Phuket Chapter 2 (Karon, Chalong & Patong)

March 2014: We woke up that morning and as usual, waited for the Van that we booked for day tour. I cant really remember how much was it, but i guess around 300 - 500 baht per person, means around RM30 - 50.00 or less. sorry guys, i really cant remember. But we were supposed to go to more places, instead we just went to 4 places. As the Van driver said 'time finish' . He cannot really converse in english, so we didn't know how long we were supposed to stay at one place, it was really confusing. He did not even say anything, just drive. TIPS: Ask the tour company on every bit of details esp like time & places. If possible, english speaking driver

Well, lemme tell you bout the 3 places we've been on on that day, 7th March 2014. We waited for the Van about 15minutes, he arrived and we went to our first destination, Karon beach view point. Phuket is quite hilly, so the Van was going up and down until we reach Karon View Point which is a cliff facing Karon beach. The view was amazing, breathtaking. TIPS: perfect for great photo, Karon Beach

Karon Beach

I saw the eagle that they use for tourist to take picture with. Actually, u should not support it as the eagle meant to be free, but for this purpose he was tied. But i cant help myself as its been my dream to hold an eagle, esp as big and healthy as that one. So i went and took pics with it. (do not do this, as i am writing this, i regretted it)

Rambo, my love

The name of the eagle is Rambo. the price for pics is 100baht if you use their polaroid its another 100 baht. I didnt use it but use my own camera, well phone camera, hihi. He asked me to raise my arm horizontally and put the eagle on my arm and tied the rope around my arm too...if the eagle fly, so will i..lol.  He was pretty tame, maybe grew up in places full of people. So elegant, the way he stand, what an amazing creature you are, your feathers are so soft and your wings are so strong, you ought to fly freee..He was soo heavy though, i never thought eagle will be that heavy..haha.. the talons they put like rubber gloves around it so that it wont scratch you. There were 2 eagles, maybe they take shifts. I still feel guilty cos ive supported it that time. But i love you rambo, i hope you will find your freedom.

We spend time walking around the area and take few crazy pics like this, me and joshi hehehe.

The view is really something, with the blue sea and the clear sky, Karon beach is a place you want to go, trust me.

Us, The Karoners!

After we spent time there, we made our way to elephant sanctuary. 2 elephant sanctuaries. Cos we dont know what happened but i guess our driver brought us to the wrong one at first. Because we were there for just about 5 minutes or so and then we went to the other one. It's a major problem when communication failed. But Sha managed to give the baby elephant food within that 5 minutes plus, ahaha..the food cost around 50baht i think. The baby elephant seemed very happy.

happy baby epphy

We hop back into the van and reached the 'real' destination for elephant sanctuary bout 10minutes from there. The name is Puchada Safari. We had a drink first there, while waiting. We only had bread for breakfast. the fee was already included in the package. The elephants mostly are very well taken care of. But most of em dont have their tusks . I dont know if that is a must or not, but most asian elephants doesnt have tusks compared to African. Esp female elephants. IF, only if they took the tusks away from em, i dont think it's right. But from what i saw, there was no scars etc, esp when most of the elephants are female. TIPS: Check on the condition of the elephants and surrounding to avoid guilt, trust me, u dont wanna be apart of animal cruelty. So, we waited for our turn. it came and we paired in 2 for each elephants.

me and mama, on Luna

The weather was freakin hot there my god, i feel like needles poking my skin continuously. Me n my friend, mama (her name is mama, we call her that, makhayam hihi) ride a almost 40yrs old elephant called Luna. she was not so young anymore but still beautiful. The owner of the elephant sit in front near the head to control Luna, while me and mama sit on the specific place build for passengers slighly behind. Luna is pretty big btw, So Luna walk along the designated road..until she stopped and do not want to move. The owner, a he, then climb down and try to console her, she was sulking (so cute) bcos the weather was so hot. Poor Luna. The owner told us that Luna doesnt wanna go up there and wanna walk here only, and we said its okay, down here is fine. Anything that made Luna happy, What i like is that the owner didn't force her, which is good. Beside, u dont want to piss off an elephant esp when you are sitting on it! . He asked me to sit in front while he walk, i was like 'huh, seriously, what if i fall down?" . He said, 'don't worry its safe, she is okay' . So, i did go to the front! and still the sun was scorching hot!.

