PrettySweetBoy

Saturday, May 19, 2007

My Trip to Phuket Thailand



Phuket Town is best explored on foot. Once you get into the town, you'll be approached by friendly and persistent locals offering to take you and your friends around the town in a private car with A/C for about 3 dollars(100 baht). Do not go with it. I know it sounds like a bargain and you'll be attempted, but trust me, exploring it at your own pace is the best option. The town itself is small, easy to get around, so many things to see, and so much food to try, you don't want to miss any of it by being stuck in a car. Plus, you really do not know where the driver will take you. Why waste your precious time?

There's so much more about Phuket Town I want to talk about, but I guess I'll have to save that for later. Stay tuned. There will be more to come.
Beaches are nice, but Phuket Town is a very exciting place to explore. It's about 30 minutes by car from the beach. You can get there by local bus, tuk tuk(taxi), scooter, motorcycle, or private car.

We rode the bus once. It was an interesting experience, and we enjoyed it. It's very economic to travel by bus there. It costs less than 1 dollar(25 bhat) per person to Phuket Town from the beach and you can sightsee along the way. Its downside is slow and you have to wait for it by the street. It comes every half an hour. If you miss it, gotta hang around the beach for another half an hour. Image standing in the heat of 30 celsius plus humidity, hum..not very fun, or running for the bus in that kind of heat, which is what we did...huh..wishing we could jump into a pool after that run.

You can also take tuk-tuk to the town. Tuk-tuk is Thai version of taxi. It is essential to bargain before getting in a tuk-tuk. The price ranges from $10 to $20 one way from the beach depending on your bargain skills :p. A tuk-tuk sits 4-5 people, so if you have a group of people to share the cost with you, it's not bad at all.

We found the best way to travel across the island is to rent a scooter. It costs $5 a day plus gas only. You can ride it anywhere, stop and go anytime you want. We discovered a lot of interesting places while scootering around the island. We came across local eateries, night markets, elephant trekking, and sunset view points. And riding the scooter in and out of traffic like locals is A LOT of fun although we had some embarrasing moments, not to mention how I fell off the scooter at the gas station. Watching the chaotic traffic, you probably don't think there's much to the traffic rules. Well, not entirely true. There are rules to comply when it comes to ride a scooter. Drive on the left-hand side of the road; never drive in the opposite direction on a one-way street; bring your driver's license; wear a helmet. The last one applies to the drivers only. Yeah, I know. It doesn't make sense. Only are drivers required to wear a helmet in Thailand. Many foreign travellers get fined for breaking these rules. We witnessed a lot of them. Actually we are not an exception. We got caught just one block away from the bike rental for not wearing a helmet. If you think you can talk your way out of it, well, good luck! We tried.

I'll be back to Phuket again , but this time with my love one....

PrettySweetBoy

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home