Phuket: The Land of Decadence Volume 2

Continuing from Volume 1, here is Volume 2 which mainly chronicles our loooooong voyage to Phi Phi Island and back, our spanking new room and Tiffy's scrumptious birthday dinner at a seafood haunt.


~*Day 2: On Our Way to Phi Phi Island*~

The day dawned bright and resplendent, just the perfect kind of weather for an island getaway. The picture below was taken at 7:56 am and the minibus was supposed to pick us up at 8:15! According to our schedule, we were to go to Phi Phi Island till the early evening and then have a scrumptious birthday dinner for Tiff.




We needed the energy for the long ferry ride to Phi Phi Island and hence even if the bus was reaching at 8:15, we simply had to have a little food from our complimentary breakfast. The kitchen could not whip up the main course in time and this was all we could chow down before the minibus reached.




It was a short 20-minute ride to Rassada Harbor since our hotel was the last pick up point for the driver.




Here is our itinerary for the day... minus Maya, canoe, colourful tropical fishes, monkeys... you get the drift.




~*Day 2: On the Sea Angel*~

When we reached Rassada Harbor, we were astounded by the many ferries docked there and the sea of people. There was nobody to guide us on where to go. I forgot how we figured out to take the green sticker and also how we hopped from ferry's deck to ferry's deck to get to our Sea Angel.

In Tiff's words:
"We represent the sea angel travel, green team. It's of extreme importance to remember your colour."




It was fortunate that we managed to snag two plastic chairs or we could end up sitting on hard wooden benches for 2 hours.




We braved the sun for this shot. You could see the glare through the reflections on our sunnies.




When we weren't sitting, we were trying to balance on the moving ferry. It was a lot tougher than we thought. We looked stupid just trying to stand up straight.




And we looked even more stupid when we didn't.




The rocky land form in the background served to show how much I remembered from secondary school's Geography. I do not know if those are rock cliffs or what but we do know that it was a sign for photo-taking.










Finally, the anchor was released and we were told that it was the area where we were supposed to snorkel. People of all shapes, sizes and nationalities started to plop one by one into the water.




And if you don't already know, I DO NOT know how to swim. Tiff claimed that she didn't know too but she lied. She was so much better than me! I got a little fearful when I looked down into the water with my mask and saw how deep the water was. It was the first time I snorkeled without my swimmer hubby around. Fortunately, I could just hold tiff's hand and kicked like a cat to drift around on the water surface. Thank god for whoever invented the life jacket! Oh yes, did I tell you that there were many fishes in the water but they weren't really colourful?

We barely snorkeled for 15 minutes before deciding to head back to the deck. It was not really fun looking at silver coloured fishes (and some yellow) from the surface of the water.




There was a group of very ungentlemanly guys who obviously did not know what it meant by "ladies first". Even as a lady myself or any other individual with common sense, I would have enough sense to allow the person climbing up the ferry's steps to reach the deck first before trying to climb down the steps. I don't understand what these guys were thinking when they just rushed as a troop down the steps and knocking tiff down in the process. Tiff was bruised as she slipped, grabbed the metal railing with her arm and swirled around while the brutes pretended she was transparent. She was so mad that she gave them a piece of her mind.




~*Day 2: On Phi Phi Island*~

We finally reached Phi Phi Island.




Not to be confused with James Bond Island (Khao Ping Kan), The Phi Phi Islands comprises a few islands. "The largest island of the group Ko Phi Phi Don ("ko" (Thai: เกาะ) meaning "island" in the Thai language) is the only island with permanent inhabitants, although the beaches of the second largest island, Ko Phi Phi Lee (or "Ko Phi Phi Leh"), are visited by many people as well. The rest of the islands in the group, including Bida Nok, Bida Noi, and Bamboo Island (Ko Mai Phai), are not much more than large limestone rocks jutting out of the sea." -- Wikipedia

The Phi Phi islands, like James Bond Island, has its fair share of fame. The islands came to worldwide prominence when Ko Phi Phi Leh was used as a location for the 2000 British-American film The Beach.


We could not wait to tuck ourselves into the "great lunch" provided (as quoted from the pamphlet). It wasn't too great but alright for two hungry gals.




After lunch, we explored the "streets" of the island.




The weather was so sizzling hot that we had 2 ice cream (ice lollies) each as we walked. That was the only time I had ever eaten 2 ice lollies one after another. If I did that when I was young, my mother would more probably slap me. Grape-flavoured stuff could never go wrong while watermelon is always the most refreshing and thirst-quenching fruit.




We finally reached the beach! The beach looked really lovely in the photos but I was honestly disappointed when I saw it real life. The beach looked eroded (probably due to the tsunami) and the water wasn't as blue as what you see in the pictures. It was actually the colour of milk tea.




