Phuket Free and Easy

Phuket is the modern name for Jung Ceylon and Thalang. It is the biggest island in Thailand, located southwest of the country in the Andaman Sea. Interestingly, a western source referred Jung Ceylon as badly pronounced "Tanjung Salang" in Malay, showing the close relation between the island and Peninsular of Malaysia, where Malay Language was widely spoken.

Phuket was a name in our list, but never a priority. We heard a lot about about the island- the beautiful beach, the nightlife, and of course, the disastrous tsunami. This time, we spent 5 days 4 nights on that island, and for the first time, we didn't set any particular itinerary before our departure- to make our trip as free and as easy as it could be.

First day, we reached Phuket International Airport around 5:30 pm local time. As commented by many travellers, the immigration was slow. It's true. We stuck at the counter for more than 30 minutes, with only around 5 - 6 persons in front of the queue. Lucky, the excellent service by phuketshuttle.com eased our travel from the airport to our hotel in Patong. We booked a limousine service through the website 4 hours prior to our arrival, and found a sweet lady carrying a big tag with "WONG LS" awaiting for us at the exit of the arrival hall. The company prepared a receipt of our payment and an envelop filled with travel information and tourist map for us too. We were in a new comfortable Toyota Altis in less than 5 minutes later. The driver was fast and furious, but still, he took around 1 hour to bring us to Baan Paradise Hotel. With 750 Baht, the service worth the price.

The taxi and minibus stands are located just outside of the arrival hall (left). We were glad that the staff were very helpful. One of them told us to walk around and look for the tag showing our name. Well, we found it in next minute.

The first surprise we saw was the sexy-boy parade outside the hotel. It was 15 minutes after we reached the hotel. The guys wearing sexy lady-like costumes were parading around the street, advertising some sort of product and services provided at the sexy-boy street (which we found out it was just two blocks away from our hotel later). The next was the open pole dancing bars with dancing sexy ladies. We described it as "open" because the dance could be seen by anyone by Bangla Road. How about lady-boy? Well, we seen some of them at Bangla Road as well.

Sexy-boy parade on the street (upper left), lady-boys with exposed clothes at Bangla Road (upper right), the ladies prepare for the dance of the night (lower right), and the entrance of Bangla Road from the beach. Bangla Road was busy only at night.

The pole dancers in Tiger Live Band. The dance could be seen from the street.

First night, we visited Jung Ceylon Shopping Mall, Promenade Mall, Bangla Road, and took a night stroll along Patong Beach. The second day, we decided to have a day tour around the island. Since we decided not to drive by our own and tuk-tuk was not suitable for long journey, renting a car with driver was the only option that we had. After a few survey, we got a good offer from a taxi driver with 1200 Bahts for 5 hours' trip. The driver was polite and could speak in simple English.

Our first stop of the day, Tiger Kingdom. It was a place that we will never forget. The tigers there, ranged from the smallest, small, medium, and big, were tame. We could pet, scratch, and even hold their tails in special designed cages. All of this privileges came with a price- 1400 Bahts for 20 minutes (for our package). Then, we went to Chalong Wat, the Big Buddha Temple at the top of the hill, and Rawai Beach for nice Tomyam Kung lunch, before we continued our trip to Phromthep Cape, the viewpoint at Mueang District, and headed back to our hotel. The whole day trip took us around 6 hours, but the driver didn't demand for more (we gave him 100 Bahts tips after the trip). At night, we had our dinner at Shabu Shi, Jung Ceylon. Then, we strolled along Thawewong Road before we went back to our hotel.

 Tiger petting in Tiger Kingdom Phuket.

Jung Ceylon is a huge modern shopping complex in Patong (upper left). Patong Promenade Mall is new but quite vacant during our visit (upper right). Patong street are filled with tattoo service, pharmacies, currency exchange boothes (lower left), hotels, and eateries. The streets was safe during our visit.

Thawewong Road was busy at night, second to Bangla Road.

