Phuket, Thailand
January, 2013
Monday, January 14,2013 Phuket, Thailand
We were up at 5:30, because our flight was leaving Cambodia at 8:10. We quickly had breakfast, then jumped into the taxi. The siem reap airport is tiny so it did not take long to check-in. We arrived in KL after 2 hours in the air, but we lost an hour so it was 11:10 when we arrived. We had lunch at maccas at the LCCT airport then we checked into the Tune Hotel for a 3 hour refresher package, so we could have a shower and a nap.
Our flight left KL at 6pm. We had dinner on the plane. It was only a short one hour flight to Phuket. We took a shared taxi from the airport to our hotel. It was a bit of a scam, because they stopped halfway at a tour booking place hoping that we would book all our tours with them. Noone on the taxi booked a tour. We were the last to be dropped off at our hotel.
It is a beautiful resort on karon beach, 10 km south of patong where all the action is. Our suite has a kitchette and two bedrooms. Outside our front door, it is only a few steps from the swimming pool. We certainly have come a long way since out hutong in Beijing!
Tuesday, January 15, 2013 Phuket, Thailand
Breakfast in the resort was amazing. They had fresh coconut drinks and fresh yoghurt and fruit. We took the 10:30 shuttle bus to karon beach, but it was too hot and full of bogans so we walked back to the hotel via 7-11 to buy some food and drinks. We met a lady selling tours along the way, so we got some prices from her.
Back at the resort, we had a swim before heading back to karon to have some lunch. On the way, we met an indian tailor who measured me up to make me an Armani suit. Once we found out how much he wanted, we quickly got out of there. We had lunch at a restaurant on the beach, then took a taxi to patong.
We were dropped off at otop market, because we were told that miss we worked there and she organised the best tours. It took us an hour to find her. Nobody that we asked understood the directions. On the way we bought some cheap DVDs because our resort has a dvd player. We found miss we’s store but she was away on holidays. We left our details and set off to find patong beach.
On the beach, we saw jet-skis, banana boats at para-sailing. A guy approached us with some prices. He wanted 1500baht for a parasail ride. We talked him down to 1050 each, and we each had the opportunity to soar above patong beach. It was quite eerie looking down and thinking back to boxing day 2004, where this whole area was destroyed by a tsunami.
The kids wanted to try a jet ski and banana boat but none of us had our bathers on, so we too the taxi back to the hotel. We headed back to karon for dinner. Along the way we came across a sign advertising phuket’s no.1 2012 restaurant voted on trip advisor. It turned out to be right next door to our resort, so we ate there and the food was amazing. Miss we called us at 10:30 at the hotel, and we have arranged to meet her tomorrow at 2pm to organise our tours.
Wednesday, January 16,2013 Phuket, Thailand
We took it easy this morning. We had a swim after breakfast, then Gwen and I walked down to Karon beach to find an ATM. We had phad thai for lunch at the resort. At 2pm, miss we came to meet us to organise some tours. She was a very good saleswoman, but her prices were higher than what we had seen elsewhere, so we told her thanks but no thanks.
We went back to karon beach and booked two tours on the street. One to phi phi island and one to james bond island. We took a tuk-tuk back to patong, and gwen and the kids went on a banana boat while I jumped in the back of the speed boat and filmed it. Zeke only came off once, but gwen and Jamaica both came off twice. Once they came off the banana boat, they found it very difficult to get back on. It was very amusing to watch.
We walked up and down the beach and bought some banana and nutella crepes. We took a tuk-tuk back to our resort and had an early night, because tomorrow we have to get up early to go to phi phi island, the island where Leonardo di caprio filmed the beach.
Thursday, January 17,2013 Phuket, Thailand
We learnt an important lesson today… you get what you pay for. First of all our tour pick-up was late then his van’s exhaust fell off halfway to the pier, which delayed us more as he made some running repairs. At the pier, there were people everywhere and three speed boats. We were last to arrive so we were on the 3rd boat, a smaller boat with only two outboard motors.
Halfway to phi phi island, one motor died, so we had to detour to a closer smaller island. We were there for two hours, while they tried to fix the motor. Eventually they told us it could not be repaired. There were 25 of us on the boat and they told us that the replacement boat would only fit 20. They asked if anybody was willing to cancel this tour and have a free trip tomorrow. Nobody was willing as everyone already had tours booked tomorrow.
