You know it's gonna be an awesome trip...
And you know your holiday is gonna be awesome when your ride from the airport to the hotel is a Mitsubishi Evo 7 (I think)! And as expected, the driver thought he was the dude from Taxi, driving in-out-in-out. I for one was enthralled by the ride cos hey, if you're in a sports car, expect a ride like one right? Apparently but unsurprisingly though, my parents weren't too amused. About half an hour later we checked into the hotel which to my delight is right across the street from the famous Patong beach! For RM800 a person (including flight tix), the room we got was actually pretty nice.
Walkway to our hotel...
After that, we went out to do what most Malaysian's do on trips: jalan-jalan cari makan! Happen to pass an advert by the beach about a beach party going on for the duration I was there. And walking down a little more, I noticed that the stage was less than 50m from my hotel, talk about location x3!! Although I'm not much of a clubber and don't enjoy dancing, if I didn't go to this event, it will be a waste for sure!
Our timing couldn't be any better...
As we walked further down the street, it reminded me a lot of Chee Cheong Kai right here in KL cos of the many small shops selling fake goods like sunglasses, watches, shirts, jerseys, shoes and touristy stuff. One thing different though was between every 3-4 shops of those, sure got a massage parlour. Some looked 'professional' and legit while others looked dodgy and might even provide 'extra service'!
Safety first!...
Walking down a little further, we decided to try some local food at a restaurant on the beach. See, not many places back home where you can have good food with sand on your feet no? So we ordered some Pad Thai (their version of char kueay teow), papaya salad, seafood fried rice and some chicken soup kuey teow. The pad thai and papaya salad were that good that even when it burnt my mouth with the heat, I kept wanting more! The fried rice on the other hand, was in a league of its own. Being someone who loves fried rice and can make a pretty mean fried rice dish, this one totally pawns all before I've tasted - I think they must've added some fish sauce and sesame oil into the rice cos it was damn flavourful! Coupled with the fresh prawns and squid, absolutely awesome!
Things kicked off to a great start with the best fried rice I've tasted...
After a hearty brunch, we walked some more along a street where there were a LOT of bars and gogo clubs on either side but during the day, not much activity. My mom however, decided she wanted to have some beer to quench the thirst... at 1030am! Haha... and you people wonder why I like to drink and how I can hold my liquor (though I'm in NO way implying my parents are alcoholics k)! Once we finished our drinks, there was only one thing on my mind: SLEEP! So I headed back to the room for some much needed sleep while they went to the pool I think.
Patong Beach road day and night, right across our hotel...
Later in the evening, we walked along the beach, with me hoping to see some nudies (!) but sadly, all the hot young girls were all covered up at the appropriate areas... aih... Nvm la, went for the next best thing: food hunting. And there were many food stalls set up along the beach facing the street but since it was early, not many were open. Saw some local Thai food like pad thai, papaya salad, mango with sticky rice (awesome!) and some kuihs. Kept walking until I saw this:
Stopped dead in my tracks when I saw this...
RIBS!! Immediately told my dad that we HAVE to get some. Not that cheap though, counting by weight, a small portion in the picture below cost me 100baht (which is slightly more than RM11). Then again, the food here is not cheap, mostly KL-Bangsar-PJ prices but awesomeness is almost guaranteed!
Having ribs by the beach, can life get any better?...
For dessert (yes, tea time oso got dessert!) we had some mango with sticky rice which was just superb. I'm pretty sure its cos of the Thai rice lah, every rice dish here is just brilliant! There were also many stalls selling cocktails and beer there. I have to say, if the food was expensive, the drinks however, are cheap! 1 can/mug of beer only costs about RM4-5 while a bottle is only RM5-6. The cocktails were about RM9 a cup and I was on a mission to try as many as I could while I was there, hoping to get some inspirations for recipes along the way :D. And by the end of the trip, I must've
Apparently with a Mai Thai, it can...
Once we were done with that, we walked along the street, soaking in the sights and sounds. I was rather surprised that the Ang Moh tourists outnumber the locals by at least 25:1. Us Asians lagi no need to say lah... Felt more like in a place like Australia than Thailand actually, though I'm not complaining at all! haha.. far from it!!
Street carts have good food as well...
And unsurprisingly because of the influx of ang mohs, there were many western restaurants and chains like Burger King, McD, Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Haagen Daz, Subway (even phuket can hav, Mlk leh???) and loads of italian, western joints. We saw this cart on the street selling crepes and out of curiosity or rather greed, bought a Nutella+banana and a Lemon+sugar crepe. For RM4, not bad I have to say... especially the lemon one... tangy and refreshing!
Above: Nutella+Banana crepe Below: Lemon+Sugar crepe
After that we headed back to the hotel for some rest before dinner where we went to this authentic Italian restaurant called Marco Polo. You may wonder, how can there be an authentic Italian restaurant in Phuket? Well, if the owners and cook are Italian, that's enough for me. Still being quite filled from the day, we only ordered 1 starter of Prosciutto (Italian ham) with fresh mozzarella, 2 pizzas (one cheese and pepperoni and the other simple tomatoes, basil and cheese) and 1 fried squid dish.
Open pizza oven...
The ham dish was good though I my expectation of the cheese was rather let down. Possibly cos it was still cold so it couldn't stretch as much as I wanted. Though the very same cheese in the pizza manage to do just that. It was a good meal though I'm sure I could make pizzas as good if not better than those :P. For dessert, we had dark chocolate and Amaretto gelato which was good, wonder if it was home made o.O...