Third day, we spent the whole day at Phuket Town (or Phuket Old Town). We went there by bus. The journey took us around 1 hour (30 minutes on our way back), and with only 30 Bahts per person per trip. The old town was far less attractive as described in the tourism leaflets. It was more or less a down-scaled George Town in Penang. The street was quiet compared to Patong. Many shops were closed during our visit, but the food and souvenirs over there were expensive. We went back to Patong at 5:30 pm, exhausted and a bit disappointed. We delighted ourselves with the sunset at Patong Beach. At night, we took our dinner at the night market in front of Banzaan Fresh Market, where we found the best tom yam there.

 Old clock tower at Phuket Town.

Patong Beach around 5:30 pm. Many people were around with their cameras, awaiting the best moment of sunset.

Fourth day, trapped by heavy down pour, we spent a whole morning in Jung Ceylon. In fact, by putting ATV adventure, elephant ride, shooting game aside, our choices were limited. Well, we just strolled around the shopping mall, watched a movie, and took our lunch at Banzaan Fresh Market. The food at Banzaan Fresh Mart was not excellent but acceptable. The fresh market was not attractive for us, as we had seen much bigger fresh markets before. Dinner time, not willing to travel far, we decided to try the Japanese food beside our hotel. Well, the food was over-priced with disappointing quality.

 Banzaan Fresh Mart was located behind Jung Ceylon.

The last day at Phuket, we went to the airport early to catch Air Asia flight back to Malaysia. We didn't actually like Phuket very much. For us, the whole island was a big tourist trap. Can you imagine a simple tom yam kung meal by the road side of Patong (without air condition) can easily cost up to 150 Bahts? That price is almost the same with a nice meal in Bangkok. We came back from Phuket almost empty handed, except a few fridge magnets and local made snacks. It was far different from our Bangkok tour last year, where we bought many clothes and even a travel bag with irresistible price. However, the experience in Tiger Kingdom was unforgettable, and at least, we have seen the places.

Next, we would share with you the attractions in Phuket.

More about our experience in Phuket in:

[Phuket Free and Easy] [Phuket Attractions] [Phuket Old Town]

[Food and Accommodation and Shopping in Phuket]

Farewell Kuala Lumpur Low Cost Carrier Terminal (KL LCCT)

It was a place full with our memories. We lost our counting on how many time that we had actually visited KL LCCT. We can't even remember when was our first visit to the terminal. But for sure, we had used the terminal for our trips to Sibu and Kota Kinabalu for quite a number of times. Other places, Kuching, Bintulu, Penang, Kuala Terengganu, Bangkok, Bali, Siem Reap, Singapore, Phnom Penh, Hanoi, Yangoon, and many more. In fact, Some Story about Us is so closely knitted with this small terminal in the middle of South East Asia. 

Since the opening in 2006, the terminal had served as the "Air Asia terminal". Once Air Asia moves to new terminal at KLIA 2 on 9 May 2014, that's the time for air travellers like us to say bye-bye to the old terminal. We would like to share some photos that we took in KL LCCT with all of you. Phuket was the last destination for us from the terminal. Then, Sibu will be the first for us from KLIA 2.

The wall of the terminal was built mostly by metal. The entrance to the domestic flights was busy all the time.

The information counters. The check-in counters can be seen far at the middle of this photo, behind the information counter.

This is the waiting area for domestic arrival, stuffy and always filled with the smell of the smokes from vehicles.

The narrow walkway connecting the domestic arrival hall with other parts of the terminal. This walkway was always jammed with many people. We used to buy newspaper from the bookshop and read it in McDonald's while waiting for our flight.

The entrance to reach the international departure check-in counters was located on the left side of McDonald's restaurant.

The international departure hall (upper row). These photos were taken just before our flight to Phuket, Thailand. We took the photos of international arrival exits on our way back (lower row).

Hot & Roll was our favourite stall in the international departure hall. The food was tasty and cheap, good for breakfast and snack. This photo was taken in 2013.

Taste of Asia was famous with the exquisite and expensive local dishes (upper left), while Coffee Bean and Dunkin' Donuts served western food. Well, the eatery that we visited frequently- Chocolate. We visited Chocolate for the last time on our way to Phuket and took our change to bid farewell to the staff.

The budget taxi bay just outside of the arrival hall.