In the end, we said we would cancel, if they refunded our money. They agreed. We were happy, because by this stage there was only a couple of hours left and the other 20 passengers had not yet had lunch nor had they yet snorkelled. We got a free ride back to Phuket, and slept comfortably on the boat.
Back at the resort we had a late lunch, then a siesta. At 6pm, we took a tuk-tuk to Kata beach where we played mini golf at the dino park. It was one of the best mini golf courses I had seen, with life size dinosaurs, erupting volcanos, waterfalls and caves. The attached restaurant was called the dino bar and fred and wilma flintstone were serving behind the bar.
We had dinner down the road at the Sorrento pizzeria, before walking along the main Kata beach road and looking at all the markets.
Friday, January 18, 2013 Phuket, Thailand
We were picked up at 7:40 for our tour to James Bond Island today. The island is named James Bond because it is where “The Man with the Golden Gun” was filmed in 1974, starring Roger Moore.
Our tour also included three stops where we were able to explore caves by canoe. The caves were amazing, but you had to watch your head on many occasions, even in the canoe. One cave did not have enough water so we had to crawl through until we reached the enormous hidden lagoon on the other side.
James Bond Island was the highlight. We climbed to the top and down the other side. James Bond had his famous duel here with the man with the golden gun, Christopher lee. We had a fantastic lunch on the boat. ¾ of the passengers were Russian. Jamaica became good friends with one of the crew, and she learnt some magic tricks with rope and also how to make a rose ring out of straws.
We had dinner at the hotel next door, then gwen and I took a cab into patong to check out the markets. The place was very very crowded. There were people everywhere. It was crazy. We stayed until the markets closed at 11pm.
Saturday, January 19, 2013 Phuket, Thailand
We were able to sleep in today. Gwen and I went down the street and booked an excursion to Phi phi island for tomorrow. We had a big day planned today. We were picked up 20 minutes early for our own private adventure tour around Phuket island. We started with a monkey show, where the monkey was doing push ups, sit ups, slam-dunking a basketball and many other crazy stunts. We all had our photo taken with the cute monkey. Next was the snake show, where the crazy handlers were kissing king cobras. We all had our photo taken with the python wrapped around our neck.
The highlight was the elephant trek. Our driver let zeke and I ride on our own while he took photos. It was so much fun. We drove to the ATV park where we were given 30 min to race around a track. Jamaica loved it because this time she was allowed to drive alone. We went canoeing next through the mangroves. We canoed past a floating fishing village that has been there for fifty years. To end our tour, we went to the national park and hiked up to the bangpae waterfall. It was hot and sweaty but we all needed the exercise. Our tour guide, bo, was great and he was more than happy to take lots of photos of us.
Once back at the hotel, we walked down to karon beach for the sunset, but unfortunately it was a little too cloudy. We had dinner in a nice restaurant by the beach, then we took the exhausted kids back to the resort. Gwen and I went back out to the markets and shopped until everything closed at 11pm.
Sunday, January 20, 2013 Phi Phi Island, Thailand
We were picked up at 8am this morning to go to Chalong Pier, where we took a speed boat to Phi Phi Island, the jewel in Phuket’s crown. It is the island where they filmed “The Beach”, starring Leonardo Di Caprio. The speed boat ride was the rockiest boat ride we have ever experienced. The waves were huge, and the Russian passengers were falling over left and right.
Once at Phi Phi, we dove straight off the boat into the water where we were able to snorkel and feed the fish. Gwen had bought a loaf of bread and the fish were very happy and very colourful. We went to Maya Bay for some more swimming and snorkelling. The scenery was sensational, no wonder they chose this setting for a movie called “The Beach”.
We had a delicious buffet lunch on another island, before heading to Khai Nok island for some more snorkelling. I have never seen so many fish. They were eating the bread crumbs out of our hands.
The boat trip back to Phuket was much smoother in the afternoon. We met and aussie guy, Robbie and his thai girlfriend, Moon. They were very entertaining. He works as an engineer in the nickel mines in New Calendonia and she is a beautician in Bangkok.
We got back to the hotel around 6pm. We had dinner, booked a taxi for the airport tomorrow morning, then Gwen and I went out for one final shop. We discovered another market very close to our resort. We shopped until 10 then back to the resort for our final pack, easier said than done.
