Day 4, 5^th March 2006, Sunday

 

            Woke up to a fresh sunny last day of our trip in Phuket. Had the feeling of unwillingness to leave the place as it means going back to Singapore back to our normal life. Slowly we packed our room and sorted out our bags and stuff that we did not want to bring home. Manage to squeeze whatever we bought into our two bags and that was it. Washed up and we headed downstairs to the reception for our last breakfast.

 

            When we reached the receiption we say Hom there and told her that we are checking out later. Had our usual breakfast of bread with eggs and ham or bacon. After breakfast we went up to our room to do a last bit of check and look around the room. Kind of miss the place already. Everything packed and ready to go we took one last look at the room and that was it. Door closed and locked, we left the place and headed to the reception to return our key. All Hom asked was did we drink any of the chargeable drinks in the fridge. We said no and she took our word for it. Great! We left a 6L bottle of mineral water that we bought on the first night as we thought we needed a lot of water for various thing, turns out we only finished one bottle.

 

            Both of us took a photo with Hom before we left and here it is. Did not turn out really great but that’s all we had from it. After snapping the shots we left the hotel and slowly made our way towards the beach again. We really did not know what to do with the spare time we had left in Patong as we already had walked up and down the place so much over the past 3 days. Anyway decided to just head to the beach and see if we are able to think of anything to do.

 

Walking down the streets, we took in one last eyeful of the sights that we will be leaving behind. Here are some images of the road we walk daily to get to just about anywhere. Jampee Restaurant in the photo below is where we had our breakfast on the 3^rd day morning.

 

            Reaching the point where we had to make a left turn to take the short cut to the beach there was this Petrol Station made out of wood and metal plates. It seemed all the petrol stations in Patong are makeshift stalls dispensing fuel using old pumps. The two yellow tubes in the center portion of the stall is where the gasoline level is showed and the pump heads are the same as what we normally see in proper pertol stations.

 

            Nothing different from what we see everyday we walk pass the same street we just slowly made our way under the hot sun back to the beach. At the beach basically we walked the entire length of Thaweewong Road again passing all that we have seen in the last three days.

           

            This was the restaurant we had dinner with Eve and Ade’s friends on the 2^nd night. In the day it is not open and all quiet, but in the evening after sundown, it becomes a lively place packed with customers and on the bottom right corner you can just make out the stage where there is live band and singers performing as the people tuck into their seafood feasts.

 

            Walked towards the far end of Thaweewong Road to Ocean Plaza. Just outside the shopping complex we notice a stone tablet placed there in memory of the 2004 Tsunami disaster. There were some garlands of flowers and that is about all it has on the offering table just below the plaque.

 

            After walking for an hour and a half we were both tired and thirsty. We crossed the road and went to the beach side to find some place to sit and relax for a while. As always the beach is lined with purple beach umbrellas and full of tourists relaxing in them. Still could not believe that a lot of people consider Patong beach as nice. There is no way it looks like a nice beach with so many beach umbrellas and no one in the water swimming. A look a the photo below will sum up what Patong beach looks like no matter which part you look at.

 

 

 

 

 

            Around Patong we saw many young Caucasian girls sporting the dreadlock hair style and suggested to Lih Yu to give it a try since we are here and also we won’t get a chance to do it in Singapore. Walked a little bit on the beach to find one of the booths that provided the “make hair” services and being already tired and lazy to walk further we just went to the nearest one to us and settled down. 

 

            At the time we settled down there was this Caucasian woman having a body massage by one if the attendants. We spoke to the older attendant there and told her we wanted to make hair.

 

            She told Lih Yu to select a bag of colored beads to be placed on her hair. At first we thought the contents of the entire bag would be placed on Lih Yu’s head but after a while figured out that it was only a few beads or rather three per strand of hair to be exact

 

            Look at how delighted Lih Yu is when trying something new! We ended up choosing a bad with white, pink, red and light blue beads and not the one Lih Yu had in her hands in the photo.

 

            Next few photos will show the process of the hair treatement. It hurts Lih Yu at points as the hair stylist had to pull hard on her hair.

 

            Finally Lih Yu’s hair is all made up and pretty! Took about an hour to finish dreadlocking Lih Yu’s hair. After we paid up the 500THB cost, we moved on walking around Patong. As we wondered around trying to walk all the streets of Patong, we came across this wall painting depicting Phi Phi Islands in front of a primary school.

 

            Walking to the left of the painting, we reached a traffic junction where there was this traffic police manning the roads. Decided to get Lih Yu to take a photo with him. We did not know if it was allowed but decided to ask anyway. He obliged and we quickly took a shot as we did not want to hold him up on his traffic job.

 

            Crossing the street to the Subway just opposite, we had our lunch there. Took the time to rest in an air conditioned place and also emptied the contents of my camera’s flash card into the portable drive.

 

            After lunch we went walking blindly along the streets not really knowing where we were. There were not much prominent buildings or landmark around consulting the map was useless as well so we decided to just walk and walk till we come across something major.

 

            As we walked there was this lone hawker walking in the opposite direction from us and I manage to snap a photo of him. His facial expression looks sad and tired, the load from the two baskets resting on his shoulder definitely is not helping anything.

 

            After walking blindly for almost a hour, we finally came to a eleborate Pasar malam type of area. At first we did not know what it was and decided not to take a look but soon we found the sign board advertising the place, it was the Patong Top Shopping Paradise. Taking a look a our map finally we know where we are and looking across the road down another lane we realized that we had been walking back towards the far end of Patong!

