#72882 - 06/24/08 06:25 AM
Really big Just Back report
|
Adey68
Member
Registered: 02/05/08
Posts: 75
Loc: Queensland Australia
|
Offline
|
|
Have read plenty of these JBR’s on here and have got lots of good info for our trip. Thought I would do the same now that we are back. I thought I would do it on a day by day basis to give an idea of how to spend 2 weeks in Thailand. We did lots of shopping while away and I will do a separate pricing guide later on, but happy to help out if anyone needs any info. This is long so you might need a cuppa before you start!
Sun 8th June
Midnight flight from Brisbane running 20 mins late Thai airways but at this stage we are so excited to be finally leaving so whats 20 mins!
We had a good flight although Kelli was a little airsick on the way which is the first time this has ever happened to her.
Day 1 Mon 9th June
Arrive BKK 6:20am. We originally had the 7am transfer to Phuket but were worried what would happen if the plane was late in so changed it to later in the morning. However they cancelled that flight and we were at BKK airport until 2pm. First hour or so was ok but after that we just wanted to get going.
Finally arrive in Phuket in the arvo. This is our first time here so not sure what to expect. We have both been to Fiji and Kelli has been to China but this is totally different. Our transfer is waiting and we are off in a car to the resort in Patong. Scooters everywhere and not just 1 or 2 people on them but 3, 4 and 5!! The whole family is on board! Arrive at Amari Coral Beach Resort Patong. Very impressed so far as we pull in through the rainforest looking grounds.
Nice view of Bay out window although the bed is hard ..very hard, I guess we will get used to it. After settling in, a walk into town. It’s about a 10 min walk down the hill onto Beach Rd.
Weather is very nice a good start. Bought some supplies at local supermarket and found Sabai Sabai for dinner as recommended on here. Was very nice.
We found the markets behind Jungceylon and decided we had to start shopping now! Some soccer jerseys for the kids then to OTOP for some hats and sunnies for our holiday.Our first effort at bartering was ok but we decided we need to be tougher from here on in (always with a smile)
We decided that we would walk everywhere given that we were going to eat plenty while we were here! Back to Hotel and for some much needed sleep
Day 2 Tues 10th June
Rained overnight but nice day overcast but hot.
Buffet brekky at hotel is awesome. Very friendly staff everywhere. Walked into town and spent the day shopping, went to Jungceylon, OTOP, Beach Rd more purchases. We had set ourselves some rules for bartering which worked pretty well overall. We would always offer 1 quarter of their first offer then work our way up to a third. We generally got most items for that. Occasionally we paid more if we really wanted something. Went to Family restaurant in SOi Dr Wattana for lunch food and drinks for both of us 260Baht !! thats like about $8 oz.
Shopped around for prices on day trips and found a great little tour desk on Beach rd just past Bangla opposite Maccas, called Beautyful Day. Maria there looked after us well and we used her for all our bookings thereafter. Back to Hotel for dinner at the La Gritta Italian restaurant there was very nice but was more Oz prices for meals.
Day 3 Wed 11th June
Rain overnight but nice day a morning light shower only.
Jeep picked us up to Island safari. Met our guide “Brownie” who was lovely. We had an ox cart ride, ride on the elephant, then to the Elephant show. I got chosen to be the grand finale where the elephant put his foot on my back and decided to put his trunk up my trunks!!!! Not a nice feeling. Finished with the monkey show before heading back. We got an hour or 2 sunbaking in by the pool before lunch and you guessed it shopping. Lunch was at Orchid Garden on Ratu Thip next to Banana restaurant. Food was good 345BT
We found a nice massage place called Patong Synergy on Soi Post Office just up from Sabai Sabai. More shopping at OTOP then dinner at Family, also nice food. Back to Hotel
Day 4 Thurs 12th June
Poured rain during Brekky but cleared after an hour and was a nice day.
We had planned a sunbake but the rain put an end to that so off to town. We got our DVD’s from Kitty store at OTOP. They are very good there and would tell you if it was a bad copy or not. All up we ended up with about 180 DVD’s at 50Bt each. I took a portable DVD player and in the evenings before bed checked them all. Had only 3 discs not working and they swapped them no problem.
