tt's wht we were told. The original name is Bukit, which means hill in Malay since it's an island of hills. Over time, it's then called Phuket. The natives were Chinese Hokkiens.
It was definitely a weekend trip to be remembered.I told the husband, we have to come back.
The dept pple who went and me with my instant pan-asian kiddo, Ian Dawe. He's sooo cute and naughty but lovable in all ways possible! Ooh, when asked if he'd like to see his baby sister Megan while he was in mb's arms, he retorted a very sharp n short, "NO." Middle child syndrome, we think.
the boat people..while in the speed boat during our island hopping. It rained quite heavily and we had to take cover with the beach towels. tt's mb on the red seat with the light blue towel over his head
On the 2nd Day, we went island-hopping from 9am till 6pm on the speed boat. Snorkelling was at Phi-Phi Ley, the smaller of the Phi-Phi Island and also at Khai Island. When I first went down at Phi-Phi ley to snorkel, I felt myself sinking deeper and then I realised my life jacket was coming out of my head. Given my minute size, although I had double check and tightened the life jacket before going down, it was still too huge for me. Mb was there and saved me from my panic..My Hero! haha! I swam back to the speed boat to change to errmm..yes, u guessed it, children size life jacket. Thereafter everything was well. It was soo beautiful seeing the school of nemos and its counterparts swimming towards the pieces of bread.. i practically get to touch em' fishes.! no pillars, no tanks in between us. Direct contact with nature it certainly was and I was totally blown away. Crystal clear waters, reefs, beautiful fishes..truly magnificent!
Khai Island was the next snorkelling destination. It was great, truly! Although it ws already raining by the time we reached Khai Island, we still swam and snorkel.
The speed boat ride was v fun too. We alternated between standing and sitting at the front part of the boat throughout the 1 hour ride towards Phi-Phi Ley. The boat ride became bumpier nearer to Phi-Phi-Ley as the waves became bigger and stronger. On the speed boat, you've got to relax and go flow with the waves. Only then will one get to experience the natural roller coaster ride ever! My colleague who was standing in front of me literally flew up into the air, quite high at that, before landing on her derriere on the boat, luckily! That's the impact of the huge wave! As I was standing behind her, I thought, hey why do I see green (the colour of her tshirt) instead? We were all quite stunned from the throw and everyone tamed down a little and sat, before standing up yet again. Hehe!
I reckoned phuket isnt exactly a shopping paradise. Nature's paradise but not shopping paradise. We did check out the patong beach area, their night life, bangla road, the rows of bars and seafood places, their night market still. 1 thing I regretted was the lack of time, hence we did not try jet-skiing at Patong Beach and also canoeing at Maya Bay, where 'The Beach' was filmed.
Foodwise, we managed to find a Muslim restaurant called Pattani Restaurant at Rat-U-Thit Road, a mere 10-15mins walk from our hotel, Patong City. The owner Abg Zakaria is from Pattani and he spoke Malay. Very nice guy and great food. We catered our departmental dinner on the 2nd night from him too. Dinner was held in the restaurant of our hotel, Patong City and food catered from him were for the Muslims staffs at SGD10 per pax. I'll get his name card from mb and will put up his add and contacts here.
Patong City, a 3 star hotel was where we put up for the 3D2N weekend retreat. Very basic acommodation, nothing like the resorts and villas around Phuket but I am happy for its very convenient location.
Final verdict: I am so coming back to Phuket one fine day.. :) and oh yes, I am tanned.
More pics will be up later..
