Food talk @ Phuket

What is a holiday if there were no food?

So here's what we ate in Phuket.. Seafood seem to be a big thing there. So we went around checking prices and OMG!!!! 700bht for 1 KG of crab. And we met this group of Singaporeans who told us that they paid 50SGD pp for a meal of seafood.

Well, we eventually did find a seafood place that were not too overpriced (thanks to Edwin) and it was right by the beach. Yay! Total bill = 2000++ bht. Double yay!!

I'm not going to say much but I will leave the food to do the talking. "p

We had to choose our seafood first, weight it before they cook them.

Excited faces. They had to extend our table as we ordered so much, there was not enough space.

Cute kicap bottles.

Tiger prawns.

We said, "We want sotong". The waiter said "What's that?" We pointed and he said "Oh, that one we called squid". So malufiying...

Super cheap mussels & lala. This plate only cost 100bht.

Satisfied faces. We manage to finsih all the food man..

Next stop, pasar malam..

Edwin were crazy over them ever since his last visit to Bangkok. We search the whole pasar malam for them as none of us could remember the name. Finally!

I like this so much from my last visit to Taiwan and Clement found them for me. But it dosen't taste as good as the one from Taiwan.

This is something really weird. Rice balls for sale. I think its for lazy people who wants a complete but quick meal. Fried rice with crab anyone? Just pop them into your mouth and you are good to go..

On the last day, while Edwin and Lydia when for a massage, scrub and facial; Clement and I decided to take one last stroll to Patong Beach. We visited the wet market, dry market, clothes bazaar, food court and walk the whole beach and patong street. We had 2.5 hours to spend.

Some Thailand sweet dessert and candies on display at the market.

And since it was lunch time and its technically my birthday, Clement and I decided to go for good food.

Le Siam, thai fine cuisine @ Jungceylon.

Fried Spring Rolls served with Red Sweet and Sour Sauce. 110bht.

Green Curry with Beef and Thai Herbs in Rich Coconut Milk Curry. 175bht.

Stir Fried Baby Corns, Mushroom with Chicken. 130bht.

Thai Fried Noodles with Shrimps, Ground Peanuts and Bean Sprouts in Omelet Wrap. 155bht.

Really fantastic food. Worth the price. I don't mind going back for more :) Especially for the noodles. Yum! Yum! Must visit if you are going to Phuket..

Some tiny merah jambu on sale.100bht.

Lastly, bottles of Strabucks Frapuccino on sale at the supermarket. Why? Oh why can't we have them in Malaysia?

 So here's my final post on Phuket. A last tibute to it's wonderful food and lovely beaches.

5 facts I have learned  about Phuket:

1. Taxi cost a bomb. It cost 400bht for a 5 mins drive. Its quite standard. 400bht is the minimum price. If you can walk, please do.. Even if they tell you its too far away, sometimes they are just bluffing and its near enough to walk.. At least for me la :p

2. Phuket got NO street food. Only super expensive restaurant. Don't think its like Bangkok. You will be in for a BIG surprise.

3. Phuket is filled with tourist. Everywhere you go you'll see them like ants scattered all around. And the Thais' are making big money from them.

4. There is nothing to do in Phuket during the daytime except lying by the beach getting a suntan.

5. Phuket comes alive *winks* at night..

That's all from me.. It's been a great relaxing trip... It's back to the real world now.. Working my ass off till the next holiday..*peace*

Faking it...

That's right.. Faking it - the Hollywood way!

Wait, if you are thinking what I think you are thinking, I think that you are wrong :p but if you are thinking, what I am thinking then you are on the right track...

Day 2 @ Phuket

As Phuket is famous for their beaches, we decided to visit them (and there are also nothing else to do in Phuket in the daytime). We booked a tour with the travel agent at the airport. Dunno whether kena con or not but we paid 2000bht per person for a full day tour with lunch included.

On Sunday morning, we planned to wake up @ 6.30am, head down for a good breakfast to give us strength for the day before the van picks us up at 7.45am. Alas! We woke up late; cos the night before we were at the happening street doing what most people in Phuket do at night *winks*. So we quickly ran down, gulp some food and when back to change and grab our stuff and rush to the lobby to find out that the van has left. OH NO!!!!

Nah, the van man came to pick us up again and we headed to the Royal Marine Club to catch the boat.

Our tour guide is a really nice guide who explain all we needed to know, the where, when, why, who and how. Yeah, that's my kind of tour guide. He called himself "Leonardo DiCappuccino". He took the time to show us the map the places that we were going with the history and fun facts of the place. I like knowing the names and places that we are visiting, unlike some people who just go, snap lots of pictures and come back not knowing where was it taken.

Our 1st stop is this really cute island, hence I shall call it "Cute Island". Why I call it cute is because it's small, it's beautiful, and it's a make-as-much-money-from-tourists kinda place? Haha.. It's really cheesy. They have colourful umbrellas, small wooden beach chair, clear blue water and skies and oh, not forgetting ice-creams. It's like what you see in the movies when all the westerners go to the beach. So cool right! But guess what, everything must pay money. Want to seat on the chair? Pay 150bht per set. Want to eat ice-cream? Pay 80bht for a magnum. Crazy right? Luckily they didn't ask us to pay for the sand then we step on or the water then we swim in or even the fishes that we look at.

But overall its a really beautiful place. There was a "goose bump" moment when I was snorkeling and  found out that I am surrounded by fishes. It's no funny matter k... The fishes there are NOT scared of humans, they come very close and there are ALOT of them. And I have a thing about scaly animals. My skin crawls and I start feeling urrgghhhh!!! Go away, go away...

