Phuket - Phi Phi Islands: Day 1

Phuket - Phi Phi Islands: Day 1
25th February 2009

Planned a 6D5N trip to Phuket and The Phi Phi Islands. Booked my own SilkAir flight, and hotel accommodations + airport transfers through Sawadee.com
The Phi Phi Islands is situated approx. 48km from Phuket and 42km from Krabi.
6:49am @ Changi Airport Terminal 2...
My flight is 8:50am; done my Internet check-in, but still arrived 2 hours ahead. Too excited.
8:13am , checked in and heading to the boarding gate... I'm naturally hyper trigger-happy with my camera, so everything gets shot.
MI752 Economy Class. 3seats-a-side plane. Flight to Phuket takes 1hr 30mins. Damage S$526.00 for 2 persons.
11:10am (Phuket time 10:10am)...
Booked for Airport-Hotel transfers throught Sawadee.com, so we get a couple of friendly fellas holding our names at the arrival hall. Then we get pick up in a spacious Toyota Camry. Damage is S$55.75 for 2 persons. Destination is Patong Beach, the central tourist and night time entertainment district.
Phuket time 11:54am... (Airport to Patong Beach took approx. 50mins.)
Arrived at The Bird Cage Patong Guesthouse.
Cage L Superior room @ S$111.00 for 2 nights (through Sawadee.com)
Located @ 6/1-3 Rat-U-Thit 200 Pee Road, Kathu, Phuket 83150.
The official website for The Bird Cage is www.thebirdcage-phuket.com.
Rates are here. Take note that there are different rates for each season.
Cage L Superior room room for the period 20 Jan - 30 Apr 08 costs 2550Thb/night on the official website. But I booked through Sawadee.com and got 1250Thb/night. That is 49% savings!Located in the middle of Thawiwong Road (one-way road travelling North), and Rat-U-Thit 200 Pee Road (one-way road travelling South), The Bird Cage Guesthouse is within walking distance to the beach, 7-eleven, cafes, restaurants, ATMs, tour-agencies, and road-side stalls. There is even a laundry shop and motorbike rental shops right in front of the doorsteps.
Room #408. Top floor. Bed is exactly what I saw on the website. Bed is sturdy and the pillows are soft. The quilt is heavy and very warm. A/c is strong.
Heavy cushion stools... great for my luggages...2 clean bath towels~
And an pro-environmental card...
Decent space and furnitures for a 1250Thb/night room (approx. S$55/night). Fridge has the standard 2 bottles of mineral water. Oh, there is WiFi throughout the building. Safe-box in the cupboard.Room #408 is actually on the fifth floor. Placed a special request on Sawadee.com for the top floor and they fulfilled it. Great! Had a good time climbing the stairs everytime as there is no elevators... there was even once I forgot my map and had to climb all the way up (then I realised I can get the same copy of the map at the lobby...).
Was hoping we could get a nice view of the city, but there were apparently many buildings of similar heights... so dun expect much of a view there.
Bathroom is no-frills. Standard and clean. No free toiletries. (I wun expect such from a Guesthouse anyways. Besides, we brought our own.)There is hot/cold showers, but the showerhead is a little weak. Free mini-bottle of shampoo and bodywash.
The Bird Cage Patong Guesthouse from the street outside. A 5-storey building in Pink. Very prominent from afar.View of the street out. The street behind is a dead-end (for vehicles). Directly in front of the Guesthouse is a laundry shop. Further out is a row of motorbike-rental shops.12:22pm Phuket Time...
Thawiwong Road. This is one of the main road travelling parallel to Patong Beach. Cafes, restaurants, hotels, resorts, retail shops and massage palours lined the street.
We cut throught the shops and onto the famous Patong Beach... and the Parasail immediately caught our eyes...Patong Beach boasts approx. 4km of white sandy beach. Deck chairs and Beach umbrellas lined the beach and we saw lotsa sun-crazed Ang Mohs basking in the afternoon sun.
Jet ski anyone?Floats for the children~ the water is shallow till my waist all the way out for approx. 100m. I didn't recall stepping on any hard shells or pebbles in the waters~
My girl~
12:29pm Phuket time...
Weather is hot. I estimate it to be some 34 - 35 degrees Celsius at that time. Even as a Singaporean, I still feel the sun to be more scorching compared to that in Singapore.
The best time to visit Phuket is February, with a recorded average rainfall of 30.7mm for the month of February (versus a yearly average of 194.9mm; highest rainfall is September, with 419.3mm).
I avoided taking direct photos of the Ang Mohs suntanning on the deck chairs, so here's a row of empty chairs I found. Ang Mohs of all shapes and size were enjoying the scorching sun~ Bikini (fat) mamas and babes throng the beach and its not uncommon to spot topless ladies walking around every now and then. (We even spot a fat guy in g-string... =__= ).
Here're the rates for the fun activities at the beach, in Thai Baht.
12:40pm Phuket time...
We found the afternoon sun too treacherous to walk around, so we hurried back onto the streets in search of some place cool to have lunch at. Below's a view of the Rat-U-Thit Road.
Found a little cafe/restaurant and popped in. Lucky there are two huge A/c at the ceiling. Phuket's Patong Beach is more for a night-time life~ breakfast and lunch business operations are hard to find. Most eateries are empty. Wonder where all the tourist hide to.
View of the walkways outside the restaurant...Mango Shake...Watermelon juice...Pineapple rice~Tom Yum Goong~
Fried shrimp cake~
1:59pm Phuket time...
The famous Bangla Road, the whole stretch of road is lined with nightclubs, pubs and bars. At 6pm daily, the road will close for tourist and pedestrains, and all hell break loose.
Below's a video clip of the road I took at the intersection of Bangla Road and Rat-U-Thit Road. (There's even a UOB Bank branch there...)