Well, our last trip from LCCT to ERL station. Interestingly, the bus company referred LCCT as Air Asia. Anyway, starting on our next trip, we don't have to use the bus service anymore. We can go to Putrajaya Central directly using the ERL service.

GOOD BYE KL LCCT. 

Want to read more about other attractions in Kuala Lumpur? Please visit:

[Aquaria KLCC] [KL Bird Park] [KL National Planetarium] [KL National Museum]
[Find out all Our Destinations here]

First Rafting Experience at Kiulu River, Sabah

Rafting was never in our to-do-list, ever, until our sister Jenny recommended it to us. She said that it was fun and full with excitement. Since we never step our foot on a raft before and we just needed to pay RM50 per person, with lunch included, so why not take a try? 

Kiulu River is around 45 km from Kota Kinabalu. It can be accessed through the nearest village, Tamparuli, on the way from Kota Kinabalu to Mount Kinabalu National Park. From KK, we drove 1 hour and 15 minutes to the rafting company, and then, the company staff brought us to the starting point, which was another 15 minutes upstream. 

From our experience, the place was not easy to reach even with GPS, unless you know the place really well. Following a tour or rafting company from KK or Tamparuli should be the better choice for tourists. However, if you don't mind to drive, please make sure you bring a most up-to-date map or GPS, and of course, with the reservation done earlier.

For us, we did our reservation few months earlier with Poturidong Tengah Bundu Camping Site. The general manager Alson Kangit (013-8145668; alson_kangit@yahoo.com) was working in medical field before he gave up his job in the hospital and embraced one of his hobbies- rafting. The price offered by him was unbeatable- RM 40 per person for rafting, and RM 10 per person for lunch at the camping site, and RM 50 for one CD containing professional photos taken by Alson himself. By the way, Jenny had joined a few rafting activities with the company before. The whole rafting took us 1 hour 45 minutes. We were served with simple but delicious buffet lunch after that.

Rafting means we have to deal with water, rapid, stones, and a lot of sunlight. Water resistant sun block is a must or else, will be roasted by merciless sun. Safety gadgets such as life jacket and helmet are required as well, and provided by the rafting company without extra charge. We were briefed by our guide on how to paddle, stabilize ourselves, some simple commands, and general safety precaution before we dipped our feet into the freezing cold water.

Well, the journey started in relax and calm.

Then, with challenges ahead.

Paddles were uplifted when we rafting down the rapid to avoid hitting the stones, while enjoying the fast and furious.

Getting wet was inevitable, especially when we cruised down the rocky rapid.

Took a break when the river turned less rocky.

When we reached the slow flowing stretch of river, we need to start paddling to keep moving.

We were not alone. We were greeted by several other groups when we headed downstream. Splashing the cold water with our paddles to other raft was another way to say "hello".

Poturidong Tengah Bundu Camping Site provided a good service to us, with relatively low price. The guide was very informative and helpful. With his encouragement, we experienced swimming in Kiulu river, body rafting, slamming the rock with the raft, and capsizing the raft. He shared his experience and his life as a villager living along the river as well. The lunch contained three main dishes- curry chicken, fried fish, and stir fried vegetable, with rice and beverage. It was simple but enough to refill our energy.

This is the camping site where visitors could stay with RM10 per night, with only accommodation provided.

The road lead to Kiulu was small (upper left), the dining hall with strong village-feel (upper right). The entrance of the camping site was marked by the white house (lower left). One thing that we wished to comment- the toilets and the bathrooms were a bit too simple.

Rafting was a great experience, especially when it came with low prices. For those who wish to raft around but unwilling to spend big money on it (like us), then Kiulu River might be a place for you. By the way, Kiulu River only good enough to provide grade 1 and 2 of challenge. Grade 3 and 4 are available at Beaufort.

In case you are curious like us about the usage of  "whitewater" in rafting, whitewater in fact refers to the rapid flowing water which is disturbed to form white colour.  There are 6 grades in rafting, which grade 5 is very risky and 6 is illegal in some places.

For more about our sharing Sabah, please read our previous posts:

[Paradise Island Next to the City] [Lok Kawi Wildlife Park] [Kota Kinabalu]

[Food in Kota Kinabalu] [KK Shopping Guide] [Hotel in KK]

[All Our Destinations]