Tour information in Phuket

Dear Readers,

After lots of requests, I found the 3 business cards I picked up last time in Phuket during my AMAZING THAILAND!!! trip of 2008. Here are all the details:

Tour Company in Phuket : Phuket Seaworld & Tina Tour

Address: 34/3 M.5 Thepkhasattri Road.
T. Thepkhassattri Thalang, Phuket 83110 Thailand

Ms. Janjira Krutprapal (Tina)
Managing Director
Mobile: +66 87 3903710, +66 87 2686867
Tel: +66 76-206694, Fax: +66 76-206559 Email: tinatour24@hotmail.com

Review:

I think this is a very reliable company, I have used it 3 times. You can coordinate with Tina via email, she will arrange for pick up at the airport, and then from the airport you will be driven to her office to settle all payments and collect the daily tour tickets. Very friendly service and reliable 🙂

Freelance Tour Guide: Mr. Chakrit Somkaew (Chai)
Mr. Chai was my HAPPPY!!! Tourguide, speaks excellent english, very nice man, but a little TOO Friendly with women, so be warned.. (not in a pervy way, more like, innocent love crush?)

Mobile: + 66 81-272 3022
Address: 78/280 M.3 Chao-Far Road, Wichit, Muang Phuket 83000

Taking Taxis in Phuket
Unfortunately, in Phuket there is no systematic taxi system, meaning us tourist have to bargain and pay basically a ransom amount to travel around the city. So here is some advice:

If you think you want to see shops, night life, the whole works – get a hotel in Patong area, because that will save you on the transport.
If you want a secluded getaway, choose a nice beach like Surin Beach and just stay there your entire trip.

BUT if you need to take a taxi, I got a business card from a very nice young man who is a taxi driver there. He drives a simple sedan, speaks fluent English and his whole family grew up in Surin Beach. He was very nice to us 3 girls when we were travelling in Phuket, he told us places to avoid, and at first we only wanted a one way taxi ride, but he was ‘worried’ (hey I believed him) that we wouldnt be safe, so we set a time and place to meet again for him to take us back to the hotel.

If you are staying at the Marriot at Surin Beach, he usually is sitting right outside the hotel. If not, here is his contact info:

Mr. Settapan Changin, (but you can call him. Mr. Bu (pronounced as Boo.))
Mobile: +66 81 370-8718
His business card lists everything he does – transport to and from airport, take you to see Phuket Fantasea and Temples…but please please avoid things like

Cashew nut Factory, Thai Silk Store, Jewelry Factory, because those are HUGE tourist traps, they charge a fortune.

Alright, I hope that helps you all.

Enjoy your time in Phuket!
Stacy

A Lovely November – Day 3 – Family Reunions

Dear Readers,

Ooooooooh shoot, I’m so behind on my blog entries that I am forgetting what to write on my logs!

Day 3…November 5th, it was a thursday…and I think Mom and I went shopping. Had a business meeting.

Oh, I do remember laughing so much when watching KBS – Korean TV, with ENGLISH SUBTITLES!!! I’m so jealous that we don’t get that in Thailand.

Family Reunion

So, at first Uncle James arrived with Aunt Kathleen, and then all the relatives started coming into our room! It is so nice to come from a big family! They came in twos (haha like noah’s ark.) – Uncle James and Aunt Kathleen, Claudia and Aunt Cissy, Aunt Laura and Uncle Ben!

So there we were all 9 of us, in the room, chatting and laughing, and then…time for photos. It really is a math probability question. nCr – combinations. 9 people, 4 cameras, how many permutations and combinations? I think it took us a complete 15 minutes to complete the whole round.

Imagine….

Photo 1: Aunt Laura’s camera, Aunt Laura took the group photo.
Photo 2: Aunt Laura’s camera, Uncle Ben took the group photo.
Photo 3: Claudia’s camera, Aunt Cissy took the group photo.
Photo 4: Claudia’s camera, Claudia took the group photo. 

etc etc.
Not to mention the different combinations of seating arrangements too!

From left to right – Claudia, Dad, Aunt Laura, Aunt Kathleen, Uncle Ben, Uncle James, Mom and Aunt Cissy! phew!

The last photos were using Uncle James cute camera, with a 15s self timer, so we are all sitting there like…ah….cheeese!! wow…this light is long!

haha

Dinner was great, lots of laughter, I think the cutest moment was when we asked Uncle Ben what he wanted to eat, and right away he said, “Goo Lo yuk! *sweet and sour pork!*” Wow I never remember him being so adorable and vocal! And I dont even know how old he is, but he is such an amazing tennis player, and he was talking about his rallying, how he beats his boys anytime, it was so sweet!

 

Dinner was alot of laughter and catch up? And I was sitting there thinking…wow, I really miss this. I would love to grow up and live in Vancouver with all of them, there is a strong sense of family. I also really missed Gucci.

 

 

 What lovely relatives and what a nice warm reunion, I hope it won’t be another 6 years til I see them again!
Stacy

A Lovely November – Day 2 – Morning freeze and Dinner with Rita and Billy!