Next stop, Monkey Bay @ Loh Dalam Bay. We were not allowed to get of the boat cos the tour guide scared us with horrors of monkeys biting people and stuff. But we were allowed to take pictures and feed them from the boat la. Oh, I learn something there. Monkeys CAN swim!!

Lunch time @ Ton Sai Bay on James Bond Island. Well, it actually appear twice in his movies "The Men with the Golden Gun" and "Tomorrow Never Dies". Not sure the exact spot. It seems the movie was suppose to be shot in Vietnam but they had some problems with the authorities so they decide to shot it in Thailand and made it look like its Vietnam. Something like that and because of that, everything around here became James Bond this, James Bond that..

After lunch, our next stop was a short distance away "Viking Cave". Reason of it's name is that it has drawing on the wall resembling viking boat. But sad to say, we were not allowed to look at it as it is filled with birds nest and they are afraid we will destroy them or steal them. Like we will la *roll eyes*. Oh, but the water there is super clear that it feels like a swimming pool; with fishes la.

4th stop. Pileh Cove is this really beautiful, calm, serene, tranquil cove. Its surrounded by limestone formations and it feel so peaceful and protected. The water is so still and blue..

Final stop. Maya Bay. It's not super nice, just that its famous cos the move "The Beach" starring Leonardo DiCaprio was filmed there. But sadly, it was a fake job. There are NO coconut trees and NO water fall like the movie. According to our tour guide, it's special effect done by Hollywood.

So here we are.. trying to imagine how it feels like to live here all alone... in this beach paradise.. just like the movie. Lying in the sun, slowly letting all the stress and tension leave your body, feeling the sea breeze brushing your thighs, hearing the waves crashing on the shore, feeling the sand in between your toes, soaking in the water, tasting the salt from the sea on your lips, letting the water caress your body like a lover, feeling the sun ray touching your skin.................. it feels like paradise....................."AAAHHHHHhhhhhhh!!!!" shriek and laughter fills the air and a bunch of Hawaiian-dressed-tourists fills your vision. Sigh... back to reality again!

At 4pm, we got onto our speedboat and its time to say good bye. It was a really good trip. I like beaches. I like the feel of the sand, the sun, the water, and peacefulness and I wish I can stay here forever. But its over now and it's back to the real world.

FantaSea no more

f anyone tells you that FantaSea is a must visit place in Phuket, I’m here to tell you the opposite.. Wait, of you haven’t hear of FantaSea before, check this out first before you continue reading..

So why I say this?

Before the trip, a friend mentioned that it is a must-visit place in Phuket. It’s like the Thailand Disneyland.. Hmmm, sound quite cheesy but I agreed to go. Remember our stop at the tour agent counter after touch down at Phuket? Yeah, there’s where we bought out tickets from. Not sure it is a good price or not, but since we got our island tour package from them, we decided to get the FantaSea ticket from them as well. According g to the agents, the cost for the show is RM150 and dinner is RM80.. But if together its RM220.. But they say they can give us a discount to RM190 but after bargaining, they say they will drop the price.. Well, I can’t say how much, even though it was a slight difference only cos they made us promise not tell anyone.. If not they will get in trouble with the management of FantaSea.. So yeah, it may be a marketing gimmick but wth, I’m not saying it here as I have given my word…

So why is it a must-not visit place?

Reason No. 1

They charge extra for transport. 150bht per way per person. For 4 of us, it will amount to 1200bht. So we decided to rent our own transport, and finally manage to pay only 700bht for a tuk tuk for a return trip. Well, if you ask me, it’s still cost quite a lot but considering that it’s a 20mins drive away on a hilly road, it’s OK.

Reason No. 2

If you are not a cam whore, don’t go. This is a place where many tourist goes around taking pictures of everything and with everything..

 

Reason No. 3

Disneyland? Where are all the rides? All I see are just overprice shops selling anything that they can con tourists from. Though I must admit, their concept it’s pretty attractive. And they have some cool games, where most of it just con your money as its almost impossible to win. I quite like the “catching the chicken eggs as it spins around while laying eggs”.

Reason No. 4

World Grandest Buffet is only the grandest cos they make GRAND PROFIT from it. Haha… Check out the number of tables and chairs in the picture below, and that is only for 1 section. There are 4 connecting sections altogether in the whole restaurant. The food is OK, not too bad. Not much variety and the desserts are… erm…. Well, let’s just say I’ve been spoiled with Sunway Hotel’s desserts. Actually the only grand thing about it it’s the setting of the room . Check out the lights, ceiling, walls… Feels like I’m eating at the palace or something.. until I see the table. Such a spoiler…

Reason No. 5

The show was pretty boring at some parts as it was in Thai, and we couldn’t understand a word they were saying… Their focus was on Thai’s history and for us non-Thai’s it was hard to understand as we have not studied it. All I can understand was this young men who saved them from the dragon, then he disappear throughout the whole show and only appear at the end to fall in love with a girl, who was then captured by demons, and he almost died when he tried to saved her, but was saved by his elephant, who then ascended to heaven and he and the girl lived happily ever after. The only thing that I like was the acrobatics that did their stunts right above our heads, hanging from the top of the hall. Sorry no pictures cos we were not allowed to bring camera in. Although I managed to sneak my phone in, did not want to risk getting thrown out of the hall. Oh yeah, if you do go for it, enter the hall earlier cos there are things to see as you walk along the walkway to the hall.. There was a picture taking booth where you pay for a photograph of you feeding a baby tiger. They are really cute. Seriously! Cost : 750-800bht.

Reason No. 6

I think it's overpriced..

So here's my take. Go if you must for the experience and for the pictures…

Last picture, the sunset on the drive there.. Beautiful!