Phuket

Phuket Day 1
We left for Phuket early in the morning on Jetstar. After a 2hrs flight, we have arrived!

After we touched down, we met with a rental car representative to pick up the jeep we rented. One exciting part of this trip is that we will be driving around by ourselves. It's our first time driving in a foreign country.

While I wasn't too worried, I can't say the same for Dear because he doesn't trust my map reading skills. haha.

The roads along the way to our hotel in Kamala.

After 40 minutes of driving, we reached our hotel: Cape Sienna. Look at the spacious and open concept lobby!
The pretty "balcony" at the lobby. Makes you want to jump out : )

Looking out from the "balcony"

Our welcome drinks and cold towels. And they even gave me a flower!

And we also got to choose the scent for our toiletries and aroma oil burner.

Our big and spacious room

And the balcony

The view from the balcony

We wanted to change our room to another one as we thought we got a room with a corner view. But an alternative room was only available in the afternoon so we went out first to get lunch.

We drove about 100m from our hotel to this restaurant that was highly raved online. But the food was so-so.

The view from our seat: There was some sampans in the sea and a fisherman or whatever actually waded out to attend to the boats. So cool.

Dear's green curry.

And my Phad Thai. Not very good and left me disappointed. I thought good Phad Thai can be found anywhere in Thailand. I miss the one in Bangkok's Platinum Mall. It's the best Phad Thai I've had so far.

After lunch, we went to Kamala Beach to look see. The beach was quite empty, probably because it was low season.

The sun beds look nice rite? But the sun was sorching hot! And I couldn't wait to get back into the shde. :p

I told you it was hot. Even the dogs there can't take it. Hot dog!!

After visiting Kamala beach, we went to Patong Beach. It was livier there as it was the main beach of Phuket. Pushcards selling drinks and ice cream are all over.

We walked over this shopping market. I almost died walking around in the sun. To top it off, my menses chose to join us in the hol. And I was feeling weak.

There was nothing much in the shopping market although it was quite big. It was just full of touristy stuff.

Seeing that I was dying from the heat and it was too hot to hang out at the beach, we went back to our car and drove to Jungceylon for some aircon comfort.

It was like going back to civilisation when we went to Jungceylon, with the spacious shopping area, clean toilets and air con. I think I'm one who goes for sanitised beach holidays. Heh.

I bought a R4, which I have sadly, not put to much use. Must ask Dear to dl more games for me. The ones I have are not fun.

Dear got a haircut in the shopping mall. I almost got a pedicure too, but the price was not cheap enough for me.

We ate at Dear's fav Fuji restaurant again since it was in the shopping mall. The Fuji special set.

My beef set. It was not nice. The meat was tough with a strong beefy taste. It really capped a depressing day for me. Luckily Dear helped me finish it.

It was back to the hotel for an early rest after dinner. We are going to Phi Phi islands tml!

Phuket Day 2

Waking up early, we had breakfast at the hotel's restaurant which was just located beside the pool.

The spread was small but the food were quite good.

After breakfast, the island tour company picked us up and brought us to the pier.

Our friendly boat. It was like a big cruise ship and when they reach the beach destination, you have to climb down into a small sampan thar will bring you into the beach. It is really a pain, especially for someone like me who is not good with water.

After a 30 min ride, we arrived at this beach for snorkelling. It was first of three stops for the day.

Dear tried out the snorkelling. I waited at the beach since I got my menses.

But I did walked into the waters to take a look. There were two coves, one of them was teeming with fishes.

While the scenary was beautiful, it was one of the worst experiences I had. Imagine being out in the wilderness, with ur menses but no modern sanitary facilites.

There was a toilet at the bar on the beach but it cost 20baht to use the toilet! And there was no toilet paper or flush. You have to pour dubious water down the toilet bowl. All in a dark, cramped and wet toilet. Argh!!

After the snorkelling, it was back to the ship for lunch, and some rest while we continue the journey.

And we reached the phi phi island!

The third stop was the main phi phi island where there are shops and hotels. It was more like a village.

We stopped at this cafe to use the toilet and freshened up. My menses was leaking. And again, no flush system! so traumatising! Heroic dear helped me flushed down the toilet bowl using their dubious water. A
t that point in time, I thot to myself, I must have chose the correct man (I hope). Hahaha.

The shopping was relatively reasonable but I was not in a shopping mood, with the hot weather and all that.

