Highlights of the trip

Some of our experiences that may serve as guide to prospective travellers to Thailand. (Bangkok and Phuket in specific)

The good:

• Advance planning and on-line booking not only saved us bunch of cash, it also helped us travel with ease. Getting maps, locations of 7-eleven stores and location Indian restaurants helped save lot of time.
• Tripadvisor.com reviews helped us in choosing right hotels and more than that saved us from tourist traps.
• Simba Sea Trips is perhaps the best choice for Phi-Phi island trip. Prefer early morning tour for Phi-Phi as it really gets crowded there as the sun rises.
• Take a city tour of the city you are visiting. Despite my reluctance to go to Phuket city tour, Mansi forced to have one and it was really worth it.
• An evening stroll on southern end of Patong, near Amari was one of the best unplanned experience. Would like to have it again.
• Rayaburi hotel, Patong, Phuket was a nice choice as it was hardly a 5 mins walk away from Patong beach.
• Best Western Mayfair Suites, Bangkok is a good choice in terms of location and budget. Near to airport rail link, metro lines, Siam Paragon, Central World etc and Indra market.
• Suvarnabhumi Airport Rail Link (SARL) is the fastest and cheapest (during time of our visit) way to reach Bangkok city from Suvarnabhumi Airport.
• Buying travel insurance helped in claiming missed connection expenses. (More about that below...)

The bad:

• Never choose Air India for the sake of saving a few thousand bucks. They will do everything to ruin your vacation mood. Our flight from Mumbai to Bangkok got delayed by 4:30 hrs and resulted in missing the connecting flight to Phuket. 

Some things we missed which should't be:

• Chao Phraya river evening cruise to have breathtaking views of the Grand Palace.
• Floating market tour in Bangkok.
• Visit to Baiyoke Sky Tower visit for panoramic views of Bangkok city.

Day 7: See you again Thailand

Bargain hunting at Indra Market

A trip to Bangkok can not be deemed complete without some window shopping. Indra Market for end moment street shopping was the destination. So famous among India bargain hunters, the shop keepers have even learned a few Hindi words that help them market their product well to India buyers.

Find cloths of any type and any size

Bye bye Thailand

7 wonderful days in colourful Thailand. Serene seashores of Phuket, delightful Phi-Phi islands and bustling mega city Bangkok. It was an end to some fine and some finest experiences enough to commit another visit to relive the finest moments.

Tuk-tuks, Temples and Touts

While visiting places in Bangkok on your own is guaranteed to give you the due excitement and joy, it also comes with added risk of being an easy prey to touts and gem scams. An over-friendly local, tuk-tuk driver or boat driver offering you a cheap tour should be enough to sound an alarm that something is wrong.

There are several ways by which travelers are cheated. Thanks to some prior reading on internet, we saved ourselves from two such traps on the day of visiting temples.

Cheap tuk-tuk ride:

We wanted to take tuk-tuk from near by location of our hotel to Wat Benchamabophit. A tuk-tuk driver quoted THB 100 and then came to 60 after some bargaining. Once we got ourselves into the tuk-tuk he told-us that he will take only THB 20 but we need to visit some gem store. This will earn him gasoline coupon as commission for bringing tourists to the store. He instantly disagreed to take us to the temple even in THB 60 when we told him that we are not interested in buying gems and would not go with him. Had we agreed, we would have ended up losing our precious time and money by buying some counterfeit gems.

Closed temple and cheap tour:

While finding our way to Wat Po from The Grand Palace we were directed towards an entrance by a person when asked for the way. On approaching the gate, another one encountered us and told that Wat Po is closed today because of school tours and only students are allowed to visit the temple today. We got it confirmed by observing a bunch of children in school uniform moving inside the premises.


That person with black pants and white shirt and with clear English accent successfully made us perceive that he might be a temple representative. Then he asked us which temple did we visit. He saw map in my hand and requested to open it. Highlighting couple of another temples he recommended us to visit them and also insisted us to visit a gem-store. He called a passing by tuk-tuk and told that the entire trip will cost us only THB 40.


