Phuket Island in 3 Days (Day 3)

Day 3
I know I know, it has been like eons ago, but yet this information may be useful for someone else reading this post.

We have planned for a white water rafting trip on this day and Jeff has opted out of this program together with Jayne, which is a good thing since Jeff is down with a fever and Jayne could take care of him. My wife stated that Jeff truly made good use of the accommodation amount he paid since he is in the apartment most of the time HAHA! Anyway, we have earlier booked the white water rafting at Bangla road on day 2 and the cost is the same at THB1,200 per pax excluding the transport but include lunch at the base camp.

Phuket Island in 3 Days (Day 2)

PHUKET, THAILAND 20 - 23 June 2009
DAY 2

Today is one of the highlights of the trip i.e. Phi Phi Island and everyone is in high spirit! It is very sweet of the ladies to wake up early and prepare breakfast for us and that’s what I called blissfulness. After breakfast, we drive down to the jetty at Au Chalong or Chalong pier. The drive from the hotel to the pier took around 45mins if you know the exact way, otherwise, perhaps 1hr. Usually tour operators would provide pick up service but of course, it is chargeable depending on which side of the island you are staying in. Unfortunately, places like JW Marriott, Marriott Mai Khao and Sheraton commands the highest pick up fees due to its location in the north, which can cost each person up to THB600! Not only that, you are the first to be picked up (Earliest) followed by many others in different locations AND you are the last to be sent back to the hotel, resulting in lots of time wasted in picking/sending others from/to their hotel.

Yours truly behind the wheels.

[Tips 01: Quick calculation – 7 pax x THB600 = THB4,200! That is worth > 2 days rental of our Toyota 3.0CC Fortuner!]

Phuket Island in 3 Days (Day 1)

PHUKET, THAILAND 20 – 23 June 2009

At last, it has been so long since the trip. Finally I've got time to blog about this trip and here goes.

DAY 1
We boarded AirAsia from Singapore Changi T1 air terminal towards Phuket International Airport. There is only one minor hiccup for the flight. One Caucasian jumped our queue and act like nothing wrong about that. My wife was fuming mad and was like mumbling throughout the check in time. Apart from that, all’s well.

We reached Phuket airport around +1400hr and proceeded to meet up with Jeff and Jane (We have earlier made arrangement to meet at Burger Kings).

[Tips 01: There are Burger Kings, Subway, Dunkin’ doughnuts and some other stuffs at the airport but their prices are not cheap cheap… if you know what I mean]

[Tips 02: There are moneychangers both inside and outside the airport but the one inside is not accessible once you have stepped out of the main entrance. No sweat, the one outside offers pretty good rates too]

Preparation for Phuket Island in 3 Days

20 – 23 June 2009

This has been a long awaited trip and much time has been invested to plan for it. There will be a total of 7 persons involved in the trip i.e. William + Jeannie, Jeff + Jane, Pooi See & Dana + yours truly. I have undertook the role of coordinator so in this posting, you will get pretty much of the things that I had gone through and areas that you may want to take note of with plenty of tips along the way.

I have broken down the trip into a few sections as follow:

i) Accommodation;
ii) Transportation/ Logistics;
iii) Program;
iv) Meal; &
v) Budget.

Marriott's Mai Khao Beach, Phuket Thailand

Given the number of people reading my blog (If any), I guess this wouldn't go far but what-the-heck, let's do it anyway because as they say that "Treasures are reserved for the few that has the will to find it".

I have been in Singapore since July 2000 and has stayed in a number of rented places as follow:

Yr2000 Commonwealth Drive
Yr2001-2004 Jurong West Ave 1 (More precisely Jurong West St 42)
Yr2005-2006 Bukit Merah View
Yr2007-Present Serangoon North Ave 1

Prior to my current residential, I have never known my neighbours at all and mind you, that's 6years+! Thank God that my current neighbour, the Kheng family of 3 are good neighbours. The soft-spoken Uncle George is the father who is still working as a senior teacher in a local primary school despite being 61 this year (He just celebrated his birthday a few days ago). Auntie Cecilia is the full time house-wife cum mother of Teochew Peranakan descend. She took pride in maintaining the cleanliness of her house and trust me when I say you won't find a speck of dust in her house. Gerald is the young and modern son who is currently pursuing an hons degree with the Singapore Management University (SMU) and is due to graduate in end of 2010. Gerald is going steady with Joanna (JoJo) who is currently seeking a place in the NIE, which will pave her way to become a teacher one day. This family would often bring us out for makan and stuffs regularly and to cut things short, they treated us as part of the Khengs clan.