One Day Tour around Phuket

On our last day in Phuket, we rented a van from Daj cost 2,300 baht, including hotel pick up, one day tour around Phuket and also an airport transfer. We shared our cost with other Indonesian traveller we met on our first day tour to Phi Phi island. So every person only paid 250 baht, including the tip.

The other group stayed at APK resort Patong. So after picked them up at their hotel, we began our tour by visiting Kata & Karon view point. Before reaching the view point, we passed Kata area, with so many cafes and shophouse along the road. Hmmm..next time I visit Phuket, I will be staying in Kata area:)

The viewpoint was free of charge. From the top we could see Kata and Karon Beach.

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Banzaan Market Phuket

Banzaan market in Patong area, during the day time sells fresh food like fruit (fruits, veggies, meats), but in the evening when the market is closed, we could find street food outside the market.

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Another Sunset at Promthep Cape

It was our second visit to Promthep Cape, and glad that we could enjoy another beautiful sunset just like our first visit. This time we rented van from Daj, which cost THB 1,500 for 8 hours. We left our hotel at 2pm, shop at Home Pro Village, then at about 5 pm we were heading to Promthep Cape. We arrived there at 5.30 pm (sunset was at 6.30 pm), and to have a different view than our first visit, we decided to walk down the hill to the end of the cape. And these were the view we enjoyed from "the end of Phuket"

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Phuket Weekend Market

I always love market anywhere in the world! I am excited to see how the local shop, and also to see all the unique stuffs I can found there. So visiting weekend market, night market, etc will always be in my itinerary. When I knew there's a weekend market in the Phuket Old Town, and that I will still be in Phuket during the weekend, it's for sure included in my itinerary.  

We rented a van to go to the weekend phuket market from Daj (kanidash@hotmail.com). We visited the market after we went to the Promthep Cape to see the sunset. It's about 40 minutes drive from the Prompthep Cape to the Phuket Old Town. When we got there, it was really crowded that our driver couldn't find a parking place for his van. We promised to meet at the meeting point (well, it's a toilet at the end of the parking place:p) after we called him.

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Review of Simplitel Hotel at Karon Phuket

This is the hotel we choosed for our Phuket May trip; Simplitel Hotel at Karon Phuket. As always, I search the hotel through Tripadvisor. Having read all the positive reviews of this hotel, we were sure that Simplitel Hotel at Karon Phuket will be a good hotel for us. By the way, we didn't want to stay at Patong area, because it is too crowded, and we didn't like the Patong beach. That's why we choose to stay at Karon instead. 

We got their 40% off booking in advance rate. We booked the hotel in Feb 2012, 4 nights at the deluxe rooom cost IDR 450,000 (USD 45) per night including breakfast. The deluxe room was very spacious with a very clean bathroom, and also it has a balcony overlooking the hills, with the Big Budha on the top of it.

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Pha Nga Bay Tour by Speedboat

We decided to take the Speedboat tour instead of the Big Boat tour to go to Pha Nga Bay, although the price was more expensive. The Speedboat tour was THB 1,300 per person while the big boat was around THB 1,000 per person. I asked suggestion to Miss Ladda before booking the tour. She said better to take the speedboat tour, beside it’s faster, it also stop at Panyee “the floating village” for lunch. While for the Big Boat tour lunch will be provided on the boat.

We were picked up early at 7.30 am, and the van continued picking up other guests in the Patong area. We had to wait about 20 minutes for one group staying at Milenium Hotel Patong, oh no..so annoying:p It was a long journey to the Pier, giving us an opportunity to sleep. We arrived at the Pier at about 9.15am. It was a sunny day, so we bought hats while waiting at the Pier.

After waiting for 30 minutes, we were informed that it was our turn to get into our speedboat. We had to walk and cross the bridge, while the bigger group were transferred by songtheauw..not fair! But thanks to our new hats.

at the pier

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Phuket Day 2: Phi Phi Island tour

On the day we were planned to take a tour to Phi Phi Island, we were picked up by a van at 8 am sharp. When we got in, there were already 6 other tourists in the van, and after we began "where do you come from" conversation, we knew that all of us were coming from Indonesia. It is because we booked the tour through Miss Ladda, so that explains why we could be in one van:p 

Within 20 minutes we arrived at the Rassada Pier. We were given a green sticker, which has two numbers on it; one number is our speedboat number, and the other number is for the lunch table number. The tour agency provided coffee break at the Pier. But we just had our breakfast at the hotel. There are also some little shops at the Pier. Bread for the fish feeding activity is also sold at the Pier. The tour guide explained that the masker for snorkeling will be provided, but if we want to rent the fin for snorkeling, we have to rent it at the pier cost THB 100.

