The weather in Phuket is slightly wet now. Our our first day, the moment we arrived in the airport at about 8.30 am Phuket time and after clearing the customs and getting our luggage it’s close to 9am, we were trying to locate our airport transfer guide and within minutes of locating her, we were told that there’s another 4 more people joining us in the transfers hence got to wait. We don’t mind that at all but while waiting, the weather changed. From bight sunny Phuket, it poured. And it was pouring cats and dogs! All within that few minutes. The sky did not give any signs of changing and it just Thunder Thunder Lighting Lighting and then the flood gates opened. WOAH… Our first taste of the waters from heaven in Phuket.
We were given a free half-day-city-tour of Phuket Town. The guide spoke mandarin. Good! Good! We are all able to converse easily. She brought us to a shop where snacks and cashew fruit drinks were sold. I don’t really like the taste of the drink, it’s a bit sour and sweet at the same time. But it’s supposed to be good for health. Was thinking of buying for my mom… but based on our previous experience in BKK in the honey shop… we decided to wait and see and not spend our $$ so soon. I din buy much there, only bough a packet of mango slices for Godma and also some tom yam soup spices for Trina since she likes to cook and also she likes Tom Yam soup. Great for her lor. =) She went to HK and bought back soooo many snacks for me the other time.
Our next stop was to a T-shirt warehouse or rather factory. There was 2 or 3 T-shirts that I like, the designs are quite catchy and cute. Material is good too. It’s not those cheap cheap and thin materials. But it’s rather thick and sooo cheap. The white T-shirts are only $99 baht! The colored ones are slightly more expensive at $129 baht. The only thing is, I do not wear tat kind of T-shirts. Hubby also decided to not get any for his brothers hence we din not get any pieces at all. But I saw a bag that I like and I got that, it’s not very cheap but I think it’s still worth. =) Only $270 baht leh... which means it’s about $12 SGD. Cheap and nice lor. =)
After all these shopping alone just on our arrival, we finally are making our way to our hotel, Ban Thai. Our first impression with the hotel? G-R-E-A-T!!! We love it!! It has a resort and zen feel to it. The decorations are tastefully done, without being overboard and it’s done in our favorite concept and colours! The staff there are polite and helpful too. On arrival, we were each given a peppermint hand towel to wipe our hands and if necessary our faces lor…haha… and also offered a nice cooling barley drink. Somehow seems to be nicer than those that is being offered here leh. Or is it my brain and taste buds playing tricks with me?
Finally we got the card access key to our room which we will call home for the next few days. We were given a room on the highest floor (which is on the fourth level). The distance from the lift to the room is very very far, many turns and long corridors.
When we opened the door, we were both wowed over by the room. It’s perfect! We love the decorations in the room too. It’s sooo cozy and comfortable. There’s also a balcony attached to every room and all overlook the swimming pool! Gosh. The view even though looks into the balcony of each other is still very nice. Lush greenery and pools of water, each balcony is also fitted with either a leather sofa or some wooden chairs and a table. The suite rooms on the ground floor has it’s own small section of the pool where the rest are not able to go in unless you climb thru the tile barrier. The rest of the rooms is walking access to the swimming pool. I feel the pool is well equipped. There’s 3 different section where guests can go for Jacuzzi and also a poolside bar is opened daily till 7pm. NICE lor…
We were also given a complimentary drink from their various bars… quite a lot to chose from and we almost forgot to use the ticket till our last nite!
Once we have taken a swim, bath and threw our things all over the room, we decided to head out in search for lunch. And guess what we had? Macdonalds. Dang!!! Of all the things available there, we had to eat Mac?! Gosh… I console myself by saying coz too many things to eat, don’t know where to start and was too hungry, hence we just go for the most convenient thing. The Mac was like just outside our hotel! After lunch, we went for a walk at the beach. My goodness. The sun there is horrible. It’s scorching hot!! Even more scorching than SG. We both stand at the beach eating our Hagen Daz ice cream all the time saying ‘No’ to the taxi drivers, the jet ski, the don’t know what water sports, the deck chairs, the manicurist… This IS irritating. The locals don’t leave you in peace. The moment they sport you, they come over to you and ask you jet ski? Parachute? Chairs? Etc… argg!!!
We were standing in the shade ok?! Without our bathing suits on, how to play all these?? And for goodness sake, it’s like 12pm in the sun… ask me to lie on the chairs for sun tan?! No way!!! But the Ang Mo there seem to love it leh. Most of the ppl on chairs are Ang Mo… think they adore the sun coz they don’t have much sun in their country… But being Singaporeans, we see the sun on a 365 day basis. No need to get so eager to experience the ‘warmth’ of the sun in Phuket I feel.
After enjoying our ice cream and beach breeze, we head back to hotel to rest for a while to get ready for the FantaSea show+dinner later in the evening. Woah! It’s like a theme park! It’s called “Palace of the Elephants”! There’s like game stores, souvenirs of all sorts being sold there. Of course it’s not cheap la. But still nice to browse and look thru lor. Street performances before the show and all sorts of things. We were already taking our own sweet time before going for dinner, browsing thru the stores. Went for the buffet dinner. Hmmm… Food is not fantastic but the sight that greeted us when we went in was fabulous!! Gosh.. It’s sooo grand looking. High ceilings, all done up in gold, some statues of I don’t know who, lots of food and just simply grand!
As I was saying, the weather in Phuket changes very fast. It was still scorching hot when we left the hotel for the FantaSea. But the moment we reached there, it started drizzling and by the time we have exchanged for our tickets, the rain started to get heavier and though I have my jacket with me, I was not keen to be caught in the rain. So what did we do? We bought an umbrella from one of the stores. Not cheap for a small brolly leh. We thought the big one will be troublesome on the way home in the flight later so get the smaller one. Looks quite cute with a cute elephant printed on it. But quality is not fantastic lor.
Hubby and I enjoyed dinner, sampling their food and we made friends with another couple who was from Belgium! We had a very enjoyable time eating thru dinner and chatting with them. They told us about Europe and their country and we told them about Singapore. They are heading to Hong Kong after Phuket and they came from BKK. So good! Such a long holiday. As I type this in SG, I think they may still be in Phuket or preparing to head to HK lor.
We took such a long time for dinner that we din have time to roam the stores again since we need to go in for the show which starts at 9pm. They don’t allow cameras inside leh! So sad. So have to queue to go in, queue to surrender our camera, then queue to find our seats too. It’s very efficient the way they handle the crowds. There are of course stations where the tourists can take photos with the animals or the performers. We din ask how much but since it is an attraction, then of course it’s not gonna be cheap lor.
We found our seats easily too. Good view of all that is happening also. We really enjoyed the show very much. The performers are good and there’s also visual and sound effect. I specially like the scene where the stage opens and water came down to stimulate rain. Looks very real leh! The show was only 1 hour then later have to queue to take back our camera and also to go back out. Woah… the loads of people who turned up for the show! Luckily there’s also transport back to the hotel so we din have to worry about how to go back hotel. We were one of the first few who hopped into the bus and after the bus was filled, we realized, we were the only Asians. -_-‘’ The trip back to hotel is very fast. Traffic in Phuket is not so scary as in BKK but the way up and down the hill kind of freak me out leh. With each climb or decent, I can feel my pressure raising and lowering. It’s horrible!! Almost like a roller coaster ride except that we are in a vehicle! I think I said silent prayers whenever we have to go thru those ways… Once back in hotel, we bathe (again!) and then called it a night. We woke up soooo early and my eyes are very tired after the whole day of ‘seeing’.
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