Car Hire Thursday Part 2

We found a turn off to a resort and a sign post to a Turtle shopping centre and ended up having cake and milkshakes at the Coffee Club.

We had a closer look at the beach but with the tide being quite high the beach is quite steep so we headed back to Nai Yang where we were on the 1st day. This probably the best beach this side of the the island the atmosphere is good and much more relaxed and almost no pestering from beach sellers and massage parlours. we spent a couple of hours here.

Probably too late in the day we headed of to Rawai and the cape at the south of the island.

We stopped of half way for some shopping.

When we came out it was dark but we still headed to Rawai the boys fell asleep and the traffic was quite busy but easy enough only 1 wrong turn. We got to Rawai could not see much so continued on. William woke up with an ear ache as he had water trapped in his ear. Eventually got back to Patong at about 9pm.
Next problem was to find parking for the car over night but the Hotel staff sorted this and it was parked a couple of streets away. Most of the main streets have parking only on one side which changes on odd and even days so you can get caught out if not up early.
Thought it best to get William looked at by a doctor but could not find one open so spoke to a pharmasist and got some ear drops for 120 Baht.

Phuket Car Hire Thursday

We decide to hire a car for today so booked yesterday for a 10am pick up across the road from the Salathai  Hotel.
1400 Baht / day inc insurance for a little Honda Jazz
Rush hour over so hopefully very little traffic to negotiate. Headed of north out of Patong along the beach rd towards the Tonsai Waterfall just out side of Thalang.
The water fall is in a little National park area that required an entrance fee of 200 baht / adult and 100 baht/ child.
The  main information board is not easy to find but is on the left as you start up the hill there is a 600m short walk or a 2km full walk.

The walk up is mostly on stepping stones on or close to the water the path is over grown in places and fallen trees have not been cleared away for months.
This a great way to loose a couple of kilos in sweat alone.
We saw plenty of different butterflies and couple of larger lizards and 3 squirrels for those at the from of the walk. The walk back down is easy straight down the path.
We were told to be careful of the plants as some can irritate and a few are covered with thorns which you can easily brush along.

We got back to the car and started it up to get the air con working again to have some relief.

We set of to the north of the island to the area Mai Khao which is just north of the airport we saw the beach on this area from Nai Yang on our 1st day. We found the turn off from the main road and started to head to the beach and looking for somewhere to buy lunch or get some fresh fruit. We found the beach down a little soi but nothing to eat. Headed back to some shops on the minor road to get some but surprisingly this was hard we managed some apples and a Mango then back to the main road for better shops.

 

Phi Phi Island Cruise

We had  booked a 7.15am pick up for the day cruise to Kho Phi Phi Island.
This meant a hearty breakfast yes bacon and eggs. The mini bus picked us up on time for the transfer to the port at Phuket City.
We had not been recommended this trip only that a big boat was more comfortable than a speed boat as the sea can have a bit of a swell which it did.
We arrived and were transferred onto the ship probably about 8:15 found some seats or rather some white plastic garden chairs after 10 minutes we realized why they were vacant was because they were in the sun. 45 minutes later when the boat departed we were already over sitting in the sun but the tarpaulin sunshade did not cover the whole deck area but was was positioned perfectly to stop any breeze cooling you off.
See the full review here http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g293920-d1887234-r136534302-Phi_Phi_Cruiser-Phuket.html#REVIEWS
Spent the next 1 1/2 hours watching the speed boats wizz past and trying to cover up under a sarong.

The trip was to take in "The Beach" made famous by Leonardo De Caprio Movie but due to the size of the vessel it could not get closer than about 500 m but you could not see much of the beach any way as it was full of the 10 min day trippers and their speed boats. Soon after we docked at Kho Phi Phi and as we had booked the snorkeling part of this trip we transferred to a smaller boat which took us of to a part of the harbour probably no more than 500 metres away.

 we had a bout 45 minutes of snorkeling which was quite good as it was the kids first real snorkeling despite the sea snake and Emily panicking a bit this went well.
Back to the big boat and then off to lunch which was at the Phi Phi Island Hotel which was more than adequate for lunch and was a lazy susan affair and about 10 dishes which were replenished several times.

We did not realize that Phi Phi Island was so developed but much would have been after the Tsunami as many shops and restaurants  appeared to be in newer buildings. With little time before departure we headed to the beach and a quick swim between the long tail boats and a mess around with some under water photos.

We got aback to the boat a found no seats left and realized that this was the reason for other people constantly wandering about on our outward journey. We found some space on the lower deck to sit in the floor but this area was pretty good as it was air conditioned.

James Bond Island Phang Nga Bay Part 1

James Bond Island

Part 1
The mini bus picked us up promptly right after our early breakfast.
I guess it was a 45 minute ride to the Pa Khlok Pier which is at the North East corner of Phuket.

The boat is fairly large and oldish but I would be surprised if there were more than 50 tourists and at least a dozen crew.
The boat headed of north into the heart of Phang Nga Bay.
Phang Nga Bay  is a 400 km² bay in the Andaman Sea between the island of Phuket and the mainland of the Malay peninsula of southern Thailand. Since 1981, an extensive section of the bay has been protected as the Ao Phang Nga National Park. Limestone cliffs with caves, collapsed cave systems and archaeological sites are found about Phang Nga Bay. Some 10,000 years ago, when sea levels were lower, one could walk from Phuket and Krabi.Courtesy Wikipedia.
The 1st part is a little cruise of about 45 minutes to a cave which actually goes in about 50 metres and comes out further along the cliff however because of the high tide we could not go right thru. The crew provide flash lights and point out the various points of interest although the Bats hanging from the roof need no pointing out as you can smell the Guano.

