Pickings from Phuket

Day 1:
Took Tiger Airways from Budget Terminal at 7am. Liked the BT for the fact that it is very basic, no frills but still very thoughtful with Han's restaurant and lotsa shops in the passengers area. Landed in Phuket on time and took a minibus service (150B per pax) to Patong area, available from airport counter, had to wait till they have enough passengers to fill one vehicle, about 15 min for us.

On the way to Patong, the minibus stopped at a travel agency, where they tried to sell packages to tourists, everyone must get down the bus and speak to a sales consultant. We were offered 1800B per pax for a one day trip to Phi-Phi Island (later at Patong, we were offered B1400 per pax, this is still expensive but supposed to be more reliable than those B600 per pax from unreliable agencies). Seems like no one took up any of the offers, the group was then split up, me, bf and another singaporean couple were taken to our hotels in Patong. Don't know what happened to the rest, might have taken up the packages and were being ferried to another place in another vehicle...

It was too early when we reached the hotel, about 9am local time. So we hung around at the beach and walked around Patong. The beach was INFESTED with beach chairs. 3 whole rows of chairs... but nice friendly peddlers who asked if we wanted to rent the chairs, some Thai massage by the beach or a jetski ride, we declined.

Checked into our hotel at 2pm Amanta House. very budget, shophouse place. the decor was boutique Chinese, no swimming pool but we're not complaining, it was cheap and 5 min walk to the beach. But not much service to speak of, staff could speak reasonable English and was fairly friendly, fresh towels in the room daily, and beach towels was available to guests.

Went to Simon Cabaret that night, the "ladies" were good but somehow I didnt feel it's worth the ticket price, cos the ladies were only lip-syncing, maybe we're just 2 bumpkins who couldnt appreciate art. haha

In the evening, I had mango and glutinous rice from the roadside stall outside our hotel... it was divine! hehe oh and a pizza at an irish bar.

Day 2:
Woke up late, breakfast at Subway. Program for today is Kata Beach!! We took a bus from Patong to Phuket Town (B25 per pax) then another sawngthaew from Phuket town to Kata (B25 per pax) - do note that there are 2 bus terminals in Phuket town, the one where sawngthaews depart for the beach resorts and the one where inter-state buses (to places like bangkok, krabi) departs, they are very far from each other (like 30 min walk, we know cos we walked to the wrong terminal)

Kata was beautiful, highly recommended for beach-lovers!! Coconuts and beach chair rental were at same price (B40 for coconut, B80 for beach chair). The crashing waves was good for amateur surfing. Plenty shops and restaurants, and definitely more classy and more midmarket compared to chaotic Patong.

Went for massage at Oriental Thai Massage outside Deevana which was like 3 mins walk from our hotel. Paid 800B per pax for 1 hr Thai + 1 hr oil massage. I personally preferred the Thai massage cos they seemed more professional at it, the oil massage was alright but somehow felt like the therapist was not strong and accurate enough to release the tensed muscles.

Dinner that night was seafood at the roadside stall, about B800 for 2 pax, we had crab, prawns, fish and kangkong. Not too bad, but i wasnt particularly impressive, it was cheap tho!

Day 3:
Check out from Amanta House and head to Bangtao Village Resort at Bangtao Beach.
We should have taken a taxi or tuktuk!!! thought Bangtao was as accessible as Patong and Kata and boy were we wrong, our sawngthaew from Phuket Town dropped us on a main road that had a sign pointing towards Bangtao Beach - it was pointing into a small village road that led us into a kampong and we walked 45 mins to get to the beach, not without help from kind strangers.

No tuktuk was in sight, the kampong was refreshing for those who are kampong girls at heart (like me), most residential houses seemed newly built and signs of destruction from the tsunami was still evident. Upon reaching the hotel, the receptionist was shocked and asked how we got there, we said we walked... wahhahahah she looked at us pitifully at made us feel like idiots!!

The resort was alright, kinda run-down tho it had just resumed operation since Apr 06 after it closed due to the tsunami. Bangtao was obviously recovering much slower than Patong and Kata. The waves were gentle, and everything felt more ulu there... hotel had much better service, free vouchers for beach-chairs, nice little swimming pool, and the works... beach was not as nice as Kata, no big waves here...

We went to a beachside restaurant and had green curry chicken, tom yam kung, stir-fried beef with red curry sauce and stir-fried mixed vege all for B500. Waited for nearly 45 min for the food, but it was nice... we were sitting very very very near the water tho... the waves came so near... barely a metre from where we were sitting...

Next morning we checked out and spent the rest of the time at the beach, just lazing, chatting and wishing we didnt have to go back so soon... weather for the past days had been real nice... soon it was time to say bye-bye to Phuket. We took a hotel transfer to airport for B500. Flight was delayed at the airport for nearly an hour, but that's alright... just that no information was conveyed to poor passengers who waited at the door at the original stated boarding time and had to stand for nearly 1 hr...

Overall, we were on a budget trip, but it was really the company that mattered, and just making the best of whatever situation and money we had... must say that despite the budget constraints, we still had lotsa fun during this trip... and are now already planning the next ones... to Phuket, Cameron, KL, and Canada! WoohoO!!