Day 3 – The journey home *last day*

We started off our journey back at 8 o'clock in the morning after we had our morning breakfast. Again, I slept during the whole journey while listening to mp3s.

We only stop halfway at Thrang to shop for some local foods. I bought quite a few tit-bits for colleagues and family. Before we really say goodbye to Thailand, we make one last stop at Hatyai for lunch.

The place where we had our lunch in Hatyai


Went across the road for this Chinese temple




Food is served

According to one of the Singaporean travelers, sugarcane with added sui boi (preserved plum) is one of the specialty drink in Singapore. Since she seems to be so convincing, I gave it a try…but take my word for this, the taste is awful.

Sugarcane with added sui boi

After lunch, we split up for shopping around Hat Yai before we head back to Penang. Reach Penang around 10pm...tired yet a fun and exciting trip! Met few extra people and a great experience. This is really a trip to remember!!

Day 2 – The night is still young

Upon arrival at our hotel, all of us rushed to respective room for quick shower. Each only allowed a 15 minutes bath; hence all are required to meet at lobby 30 minutes later. Why in such a hurry? Oh well, we are heading to Phuket! Gosh…the decision was kinda last minute but isn’t that’s the fun of it? Phuket is not included in our original plan; again this is one of our unplanned plans.

Exactly 30 minutes later, everyone boarded the F1 van and off we go. I was asleep for the whole journey till we crossed over to Phuket Island. The distance from Phang Nga to Phuket is just approximately 45 minutes. Stomach started to growl when we finally reached a local Thai restaurant for dinner. Food was served and in less than 30 minutes, all plates was empty…that showed how hungry were we.

We then proceed to Patong, the most happening place at night in Phuket. The place where once hit by Tsunami which caused thousands of life and some still missing till today. Been more than a year since the tragic incident and life at Patong is back to normal.

The famous walkway


Precautionary action being taken after the tidal wave incident in Dec 2004


What's next?


Foreigners can be seen everywhere flocking pubs and bars.


I had a blueberry ice cream...


and a local roti canai kinda like pancake

We didn’t stay there for long, so roughly around 11pm we meet back and head back to our hotel for a good night rest. The next day will be the journey home *sad*

Day 2 – Oh hey, it’s not so bad after all…

After one whole day of snorkeling, it’s time to wave goodbye to Similan Islands. We boarded back the same speed boat that we came with, and headed back to Khao Lak Jetty. I was having a hell of a time enjoying the scenic view while allowing the warm breeze running through my sticky-salted-hair when the boat gradually slowed down.

A young guide sleeping

Passengers started to question each other…wondering why the boat stop right in the middle of the sea. The boat Caption then checked on the boat and guess what?! The boat is out of petrol?! Wait a minute; aren’t they supposed to have a spare tank of oil or something? Great! They don’t, so we have to call for backup. So everyone were actually stranded in the middle of the sea. This is one hell of an experience!!

The guide told us if we are lucky enough, we might get to see some dolphins. Well, looks like today is not our lucky day, there’s not even a single sign of fish, what’s more to say about dolphins. To compensate to our disappointment, the guide showed us a video of two dolphins swimming alongside with the speed boat from his handphone. Gosh…how I wish I get to experience this moment…sigh…

Almost an hour past….but there is still no sign of our backup boat in sight, where are they? I am so tired from the whole day snorkeling…I need a nice warm shower. Our night trip to Phuket seems impossible now. We had actually planned to go to Phuket for dinner provided we can reach back hotel early. But now, we are still no where…

Looks like the sun is getting tired too…time for Mr Sun to go for a rest after a long hot day. For the first time in my life, never had I seen such a beautiful sunset before. Thus, this unfortunate event actually turned out to be once in a lifetime experience for me. With the big round sun and an orange red sky as backdrop…the view is just simply breathtaking.

Simply breathtaking...

Our backup finally came to our rescue. Passengers are requested to switch to a bigger but slower boat. The speed boat then tied up to the tail and drag from behind.

Our rescue boat


Speed boat tied to the tail of bigger boat

The sea slowly blanketed Mr. Sun for a good night rest. Finally the jetty is in sight. The return journey was delayed for more than an hour. From far, our F1 driver is waiting for us anxiously. He had initially tried to call our handphones, but unfortunately there is no signal coverage in the middle of the sea.

Khao Lak Jetty during sunset

Head back to hotel in Phang Nga. Along the way, we are discussing on whether we still want to go to Phuket for our dinner….