The preparation

TomTom - our guide

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Arrival at Phuket: From Airport to Karon Beach

Our Air Asia flight from Jakarta was delayed for 1 hour, so we arrived at Phuket International airport at 7.30 pm. After the immigration, we went to the Truemove sim card booth which was very crowded. Truemove has many options to choose. The blackberry ('bb') service cost only THB 100 for 3 days and THB 150 for 7 days. We choose the 7 days bb package, and activate our bb at the counter.

We were so glad that Daj picked us up at the airport. We sent him email just one day before we left Jakarta but got no reply from him. He was holding a sign with my name on it. His van is huge for the 4 of us! We were directly transferred to our hotel at Karon. It took about one hour before we finally reach our hotel. Simplitel is a new hotel, Daj had to make two phone calls to the hotel before he could find the hotel:p

We were really impressed with the hotel. Everything looks modern, new and simple. Our room was very spacious and clean. No wonder it has many positive reviews on tripadvisor. A full review of this hotel will be post when I am back from my phuket holiday.

After checking in, we went outside the hotel to find halal food. We only found one stall of banana pancake, and also one indian muslim resto. We tried the banana pancake for THB 50, delicious! Rona tried the indian food, but she was dissappointed with the taste.

That night we met Miss Ladda to pay all of our tour. She came an hour late because of she has many Indonesian guest to meet that night, all staying at Patong. So I was the only one staying at Karon, and that's why she came late after meeting so many Indonesian groups. We paid our Phi Phi island and James Bond Island tour. Ladda said that the pick up on the next morning will be at 8.10 am and we have to be ready by 8 pm at the hotel lobby.

written on May 17, 2012 by @tesyasblog


Next Post:
Phuket Day 2: Phi-Phi Island Tour

Previous Post:
Phuket Trip Preparation

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Phuket Trip May 2012 - The Preparation

This is our other May trip, and this year we decided to go to Phuket with my best friend and also our travel partner; Rona Willis and her husband Naji. Yes we always travel in May to celebrate our anniversary and also because there has always been a long weekend in May for the last two consecutive years. Rona booked the Air Asia flight one year in advance, in total with the meals, the return ticket cost IDR 2,000,000 for two person. Not the cheapest price but still considered cheap, especially because we got ticket for the long weekend:) Our flight was on Wed at 4 pm, Thu is holiday, Friday we took a one day leave, and our return flight from Phuket is on Sun at 7 pm. So we'll have full four days in Phuket.

On our first visit to Phuket (last year), we stayed at Ibis Patong, so this year we would like to try other area, either in Kata or Karon beach. After reading Tripadvisor review, I fell in love with Simplitel Hotel Phuket at Karon beach. It's a new and modern hotel, centrally located and it offers a 40% disc for the early booking. We booked their deluxe rooms for four nights and it cost us THB 11,520 for the two rooms, of course including breakfast.

This year the highlight of our visit will be the island hopping activities. I booked all of the tours through Miss Lada, as recommended by kaskus. I add her blackberry pin, and that way it's easy to get in touch with her. We booked Phi Phi island by Speed Boat tour for THB 1,100 per person (including hotel pickup and transfer and also lunch), and James Bond island tour by Speedboat for THB 1,300 per person. You can email me if you need her blackberry pin.

For the airport pickup and transfer, we book from the recommended driver at Tripadvisor forum; Daj (kanidash@hotmail.com). We also booked Daj last year but there was a miss-communication between me and Daj, resulting I was not able to meet him at the airport:p I hope I will see him at the airport tonight. The airport transfer cost 800 baht, while the sightseeing plus airport transfer on our last day cost 2,300 baht. Daj has an MPV which is enough for 10 person. There will only be 4 of us, so we'll have a big space.

We're still considering whether to see Fantasea show which cost THB 1,500 or to skip the show. Fantasea is expensive compared to the island hopping activities, but still cheaper than the Disney on Ice ticket we bought for our kids:p

So stay tune for our next posts as we'll be sharing our Phuket long weekend stories:) And also follow @tesyasblog as we will be sharing the pictures from our trip through our twitter account.

written on May 16, 2012

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Ibis Patong Beach

We only got one night in Phuket, so we didn’t think that much of where we were going to stay. Our friend Yenni Puspo recommend to stay at Ibis Patong as many of her friends stay there. When we check through Agoda, the rate was approx IDR 450,000 and we utilized our Agoda points. We had their best rate for IDR 250,000 nett per night exclude breakfast! So cheap.

We checked in at 10 pm that night, had no trouble with the check in, and we got a room with swimming pool view as we requested. Great! When we check out, there was one big group from Indonesia who have just arrived. The next morning we realize that lots of tour groups staying at this hotel.

