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Phuket Trip
28th April
Let me begin this blog by thanking my dearest wife who had given me the greenlight to spend some time with my brother and eldest son for our trip to Phuket. It was a guys only trip for Irshad to enjoy his last overseas trip before he enlisted to NS on 4th Jul’24.
We drove to Terminal 4 Changi Airport, had some light breakfast and my niece helped to take the car back home. After some goodbye and kisses we were on our way to our gate for a flight to Phuket using Jetstar asia airlines. The seat was surprisingly comfy for Irshad and me for an economy class ticket. We packed light with a small carry-on suitcase and a haversack.
After 2.5hrs flight, we reached Phuket and got on our prearranged transportation to Twin sand resort and spa which was in the Tritang beach area. The resort was big and beautiful although a bit secluded and far from the Patong beach where most of the shopping were situated.
We were welcomed by the staff when we reached the resort and they drove us using a buggy to our accommodation. My brother who went 1 day ahead of us welcomed us and show us to our room. The resort was amazing and beautiful and the room was clean. It had huge room with queen size bed, a balcony and best of all fully equipped kitchen for cooking. This room was complimentary from my dearest brother and may Allah rewards him with abundance rezeki for his generosity.
We got a bite of one of the best pizza from the Italian restaurants in the vicinity before getting some rest for the subsequent itinerary at night.
When the night fall, we hired a cab to take us to Patong bazaar. We intended to go to a bigger bazaar but it was 1 hours journey and we were too tired to travel. Thus we decided to go to the nearest bazaar in at Patong Bangla street. The bazaar don’t really had much things to sell however they had a few nightclubs where girls in skimpy dress tried to seduce customers to go to their nightclub. Irshad had a good exposure to nightlife with the cannabis shop, nightclub and many more. Fortunately, he was not really keen on this and more interested in their food.
We just pass by the area and take some pictures before getting the 1st taste of Phuket Mango smoothies.At 1st we only ordered 1 cup as we were not sure of the quality. After just a sip, we ordered 1 more cup. Thailand mango just taste different and sweet and Phuket had one of the best mango smoothies we ever had. It is something that we miss till today.’
After a few hours of walking, we went to some hawker center selling halal Thai food in the mall to take away for dinner in our resort. The food was reasonably cheap and the portion was huge. We headed back to the resort, have a hefty dinner and headed straight to bed for a well deserving rest.
29th April
Today we headed on to an early start for tour of the Monkey cave, white river rafting, ATV and Zipline. The driver picked us up at 6am and picked up other customer along the way to the Monkey cave. The whole journey took more than 4hrs as it is midway between Phuket and Krabi. We visited the cave which have many buddha statue and ornaments. Some Monkeys were seen in the cave but most of them loitering outside the cave in the trees.
We proceeded to go to the white river rafting area which was a mere 15mins drive. This was actually the same place that we had our river rafting 10years back when we had an extended family outing in Krabi. It brought back the memories when we were there remembering our late father. The river rafting area is man-made and there was actually a dam where there will be a gush of water flowing through the river when the dam open manually. This gush of water was the power that drive the raft through the streams pumping in some adrenaline factor. We had great fun as the rafter gave us ‘additional’ service probably because they noticed the 1000baht that I placed in the transparent screen protector. They might have hope that I gave them a big tip of 1000baht if they gave a special service to us.
This special treatment was also probably given in our next adventure riding the ATV. The last time Irshad ride an ATV was with my late father and he had to be a pillion. Now my boy had grown up and able to ride the ATV all by himself. The course we get was quite advance and scenic. There is one time we lined up our ATVs one behind the others, with several other ATVs, in cruising speed, enjoying the scenery of the greens and mountains, in great natural beauty, of the amazing natural backdrop. Worldly desire can really do wonders.
The terrains were more treacherous and more downhills than our last experience. We saw two of the other ATV group participants always swerved off-road and bumped into trees or rocks. It was really dangerous.
After the ride we headed back to the halal restaurant to have Thai dishes. I had bad memories of the chicken I ate in my past trip in Phuket. Thus, a bit scepticle about the chicken. However, I am glad that the chicken taste in Phuket had now improved. They do not have that game taste and smell. The food was great and we had an additional of 1 person serving.
We went for a Zipline ride before going back to the waterfall. Irshad not able to take the zipline as his weight exceeds. For me, it barely hit the weight limit however when I took the zipline, can see that the wire was sagging due to my weight.
Before going on a long journey back to our resort, we stopped by a waterfall. Initially don’t intend to swim there however the water was so cold and with the scorching heat in Phuket, nothing beats the feeling of a dip in a cold water. After having our fun in the water, we proceeded to change to a dryer clothes before heading back to our resort. The whole day adventure really put a toll on us and we slept throughout the entire journey back.