We were up at 5:30, because our flight was leaving Cambodia at 8:10. We quickly had breakfast, then jumped into the taxi. The siem reap airport is tiny so it did not take long to check-in. We arrived in KL after 2 hours in the air, but we lost an hour so it was 11:10 when we arrived. We had lunch at maccas at the LCCT airport then we checked into the Tune Hotel for a 3 hour refresher package, so we could have a shower and a nap.
Our flight left KL at 6pm. We had dinner on the plane. It was only a short one hour flight to Phuket. We took a shared taxi from the airport to our hotel. It was a bit of a scam, because they stopped halfway at a tour booking place hoping that we would book all our tours with them. Noone on the taxi booked a tour. We were the last to be dropped off at our hotel.
It is a beautiful resort on karon beach, 10 km south of patong where all the action is. Our suite has a kitchette and two bedrooms. Outside our front door, it is only a few steps from the swimming pool. We certainly have come a long way since out hutong in Beijing!
Tuesday, January 15, 2013 Phuket, Thailand
Breakfast in the resort was amazing. They had fresh coconut drinks and fresh yoghurt and fruit. We took the 10:30 shuttle bus to karon beach, but it was too hot and full of bogans so we walked back to the hotel via 7-11 to buy some food and drinks. We met a lady selling tours along the way, so we got some prices from her.
Back at the resort, we had a swim before heading back to karon to have some lunch. On the way, we met an indian tailor who measured me up to make me an Armani suit. Once we found out how much he wanted, we quickly got out of there. We had lunch at a restaurant on the beach, then took a taxi to patong.
We were dropped off at otop market, because we were told that miss we worked there and she organised the best tours. It took us an hour to find her. Nobody that we asked understood the directions. On the way we bought some cheap DVDs because our resort has a dvd player. We found miss we’s store but she was away on holidays. We left our details and set off to find patong beach.
On the beach, we saw jet-skis, banana boats at para-sailing. A guy approached us with some prices. He wanted 1500baht for a parasail ride. We talked him down to 1050 each, and we each had the opportunity to soar above patong beach. It was quite eerie looking down and thinking back to boxing day 2004, where this whole area was destroyed by a tsunami.
The kids wanted to try a jet ski and banana boat but none of us had our bathers on, so we too the taxi back to the hotel. We headed back to karon for dinner. Along the way we came across a sign advertising phuket’s no.1 2012 restaurant voted on trip advisor. It turned out to be right next door to our resort, so we ate there and the food was amazing. Miss we called us at 10:30 at the hotel, and we have arranged to meet her tomorrow at 2pm to organise our tours.
Wednesday, January 16,2013 Phuket, Thailand
We took it easy this morning. We had a swim after breakfast, then Gwen and I walked down to Karon beach to find an ATM. We had phad thai for lunch at the resort. At 2pm, miss we came to meet us to organise some tours. She was a very good saleswoman, but her prices were higher than what we had seen elsewhere, so we told her thanks but no thanks.
We went back to karon beach and booked two tours on the street. One to phi phi island and one to james bond island. We took a tuk-tuk back to patong, and gwen and the kids went on a banana boat while I jumped in the back of the speed boat and filmed it. Zeke only came off once, but gwen and Jamaica both came off twice. Once they came off the banana boat, they found it very difficult to get back on. It was very amusing to watch.
We walked up and down the beach and bought some banana and nutella crepes. We took a tuk-tuk back to our resort and had an early night, because tomorrow we have to get up early to go to phi phi island, the island where Leonardo di caprio filmed the beach.
Thursday, January 17,2013 Phuket, Thailand
We learnt an important lesson today… you get what you pay for. First of all our tour pick-up was late then his van’s exhaust fell off halfway to the pier, which delayed us more as he made some running repairs. At the pier, there were people everywhere and three speed boats. We were last to arrive so we were on the 3rd boat, a smaller boat with only two outboard motors.
Halfway to phi phi island, one motor died, so we had to detour to a closer smaller island. We were there for two hours, while they tried to fix the motor. Eventually they told us it could not be repaired. There were 25 of us on the boat and they told us that the replacement boat would only fit 20. They asked if anybody was willing to cancel this tour and have a free trip tomorrow. Nobody was willing as everyone already had tours booked tomorrow.
