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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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!
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| Sun set at Phromthep Cape |
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!
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