Outfit of the day:
♥ FleurFaerie Slouchy Beach Top in Cream
♥ No label black sequin flower flip flops
♥ Coax denim shorts




Beach chairs with umbrellas were available for rent. Being very cheapo, we laid our towels on the sand and sat there.The weather was so scorching that tiff and I decided to just sit around in the water since we were already dirty with sea water and salt from the snorkeling. (Ok, we did rinse ourselves with tap water once we reached the deck but you know how dirty you feel whenever you you dip yourself into sea water.) That was then when I realised the water was the colour of milk tea. I could not even see my legs while tiff suggested getting our snorkel gears to "see our legs". -_-|||


At a quarter past three, we headed back to the ferry for it would be most terrible to miss the boat. This time we explored the upper deck and realized that there weren't many people there. Too much sun exposure is no good so we had to do this even after slapping on sunscreen.




For a 2-hour trip, we had better made ourselves as comfortable as possible. We admired the scenery, psychoed ourselves that the sunlight was good and day-dreamed while drifting off to sleep every now and then.

Look at the collage below.
Look at the only picture with homo sapiens.
That guy in yellow unabashedly shifted his chair and had us in his line of vision for almost the whole journey! He continued looking even as I took a photo of him.
According to our observation and analysis, he and his friend knew the pair of gals only on this trip. I don't think they were friends prior to this.




Through my rose... orange tinted glasses.







~*Day 2: Our new room -- Gaya Studio*~


Remember that the Ocean Studio from Day 1 is just a temporary put up? While it looked good in photos, we very much prefer Gaya Studio. Ocean Studio was way too dark. Even after switching on all the lights at night, we felt like the room was even darker than the roads lighted with white street lamps.


The outside comprised the patio and the jacuzzi. Anyone could just walk into our area and use our jacuzzi! Similar to how we could walk around our area, side step a little into our neighbour's area and catch them doing the do.




The living room and kitchen.




The bedroom, bath and toilet. Oh and I haven't told you that our shower area separates the jacuzzi with a glass (strips of clear and translucent glass as seen in the collage below) wall. Anybody could look in when it was lighted at night! What kinda open-concept design again?




Some of you might have seen this video before last year. We were really ecstatic about this room (upgrade) that a video would portray its beauty a lot more effectively than mere collages. Enjoy the amateurish commentary yet again!




We hopped into the jacuzzi before showering and preparing to head down to Patong for Tiff's birthday dinner.




Such a nice picture of Tiff! Wait for me to get ready also can be so sexy. Can't stand her!




~*Day 2: Tiff's Birthday Dinner*~

I forgot the name of this seafood restaurant and I could kick myself for not snapping a photo of the restaurant's signboard.


After securing seats for us and asking if we were ordering live seafood, we were told to choose our potential victims. We chose the poor crab and lobster as seen below.




While waiting for our food to be served, what could 2 bimbos do but take photos.




Our delicious spread of green curry, baked blue crab with butter, signature cheesy lobster dish, TOM YUM GOONG (yummy!), atas water. As usual, we love Thai food so much that we finished everything! I simply love to hang out with friends who eat a lot.




"A real lady uses her hand to eat crab" was what we uttered and then threw our utensils aside. I don't know why the people around us had to stare at ladies using hands to eat crab.




In the midst of our dinner, it started pouring. The rain was so heavy that it instantly turned the whole restaurant cold. Natural air-con I say.


After dinner, it was still raining and we had not brought out our umbrellas. However fortunately for us, we managed to get on board a tuk tuk a few metres away from the entrance of the restaurant.




We saw the water level in the streets rising steadily as we sat in the comfort of the tuk tuk. Some streets were flooded. We felt sad for the Caucasians in the ambulance behind us. Nobody wanted to give way to the ambulance that the driver had to resort to driving onto the pedestrain pavement. As it went past us, we saw a male causasian on the stretcher with his beau holding his hands wearing a disconcerting expression on her face.




It was really exciting to see Patong being flooded. I know it is rather insensitive to say this but at least we did not stand in the middle of lanes with water level calf deep and posing with a victory sign like what some tourists did.


Instead of heading back to our hotel to avoid the flood, we battled the flood and braved the rain to go for a massage! Indeed a clear indication of how bimbotic some people are. Look at how burnt our faces looked! We should have gone for facial instead.




We love Let's Relax a lot! I love the ambience, the foot massage, the neck and shoulder massage, the masseuse and the biscuit!




We left the place feeling so light and refreshed. All our tensed muscles from the day's activities were well kneaded and relaxed after the massage.


Back in our room, we were trying to take a shot together but there wasn't any proper place to prop the camera up on self-timer.




Outfit of the day:
♥ Forever Orange maxi dress
♥ FleurFaerie Vintage Flower Hair Clip
♥ Diva ethnic beaded necklace



Stay tuned for Volume 3.