Days at Phuket Island – Part 1

As I mentioned in my earlier post, there was bad traffic jam in Phuket and we reached our prior booked hotel, Naina Resort and Spa at about 2 pm.  People at the reception understands hardly any english, poorly behaved and it took lot of time to check in. They were asking more than one day rent as security deposit, although our booking was already paid through credit card. Later I came to know, it is usual practice in many hotels in Thailand but they were asking too much. We were tired and irritated and the initial experience was not at all pleasurable.

The hotel is away from beach and main activity centre of the beach and that is why I wrote in my previous post to see the map carefully while you book your hotel.  Except for the above bad things, hotel was good. Nice spacious rooms, excellent swimming pool and a wonderful landscape.

Plenty of street food stalls, different budget’s restaurants are available throughout the island and all of them serve good food. It will not be a problem to find food of your taste and budget unless you are too choosy.

Naina Resort and Spa at night

We hired a Tuk Tuk, large one that accommodate 10 persons to go the beach and main activity area, The Bangala Road. It was really lively a real touristy place. Check the video below.

Food we took outside our hotel as we could not  trust the restaurant of the hotel and it was pricey too.

Next day morning we headed for the Phi Phi Island trip, which we booked at airport, with free ride to hotel.

Now few things regarding the booking of Phi Phi Trip:

There are few ways one can go to Phi Phi Island. You can catch the local ferry to Phi Phi – it looks cheap but actually is not. You have to pay island fees, buy your lunch and you cannot see the other places like Maya bay etc cannot snorkel or swim. The next options are speed boats small and large, private or in group. Advantage is  they are faster, you can get down at the small beaches. Downsides are, they are costlier and you have to bear the roughness and rolling of the boat. Our large boat swayed considerably while returning, this part of the sea is rough. We went for the large boat, or they call it cruise boat. It is comparatively cheaper, very  steady and comfortable.

Unless you are going  at super peak season, you need not to book this trip early online, because you can always bargain and it really works. Search different sites offering the trips.  You will notice huge price variations. Believe me almost all the tours are same despite of different prices. There are few parent companies who run the show and rest all are agents taking different commissions. Find out the parent company by seeing the name on the vessel. See and note their rates. They will be the lowest amongst all.  Note their Phone number. Note phone numbers of second and third best too. Reaching Phuket call one of them to your hotel directly and not through your hotel reception. You can also mail them prior regarding this. Now you know the lowest price and bargain hard  but politely with them and fix the tour. This I did for my next day trip to James bond island tour.

We were picked up by a AC mini van from our hotel and was taken to Rassada harbour. It is quiet far from main Phuket town and took about 45 mins.  We were served little snacks and coffee at the jetty and the we boarded the vessel. It was a large cruise boat.  The boat was full of tourists but managed very efficiently and professionally. 

The beauty of the Andaman sea is beyond words. Previously I used to think that the pictures are photo-shopped or post processed…but no they were not. The place is even more beautiful than what we see in photos!

The whole journey to Phi Phi island was fabulous and we reached the island and headed for buffet lunch, which was arranged in the island. Nice spread and food for all tastes were there and plentiful. We roamed around Maya bay and  swim at the beach.  It was beautiful but  a little crowded. 

We saw Loh Samah Bay, Pileh Cove and Viking Cave. Later we were taken to a place they call it coral bay and those interested had nice swimming and basic snorkeling . Snorkeling gear and life jackets were given to all.  Water there was not so clear but overall enjoyable.

From there we sail back to our pier and then was dropped at hotel by the same mini van.

I strongly recommend this trip if you are visiting Thailand. You can avail this trip either from Phuket or from Krabi. We didn’t go to Krabi , I think it will be more serene than Phuket.

Next write up will be James bond Island  tour.. 

Kolkata to Phuket - Our journey

Our flight was at 00:15 hours from Kolkata international airport. It was a spice jet flight. What I learnt, one must do web check in and then just drop your luggage and go straight to the document verification. Physical check in is painful. Standing long in queue and getting seats at the mercy of the staff there. Everything went smooth and we reached Bangkok very early morning and collected our luggage. Here I must mention, if it was a fly thru ticket with a single PNR, we need not to waste time for luggage collection. In such case the luggage automatically goes to last destination.

However, our ticket to Phuket was separate. After luggage retrieval we went for immigration. It was little difficult as none of the airport staff at Bangkok understands English. Later I learn it is better to communicate with them with sign language. It took time but done easily. A small paper slip was given in flight. We were required to fill that up. That was immigration slip.  We didn't know that. We thought that was a feedback sort of paper and ignored. Luckily we didn't lose that. It was again checked in hotels and during exit from Bangkok. So tiny paper!

First thing I did in Bangkok Airport after immigration, I bought a SIM card with internet. Reasonably priced and worked very well throughout the trip. All settings done at the counter. I purchased DTAC card. One word of caution is don't forget to prefix the code for ISD dialling, otherwise it is very costly. I didn't know, only realized after finishing the initial balance so quickly!

Breakfast option in Bangkok airport is plenty. It is not that costly too, but you need to choose the outlet carefully. Our next flight to Phuket was at 9 am. It was domestic flight , so no more official hassle. It was Thai airways. The difference of comfort was evident. We landed at Phuket at right time around 12 pm.

Phuket airport is small. There are few stalls at the exit who books the conducted tours at Phuket. They started offering their rates and if we book with them transfer to the hotel is free! Not bad! But their rates were not good. I knew the rates and its higher and lower range. I bargained hard and they understood I know the rates and lowered their rate to acceptable level. Still a little higher side I booked Phi Phi Island trip with them for the next day and came to hotel by their van. Phuket traffic is also bad. It took more than an hour to reach the hotel.  my next post will be hotel experience and Fifi tour. Read on... 

Trip To Phuket, Pattaya and Bangkok - itinerary and planning

We, two families from kolkata, 7 persons decided to go on our own to Phuket, Pattaya and Bangkok on October 2016. It was April 2016 when we decided and decided firmly that no conducted tours and everything we do ourselves.

So first work was to create an itinerary, which should be acceptable to everyone. After long discussion and gathering information from internet we decided to cover Phuket, Pattaya and Bangkok. We took help from the itineraries from different tour agencies and then made our own.

The final itinerary was like this:

Day 1: Late night flight to Bangkok from Kolkata

Day 2: reach Bangkok early morning and take a flight to Phuket. Stay at Phuket see beach and market.

Day 3: Phi Phi island tour

Day 4: James bond island tour

day 5: Fly to Bangkok and reach Pattaya by bus  See Pattaya locally and stay.

Day 8: Bus to Bangkok in the afternoon stay at Bangkok

Day 9: Visit Bangkok Zoo

Day 10: Bangkok City tour and late night flight to Kolkata

Day 11: Early morning reach Kolkata

Air tickets were booked first. That time Airasia flights were not available from Kolkata, so we booked return flight CCU to BKK Spice jet . From Bkk TO Phuket we booked with Thai Airways.

I will narrate the whole experience in my following posts... read on

Tips: Try to buy fly through ticket whenever possible, else small delay in flight will worry you. Fortunately our flights were all in right time.