Phuket, I'm back!

I was back in Phuket for a 3-day weekend getaway in August last year. This is what I love about Singapore actually, there are a lot of weekend places you could go to either by bus, boat or a short plane trip. Phuket is definitely one of the choices for a short holiday.

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Phi Phi, Thailand

On our 2nd day at phuket, we took the boat tour to Phi Phi Islands. If only I knew it would take us 6 hours to get to and fro Phi Phi, I would have not taken the tour at all. I could have just used the cost of 1600 Baht for my food blog or shopping.

Seriously, it was too tiring. 1 hour land trip and 5 hours boat trip. To make matters worse, the waves were so strong I really thought the boat would capsize any minute. It was actually a cruise liner that had at least 500 people on it but it looked like only half were the legal limit on that kind of boat.

Passengers were throwing up, feeling nauseaous and sick. It was really terrible. To think Phi Phi wasn't worth all that fear and effort.

Anyway, please continue to read on..

I think an hour or so into the boat ride, we reached Maya Bay.

We literally just passed by Maya Bay so people could take pics. No one got to get down the boat.

Snorkelling at Phi Phi Don. We were such cheapskates we refused to rent the fins, only to endup with a big wound on my big toe due to the sharp corals. Bummer.

We had to share this food with the other tour group passengers. Not bad. But after most of the people throwing up on the boat, this was great food. We met this family from Algeria and another very nice & hospitable family from Bangkok who offered us bananas and rambotan.

Curry Puff, Phi Phi style. Quite Good.

Phi Phi's beach was actually way better than Patong Beach but still incomparable to Boracay or Cebu or even Patar Beach in Pangasinan. I think because the tide was quite strong, the sand got eroded so much that you couldn't go far into the water because it got too deep after a few steps.

I'm sure you all know this is where they shot the movie "The Beach". It does look nice with the cliffs in the backdrop but the water was not that clear plus the granules of the sand weren't fine. My problem is I already have Boracay as my benchmark that's why anything that pales in comparison is not good enough for me. Hehe.

Hundreds of people waiting to get on the boat. I wasn't too excited to endure another 2.5 hours of fear and vomit.

All in all, hate me as much as you want, but I don't think I will ever go back to Phi Phi again if I have to travel 6 hours. It was just too much. Imagine we were only able to snorkel for 1 hour, eat lunch for 30 mins, and swim for another hour. Thats 2.5 hours of leisure compared to 6 hours of torture.

With all the buzz from the movie, the media, the press and the internet, I was really expecting a whole lot from Phuket and Phi Phi, most especially. So I don't think I can blame myself if I feel like i was shortchanged.

Maybe they should shoot the sequel to "The Beach" in Boracay or Cebu or Palawan then I should be happy. :-P

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