Day 2 - After lunch...

Our lunch was rather quick and simple. Then, we were told that we get to climb to the highest point for us to catch an overall view of the wonderful sceneries from the peak. When I look up, my mouth drop open and I even asked the guide, "Do we really have to climb up there with just barefooted?" The guide just nodded and smiled back at me with a simple "Yes!".

The view from the bottom

So, with full charged energy and stomach bursting from the lunch barely 20 minutes ago, we followed the guide to climb the rocks. The pathway up is kind of steep and with us not allowed to wear any shoes/slippers, making the climbing even more challenging. The rocks was hot and the surface was rough and jagged.

Start point of the pathway to the top

One foreign old lady was gasping for breath while climbing to the top. When reached the second highest point, I can see that she has used up all the energy she got. Looking down below…the view was awesome. We stop for few photo shots before we joined the rest to further climb to higher point.

Crystal blue water

White sandy beach

Wooden stairway leading to higher peak

The view down below was magnificent and it’s really worth it to climb up this high.

Shots from the peak

After we have had enough fun at the peak, we head back down to the beach to soak in the crystal clear water. There were friendly fishes swimming nearby us. Our last stop is at Island No.7 for us to play with the sea water and walk along the white sand beach.

Not much corals here...but just crystal clear water

That's us...playing with the wave

At nearly 5pm, we already on our way heading back to Khao Lak Jetty.

*continue in next post

Day 2 – To Similan Islands

My handphone alarm rang at 6.15am; disturbed us from our deep sleep but indicating the start of a new day. It’s time to get all set for our next destination. My roomie woke up to have her shower first while I’m allowed for at least 15 minutes of extra sleep (come on….a minute of sleep in the morning almost equals to an hour during night time…alright, I’m exaggerating …but I still need my sleep!! LOL). After a while, in my half awake mode I heard my roomie called out “Girl, are you already awake? It’s your turn to shower”. Argghhh....reluctantly, I had to drag myself out from bed, then headed for shower. Fifteen minutes later, both of us were already on our way down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast, where I realised some of the members had started their morning meals. We just had a quick breakfast and half an hour later, we were already on our way heading Khao Lak Jetty. Took us about 45 minutes drive to reach just the Jetty (and still need another one and a half hours journey by speed boat to reach the islands). If you still can recall, our driver drove F1 van; therefore the journey from our hotel to Jetty may be longer than just a mere 45 minutes for normal driver. Yet, the tar roads there aren’t bumpy at all, unlike Penang; it’s like riding on a horse. Hence, makes the traveling more comfortable although at such a fast speed.

Khao Lak Jetty - where we will take a speed boat to Similan Islands


Sampans and fishing cages by the Jetty

While waiting for our speed boat ride, we were treated with some biscuits and coffee or tea (self served) by the tour agent. The one day trip package actually includes beverage, lunch, snorkeling gears, insurance and entrance fees (The Thai government has imposed strict condition to entry into Similan so as to keep the islands pristine). All the 9 people from my group took the first class seats on the speed boat i.e the front un-shaded area - first class view but also free first class tanning services.

Approaching Koh Similan (the largest island)


The underwater is full of rock formations and coral reefs with an average depth of 60 feet

We were allowed to snorkel at two different locations by Island No. 9 and No. 8 where the underwater view was as magnificent just as if I am entering an underwater castle. Sadly, my camera is not waterproof hence all the breathtaking sceneries underneath are just captured and locked in my mind. Apart from that, we also passed by Island No. 4 (namely Mieng Islang) where there is a rock formation with the shape of an old man with two kids sitting beside him.

Then we headed back to Island No. 8 for lunch.

* continue in next post

Day 1 - Before we call the day to an end...

We went back to hotel room for a nice warm shower after the long full day. I allowed my roomie to take her shower first while I sat down on the tiled floor (as I was wet while kayaking...sigh...amateur ma) glimpse back all the pictures taken during the short sightseeing trip at Phang Nga National Park. Hmmm....200 pictures taken….not bad for the first day. Then I realized that we have two Nemo (tropical clown fish) in our room. Okay…not the real live fishes but just design printing on the refrigerator…my first time to see designed refrigerator in hotel room though.

There is nothing much to do during night time in Phang Nga town. Unlike Phuket, Phang Nga is a quiet little town. One of the famous landmark in Phang Nga is Khao Chang or also known as Elephant Mountain – a large hill in the form of a kneeling elephant. There is a cave called Phung Chang (a.k.a Elephant Belly Cave) within the mountain. The cave is accessible with water raft where the insides contains stalagmites and stalactites, and water that runs all year round.

