Phuket Series #02: General

This is mainly about the odd bits which I don't really know where to blog them under. So ended up bundling the departure bits, hotel bits, bohliao bits, sights that I thought might be interesting bits, so on so forth. This is not going to be coherent. I try my best to be chronological but may not be so...

Those who've been so privilege and not departed from or arrived at or seen the Budget Terminal of Singapore, well, here it is.

Only two airlines operate from the terminal: Tiger Airways and Cebu Pacific.

I stayed in Salathai Resort in Phuket. There's the Royal Phawadee Village on the opposite road which I think I will try the next time I am in Phuket. The location wasn't exactly sea front but it's about 2 minutes from the beach. It's a 10 minute walk from Bangla Road which is really great cause that means the rowdy crowd is more than earshot away. Makes for peaceful sleep at night.

The rooms are pretty good-sized. I had a twin share room which overlooks the pool. It's only 3-storeys high so only stairs. No lifts.

Not too messy my room...I think. Was living out of the luggage most of the time although I could easily hang my clothes but was too lazy. And it's Phuket! I only brought t-shirts and polo Ts, no need to be neat lah...

The balcony overlooks the pool...

I had a lot of time in Phuket which was fantastic. Until boredom sets in. Which is still alright by me. Beats working by far. I spent alot of time with Discovery, VH1, Star Movie and other cable channels. I also caught the Miss International Queen on the local Thai channel. Miss Mexico won by the way. I was rooting for Miss Thailand though. I spent alot of time taking pictures and just walking up and down the beach. Not spending much time on the beach itself though. Those who are familiar will know that the beach chairs are available for a small fee. Well, I never did use it once. Not at all. In fact, I think I touched sea water like twice. And never went in beyond knee deep. Wasted I guess. I took some pictures of Patong Beach and odd stuff I had seen like birds roosting on cables.

I didn't immediately recognise them at first. I thought how come this set of cables had ridges on them. I was staring at them for sometime and finally make out the shapes. There was a hawker who saw me looking at the birds. He was smiling at me and saying they were birds. I nodded in agreement. Then he asked me if I wanted chicken wings.

Close up of the birds. Swallows I think. More here.
I didn't bring along my tripod and I definitely don't have a pair of steady hands. Flash wasn't powerfuly enough...so in the end, the pictures turned out pretty crummy.

I walked along the road parallel to the beach and took photos of the scene. There was this group of men who were trudging some mudflats. Probably looking for mollusks.

Views of Patong.



Look carefully at the picture below and spot the guys looking for mollusks.

I spent about 3 of the days in Phuket town. When the Vegetarian Festival was in full swing. Caught the procession and also other sights. It was difficult to get really great pictures because it was high noon. Actually, it just mean that I'm still lousy at photo-taking. Nevermind, just need more practise.

The King (or his picture to be precise) made an appearance too. Paraded throughout Phuket. marking his 60th anniversary on the throne I think.



And this guy was riding his "homemade" chopper. Not exactly O.C.C (Orange County Choppers) but it did invite envious looks from the policeman standing by the road.



The parade with the marching band...



Lots of firecrackers! I've never seen so much of them in my life.

There was street art in Phuket but not very wooster worthy. This 20 metre piece was one of the best I've seen. Not just because of the size lah, because it was more than random sprays or tags.

There were some pictures I took cause I thought they might be funny. But didn't turn out so. One of them was this of the Kumon signboard that was looking over the Phuket procession.

It rained on 5 of the 7 days I was there. It's always around the same time. 4-5pm local time. And on the final two nights, it rained between 4-5pm, stopped briefly and continued from 6 plus until 9pm. That meant no chance of taking beautiful sunsets. All I got was this series of clouds I took from my balcony.

But despite the weather, there were many opportunities to take pictures. I got to know my new camera better. Hopefully I can find another chance to go on a photo trip again. Find more Kodak moments. Like this one:




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#01: Introduction
#02: General
#03: Food
#04: Island Tour
#05: Vegetarian Festival
#06: Muay Thai
#07: Firecracker Special
#08: Afterthoughts