Travel: Thailand Part 2 - Beach Weekend in Phuket

After a 13 hour overnight bus ride from Bangkok, we finally arrived in Phuket bus terminal (there's a stop over at the middle so you can have a break as well as go to the restroom, also, before reaching the terminal, there's a checkpoint where a police personnel will come inside the bus and check your id's /passports). We slept for like hours but it was good to finally go down and stretch our legs. 

There are other buses going to different places so unless you know which bus to take, there's a taxi service. Since we didn't know how or where, we took a taxi service (100 Baht each) to our hotel. Good thing we were traveling as a group so we were already on our way. The terminal is on the other side of where the beaches are so it took about 30 - 45 minutes to get tour our area which is Karon beach. 

Our hotel, Coral Inn (booked through Agoda.com) is centrally located in Karon beach. It is at the beach front (there are no hotels at the actual beach front, you have to cross the street) and at the turn about so you can easily see it. Its also surrounded by a lot of convenience stores, money changers, shopping and places to eat so it was definitely a good choice. There are also pharmacies, massage (duh) and some specialty shops which was cool. If you want to book a tour to go around, there are also lots to choose from so better shop around to get a good price.

We booked 3 rooms and an extra bed is available for 500 Baht. The rooms are simple but beautifully furnished. Just like Oaks Sathorn hotel, the bathroom is glass and is definitely nice for couples. I thought the place was bang for the buck, nice and conveniently located. They also have a restaurant downstairs serving Thai and international dishes.

We don't have any activities for the first day so we decided to spend our afternoon at the beach. Our hotel provides an umbrella for use free of charge so we'll have some shade under the hot sun.

Karon is a public beach so it may not be as manicured as you would want it. You may have to clean your spot a little before settling down (there's a lot of cigarette butts being left there).

Karon is not as crowded and there's enough space for everyone for sun bathing or just swimming. Be warned though that the waves may be a little strong at times.

Karon is my beach for the weekend

Sunset over Karon beach

For dinner, its seafood Tom Yum (make sure to ask if what you are ordering is spicy, also, when I said medium spicy, it was already a little too hot for me, but it was still delicious) and some local beer to cap the night.

   

The next day,we woke up early, grabbed breakfast (plated breakfast and included with our stay) and waited for a van to pick us up for our island hopping tour at Phi Phi islands.

There's a lot of other tourist, different nationalities when we came to the jump-off point. We were grouped into 3, each color coded, and my friends and I were the orange team (orange heart sticker was given out). This was helpful in identifying what boat to ride and if your group will proceed to the next activity. You also have an assigned tour master who will be providing instructions all throughout and answer some questions if you have any.

There's a briefing for around 30 minutes explaining the activities as well as do's and dont's. They'll also provide anti-dizziness medicine if you have any issues with sea sickness. I don't have any history getting sick but I took one as a precaution anyway. There are also some shops available there so you can buy anything that you may have forgotten to bring. Ofcourse prices are steeper here.

   

We rode a speed boat and if you're OK sitting under the sun, then sit at the front area. Although it doesn't have any shade, it feel its more spacious because you can move around. We were seated in the middle and felt kinda sitting like an airplane cabin or bus because space was tight. Imagine yourself wet and your stuff at your lap, bummer right?

The 1st leg of the trip will take about an hour to get to monkey beach. Its a small cove with monkeys at the beach. They may be cute but ofcourse be extra careful as they may bite. The guides will be throwing food to attract them and everyone just wanted to take a picture. I however took the opportunity to take a picture of myself so there's no tourist at the background.

After that, we had our snorkeling time. Like what they reminded us, make sure not to lose the gear as you will be fined 1500 Baht. While snorkeling, they will be throwing food so that the fish will come. My friend RJ freaked out a little because they threw food in front of her so a swarm of fish suddenly went to her, it was a little funny though. After around 30 to 45 minutes swimming it was time for lunch.

We stopped by an island to grab our buffet lunch which was good. Food is so so, and what confused me is spaghetti in the middle of other Asian dishes. There's coffee and tea for free but other beverages can be bought (no alcohol though).