 

            For a place proclaiming as shopping paradise, there was not much people browsing through the shops on a sunday. Then again Patong is better known for it’s beach than it’s shopping.

 

            There was nothing much to see other than counterfeit goods and no brand clothings. We happened to find a pair of brown colored dog tags and promptly bought them. After paying for it and walking out of the shop we helped each other put on the tags, finally we got what we were looking for in a long while.

 

            We walked every lane there is in the shopping paradise and that was it we left the place and took the adjoining lane back to Patong beach where the roads where more familiar to us. Walked for about half an hour and we were back at the same place where Lih Yu did her hair up. Deciding that is enough walking for us, we just sat on the stone walls and rested.

 

            With nothing much to do and see already we just took out our cameras and snap photos of each other for fun and anything that caught our eye.

 

            Left , Singha Beer float.

 

            Right , dried squid and peanuts anyone?

 

            Above, hungry dog searching for food

 

            Right, Muay Thai mobile advertisement.

 

            That was it. Rested for almost an hour and it is time for us to catca a tuk tuk and head to Phuket International Airport for our flight back to Singapore. Sad to be leaving the great times we had together in this trip but it is getting boring to be stuck in Patong with no means of transport around to other parts of the island.

 

            Tuk Tuks where everywhere and even though we were trying to use up all our Thai Bhats, for some reason while enquiring the fare for the tuk tuk ride to Phuket I decided to bargain with the driver and managed to save 50THB even though we had agreed earlier no point bargaining as we will end up with unspent Thai currency. Local time is now 4.30pm

 

            Along the way back to the air port, there was quite a lot of things to see as on the first day I actually fell asleep in the minibus on the way from airport to Patong. Took quite a lot of photos during the journey back. Following are just a few of the nicer ones.

 

            There were quite a few are shops not unlike this one that displays the art works outside. Most of them will have a sign outside stating no photography allowed.

 

            The small go kart track that is well mentioned in guide books and maps

 

            Some one’s big bungalow. Looks as though no one has lived in it for quite some time already.

 

            Monument of the Two Heroines. Sadly could not capture the base as well because of the moving vehicle.

 

            Both of us enjoying the windy in the open aired tuk tuk.

 

Local time is now 5pm, three more hours till our flight leaves for Singapore

 

            Twenty minutes later we reached the airport and had to join in the queue for security checks.

 

            Finishing the security checks we were finally in the air port only to find that the Silkair counter has yet opened. We decided to walk around the tiny airport looking at what ever is available. Happened to see this book store and both of us bought a post card that best depicts Patong and went to write some notes before sending it via mail back home.

 

            By the time we finished with the posting of the cards, we were shocked to see a long queue already at the Silkair counter. Not wanting to waste anymore time we joined the queue to get ourselves checked in first be for doing anything else. While waiting for our turn at in the painfully slow moving queue, Lih Yu noticed on a information panel overhead that displayed the e-mail address for Phuket airport. It was using Yahoo’s free web based e-mail as a form of communication for the passengers to feedback to the airport management.

            Finally our turn came and since we did not have any check in luggage to mess around with, our turn was one of the fastest to be completed.

 

            After clearing the counter we had to check in to the departure hall, but before that we had to go purchase our airport tax ticket from one of the two counters just out side the departure hall entrance. Airport tax is 500THB per passenger. Paid up and bought our air port taxes we decided to head inside and have a look around the departure hall.

 

            To our surprise, the departure hall’s seating was actually catering to more than 10 gates! Anyway not much passengers once a all the passengers of a particular flight had all gone into the plane. While waiting for time to pass as we were way too early for our flight, we decided to grab something to eat. Digging out all the loose changes we had and trying to but things till we were left with only a 1000THB note was pretty tough as we had to keep on calculating the cost of things so they add up to be just nice. As we really had nothing to buy decided to just buy sweets till the make up the remaining amount we had left. Talk about wasting money!

 

            Finally 7.45pm local time came and it was time to board our flight. We were positioned about ½ way in to the long queue, but no worries as seats are allocated and not like Tiger Airways where it’s free for all, we just stood in line and waited for our turn to pass through the metal scanners. By the time we sat down in our allocated seats in the plane it was almost 8pm.

 

            It was not until about 8.30pm before the plane finally left it’s gate and started to make it way down to the runway for take off. As you can see from the photo above there was nothing much to photograph outside the plane as it was so dark and the reflections were really bad it was quite pointless to even try taking anything. Raised my head to look around, realized that we are the only two Asians on board this flight! It did not bother us anyway. Bored on board while the other passengers were either reading the papers or getting some shut eye, both of us were makes all sorts of faces for the camera!

 

            Half an hour later at 9pm the on board meal was served. Yummy! The food looked delicious. Left is mine and right is Lih Yu’s dinner sets.

 

            Finally arriving back in Changi Airport at about 11pm Singapore time. Since we did not have any baggage to retrieve we went straight to purchase our allowed limits of liquor and spirits. Bought a bottle of perfume for Lih Yu and from what the sales staff claim that over a certain amount the shop would absorb the GST charges went to find something to top up the prices and found a bottle of toner for myself.

 

            That was that. We are back in Singapore and now the problem is how to get home. Remembering Lih Yu’s ezlink card had no more value in it and we only had about 80cents in coins between us. Headed down to the basement bus interchange and hopped on to any bus that would bring us our of the airport as we did not want to pay the airport surcharge if we took a cab from the airport directly. We took a bus that brought us to Marine Parade and there we got off and hailed for a cab, luckily less than five minutes later we were in the cab and on the way to Lih Yu’s place first.