We reached the resort about 7pm, had a quick bathe and continue to take a cab to Patong area for a Muay Thai boxing experience. We booked a vip seat near the boxing arena to get the best of the experience. The atmosphere was quite hype with cheers pouring in when the Muay Thai start their competition. The fight was very violent and was not for the faint of heart. We had great fun and experiences. After witnessing the whole event, we took the same cab home. Cook a bit of the previous day leftovers and some Maggie noodle for supper.
30th April
The next 2 days is chillax day where we can wake up late to get a really nice nap. Cooking up breakfast was a breeze with a full function induction cooker, pots and pans, easily available mart selling halal items and of course a great chef and sous chef. Just need to cleanse the utensils using islamic ritual and we were all set to test different recipes.
Today for breakfast or rather brunch, I made scamble eggs, baked beans, hot dog and toasted bread with some milk to drink.
We make our way to Patong Shooting range. Irshad started on his 1st experience to shoot using an actual life firing gun. He was given 25rounds of .22 on Sig 522 Commando MPG followed by another 25rounds of .38 on S&W pistol.
Me and my bro uses the same weapon which is 10 rounds each of .22 on Sig 522 Commando MPG, 9MM on Glock 19 pistol, .38 on S&W pistol, .45 on Glock 21 pistol and Shotguns.
While I had experience on other weapons before, shotguns were new experience for me. The recoil for shotguns was surprisingly strong till it left a mark on my arm.
All in all it is a nice experience for us and we would definitely do it again. After the shooting, we walk about 2km towards the patong beach where we stroll along the beach to enjoy the sea breeze. It is definitely a relaxing experience.
We went back to our resort for a quick and simple lunch of pizza rest a bit till about 4pm when the driver picked us up for a halal buffet dinner and theater experience of Phuket Fantasea. The halal dinner buffet was quite a spread and the deco was awesomely authentic. We had about 2 hours of dinner before the show start. This is my 2nd time watching the show and it had definitely change for the better. They had animals and elephants performing on stage. Good review given from the guys especially on the surroundings, themed deco and the food.
We headed back home late have a quick supper and rest.
1st May
Another chillax day today where we had brunch prepared by yours truly before we proceed to tour around our neighbouring resort to look for a spa. The spa in our resort is fully booked for the day as we are too late to make the booking. We act as though we are the hotel guest and manage to book a time slot for a massage in their facilities. Since need to wait 2 hours for the timeslot, we took the luxury to swim in their private beach. The sea is soo clear and beautiful. We could see underwater. However the temperature is scorching hot with temperature of at least 40degC. Just less than an hour and we already had a sunburn even after applying loads of sunblock lotion. After 1.5hours, we changed to a dryer clothes to go for the massage while Irshad continues to swim in the swimming pool in our resort. The rest if the day is free and easy till 6pm when we hire a cab and made our way to Simon Cabaret show.
As the name implies, it is a Cabaret show where beautiful dancers dressing up in glorious dresses and entertaining the audience. The only twist was that the beautiful dancer was actually a transgender. Man dressing up as woman and gays performing for the audience. We enjoy ourselves in the show and captivated by the beauty of the transgender. They really look like a woman.
After the show, we walk a few minutes to the nearby bazaar where there is a night hawker center selling halal thai seafood. We take away fried rice, sambal shellfish, fried cuttlefish and burgers for our supper. We had an early night after dinner as the next day was going to be adventurous with full day island hopping event.
2nd May
Phuket trip is all about the Patong Beach, the local delicacies- especially mangoes- you should try them, the Thai Boxing, the must-see FantaSea shows and other cabaret and of course the thousands of sincere smiles. Phuket is specially Land of the transvestite, we can say transvestite own this piece of land of free, where you see cannabis sold in every street in the town and it is totally legal. However, there is one activity in every Phuket trip that we should never miss and a must-have in everyone’s Phuket itinerary – The Island Hopping.
Yes, 2nd May 2024 marked the day of island hopping, We do nothing but hopping from islands to islands and beaches to beaches. We woke as early as 6am in the morning, and had a quick bites before going to the resort lobby for a transport pickup to the jetty for an island hopping experience in the premier catamaran speed boat. Arrived at the jetty, our tour lead gave instructions on all the Do’s and Don’t’s in the trip, especially the safety and of course promoting some of their swimming/snorkeling suits and gears. Shortly after the briefing, we changed to swimming attire, of course apply our must-have sun tan lotion and made our way to the boat. We made a long queue, wearing the black wrist band issued by the tour group that shows we are in the Black team, class of 30, made our way to our catamaran cruiser named Yachh Master No 5. I call it a ferry.. It is huge and clean. We were offered free supply of cold water throughout the island hoping event and were given snorkel mask each. To me the service is 5star.
We were all ushered to our seats and issued each with 1 x snorkeling equipment and 1x life jacket under the seat. Well equipped enough, we wait for our next venture as the catamaran cuts the morning wave in style to Ko Phi Phi.
