jeepneyjinggoy: Phuket

Showing posts with label Phuket. Show all posts

Phuket may not have been in my bucket list but I am glad I made it there. The supposedly jump off point to THE bucket list entry, Phi Phi Island, presented itself with more than what I expected it would. Boy, I had fun, lots of it.

What's that crossing the Phuket road?

Still a road sign but more like an ad.

This baby is the breadwinner.

Tourists buy food from the owner to feed these lovelies.

I am not too hard to please, just take me to the beach and voila— instant gratification, fail-proof! The beach is one of my comfort zones and in Phuket, it’s very easy to get me into that. The shoreline stretches for kilometers and each beach area bears its own charm. Making it there on a low season was definitely a plus, the beaches were not crowded, thus, not a soul blocked my sun.

Not all water spots have lifeguards.

Heed the warning even if life guards are around.

Or maybe because I was with the right company? A good friend from my hometown found herself settling in the island and turning local (until she feels the need to move to another spot). I am truly grateful that she lives in the island, took me in, and showed me “her place” through the eyes of a local. So I got to eat and chill at the good spots where more locals dine and hang out than tourists. The unbeaten path is always far more interesting to take.

If Ate Vi, the Star for All Seasons, were in town, this would be her favorite haunt.

The visit turned out to be an educational tour that deleted my preconceived assumptions about the island. What I know was based on stories I just heard. Stories related by tourists on a cruise ship who saw a little piece of Phuket when their ship docked in the port of Patong for a day.

Sign seen along the beach road of Patong City's.

This way please....

You've reached the safe site.

Phuket is not all about Patong. It may be the most popular, thus the busiest, part of the island but there is much more to see and experience. And the best way to do it is stay in the island for days and delight in its splendor, meaning cross the boundaries of Patong to the other destinations. To do that you need a car or a motorbike, it will help you, big time!

Want to tour Phuket? Renting a motorbike can help you big time!
(See... it's not only in the P.I.)

Or you can ride the blue jeepney/bus.

How about the pink one?

And thanks to Yashee having a car, I got to bask in the sun on the lovely beaches of Phuket, see the setting sun from different vantage points and explored the inner areas of the big island.

ET very mad. ET still not home.

The drive in town was amusing. There are sights that are no different from where I come from, sights that are make the area unique and signs that spell out different meanings to different cultures.

The doctor in IN.

I’ve told my Phuket beach stories, road trip to the neighboring province and back, shopping trip to the weekend market, culinary exploration and touristic sightseeing duties, these are the reasons why I miss the island. Let me add one more story, a road trip and “drive-by shooting” episode. Let me share a few more photos I caught of Phuket that you may not have seen yet on the pages of some glossy or storyteller on the web.

For a dash of Italian couture, these shops can help you.

I’ll be seeing you again soon Phuket! (Yashee, too! Don’t keave the island yet. Show me more!)

For more travel & lifestyle stories, visit http://jeepneyjinggoy.blogspot.com/ and http://apples-and-lemons.blogspot.com/

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on February 27, 2013.

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Ko Phi Phi of my dreams..... sigh.

Confession: the primary reason I traveled to Phuket is to make it the jump-off point to Phi Phi Island. The rest—everything around Phuket and Krabi, will be a plus. Forgive me Yashee—friend, host and tour guide extraordinaire— but Phuket is not on top of the list.

However, the Universe had other plans for me.

Phi Phi Island has long been on my bucket list. On the day I saw the film, The Beach, I told myself I will swim in the crystal waters of that island. I made it to Phuket, Phi Phi is now a step away. The day has come….

On the appointed day, Yashee and I were up early and raring to go.

Geared up for Phi Phi Island

We hopped in the car and zoomed south towards Krabi, where we’ll take the ferry ride to our final destination— Ko (meaning island) Phi Phi, the largest among the island group belonging to the province of Krabi.

I will buy that car model, said Yashee the navigator

It would be a 2-hour road trip, I was told, give and take an hour for lunch and photo-ops along the way. We took our sweet time enjoying scenic drive, nibbling on meals and jumping at every chance to take photos of the amazing panoramas of the provinces—Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi.

Crossing the bridge connecting the Phuket & Phang Nga provinces.

Phang Nga offerings

Time flies when you’re in good company and enjoying the ride. It has been close to six hours since we departed. Did we take too long or was the trip really that far?

Amazing landscape of Krabi

Uniquely Krabi

Finally reaching the Tourism Office of Krabi, we asked directions to the port area.

The Tourism Office in Krabi

We had a few minutes left until the last boat of the day departs. That information, I wasn’t aware of. So was my tour guide.

Almost in your arms Phi Phi!

Of course, we didn’t make it.

We had no plans to join the rest of the tourists who plan to sleep on the floor of the port. Our next option—spend the night in Krabi’s famous beach, Ao Nang.

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Alternative spot- Krabi's most popular destination- Ao Nang Beach.

What used to be a fisherman’s village, Ao Nang Beach grew to one of southern Thailand’s most attractive destinations because of its white sandy beaches, crystal clear waters and stunning landscape of hundred meter-high limestone cliffs and rich coral reefs.

As the heavy rain poured on us on our way to the alternative destination, the navigator’s compass lost its bearing.