The room is basic, but not very small compared to Ibis in Jakarta that we have stayed so far.The room was ok but need maintenance, there are some spots need to be painted and also water leaks. I might say this is a kind of an “ok hotel”, but didn’t give us the feeling to stay at this hotel on our next visit.

It has a balcony facing the swimming pool.

This is the aisle in front of the hotel.

We can easily find halal food near the hotel, and we ordered a pad thai for our supper.

The hotel is only 5 minutes away from the Patong Beach, this is the road heading to the beach.


We went to the beach after checking out, we just wanted to know how the famous Patong beach looks like. Maybe because we visited early in the morning, we didn’t impress at all, except that it is very clean.

Before visiting Patong, I thought that it would be more “happening” than Bali, but I found out that it was not. If I compare with Kuta area, or Legian area, or Seminyak area..all those places in Bali are more “happening” with the cafés, bars, hotels, restaurants, the shops than those in Patong.

Compare this picture of Patong Hard Rock Café with Bali hard rock café. The Bali hard rock café in Kuta is more sophisticated.

After visiting Phuket, I agree with people saying that Bali is a better place compared to Phuket. The beaches, the temples, the scenes are more beautiful in Bali. Phuket is more old-fashioned than Bali I might say. However I still want to go to Phuket one more time for the islands hopping activities

written on July 10, 2011

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Home Pro Village Phuket

On our way from Big Budha to Promthep Cape, we passed a mall called Home Pro Village, and we saw a Toys R Us inside the mall. So after the sunset at Promthep Cape, we went to this mall. We would like to buy toys for the kiddos:)

This is an open concept mall, with a unique architecture. Inside there are so many cafes and restaurants. The name Home Pro derived from a store selling home equipments just like Ace Hardware. It has also a KFC inside. So after buying some toys at what so called “express Toys R Us” we ended up having dinner at KFC.

I just love this place, this is a modern side of Phuket.

written on July 9, 2011

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Old Town Phuket

When we think about Phuket, first thing cross on our minds will be their sandy beach, the islands hopping, the parties and so on… But don’t ever forget to visit the Old Town Phuket, it offers something real different.

As Old Town Phuket is close to Phuket Bus Terminal, we went there in the morning before going to the airport using the Phuket Airport Bus at 10.30am. We intended to have breakfast at Old Town Phuket, taking pictures and just enjoying the ambience.

The journey from Ibis Patong to Old Town Phuket took approx.one hour with our rented Honda Click. We had to stop at Circle K to ask which way to go:p We were so happy when we found Central Festival shopping mall, yes we were on the right way! Old Town Phuket is a few minutes away from the Central Festival.

When we arrived at Old Town Phuket, we decided to take breakfast before continuing our taking picture session. We stopped at the coffe shop just across a Honda Dealer, just because the place was crowded. We thought that the food must be ok:p We ordered ice milk tea together with roti canai with chicken. The chef could ask us “ayam?” (chicken in indonesian language), so I guess many people coming either from Indonesia or Malaysia to his place.


Our breakfast was delicious, cheap and the most important thing: the food is halal:) No wonder many people come to this place, both tourist and local.



We continue walking and taking pictures. We left our motorcycle near the coffee shop and enjoying the little shops. There are many coffee shops, and most of them are halal. So easy to find halal food at Old Town Phuket.


We went to one street with many shops selling Indonesian Batik.


Don’t forget to take picture of the electricity wire. It is so unique!


At the western end of Rassada Road stands a traffic circle with a fountain which called the Suriyadate Fountain.


The most visited Soi will be the Soi Rommanee, the buildings: coffee shops, guesthouses, souvenir shops are colored beautifully. What I got from mr.google: Soi Rommanee was known as the alley where everyone knew that it was a street brothel. That’s why it was called ‘Rommanee’ (Rommanee in Thai is happiness, and I’m sure what does this happiness mean, don’t you?).


We found one really nice guest house at Soi Rommanee called Phuket346. We stopped there to have a glass of orange juice and also to have a toilet break. Another visit to Phuket, we promise ourselves to stay at Phuket346 guest house.


We didn’t have much time to explore the Old Town Phuket, but from our 2 hours visit, we might say that this place must include in any tourist itinerary when visiting Phuket.

written on July 7, 2011

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Promthep Cape

I might say this is the highlight of our visit in Phuket this time: the Promthep Cape. We were able to see beautiful sunset at the Promthep Cape. We went there after visiting the Big Budha, it was about 45 minutes drive with our Honda Click. We just follow the map and the signs to reach this place. Thanks God we didn't get lost.

