DAY 1
DAY 2 Part One
DAY 2 Part Two
DAY 3 Part One
DAY 3 Part Two
DAY 4

The last day of my Thailand trip! Our flight was in the late afternoon so we spent the morning visiting another nearby resort that belonged to Millennium. Millennium Patong Resort is a laidback version of Millennium Patong Hotel. It doesn’t mean that the hotel is any less luxurious though.

Millennium Patong Resort.

I especially love the floor to ceiling mirror in the room.

i <3 me.

I like relativity.

After the hotel tour, I sneaked in a swim at my hotel’s pool before packing. Put on the 250 Baht dress I bought from a Patong trader and left for Phuket International Airport.

Me and Kellster, just before leaving.

Our flight was of course delayed for about an hour and because of that I bought an overpriced book to keep myself amused.

By the 5th page, it was boarding time. Damn -_-

Well, I had a wonderful time in Krabi and it’s all thanks to See Tho :)

DAY 1
DAY 2 Part One
DAY 2 Part Two
DAY 3 Part One
DAY 3 Part Two

We left Surat Thani in the morning and made our way to Phuket. It was about 3.5 hours journey in a car. During the drive, we stopped at a bridge to check out the scenery. The smaller bridge on the right was built in the WW2 era.

New and old bridges.

Sea and boats.

We arrived at See Tho’s Phuket office as the man himself had arranged for us a Thai cooking class. I was really looking forward to it because I’ve never been in a cooking class.

Notice the gold plated letters? They’re actual gold!

Fooling around while See Tho was working. PICTURE TAKEN BY KY.

We were taught to cook tomyam (red and clear) and mango salad.

Slicing ginger (really slowly).

Pounding. PICTURE BY NIGEL.

Smash out the flavour!

Chef wannabes. PICTURE TAKEN BY NIGEL.

Our masterpiece – Tom Yam.

Our 2nd masterpiece – Mango Salad.

Then, we sat down for lunch that we made ourselves! Of course, there were also grilled crabs and fried noodles and grilled fish that were already prepared by See Tho’s staff. Hehe.

After lunch, it was time to check into a new hotel, Millennium Patong. It was attached to Jungceylon, a popular shopping complex in Phuket. Lovely, 5 star luxe :)

We were welcomed with some lovely lime based mocktails. Very sour but I loved it.

Welcome mocktails.

Hotel’s lounge.

Hugging the ball.

My room at Millennium Patong.

It would have been perfect if it weren’t for some really noisy kids running up and down my hallway. Eventually I opened my door and scolded them. Golden silence since :)

The view from my balcony.

It was a day to chill. No more activities lined up except dinner. Well, dinner was at a Shogun-like japanese buffet restaurant, which was nothing to shout about. That’s why I’m not posting any picture of the dinner. I guess See Tho wanted to give us a break from Thai food overload but I would have been very happy to eat more Thai food.

After dinner, it was back to the hotel and more free & easy time. It rained for a while so we hung out at Jungceylon till the rain stopped. After that, we went to Patong to check out the night scene and do some shopping. As I’ve already been to Patong before, I decided to skip the night life and head straight for the shops but the thing with travelling in pack is that someone will always manage to disappear without informing anyone and expect other people to be constantly keeping track of him/her. So anyway a lot of time was wasted waiting and finding this person so many shops had closed by the time I decided to just like, f-k this s-t.

I did manage to snag a couple of lovely tops. My mission to find the shop where I got bikinis for 100 Baht a pair failed too (thanks Nigel and Kellster for accompanying me!) :(

We walked so much that by the time we got back to the hotel, I was already majorly pooped. Yeah, it was a lovely sleep.

Stay tuned for my last day in Thailand!

DAY 1
DAY 2 Part One
DAY 2 Part Two
DAY 3 Part One

After Kiriwon village, we went to Wat Phra Mahathat Woromaha Vihan in Nakhon Si Thammarat town. Also known as the temple with no shadows, it is the most important temple in Southern Thailand. I borrowed a jacket from See Tho’s assistant because I thought I was revealing a little too much flesh, heh.

The moment we stepped into the temple’s compound, we were greeted by a huge flock of pigeons.

It was right out of a Hitchcock’s film!

Me and Nigel amongst the feathered ones. TAKEN BY KY.

Birds!

See Tho being friendly with the birdies.

Apparently the year that shadows were seen at the temple was the year Kiriwon was hit by the floods.

Temple with no shadows and its gold covered tip.