Down Rat-U-Thit Road, we spotted Robinsons and Carrefour... Its the local mega shopping district called Jungceylon.
Intersection of Bangla Road and Rat-U-Thit Road...
Up Rat-U-Thit road... we walked back towards our guesthouse... (that building with the pointed roof is one landmark... )
Further up Rat-U-Thit Road nearer to our guesthouse... (notice we passed that pointed-roof building?)
Self-portrait. The roads are lined with makeshift stalls selling necklaces, bangles, weapons (Katanas, Switchblades, Surikens, Knuckle dusters, etc), boardshorts, bikinis, T-shirts, bags, souvenirs, etc...
One of the 2 highests building at Patong Beach... The Royal Paradise Hotel. Damn prominent.
We headed back to our guesthouse, changed into cooler clothing and rented a motorbike, then zipped down Rat-U-Thit Road to Jungceylon for some AIRCON~~~

Spotted something we dun commonly see at the mall... TAKASHI Facial Massage. Lotsa men were seen enjoying a facial massage at the outlet. Its open concept, so we see every customers under a machine with steam oozing onto their face...Only 299 Thb, thats about S$13.00...
Spotted what looks like a video games arcade, but we were wrong. Its a place for simulated gun shooting. Inside was huge~! And has lotsa different types of booths for different types shooting - target boards, bouncing balls, moving ducks, flying clays...
Picked a couple of rifles and went for the kill~ only 100 - 200 Thb a person... very affordable!
Shopping mall is huge~ top floor is a huge cineplex with beautiful lobby. Rates are about the same as Singapore movies.
We walked about the shopping district in search of Haagen Das, and lost our way in the labyrinth of different shopping arcades and malls literally joined together.Here's a short video clip of the surrounding...

Beautiful shopping district.
Finally found Haagen Das! Belgium Chocolate, Strawberry Sorbet, and Coffee~Similar to the Haagen Das at Ko Samui, the outlet here uses the same fresh flowers as docorations on the table~ pretty!
Done at Jungceylon... back to the carpark to find my motorbike... a tiny black motorbike I've only rided on for less then 10 mins... Look at the scene below... I tell you, I can take a paranomic photo of these motorbike and I wun be able to capture all in 3 photos.Lucky thing we parked far away at a corner...
Bike rental rates are @ 150Thb /24hrs for a 100cc bike, and 200Thb /24hrs for a 135cc bike. 5:13pm Phuket time...
At Patong Beach for the Parasail. 1000Thb (approx. S$43) for a trip around the coast, or 1500Thb (approx. S$65) for a BIG trip around the coast.

