Getaway: Phuket Day 2

 Second day, we went island hopping! I purchased the deal on Groupon, that cost me RM 159 per person. The van driver fetched us at the hotel and we went directly to Asia Marina before going to the first island, Koh Phi Phi by speedboat.

 this is the deal I've purchased from Groupon

We didn't had the chance to go to Maya bay since the wave was pretty rough at that time and it was not safe for us, but we went to Monkey Beach instead, watched and fed the monkeys. The other tourist were so excited to see the monkeys, never get the chance to see monkey, huh? teheee 

We rode a speedboat and trust me it was very challenging. Water splashed and we were freezing cold and wet. It was a smaller boat compared the one we used at Hatyai on our way to Koh Lipe. I even prayed for our safety because the wave looked scary, as tsunami will form. Seriously. I had the chance to snorkel, for the first time and it was an awkward moment.hahahah. Well, it was very interesting, to be able to see the fishes and corals down there. FYI, Koh Phi Phi was featured in movie starred by Leonardo Dicaprio, The Beach. go google it now! :D 

Getaway: Phuket Day 1 : Simon Cabaret

I read lots of blogs before departing to Phuket to get a rough idea about the place, since we are travelling without accompanied by tough men lol and family members were a bit worried about us, in case anything happen during our trip and no one to help. I read from Aki's blog about how the taxi driver worked, they will stopped by at the tour agency office so that they can promote to the tourist about their tour services. Some people didn't recommend to take their offers, they said it's a bit expensive. Stella wrote that there are cheaper rates of tour available at the Aspery Hotel lobby. At first I decided to just directly go to our hotel but This All In One agency (the office we stopped by) gave us a pretty good rates (I think so) and the the boss is Chinese man originating from Johor, so we feel a little bit safe and relief. We took their tour services finally :) 

The first place we go after arrived at our hotel is Simon Cabaret, famous for Ladyboy show. I really want to see how they actually look like, I just heard stories about pretty man and I was eager to see them face to face. It turned out to be a jaw dropped moment, they are really look like a woman! Pretty woman I'd like to emphasize here.I feel defeated by them :p

We were not allowed to bring camera inside, so we were just taking photos outside before the show begin and afterwards. I was mesmerized by how they dance, mimicking a song, they are really good! After the show finished, they will make a line outside and offers the audience for a photograph session. Please bear in my it is not free. Diane Teo wrote in her blog last time they went there, they will charge 40 bath to take photos with them. while us, they charge 100 bath/RM 10 per session. Kinda expensive but, naah I think it was worth the money.

Getaway: Phuket (Planning, Budget, etc)

So, this will be a continuing post since I will blog about my recent trip to Phuket, Thailand on Wednesday for 4 days and 3 nights trip with le sister and cousin.Just three of us :)

For your information, before we are going for this trip, I use three blogs as my reference on nice places to wander around :)

1. Diane Teo
2. Aki Borneo 
3. Stella Claire
 So basically I'm using information in their blogs to roughly plan our trip from day 1 until day 3.

This is our itinerary:

Day 1:  Simon Cabaret
Day 2: Koh Phi Phi, Monkey Beach and Koh Khai,at night went to Jungceylon Mall and Bangla Road
Day 3: Panak Island, James Bond Island and Hong Island, at night went to Phuket Fantasea
Day 4: Bye bye Phuket :(

I brought my camera with me but since I'm too exhausted going through an adventurous journey, I only managed to take some photos during day 2 and the rest, I let my sister and cousin to take photos as many as they can using their phones. FYI, some places like Simon Cabaret and Phuket Fantasea, you are not allowed to bring cameras inside so I decided not to bring with me along.

If you read Stella Claire's blog, I use their hotel reviews to book for our hotel during the trip, which is Aspery Hotel, same as them. Since I found their revies is pretty good, accommodation, walking distance from Patong Beach, etc, so I decided to choose this hotel. I booked earlier, on January 2013.

I requested an extra bed for my cousin because this room only up to 2 people, cost me 1500 bath for 3 days.

BUDGET 
I estimated the budget for tours  about 5000 bath/RM 500 but had overspent slightly
Simon Cabaret: 650 (RM65) bath per person
Island Hopping ( Koh Phi Phi, Monkey Beach and Koh Khai) : RM 159/ 1590 bath per person, as I booked this tour on Groupon
Island Hopping ( Panak Island, James Bond Island and Hong Island) : 1600 bath/RM 160
Phuket Fantasea + buffet dinner : 1900 bath/ RM 190

Total per person (tour only ): 5740 bath/ RM 574
Hotel per person: 1513 bath/ RM 151.3
Return trip taxi per person (airport-hotel-airport) : 533 bath/ RM 53
Leisure ( souvenir, food, tips, etc etc) per person : up to 10000 bath/ RM 1000 (approximate)

altogether: 17789 bath/ RM 1778.6

So, this is roughly our budget on this trip.So if you are interested to go to Phuket, you can use this information for you to save money :) but please bear in mind that this information may vary from time to time :)
 Flight tickets:

Kota kinabalu-Kuala Lumpur-kota Kinabalu: RM 268 per person
Kuala Lumpur-Phuket-Kuala Lumpur : RM 205 per person
I booked this tickets earlier when I noticed that Airasia havinf promotion on selected flights, so readers, please keep updated with Airasia's recent promotion :) You might get even lover price than me.

