Phuket - h is silent

Other than our foray into the Malaysian hinterland we had not been able to create an opportunity for ourselves to explore our new neighborhood (Southeast Asia).  But we finally got over the hump and booked a last-minute trip to Phuket, Thailand.  The prices were high (last-minute + holiday season), but we managed to keep it from being too ridiculous by flying budget (Tiger Airways) and using a discounted AAA rate for our accommodations (good thing we didn't cancel that membership, it's now paid for itself for 2-3 years).

Tiger Airways departs from Changi Airport's specially-designated "Budget Terminal".  The terminal is functional, with several play areas for kids, and a reasonable selection of shops.  The only drawback is the lack of air-conditioning at the gate area.  The airline's booking and check-in process are hassle-free, and after this trip I would recommend it as a good-value choice for regional travel.  It's nothing like Singapore Airlines.  It can best be compared with modern, intra-continental flights in the US (no frills).

Phuket Airport is small but tidy.  The Avis counter was obvious, service friendly to a fault, and we were on our way in a manual Toyota Vios within 20 minutes of landing.  The roads in this area are pretty good, and the important signs are translated to English, so we found our hotel in no time.  The JW Marriott is what you can expect for the money.  Manicured setting, well-designed recreational areas, a huge, clean beach, and all sorts of activities.  We arrived late in the evening and went to its Thai cuisine restaurant for dinner: crab appetizer, green curry chicken, pra lad prik (chili-covered deep-fried fish), chayote shoots, served with two kinds of rice, a pomelo martini and a coconut.  The food was well-prepared, fiery in the right places and we discovered pea-eggplants!  Lizzy was getting sleepy/cranky and one of the waitresses took her for a walk along the tables blowing out the candles since it was almost closing time.  We found this sort of service everywhere and we really appreciated the friendly nature of everyone - so warm and welcoming, not at all like Singaporeans.

Day 1 started out with a drive up north to Phang Nga just across the Sarasin Bridge from Phuket Island.  We drove to Wat Suwannakhuha (วัดสุวรรณคูหา), a small Buddhist monastery built inside a limestone cave.  It contains a large reclining Buddha, along with lots of other religious artifacts.  The cave was interesting on its own, with lots of neat rock formations.  The outer area of the monastery was overrun by monkeys - all fun and happy until you try to give them some food (vendors selling peanuts and bananas).  Then they go ape-shit - literally.  Lizzy held a banana in her hand for all of 3 seconds before an alpha male snatched it from her aggressively, getting her into a nervous mood.  Then a large pack of them surrounded us and started fighting for position as we made our way back to the car.  When we got back to the car we noticed it was the only one with 7 monkeys on top of it, defecating, scratching the paint and defying our appeals for them to get off.  Lizzy was bawling, I was trying to get things into the car without letting any monkeys slip in, and Connie was busy capturing the traumatic experience on digital celluloid.  We think it was the tangerine peels that drove them to vandalize our vehicle.


Next we drove through Phang Nga town and on to a nice little park called Sa Nang Manora Forest.  We did a short hike up cascading waterfalls, got a little wet, both from sweating (carrying Lizzy in her Kelty FC 3.0) and from walking through some of the streams - I didn't trust my balance with 40 pounds on my back on the tiny wooden bridges across the meandering waterways.  At the foothills of the park, locals were bathing in the shallow pools, and 5-6 street food vendors were selling all sorts of meals from satay meats to crepes.  We tried the satay - liver, giblets, small whole fish, and chicken thighs - some freshly fried chicken, and some sticky rice (~$3 total).  The wackiest thing was that while we were buying and eating our lunch the street vendors were buying their fresh meat from another vendor that drove in on a motorcycle with a side tabletop covered in pork bellies, hocks, and other raw parts hidden under towels.  The food tasted great and we didn't get sick.


On the way back to Phuket we drove back through Phang Nga town, this time stopping at a 7-11 for some ice cream, milk, beer and all sorts of Thai snacks.  We also bought some coconut rolls (delicious!) and what turned out to be durian-cream (foul, yet tasty) cookies from an old lady in a shop by the side of the road.  Lizzy fell asleep, then mommy, while I kept driving south, back to Phuket, past our hotel, and all the way down to Patong beach, where everyone woke up and enjoyed the mad scene - lots and lots of white people shopping, eating, walking, and merry-making.   The beach seemed nice, but completely overrun, and without a convenient parking spot we just drove on.  And on and on - the drive along the coast is scenic and dangerous with its sharp turns and sudden changes in altitude.  I was definitely exercising the clutch a lot...