No Phi Phi. Heaven is weeping with me on our way to Ao Nang.

In short, we were lost. “It was the same way I took the last time we went to Ao Nang a couple of months back” she said, still not admitting to getting lost, as we drove for ages and finally hitting a dead end. Maybe Krabi purposely closed the road with a lush forest.

Lost, the destination (and vision) is blurry.

It was very late in the afternoon when we hit the main road and decided (feeling very frustrated) to head back home. This was a case of “so near yet so far”. It was at the closest distance to Phi Phi Island in my lifetime and it slipped away. Even the next best beach evaded us.

No Ao Nang either, went back home.

Yashee left me to sulk until I got over my disappointment. I can’t be huffing for five hours in the car, after all. It was clearly not time for me to see Phi Phi.

Tired from driving all day, we were glad we reached home. But it wasn’t time to rest yet. The house’s water pipe connected to the heater got busted and flooded the entire house (I wished for wading in the water, this was it).

I wanted to sleep at "The Beach" not a makeshift beach.

This was why the Universe led us back home. Another 24 hours would be devastating to my host’s home.

Maybe I didn’t get to spend my nights in Phi Phi or Ao Nang, but Phuket surprised me with a lot more that I expected—gorgeous beaches, hilltop panoramas, dining in quaint roadside restaurants, exciting weekend shopping. The seven days I had was not even enough. I will stay longer on the next visit.

Lesson for the day: The Universe has an amusing (somewhat frustrating at times) of leading us to a path we should be taking. The events that transpire may not what we have in mind or to our liking but at the end of the day, the reason will unravel. A reason we will be truly grateful for. Thank you Universe!

For more travel & lifestyle stories, visit http://jeepneyjinggoy.blogspot.com/ and http://apples-and-lemons.blogspot.com/

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on February 21, 2013.

IT’S a before and after thingy you do when you get to visit Phuket. You pucker up and give the island a big kiss upon your arrival for an exciting adventure awaits you.

Then you’ll find out soon enough that the puckered up lips seem to be a permanent feature, most especially if you’re a foodie. If you love Thai cuisine, nothing can be more authentic than having it in Thailand—in the restaurants or the streets. And if you know how the Thais eat, then you’d better arm yourself with a remedy for that “hot lips” of yours.

Try the Thailand table staple- pepper powder, for a non-invasive pouting lips look.

The Thai’s love their food showered with chili. For the regular diners like me, it’s a sure way to achieve the surgery-free, collagen-free pouting lips many have been dreaming to have (wouldn’t that use up that pricey lipstick too soon?).

But with the heavy foot traffic of tourists in their country, the Thais have learned to ask what the level of spice the diners want to have in their food, or they let the diners add the spice themselves after serving. However, hot is relative and I have to be reminded of that time and again whenever I dine in this amazing land.

I remember eating in a fast food place once and “medium spice” was still too hot for my taste—and sugar, my only known remedy, was nowhere in sight. The Tom Yang noodle soup took ages to finish while I envied the petite lady feasting on the same dish (plus two teaspoonfuls of chili powder) with gusto and was done in minutes.

In Phuket, Yashee showed me the Yin and the Yang of Thai dining.

Eating in with Yashee.

She prepared a spicy Thai dish, Penang Curry, pork with kafir, galangal, and Penang curry paste, served with the natural “coolers” (read: counter the burning sensation of the chili)— chilled raw string beans, cucumber and eggplant.

Penang Curry

And the chilled veggies as "natural coolers"

It was a wonderful meal filled with moments of “extra rice, please”.

But these natural remedies are not available all the time when dining around Phuket so I had to request “not hot” preparation and spice it according to my taste. With Yashee as dining partner and culinary guide, it was one fun food tour around the island.

Cheap Ass restaurant, a roadside eatery, was where we had the perfect hot noodle soup for a rainy day.

Nice name recall, isn't it?.. The Thai menu....

...and the non-Thai power menu.

Eat here, it's cheap.

Perfect hot meal on a chilly, rainy day- Radna with Chicken

Was it the resto’s name, the Radna with chicken or the “power menu” that made the place memorable, or was it all of the above?

Another nice place to dine in is at Muslim Chow, most especially if you know Arun, the owner and cook. He makes everyone feel at home.

Owner & cook, Arun, in his open cooking station

Shrimp noodle dish

Stir-fried beef with rice

Muslim Chow

Lock Tien in Phuket Town is “where the local working crowd eat” and where I got to try Mee Hon, stir fried Thai-Chinese noodles, Crispy pork dumpling and the Thai style Chicken Satay. The food here was nothing exceptional but worth the try.

In Phuket Town

The making of a Crispy Pork Dumpling

Crispy Pork Dumpling, the finished product

Before...

...and after.

Now it’s time to pucker up again and give Phuket another big kiss upon leaving and say ‘til the next visit. In a big island such as Phuket, dining is always a case of “so many restaurants, so little time” and you know you’ll be back soon. I know I will. Kiss-kiss Phuket!

For more travel & lifestyle stories, visit http://jeepneyjinggoy.blogspot.com/ and http://apples-and-lemons.blogspot.com/

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on February 07, 2013.