 

            In the cab we sorted out the wines and spirits as I wanted the hard liquor and Lih Yu wanted the wine. After getting things sorted out in the cramped space of the cab we finally held hands and relaxed in the cab. Nothing much energy left to talk much we just held hands till almost reaching Lih Yu’s place where we said our good byes.

 

            By the time i got home it was some 1am already. Hurriedly unpacked my stuff , bathed and called Lih Yu and went to bed,missed the times where we could sleep together on the same bed. It was a really tiring day with mixed feeling,, tired from all the walking, sad to leave Phuket behind and coming back to work, happy that we had this chance to travel together and we completed the trip with no issues.

 

 

~ End Of Day 4, 5^th March 2006 ~

Day 3, 4^th March 2006, Saturday

 

            Had a good night’s rest and went down to have breakfast at the reception area. This time Lih Yu had ham and eggs while I had bacon and eggs. After breakfast went back up to our room to laze even more. We were trying to contact Eve also, as we had arranged with her that we would go down to the beach and rot there the whole day.

 

            No matter how we called Eve just did not answer her phone. Fed up with no response, we decided to just take a stroll to her hotel and check it out.. On our way our we decided to find new ways to cut the route short back to the beach. Took a few photos of the hibiscus and other flowers around our hotel.

 

            Once out of the our hotel, decided to explore a bit around our own hotel as we did not bother about it on the first two days as we wanted to head more to the beach and also to meet up with Eve and the rest. Took a right turn into a  small lane that led us to the backyard of someone’s place and saw a few old man chatting away under a makeshift kitchen. As we were able to see to the other side but not sure if there is a path leading to it, we decided to walk a bit more and see if there indeed is one. Those old fellows now started to call to us rather loudly, they were all speaking in Thai and we could understand none of it. It seems that they are saying to go the other direction, but in that direction we only saw a dead end and the old guys were laughing about something.

 

            Deciding to ignore them, we made our way back to the hotel entrance and decided to quit exploring the area. Along the way back to the hotel saw this cat lazing under a car. Guess it’s sleeping as both eyes are shut. Took a couple of shots and left it alone.

 

            Now we were hungry again, just slightly away from our hotel along Soi NaNai there are a few roadside eateries. We just stopped at one of them and had lunch. Both of us ordered Chicken,Potato and Fried Egg, What I had expected was two halves of a potato, a fried egg and a chicken fillet. But turns out that it is all three mixed together and cooked! Looks like what my dad had often cooked at home. But nevertheless it was still delicious as we were hungry. Again it was not salty enough and the condiments on the table had to be applied generously to get any taste out. As the meal was only the main dish, we did not order any drinks to go along. Towards the end it was very dry so we drank our own plain water we brought along. Took a slow walk back to the beach and along the way we decided might as well head for Eve’s hotel. We had to pass this deserted pond every time we walked to the beach and today happened to see some bird poking it’s head into the dirty water looking for food.

 

            As we passed the pond and block of buildings we came to a traffic junction and this is where the Boxing Stadium is located. Everywhere we went there were advertisements on bouts that were going on at night and when special fights are going to take place. There were even tuk tuks set up specially to just drive around and repeating recorded messages of fight informations. Pretty irritating after a while.

 

            We were not interested in the fights so throughout our stay we did not bother to go and have a look at what is going on inside.

 

            As you can see from the photo in the previous the name of the stadium is called Bangla Boxing Stadium. Just to the right of the building is Bungla road from which the stadium got it’s name.

 

            Walking through it we saw this traffic police summoning this jeep for what reason we do not know but seems it is for illegal parking.

 

            Walked through Bungla road to the beach and then to Eve’s hotel. We tried calling her a few times while walking over to her hotel but still she was not answering her phone. As we walked along Thaweewong Road (Patong Beach Road) we roughly retraced the route the tuk tuk traveled by last night.

 

            We manage to reach Eve’s hotel after taking some short cuts. What happen next was really very angry. When we reached the entrance of Eve’s hotel we saw a jeep parked there and Lih Yu took a look inside and saw that it was Eve and her bunch of friends almost leaving for some Elephant trekking trip. When we asked her why she did not answer our calls, she replied that she did not hear her phone ring. That was that and the left in the jeep while the two of us were left standing there. Not even one of them offered us if we wanted to tag along. Some friends…

 

            Anyway we decided to just drop the whole incident and carry on with our own holiday, no point in getting angry or pissed off. We went to explore the area abit but nothing much was in the place. Saw this cafe having two nice looking bikes for sale right outside it’s premises. The number plate on it looks nice!

           

            We got our selves a bit lost in the area we found Patong’s Post office! But as it was a Saturday it was closed. It looks more like a warehouse than a post office. Nothing like what we are used to seeing in Singapore.

 

            After consulting the map we manage to locate ourselves thanks to the post office. Deciding it’s time to call it a day as the weather was so hot and we did not know what to do next, we headed back to our hotel. The trip back was easier as we knew where we were and which roads to take.

 

            Feeling tired after all that walking and the beach is full of people relaxing in the hot sun. While on our way back taking the same short cut just after Eve’s hotel we saw this construction site with a long human chain passing buckets of cement to fill up the site. Interesting site which disappeared along time ago in Singapore.

