Chapter 1 - The Arrival
A big day indeed, 24 hrs ago we were in Pune and not only across Andaman sea but across the mighty Bay of Bengal. Flight, visa, Bangkok, Phuket, Resort, Foot massage, thai food damn now thats what you call a day. Gave me a goose bump just mentioning the things we did.
Read on..........
Its strange how uncomfortable one can feel when not in their safe zone. Especially me I tend to freak out and usually end up with a border line panic attack. The visa on arrival process is longs, the red indicator announces that it takes 2 mins per passenger. That in no way is true, it takes two minutes to give you a token. The token lady will then scrutinise your documents and give you a visa. Trust me get your visa before you leave that will save you some nervousness. Anyways we had a connecting flight to phuket in three hours, and this was taking forever. So having enquired at the express counter, you can skip the line by paying 200 THB and if you have the connecting flight tickets.
Wait before I get to phuket I must stress on the flood situation in Thailand. A week before our departure it was all over the news, there were massive floods in Thailand. Damn that was scary I looked up the internet found a few travel forums and there were people actively updating the situation. Around the days of our plan there were no warnings and we were passing by Bangkok exactly in the gap between two high tides. hehe some luck I guess. Given the amount of planning which had gone into the pick, it would be a real heart breaker if we would have had to cancel the trip. But that was not to be, we were destined to go.. hehe
Having got our visa, we rushed to the luggage belt since it had been line more than an hour of the arrival the Bangkok Airways people were sitting with the luggage bags of people who had not showed up. Thanks to a quick check of baggage tag we were on our way to domestic transfer. Believe me the suvarnabhumi airport is huuuggee, and its huge. Unlike the terminals in SF, Bangkok has one gigantic airport its one big terminal hence you take your trolley and you get into a frantic race to reach your check in gate in time. The line was long and we could see a whole bunch on Indians. The thai people look small and feeble in front of our 100kg Indian booties. hehe. But who knows they might whip up a boxing glove and start kicking your ass Mua Thai style. Thai people have funny dressing sense, we say a lady in a purple gown with a black hat on the airport it was funny. Anyways after a looong wait we were on the Air Asia flight to Phuket, the air asia seats were much more comfortable than the ones on Bangkok Airways. Arrived in Phuket say at about 14.00 and the freaking airport is right ont he beach. From the flight you can see a whole bunch of Islands and beaches and its freaking awesome. Rupali was star struck.....
The first impression that you get when you land in Phuket is its just another tourist town, a million people trying to sell you taxi, bus, trips and hotel and so a whole bunch of other things. Took a taxi to our hotel, and was our hotel nice or what. We stayed in the WoraBuri Resort and Spa, it was right on "hat karon". "hat" in Thai means beach, so we were 10 steps away from the beach. No the room did not have a view of the beach however it had an amazing restaurant right on the street over looking the beach.
Karon unlike Patong is the silent cousin. Its quite here, and basically is not the party town of Phuket. This one is for the serious tourists wanting to sulk in the feeling of Phuket. Karon had the most beautiful beach, the sand would make noises when you walk in it. It was just beautiful.
A quick check in and a shower took not more than 30 mins and voila we were on the beach. Took a stroll down the beach, headed into the first thai restaurant we could find. Some local beer, chang and singha are the popular beers in Thailand and they are sort of like KingFisher here in India. Began the first THai meal with some Veg Green curry and pad thai chicken. The pad thai was not that good and the green curry was about alright, we had the most popular thai street food restaurant in our cross hairs and hence did not crib about the flavours here.
Quick reservations for day trips to Phi phi/ Ao phang na and we found ourselves in the Resorts Spa getting foot massages. Damn it was freaking awesome, I slept half way through and cant even remember the 60 mins we were present in the Spa. 750 Baht well spent.... :)
Funny how it is, you want to eat everything, you want to see everything, you want to breathe in the city in one day. Well Mr. Santosh thats not how it works. With a drink in one of the many van bars found around, we were about to call it a day. Quick dinner in a local Thai restaurant, enjoyed the awesome Penang Chicken with some steamed rice. Penang chicken is basically a sweet and spicy stir fried chicken, with coconut milk and curry being the predominate flavours. Rupali relished some Veg Pad thai and called it a day.