me, navigating Luna, the majestic elephant

Luna's ear was flapping and cos i wear 3rd qtr pants, damn it hurts..haha..its like someone flap a tire on your legs, that was how Luna's ears feels like. a strong thick elephant ears. TIPS: wear long pants if u wanna sit in front!
She was cool and i talked to him 'sweet luna, pretty luna, good girl' ..hehehe. The owner used some sort of long stick with a bend knife to control elephants, maybe its traditional, but i dont like it as it maybe can hurt the elephants. I know the skin are thick but still...

So, we continue after few minutes more and he climbed back up..cos we were reaching the end of the trip. The owner said, each elephants have their own owner and the owners is the one who take care of em. So, the earnings is not that much. He sell traditional necklaces made of beads mostly and 1 tiny tusks-like beads-accessory, fake plastic ivory obviously., he sell it to anyone who ride Luna as he claimed it, to support with Luna's food and care. I felt pity for him as he seem very kind and honest, so i decided to buy one, around 100baht around 10rgt. Kinda his tips as well. I will never support selling of ivories as it will lead to poaching activities. Before i gave him the money, he did this kind of praying as a thank you for helping Luna. I dont know how many trip Luna do per day with that hot weather, pity her too, such a majestic creature, it was an honour to ridewith you, hehe :) I hope she can rest and retire soon, enjoy her life with her owner.

After Puchada Safary, we went to the Big Buddha. Why its called that, cos it is very big. a statue so big that u can see from far and make u feel tiny, hihi. Some part of it was under renovation that time, so we just spend short time there.

the big buddha and musical instruments down below

They sell this coconut icecream which what we called here as Sangkaya. but this icecream was plain. It was sooo good, only 10 baht each. we had like 2 each, hihihi...and sat down in a shade cos the weather was so hot, extremely sunny. TIPS: must have this! must have!

There are also statues of Thai general and gong together with other traditional music instrument of Thailand.  In other part of the area, they show wood carvings arts, like this guy carving woods in a shape of a thai baht.

Thai baht

We continue to our next destination which is Chalong Temple. A very well build temple. some part of it have 2-3storeys, some have just one ground floor. TIPS: Narcisists, this is a perfect stop for unique cultural photos, :P

Chalong Temple welcomes you

We went inside the main temple, TIPS: remember this temple is still active, so you have to respect the place of worship for the Buddhist and the people praying in it.
So, the old thai lady asked us to wear this purple cloth to cover our tops. For my friends who wear shorts, 2 purple cloths, hahahah..too sexy maybe. Only for girls, the boys no need to wear any, most of em. I guess its our eastern culture to cover ourselves..hihihi. The lady was like 'lady must cover' ..hehehe, so cute the aunty. 

The inside part of the main temple have lotss of Buddha statues, like lots of it in many positions. It looks gold, maybe made of gold or covered in gold, i am not sure. But overal the temple has a great architecture. some of the area in 2nd floor were exposed to the sun, when we step on it, it feels like your feet is burning, it was so friggin hot the tiles..everyone who step on it, run back inside....hahahaha. Cos u cannot wear shoes inside the temple. 

The purple cloth on me, this is the only area where it was not that hot, cos it have shade.

We walked outside the temple to visit the small temples around it, as usual taking pics n stuff..haha. The area along the road was filled with souvenirs shop, from tshirts to accessories to handcraft merchandise, TIPS: it was quite expensive compared to the area near the banzaan market, so tengok2 je la.

Another temple beside it

We thought we are going to our next destination, but the driver take us right back to the hotel. hmm, in the itinerary there was still 'Bee Farm' to visit. But he said 'time finish' . Oh well, he cannot understand us, so what's the point of arguing. We get out of the van, no tips for u sir..and we head to our room to rest, beside it was so hot outside i felt dehydrated. As i said before, check the tour u booked, thoroughly before book it. 

