Day 4: Some more colors of Phuket

After trying hard to appease my insatiable appetite with continental breakfast we decided to have a long-tail boat ride in Patong bay.

We started sailing towards Paradise beach after agreeing upon at 650 Thai Baht for 20 mins of to and fro ride and 30 mins of leisure time. Right after reaching there we were approached by a couple of representatives and were informed that this being a privately maintained beach we must rent a sun-bed or buy a drink. Unwilling to do so we went back to the boat and asked the sailor to take us on ride in Patong bay. Having spotted Super Star Virgo we requested him to get us around it.

Super Star Virgo

With carrying capacity of around 2800 passengers and 1300 crew members Super Star Virgo is the largest ship of Star Cruises family and operates from Singapore.

It was mesmerizing to observe such a gigantic floating structure so closely and guess what... it's now in our backlog with 'must have' tag.

On reaching back to the resort beach, when I started paying THB 650 to the fellow, he said, 'only 600, you took less time'. I thanked him for giving us a rare experience of ethical service.

After spending an hour cooling-off at beach to get relief from humid environment, it was time to get ready for sight-seeing tour around Phuket city.

Big Buddha

The first stop was Big Buddha statue. An under construction statue layered with beautiful white Burmese marble pieces.

The huge image sits on top of the Nakkerd Hills between Chalong and Kata and at 45 metres high it is easily seen from far away and yes... we did notice this giant statue as a white dot during our Phi-Phi island trip.

Wat Chalong

The next destination was Wat Chalong (Wat = Budhhist temple). The most famous temple of Phuket mainly due to a custom of Thai locals asking a lucky number to have their fortune told and to set off  fire crackers to show gratitude for prayers that have been answered. 

Inside the main hall on the floor there are cans of bamboo chopsticks. People can pick one up and shake the can until one of the sticks falls on the floor. Read the number and take one of the slips of paper corresponding to that number from a corner of the hall. The text on the slip can be translated as fortune.

Wat Chalong Monastery

Once the prayers are answered, Thais come here and sets of firecrackers in dedicated beehive shaped chambers to show their gratitude.

The Wat Chalong monastery houses a fragment of bone of the Lord Buddha brought from Sri Lanka in 1999.

Next in line was a drive through old Phuket town to see sino-Portuguese architecture. The architecture of houses and streets resembled more like old Goa. In fact, it is  because of the apparent reason that Portuguese ruled both Goa and Phuket. In bunch of another similarities both Goa and Phuket are famous for their beaches and cashew nuts. I guess Portuguese people have intrinsic love to beautiful beaches and cashew nuts.

Demonstration of cashew making process

Phuket being famous for precious gems and stones, a visit to gem retail outlet always takes place in the itinerary. And the same with cashew nut factory. But unlike gem retail outlet, here in cashew nut factory at least we got to know how cashews are processed.

The cashew nut shell is separated from the cashew apple fruit after being picked up from the tree . The shell is then broken by heavy pressure to get the raw cashew nut which is then roasted to  have a nut with pink skin. Removal of that pink skin gives the eatable white cashew  nut.

Sun set at Phromthep Cape

With a beautiful sun set at Phromthep Cape came an end of our city tour. 


During our return journey to the resort was the time I thought for the first time to cast my experiences to words and this blog is a brain-child of that thought.


After returning to the resort we decided to have a stroll at Patong. It was 15-20 mins of walk from the resort to reach to the southern end of Patong bay. Spotting road-side shops we thought to give a try to have some souvenirs. Bags, purses and T-shirts were primary targets.


"So we are buying two bags. What is the final price?" I asked to the seller for shoulder bags originally priced at Baht 250 a piece. She brought out her calculator, typed 400 and told me to enter my amount. I typed in 300 and she agreed. "Opppsss....am I paying too much? Why did she agree so quickly? Would she have agreed had I typed 250 or even 200?" were instant thoughts in my mind. Even though I paid my quoted price, I felt incomplete as it did not gave me the feeling of winning a bargain battle. A funny aspect of Indian mind. Gujju, to be more precise. :-)


A road with plenty of palm trees on beach at one side and series of open air restaurants, bars with live band performances on other, it became a walk to remember. Relaxed and composed atmosphere, appeasing music make the evenings at Patong so delightful that it is one of the two experiences for which I would love to be there in Phuket again. Insanely beautiful beaches is the second one of course!

Day 3: Celebrating the 1st Marriage Anniversary

One year since I surrendered my bachelorhood to Mansi's masters. We decided to celebrate it big time and this is one of the reason we were in Thailand.

We were to shift our hotel today but before that it was time to enjoy morning hues at Patong beach. Morning provides good opportunity to enjoy the beach in calm and relaxed environment free from commotion of water-sport activities and beach revelers.

Amari Coral Beach

The much awaited event of checking-in to Amari Coral Beach  Resort was here. Our  excitement increased twofold with complementary upgrade to higher category room. 


Unknown to us a bigger surprise was shaping up to make its way from Mumbai to Phuket.


We were escorted to our room by a nice front desk lady officer explaining all the details and facilities  of the resort. A fine experience of hospitality had just begun.

Wow! was the instant reaction the moment we stepped into the room 7327. Large room,  contemporary design and the best part, balcony with a panoramic view of Patong bay. I couldn't stop myself watching the sparkling water of Patong Bay.


As I always prefer, we had a small photo session of our new abode before spoiling the immaculate setting.

A session of Classical Thai massage at Sivara Spa was next object in the List<IActivity>. It came as a handy adieu to the growing stress and tiredness we gained in the last couple of days. Classical Thai massage is yoga based non-oil massage and performed wearing loose clothes.

As the sun started setting in, we went to Jetty to make the most out of it. An array of sun loungers  overlooking the Patong bay and water full of corals beneath was a perfect blend to enjoy the  beautiful twilight. 

And what else can make the day more memorable than having a dinner at a beach side table. LaGritta, an Italian restaurant of the resort was the obvious choice right from the time we planned to stay at Amari. 


Right when we left our room to head towards the restaurant, the rain came as party pooper and left us no choice but to dine at foyer instead of our pre-booked beach-side table.


After returning back to the room, while Mansi was watching news of Rahat Taslim winning 1 corere rupees in the show KBC 4, I changed my Thai mobile SIM with the Mumbai one expecting to receive lots of anniversary messages. Pat came a message from an unknown number right after switching-on the mobile which read "Congratulations Mihir! You have been promoted to Advanced Software Engineer." An immediate investigation, with anxious heart, revealed it was all the way from Mumbai from no one but my reporting manager. A well cherished but sudden and unexpected gift on the day of the 1st anniversary.


Have you heard about The Secret that the universe conspiring to give you everything you want. Well, I am beginning to believe it.