Phuket : The biggest island in Thailand

Phuket is the biggest island in Thailand, located in the Andaman Sea off southernThailand.

One of the most popular tourist areas on Phuket is Patong Beach on the centralwestern coast, perhaps owing to the easy access to its wide and long beach.Most of Phuket’s night-life and its cheap shopping are located in Patong, andthe area has become increasingly developed. Patong means “the forest filledwith banana leaves” in Thai.

Patong Beach, Phuket this is Phuket’s central tourist and night time entertainment district.

Over the year, Patong has turned from a fishing village into one of the island’stwo cities. The famous bay and 4 km. beach remain as they were, with developmentlimited to the area back of the beach road.

There, however, virtually every kind of entertainment imaginable awaits visitors,with bars catering to every nationality. Live music can be found in many places,and there are also discotheques.

Accommodations range from budget to five-star. Shopping opportunities appearto be endless. Whatever one’s culinary disposition, a restaurant catering toit will be found. In addition, there are many tour companies waiting to helpvisitors plan their vacations.

These are reasons why we chose Phuket (Patong) for our holiday. Let’s go!!!!
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Starting from Suwannabumi Airport Bangkok and flying with Thai Air Asia ittook around 90 minutes to reach Phuket Airport, after the smooth flight it tookaround 30 minutes from Phuket Airport to our hotel, which was Club Andaman Resorton Patong Beach. The Hotel is quite nice consisting of a variety of rooms fromStandard, Deluxe Balcony to Junior Suite. It also boasts 2 Swimming pools, agymnasium with a Table Tennis table and a Pool table.

We had a Balcony Deluxe and the room was impressive. Another great bonus wasthe free WIFI in the room!
After we had settled in our rooms, we decided to go for some lunch aroundthe Hotel pool which serves a variety of snacks and meals.

Around 19.00 pm., we walked along Patong beach road to the night market andbars. While I was walking, I saw souvenir shops, clothes shops, restaurants.Now I understand why many tourists come to Phuket and especially Patong. Youcan see from the picture below.

The next morning I had a lie in, then spent the whole day at the beach, Ihad so much fun swimming and watching people.
I am quite sure that beaches in Thailand are more beautiful than beaches.(Chair rental on the beach is 80 Baht/chair per day. If you bring your own mator sit on the sand it’s FREE)
If you love to do activities, I recommend Parachuting, Banana Boat or Jet Skiall reasonably charged.

Early start today as we are going on a boat trip, I’m so excited!

We opted for the 3 Island Trip which takes us to Phi Phi Don, Khai Island (EggIsland) and Phi Phi Lay. I bought the tickets for the trip close to the Hotel.Along the Beach road, there are lots of counters selling trips to the Islandsaround Phuket. This trip cost me only 1000 Baht net including transfer.

The driver collected us at 8.30 am from the Hotel, and then we made the tripacross Phuket Island to the Ferry Terminal. Our speedboat had 6 engines andseated around 70 passengers.

No, this was not our boat, and I’m glad it wasn’t.

The first Island we stopped at was Khai Island. In just 3 minutes you can walkacross the entire island, it’s so small but very beautiful.

We spent around 30 minutes on the Island, then our next port of call was MonkeyBeach. Oh My Monkey!!!!!! There are lots monkeys on the beach, waiting to befed, and if you don’t feed them, they’ll steal your food.

The monkeys are quite friendly, but remember they are wild animals so don’tget too close.

If you don’t like monkeys you can go swimming or snorkeling. I recommend yougo snorkeling because the water is so clear. We took some bread to feed thefish so we had a good view.

The Tour Guide told us we would now go to Phi Phi for lunch, off we go, I’mstarving after all that swimming

As the boat stopped I looked around the Island. Some Hotels are still beingrenovated, and some signs of the Tsunami are still visible.But, the tourists are still coming to Phi Phi, and from the views I know why.
After the buffet lunch, we went to the last Island of the 3, the one I havebeen waiting for all day, Maya Bay. If you have ever seen the Hollywood blockbusterThe Beach, starring Leo Decaprio this is where it was shot. Oh I do hope he’sstill there!
I am sure that the reason they chose Maya Bay is because of the natural beauty.

Essential things to take on the trip

• Swimming suit
• Towel
• Sun Block
• Cap
• Sun Glasses
• Money
• Snorkeling masks are provided, however Fins can be rented for 100 Baht.

Important, there is a charge of 200 baht to enter Maya Beach, as it is aprotected National Park of Thailand.

After Maya Bay, we had one more snorkeling stop, and as you can see from thepictures there are plenty of fish and the Sea was very clear, so off I wentsnorkeling again.

Also during my stay in Phuket, we hired a motorcycle and drove into PhuketTown. This journey took around 45 minutes from Patong. The price of hiring themotorcycle was 200 Baht per day (24 Hours)

One of our favorite places during our stay in Patong was Molly Malone’s IrishBar. The bar has a great western food menu and has a live band every night playinginternational classics. Also, MM serves a great pint of Killkenny’s, as youcan see my Father-in-Law William enjoying his.

All in all I had a great time in Phuket, the weather was good (although wewent during rainy season) and only had 1 day of rain.

These pictures show a wonderful Patong Sunset.