*4D3N Phuket (Patong) Trip via Tiger Airways*

22 Feb, Tuesday 2005

Now checking on the total cost for the ticket and the total for one ticket is only $74.96. Cheap right. Can't wait to go....

23 Feb, Wednesday 2005.

Explored the area around the hotel (Deevana Patong Spa & Resort). Bought a 5.5 litre bottle of mineral water, grilled bananas, banana fritters, bbq fish and bbq chicken as lunch. Only the fish taste average and too bad Fang can't remember where she placed the the grilled bananas. Pity, was excited to try it.

Wanted to explore the area again but Fang was tired and the weather was hot so seeing her zzz made me feel like zzz too. Sleep until 5.00pm as our transport to the Simon Cabaret Show is picking us at 6.15pm. Dine at this small hotel restaurant and the thai noodles taste good!!! It has chopped peanuts, fresh uncooked beansprouts and spring onions. As for the noodles, it resembles a bit like guo tiao but instead being wide, it's narrow. When u mixed everything together, it tasted good alone with its slight vinegar taste but with chilli powder, it taste better! Damn it... Feeling hungry as I'm describing this. This is what I call cheap and good lor.. TBH40(SGD$1.60) only....

We tried to finish our dinner as quickly as we can as we were going to be late. We half walk and run to the hotel. It's a pity we couldn't enjoy our dinner longer.

The Simon Cabaret Show (THB650) was interesting at first, but I got bored halfway through the show as they all seem the same, just songs and dances throughout the one and half hour.

After the show, the driver drop us at the night market which was pretty near our hotel. Bought a lot of things there for friends and family. Bought a pair of boots which cost only TBH1,000(SGD$40+) which is a pretty good deal, in Sg they sell a pair of similar boots for $70-$90. Anyway I spend about TBH 2000 in total which was pretty bad cos it's only the first day and I spend so much. However, it was pretty fun bargaining with the sellers. You can't really do that in Sg without ppl thinking u are stingy. It's like the norm to bargain there.

Bought 2 packets of mango rice as supper opposite the hotel for only TBH30. Cheap leh.. and they give u a whole mango, unlike in SG, they only give u a few slices of mango.

Packed the stuff nicely into my bag before eating. Overall the day was pretty good, except the fact that we wasted a few hours and that I can't stand Fang's need to bathe that often.

24 Feb, Thursday 2005.

Went to Patong beach at 10am. Rented two chairs for TBH100. Shouldn't have brought the mat along, waste of bag's space. Tan for awhile before going in into the water. Saw a school of fishes near the shore and went round chasing them. Heh, it was pretty fun.

Saw quite a few Caucasian women doing topless sunbathing. Can't help but to stare even though there's nothing much to see. Just wondering how come they can show their sagging breasts to so many people? If they are young, like in their 20s, I find it pretty acceptable. To see women in their 40s & 50s doing topless sunbathing is a bit weird... And I thought you are not supposed to do topless sunbathing in Thailand? Then again, I admire them for being so daring…

Left the beach at 11.30am as our transport for the elephant trekking trip(half-day trip, TBH950) is at 1.15pm and plus the fact that Fang takes a long time to shower. (Can't stand it, morning before we go down for breakfast, she took a shower. Can't understand why she even bother taking a shower when she knows that we are going to take a dip in the sea after breakfast.)

When we arrived at the elephant camp, we realised we were the only tourists there. The tsunami really affected the lives of the people here greatly.

It feels kind of funny to step on a elephant's back. And something's telling me that I shouldn't have sign up for this trip. Feels like I'm supporting animal cruelty. The way the elephant was behaving makes me feel worse. The trekking lasted for 30mins. The elephant nearly threw us off its back twice. While we were trekking uphill, the elephant went off track the path and was going to walk down a uneven steep slope. Before that, it was stopping every few minutes to pull at the leaves. We were like thinking, "The elephant must be pretty hungry, man."

Noticed that whenever the elephant refused to heed the keeper's instructions, he would use a hook to poke him on the head, between the eyes or the earholes. The hook looks sharp even though our guide assured us that it's not sharp enough to draw blood from the elephants. Still, felt very uncomfortable whenever I see the keeper poking the elephant with the hook.

When we were going downhill, the elephant started to walk very fast. Each step he took made us slide down from our seats even more and the both of us were grabbing very tightly to the seats, trying to hang on for our dear lives. Seems that he’s pretty happy that everything's going to be over soon.

Our guide apologised for the elephant's behaviour and told us that it was due to the fact that it's not used having a different keeper riding him. His own keeper had taken ill and the company had to get another keeper to stand in for him.

Next, we went to the monkey school and learn how monkeys were trained to picked coconuts. On entering the site, we saw about 10 monkeys being chained up. A lady tried to sell us 2 bagful of bananas to feed the chained monkeys. Felt pity for the monkeys. Really feel like I supporting animal cruelty. Seeing the monkey show made me feel worse. The trainer shows signs of being a violent person. The monkeys were supposed to perform certain tricks for us but they sort of screwed up. The trainer looks as if he's going to hit them or torture them later after the show.

Went a rubber plantation and see how rubber trees are tapped to produce natural latex. Kinda boring to me....