The weather was pleasant and the sea seems less choppy as what I expected an open sea of Andaman would be, we headed to the main destination – Phi Phi Island. Phi Phi Island hosts many of the less popular smaller islands, beaches, bays and coral reefs for diving and snorkeling.
After settling down, the Catamaran started to speed across the ocean to a secluded Monkey beach for a swim. Didn’t find much monkey though but the sea water was clear and could see small fishes swimming. After about 30mins or so, we moved on to Khai Island for our first snorkeling adventure. Khai island had beautiful coral reefs with fishes seen swimming in their clear blue sea. Unlike Bali sea, the sea in Phuket was calmer. We were given substantial amount of time to enjoy snorkeling before we went to Phi Phi island for our halal buffet lunch.
The catamaran grounded from the stern on one of the beach in Phi Phi Island. All about thirty of us offboarding Yacht 5 on the beach and in line headed to a hut where we had our lunch; a buffet lunch. An hour for lunch and all we can firstly do was to grab three seat for ourselves especially when the tables are about 90% occupied. We managed to get seats after 15 minutes and made way to the queue for the buffet ‘leftovers’, taking turn. After swift filling up of our tanks, we managed to explore the island, and grabbed a vanilla ice cream each to cool off our throat under this terrible heat. Yes there is nothing we can do but endure this 40 plus degree Celsius of discomfort right from the beginning of the trip. Well, it is all for the swim. One thing for sure, it is dry and do not make us drenched with sweat like in Singapore. Other than that, there are really nothing much on this island except we grabbed a few souvenir and shirts and headed back to our ship. That one hour is well spent although we thought we did not have enough time atop of the crowded dining table and the given lunch time
After lunch, the tour group brought us to one last snorkeling site of the day. Again, I lead the way to be first down the water. Those who swim into the water spreaded out as per usual to get their best snorkeling site, I saw some dive down to reach the bottom. The water was crystal clear and the reefs can be seen even before we submerged in the water. The water is very cool, crystal-clear water. Sea is quite deep but very calm. Swimming into the water, I goggled around like an eagle ‘flying’ on top of the turquoise ‘sky’ over the ‘mountain tops’ which was filled with these beautiful coral reef in abundance. There are schools of colorful fishes like small birds flying around. We took like almost 30mins or more. However, all these peaceful moments were suddenly broken by the commotions across the other nearby snorkeling site, from the other snorkeling group, shouting that they saw a shark swimming around their area. The Tour lead calmed our group saying, that those sharks are small and mostly younglings, and that Thai shark do not attack human. In my mind, and probably be other minds will also think, ‘baby shark is still a shark’ or How did they know if it is a Thai and not South African? We saw some begin to swim back to their boat and end their snorkeling hours. So, the three of us heeded the leader advice, though he was not in the water himself and carried on our perfect day. We ignored the commotion and we did not know what we are thinking at that time, it seems like we were moving our way nearer to the site where they find the ‘star’ of the day. Well this is not Manta Ray like we supposed to encounter in Bali but we just continue our ‘secret plan’. We do not find any and resume our ‘flying eagle stunt ’ again.
We were back to the yacht on time for our next activity. The boat berthed to one of the jetty in Phi Phi Island. The tour group did not tell us what was going on but to follow the queue line and to be back in a meeting point which they set. It was packed and they might be out of their mind. We had no choice but to follow this plan, climbed up the stairs, walked on the pathway, almost 15 min in dryland and finally saw in awe the very first time, a beach called Maya Beach. It was closed for cleaning up for months already and we were told not to swim in the water. This is not just any normal beach. This is the beach that is on the set location of the Hollywood well-known box office movie “The Beach”. Yes, the show was set here. Well, Maya beach is beautiful with turquoise calm water, in one of Phi Phi Bay, Maya bay, other than these, there is nothing special. We took pictures and videos on this beach and headed back to the meeting point to end our island hopping activities.
The boat went back to the mainland and as promised, gave away free magnum ice cream each. All satisfied ‘divers’ of the day grin and most of them had a clean up and dried themselves well. Transport were arranged smoothly to send us back to our hotel.
We were extremely exhausted and rest through the last light of the day. We could not moved, but we made ourselves clear that on our last day in Phuket, we thought of getting up and Gojek to me and my brother’s favourite chillax hangout back in Singapore, in our younger days, “Hard Rock Cafe”, and listened to hard music while flavoring their drinks and bites. So here we are in Hard Rock, the musicians rocked us well with Bon Jovi, ACDC, Led Zepeline, Metallica, Guns and Roses, etc.., songs. We are too tired to do the headbangings and boogie the nights off so we decided to takes lots of pictures and made our last day in Phuket real happening!
Back in hotel, packed our stuff for tomorrow – Back to Singapore, lights off.
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