That last night in Phuket, we went Bangla road again, take a walk. we bought this cute lil mickey's ear..haha, feel like we were part of Phuket party people..lol!. 

me burned with Sha wearing the mickey ears

we met this transgender girl who keep smiling at us, she then approach us and talked to us, well 1 community rightt. She said, she's been to KL few years ago, stayed there around 3 years. So, she knows some of the girls in Bukit Bintang area. Such a funny girl, with the accent, the way she talks..always have 'ooi, oooi'..hihihi.. hope all the best for her.

We went to a Kebab's place for dinner, around that area. we saw this one fine topless Scandinavian men, tempting, lol! . Then we took tuk tuk to Paradise Road. Well as you know, Bangla road is famous for 'objectification' of women, genetic and trans. Paradise Road are well known for the gays. Yup, we went into the 'chamber of gays' hihi. hey, we are all about exploring so u gotta learn. ;)

The road was lit with bright colourful lights. The moment we entered, the guys from the massage bar (yea right, massage, like i didnt know) came running at us starting to ask us to go in..holding our hands. It was quite mysterious at first, i mean it is gay massage, why would u guys expect us to be interested right. Then, we found out that these guys entertaining the gay guests were mostly straight guys, they're cute btw. So the moment they saw us, they were like 'finally, ladies' and they got excited. Hmm..sad isn't it, have to be someone you are not for the sake of money, aint we all have to fake ourselves sometimes. It's life. TIPS: If u are not comfortable with gays or LGBT in bigger scope, not a good idea for u come here.
So, we declined em gracefully and walk straight. There was 80% guys in along the road, haha..its interesting to look at em, how free they feel in their own place.  Some guys dancing outside the bar to attract visitors to go inside, 

This was the guys.

dancing under the colourful lights outside the bar

After one walk along the road, we leave Paradise Road and its inhabitants. We walk along the main road and decided to get a massage, me at this time 'not again'. haha. But, learning from experience, i know what to do.
But fortunately, the massage place provide you with very good massage unlike the one in HatYai. The masseuse were all female, softer. I did feet massage and this time its real feet massage, not whole body. The lady was so kind, and i feel so relax. She said 'your legs is very small, hehe' ..yea i know..when she massage my forehead, she said 'you have beautiful eyes, stay pretty' hahaha..funny, but she is nice. TIPS: get a good n relaxing massage like this and ur vacation is complete!

Sha, Jenny and Kak Don went for full body massage and well, body means whole body. They were laughing when Sha laughed and said 'don't touch my pussy!' ...hahahahaha. But overall we was satisfied with this massage place, i cannot remember the name, damn..i want to promote it. It was quite cheap, about only 30ringgit. We had tea as usual. We gave the massage ladies tips cos they were soo nice, friendly and funny at the same time. feel like friends. We left the place and went back to hotel, as we are going back to KL the next day.

8th March 2014, that morning we woke up early. Me, Aman and Joshi went for our last swim at Patong Beach. TIPS: Phuket means nothing without a dip into the Patong Beach, ehehe. The beach hit by tsunami now flock with tourist. 

Patong Beach

We had a nice swim (more like sitting in the water, lol) even my sandals ruined and i had to buy new one, grrr. It was still a great memory.

why are you playing alone? i dont understand

Skinny me in Patong

We went back to the hotel, get ready and btw we already asked the hotel to provide us transport the the airport. As we waited for the van, a news came up. MH370 gone from radar. yep it was that day, the same day we gonna fly back to KL, At that time, we do not have many info about it. We reached the airport and we saw all Malaysia Airlines flight was cancelled and the media also starting to broadcast the news about it. Quite scary and sad at the same time. haish. Such a sad day for Malaysian esp Malaysia Airlines.

We went on board the flight and safely landed in LCCT.  Phuket, an amazing island truly unforgettable!