Thailand - Phuket

November – December 2007

After spending a few visits to Bali, I got interested in seeing more of Asia. So when the chance came along to visit Phuket Thailand, I seized it.
Touch down at Phuket airport , which was a little scary the plane slide a little sideways for a second or 2 as the wheels hit the ground , It was raining buckets of water , it was nearly change of underwear time.
Once outside the airport it was late afternoon, the rain had stopped. Now it was time to find transport from the airport to the hotel. Thoughts of Bali flash in my head of cab drivers with meters turned off who want to rob you blind with some fantastic price to travel ½ hour. If I was rich I would of payed a silly price with my travel agent for transfers .Anyway this is Thailand, The cab booth was out of cabs for an hour or so. The other alternative was to bargin with the rip off taxis in the airport car park. He goes nothing, I can always walk away. We chatted for a good 15 minutes agreed on a price which was still a few dollars more than a taxi, but still cheap. He was a pretty good guy to chat with along the way, and answered a few of my silly questions.

Accommodation was at the Baumanburi.

Fantastic hotel in a central location .And just a block away from the beach. And only a short walk to Bang La Road. And to the right of the hotel is a great market. Internet out front of the hotel, a 7/11 store next to that and a Laundromat next to the 7/11.

website here

View of Phuket





Some of my photos look a bit smokey it's because of Burning off rainforest in Malaysia



Buddhist temple







Phuket zoo

website here

The guy who looked after this tiger only has 1 arm , which made me a little nervous to start with and as I sat down the tiger let out a little grrrr which made me even more nervous. Then the 1 arm Thai guy said lay next to him well as I was getting into position the tiger looked at me opened it mouth and roared. Ok now I’m shitting myself. Hurry up and take the darn picture I yelled.



Loy Kratong

The Loy Kratong festival was on while in Patong the place was packed with local and tourist’s .It was a fantastic site to see .On dusk and into the night lanterns were lit and let go to fly away. And they make these fantastic floating monuments which they light the candles and set them afloat late in the night of the full moon. This would have to be one of my favourite sites I have seen on my travels.











Bang La Road







Thai ladyboy



Phuket team canoe

Website here

This is one of the tours I took in Phuket and well worth it .It was an early pickup from the hotel. By minivan .Then a tour around to other hotels, picking up other guests .Then over to the harbour, Ao Poh behine.
We cruised around Phang Nga Bay, till we reached Panak Island here we left the boat and got aboard the kayaks and headed in to hongs.









Back on the boat and off to Hong Island













Back on the boat, and a fantastic Thai lunch was served, and on to Ko Tapu or commonly known as James Bond Island from the 1974 Bond film "The Man with the Golden Gun".





Patong beach



Tuk Tuk



P.P.Island tour

website here

Another early start to the day, I raced down and scoffed down some breaky and got to the front of the hotel just in time for the pickup. Just as a guy came looking for a guest for a tour .he grabbed my itinerary from me and said no not you , so I waited another 20 minutes . I watched other people get picked up and taken on their tours. I started to get worried when it hit the 30 minute mark. So I phoned the company, they apologised for being late. Ten minutes later the guy who came before made a mistake and left me behind .finally we were off to Rasada Pier to board the speedboat.
First stop was Khai Island for Kayaking or snorkelling.









Back on the speedboat and over to Monkey beach







Back on the speedboat and off to Phi Phi Don . A stop for lunch and walk around





Back on the speedboat and off to Viking cave

They come here to collect the swift's nests, used to make Bird's Nest Soup, a Chinese delicacy. The season for the nests is between February and April



Off to Maya bay on Phi Phi Ley . This is the bay used in the movie The Beach with Leonardo DiCaprio







Phuket FantaSea

website here

This place is fantastic and well worth a visit. I had dinner and the show dinner was good and heaps of it.There isn't to many photos here they take your cameras off you.









More of my Thailand photos here