In the end, we said we would cancel, if they refunded our money. They agreed. We were happy, because by this stage there was only a couple of hours left and the other 20 passengers had not yet had lunch nor had they yet snorkelled. We got a free ride back to Phuket, and slept comfortably on the boat.
Back at the resort we had a late lunch, then a siesta. At 6pm, we took a tuk-tuk to Kata beach where we played mini golf at the dino park. It was one of the best mini golf courses I had seen, with life size dinosaurs, erupting volcanos, waterfalls and caves. The attached restaurant was called the dino bar and fred and wilma flintstone were serving behind the bar.
We had dinner down the road at the Sorrento pizzeria, before walking along the main Kata beach road and looking at all the markets.
Friday, January 18, 2013 Phuket, Thailand
We were picked up at 7:40 for our tour to James Bond Island today. The island is named James Bond because it is where “The Man with the Golden Gun” was filmed in 1974, starring Roger Moore.
Our tour also included three stops where we were able to explore caves by canoe. The caves were amazing, but you had to watch your head on many occasions, even in the canoe. One cave did not have enough water so we had to crawl through until we reached the enormous hidden lagoon on the other side.
James Bond Island was the highlight. We climbed to the top and down the other side. James Bond had his famous duel here with the man with the golden gun, Christopher lee. We had a fantastic lunch on the boat. ¾ of the passengers were Russian. Jamaica became good friends with one of the crew, and she learnt some magic tricks with rope and also how to make a rose ring out of straws.
We had dinner at the hotel next door, then gwen and I took a cab into patong to check out the markets. The place was very very crowded. There were people everywhere. It was crazy. We stayed until the markets closed at 11pm.
Saturday, January 19, 2013 Phuket, Thailand
We were able to sleep in today. Gwen and I went down the street and booked an excursion to Phi phi island for tomorrow. We had a big day planned today. We were picked up 20 minutes early for our own private adventure tour around Phuket island. We started with a monkey show, where the monkey was doing push ups, sit ups, slam-dunking a basketball and many other crazy stunts. We all had our photo taken with the cute monkey. Next was the snake show, where the crazy handlers were kissing king cobras. We all had our photo taken with the python wrapped around our neck.
The highlight was the elephant trek. Our driver let zeke and I ride on our own while he took photos. It was so much fun. We drove to the ATV park where we were given 30 min to race around a track. Jamaica loved it because this time she was allowed to drive alone. We went canoeing next through the mangroves. We canoed past a floating fishing village that has been there for fifty years. To end our tour, we went to the national park and hiked up to the bangpae waterfall. It was hot and sweaty but we all needed the exercise. Our tour guide, bo, was great and he was more than happy to take lots of photos of us.
Once back at the hotel, we walked down to karon beach for the sunset, but unfortunately it was a little too cloudy. We had dinner in a nice restaurant by the beach, then we took the exhausted kids back to the resort. Gwen and I went back out to the markets and shopped until everything closed at 11pm.
Sunday, January 20, 2013 Phi Phi Island, Thailand
We were picked up at 8am this morning to go to Chalong Pier, where we took a speed boat to Phi Phi Island, the jewel in Phuket’s crown. It is the island where they filmed “The Beach”, starring Leonardo Di Caprio. The speed boat ride was the rockiest boat ride we have ever experienced. The waves were huge, and the Russian passengers were falling over left and right.
Once at Phi Phi, we dove straight off the boat into the water where we were able to snorkel and feed the fish. Gwen had bought a loaf of bread and the fish were very happy and very colourful. We went to Maya Bay for some more swimming and snorkelling. The scenery was sensational, no wonder they chose this setting for a movie called “The Beach”.
We had a delicious buffet lunch on another island, before heading to Khai Nok island for some more snorkelling. I have never seen so many fish. They were eating the bread crumbs out of our hands.
The boat trip back to Phuket was much smoother in the afternoon. We met and aussie guy, Robbie and his thai girlfriend, Moon. They were very entertaining. He works as an engineer in the nickel mines in New Calendonia and she is a beautician in Bangkok.
We got back to the hotel around 6pm. We had dinner, booked a taxi for the airport tomorrow morning, then Gwen and I went out for one final shop. We discovered another market very close to our resort. We shopped until 10 then back to the resort for our final pack, easier said than done.