Unwilling to leave the place in haste and that too without visiting near by Wat Arun we thanked him and walked away believing that Wat Po is closed. Hardly a minuite of walk and a lightning fast thought struck in my mind and I started moving towards the entrance again. I wanted to confirm from the temple security as I just recollected a travel tip from TripAdvisor.com that this is one of the modus operandi of Bangkok's (in)famous gem-scams.


He confronted me again but I ignored and reached entrance security. And well, it proved right. The entrance was not of The Wat Po and the same was next to the current premises, wide open for anyone willing to visit and indulge in the charm of the The Reclining Buddha.


Thanks to my mind for subconsciously recollecting some knowledge I gained by reading TripAdvisor.com and of course thanks to TripAdvisor.com's forums and reviews we saved ourselves from big trouble. 


Just for completeness a few words on what happens when you get trapped...


The tuk-tuk first takes you to some unknown remote place where a bunch of sales-people bully you to buy costly but counterfeit gems. You some how come out of the place just to realize that the tuk-tuk has deserted you after taking his gasoline credit/commission.

Day 6: A day devoted to temples

25th November. Bangkok is an easy overdose of temples(Wats), exhibiting marvelous architecture and serene environment. Choosing a handful of them to visit was not an easy feat. Finally we concluded on the following considering different aspects they offer...

• Wat Benchamabophit
• Wat Phra Kaew & the Grand Palace
• Wat Pho
• Wat Arun

Wat Benchamabophit (Marble Temple):

Wat Benchamabophit

The temple's name means the Temple of the fifth King located nearby Dusit Palace but is popularly known as the Marble Temple as it is made with Italian marble. Usually free from flock of tourists this is one of the finest monuments upholding the beauty of Thai craftsmanship.

The temple hosts a bronze sculpture of Buddha with blue lighting around it. The temple compound has a canal crisscrossing it and the surrounding provides soothing and calm environment in the middle of the bustling Bangkok. 


This gave us a nice start to get acquainted to the temples of Bangkok city.

Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of the Emerald Buddha) and The Grand Palace:

Wat Phra Kaew Premises

The next to visit was the Grand Palace complex also housing Wat Phra Kaew. If you were to visit only one place in Bangkok then it must be The Grand Palace. Located near the banks of Chao Pharaya river, it is regarded as the most sacred temple of Thailand.


The temple complex is quite vast, consists of several brightly colored buildings, golden spires and glittering mosaics. A map given with ticket severs as guide to the temple complex covering all major points of interest.

Phra Si Ratana Chedi
(Sri Lankan style stupa housing ashes of Buddha)

A model of Angkor Wat
(The most sacred Cambodian shrine)

God gets the very best of taste

The temple houses a small (about 2 feet) dark green statue of Buddha carved from a single jade/jasper stone located on an elevated platform. The Emerald Buddha is covered in a seasonal costume, which is changed three times a year to correspond to the summer (crown and jewelry), winter (golden shawl), and rainy months (gilt robe and headdress). No one but only the HM King is allowed to touch the statue and change the costumes.

The Statue of Emerald Budhha

The Grand Palace is a complex of buildings. It is former residence of the King and currently used for ceremonial functions.

Chakri Mahaprasat
(The largest hall of the Grand Palace Complex with combination of Italian and Thai architecture)

A first taste of street shopping from Bangkok:

Just after stepping out of the Grand Palace complex, we were intercepted by a couple of road-side vendors selling embroidery work. One of them identified us as Indians and started showing us embroidery work of Hindu gods, Ram, Shiv and Ganesh. We found work on god  Ganesh attractive and asked for the price. He started with THB 200 and finally sold us at 100. Feeling proud of my bargaining skills, we started moving forward. Another one approached us and started trying to convince us to buy some more. We refused and started moving forward but the fellow kept coming with us lowering the price at every step. And guess were it ended finally? He was ready to sell us 2 for THB 40. THB 20 a piece, 80% less than what I bought at.

Tip: Bargain shamelessly while street shopping in Bangkok or be ready to get ripped off. 



Wat Po (Temple of The Reclining Buddha):


After extricating ourselves from touts (more on this in next post) we reached Wat Po which houses a huge reclining Buddha statue.


Wat Po is the largest and oldest temple of Bangkok and also contain more than 1000 Buddha images, most from the ruins of the former capitals Ayuthaya and Sukhothai. 


