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.