 

            Slowly we walked throught Thweewong road again and it’s kind of like getting boring already as we have been through the road so many times since the moment we arrived in Patong. Nothing much interested us but we just took our time to walk through as the weather was really hot.

 

            Finally reached the short cut leading back to our hotel. This is the dirt road we had to cross every time and it is just in front of the fresh market. Not much people traveling on it even in the day. At night it is usually only lighted by a few lamp post which are placed far apart and the light is quite dim. The row of lamp post on the left of this photo is actually to light up the private pedestrian path way of a hotel.

 

            After crossing this road we went into the Fresh Market to have a look again as the first time we pass by it we were in a hurry and did not really bother to stop to take a look. On the ground level was all usual items for sale like vegetables meats fishes and other everyday meal items. The difference between this market and those in Singapore is that this one is much cleaner and neater than those in Singapore although not as well lighted.

 

            On the second level of the market was some sort of mini shopping center with items ranging from clothings to toys and flowers. Did not spend much time looking around as there was nothing that really caught our eye. Leaving the market we headed back to our hotel.

 

            Along the road leading to the staircase of our room saw this stalk of orchids on the tree and decided to take a photo of it.

 

            Finally reached back to our room. We were both tired out from walking non stop for half a day. Decided to take a shower and sleep for a while. Little did we know by the time we woke up it was dark o’clock already. Got up and went down stairs to our hotel reception for dinner. We ordered Thai Green Curry, mixed vegetables and a plate of rice for each of us.

 

            While waiting for our meal to be cooked there was a television set in the area and we just sat there and watched whatever was being aired at that time. Besides the two of us and the owner there were no one else in the place. After some time our meal finally arrived. The meal was delicious especially the green curry, it was sweet yet spicy and just salty enough. The vegetables was not bad as well. We also order two bottles of soft drink that were bottled in the traditional glass bottle method. In total we spend some 130THB on the meal which is really cheap and the food tasted fantastic!

 

            After dinner went back to our room and we were both dieing to go take a dip in the pool in the backyard, so changing into our swimming gear we nipped downstairs and jumped into the pool, The water is refreshingly cool yet warm enough that we don’t have to swim a few laps to get warmed up. It is the first time we ever had a chance to stay in a pool, with no tall buildings around and having clear skies that we can see quite a lot of stars. The feeling at that moment is so romantic and serene that both of us will never forget.

 

            We stay in the pool just talking about ourselves and that it was really a wonderful time we had together. As time passed the night got cooler and we decided to go back up to our room before it started to get colder. As we did not bring anything down not even our towels, when we came out of the pool the wind was making us so cold that we did not really bother to dry off much and just ran back to our room. What was worst is the air con was left on and entering the room is even colder than staying outside. We turned off the air con for a while and started to go for our shower.

 

            Every days we bathed together and it is such a nice moment, helping each other soap up and wash down. Oh that was after we washed our cloths! After our shower we just sat back on our bed and watched the television in our room and opened up the potato chips we bought. About 11pm it started to rain and soon turned into a heavy thunderstorm. Sadly it affected our satellite TV stations and we were left with a frozen image of the movie that we were watching. Decided to go take a photo of the rain, so got my camera ready and opened our door only to find that the wind was really strong and rain is splattering everywhere.

 

            It rained for about two hours and after that the television was back to normal. As i watched a show Lih Yu fell alseep beside me. On seeing that I decided to turn in together with her. And that was the end of our 3^rd day in Phuket.

 

            Thoughts for the day, although it started out slightly bad but the later half of the day really was enjoyable all the rest, good food and romantic time we had. Wish it does not have to end!

 

 

~ End Of Day 3, 4^th March 2006 ~

Day 2 , 3^rd March 2006, Friday

 

Woke up after a good night of rest. Waited for Evelyn’s call to say when she is going to reach our hotel. At about 0800hr we received Eve’s first call. We thought finally she has arrived but turns out that she is on the tuk tuk but the driver does not know the way to our hotel. We told Eve the rough location of our hotel and the call ended. Minutes later she called again, this time sounded very fustrated as the driver cannot really speak english and Eve is having problems telling the driver the location. She pass the phone to the driver and I tried to direct the driver to where our hotel was but it seems that the driver is either playing dumb or really dumb. All the prominent landmarks that I mentioned out to him, all he said is he does not know where they are.

 

Finally fed up of talking to the driver we went down to our hotel’s recepotion desk and pass the phone to Hom who directed the driver to the hotel. Minutes after the call, Eve arrived with a black face. The tuk tuk driver was wailing away about the road being called NaNai Song (two in thai language) and not NaNai Two. Seems illogical that the driver does not know the number Two in english and it was very obvious Eve is not a local and does not know thai language as well. Anyway with that over brought Eve up to our room as we left to the

reception without bringing any of our belongings.

 

After we grabbed out stuff, we went back down to the reception for breakfast. Here is the stairs that we had to climb every time. Below is a photo of the reception cum restaurant area. We had just ordered our American Breakfast. Lih Yu and I both had Ham and eggs with tea while Eve just ordered a cup of coffee as she had her breakfast already. Both Lih Yu and I had to use three packets of sugar just to counter the bitter

taste and even then it was still bitter.

 

First was the drink, next two slices of bread with strawberry jam and butter followed by the ham and eggs. All was well till we added salt to the eggs. At first we thought a bit was enough but turns out we had to sprinkle quite a lot to even get it up to our taste. Seems like the salt is not really the salt we are used to back in Singapore. Finished our breakfast and drinks and left for town. We were deciding to head back to Ocean Plaza where the bus stop was or just take a tuk tuk to town.