 At each stop the crew get out some sea kayaks and paddle you around the various locations. Some stops can get a bit congested as 2 or 3 boats can be at each location at a time

 Another 20 minutes takes us to our second location which is a hidden inlet again with various rock formations.

 Lunch was next although not overly exciting with the fish being over cooked like most fried food in Thailand it was OK

Club Med Wednesday

Phuket, Thailand shore. From south to north (close to distant): Kata Noi Beach, Kata Beach, Karon Beach. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Club Med Wednesday


We have to get the kids into kids club 1st thing as we have an appointment with the dentist this means a short bus trip to the neighbouring beach town of Karon. There is a bus service that runs from Kata to Karon then onto Phuket Town the cost is 30 baht for any part or all of the trip.

The dentist was a good trip and and a clean and check for mum was 1000 baht and a clean and a small chip filled and an x-ray and clean for myself 1300 baht probably about 1/3 of the price in Australia

We head back to the beach for bit of a look see.
Karon Beach is much longer than Kata but has a dead section in the middle.

There are hotels and restaurants that are closed for refurbishment but appear to have shut down. The beach is quite dirty in places again with closed or derelict beach cafes and the surf brings lots of plastic particles to the high tide

The evening is again spent back at spent at Club Med

Sunday at Club Med

Up reasonably early for our first breakfast a mix of various asian, continental, cereal  and bacon and eggs.

Then off to book the kids into Kids Club and hopefully the rest of the day to ourselves.

We headed out of the complex and into the local streets where Mum finds some shopping.

And we take a stroll around Club Med.

Nai Yang

Nai Yang
Had booked in advance a small family run hotel close to the airport in Phuket

The rooms came with a free airport transfer as it is literally less than 5 minutes in the car.

Tanamas House Hotel has rooms at from about $22 / night.

We booked in  at about 10.30 pm local time making the whole travel time about 21 hrs

We booked Tanamas Hotel because it had a good rating on trip advisor and Agoda we werent disappointed.

Rooms were large and the bathroom similar. We had what appeared two newer rooms but were across the lane way
from the original Thai style rooms.
Our only fault was that the beds were too hard.

The kids woke up earlier than expected and complained that they were hungry. We had not booked breakfast with
 the rooms as we thought that the walk of about a km to the beach would be enough to get up an appetite.
We had arranged to checkout at about 9 am ish and they would look after our bags until our return at about 2 pm
for the taxi transfer to Kata Beach at the southern end of the island.

It is hot here about 31'c but the humidity is high and looks and feels like jungle.
Phuket is far more green and lush than I previously remember from 16 years ago.
 which is at the start or the national park
A short walk with the kids whinging its too hot  and I am hungry doesn't help.

Everything seems to be pretty quite for about 9 in the morning.
We reach the juction where the road hits the sea front and the National park starts 1 way and the main part of the beach the other. I had checked out on street view earlier so I new there would be some places to eat.
Everything appeared to be closed from the night before some of the beach restaurants were starting to clean up
but most were seafood or Pizza.

Nothing was open so we back tracked to the junction where we found a little cafe called Bread and Butter had open
up and was the only chance for breakfast apart from the small 7 11 type store we had passed.

 We each had scrambled egg on toast with bacon  and some juice of various flavours.
And two teas to go.

A short stroll across to the beach forshore I spied some local wild life teathered to a tree.
Without telling the kids we approached the large Water Buffalo.

He was bit smelly and the kids did not want to  give him a pat.

The kids were more impatient to get to the beach and have a swim.

Part of Nai yang beach is a bit rough for young kids but the southern part improves the further along one goes.
There is a swim between the flags section available but the Life Guard was having an easy day as I think anybody
that was swimming at this time was not between the flags.
Nai Yang beach is a pleasantly quiet beach only about 6-700 meteres long no sellers hasseling you.

To the north just around the little headland the beach continues in to the distance with only a couple of figues
in the distance.

The sea is warm around 24'c and pleasure to get in.

My self and the boys were in the sea and Nicola and Emily were on the beach Nicola trying to get some sleep we had
a bout 3 hrs to kill

Next I observed Emily and Nicola trying to shooo a young water buffalo that had wandered on to the beach and was sniffing the bags.

The buffalo was quite relaxed about patting it a first but then became quite frisk and started buck and
jump around abit.

another family with young kids that had arrived on the beach about 50 metres away started to look a little
nervous as the Buffalo wandered across
to investigate.

The boys had taken to the sea and then a local appeared and encouraged it back to where it had come from.

Plenty more swimming in the sea and chasing the shade up the beach was all that was left to do.
Until one of the boys picked up a coconut then I had to start and peal it. This took about 20 minutes until
finally we were able to crack the coconut against a tree. I took a bite of the coconut and managed to
chip/crack my bottom front tooth. Oh well not to worry I had booked a dentist for a few days time.

Harry was obviously tired and wanted to go home so we packed up and strolled past the market that was setting up
had an ice cream and wandered back to the hotel for our taxi.

The local Nai Yang Wat
The taxi was the a family car that took us to Kata this took about an hour in time for our 3pm check in a Club Med Phuket.