Hindu-style Chedi-s.

Gold leaves.

At the end of the temple tour, I got myself a Fanta Orange.

Sipping Fanta Orange. Taken by KY.

After a day of learning and pseudo pilgrimage, we were treated to retail therapy as a reward. We arrived at a street in Nakhon Si Thammarat town known for silver jewelleries.

All these shops are selling silver jewelleries.

Blings.

I bought a couple of earrings as souveniers. Alas, it’s dinner time. From Nakhon Si Thammarat we headed towards Surat Thani town for food, which was not very far.

The path heading towards the restaurant was peppered with stalls selling fresh and salted seafood. There were also many stalls selling fresh oysters. Huge ones and dirt cheap!

15-5 Baht per oyster! That’s RM 1.50 for one XL sized oyster 0_0.

I’d love to name the restaurant but it’s all Thai! Just turn left if you happened to stumbled upon this place. Hehe

There were houses on stilts on both sides of the bridge which connected the restaurant to the bank.

Houses on stilts.

And if you looked down, you’d see a sea of empty oyster shells.

Empty oyster shells.

Of course, we had to have oysters for dinner. See Tho advised us against eating them raw as sometimes, the sources are quite suspicious.

Steamed oysters.

Garnished with chilli, deep fried onions and herbs.

We also had the customary crabs, prawns, fish, tomyam and vegetables. As usual, See Tho had pulled it off again as dinner was par excellence.

We ended Day 3 with a trip to Ta Pi River to watch fireflies. We got into a charming long boat, put on the life jackets and headed into the dark. According to this site, long boats can be chartered at 300 Baht an hour at Bandon Pier.

Could I look anymore tired than this? PICTURE BY ANDY.

Three stooges. Me, Kellster and Nigel. PICTURE BY ANDY.

It was an incredible experience! I have seen fireflies in Sabah but the experience was nothing close to what I had in Surat Thani. The trees literally lit up like Christmas trees. There were so many of them!!

Due to the lack of lighting, it was near impossible to take any picture. This is about the closest I could get that evening.

If you’re in Surat Thani, you must absolutely check out the fireflies.

We retired to 100 Islands Resort, a humble hotel in Surat Thani. The best thing about the place was 24-hour Internet for 100 Baht!

Day 4 soon! :)

DAY 1
DAY 2 Part One
DAY 2 Part Two

We checked out of Sheraton Krabi in the morning and headed towards Surat Thani. Not before we dropped by the Marine Fish Centre, a fish conservation project by HRH King Bhumipol. The project’s conceived to counter over-fishing in the country.

Bridge.

Looming storm.

Humphead fish.

Small sharks.

Another view of the centre.

KY scaring the angel fish.

I think the conservation project is really cool and a noble initiative by the Thai King. If only our government were more environmentally conscious.

We proceeded on a 1.5 hour journey towards south, to Taha Resort for lunch. We were apparently the first Malaysian tourists to have set foot in the restaurant. It’s a quaint little establishment built overlooking a small river. Very nice atmosphere and excellent food! We had authentic southern Thai food.

Taha Resort.

Lunch.

See Tho also taught me how to eat durian with piping hot rice. It was orgasmic :)

See Tho demonstrating the way to eat durian with rice.

Mangosteen wine on the left.

After lunch, we decided to check out a Kiriwon village which is inhabited by the Ban Khiri Wong community. According to this website:

The village was faced with catastrophe on November 21, 1988 when a flash flood swept away some 100 houses. The local monastery and villagers still maintain the damaged convocation hall and houses as monuments to those who perished. Ban Khiri Wong is considered a prototype of eco-tourism management and the place won the 1998 Thailand Tourism Award in the city and community category.

So after the catastrophe, the villagers had to find new means of living. Being the innovative people that they are, they discovered various ways of using mangosteens and other fruits besides gobbling them up. Well, they turn them into soaps and dye!

Owner of soap factory and See Tho.

The owner demonstrated the process of making mangosteen soaps and it was really impressive as there was no cooking of any sort. First, he mixed palm oil nuggets with mangosteen juice (derived from the skin) and other herbal juices. Then he mixed and compressed them further and finally, he moulded them into soaps.

Making mangosteen soaps.

Final product.

Apparently, it’s a very good soap for people with acne problem, eczema and sensitive skin. Personally, I have eczema problem but have yet to try the soap (still in the box), so when I have, I’ll definitely post about my experience with it.

We were given an amulet as a parting gift. Such a nice gesture :)

Amulet.