The highly impressive gold plated reclining Buddha is 46 meters long and 15 meters high, and is designed to illustrate the passing of the Buddha into nirvana. The feet also show the 108 auspicious characteristics of the true Buddha. 


  

The Reclining Buddha Statue

Wat Pho is also famous as Thailand's first university, and is center for traditional Thai massage.  If you want to experience traditional Thai massage, this is probably the best place available and is highly recommended.

Wat Arun (Temple of The Dawn):


Named after Indian god of dawn, Arun, the Wat Arun is located on the Thonburi side (west bank) of the Chao Phraya river. The temple is so named because the first light of the morning reflects off the surface. 

Wat Arun

It consists of a massive elongated prang (Khmer-style tower), and is surrounded by four smaller prangs. The central prang is 250 foot high. It is decorated by bits of porcelain. It is possible to walk the way up by taking very steep stairs of the main prang, which gives an impressive view of Bangkok across the river. From here one can see the Grand Palace, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha and the Wat Po.

Steep Stairs of main prang

Despite it's name, the best views and photos of Wat Arun are in the evening with the sun setting behind it.

View of Bangkok skyline across Chao Phraya river from Wat Arun

Tip: Start the temple tour early in the morning, by 8 AM, if you are visiting on your own. Most temples open at 8 in the morning. Visiting temples is exhausting proposition considering lot of walking in scorching heat.

Day 5: Bye bye Phuket... hello Bangkok

24th November, last day of our four days of sojourn at 'The Pearl of the Andaman'. Right from first welcome to final bye, Amari's courteous staff left a lasting impression. For me it was benchmark of excellent hospitality.

The next and final destination was the capital city, Bangkok. Located on the banks of Chao Phraya river, Bangkok became capital in 1768 after destruction of the then capital Ayutthaya by Burmese army.

A quick 30 minutes ride by Suvarnabhumi Airport Rail Link from Suvarnabhumi Airport and we were right in the center of the bustling Bangkok.

After completing the check-in formalities at Best Western Mayfair Suites, we decided to spend the rest of the evening visiting swanky malls of Bangkok. Siam Paragon and Siam Center being near to the hotel emerged as our choice to spend rest of the evening.

One adjective by which Bangkok can be described, is 'colorful'. Colorful night life, colorful taxis and colorful tuk-tuks. I didn't quite experience the vibrant and colorful night-life of Bangkok but taxis and tuk-tuks are worth having a mention.

Bangkok, probably has the most colorful taxis in the world. Ranging from white, black, blue and yellow to aqua, pink (yes pink) and even black and white stripes like zebra. Tuk-tuks lack the similar color range but most have metallic exterior and colorful jazzy lights inside    unlike bleak auto rickshaws of Mumbai. One similarity though between tuk-tuks and auto rickshaws, they make the same amount of annoying noise. In yet another similarity between Mumbai and Bangkok, both are equally filthy.

A cocktail, in glass made of ice, at Absolute Iceberg, with temperature -10' C, concluded our first day at Bangkok.

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.

Loy Krathong Festival

On our second day in Phuket, 21st November 2010, we got a chance to observe Loy Krathong (or Loi Krathong) festival. It falls on the full moon night of 12th lunar month, usually in November, and is celebrated across Thailand.

Loy(=floating) Krathong is celebrated to ask the mother of water to forgive us for polluting water. It is celebrated by floating Krathongs in the sea, river, pond or canal.  Krathong is a little cup shaped, like a lotus flower, made from banana leaves, each with a candle and incense stick inside.

A Krathong

We observed hundreds of people floating Krathongs at Patong beach. Many cheered as their Krathong floated away because the Thais believe that their misfortune or misery floats away with the Krathong. There were also many flying paper lanterns in the air, just like tiny hot air balloon, making the sky glitter due to hundreds of these lanterns.

Loy Krathong celebration at our hotel

Day 2: Phi Phi Islands

This was the day to explore Thailand's most beautiful islands, Phi Phi (pronounced as pi-pi). We choose Simba Sea Trips for this excursion.