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Big Budha

Our first stop with the rented motorcycle is the Central Festival shopping mall which is only 10 minutes away from the Phuket Bus Terminal. It is a huge shopping mall, with a huge parking space for motorcycle :) We didn't explore the entire mall though, we only had a quick lunch, than continued our journey to Promthep Cape. It was really hot at about 2 pm at Phuket, especially when you are riding a motorcycle! hehehe..
On our way to Promthep Cape, we saw the famous Big Budha, so we went there although from what I read, it is still under construction. We head up there with our Honda click, for sure you must be a good motorcycle rider to reach this place.


Yes it was still under construction, but many other tourist visited the place as well. There were so many donation box, the money collected will be used to continue the construction of the big budha.
We found this huge gamelan under the statue, and some tourist were trying to make a beatiful sound from the bell.


We started to climd the steps, and we reached the the top of the steps, we were right underneath the statue, and yes it was HUGE!


The view from the top is stunning, we could see some beaches from the top. For sure the Big Budha is well worth a visit.

written on July 2, 2011

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Phuket Airport Bus

We had no idea how to get around Phuket, so we checked on the tripadvisor forum for the recommended driver in Phuket. Then we found a driver named Daj who is recommended by many travelers. We send him email to kanidash@hotmail.com and he replied our email promptly saying that he is available on the dates we requested. As we have only one day in Phuket, we really wanted to do the islands hopping activity, and we realize that Phi Phi island is too far away. We googling whether it is doable to have a half day tour to Pha Nga bay. And yes it was, as long as we hire a longtail boat for our own. We asked Daj to manage a tour for us, and we got a great deal from him.

Unfortunately on the day we arrived at Phuket Airport, we went directly to the exit and search for a guy holding a sign with my name on it, but we couldn’t find Daj! Oh nooo… A day before we sent him email saying that we were in Bangkok already and confirmed him our arrival time and so on. Daj didn’t reply our last email, we thought maybe he was busy with other client. We waited outside the exit, people keep coming to us offering to take us somewhere with their car. We said no, we have our guy already. Rene went inside again to look for Daj once more, but still we failed to see him. We were so sad knowing that if we couldn’t find him, our plan to visit Pha Nga Bay has to be cancelled. Our mistake was that we didn’t have his phone number on our tab. It was because we had contact with Daj using email from my tab as well as from my office email. And the email with his phone number maybe somewhere in my office email.

When we arrived in Jakarta, we check our private email, still we got no email from him. But than the next Monday at the office, I got an email from Daj to my office email! Oh no..that's why we didn't receive any of his email to our tab. He told us his phone number to call etc, he told us that he waited at the airport but couldn’t find us… He is still a very nice guy and we hope someday to use his service. So if you are looking for recommended driver in Phuket, please send him an email.

Let’s continue our story on our first time ever arriving at Phuket Airport…. After a 20 minutes of waiting, we walked to the left side of the airport where we found a big sign of Phuket Airport Bus. We found this orange bus, we were not sure whether it is broken or not, we looked inside, no one was there. But the good news is, the aircon works! Hahah..So we got in, and people start to coming to the bus. After another 20 minutes waiting, the bust left the airport. We paid 85 baht on the bus, I guess it was the cheapest way to go to Phuket town. Taking taxi will cost approx 500-600 baht one from the airport to Patong beach.

The journey was quiet long, it took us 1 hour before we finally reach the Phuket Bus terminal. We decided that we are going to rent a motorbike, and just explore the city. We asked the co-driver how and where to rent a motorcycle, he couldn’t communicate in English, but from his gestures he asked us to stay on the bus. When we arrived at the bus terminal, the co driver told us where to rent a motorbike, so we walked to the place and asked the lady to rent a Honda matic. And I said, it must be Honda and not other brand. Oh yeaaahhh.. We got a Honda click, and it cost 250 baht for 24 hours, excluding gasoline. The lady kept Rene’s passport, and explained Rene how to go to Patong beach, as we told her that our hotel is in Ibis Patong. By the way Rene doesn’t have an international license, and still we can borrow a motorbike.

The Phuket bus terminal is close to Phuket Old Town, so it will be better if we stay in hotel around Phuket Old Town, take a motorbike from Phuket Bus Terminal, so when we return our motorbike, we can continue taking Phuket Airport Bus to the airport.

Our bus to Phuket Airport is better than our first bus. It parked on the same place where we arrived a day before, but this time it was quiet full. Local people use this bus also as they can stop on the way to the airport. This bus will pass the Central Festivals Mall, Lotus Supermarket, the factory outlet and so on. Yes we regret not able to visit Pha Nga Bay on our first visit to Phuket, but we also enjoy ourselves enjoying the city with motorbike.

written on June 21, 2011

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