We ended up at Surin Beach, which is a nice little spot with less people, but well-served by shops, restaurants, and massage beds.  The so-called Thai Beach Massage is around $5-15 for an hour depending on which beach you're on and is by far the best way to spend a dollar in Phuket.  everyone partakes and so everyone is relaxed (the weed probably helps, too).  We played, we ate, we watched Connie getting a massage, and then ate some more.  Connie bought clothes from a lady walking around the beach with hangers in both hands.  We also bought and lit up a Kongmin Lantern - a miniature hot-air balloon that is flown for good luck and is commonly found in these parts.  By the time we got back to our hotel we were aching for sleep.


Day 2 was spent almost completely on the hotel's premises.  We enjoyed the beach, and then Connie enjoyed another 1 hour massage (this time complimented with all sorts of stretching exercises).  Lizzy and I buried and dug ourselves out of the sand several times.  We swam.  We sea-kayaked until our arms got sore.  We had lunch pool-side (a nicely made burger, rich Cobb salad, and ok fish sticks).  The kiddie pool area has large stone turtles and elephants, a pretty good slide, and lots of places to splish and splash.   We slept for a few hours back in our room and went out for dinner to a nearby restaurant - Kin Dee.  We had 3 kinds of soups, all great - a tom yum, a less-sour but still spicy seafood medley, and a seaweed broth with shrimp balls.  We also had a big crab fried in a curry sauce, some green veggies, and a banana-blossom salad which was quite interesting.  We bought me a souvenir shirt, and some more supplies and hit the sack.


On Day 3 we drove back up to Phang Nga and followed signs we noticed on Day 1 for James Bond Island.  These signs ended up leading us 20 km through a side road to a one-street, Muslim fishing village with a pier and a small dock - Khlong Khian.  We found someone who found someone who translated for a captain of a small long-tail boat.  We haggled a price for a half-day tour through Phang Nga Bay and off we went...  It felt good getting a bargain and at the same time supporting a toothless old man and his daughter (our friendly, non-English-speaking tour guide) without a cut for the big operators.


Phang Nga Bay is a must-see.  The limestone stacks evoke something primal and you just want to hug and kiss every one of them.  Words and pictures both cannot do justice to this place.  The tour lasted 2.5-3 hours during which we rode through the bay, landed on some islands for walking tours of limestone caves, on another for a swim in a secluded beach, on another (James Bond - the only damn place to avoid in the entire bay) to survey the souvenir vendors and tourism at its worst.  We passed by Hong Island which has caves that can only be explored by sea kayak or canoe, but we left this for another trip...


We drove back towards the hotel and Lizzy fell asleep, so we opted to stop in a beach-side restaurant just south of Sarasin bridge - if you're ever here, this is the first beach shack coming up from the south.  The restaurant was run by one lady and her 10-year-old son.  We were the only customers.  We had the best food here - pra lad prik, papaya salad with crab, fried rice with squid, and boiled cockles.  Good, simple, local.  The fried rice was amazingly delicate.  Lizzy was asleep in the car with the windows rolled down to let in the sea breeze, and Connie and I had a relaxed and sumptuous meal.  We also took turns dipping in the ocean before and after the food, while one of us stayed with Lizzy near the car.  We ordered some more food for Lizzy when she awoke, and drove back to the hotel for some more beach/pool adventures.  We re-created rock formations in the sand and did battle with the rough sea.  Lizzy is getting pretty adventurous with her arm floats and refuses to be held anymore.  She half-walks, half-swims across the water.


For dinner, we drove back to the same spot where we had lunch but the place was closed so we tried its neighbors, but we ordered all wrong and the experience was not good.  Apparently we should have ordered a steamboat here... oh well, at least the setting was nice - beach-side, lightning flashes in the horizon, a cold Singha and a juicy, young coconut.  We then drove across the bridge (for lack of a proper u-turn) and ended up buying 4 small rock lobsters for $3 total from a small road-side market.  The vendors in this little market cut and crack them for you, so we had a bag of these, still hot, to enjoy back in the hotel with Toy Story.  The lobsters/crabs were awesome - meaty and with lots of roe.  But we did feel sick that night, and we're not sure if it was the roadside shellfish or the crappy food in the beach-side restaurant where we had dinner.  No one vomited and Lizzy didn't complain at all, though she had a lot of the shellfish meat.. I would try them again!


Avis didn't mind the monkey damage, and the 1-hour flight back was uneventful.  I miss it already.  It was a no-hassle, last-minute vacation filled with adventure, comfort, good food and good fun.  Pictures here.

