Phuket Revisited – Day 1

Back in October 2010, I was suggesting to Nel that we can probably celebrate our 11th Anniversary/Valentine’s Day in Phuket. He said Yes! right away as both of us would really love to visit Phuket again.

We also ajak-ed Nel’s bro, Yuen and he also said yes right away.. and his girlfriend, Ai Mun will also join us.

After browsing the AirAsia website, I finally made the purchase of the return air tickets together with accommodation/breakfast. And since we wanted to celebrate our anniversary/Valentine’s Day in Phuket, our departure date will be 13 Feb 2011 and return on 17 Feb 2011. There’re no specific promo at that time but I guess what we got is still quite reasonable. The hotel that I’ve booked is located at Patong, supposed walking distant to the happening places in Patong.

A day before our departure, we tried to Mobile Check-In. As we can mobile check in up to 7 days before departure, we also check-in for our return flight. All we got is a confirmation and a bar code in the phone which we’re supposed to scan it at the kiosk later.

13 Feb 2011

For once, we’ll be flying at night @ 8:15pm and also for once, we’ll be driving to LCCT instead of taking a cab. We left our house at around 6pm in our Livina, which will have ample space for the 4 of us and our 2 big luggage bags. And what we’ll do with our Livina? We’ll park it at LCCT for 4 days :p (I think the fare for a cab for 4 + 2 big luggage bags x 2 ways will be more expensive than the parking fee at LCCT).

Once at LCCT, instead of going to the kiosk, we went to the AirAsia counter instead… Cuz’ there’s no one queuing there at all :p After the quick check-in, we went to grab some food. It was already 7pm, and we wanted something fast, so we ended up at Mary Brown for a quick bite before boarding.

We took off at about 8.30pm… and it was raining quite heavily. Quite a rough take off with the weather condition like that.

Not long after that, the crew were serving food and for Nel, he must not feel hungry while flying :p So, he ordered the chicken rice set, which also include drinks, and a fortune cookie. I was so eager to crack the fortune cookie but after that… I can’t find any ‘fortune’ in it… :/ Nel said I got no fortune “-_-

And in no time, the captain announced that we’ll touch down soon. Time really ‘flies’… lol

Once at the terminal, I grabbed some maps which will be useful when need to drive around. We were stopped by a lot of people for a cab and this lady brought us to a counter, offering us packages to Phi Phi Island …etc.. The catch is, if we sign up for any of the packages, they will provide us a cab to send us to our hotel.

Since a visit to Phi Phi Island is already in the plan, we signed up for it for 15 Feb 2011. The tour includes visit to Khai Island, Maya Bay and Phi Phi Island, lunch and they will also pick us up from hotel and send us back to hotel after the tour.

They also gave us this free sim card that we can use while in Phuket :)  We can always top up at any 7-Eleven

We took a Camry to our hotel, which normally cost 750baht. We chatted with the cab driver throughout the journey.

The cabbie sent us to APK Resort where we’ll be staying. It was about 10pm (Phuket time) when we reached there. I went to the reception counter to do the check-in but we waited for almost an hour to get things sorted out. Apparently, we’ll be staying at their sister hotel - APK Resort & Spa instead. I didn’t know what’s going on here.. they probably overlooked my booking or something but they provided transport to send us to APK Resort & Spa, which is just about 5 minutes drive from where we were. I didn’t mind, cuz’ according to the rates at the AirAsia website, it is supposed to be more expensive than APK Resort, and at a better location :p

Once at the hotel, while checking in, I asked the front desk why it’s changed to this hotel instead. I was told that the booking made is under APK group, so it can be APK Resort or APK Resort & Spa (but my booking confirmation clearly stated it’s APK Resort). Both hotels are supposed to be 3 stars, but everything looks neat and nice to me.

Noticed the see thru' glass?  If you don't enjoy giving 'free show', you can always lower the blinds at the toilet.

After leaving our luggage in our room, we went out hunting for food. It was already very late at night and we’re not familiar with the place yet. So, we just walked to a stall near by for dinner (or rather.. supper) But the food is not nice tho’ :p

Stir-fried kai lan, and prawns with garlic.

Fish.. also with garlic?

We also dropped by Family Mart (just nearby) to grab some bottles of mineral water before going back to the hotel. We cleaned up and sleep soon after, looking forward to a great day tomorrow……