Phuket Day 1 - Patong Beach, Karon Beach

First of all, it felt amazeballs to be jetting off twice within two weeks! Over the first weekend, A and I jetted off towards the land of smiles, and now together with the gang, we jetted off to the land of waterplay? Haha.

Our original destination was to Bali, but due to volcano eruption polluting the air, we decided not to go ahead with such huge risk of either crashing mid-air or never able to fly back on stipulated time. What a disappointment because all of us were really looking forward to this relaxing trip and stay in villa. So within 48 hours, we managed to get our refund from flight & villa and we advanced to book for Phuket trip. I was planning to back out from this trip because all these hiccups killed my excitement but in the end, I told myself to go for the company. Glad I did. (:

Yeah, on the departure day, wanna guess who overslept? Not me okay! It's A!!! Thank goodness we had her house phone number and woke her up from her deep slumber, if not I wonder if anyone of her family would wake up if we knock on her front door. This girl ah, lol.

We made it on-time to the airport!

Hi, we're in Phuket!!!

Took the minibus ride to our hotel that was 180baht per pax. It will stop midway for us to buy tour packages. Honestly, I think it's best NOT to buy there. Though it's considerably 'cheap', I reckon we can get cheaper in town. Anyway, we bought two tour packages from them (with major discount though still pricey) at student price which will take up one day each. To Phi Phi Island and River Rafting.

But since we're considerably a big group, we have higher bargaining power so the price we got was rather okay, but for sure not the best deal in town.

After checking in and heading to Big C to purchase our usual necessities like cup noodles, junk food and crazy loads of mineral water, we're off to the beach!

Patong Beach

Posy with slippers

L literally was the 7-11 store. She even thought of bringing a plastic bag to keep our slippers (initially only intended for her own but friends SHARE haha). Thanks to her, we were hands-free and with clean slippers! What should we do without her!! <3

Now you know who's the ones who does the regular selfies? Lol.

On the tuk tuk journey to explore other beaches!

First surfing experience, accomplished!

Because everything was really pricey down at the beach, and renting a surfboard was the cheapest deal of the bunch. 140baht per board for an hour, whereas coaching was 1000baht per pax. DAMN EX CAN? Bargaining was a waste of time because they wouldn't budge. The price remains the same and they'll just throw in extra 'benefits' which we rather have it for cheaper price. I could see that S and B were really interested but I'm like no-way. In the end, because we were so damn noob that the coach came down and taught us for free. LOL. Thank you for the free coaching session Mr. Thai guy!

Tip: Never attempt to wear bikini to surf. You're in for a zhao-geng session for sure!

Warning: It's not an easy sport. We ended up with loads of bruises because the waves were way too strong for us to handle. You have to know how to swim else you might drown. AND there's no lifeguard to save you.

Verdict: Surfing was amazing!!!!!

We got L to take a bikini photo!! Haha

They say Freedom beach has the best sunset view. No kiddin'. Credits to Lydia who caught this shot!

Say hi to my room mate for the next few days ~

Bangkok summary

Pretty much TOURED a huge ass out of Bangkok and there's many other places to explore. This is more of a touristy trip for us rather than shopping trip. Which is always good to know more about the country. Lovin' Bangkok more and more! I can blend in so easily based on my tanned look, perhaps time for me to pick up Thai language? Hahaha.

Overall, we had a hefty sum of currency left despite only changing SGD 700 worth for 6d5n? I'm stuck with SGD 200+ in the end despite not really restricting much.

Yes or no to Bangkok again? Don't ask the obvious k. Haha, Bangkok is a cheap getaway and I don't think I'll ever get sick of it. (:

Itinerary:

• Bangkok Day 1 - Big C, Siam
• Bangkok Day 2 - Safari World
• Bangkok Day 3 - Chatuchak, Rod Fai Night Market
• Bangkok Day 4 - Maeklong Railway Market, Amphawa Floating Market
• Bangkok Day 5 - Wat Pho Temple, Chinatown
• Bangkok Day 6 - Pratunam Market

Bangkok Day 6 - Pratunam Market, Airport

Last day of our extremely long short getaway. We didn't end off on a positive note but no worries, we're fine now. Had a super crazy long flight delay (4 hours I think) and made our supposedly afternoon flight turned into evening flight. Most importantly, we're back home, safe and sound. Thank you A's sister for picking us up at the airport and sorry for taking such a long time to get out of immigration!

Till the next time, Bangkok!

Bangkok Day 5 - Wat Pho Temple, Chinatown

As the days goes by, I'm more and more reluctant to expose my camera to the world. Plus it's ridiculously sunny on our temple day, why-o-why. So basically, since there's not much to see other than the temples, I kept my camera in my bag (protect it from the merciless sun) thus the lack of photos.

