Phuket Day 6 - Flight delay for 6 hrs!

27th Sep 2010

When we arrived at the airport at 8am to check in, we were so disappointed that the flight will be delayed to 12.55pm. What are we going to do for 5 hours! My friends just don't wish to waste time sitting at the airport so we decided to rent a car for half a day! Hahaha... we were quite crazy right! We had a quick breakfast at BK and proceed to David Car Rental to make enquiry.

Free meal voucher by Tigerair for flight delay

Burger King at the airport was really yummy, taste better than in Singapore. The mini hash brown was very crispy and the breakfast sandwiches were very good too!


David Car Rental

We managed to persuade them to rent the car to us for THB800 for 4 hours which they usually don't rent for few hours. We were thinking since taking cab will cost as much too, why not we tried driving ourselves and enjoyed the experience on the road instead. After 5 full days in Phuket, we were quite familiar with the road already. We didn't go far just went to Tetsco Lotus and drop by the Premium Outlet again. By 12 noon, we returned the car safely and looked forward to board our flight at 12.55pm back to Singapore.


Light bite & Ice cream time!

To our horror, the flight was further delayed to 3.25pm when we waiting at the boarding lounge. They were giving excuses that the flight was grounded in Singapore for maintenance. We were really worried when they delayed the flight again! Were we able to go back? Anyway we had some sandwiches and ice cream while waiting.


Pedi & Manicure at Erawan

We really made full use of the time, since we still had 2 hours to go, we decided to go for express pedi & manicure at Erawan! A spa & foot massage centre located inside the lounge. To our relieve, at 3.10pm Tigerair finally flew in and our flight was finally departing at 3.25pm! Singapore we were coming home! Bye Phuket and thanks for all the wonderful memories you had given us!

Phuket Day 5 (III) - Patong Beach Nightlife

26th Sep 2010

Dinner was back to Sakorn Seafood and the food was still as enjoyable except the garouper fish texture was tough and rubbery. We tried the crab and crayfish too. After a satisfying dinner, we decided to explore Soi Bangla - Patong beach liveliest party zone!

Sakorn Seafood

Black pepper crab, Salt & pepper crayfish, Steamed red garouper fish and vegetables.


Bangla Road Nightlife in Patong Beach

Famous for it's raunchy nightlife and the street awaken when the sun set and the crowd increases as the moon rises.


Pole dancing girls pubs, a go-gos bar, restaurants, disco and shops are the main attractions of the street.


Bangla Road Map

The Port @ Banthai Beach Resort

Bangla nightlife didn't suit us. We went back to our resort's open air pub - The Port. There are live band entertainment every night and the singer is really good. This was our last night in Phuket and we will be leaving the next morning! We had a great 5 full days of joy and fun!

Phuket Day 5 (II) - Zen Japanese Restaurant

26th Sep 2010

We had lunch at Zen Japanese Restaurant located near the side entrance of Central Festival. This is also one of the popular Japanese restaurant in Phuket and Thailand. Also one of the local favourites as the pricing are very reasonable as compared to other Japanese restaurants on the Island. However, I still preferred Fuji in terms of quality.

Zen Japanese Restaurant @ Central Festival Phuket

Sashimi



Tako



Chawanmushi



Scallops



Bacon & Golden Mushroom Roll



Chirashi



Sukiyaki Beef Ramen

Phuket Day 5 (I) - Phuket Town Shopping

26th Sep 2010

Our itinerary for the last night in Phuket was shopping! After breakfast at The Orchids which is along the same street as Lair Lay Tong Restaurant, we took the free shuttle service from the hotel to Phuket Town.

Breakfast at The Orchids

The Orchids
Soi Dr. Wattana
off the Beach Road
Patong, Phuket

The hotel free shuttle dropped us at one of the open air carpark in Phuket Town. From there we hired a cab to bring us around. The first stop was to Ocean Shopping Mall. We managed to grab some cheap T-shirts and shorts at The Export/Warehouse shops.

