A Brief Account of the Phuket Trip..

Many people would like to visit Phuket during the peak period (from December to April). It’s called the “peak period” for a very simple reason. That period is dry, promising solid sunshine, only gentle waves, crystal clear water, etc..

We (W, F and me) had decided to give it a try just a few days ago. Okay, A silly decision some may think, as it’s during the monsoon season over at Phuket. But..
- The rate of the accommodation is (usually) slashed more than half (or more).
- The prices of many activities, day trips, etc. are also slashed more than half (or more), without any need to bargain.

Wow! Do note that monsoon season doesn’t mean raining all the time. It is just that the probability of raining and strong wind is much higher.

While we were over there, it rained quite a lot on the first day actually. It rained when we sleep, when we lunched, when we dined, when we were on the move, but … the rain came to a stop or diminished to such an insignificant light drizzle when we reached where we want to be. Is that divine intervention? Such pure good luck! As such, we could carry out our planned activities very much the way we like to have. Wow! The second day, there were gentle sunshine almost throughout the day.

Some memories are just too wonderful :

Snorkeling ..

It was my first experience at Phi Phi Island, a rather famous island just beside Phuket. It is a destination not to be missed by anyone if you were to visit Phuket.

I was still a little skeptical when our tour guide told us to take a dip. Yes, I saw fishes and corals on the speed-boat itself, but to go into the sea.. erm.. I can’t really swim, you know. But once inside the water, my first peep into the waters using the snorkeling gear really took my breath away, literally.

I wasn’t prepared for it. It was such a colourful under water world presented right in front of me. I was stunned. I forgot how to breathe. I forgot that I was wearing the snorkeling gear and therefore I can actually draw my breath while my head was still in the water. Believe me, the first breathe-in took me some courage. But after getting use to the breathing, I simply feel so relax and enjoyed the marvelous sight from Mother Nature.

The fishes and corals were really colourful, quite a different shade when we viewed it above the water level. The beautiful thing was those fishes and corals were so near to us. How near? If we just stay still enough, the small fishes just came to us and nibbled at our figures and our body. They must be thinking I was a big piece of bread, I sure looked like one. The corals could also be touched if we want to. But better not to touch them, in case we accidentally destroy it. We know how slow corals grow and how delicate they are. It wasn’t only the small fishes we saw. Some real fat ones could be as long as 30 cm. What colour, just name it, you have it. Some fishes even appeared to be luminous in colours. Simply amazing.

Two particular instances were especially memorable.
- I sighted an almost translucent fish. It was quite thin but very long. Its pair of eyes was about 20 cm away from the tip of its mouth. Its tail was very much sword-like. So the fish measured easily about a metre long. I went after it. So we were actually swimming quite close together for some distances.
- There was a school of small silvery fishes just swam past below me. The number of silvery fishes in that huge group must be in hundreds or even thousands. Wow! Did I remember to breathe?

I am short-sighted and the snorkeling gear cannot be worn if I have my spectacles on. Yes, you are right. When snorkeling is concerned, I think contact lens is utmost important for people having short-sightedness with high degrees. Luckily, I brought my contact lens along.

I remember the moment I close my eyes to rest for that night, the colourful fishes were just flashing past in front of me again.

I so believe I will continue to try snorkeling. After a few more times of snorkeling, I may be even dream of diving. It is understandable, at a different depth, we see different things.


The Beach..

The monsoon makes the water not as clear as it supposed/promised to be. Nevertheless, we will still say the water is clean and the sand is fine. At some more enclosed bays and beaches (just like the one we done our snorkeling), the water was clear enough for us to see the bed of the water clearly.

We were at Patong Beach enjoying the monsoon waves. Before we hit the water, the waves seemed mild. But.. ahem.. The waves appeared somewhat different when we were in the water itself. The beach remains shallow even after we walked into the sea for more than 30 metres. Okay, to be more specific, the water level was still below waist level when we walked more than 30 metres into the sea. But the waves, I tell you… If we were to face the sea, the waves will raise till you can’t really see the horizon clearly. The waves roared in and almost slapped us gently. “Gently”.. erm.. but we were not able to stand still during each slap of waves. In other words, many times, we even lost our grounds and were simply being carried inwards a little by each slap of the waves. A little threatening for someone (me) who can’t really swim. Nevertheless, I stayed in the sea, in the waves for quite a while.

