hotel (the initial idea was to walk back...).
We decided to spend Friday in Patong, well, namely Jungceylon. There is an Arsenal store there, just like the one in Central World in Bangkok, where I parted with some Baht buying some merchandise. We had lunch at the food court – there is a stall selling halal food and another selling seafood – before checking out Robinson’s. I then spent some more Baht buying some LeSportsac bags (Mummy even bought one too!). Abah and I went out in the evening to get dinner and we bought some delicious ones at an Indian stall (but not Indian food!) at the OTOP bazaar.
We checked out on Saturday morning and just like the previous days, it was cloudy and pretty soon raining cats and dogs. In fact, it rained all the way to the airport. Thankfully the rain had stopped by the time we boarded the plane and the plane ride was smooth all the way until we reached sunny KL in the evening.
So yes, I went to Phuket but I didn’t take any boat to any of the surrounding islands. The Patong beach was clean but pretty narrow; the sea was probably ten metres away from the road. And it’s amazing how good the Thai people are at making tourism work (I hate to admit it but I have seen dirty beaches in Malaysia), even the countryside is very clean and well-kept. We still have a long way to go before we can even compete with our neighbours when it comes to luring tourists. Yes, we have the facilities and they lack the English fluency but they are still far ahead.
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A rather belated review (because I couldn’t access Blogger before today): as we know, Arsenal and Liverpool drew at Anfield on Sunday evening and remain the only two unbeaten teams in the EPL. I watched a bit of the first half but missed the Liverpool goal. At half time, I decided sleep was a better option but slept poorly; I had nightmares that Liverpool led Arsenal 4-1 at one point before Arsenal finally caught up again with the game ending 4-4. Then I dreamt that Arsenal beat Liverpool (I probably should have just stayed up because all that nightmates left me feeling equally tired, just as if I’d watched the match myself). Only found out on Monday morning that it was honours even. Here are some pictures of the match.
I read that the island has incredibly varied terrain with rocky beaches, sandy beaches, limestone cliffs, forested hills and tropical vegetation. As is the case with most tropical islands, great seafood is in abundance. And as Bali’s Kuta, there were gaudy billboards, travel agencies and tacky craft shop located every few hundred metres in the southern half of the island (I didn’t find Patong to be as tacky as Kuta though). Phuket is also on the world’s top ten dive destinations. I didn’t go on any of the scuba-diving or snorkelling trips though as it was perpetually cloudy and raining on and off and the sea was choppy.
We could see the many surrounding tiny islands as the plane began its descent through the mist and haze (I just love little islands like that). It was an overcast Phuket afternoon when we landed and after collecting our bags, we bought a coupon for the cab to our hotel near Patong beach, some 45 minutes away from the airport. We ventured out to Patong town for some seafood dinner that evening before checking out Bangla Road (lined with stalls selling souvenirs, shops selling gems, tailors and pubs) and Jungceylon shopping mall. We took a tuk tuk back to the hotel – and you even have to bargain for this ride. We also learnt that a Patong-Phuket City tuk tuk ride costs about 400 Baht (about RM40) a way. By the way, Phuket tuk tuk is different from those in Bangkok. It’s like an open van and you enter it from the back and sit on the seats facing each other (a bit like the angkot in Bandung except that angkot has a much narrower space and you enter it from the side).
On Thursday morning, determined to still check out Phuket City, I studied the maps and discovered there was a bus stop to town. The receptionist confirmed that we could take the bus to the city and guess what, it costs a mere 20 Baht per person for a single trip. What a bargain! The bus we took was styled after the tuk tuk, with seats facing each other and a long bench in the middle to seat more passengers. The driver picked up passengers along the way even though I couldn’t see any bus stop or bus signs anywhere.
Phuket City is located at the east of Phuket Island and is about 16 km away from Patong town. It took close to an hour to reach the city. A chap was waiting as we alighted from the bus and I asked him for some directions. He then offered to take us around for a mere 50 Baht (which we bargained to 40 Baht, though finally we paid him 60 Baht because of his good service and company). Turned out he was a Thai Muslim. He took us to some plaza selling some gems and local crafts before going to Wang Talang, another swankier plaza also selling gems and crafts. Then we went to Sri Bhurapa Orchid which sells cashew products before visiting Gems Gallery, yet another plaza selling gems and crafts. We also visited Pornthip, a one-stop Phuket gift arcade. Then it was on to some showroom selling honey from Chiang Mai before we had a late lunch at a Muslim stall.
We parted ways with Abdul Razak, our local guide for the day, and took the bus back to Patong. Dinner was had at Ali Baba’s, a halal Indian eatery in Patong. It started pouring just as we were finishing dinner so we took a tuk tuk back to the hotel (the initial idea was to walk back...).
We decided to spend Friday in Patong, well, namely Jungceylon. There is an Arsenal store there, just like the one in Central World in Bangkok, where I parted with some Baht buying some merchandise. We had lunch at the food court – there is a stall selling halal food and another selling seafood – before checking out Robinson’s. I then spent some more Baht buying some LeSportsac bags (Mummy even bought one too!). Abah and I went out in the evening to get dinner and we bought some delicious ones at an Indian stall (but not Indian food!) at the OTOP bazaar.
We checked out on Saturday morning and just like the previous days, it was cloudy and pretty soon raining cats and dogs. In fact, it rained all the way to the airport. Thankfully the rain had stopped by the time we boarded the plane and the plane ride was smooth all the way until we reached sunny KL in the evening.
So yes, I went to Phuket but I didn’t take any boat to any of the surrounding islands. The Patong beach was clean but pretty narrow; the sea was probably ten metres away from the road. And it’s amazing how good the Thai people are at making tourism work (I hate to admit it but I have seen dirty beaches in Malaysia), even the countryside is very clean and well-kept. We still have a long way to go before we can even compete with our neighbours when it comes to luring tourists. Yes, we have the facilities and they lack the English fluency but they are still far ahead.
~~~~~~~~
A rather belated review (because I couldn’t access Blogger before today): as we know, Arsenal and Liverpool drew at Anfield on Sunday evening and remain the only two unbeaten teams in the EPL. I watched a bit of the first half but missed the Liverpool goal. At half time, I decided sleep was a better option but slept poorly; I had nightmares that Liverpool led Arsenal 4-1 at one point before Arsenal finally caught up again with the game ending 4-4. Then I dreamt that Arsenal beat Liverpool (I probably should have just stayed up because all that nightmates left me feeling equally tired, just as if I’d watched the match myself). Only found out on Monday morning that it was honours even. Here are some pictures of the match.
And here are pictures of last week’s Champions League match where Arsenal was in seventh heaven in London after beating visitors Slavia Praha.
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