Elephant Mountain taken from different angle

So nothing for us to do on our first night?! Luckily one of the guys brought game cards, so we decided to meet up an hour later after shower in one of the team’s room to play some card games. When I'm done with my long relaxing shower, my roomie and I went knocking on one of the team's room to start our battle for the night. There are only five of us, the rest didn’t turned up…too tired I believe. They must have doze off while showering or straight went to bed without shower....yucky....hahaha!! Well, since the night is still young...We played ‘Bluff’. How the game works? Simple. Well, the cards are to be distributed equally till finished. Then one player will start by covering up the cards while mentioning the numbers (or pictures) of cards to other players. The player can either bluff about the actual contents of the cards or just straight for the truth. The second player sitting beside then has the rights to open up the stack of card if he/she felt that the first player is telling a lie. If the instinct is correct, then the first player need to take back all the cards on floor. Then the second player to start all over again. Hmmm…seems like I just make this games sounds more complicated with my tedious explanation. Hahaha…well, next time join me and I will explain on how to play this game. We actually played for four rounds and laugh till we can’t stand anymore before we head back to our own room.

Jumps straight to my bed and with less than three seconds...I was knocked out!!

Day 1 - Journey to Phang Nga

We started off early in the morning at 5am. Our transport....11 seated chartered van. At the same time, that’s when I get to know my fellow travelers for the first time and my temporary roommate for two nights. Exchanged a few ‘hellos’ with them and brief introduction of ourselves. Once the van started the engine, almost instantly, I snoozed off to sleep, basically since I didn’t sleep at all the whole night before.

Our first stop is at Changloon where we had our breakfast and change of Thai Baht. Then we proceed to cross the border into Thailand. The immigration area was packed with big tour buses. Hundreds of people queued up while waiting for immigration to stamp on their passport. While waiting in queue line, suddenly a warning notice board caught my attention. (Refer to the below picture)

So what is the actual penalty for overstaying in Thailand? You have to take 500 times of BATH a day if overstayed for a night... hahaha.... Okay, I admit it myself, prior to this I do sometimes confuse with the correct spelling but I bet I can remember how to spell BAHT correctly after this laugh *wink* (The correct spelling supposed to be BAHT)

Finally, we got through immigration after in queued for about 30 minutes before we get to continue our way northeast. Knowing that it’s going to be a very long journey before we can reach our destination, I continued back my sleep while blasting my ear with the mp3 player loaded with all my favorite songs. Sometimes woke up in between of sleep to chit chat with my newly-formed friends. While other times, played with the special functions of my camera when was too bored (still a newbie with my camera).

Shots taken from inside the van...

Raining...sigh

Thankfully the rain stopped...

The whole journey took us approximately 9 hours including stops for petrol and answers to some nature calls…The excitement was getting more when we finally arrived at Phunga Hotel – where we will be staying for the next two days.

We unpacked and check-in to our respective rooms. Since, we are way earlier than we expected to arrive (thanks to the driver who drove F1 van…averagely 140kmph all the way *I wonder what was his childhood dream – to become F1 driver perhaps*, we proceed to our ‘unplanned’ plan (where unless we have enough time, we will explore a bit of Phang Nga Bay National Park a.k.a James Bond Island). We gathered back at hotel lobby 30 minutes later where each of us forked out another 800 baht to pay for the boat ride and national park fees. Then off we go....

Phang Nga Jetty ~ our boat ride

Rocks formation

Tham Lod Grotto - a cave in Takua Thung with beautiful stalagmites and stalactites

We get to go through the center cave with kayak

Enjoying the view in kayak

Untouched...undisturbed sceneries

Man walking in the middle of the sea

We then headed to Khao Phing-Kan (the name means literally leaning mount). No doubt the place represents it's name very well. There is really a huge rock which split into two where the smaller half has slide down and the remaining one appears now to be leaning. (see pictures below)

Through Kao Phing-kan is a very small island called Khao Tapoo which was made famous by James Bond movie hence a.k.a James Bond Island (pictures below) Tapoo means nail, and this shoreless rock projects up from the sea as its name implies flat and wide at the top, and very narrow at waterline. The sight is simply magnificient.

The famous James Bond rock where The Man with the Golden Gun was partly filmed here.