Up with the life Vest...
Hooked on the Parachute... (Its advisable to wear enough clothing for girls, as one of these fellas will go up the Parasail with you...)
Attached the line to the speed boat... (the fella who went up with you will ask for a token of tip after the trip... cuz he sorta risked his life up there...)
Getting ready...Here's a video clip of the take-off and then the landing... (notice the fella goes up along with you, and without safety gears attached?)

5:31pm Phuket time...
Bought 2 coconuts and sat down for a drink...Deck chairs along the beach costs 100Thb to rent. The vendor will stuck an umbrella for you and position it nicely to make sure your chairs are in the shade. Nice service~! Swimming at Patong Beach is great as the waters are real warm and nice~ Its safe to leave your belongings on the beach.Patong Beach has lotsa dogs on the plump side... this beautiful one came over to slightly over a metre from my deck chair and just sat down happily~
Beautiful isn't she?
6:25pm Phuket time...
We sat by the beach until sunset...The vendors starts collecting back the deck chairs as the sun sets... we were one of the last few by the beach...
Back on Thawiwong Road... its dinner time~! The streets lited up and comes alive...6:57pm Phuket time...
Stopped by a nice seafood restaurant~ Coconut Colada mocktail... tastes funky.Baked Oysters with Mozarella cheese~ nice~~~
Fried Seabass Thai style...
Grilled Calamari with Thai chilli gravy... this one tastes great!Crayfish fillet~
Crayfish grilled to just perfection~8:07pm Phuket time...
Thawiwong Road at night. Tuk tuks zips along the street and its tourists everywhere~Thai people are very friendly. Its near impossible to walk down the streets without people asking if you need a taxi, or inviting you into the restaurant~ We get greeted with 你好吗？or Konichiwa~ and ladies get a 你很美 compliment from the people there~ nice~ McDonald's is everywhere...
LaFlora Inn, a boutique-hotel by Thawiwong Road. Beautiful~Starbucks~8:26pm Phuket time...
Back at the guesthouse for a shower...The Bird Cage is a small operation, so they didn't really have all the lights on at night so as to save electricity perhaps (unlike what we saw on the website). We were only one of the 4 groups of guests there... so the guesthouse is quite empty most of the time.9:34pm Phuket time...
On the way out... here's a photo of myself wearing a kuku helmet and on my 100cc bike. Helmets are a must in Phuket (unlike Ko Samui), and if stopped by the traffic police without one, the fine is something like 300Thb. If caught without motor license, the fine is 500Thb (it doesn't have to be a Thai license). To rent a motorbike, either your Passport, PhotoID, or a 3000Thb deposit is required.
9:50pm Phuket time...
Vimaan Spa & Massage... probably the best massage place I've been to on the whole of Patong Beach.
Located inside Soi Foodland. You'll find the entrace to Soi Foodland along Thawiwong Road (or Thaweewong Road, variations in spelling).
The inside is lusciously decorated and with dimmed lightings...
The rates... (click to enlarge). Rates goes from as cheap as 300Thb to 2800Thb.
Each customer has their own privacy curtain... (place is dimly lited, so I had to take this shot with flash).
We entered an enclosed room for more privacy for an hour's massage. Nice. The massuers are very skilled. Following that, I couldn't find a second Spa and Massage place nicer than Vimaan at Patong nor Phi Phi.
11:40pm Phuket time...
Bangla Road. The street has closed out to vehicular traffic since 6pm.
You'll find pubs, restaurants, nightclubs, bars, retail shops, tailorshops, bags, shoes, girls, and many more...
Loud music everywhere...
And poledancers...
Videoclip of Bangla Road... and deeper into the poledancing bars...

11:54pm Phuket time...
Spotted a Pepsi Green at the convenience stores...
12:02am Phuket time...
Walked back to the street where our guesthouse is situated. Right at the head of this street is the Tiger Inn Restaurant and Hotel.
Place is so bright you wun missed it.
Embossed on the street... Patong Beach~