AMAZING PHUKET ~ DAY 1

After 9 months of research, organizing & planning for our 1^st ever family vacation out of Malaysia, finally the long awaited day came.  Chinese New Year ~ 16 Feb, 2013 (Hari ini Dalam Sejarah =P), we began our journey to discover the amazing holiday destination ~ PHUKET!!

DAY 1

READY FOR TAKE OFF!!

Our journey began very early on a Saturday morning; everyone was awake by 3am to get ready for our pre-arranged transport to LCCT via www.taxilcct.com to catch our 6.55am flight out to Phuket. Our 1hr 25 mins flight landed at Phuket International Airport at 7.10am, 10 mins earlier than expected and the van from Golden Beach Tours was ready & waiting for us.

In our van heading to our Hotel

The journey to our hotel ~ The Gallery Hotel in Patong took roughly 40mins. Still too early for check-in upon arrival, we deposited our luggage at the reception and while waiting for the van pick-up for our city tour…we went ‘hunting’ for breakfast!!

Checking in our luggage at The Gallery Hotel, Phuket

For a quick breakfast ~ 7-Eleven Pork Burgers!!

What makes their 7-Eleven especially unique is their PORK BURGERS!!!, you can put as much filling & sauce as you like, and it’s only for 20Bht each!

And more delicious Porkey stuff *slurp*

 Our pick-up that was supposed to arrive at 9am didn’t turn up on schedule.  Due to some internal glitch & some 6-7 phone calls (thanks to the friendly hotel receptionist), we were only picked up close to 11am, with apologies from the tour guide (=,=)lll

CITY TOUR

Our first stop was of course LUNCH….we were starving!! (Did not have time for a proper breakfast as we thought we didn’t have enough time before our city tour at 9am (=,=)ll)

 Our tour guide who introduced himself as Mr O, speaks very little English which made most of our conversations ‘one way’. Our keyword to him for lunch was ~ ‘cheap & good’

He took us to a shop called Mee Ton Poe – Phuket Original Hokkien Noodles. The shop was rather quiet, maybe because it’s too late for breakfast & still too early for lunch. Only 2-3 tables were occupied, but surprisingly the food was very good.

LUNCH ~From top left – Shrimp Paste Fried Rice, Salmon Fried Rice, Fried Rice with Green Chicken Curry & Salted Egg & of course their signature dish Mee Ton Poe

To quench our thirst ~ Iced Lemon tea, Guava juice & Watermelon Shake

SINO-PORTUGUESE VILLAGE

At Old Town Phuket is the Sino Portuguese Village which is exactly like or very own Georgetown, Penang. 

The Tourist Information Centre

The clothing on exhibit are very much similar to the clothing of the Penang Peranakan

Some fun with cardboard cut-outs (^-^)

Walking around Phuket Old Town

Next stop…..

WAT CHALONG

Today is such a hot day and there was some sort of festival going on in Wat Chalong that there was quite a bit of traffic snarl around the temple area. Our guide had to take another smaller road to reach the temple. The temple grounds were packed with stalls selling from foods, drinks, ice cream to souvenirs. It was only later that I discovered that every February there is a one weeklong festival called ‘Wat Chalong Fair’

Bringing an umbrella was really a great idea =)

BIG BUDDHA

The Big Buddha is located on a hill overlooking Phuket town not very far from Wat Chalong.

The breathtaking view from Big Buddha View Point

A lovely swing at the viewpoint for some great photoshoot =)

CASHEW NUT FACTORY

Leaving Big Buddha View Point, we made a brief stop at the Sri Bhurapha Orchid Cashew Nut Factory. Besides its cashew nut production, it also doubles as a souvenir and shopping store. Besides cashew nuts that are available in different flavors, they also sell assorted products like pork floss & other assorted tidbits. We later discovered that their products are a bit pricey compared to those sold in Jungceylon Mall.

The process of cashew nut production & their store

WANG TALANG GEM

Wang Talang lapidary holds a enormous showroom with showcases of sapphires, emeralds, rubies, semi-precious stones & pearls besides other high end souvenirs like Thai Silk, pewter & ceramics. Photography is of course not allowed inside the showroom….so we were out in a jiffy (^-^)

WINDMILL VIEW POINT

This place is named such because of the windmills not far from this viewpoint. It is located very near to Phromthep Cape. Amazing scenery!

PHROMTHEP CAPE

We ended our city tour with the magnificent view from Phromthep Cape ….what can I say? Magnificent scenery!! Located at the most southernmost point of Phuket, this place is famous for its sunset.  There is a shrine, surrounded by hundreds of elephant statues and carvings in all sizes and colors.  There’s also a Lighthouse which also serves as a mini museum, which we didn’t venture into. Our tour guide said we could stay till 6.30pm.  It was just past 5.00pm and the sun was so scorching hot still. So tired out from waking up from 3am till now, we decided to call it a day…but not before capturing some memorable shots.

The shrine circled with hundreds of elephants statues

The Lighthouse/Mini Museum

More magnificent views

A beautifully decorated bus

Bidding farewell to Phromthep Cape….

Finally we got to check-into our room after a long tiring day. 

 The room was clean & complete with full amenities

Clean toilets

But the day is far from over. As night fell, we set our foot out on the streets of Patong in search of food to fill our rumbling tummies.  We managed to find Restaurant No.6 which was highly recommended by my niece.  There was a short queue for tables so we decided to wait.

Dinner is finally served after quite a wait

From top left : Fried Morning Glory, Pad Thai, Stir Fried Pork with Garlic, Watermelon & Mango shake

Food was absolutely delicious & their juices were the best in Phuket. After dinner we walked further down looking for the Banzaan Night market near Jungceylon Mall.  It was already close to 11pm and most of the shops were closing, even most of the street food stalls are already starting to pack up for the night, so we decided to call it a night as well…need to have a good rest for tomorrow’s activity ~ SNORKELING!!

Some lovely scenes of Patong at night…

A Lovely setting in one of the obviously pricier restaurants

Our 1^st day in Phuket was really a tiring but adventurous one, we have seen so many places in one day…looking forward to seeing more of this amazing place tomorrow…good night..zzzzzzzzz