We witnessed para-sailing and water-skiing at the beach too. They were too expensive and we preferred to just slack by the beach watching people para-sailing, water-skiing.

I learnt another lesson too. The sun looked pretty mild when we were at the beach and hence we were just lazy to apply the sunblock. In fact, the sun just felt like morning sun and it was quite soothing, certainly not blazing. Furthermore, when we left the beach and headed towards a restaurant for our lunch, everything still seemed fine. However, after lunch, the skin (on my face and upper torso) somehow turned a little red, pretty noticeable. When I took a shower back in the hotel, I noticed a weird sensation on my skin. I looked into the mirror and I found the reflection of that figure a little unfamiliar. Who’s that red guy??! Argg.. Me lah. Gosh! The sun even when appeared to be mild, had an effect. And the effect was a delayed one. When I noticed it, the damaged done was already irreversible. Now I can only hope the healing process for the burn/bake is going to be a bearable one. Okay, I wasn't the only red guy, W is just as red. Haha..

Don’t play play ah. Want to play in the sun at the beach, you just have to apply sunblock to protect yourself from sunburn, no matter how mild the sun may appear to be.

Somehow, this rule doesn’t really appear to Mauritius. F just returned from Mauritius. He shared that he could rest all day under the sun, by the beach at Mauritius and he would not suffer from sunburn. True. He is still such a fair guy after spending 9 days at Mauritius.

Conclusion? Mm.. The ozone layer over our Asia sky is worryingly thin?


The Food..

The food is relatively cheap, I would say. A great variety, but somehow catered more towards tourists’ tastes or likes.

Eating vegetarian food at Phuket (or Thailand at large) is not really much of a problem. It may not be easy to spot a vegetarian restaurant. Nevertheless, all restaurants are willing to specially prepare for you. Just have to tell the waiter or waitress that you would like to eat vegetarian food. The Thai people who are not very fluent with English may not understand the word “vegetarian”, but I learnt the Thai equivalent for the word. How do you say “斋” in Hokkien? Yes, more or less like that. In Thai, it sounds very much like “jay”. So I just tell the waiter I would like to eat “jay” food.

Again, W never fails to amaze me. He read up before the trip and brought us to a street (at Phuket Town) with two vegetarian restaurants side by side. I remember the road as Ranong Road. We dined at one of the two restaurants once for only THB20 ( appro. S$0.90) per person.

I also learnt that during every October and November, Phuket will be having a kind of Vegetarian Festival or something like that. During those months, many restaurants will be setting up special vegetarian menu. How we came to know about this was quite interesting too. We stepped into a Thai restaurant in Royal Paradise Hotel. When I asked for “jay” food, the waiter kindly brought me a special menu for reference. I couldn’t remember the exact heading of the heading of that menu, but the words “vegetarian”, “festival”, “November”, “October”, “2005” were there.


Night Life..

Phuket is still buzzing with life even late at night. The shops at the major shopping areas usually don’t close that early. We were out near 11pm and many shops were still open. Of course, at Patong, some streets are practically 24 hours active. Some streets are “hyperactive” at night. I leave it to your imagination about that. To assist you in your imagination, I write you a point to be found in almost all accommodation offers around Patong region : “free for lady joiner”. Erm.. Happening man! :P

Since we were near by, we decided to take a stroll along one of those happening streets. Wa.. There were many people automatically approaching us offering what they have. Almost all of the stalls have big entrance. In other words, you know what are happening within, what they are offering by just walking past the stalls. Many people were drinking. Many girls were dancing. Some were dancing at the bar top. Some were dancing around poles. Some girls dancing were wearing school uniforms, etc..

We know what’s better for us. We left that street and headed back to our room to catch up on the World Cup matches. Oh yes, in Phuket almost everywhere is screening the matches, live and free.

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Another important factor that made the trip enjoyable and memorable is perhaps the company was simply so great. The thoughtfulness of W is rather touching. The easy-going nature of F brightens up every moments together.

They aren’t many photographs during this trip. Basically because the most precious moments were when we were in the waters, when we were so wet. My camera just cannot take that kind of environment. And when we were wearing so.. erm.. minimal. Haha.. I don’t think I want to capture that. :P

(Anyway, shall try to post up a few pictures when blogger is working better.)

This brief account is by no means official. It’s not meant to be accurate, but just an individual’s recollection.