Anyway the tour ended with a demostration of Thai cooking(hokkien mee) which was our dinner too. Not that fantastic, our version of hokkien mee tasted better. But the fishball used in the Thai hokkien mee is unique. Looks unappetising as it's grey but tasted pretty good. Better than the white fishballs we have here.

Asked our guide where we can get durian chips as I can't find any up till now. She brought us to the cashew nut factory where the both of us spent a lot... TBH2000+. Shouldn't have bought so many stuff as such places normally charge higher prices than other places. Well, what's done is done. That's what happened when u put two girls together on a trip without a guy. They spend without thinking rationally when it comes to shopping. Heh....

We went to Phuket Town but it was boring. Everything is expensive and reminds me of Singapore. Sianz.

Decided to rest a bit at the hotel. Went out to exchange money and meet this cute French guy. He tried persuading me to give him my number but I refused and in the end, he gave me his number. Felt flattered but then again, I look like a local… hmmm

Bought mango rice again and some kebabs. Pretty good too..

Aloysius gave me a call to chat as he was in Chiang Mai that day. Talked for pretty long as he was telling me how to get around to the beaches by their bus which is actually a lorry.

25 Feb, Friday 2005.

Took the wrong bus as we were at the wrong side of the road. We didn't even realised it until we saw a lady telling the other passengers that the bus was going to Phuket Town. Crossed to the other side of the road and we had just missed the bus. While waiting for the bus, a taxi driver by the name of Charlie came up to us and offered to take us around for TBH200 upon knowing that we are Singaporeans. Apparently, he has a lot of Singapore friends and took it upon himself to take good care of Singaporeans that are visiting in Phuket.

We told Charlie that we wanted to go to Karon beach but he told us that Kata beach is much better as water at Karon beach is not as clean as Kata's beach. Anyway, we were thinking no harm in going since it's just TBH200 for the whole day.

And boy, the water there is damn clear. At Langkawi's Tanjung Rhu, at neck level, you can't really see the bottom clearly. At Patong, it's slightly clearer than Tanjung Rhu's, think like only 10%? When u are at neck level at Kata's... it's super clear. Comparable to the waters of a swimming pool, around 80% likeness. Just the thought of Kata beach makes me want to go there again.

At Kata beach, there are a lot of topless women walking around as compared to Patong. Was suntanning in my chair with young topless women on my left and old topless women on my right. Seeing the ladies on my left makes me feel fat and hoping I have nice breasts like theirs while seeing the older women on my right makes me wish hard that my breasts wouldn't be that sagging as theirs when I'm that age.

Saw a couple making out in the sea. We can't helped but to watch the free show. That couple went in into the waters to "perform" 3 times. People give free show so must show appreciation mah... heh...

Had a terrible headache. Think gotten sunstroke. Didn't go to Karon beach cos it was too unbearable.

On our way back to the hotel, we saw the guy selling grilled bananas and wanted to get off the taxi to buy since we didn't get to eat it the other time but didn't do so cos we both wanted to shower as soon as possible. Should have got off the taxi as he wasn't there when we went back. Well, guess we are not fated to eat it.

Went to have lunch at the small restuarant again and ate Thai noodles. While I was trying to get the flies away from our food, I accidentally upset my glass of banana shake into my noodles. Tasted a little bit funny with the chilli powder and vinegar in it. Fang was like laughing at me throughout the meal and I was like ".............................."

The headache was getting from bad to worse. Couldn't zzz at all after going back to the hotel cos it was too painful. When I coughed, it hurts even more... felt as if my brains are going to be squeezed into a pulp any moment. Forced myself to get up from the bed to go out and buy Panadol. Might as well cos Fang was getting hungry as it was dinner time.

Charlie recommended us to eat at Family Seafood stall. Seems like a good choice as the stalls around are half filled with people, unlike Family, which is nearly full house. Anyway, I have never seen such big prawns before. About 9 inches long and the meat is juicy and tender. We ordered 1kg of prawns(9prawns) for TBH900 and TBH400 for 1kg of crabs(2 crabs). Quite satisfying for our stomachs and our eyes as there were a lot of cute guys at the seafood stalls’ area ;)

Bought the kebabs again as we both know it will be a long time before we get to eat it again. You can't find such nice kebabs anywhere in SG. Decided to try their soya drink whereby you can choose to put red dates, corn and other stuff into the soya milk. Taste pretty good. We were thinking if we bring it to Singapore to sell, it might sell pretty well. Heh.. think we both daydream too much, keep on talk about bringing mango rice and the other stuff we ate into SG to sell and earn big money.

Haiz, can't bear to leave Phuket yet. Should have opt to stay for 5 days instead of 3. Went to bed early even though was still feeling quite full. No choice cos our flight was at 8.15am. Got to wake up at 5am to shower, eat breakfast at 6am and leave the hotel at 6.30am.

26 Feb, Saturday.

Touched down in Singapore at 12pm. Bought a bottle of Bailey's and wine at duty-free. Helped him buy some beer for his dad.

Got a surprise from Dom, didn't expect to see him waiting for us at the arrival hall. Fang wasn't that happy to see him though. She thought that I purposely got him to wait for us at the airport. He's such a nice guy, helped us carry our bags. Anyway, we ate lunch together and talked about our trip....

Wonder when's my nxt trip though? I enjoy travelling and it's like once u start, it's hard to stop. heh

Labels: Phuket