Went to No.6 for lunch recommend the crab salad Kelli enjoyed it. Sunbake by pool in arvo then to Sabai Sabai for dinner. Booked Phi Phi trip and Fantasea with Maria.
Day 5 Fri 13th June
Hot sunny day
Went on speed boat to Phi Phi, snorkelling then Viking Caves, and Phi Phi Don for lunch. Unfortunately the lunch they put on was awful. Then to monkey Beach, Maya Bay (where they filmed The Beach it was beautiful. Off to Khai island then home. Was a bumpy ride but a good day out. Went to Coyote Mexican for dinner but was very disappointed. We paid 1200bt and to be honest had better Mexican food back home. Will stick to the lovely little Thai restaurants from here on in.
Day 6 Sat 14th June
Hot sunny day
Relaxation day. Unfortunately woken by rude people in next room who thought it would be ok to bump around move furniture all night then stand out on balcony at 5am about 6 of them and talk and carry on loudly!!
A mention to guest relations saw us moved to another part of the resort and upgraded to a deluxe room nice... later that day we even got a huge fruit platter delivered to the room from the hotel. Stayed by pool most of day, then to Family for dinner. Had our first Tuk Tuk ride back (150BT) as we were heading to Fantasea. We just booked the show and enjoyed it. Got a nice pic with a tiger cub as well.
Day 7 Sun 15th June
Hot sunny day
Hired a car for the day on Beach Rd. Made sure we had proper insurance etc.
Went into Phuket town but wasn’t that impressed, much prefer the towns by the beach. Checked out the big Buddha on the hill its nearly fully built. Wat Chalong temple very nice. Back to Patong and late lunch at The Orchids which is next to Family restaurant. This place is awesome and has a great menu lots of choices.
We had considered the fundraiser tonight but it was our only night we had available to do the Phuket night market. It was great, there are plenty of nice food stalls there. More choice of clothes here compared to Patong. We will have to do the fundraiser next year sorry Tina.
Day 8 Mon 16th June
Hot sunny day
I went off on my own for Scuba diving with Sea Bees diving through the resort. Went to Racha Yai Island had brekky and lunch on boat. Did 2 dives with Alex my german diving instructor. He was fantastic. Some amazing visibility and so many different tropical fish, sea turtles, eels, etc they had a photographer there too and got some great underwater pics on disc to take home. Kelli decided on the shopping/massage and sunbaking option for the day. Back to The Orchids for dinner then a wander along Bangla rd. OTOP was quiet tonight and picked up some good bargains.
Day 9 Tues 17th June
Another sunny hot day!
Pretty relaxed day took it easy, did some shopping got a massage and bought a nice big suitcase to fit it all in! Back to The Orchids for dinner had the grilled prawns tonight Yum.
Day 10 Wed 18th June
Very hot sunny day
Massage sunbake, then got some of our bigger purchases, Chloe handbag for Kelli Tag Heuer watch for myself. (well Good copies anyway) This was our last day in Patong. A beautiful sunset then dinner at The Orchids again. We got to know the staff very well by now and we were sad to be leaving them.
Day 11 Thurs 19th June
Off to Airport to BKK will post the rest of this report on the BKK section of the forum.
Sad to be leaving patong but we have already started planning our trip back for next year. We have plenty of photos and will try and set up a my space or something to put them all onto. Many people ask whether the shopping is better in BKK or Phuket, in short we found that some items we got better prices in Patong ie DVD’s and some clothes and souveneirs. We found a better range of jeans at MBK and got good prices there. I got watches at both and were both reasonable with choice and price. We thought handbags would be better in BKK however it was similar to Patong although probably more choices in BKK. We did find that in BKK they were less enthusiastic to barter as much. Will get back to you all with some pricing on all the nice goodies we got.
Adrian
|
| |
Editors Recommendations : Amari Coral Beach Resort |
|
Top
|
|
|
|
#72884 - 06/24/08 06:54 AM
Re: Really big Just Back report
[Re: Adey68]
|
Mooch
Member
Registered: 04/12/02
Posts: 211
Loc: Melbourne, Vic, Australia
|
|
Offline
|
|
Thanks Adrian, it is always great to hear of the experience of others on their travels. we are going next month and having never travelled during the low season would like to know how you felt the rain influenced you activities? Also what prices can youexpect to pay for handbags? I've been to Phuket a couple of times and never bought one - I thought I might give it a shot this time!