Ocean Shopping Mall

Next, the cabby brought us to Pornthip to buy some local food souvneirs.

Pornthip (Sea Store) Phuket

Our last stop was to the Central Festival. We paid about THB 300 for the taxi fare (from Ocean - Pornthip - Central). We reached around lunch time so went for lunch first before shopping around. We had Japanese food at Zen which will be featured in my next post. The mall is huge and has our favourite store - Central Department Store.

Central Festival Phuket

After few hours of shopping, we were tired and had some coffee at the Black Canyon Coffee before going back to the hotel as some of my friends were going for the Spa in Banthai.

Black Canyon Coffee

As I mentioned from the first day of my trip, taxi fares in Phuket are really expensive. We spend another THB500 to go back to the hotel from Central Festival.

Phuket Day 4 (II) - Sakorn Seafood

25th Sep 2010

We gave ourselves a sumptuous seafood dinner after a day of activities. All of us agreed that we can afford to indulge since we had burnt so much energy in the day. We tried another seafood restaurant just 2 units away from Red Boat Seafood where we dined there on the first night. This stall was chosen because the waitress was very friendly and speaks Mandarin. The food was quite good and fresh. All my friends liked their cooking and came back for dinner again the next day. Total bill was about THB2,030 (SGD88) for 4. Quite reasonable but not that cheap too.

Lobster in Cream Sauce

Fried Prawns in Garlic Sauce

Prawn Cake

BBQ Squid

Stir Fry Clams & Stir Fry Kailan

Sakorn Nook & Bow Seafood
No 49 Rat U Thit Road
Patong, Phuket
Thailand

Phuket Day 4 (I) - Island Safari Tour

25th Sep 2010

We had a full day of adventurous fun at Island Safari Camp. I had lots of first time experiences doing things that I never thought I will do like rafting and ATV. This was a full day tour from 8.30am to 5.30pm and lunch was included. Cost around THB2,000 (SGD87) per pax. It was tiring but full of fun and really enjoyable. This was the most memorable day in our Phuket trip. Let's take a look at the highlights of the tour...

ATV Riding



Elephant Trekking
Ox-Cart Riding



Elephant & Monkey Show



Lunch at Rafting Camp



White Water Rafting



Mini Trekking to Waterfall & Swimming

Some of the photos source: Island Safari Tour Photo Gallery

www.islandsafaritour.com

Phuket Day 3 (III) - Patong Otop Shopping Paradise / Street Foods

24th Sep 2010

The night was still young after dinner so we just roamed around the surrounding! Our hotel is located in the middle of Patong beach that's why is so strategic and convenient. We had already explored the right corner of the street so tonight we went to the left side. As we were causally strolling down the street, we saw Hard Rock Cafe and a night marketplace - Patong Otop Shopping Paradise.

Hard Rock Cafe
Patong Otop Shopping Paradise
Opening hour 10:00am-02:00am

Hard Rock Cafe is located opposite Patong Otop Shopping Paradise. In this shopping paradise, there are rows of shops selling clothing, accessories & foot wears. Most of the items are priced higher so that they have allowance for you to bargain. Sometimes you can get as much as 30% to 40% discount. There are quite a number of open air pubs in the center too which only starts operating in the night.


Street food in Phuket

Street foods are commonly found on the street of Patong too. We tried some of them and this fried chicken stall is really yummy. Well seasoned, the skin was so crispy and the meat maintain it's juiciness.


Most commonly found and popular stalls on Patong go to the pancake stall. You can see them everywhere and very popular among the tourist especially the Caucasians.


On our way back to our hotel for foot massage, we tried one of the pancake stall that looked really appealing than the rest.


Nutella & Banana Pancake - THB50 (SGD2.20)

It's more of a crepe to me than pancake, it was a layer of very thin batter pan fried till crisp and filled with nutella and sliced banana. Nothing can go wrong with this combination right? It's really yummy! A must try!