 

As we walked along the road towards the 7-11 to take the short cut to Thaweewong Road, we passed by this shop or stall selling chicken rice. At this moment we decided to just take a tuk tuk to town as Eve does not want to walk to Ocean Plaza. As usual when we don’t want tuk tuks they are every where but when we want one, there is none in sight.

 

Finally a tuk tuk passed by us and we flagged it down. Ask what was the price for the trip to Town, was quoted by the driver for 500THB, we decided to try our luck by offering 200THB. The driver said it’s too low so we told the driver never mind. As we continued walking, suddenly the same tuk tuk hoinked at us again. This time he had two locals in the vehicle and now is willing to take up our offer of 200THB.

 

On we hopped onto the tuk tuk. The ride to town including dropping off the two locals, took about half an hour. This is what it looks like inside these modern 4 wheeled tuk tuk. This one has the seats in the laid back style so it really feels like a lounge chair when you relax into it! Scary thing is there is no doors covering the steps for climbing on board so if you have any bags or wearing slippers, beware they are not left bouncing around till the fall out. The huge waist level window on either side of the tuk tuk were jus as scary too, as you bags or worst youself! can fall out easily if not held down properly!

 

On Evelyn’s right is a young mother who’s child is sitting on her lap staring curiously at me. It was only after a while that i realize I was wearing my O’s and guess it looked weired to the little girl.

 

After we boarded the tuk tuk and it went on it’s way to town, saw this motorcycle stall selling pork. The pieces of of flesh, chopping board and just about everything else is just left uncovered to the dust and dirt that is present. Imagine what would Singaporeans and the authorities would say if they saw such a sight.

 

Nothing much to see along the way, basically it’s almost the same view everywhere. Buildings were mixture of old and new and rubbish can be found everywhere, sometimes even just beside someone’s house. All the high rise buildings are usually hotels with the locals living in either bungalows or terrace houses. Traffic was quite smooth compared to Bangkok but than again that is not a fair comparison.

As you can see, power cables run overhead like in the olden days and some of them have a dangerous sounding buzz to go along. There were quite a lot of construction work going on, new high rised buildings all half built where found everywhere. Not much work was done on them, it is as if the Thais are reluctant to finish the job. There were usually not more than 10 works at any one time working.

 

Throughout our journey none of us spoke much, Eve and Lih Yu were just sitting there relaxing and taking in the view while i was trying to capture just about everything that we pass by.

 

Soon were were leaving Patong beach and going on the way to town. At the last turning before we left Patong there was this old lady walking along the street side. Kind of sad sight but that is the way of life in Thailand every where else. After this right turn we left Patong behind.

 

Along the way to town, there were many construction sites that look similar to the photo below. Land cleared but nothing much built on it yet. No one is working on it in fact. There were no signs to say what type of building is this construction area going to built, no condoned off area marking it out like what we have back in Singapore.

 

As we near the submit of the hill that we have to pass, there were workers along the road side pruning the tall shrubs that were grown. These shrubs are irritating in that they block the otherwise fantastic view of Patong from the hill top. Not much vehicles along the road to Patong, comparable to Singapore traffic volume during off peak period.

 

Next few photos show the traffic conditions on the roads and the limited views that one can see when traveling on it. Not much traffic.

 

Once we left the hill and coming to the central of Phuket shop houses sprang up again. We passed by quite a number of arts and craft shops and other odd shops that we have no idea what they were selling. There were quite a few coffee shops scattered along the way but we have no idea what they were offering as all signs were in Thai language.

 

This shop sells all kinds of pots and vases for gardening use.

 

This is one of the few hawker centers along the way. Time is 0933hr and it’s still not open yet but as you can see there’s not a single customers around yet.

 

Back on the tuk tuk it was getting boring as the sights were repeating itself. Eve took out a box of sweets and offered Lih Yu and me and also one to the little local girl that was traveling with us. She took a short look at the sweet before hey mother prompted her to accept it.

 

As you can see in the photo below the girl keeps staring at me even when she is taking the sweet from Eve. Wonder why? Anyway after she took the sweet, she held it for a while before sticking it into her mouth and took it out again. Her mum was trying to make her eat it again but she refused, and end up eating the sweet herself.

 

Soon after we came to a busy cross junction and saw an abandoned shopping center with no shops but just the building alone. There are quite a lot of such buildings during this half of the journey after the cross junction. All of them the buildings are all built but only a handful of them have tenants even than, it’s only one or two shops only.

Finally we came to town, looks a lot like the streets of Patong just less tourist and no sea in view. Below is a photo when we just entered town. Lots more traffic lights and faded zebra crossings here.

 

Along the roads where small coffee shops that is really just by the road only unlike those in Singapore with Plasma TVs fans and fancy decorations. These are just stove, wok, exhaust system, tables and chairs and that is it.

 

It was around here that the three locals dropped off. Caught this typical scene of a motorcycle rental stall. The locals and Caucasian tourists seem to be hooked on to riding them every where. No doubt it’s the easiest form of transport, but many of them especially the Thais do not wear helmets.

 

This is a sight that is no longer found in Singapore, old fashion traffic lights that still run on light bulbs instead of LEDs!Over head it’s full of electrical cables running everywhere and some of them give out the same dangerous sounding buzz as well. The green light is so pale and it’s hardly noticeable in broad daylight.