Visiting temple, the best way to go is by the river taxi! Cheap and extremely fast compared to taking cab. Just take the BTS to Saphan Taksin and board the Chao Phraya Express Boat. There's two queue at the central pier, make sure to queue for the one which gives orange ticket! To get to Wat Pho temple, Temple of Reclining Buddha, alight at Tha Tein (N8). It's a 30 mins boat ride.

I think my face and smile looks extremely tired ...... But we slept alot! Lol.

Photo courtesy to A.

Didn't know this girl is such a temple person. First temple trip for her! She was pretty excited, taking photos here and there, and I'm just like 'mehhhhhh' cause the heat was driving me nuts. Apparently they revised the rules of dress code? We saw a bunch of Caucasians walking round in sleeveless, short shorts and slippers. No respect!!! At least where something to cover yourself please.

After the short trip to temple (gave Grand Temple a miss because of the killer sun), we cabbed down to Chinatown and went for cheap thrills warehouse shopping. I believe it's at street 11 where all the goodies are. We didn't know where to shop, the cab driver wasn't willing to share, but heng us again we managed to stumbled into the right street.

Our day ended by getting caught in a rain (for the first time!) and running crazily towards the BTS. Getting a data plan really saved our asses in finding our way round. Haha.

Bangkok Day 4 - Maeklong Railway Market, Amphawa Floating Market

Agenda for today was to get over our comfort Bangkok zone and travel outside the city. Quite an interesting trip to the rurals and the local people were really helpful in guiding us about.

Trust me, I've googled up down left right for the cheapest route to go to Maeklong Railway Market and Amphawa Floating Market without a tour! 80 baht (to Maekleong only) vs 800 baht! A little out of the way but come'on, for that price difference?

First, take the BTS to Victorial Monument. Proceed to Exit 2 towards the minvan ticketing area situated right beside Century The Movie Plaza. There would be a crowd so no need to be scared of getting lost. There are different stores selling different tickets to many other places (which I've never even heard of), so be sure to ask around so the Thai people can direct you. Best way to go is, show them 'Maeklong Floating Market' instead of telling them since there may be a difference in pronunciation. There are designated departure timings so you can try and google online for it. After purchasing, be there early and stay near the counter so you can hear them calling for people to a particular van. The van doesn't really wait.

Duration was 1.5 hours, and they do stop midway to let passengers alight/board. The van we were on was pretty clean, phew. I was lucky to get front seat which was cooling and so comfortable that I dozed off while A was stuck at the back with the others, hot and she had to keep getting up to make way for alighting passengers. Poor her.

Finally we arrived!

*I'm missing a hand!*

Since they closed down the tracks for servicing, there's nothing much to see except experience the local life. We had a chill time following the tracks, and then headed off to Amphawa!

You must be thinking, where do we board the bus right? Luckily we made a note of where we alighted, and found our way back to the spot. There is no 'Bus Stop' signs unlike Sg. But, there's a police information counter. Normally one would be afraid to approach an officer right? We were so lost and unable to differentiate between the vans that we resorted to that. He was so nice and came out of his aircon room and help us to the minivan that'd bring us to Amphawa! Oh m gee. Mr. Nice guy! Another local also offered to help but as cautious ladies, we rather depend on Mr. Nice guy. Haha.

I believe the trip from Maeklong to Amphawa costed additional 30/40 baht? Being naive, we thought it's free because they didn't collect $ from us when we boarded. We were about to alight happily till the driver instructed us to pay. Lol, suaku sia both of us! (':

Remember to book your minivan bus tickets when you arrive! They're limited (or they said it's limited) and it'll follow a ticket sequence. Meaning to say, everyone who has a ticket will be sent safely back to Victory Monument, even if you miss your timing (I think). There'll be a crazy wait for the minivan even if you book yours at that timing. The ticketing place would be near where the earlier van dropped you at. For the price, I believe it's 90 baht for the return trip.

Welcome to Amphawa Floating Market!

(Her first floating market experience & I'm so glad to be able to bring her to one at least!)

This was the sunflower garden illustrated by the photo

In real life, WHERE'S THE SUNFLOWERS! And those in this photo were FAKE! *Roll eyes*

Anyways, the toilet near this Sunflower place was the cleanest! You'd have to pay 10 baht (I think). The toilets were hard to find, and the two toilets we found were ....... the kind like I-dare-you-to-pee-in-there. Lol it's really unbearable by our modern standards. I remembered we held our bladders back Victory Monument (because we had to rush for our minivan timing and Sunflower place was a long walk plus there's an insane crowd jamming the walkways), but we still shopped the night market (ikr, shopping more important than peeing), before grabbing a taxi back hotel to PEE. Haha, girls.