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#72886 - 06/24/08 07:02 AM
Re: Really big Just Back report
[Re: Mooch]
|
Adey68
Member
Registered: 02/05/08
Posts: 75
Loc: Queensland Australia
|
|
Offline
|
|
Well as you can see by the report we had pretty much perfect weather the bulk of the trip. The odd couple of days it did rain it didnt rain for long. We took 2 little umbrellas and had them in the backpack all the time just in case. I think we used them more to keep the hot sun off on some days than we did for the rain. The great thing that we found being low season was that it just wasn't crowded. Some nights in OTOP market there was few people there and we got some good bargains. Only bought the 1 handbag in Phuket which was a very good quality Large leather Chloe Bag (latest style) Paid 1650 Baht $53AUD I think we got a good price as the boss overrode the guy selling it to us and he wasnt happy to let it go for that price. We ended up getting more bags in BKK however we saw some just as nice bags in Patong and paid similar prices.
Adrian & Kelli
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#72891 - 06/24/08 10:35 AM
Re: Really big Just Back report
[Re: Adey68]
|
TinaPerth
Forum Devotee
Registered: 12/15/05
Posts: 804
Loc: Perth/Phuket
|
|
Offline
|
|
No worries, Adrian. At least you cancelled instead of having the driver go searching for someone that was never there to pick up as happened the other week.
'Glad you had a great trip.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#72893 - 06/24/08 11:14 AM
Re: Really big Just Back report
[Re: TinaPerth]
|
CathyP
Member
Registered: 11/15/04
Posts: 643
Loc: Australia
|
|
Offline
|
|
Great report Adrian, the weather has been so good hasnt it, (except for today, it rained most of last night and today but was lovely and a bit cooler) Looking forward to hearing what prices you paid for all your goodies.
Cathy
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#72908 - 06/24/08 08:27 PM
Re: Really big Just Back report
[Re: CathyP]
|
Adey68
Member
Registered: 02/05/08
Posts: 75
Loc: Queensland Australia
|
|
Offline
|
|
Have just posted the final part of the trip in the BKK general forum. Cathy, I will have the pricing up in a few days. Just setting up somewhere to put all the pictures onto for people to have a look.
Adrian
Edited by Adey68 (06/24/08 08:28 PM)
Edit Reason: Spelling opps
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#72919 - 06/25/08 12:19 AM
Re: Really big Just Back report
[Re: Adey68]
|
JACK64
Member
Registered: 03/29/06
Posts: 40
Loc: Syd
|
|
Offline
|
|
Hi Adrian & Kelli great report is The Orchids & The Orchid Garden restaurants the same we have eaten at the Orchid Garden before and was wondering and if not then where is the Orchid also does anyone know if you can buy cheap flippers & snorkels over there or would it be easier just to take them.
Many thanks Jacqui
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#72920 - 06/25/08 01:02 AM
Re: Really big Just Back report
[Re: JACK64]
|
Adey68
Member
Registered: 02/05/08
Posts: 75
Loc: Queensland Australia
|
|
Offline
|
|
Orchid Garden is on Ratu Thip Rd and The Orchids is on Soi Dr Wattana off Beach Rd. There are cheap flippers and snorkels here but if you have a good set bring it. We will be bringing our own next year. The ones on the trips were average and let water in etc.
Adrian
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
|
#72921 - 06/25/08 01:50 AM
Re: Really big Just Back report
[Re: Adey68]
|
TracyC
Member
Registered: 06/16/08
Posts: 19
Loc: victoria australia
|
|
Offline
|
|
where to start!!! That was fantastic, i enjoyed reading all about your trip. We leave at the end of july for our first trip to phuket also, so it was great hearing about your 1st adventure. Tell me how did you organise for you car transfer to be waiting for you? i have to say the way you set about bartering is great... I will follow that guide line...please let me know when you post the price guide tracy
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
Moderator: CathyP, Darrin, Faa, Neil, AWD-Peter, AWD-Alan
|
0 registered
and 24 anonymous users online.
|
|
6516 Members
19 Forums
17030 Topics
69070 Posts
Max Online: 175 @ 07/13/07 08:24 AM
|
|
|
