I actually don't think this would be a long post since a large portion of the day was spent travelling from our hotel (Swissotel Resort Phuket Patong Beach) to Phang Nga province and back to Phuket.
Sadly, sleeping in wasn't an option as we were already given prior notice to be at the hotel's lobby at 6.00 am for our day trip to Similan Islands! Yes, i was super excited as i heard the islands were stunning!
15 minutes passed and there was no sight of the shuttle.
As the timing indicated was from 6.00 am to 6.20 am, we still have about 5 minutes to go and i took to taking a few photos surrounding the resort's lobby; like the interesting, chandelier-inspired bar shelves.
The van arrived before 6.20 am!
Sun was just rising and i can't imagine i managed to pull myself out of bed. For beach vacations, i often prefer to sleep in and even if i have signed up for tours; they don't usually start before 8.00 am. Yawnz.
Gasoline in alcohol bottles under the "hong thong" label; if not for the word, gasoline, which i recognize, i would have mistaken the liquid as liquor!
Drove past a Thai temple; known as wat. I can't find much information about this temple from google. Maybe there's something wrong with the translated name.
Rows of rubber trees! Quite a nice sight with the morning mist.
On Sarasin Bridge; aside from being a well-known bridge, it plays an important role as the land link between the mainland and Phuket island. This is quite similar to how Singapore is connected to Peninsular Malaysia via the causeway and second link.
View along the bridge.
After having my butt being stuck to the car seat for more than two hours, we finally arrived at the 'home' of Seastar Andaman (known as Seastar Happy Journey on facebook) to officially start our day tour!
I have separately blogged about my review of the day tour conducted by Seastar Andaman and you may refer to it here. For the purpose of this post, i think it's necessary to include once again what we did at Similan Islands!
And again, my dad's unforgettable almost-drowned incident!
After a decent dinner back at the 'home' of Seastar Andaman, it's time for us to hit the road back to Phuket! Not exactly something i am looking for as the sun was already setting and i don't take good photos with low light!
Thankfully only four groups of tourists in the same passenger van; the more there are, the higher the chance you would get to your hotel later, unless you are the first stop.
Setting sun; it's a pity that the trees on the side are blocking off the view! Since i don't have much patience for sunrise / sunset, being stuck in a car / shuttle with nothing to do actually motivates me to take more photos.
Back in Patong; the jams were bad and at this time, we were on the road for already 2.5 hours! I should have asked the driver to drop us off at Naughty Nuri's for dinner since he had to drive pass it.
Upon reaching our room at Swissotel Resort Phuket Patong Beach, we threw our bags onto the floor, had a change of clothes and hit the street again!
Even though Naughty Nuri's was within walking distance from our hotel (about 20 minutes), all of us were pretty shagged from the journey to Similan Islands and i thought we should give the expensive tuk tuk in Phuket (different from the ones in Bangkok) a try!
Finally had a taste of possibly the best ribs in the world; served by Naughty Nuri's Patong! To think that i didn't try it in Bali, where it originates from, when i was there a few months before Phuket. Click here for my review!
Dad was running a slight fever; hence, i ran over to a nearby pharmacy to get some Panadol tablets. Since i am already there, i might as well purchase some pills that were requested by my friends; nothing illegal by the way but drugs in Thailand are so much cheaper than what we have in Singapore.
No time to explore the street stalls as priority was for my dad to take a rest! It's never enjoyable to fall sick when one is overseas. Back to taking the tuk tuk again as it's the most convenient mode of transport in Patong.
This is a frequent sight in Patong; an enhanced pickup truck publicizing muay thai shows. To draw attention, they would clap the boxing gloves and the noise would be amplified through the PA system. Can be quite an irritation! Haha.
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Detailed Postings for the Day
- Day Trip to Similan Islands via Seastar Andaman
- Snorkeling Off Similan Islands No 5 & 6
- Similan Island No 4
- Princess Bay at Similan Island No 4
- Snorkeling between Similan Islands No 9 and 8
- Similan Island No 8
- Sail Rock at Similan Island No 8
- The Incident at Similan Islands
- The Different Tuk Tuk in Phuket
- Naughty Nuri's in Phuket
What else did i do in Phuket?
Check out my 5-day Phuket itinerary here!
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