 

 

 

This is where we alighted from the tuk tuk. It’s also where the local bus stop for buses to the various beaches are and the fresh produce market is for Phuket Town. First sight is a pickup overloaded with gree unripe papayas! Cannot imagine what would happen if all those papayas are spilled on to the road.

Strawberries anyone? Not too sure where these delicious strawberries come from but this lady is selling them. What she is doing with that pail of pink powder and spoon and little plastic bags, is that that is the favorite dippings that the locals use on almost all fruits. The dipping is made up of sour plum powder with sugar and chili powder.

 

Just beside all these road side stalls lightly further down the road is where all the songthaeos or bus are parked. Here is a photo of what it looks like from the rear end inwards. Basically it is just two rows of seats on each side of the vehicle, hence the name Songthaeos which literally mean two rows. Some have extra row of benches in the middle which can seat more passengers but for those in the middle row it is quite dangerous as there is nothing to hold on while the bus is moving.

 

Peering into one of the small lanes cross wise into the market we can see a lot of such vegetable stalls selling lots of fruits and vegetables with a few meat selling stalls. Most of the stall owners are just chatting away while waiting for customers to take a look at their items.

 

In a few of the lanes there were small food stalls that sell things from tidbits to meals that customers can stand and eat near the stall and return the bowls and utensils after finish their meals. We decided to give it a pass as we were still quite filled up from the breakfast we had back in our hotel.

 

Further down the road the fresh market stalls are getting replaced with curio stores selling little odds and ends. Lih Yu and Eve both bought a scringy each to tie up their hair. Took a photo of the welcome sign and the clock that was hanging on the wall of the shop but sadly no photos of the shop itself. As you can see the time is just reaching 10am. Both of them spent some time choosing which color they wanted and after paying for it we continued walking down the street.

 

Saw this lottery ticket seller along the way. From the amount of tickets she has left on the table, it seems that business is not really good but then again it might just be because it’s still early in the morning,

In one of the shops that was selling Incense, there was this kid who is playing under the table with a hand bag. Just look at that innocent face! He did not look up long as he only took a glance at us walking past before resuming what he was playing.

 

Continued further up it turned we hit a Y-junction and taking a look at the map, turns out that we were walking in the wrong direction. Quickly we turned around and headed back the same way we came. Passed by some tuk tuk drivers that were resting outside their vehicles. They approached us one by one saying that there is nothing to see in town and offered to bring us to Robinson Plaza and Butterfly park. We were not really interested in their offers but still they persisted on to take up their offer. Quicken our pace to get out of their hunting area.

 

Soon we were back to where we alighted from the tuk tuk earlier and continued walking in the opposite direction. Finally we saw the round-a-bout that was shown on the map. Finally we are on the right track. Located on the map where Robinson Plaza and Ocean Plaza was and started walking towards it. As those two buildings were quite a distance away, we decided to pay a visit to Phuket Shopping Center which is quite near to where we were at the round-a-bout.

 

Along the way to Phuket Shopping Center pass by this watch repairer who is engrossed in his work to take notice that i was photographing him. Back in Singapore there is no longer such sights.

 

Finally we found Phuket Shopping Center. It’s located in the back of a lane and there is no sign on the main road pointing to it.The shopping center itself is on the right side of the arched sign. The building on the left is a supermarket. Nothing much to see or buy in this shopping center. There is only one or two more other customers other than the three of us. Products sold were more meant for the older generation.

 

Since there is nothing much inside we quickly walked through the 3 levels it had and left Phuket Shopping Center.

 

On next destination, Robinson Plaza.

 

On the way we saw many signs not unlike this one in the photo above offering cheap broadband internet access. Eve the spokeswoman for the internet access shop? Haha. In her hands is a piece of mango which we bought just before we saw this sign. The fruits in Thailand are quite tasty and sweet., not to mention cheap too but only if you buy from the fresh markets. The ones being sold by roadside stalls are cut and packaged, hence slightly more expensive.

 

Beside the internet advertisement, the lady in the black/green blouse was selling all sorts of cakes and tidbits.

 

Here we can see all that the stall is offering! Items range from noyna cakes to biscuits to even friend noodles all in local flavors. We bought a packet of those green cakes that is being displayed on the bottom right corner of the table. Althought we asked the stall holder what the cake were, we did not really understand her.

 

Luckily it was something like the “9-layers kuey” from the Chinese except this one is all green and had a strong coconut taste.

 

It was quite a long walk to get to Robinson Plaza. On the way there there’s nothing much to see as mostly were motorcycle sales galleries and hardware stores. Here’s a photo of the street that we were walking along. Notice anything unusual? Red plates on the car read : SFY 4369 Z, it’s a weekend Singapore car!

Not long later we reach the round-a-bout that marks the mid point of our walk to Robinson Plaza. Nothing much to see here as well. The round-a-bout itself is under some sort of renovation work but there are no workers in sight. Not much vehicles on the road as well.

 

After the round-a-bout it was walking in small streets again. Pass by this shop selling confectioneries and bought some cute colourful looking sweets. We bought those where were displayed near the bottom right corner of the photo. 10B/packet and we bought two packets. There were a lot of other stuffs but as we were quite full from the fruits and cakes we bought earlier, we did not buy anymore things from this shop. The old lady manning the shop was all alone and kind of like could not be bothered with our sales.

 

Along one of the streets we saw this Welcome gate. Took a few photos with and and as we were crossing the road managed to snap this postcard perfect photo before being scolded by Lih Yu as she was worried about me getting hit by on coming cars.