After checking out the soaps, See Tho brought us to another place where fabric dye is made with mangosteens. Before this trip, I had no idea that there are so many uses for mangosteens! I’m very impressed with the people of Kiriwon village.

The dyed fabrics are reminiscent of the 60s tie-dye but more subdued. This is how they dye the fabric (pure cotton):

1.

Clothes pegs are used to peg certain parts of the fabric to form desired patterns.

2.

Fabrics cooked in the dye prepared with mangosteen essence.

3.

Finished product.

I bought a gardening hat, a pair of fisherman trousers and a bag made with the dyed fabrics. All for less than RM500 baht. Support the local businesses, eh!

We left Kiriwon village for another destination, but I’ll leave that for another post under Day 3 Part Two. Sorry it’s a little too long already!

DAY 1
DAY 2 Part One

Now, the second part of my second day in Krabi. After our island hopping trip, See Tho brought us to Krabi La Playa Hotel for tea time.

Lovely local coffee and biscuits.

We also went on a short hotel tour to check out the place. It’s a very nice hotel and I especially love the swimming pool.

Mocktail to quench the thirst.

One of La Playa’s rooms.

The eclectic pool.

We left La Playa for our hotel and still in a swimming mood, I took a dip in Sheraton Krabi‘s fabulous pool. I didn’t take any picture but here’s one from its website.

Infinity pool faces the beach.

After a quick swim, I showered and changed for dinner.

Me and Kellster posing before dinner.

We arrived at Ban Ton Khao, a beautiful farm house themed restaurant. It even has its own paddy field and windmill!

Ban Ton Khao.

Lone bike.

There’s a really cool wooden playground and I couldn’t help but camwhore, hehe.

Playground.

Timer FTW.

Dinner.

None of the dinner picture came out well so I’m not going to post any. But I’m sure you’ll be able to read about it soon at KY‘s :)

After dinner, we went to Ao Nang where KY and I spent 250 baht each for a traditional Thai massage. 90 minutes of awesomess!!

Ao Nang in the evening.

Massage parlour.

The massage concluded my second day in Krabi. We headed back to our hotel and I hadn’t fallen asleep so quickly in my life.

3rd day coming up!

DAY 1

After a fun-filled first day in Krabi, we woke up to a scrumptious breakfast spread by Sheraton Krabi. Unfortunately I hadn’t taken any picture at breakfast because both my lenses decided to fog up after spending a very cold night stuck in my very cold Lowepro. I was worried sick about the lenses but luckily they cleared up right before our island hopping adventure.

Our destinations were Chicken Island – Thale Waek – Si Island – Poda Island – Railay Beach.

We arrived at the beach. There was no jetty or anything like that. Thais keep it real…just sun, sea and boat. We quickly registered and I was trying to push my poor sea experience out from my head.

Registering for island hopping trip. PICTURE BY NIGEL.

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My trip to Thailand was a good one. I enjoyed myself immensely, courtesy of See Tho from See Tho Holidays. See Tho is one of the most progressive men (extremely knowledgeable & Internet savvy) I’ve ever met and with a wonderful down-to-earth disposition to boot. Despite being the owner of See Tho Holidays, which has offices in Phuket, Krabi, Trang and Hatyai, he personally attended to us and made sure that we had a great time. And indeed, we had a fabulous time. Many thanks to Nicole Tan, who hooked us up with See Tho.

The reason why I enjoyed this trip so much was because we were introduced to a side of Thailand that you’d hardly see in the tourist brochures. All the trip packages offered by See Tho Holidays are personally customised by See Tho himself. He does it by travelling all over Thailand, trying out and experiencing every spot including towns, shops, hotels, restaurants and many more. Then, he would decide on the best and put them on his itineraries.

Personally, I’ve never liked group tours as the pace is too fast and you could never stay long enough to take in the beauty of any place. But with See Tho, there was never a single moment during the trip where I felt rushed. You may think that I’m a bit of a hard selling here, but frankly, See Tho deserves it.

On the morning of 6th July, KY and I took a cab to LCCT for RM65. We reached there and found Kellster and Nigel at Mcdonalds. To be honest I was quite worried about how Nigel and Kellster would be like as travelling partners as I didn’t know both of them very well, but they turned out to be quite a riot :) Especially Nigel. I’ll probably talk more about Nigel in future entries as his funny moments during the trip were priceless!

Nicole and Andy, our official photographer arrived shortly after and before we knew it, we were boarding the plane.

Bound for Krabi.

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