Clockwise from left: Prusciutto w/cheese, pepperoni cheese pizza, fried calamari, basil tomato cheese pizza
After dinner, we walked again to the street with bars and go-go clubs. And true enough, during the night, the whole street lit up with people. They literally closed that stretch of road so people were walking all over with promoters trying to drag you into those clubs all about as well. And we could see girls (?) dancing on poles from above. Not really interested cos you can never be too sure if what you see is what you get. I think there are more ladyboy dancers than actual female dancers!! But none the less, the view from the street was one to behold. Didn't get to go to the beach party that night partially cos was too tired and had to wake up early for the island hopping tour the next day.
Breakfast of champions...
Had to wake up at 6am the next day for breakfast before we went island hopping and snorkelling. Usually when I watch travel shows on tv, the host always says don't bother eating hotel food as the best food is usually right outside your doorstep. Sad to say, I did not follow this though breakfast at the hotel was pretty good. Pork sausages with cheese, freshly cooked omelettes with ham, cheese and mushrooms, BACON, ham, roasted potatoes, pretty good eh?
One packed beach...
So the rest of our day was taken up going to hotspots around Phuket which included Koh Phi Phi where they filmed The Beach starring LeoDiCap. Such a small stretch of sand yet so many people.. wtf.. Then we went for some snorkelling in the sea as well as at some nearby island. How I wish I had a water proof camera. There were so many fishes with bright and brilliant colours, even saw a parrot fish the size of my dog (maybe slightly bigger) with rainbow colours!!
Gorgeous looking fishes...
For dinner that night, we went to this Thai restaurant down the street called Savoey which is one letter short of a famous restaurant called the Savoy in London owned by Gordon Ramsay! We ordered a Green Curry Chicken, Fried Red Snapper with Garlic n black pepper sauce, Kangkung with Chilli, Tom Yam soup and Crab Tanghoon. The one I loved most has to be the green curry! Simply awesome.. and the tom yam and kangkung dishes were like most thai dishes, spicy but you still want more even though it burns!!
Clockwise from left: Tom yam soup, green curry chicken, fried red snapper, kangkung
After dinner and some walking, the family decided to head back and sleep. I on the other hand was determined to get to that beach party, so with cocktail in one hand, headed to the beach where the music was pumping. Although it was about 1030pm there still weren't many people but slowly and surely more n more people arrived. From what I can see, I might be the only Asian besides those Thai girls (or ladyboys) and I couldn't be happier!! The crowd was awesome, and the women were hot!! And more importantly sporting!! They don't seem to have a problem dancing up to me, taking pictures and sharing drinks!! I guess trying to pick them up would spoil the whole mood of the occasion cos almost every other white dude was looking at me with that 'WTF' look while they couldn't hook them in. If only the people back here are as good sports, I'd consider going more often :P.
Our hotel lighted up...
The next day was more of a relaxed day where I manage to sleep in till about 9am (yes, dats considered sleeping in in my household). The family wanted to search for somewhere good to get a Thai massage so we walked to this mall area where they went for a 2 hour massage. Me on the other hand opted for 1 hour foot massage and 1 hour Thai massage. The foot massage was a welcome as I walked/danced till my feet hurt! Though my calfs hurt more after the massage :(. The Thai massage was actually quite satisfying feeling all the joints in my body go *crack*. Mom and sis whined that their bones almost broke la, stomach almost come out la.. etc..
Looks ordinary but tastes sublime...
Next we went to the local market to have a look. I must say I am very impressed with the variety of produce they have there as well as how clean the market is! Saw racks of ribs hanging by the butcher stall and asked my mom how come I don't see that back home. Apparently, back home, they only cut ribs to make 'Pai Kuat soup' and bak kut teh so if I want whole ribs, gotta order... bummer! If you think going to the market back home was 'lawatan sambil belajar'... Even I couldn't name quite a number of fresh produce!
Octopus and calamari galore... oh and a big bowl of smoking sauce!!
Anyways, spent the rest of the day sleeping in while the family went for more walking around the area. Dinner that night was all about street food. And it doesn't get any more convenient having rows of food stalls right opposite your hotel. So what else, bantai la... went and got some ribs, seafood pad thai, baked squid and sotong in some potent chilli sauce and baked salted fish. My mom initially said it wouldn't be nice but I've seen this on tv before and the way its prepared, the skin of the fish is completely covered in sea salt for preserving the fish as well as for flavour. Once its done on the grill, the guy cuts open the skin to reveal the succulent, juicy and well seasoned meat inside! And it only cost RM15-20 a fish!! I could eat that all day!
Beach party which was held every night I was there... brilliant!!
Several cocktails later, I headed to the beach party where moreorless of the same thing occured: loads of people dancing the night away to good music, fireworks, fire shows and more beautiful women!! ahh life.. though I noticed that the guys there tend to keep in better shape as I noticed more guys with 6 packs than girls with hourglass figures!! The party ended at about 2am and I had to wake up at 5am to catch my flight back!! But the sacrifice of sleep was well worth it!!
Would probably see the green fairy after this...
And its not like I've not functioned with less than 4 hours of sleep before. So we arrived at the airport at around 6am for our 8am flight. Went to the duty free and what I saw made my sleepy eyes awake: ABSINTH! The stuff of legend. The stuff no one else I know (barring Ant) dares to drink cos too pussy (points at Yong and DonN). I noticed 3 things on the bottle: 1) 70%alco! 2) only 500ml and 3) costs about RM170!! So not worth my money larr.. instead the duty free shop was also having offer of selected spirits where buy 2 for a lower price (see, m'sia where got these sorta promos wan!!). So deciding between 2 bottles of tequila for Rm100, 2 bottles of Smirnoff for RM90 or 2 bottles of Skyy for RM90.... Headed home with the latter instead simply because I've not tested it before!!
So there it is, my trip to paradise city, where the grass what little there is is green, the beach is white, the food is awesome and the girls sure are pretty!!