 

Just a few blocks away from the welcome gate was Robinson Department Store. Time now is 11.22am

 

Finally saw the Ronald MacDonald’s statue with it’s hands clasped together in the traditional Thai greeting style. All three of us took turns to have a photo with the statue. Next to the standing statue was the more common sitting statue. Below are the photos!

 

We went into Mac, was originally thinking of getting a quick bite but after looking through the menu decide to walk around Robinson department store and see if there is anything to eat there. Out we went from Mac and entered Robinson department store through the KFC that is part of the building. Had a look at KFC’s menu as well and decided to eat later.

 

Basically nothing much in the department store, mostly the same as what can be found in Singapore. The very top level is the food court that still utilizes the coupon system. There was only one or two stalls open and seems that there must be a primary school somewhere nearby for there are quite a lot of students around the deserted food court. We rested out tired foots for a while before getting up and continuing to window shop around.

 

We only spend about 20mins inside the building, really nothing much to see. Lih Yu bought a hair pin for her mum and that is about all we did inside the department store. Prices of items here are not much cheaper and anyway there is nothing unique that cannot be found back in Singapore. Back at the basement we finally bought some dried foodstuff. The offer at that time was buy any four packets and get one packet free.. Between Lih Yu and me we bought two packets of dried longan and three packets of jackfruit crackers, two packets of “dog shit” and crispy “pork skin”. Not really cheap as each packet is about 250B which is about SDG$10/pkt.

 

After making all our purchases we went back to Mac for lunch. Eve had Fillet-o-Fish meal while I had MacChicken Meal. They do not provide packets of sauces, instead they have dispensers that squirts out the sauce that you need into a small plastic sauce plate. For them their chili sauce is called Hot Sauce which in no way is it as spicy as the mildest chili sauce available in Singapore. Anyway we took two plates of the hot sauce and finished both plates as they did not really add any extra taste unless you really had a big dollop on your fries.

 

After lunch we rested a bit and proceeded to search for Ocean Plaza which was suppose to be just slightly further down the road from Robinson. We reached another building and was trying to figure out if it was Ocean Plaza itself. As the weather was really hot, we decide to pop into the Watson store that was on the ground level and take a look first. Nothing much as usual, when we came out again, we saw a small entrance into the building but there was no sign indicating what building we were entering. Turns out that the small entrance was into Ocean Plaza itself.

 

Once inside, walked around the place for a while. A very simple department store with many small stores within. Looked around a bit for some unique items to buy for ourselves but there were none. Eve was trying to find a nail clipper but none was available. In the end only Eve bought a bag for her mum and that was it. We left the store and headed back to Watson to look for nail clippers and manage to find some but were pretty expensive. Eve still bought it anyway.

 

That was all Phuket town had to offer, now we were deciding to go back to the fresh market area and take the Songthaeo back to Patong or just jump on a tuk tuk to go back. There were a few tuk tuk drivers waiting for passengers outside the building so we approached one of them, his offer was for 400B but we tired to bargain till 250B and he refused at first but then mentions that he is willing to accept but there will be one stop over at some place. We rejected his offer. He shouted to the other drives to see who is willing to take up our offer of 250B without stop overs. Finally there was this slightly older driver who accepted it for 280B. Eve and Lih Yu got up first and just before i boarded the tuk tuk double confirmed with the driver that there is no stop overs and he confirmed it.

 

That was that and soon we were traveling back to Patong again. Zipped through the streets of phuket town trying to catch a last glimpse of the place.

 

Along the way saw this shop selling helmets for 99B apiece. Helmets are that cheap and yet no one really bothers to wear them. It’s a wonder why.

 

Manage to snap a shot of their local post box. Compared to ours theirs is easier to spot as it’s a red box unlike ours which is white. Wonder how much mails to the locals post daily.

 

No idea what the fellow was selling or doing in this motorcycle stall but seems to be staring in a general direction and slacking.

 

Nothing much that we have not seen on the way back from town to Patong beach. Pretty smooth ride back , decided to head to Eve’s hotel instead of dropping off at a point and walking some more. Below is a photo of the elevation of the hill that we have to go over every time we go or leave Patong to anywhere. It’s pretty steep.

 

After getting over the hill we reached Patong and Eve’s hotel. It was a long walk from the hotel’s reception to Eve’s room. For their hotel it seems more like chalet with all one level rooms laid out very similar to those found at East Coast Park. When we finally reached her room it was really very hot inside as the air con was off, turned it on full blast and waited a while before it was cool enough to stay inside and relax.<%2

Day 1 ,  2^nd March 2006, Thursday

 

            Finally the day has come for us to embark on our long awaited and planned trip to the the island of Phuket in  southern Thailand along the coast of the Andaman Sea. Both of us woke up at 4am to check through all our stuff to make sure nothing was left out. Lih Yu was the first one to leave home. She had to hail a cab and proceed on the Evelyn’s place to pick up Evelyn and her friend Adeline before picking me up last.

 

            Cab driver was a malay in his forties, althought we were his last cutomers he was pretty cherry still managing to inject a bit of humor into the ride. Cab fare was a pretty reasonable $21.40

 

            Reached Changi International Airport at about 6am we alighted at Terminal 1 as both Evelyn and Adeline were taking Tiger Air which checks in at T1. After the pair had checked in four of us went to Burger King to have breakfast. Breakfast was on Eve. Shortly after breakfast Eve and Ade had to enter the departure hall already. Bade them farewell as thought we were not going for a trip ourselves.