Stay tune for my Phuket Day 4 updates coming up soon...

Phuket Day 3 (II) - Dinner at Lair Lay Tong Restaurant

24th Sep 2010

We wanted to have authentic Thai fares for dinner after an interesting trip back from Khai Island. This restaurant is located just next to our hotel and was recommended by the hotel staff. The food was really good, not only value for money but also very delicious. Most of the dishes were cooked very healthily without comprising the taste. Highly recommended to pay a visit if you happen to visit Phuket, Patong. We ordered 7 dishes and we enjoyed all of them, total bill with drinks was only THB1,065 (SGD46).

BBQ Pork Thai Salad

Thai Style Steamed Fish with Garlic, Chilli & Lime

Tom Yum Goong

Green Chicken Curry

Stir Fry Asparagus

Stir Fry Kailan

Pad Thai


This was one of my favourite meal for this Phuket Trip. Simply delightful!

Lair Lay Tong Restaurant
At the end of Soi Dr. Wattana
off the Beach Road
Patong, Phuket
Tel: 076-341140

Phuket Day 3 (I) - Half Day Khai Island Tour

24th Oct 2010

Day 3 itinerary was a more relaxing one. We only had a half day Island tour in the afternoon so that allowed us to wake up later. We woke up at around 9 plus and went back to Sabai Sabai Restaurant for breakfast. Our hotel package didn't come with breakfast and it was quite pricey to eat at the resort cafe. Their daily buffet breakfast cost about THB600 (SGD26) per pax. We didn't think is worth to spend so much on breakfast as we can easily get a good American breakfast at those little cafes around the resort at around THB120 (SGD5.20).

American Breakfast at Sabai Sabai Restaurant

The standard American breakfast set came with orange juice, coffee/tea, 2 slices of toast, 2 Eggs (sunny side up/scrambled/boiled) & Sauasges/Bacon.


It was still early after breakfast so we roamed around the surrounding of Patong beach till time up to go for our half day Khai Islands hopping tour.

Half Day Khai 3 Islands Tour - THB800 (SGD35)
(Khai Nai / Khai Nui / Khai NoK)
Tour Agent: Phuket New Generation Travel - Tel: 076 232424
(http://www.pntphuket.net/)

Hotel pick up at 12.30noon to the pier (Asia Marina) to board the speed boat. The tour includes a English speaking tour guide. The tour guide was giving us a briefing on the itinerary for the day.


Khai Nai Island

It's only took 15-20mins speed boat ride to hop onto this first island that we were visiting. Arrive at Khai Nai, we were given an hour to relax on the beach. By the way all those beach chairs are not free to sit, you have to pay at least THB150-200 per seat.

We can snorkel and swim near the shore area where the water is crystal clear and lots of tropical fishes. You can have free fish spa, just get ready some bread to feed them.


Sea Snorkelling near Khai Nui Island

Left Khai Nai Island to Khai Nui Island for snorkelling. We didn't go to the beach as it was not accessible for this season so the speed boat just stopped nearby for us to snorkel.

Some of the underwater corals, sea urchins and tropical fishes pictures taken by my friend with her waterproof DG. The white corals are really beautiful as for the fishes are almost the same in most of the islands, didn't see many varieties.


Khai Nok Island

Our last destination was Khai Nok Island, also known as Egg Island as the top view looks like an egg yolk. Light refreshments included drinks, sandwiches and tropical fruits were served which was included in the package.

Another hour of free and easy time for us to explore the island. We can swim and snorkel too but we chose to just relax on the beach and took lots of funny photos with funny poses...lol! Of course can't be posted if not my friends will come after me...haha! The beach has many beautiful and colourful beach chairs and umbrellas, making it a nice sight for photo taking.

Time to leave and go back to the pier to be transferred back to our hotel. That's the end of our half day Khai Islands tour. We enjoyed it very much!

La Korn (Goodbye!) Khai Island!
Thank you for all the lovely memories you have given us!