After going back to the hotel, we took a bath and went out for dinner at this restaurant near the hotel.

The atmosphere was nice but the food fell short of expectations. Worst thing is, the bill was over S$60!

Satay chicken. Which was reasonably nice but the portion was small.

Tom yum soup. Not too bad but a little too milky and thick for my liking.

Fried rice with black pepper crab. The crab was small and had a slight muddy taste. The fried rice was quite good though.

Curry prawn. Don't like! It was milky and had a taste that I didn't like. The prawns didn't taste fresh either.

The portions were quite small and Dear was feeling very hungry that night for some strange reason. We bought some fried sping rolls and snacks back to the hotel room for supper. And we enjoyed them while soaking in our jaccuzi. ^ ^

Day 3

It was a drizzling morning. Luckily we have went on our island tour as it was wet weather for the next two days.

We drove to the factory outlet mall for some shopping. But there wasn't much to buy there. Either the stuff was still quite ex or they were not every interesting.

Daffy duck outside the Warner Brother's shop. It was the only nice photo point in the place.

Next, we moved on to Central Festival, the biggest shopping mall in Phuket. Lunch was at Sizzler's, which I enjoyed. Love the crispy bread wth cheese on it.

My spicy chicken and prawn set. Love the spicy chicken seasoning!

Dear's steak which was overcooked.

After some shopping, (I bought a pair of shoes that I love), we went back to the hotel to enjoy the facilites. We had a soak in the jaccuzi in the sunset. After that, it was time for dinner and we went to Patong to eat some seafood.

We ate at this highly raved restaurant. It was along the street of seafood restaurants and competition was strifle, with each trying to get customers.

They even have valet parking, helping you to find a spot on the packed roads if you eat at their place. So cool.

After the meal, we concluded that we are just not used to the flavours of the food in Phuket. We have yet to come across a place that gives us this "ah!" factor.

We had Tom yum soup again.

Curry crab and chicken satay

Grilled prawns

We took a walk at the night market opposite the road after dinner.

Then we drove to their clubbing street, Bangla Road, to take a look at the night spots. Drama starts when we got back to our car and found a car wheel locked, and a police officer waiting for us.

It turned out that we had parked beside Bangla Road, which we are supposed to and we have to pay a fine. We tried to bribe the cop with subtle hints but we were told firmly to go the police station to pay the fine. Luckily it was only 300 baht.

It was irritating since we have only left our car for 15 minutes and when we parked, no one stopped us. A stupid restaurant waiter even asked us how long we were parking and just left us as it is.

So we drove in the drizzle to find the police station and failed. We circled back to the policeman to clarify directions and on our second attempt, found the police station and paid the fine.

Dear parked the car at the roadside, leaving me in the car while he went into the police station to pay the fine. While waiting, I noticed that about 10 metres ahead was a sign that says no parking. What an irony was that?

So after paying the fine, we went back to the policeman again to reclaim dear's driving license. This time, I was taking note of the road and the surroundings. There was no sign at all to suggest that no parking was allowed. Such bad luck and what a horrid end to our hol.

Day 4

After sleeping in late and rushing down to breakfast 10 minutes before it closes, we decide to get a spa at a nearby hotel.

We did the Thai massage at an pavillion overlooking the sea (can only see a bit but better than nothing). And while that may sound romantic, the pavillion is also filled with other customers. But still, it was a novel experience. And cheap too. The massage was at 300 baht for an hour.

We had a late flight at 10pm so we requested for a late check out. The staff moved us to another room which was available til 2pm.

When we came back from the massage, we ordered a late lunch and Dear charmed the staff into extending the check out to 4pm. Great service from the hotel!

Our temporary room. The staff have been very accomodating towards us, despite Dear choking the toilet bowl on the last day. Hahaha.

After checking out. we went to the "chatuchak" at Phuket. It is a weekend market for the locals, so the things are very cheap.

I wished I took photos of the market, but we were in a rush and it was a packed market, I did not want to be flashing my camera around.

It is a pity we had to rush through the market because we needed to catch our flight. The market was quite good, lots of shopping and food. I bought a dress and bag. So happy that I got these steals despite the rush. I was quite scared we won't make it in time to the airport, since we are not sure of how much we needed to drive.

But of course, everything went well in the safe hands of Dear. And it was home sweet home for us.

The only problem, I'm lemming for a hol again!