Singapore Midtown Lunch: Shin Kushiya @ Far East Square

During lunch, I wanted to celebrate booking our first real trip out of Singapore since we got here.  Connie already had lunch, so I invited myself for Sushi at the Shin Kushiya right behind our building.  We haven't eaten a lot of Sushi since we got here.  It's relatively more expensive than other foods, and it's hard to stomach a $20++ lunch, when you can get a large bowl of really good soup for $4-5 at the hawker centers. We had a few good experiences at Sushi Tei, but nothing to make us yearn for it.  Shin Kushiya is a small franchise (3-4 locations), compared with Sushi Tei (ubiquitous).  Tei has kaiten, whereas Kushiya has Yakitori.  Both have enormous menus.  The reason I went to Kushiya on this day was simply because it's closer to the office - saves half a block.

For Sushi lunch I usually order Chirashi, which is what I did this time.  There were 3 choices which seemed to be: cubed fish, sliced fish, or a more premium selection of fish (not sure the shape).  I never had cubed Chirashi but wanted to just sample the standard for comparison in this new venue, so I ordered the common, sliced fish version ($20).  My only disappointment with the dish was that the slices were a bit too thin for my taste.  I am used to New York bite sizes, and I remember sashimi to be thicker and meatier.  Other than that, the assorted fish were fresh, properly chilled and did not feel thawed-from-frozen to serve.  The rice was ok.  I like it warmer, but it's served different in different places and I don't hold it for or against an establishment either way.

While waiting for my Chirashi, I browsed through the rest of the tome-like menu, and became engrossed in the beautifully laid out and graphic-literal Kushiyaki/Yakitori double page.  I couldn't resist and ended up ordering Foie Gras ($10) and thrice-cooked pork belly ($7).  The foie gras did not disappoint.  While the portion is tiny, the two bites are perfectly cooked and mouth-watering.  It's a really good appetizer/amuse bouche.  The accompanying grilled apple pieces were less appealing, but the combination is commonly applied and I did not find them distracting.  The pork belly was tough, but came with a zesty sauce that tied the charcoal & fat flavors well.

One of the most expensive midtown lunches I've had so far at $40, 10x what I normally pay.  But it hit the spot and I felt like mission accomplished.  I whetted Connie's appetite for the foie gras, of course, and we will be going to sample that and some other dishes at another seating soon.

Singapore Midtown Lunch: Si Chuan Dou Hua @ UOB Plaza

The first of an expanding empire of fine-dining Chinese fusion restaurants, UOB Plaza's Si Chuan Dou Hua boasts good food at a high location - the price is fair.  This 60th-floor restaurant serves dishes originally from Sichuan, Shanghai, and Canton.  We were referred here by one of Connie's colleagues for good xiao long bao (juicy buns), traditionally a Shanghai-rooted dish.

The setting is fairly formal and upscale, the views are great if you're facing a window - I wasn't but my date was - the tables further from the window are smartly positioned on a raised platform.  There are small plates of peanuts, chinese slaw, and a spicy paste of some kind for amusing your bouche, while your covered teacup of tea leaves is filled by man sporting a brass kettle with a 4-foot spout.  Each pour is methodical and borderline dramatic.  The long spout narrows to a tiny opening creating a thin stream of boiling water that hits the side of the cup with enough force to create a swirly vortex that seeps the leaves just right and at just the right temperature... hmm...  I anxiously anticipated the kettle's arrival at our table, and became surly when a woman showed up with an electric tea pot for one of the three refills.

Connie and I really like spicy Sichuan dishes, and we ordered some that we're used to as a gauge of the quality of the restaurant's general handling of this third of the menu.  Chilled Pork Belly, Chengdu Fried Chicken, and Wantons in Chili Oil.  The pork belly was delicate, while the chilli marinade lacked some of the bite we're used to.  The Chengdu Chicken had the requisite amount of dried chillies (more than half the plate) and tongue-numbing capsicum berries, but the chicken was diced too small and all you could taste was the crunchy, oily batter.  The wanton dish was simply yucky.  The sauce was too sweet and too salty.  We also ordered our favorite veggie side of green beans which were delicious - Connie pointed out that in NY the beans were bigger and longer, but I assured her that it's not the size that matters....

We skipped the entire Cantonese Dim Sum menu, and got two orders of the beef soup xiao long bao.  These were good, thin yet stable shell encasing a delicious broth.  They are again smaller in size than the ones we're used to in New York, and the quantity per order is less still yet.

One of the better parts of the meal was dessert, Dou Hua (restaurant's namesake) beancurd custard - original and with wolfberry sauce.  The custard was delicate, subtly airy, and each bite a sensual delight. The common syrup was well made, not too sweet.  The Wolfberry Sauce added a herbal-medicinal quality to the dish, in a good way!

The price tag on this meal was somewhere near S$100.  Really not too bad considering the restaurant's position on the vertical scale of downtown, the amount of food, and the exhilaratingly original, table-side tea-pouring performances.