Phuket with Princess: Day 1

I'm in Phuket!

Ok here's the story. PYOTravel.com is one of our more recent clients who has been running some campaigns on Nuffnang , trying out blog advertising. I've never heard of the site before but when I eventually did check it out I was really surprised on how cheap some of the packages were.

I'm was lucky to meet the boss of PYOTravel.com in a meeting one day (a very nice man named Francis) and I think he could see it in my eyes then that I was overworked and very badly needed a break. So... Francis decided to send me away to Phuket... with Princess on one of these packages :).

Here's how the trip went.

1) Arrived in Phuket on Saturday night. PYOTravel.com arranged for a car to pick us up from the airport to the hotel. First time I actually arrived somewhere and get to see a man in the arrival hall holding up a sign with our names on it.

I know I know... it's fairly common but I've never had that before :(

2) I was very anxious about the hotel because the package I was going for was relatively affordable and it included a lot of things like pick up from the airport, or even a tour to Phi Phi Island the next day... everything paid for.

So thinking like a Kiasu person I started to reverse calculate the package and I figured the only way it could be that cheap is if they saved on the hotels.

I was pleasantly surprised though.

I was expecting Nipa Resort (the hotel I'm staying in) to be a normal kind of hotel but I found myself coming back to this.

My room even had a balcony that overlooked the beautiful pool area.

Oh and the room is really nice too.

This is the pic we took when we arrived that night.

I don't know how PYOTravel.com manage to make these things so cheap... but they do.

3) Our tour the next day was going to start at 7.00AM. If only you guys could've seen the look on Princess' face when she heard that she had to wake up at around 6.00AM tomorrow to make it for the tour.

She looked so angry... it was almost as if she thought the world was going to end.

And this is how she looked the next morning at 6.45AM.

She wasn't happy.

4) The tour van took us to a pier where we boarded a boat to take the 90 minute journey to Phi Phi Island.

Fortunately for me I brought a book to read during the whole journey.

I took some pictures but Princess was still so sleepy she could barely open her other eye for hte picture.

That was at least... until I opened the window... then Princess had BOTH eyes closed.

5) The boat then finally stopped nearby one of the islands for everyone to get off and do some snorkeling... or to just camwhore outside the boat.

In 10 minutes, many of the fellow tourists on the boat started jumping off the back in their snorkels. The good swimmers went with snorkels and fins.

The not-so-good swimmers weren't excluded though. They were all given a life vest so they could still go snorkeling. If they didn't swim, all they needed to do was flip.

Soon it was my turn.... 

And this is me snorkeling while Princess stayed on the boat and took a picture of me.

There was a lot of fish down there.

For the first few minutes that I was down there... I thought for a moment that all of us down there would be in so much trouble if the fish suddenly decided that it felt like trying men for breakfast.

6) After snorkeling for an hour the boat took us for a tour around the other Phi Phi Islands.

The view was beautiful.

They even took us to this cave where they harvest Bird's Nest.

7) Then it was time for lunch. They dropped us off at a part of Phi Phi Island where we could all sit by the beach and have a nice buffet lunch.

I grabbed the opportunity to take this really nice picture of Princess.

And I asked her to take one back of me but this was what we got.

I think she tried to make up for it by taking this candid shot of me later on from below... 

She laughed

"HAHA You look like a giant!"

FEE FAI FO FUM

We eventually got a good picture together though.

8) We spent the rest of the lunch watching a man we referred to as "Ugly naked guy" (Remember Ugly Naked Guy from Friends?).

Ugly naked guy was with some friends of his having some drinks on the table next to us when he suddenly took off all his clothing except for his underwear. When he stood up straight you could actually even see his ding dong fighting for air through his underwear.

Being naked and all, I think after a while ugly naked guy started to feel a little bit overexposed.. or maybe even.. a little cold. So he decided to put another item of clothing on.... A HAT.

Then off he went to the beach to lie down. He even got one of his friends to take pictures of him while he made poses to make himself look sexy.

We later on made friends with his friends though.

Look we even took a picture with them!

They were nice.

9) Princess and I spent some time after lunch just sitting on a swing by the beach overlooking this view and just talking.

I don't know how to describe that moment once again but just sitting there and hearing the sound of waves... just made all the stress and work stuff from home so far away. It really helped my mind really escape everything.

If you're really stressed up at work with deadlines and all... I would really recommend just hopping on to one of these trips to get away from it all even just for a few days.

That moment of escape... made the whole trip worth it.

10) Well that... and having an ice-cold beer by the beach.

And you know what's better than having an ice-cold Heineken in the cool beach breeze on Phi Phi Island?

Having an ice-cold Heineken in the cool beach breeze on Phi Phi Island and having an adorable Princess sayang you at the same time.

I could almost see little angels flying around us.

11) We left that island after the beer and headed to the more commercial side of Phi Phi Island. Phi Phi Island Don.

Did a bit of shopping there and taking some pictures but that was about it.

We were so tired we just couldn't wait to go back to the hotel to rest.

12) We got back safely to the hotel a couple of hours later... then took a shower and went out again for dinner. I was so hungry I could eat a hippo for dinner so we headed to this restaurant called Buffalo Steak.

They had good steak.

After that we walked around some streets near Patong Beach and took some pictures.

This is a picture of me that screams "I'M A TOURIST!!!" 

And if my skin colour and my dressing doesn't tell you that I'm tourist... maybe that map on my hand will.

The only thing about being a tourist is that just like everywhere else in the world... you get a little harassed by touts or people trying to sell you something.

It's not as bad as the damn touts in Shanghai's Nan Jing Lu but over here you just had people constantly asking you if you want a new suit, or a Thai Massage... or even a ride on these Tuk Tuks then tend to overcharge tourists.

Last night we were caught in a rain and this Tuk Tuk wanted to charge us RM30 just to take us to our hotel which was just 5 minutes down the road.

While shopping last night, I found a solution to all these touts though... and my solution came in the form of a shirt I just bought.

Which was probably an idea by a frustrated tourist.. or a local Thai with a good sense of humour.

Nah.. it's not that bad... they're quite polite here... (unlike Shanghai where they're just plain annoying).

Okay now I gotta get started with my 2nd day in Phuket guys.

Update soon :)