Dear Readers,

Morning Freeze
I woke up FREEZING. Was it really ‘winter’ in HK so soon? I got dressed for breakfast, wore my jacket, and was freezing in the hotel restaurant during breakfast. 

Which….was quite alright, except for one thing that really boggled me. — They put the bacon in this steamer, no wait..hmm…it’s not an obvious steamer, but it is a tray, that is heated, and has this glass cover thingy and I suppose some steam too, to keep the food warm I guess?     “It wasn’t the usual food tray covers” would be the best way to describe them. Anyhoo, so bacon, ham, sausages? All soggy! Bargh! In hindsight – it was good thing for me because I avoided eating them all week.

Because I was freezing in the restaurant, I refused to be a victim, and I couldn’t allow myself to catch a cold because I couldn’t get my parents sick, so I wore a longsleeve undershirt, my tank top, my green knit sweater, my jacket and my scarf …and headed outside for lunch. I even put my MSN status as “FREEZING IN HK!”

Once we stepped outside the hotel? I was hit by a gush of warm air. Man…I’m such a loser!

hahaha, this is another example of what happens when I live a sheltered life. (BUBBLE!!!!)  If I didn’t step out of the hotel, I would completely think that it is subdegree temperature outside! What is with hotel airconditioning?!?!?!? Everyone around me was wearing a cotton-tee, and there I was with my pink scarf!

Cantonese Immersion
Anyhoo, Shatin is a really nice part of HK, it is nice and quaint, and interesting. It also brought out my huge cantonese insecurity though. We were buying a SIM Card, and I was asking the lady if I could choose my phone number (because you know, I am so particular when it comes to numbers)  Basically, I have to press all these buttons and choose a number, DAMMNIT the lady did it for me, and I got a crappy number. But anyhoo, she was blasting off in Cantonese, like blahblah *TSK TSK* ho mafaan la la lalalalaa, and I was staring at her blankly, like what the heck did i do? And later Mommy said, “she told you she was frustrated with reading instructions, and you should ask her boss”

My jaw literally dropped like, Wow, how the bleep! did I miss that!

Portions are also ridiculously huge in HK. Random point.

Dancing while walking
Mommy gave me a HK map, and booked me on the shuttle to TST Regal Hotel. And with this trusty map, I found my way to the pier side, and had a nice 20 minute stroll to Ocean Terminal. You know what, I don’t usually use my MP3 player in Bangkok, but it is really fun and handy to have.

While waiting for Rita, I was listening to “Give it Up” by KC and the Sunshine Band – and alright, I was doing a mini-grapevine move in front of the shopping square. I always do this I suppose? How can someone listen to music and not move and dance along to it? 

I guess if I ever lived in HK, I would have to learn to live with just tapping my feet…because this dodgy African man (I’m not racist btw, I’m just describing how he looked like please!) walked up to me smiling like,

Dodgy man: Are you waiting for your friend?
Stacy: Yes, my husband actually! *switches to more sober depressing music*

Reunion with Rita and Billy
Shortly after creepo approached me, I saw Rita and ran into her arms. So that’s right, he was standing right there. Rita was my husband.

We had dinner in a Vietnamese restaurant that had a nice view of the harbour, and Billy joined us too! Dinner was great, but the highlight was catching up with the both of them. I like it the way it is now, seeing Rita once every 6 months, it comforts me 🙂 And this time, I got the chance to talk to Billy more, and I am so happy for Rita, because Billy is a really nice guy.  Heather, Andrea and Rita! All three of you are attached to such wonderful men! 🙂

Lovely running Rita!

The nice waitress lady...everytime she took the photo we saw her hand shake...hahah this was the best shot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to dig up some old York photos and compare how we looked before as to now. I feel we are women now Rita! It’s hard to describe really. It’s like we look the same, but not at the same time?

November 4th was a fabulous day for me!
Stacy

Bangkok to Hong Kong

Dear Readers,

And with all my frustration, I left Bangkok and moved to HK….

I wish.

Whatever the case, I am here in Hong Kong, and had quite an interesting journey over here! The Bangkok Airport now has really crazy stringent regulations when it comes to security checks. We have to take out EVERYTHING, if you have a laptop in your computer case – take it out, if you have a make up kit – take it out,  I was asked to take off my coat, my watch, my scarf and my shoes too! I felt like I was giving a strip tease! Really ridiculous! And to make it worse, I just had SOOOO many bags, that it was very very overwhelming and I was rushing to the Emirates gate….

I simply love Emirates. Yes, Vick works there so I am biased. But I got to watch GREY’S ANATOMY on board. It must be 3-4 seasons ahead of the ones I’m watching in Bangkok! And there I was, snuggled in my window seat, tearing and dabbing my eyes like crazy for 2 hours! That stuff really gets to you!

And when I got out of the gates, I saw lots of Immigration Officers, and they were only stopping Africans and Middle Eastern people! It was quite embarassing and disgraceful to see such blatant racist discrimmination! I complained about it just now, and my Auntie told me it is because there are so many illegal workers in HK, but still I felt quite crappy about it.

Anyways, I’m glad that I am with my parents now,  and looking forward to an interesting week!
Goodnight!
Stacy