The next day had some big plans.....
A big day indeed, 24 hrs ago we were in Pune and not only across Andaman sea but across the mighty Bay of Bengal. Flight, visa, Bangkok, Phuket, Resort, Foot massage, thai food damn now thats what you call a day. Gave me a goose bump just mentioning the things we did.
Read on..........
Its strange how uncomfortable one can feel when not in their safe zone. Especially me I tend to freak out and usually end up with a border line panic attack. The visa on arrival process is longs, the red indicator announces that it takes 2 mins per passenger. That in no way is true, it takes two minutes to give you a token. The token lady will then scrutinise your documents and give you a visa. Trust me get your visa before you leave that will save you some nervousness. Anyways we had a connecting flight to phuket in three hours, and this was taking forever. So having enquired at the express counter, you can skip the line by paying 200 THB and if you have the connecting flight tickets.
Wait before I get to phuket I must stress on the flood situation in Thailand. A week before our departure it was all over the news, there were massive floods in Thailand. Damn that was scary I looked up the internet found a few travel forums and there were people actively updating the situation. Around the days of our plan there were no warnings and we were passing by Bangkok exactly in the gap between two high tides. hehe some luck I guess. Given the amount of planning which had gone into the pick, it would be a real heart breaker if we would have had to cancel the trip. But that was not to be, we were destined to go.. hehe
Having got our visa, we rushed to the luggage belt since it had been line more than an hour of the arrival the Bangkok Airways people were sitting with the luggage bags of people who had not showed up. Thanks to a quick check of baggage tag we were on our way to domestic transfer. Believe me the suvarnabhumi airport is huuuggee, and its huge. Unlike the terminals in SF, Bangkok has one gigantic airport its one big terminal hence you take your trolley and you get into a frantic race to reach your check in gate in time. The line was long and we could see a whole bunch on Indians. The thai people look small and feeble in front of our 100kg Indian booties. hehe. But who knows they might whip up a boxing glove and start kicking your ass Mua Thai style. Thai people have funny dressing sense, we say a lady in a purple gown with a black hat on the airport it was funny. Anyways after a looong wait we were on the Air Asia flight to Phuket, the air asia seats were much more comfortable than the ones on Bangkok Airways. Arrived in Phuket say at about 14.00 and the freaking airport is right ont he beach. From the flight you can see a whole bunch of Islands and beaches and its freaking awesome. Rupali was star struck.....
The first impression that you get when you land in Phuket is its just another tourist town, a million people trying to sell you taxi, bus, trips and hotel and so a whole bunch of other things. Took a taxi to our hotel, and was our hotel nice or what. We stayed in the WoraBuri Resort and Spa, it was right on "hat karon". "hat" in Thai means beach, so we were 10 steps away from the beach. No the room did not have a view of the beach however it had an amazing restaurant right on the street over looking the beach.
Karon unlike Patong is the silent cousin. Its quite here, and basically is not the party town of Phuket. This one is for the serious tourists wanting to sulk in the feeling of Phuket. Karon had the most beautiful beach, the sand would make noises when you walk in it. It was just beautiful.
A quick check in and a shower took not more than 30 mins and voila we were on the beach. Took a stroll down the beach, headed into the first thai restaurant we could find. Some local beer, chang and singha are the popular beers in Thailand and they are sort of like KingFisher here in India. Began the first THai meal with some Veg Green curry and pad thai chicken. The pad thai was not that good and the green curry was about alright, we had the most popular thai street food restaurant in our cross hairs and hence did not crib about the flavours here.
Quick reservations for day trips to Phi phi/ Ao phang na and we found ourselves in the Resorts Spa getting foot massages. Damn it was freaking awesome, I slept half way through and cant even remember the 60 mins we were present in the Spa. 750 Baht well spent.... :)
The next day had some big plans.....
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