 

            After sending them into the departure hall, both of us walked to the Sky Train platform to take the Sky Train to Terminal 2 where our Check in area was. Took a few pot shots while waiting for the train to come. I do look sleepy!

 

            Reached T2 at around 6.45am a bit too early and the SilkAir counter has yet opened for checking in. Decided to bum around the area waiting for time to pass that is when my contact lens started to dry up, so I had to open the bottle of contact lens solution to rewet my contacts. After that still had quite some time on hand and were feeling quite thirsty after the BK breakfast we went down to the basement of T2 in hopes of buying some drink as we were thirsty. Sadly Cold Storage is still sleeping.

 

            Relaxed around the basement a bit while Lih Yu adjusted her haversack straps. I sat at the chairs feeling very stiff due to the lack of rest during the night.

 

            Took a few fun shots while wasting time. Air port at around 6+am is soooo deserted and quiet. Good for sleeping and we were both very sleepy!

 

            Here you can see my lovely BaoBei taking a shot of me. We were still at the basement this was the last shot before we moved on up back to the check in counters to collect our boarding passes.

 

            On the way to the Check in Row, ours was Row 1. We passed by a few digital weighing scales and decided to weigh our back and see

if it was withing the 7kg limit imposed by SilkAir for carry on luggage.

 

            Lih Yu’s baggaged tipped the scales at only 2.8kg while mine was a pig at 4kg.

 

           

After checking our baggage weight continued to Row 1 to register ourselves. Upon reaching the SilkAir counter there was already a line of passengers and we were like “WOW so fast long queue already” as the time was just 6.50am. Anyway got in the Economic class queue ourselves and compared to the others who where checking in, both of us were the most simply dressed! The other passengers must be thinking of outrageous dress code! But than again we are going to a place to relax so shorts and slippers is the logical dress sense!

 

            When out turn came the counter staff did not even bother to check the weight of our baggages or comment about our dressing. Just smiled and handed us our boarding passes. Our first time inside the departure hall of Terminal 2 was pretty interesting! Saw quite a lot of international passengers who were waiting for their transit flights sleeping in the couches in the main atrium. Both of use basically walked the entire length of the departure hall’s shopping gallery and went to use a bit of the free Internet PCs that were provided.

 

            Went back to the shopping gallery and decided to head for our gate slowly. Ours was gate E7 and when we saw the sign for E gates we took it without realizing it was for E13-E28! Anyway quickly back tracked to the shopping gallery where we saw out correct lane to head for gate E7. Along the way we took a look at those TV screens displaying flight info and was shocked to see our gate being listed as CLOSING at 8.10am! Our flight is at 8.50am. All along we were hearing Gates closes 10minutes before depature time and now ours is being listed as closing 40mins before!

 

            We rushed to our gate only to find that we were the last couple of passengers to board the flight. Our seats were E7 and F7. The seats were the 2^nd row in the economy class area. Looking around we realized that we are the only 2 Asians on board the entire flight including business class.

 

            As you can see from the photo the morning sun is extremely bright at 31,000ft in the air. The captain informed us that we are about 875km away from Phuket and that we are traveling at a speed of roughly 825km/hr. Flight was pretty uneventful and it hurts the eyes too much too look outside as the sun was on our side of the plane. Time for the in flight meal! The flight stweardess served those with special needs before attending to the rest.

 

            We were kind of like the last 2 passengers to be served not sure if it’s because they served from rear to front or is it because we are Asians. Anyway gave the stewardess the benefit of doubt. We shall come to a conclusion on the return flight.

 

View from the middle of a 3 seating row. (right). Below view from 31,000ft in the air!

 

                        Flight was about 1hr 50min and Phuket is +7hrs GMT meaning it’s 1hr slower than Singapore. As the plane was coming to the runway for landing we could see the sea not more than 100m away from the runway itself! It’s really that close to the sea! Finally touched down on land again we alighted at Phuket International Airport at local time 0950am. Phuket’s airport is really really small. When we got to the customs clearance area, there were about 10 counters and of it about 7 were open. But the Thais really took their time in checking. After waiting in line for about ¾ of an hour after we alighted from the plane we finally cleared the customs checks.

 

 

            Proceeded on to the arrival hall, there is practically nothing to see no shops save for a small “canteen” for light refreshments. Sun outside was shining fiercely down and the air conditioning in the building is barely able to keep up cooling the air past slightly cool. Saw the minibus booking counter immediately when we came out and went to book our tickets. Price was 150THB per person and luckily for us we were the last two passengers the waiting minibus was waiting for. Climbed on board and soon we were heading to Patong beach!

 

            The drive from Phuket Airport to Patong beach is roughly 40mins, in short a long journey. As I was very tired from work and the drive was boring, I dozed off a bit while Lih Yu was busy snapping away at some of the scenery and she managed to snap a photo of the two heroine monument.

 

            The bus stopped half way to Patong at one of it’s designated offices where there was this thai lady who collected our tickets and introduced us to some of the tour packages that we can sign up for. We were not really interested in the tours as they were mostly island hopping tours and was pretty expensive also ranging from SGD$75-100. We politely declined, the lady gave us her name card and contact number so if we need to book we can contact her. She took down my mobile number also but I’m guessing it’s just for fun as doubt the company will want to incur IDD charges just to make a sale.

           

            Continued on the second half of our journey to Patong. Pretty uneventful. Roads are pretty quiet on a Thursday. Perhaps it’s still working hours for the local population as the time is about 1130am