Phi Phi Islands

Simba's speed boat

It was around 50-60 minutes speed boat ride from Phuket to Phi Phi and the first stop was stunningly beautiful Maya Bay at Phi-Phi Leh. Remember the beach surrounded by 100 meters high cliffs from three sides in the movie The Beach (1999) starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Long tail boat at Maya bay

Maya Bay

The trip started early and it is a good strategy to beat the crowd. As the sun rises, it really gets crowded here. We enjoyed some fresh fruits and the Simba specialty 'Banana cake' before heading for snorkeling.

My joy and excitement of doing snorkeling for the first time instantly washed away with a big splash the moment I jumped into the water wearing a snorkel and a pair of fins. Nose, eyes and mouth filled with seawater and I went breathless. I had to swim back to boat to catch some breath. Finally Jenny, one of the owner who runs Simba Sea Trips, helped me snorkel until I was able to continue on my own. It needs some practice to train mind perform breathing with mouth.

Once I got comfortable with 'How to snorkel...?', there was whole different world waiting to get discovered. Corals, covering almost the entire bottom of the sea, with fishes of different sizes and colors luring you to touch them. Hold a banana inside the water and hundreds of fishes will surround you to bite their share. Realizing the amount of fishes you are surrounded with, it really requires courage to hold the banana until its very end.

Corals

In all this fun, one thing was missing. Mansi does not know swimming and hence was unable to accompany me to make this more enjoyable. Despite several efforts by Jenny and Geoff to help Mansi float using a life jacket, she did not feel comfortable and choose to return to boat and capture me having fun.

Pileh Lagoon

Next stop was Pileh Lagoon, famous for swimming in its turquoise water with no waves. Some of the group members started jumping off the boat and gave it a form of competition. Unwilling to win the 'biggest splash maker' critic award, I decided to use the ladder.

Monkey beach was the next destination. Famous for it blue shallow water with bed of white sand. Famous among Chinese for another reason. In the words of Jenny... 

"...and this is the place where Chinese snorkel. Because they can't swim. They don't get to see any fish or coral but thats okay!!!"

Monkey Beach

It is named so because of presence of monkeys there. You can be brave and feed them peanuts but be ready to run to water once you show them the emptied pack.

On the way from Monkey beach to Nui beach (nui = small), we stopped to see the Phi-Phi island resorts which were completely destroyed by 2004 tsunami.

These resorts were rebuilt after tsunam

On the day of the tsunami, 26th December 2004, the sea receded to an unprecedented low level from a middle to high tide in a matter of minutes. Fishes were left high and dry, confused as their home disappeared. People gathered at shore to watch what was happening right before a 7 meter high wave devastated the entire settlement. As a natural phenomena wave multiplies its hight as water gets shallow. It took us 50-60 mins by the speed boat to travel from Phuket to Phi Phi and tsunami waves covered the same distance in just 10 mins.

Nui beach

The Nui beach is a small beautiful beach, inaccessible during a low tide. It is famous for its rock formation, caves and snorkeling just off the beach. A couple of our group members went to explore the caves with Geoff leading them and a few preferred snorkeling. While I was deciding whether to go for snorkeling or not, those who went for snorkeling returned feeling itchy through their body. A crew member discovered the presence of jelly fishes who's touch causes allergic reactions on the skin. The remedy was readily available on the boat. A spray of household vinegar is used to lessens the severity of this allergic reaction.

Camel rock opposite to Nui beach

School of Sergeant Major fishes off Nui beach

Guess what was next in the trip... my favorite one... it was lunch time!!! And to my surprise we went to a kind of place which I always wanted to go. Powdery white sand surrounding the island and shallow  turquoise water so clear that we can photograph the corals beneath. It was nothing less than a paradise and I felt like I have just entered a desktop wallpaper.

Bamboo island

Turquoise water and corals underneath

If it were possible, I would have filled my stomach with the sheer beauty that I was enjoying at Bamboo island. 

After having a gastronomical delight and some rest, it was time for a quick round of snorkeling off Mosquito island. This time I decided to accompany Mansi and captured corals from above the surface.

Corals from the surface

Making a way home to Phuket Marina we got a real thrill of speed boat by zipping through a zig-zag strait.

Phuket Marina