If you have any enquiries, please do not hesitate to ask me :)
Next post teaser, Ladyboy xD

Getaway: The Historical City, Malacca

So this is the post that featured in the teaser video. Trip to Malacca.
After I arrived in KL, on Thursday, so I stayed for a night in Doris' house before continuing my journey to meet le best friend, Ivy. She study at UTeM, and I thought that this is the best moment to hang out with her since I'm on mid sem break. Straight from the airport, I went to Terminal Bersepadu Selatan to buy the bus ticket :) Luckily I already been there before, so it's not hard to me, since I'm all alone. I just keep a staright face whenever I passed by some promoters, so that the won't disturb me :P

So, the journey begins and it only took 2 hours from KL to reach Melaka Sentral. Waited for Ryan and Ivy a little bit since the finished class a lil bit late that day. After thay've arrived, we searched for the Venus Boutique Hotel,. I saw their ads on Groupon, seems affordable and safe, for one night stay. Indeed my expectation is true. Everything is perfect. Checked in, leave all our stuff there, and went food hunting at Jonker Street. Then, Ryan went back to his hostel, and Ivy and me spent that night telling stories and updates until 3 am :P

On saturday, we searched for another budget hotel. We found Hollitel, RM55 for one night. Compared to Venus, their accommodation seems are not very good, but it was worth the money we paid. You won't be expecting a 5 star room for RM55 right? :P

So, Ivy brought me to almost every places in the city.Struggling with the raging heat, we stopped by at the souvenir's shop to buy a cap and I bought some things for my mum :) I wore flats and it was killing me, so I decided to buy sandals.
The place was swarmed with people, tourists and locals. I'm busy taking pictures. It was only Ivy and me, since Ryan can't join us.

This marks the end of my 1 week mid semester break. I love Malacca so much, *excludes the heat :P but who cares. HAHA. I didn't wear any sunscreen since I'm too lazy to apply. Tehee. The next day, we went to SIB Malacca Church and at 1.30 pm, I went back to KL.

Getaway: Summary

A summary about Hat Yai vacation :)

Getaway: Koh Lipe Part Two

1. The minibus fetch us at Hi-Season Hotel at 8.30 am. I adore Thailand people, they are punctual. Headed to Pak Bara Tier, but the minibus stopped at several hotel and guest house to pick up tourists, to go to Park Bara Tier. The journey took about 2 hours from main town to the pier.

2. Arrived at the tier. Lots of people selling tickets will come and approach you, just tell your destination and they will find the best (kinda) rates for you.The package will include speedboat from the pier to everywhere you want, Phuket, Koh Phi Phi, Koh Lanta, Koh Lipe, etc.For our package includes speedboat from the peir to the jetty in Koh Lipe, and from the jetty, we need to take long boat to the coast. If I'm not mistaken, we pay about 3000 bath for three person, so 1000 bath per person. Then we booked for a place to stay overnight, since we were completely independent in this journey, we pay 2000 bath for a fan cottage room, for 3 occupants for one night. Upon entering the Park Bara Pier and Koh Lipe pier, we need to pay 20 bath for the maintenance of the place.Sort like heritage tax in Mallaca.

3. Arrived at Koh Lipe, we feel truly amazed by the view. We were totally blown away and we forgot how tiring the journey was for a while :p  Checked in into our room in Varin Beach Resort.

4. We met a guy who can speak Malay, his name is John. He showed us the direction to the nearest restaurant that serves the best food and affordable, called The Family Restaurant. He's been working here for 15 years already, so he knows the place very well. He actually came from India, but worked at several places before coming to Thailand, including Malaysia too.No wonder he can speak Malay fluently :)

5. Walking along the beach, taking photos and mesmerized by the God's creation. Although the sun shone so bright, and I didn't applied any sunblock :P Saw many tourist sun bathing, while us trying to escape from the raging heat from the sun. Haha typical Malaysian.We get used to the sun, we prefer to have our skin fair rather than get tanned. But for the tourist, they get used to cold temperature so they love sun bathing so much. You can see girls with bikinis, men with their short pants everywhere. 

6. Didn't get the chance to go snorkeling :( no worries, next time I certainly go to this place again and stay for a few nights.This place is amazing.

7. At night, we had our dinner at the same restaurant (we fall in love with this restaurant) and continue exploring the place. Found out that they have their own night market here called Koh Lipe street :) Selling lots of souvenirs but way  to expensive compared to the night market at town. Managed to buy a skarf here, as my own souvenir from Koh Lipe :)

8. Going back to Hi season Hotel at 1.30 pm from Koh Lipe Jetty. Reached hotel at 5.30 pm.

There are many activities you can do here, if you stay longer.Unfortunately for us, we only stayed one night.John advised us to extend our day but we already plan to go to Night market at town the following day :( so much to do but so little time.

Next post teaser, night market, the end  of journey :(