The groupings will come in handy because you'll be joined by other groups who are also on tour. Your tour master will shout your color and remind you of the time to head back to the boat.



Next stop was Maya bay. There's you'll be able to take some pictures as well as swim for a bit before heading out again to a different island. The cove is beautiful, its just that there were too many of us there (I guess you can tell by my pictures).

 

The last island that we went to I already forgot the name because it was a tourist trap / money pit. I feel like it was intentionally put there for you to spend money and it was where you'll stay the longest.

The chairs costs 150 Baht for two. When you go to the middle, there's a bar area that sells alcohol as well as other mixed drinks. In my opinion it smelled like fish because they were doing barbecue and some trash as there was a lot. Also the beach has cigarette butts and while we were swimming, I feel like the water around it wasn't as clean (there were plastic floating).

I feel like the island is a little shanti town with sad faded umbrellas and too many people in one place.

I didn't want to pay for a chair so I'm sitting in a sand drinking my mixed drink inside a coconut.

The tour ended at 4 PM and we were brought back to the port where our driver was waiting for us. All in all the tour was OK. If you want to go to what they call James Bond island, its a different tour already and we didn't get it.

Since we have time that night we decided to roam around our area where we ate some street food for dinner.

Also, there was a night market going so we went out to buy our souvenirs and gifts for people when we came back home.

There you'll find a mixture of novelty items, clothes, food, and beauty products. A guys selling jewelry called me by shouting Pandora because he saw the Pandora bracelet I was wearing. He had some silver charms I can add to my bracelet but I didn't buy any. It ranges around 500 to 88 Baht per charm.

Again, like in any other place, haggling is the name of the game. Since I was in Bangkok, I was wanting a little novelty elephant. I found one that  I liked in a stall and was able to get it for half the price by doing the "I'll look around" card. I also got some tea for a good price by buying 3 and not just one.

After some shopping we were supposed to still go to Patong beach for a night out but called it a night since we were exhausted from all the touring and swimming we did earlier.

On our last day, some of us went for the white water rafting, elephant trek tour while we stayed and wanted to relax by the beach and do more shopping.

It was early and I was up already to I decided to go around the area and take some pictures.

There are also people making the most of their morning at the beach.

After breakfast, we went around Karon looking for the best deals. Thing to note that some vendors are a little aggressive and expect you to buy the item in that moment. Don't be pressured and politely say no if you don't like the price. I experienced this first hand when checking out a stall full of leather. The items were so so and I would only buy one if the price was right. I asked how much this organizer was (perfect for traveling to keep your passport, boarding pass, etc.) and she told me I have to buy it so she can give me discount. I said how much first then (with an aggressive tone) said, "you buy now I give you discount". I didn't want to buy anything I don't know the price because what if it was expensive. The same conversation ensued until she shooed me away because it was ad business. I guess they think that all people/tourist are there to spend and don't care about the price, not me. 

Also, its a matter of price as the stalls will definitely sell the same thing, same shirt etc. I however found a nice shop that sells novelty items like figurines etc, perfect for the interior designer in you. I got myself a Buddha (although in one of the temples in Bangkok they reminded that Buddha is not for display and for decoration, then why are they selling those?). As far as jewelry goes, there's a store named Vertigo although its high end with prices going to the thousands of Baht. There's a cheaper jewelry store along the same road, more of fancy jewelry. All these 3 shops are along the same street (pictured below).

Its street food again for lunch since I was already on a budget and couldn't spend anymore. Its barbecued chicken, pork and some Coke light.

Since our flight back to Manila was still in the evening, we extended the room until 6:00 PM that costs around 500 Baht so we can still spend the afternoon at the beach and freshen up before heading to the airport.

What a better way to spend the afternoon, reading a magazine by the beach, with a cold drink and a good friend to have a good time with.

After checking out and waiting for our ride back to the airport, its time to load up on Thai food. For dinner, what else but chicken satay and pad thai.

 

Overall, it was a fun trip, not just because of the destination, but because it was shared with good friends. 

We had fun exploring stuff together even though we were clueless at times, definitely this is one trip we'll still be talking about for years to come. Cheers! 

Last night at Karon beach