Anyways, two reason why I brought her here instead of Damnoen Floating Market 1. This girl is not a morning person and 2. Fireflies boat ride! I think I'm the one excited and made her stay for this ride because I've never seen fireflies before! Perhaps the only time I've been so happy to see insects? Lol.

Fireflies boat ride tickets are sold along the main stretch of Amphawa for 60 baht per person. The journey would be about 1 hr long. The first and only ride starts at 6.30 pm. Be sure to reach early to chope good seats!

Off we go!

Spot us in the dark lol

Apparently the ride wasn't disappointing! We managed to see Christmas trees (many fireflies) along the way, and our driver was pretty awesome because he drove up close to shore for us to see! The other boats were pretty far from shore so heng ah, we got the good boat driver. Anyways, it'll be too dark for the cameras to capture anything at all, so we just relax and appreciate things that only our naked eyes can capture. It was really therapeutic and glad that we stayed late enough for this ride.

Made a mad dash to catch our last minivan timing. So glad the outside-city travel was rather affordable, approx 200 baht p.p! Thank you, minivan company!

Bangkok Day 3 - Chatuchak, Rod Fai Night Market

G'morning! We're off to Chatuchak!

I was staring at how cool this was until A stood beside me and asked, 'You know what this is right?' Um ... I think I'm just too slow at these things. You. Stop. Laughing. T.T

Chatuchak was too hot and messy to my liking. We (or I) didn't shop a lot and we left quite fast after walking through the sections. We walked around and landed in a park with duck boats! So I dragged this girl with me because it's dirt cheap and why not right? Haha!

Her reluctant and why-am-I-doing-this face

But okay right! She agreed it's quite fun in the end!

Super gorgeous vintage cars at Rod Fai Night Market!

Deer caught in the headlights?

Someone bought a stitch but she didn't bring back to Sg ):

So she spent 1000 baht buying two vintage vehicles & the kid fell in love with her haha

That's it, halfway through our trip!

Bangkok Day 2 - Safari World

Rise and shine for, Safari World!

(Decided to be tourists and got a pairing caps for the whole zoo journey lol)

For those interested in getting here, we took a cab from Pratunam Market and it costed about 230 baht (inclusive of toll) by meter. Honestly, if you have better places in mind to explore, this is definitely worth a miss.

We were sort of cheated by how the tickets. The Marine Park ticket was 800 baht p.p, Safari World was 430 baht p.p and the coach ride was 30 baht. We thought that Marine Park was to see all the sea animals and Safari World was for land animals, but that's how they 'cheated' us. In reality, Marine Park is where ALL the animals and shows were, whereas for Safari World, it's a mini bus tour around the inner of the zoo where you can see more animals close up (which some weren't in Marine Park and some were even nowhere to be seen). It's only half an hour ride and you will be required to stay onboard all times. On top of that, it's compulsory to pay for the coach ride!! If we'd known how the things operate in there, we totally would just save the 430+30 baht (that's like S$18!) and go for the Marine Park only. The Safari World & coach ride was a total waste of time & money.

Actually there's not much to see/do in this zoo. Quantity may be couple times more than Sg's but they all looked so underfed and abused. Shows were all fixed at one session per day at timings that do not overlap with each other. Meaning to say, you will be walking the zoo in one round to catch the shows. Good thing was, the most of the shows were quite interesting (except for the bird show which was the last timing, and the elephant shows which made our heart wrenched).

If you are intending to catch the lion/tiger feeding session, it starts at 10.30 am and you have to be there early enough to catch the coach ride! I say for just this show, it's still not worth us taking the journey and even not worth it because we missed the session.

Nuff said, photos below!

We were discussing if this was really a dick LOL biggest dick ever?

Look at that hook held by the Thai guy! The elephant so poor thing!

(We almost wanted to leave this show but there's nothing much to see outside in the zoo too)

Drawn by the elephants! Omg! Imagine all the abuse they undergo to draw this. How can anyone purchase it no matter how cool it was! The more you support, the more torture it is for the elephants! *Stabs heart*

Baby parrot incubator

This was refreshing as it was a walk and real life demonstration of how the birds grow up

Someone v v excited about feeding the giraffes!

(We believe the store owner gave us extra bananas to feed these tall guys, hehe)

I'm like 'Hi, nice to meet you but please stay away from me?' lol

Here's my happy little friend who just got kissed by a dolphin! She kept scolding me for being dumb to reject this awesome opportunity to go near the cutest marine creature ever, but you'd appreciate more than me right? (: There's this Thai guy sitting beside us (apparently he works for the zoo) and he asked me to go up. I rejected and A quickly volunteered herself. Hahahaha.

The tip to getting selected is, to sit at the front rows. We were both darn lazy to climb up the stairs so we settled ourselves at second/third row. Hah, too lucky already!

Well, that's how we spent our day. Took a cab back and called it an early night too. (: