I wasn’t sure if I’m going to blog about my sort of weekend getaway trip to Phuket with the keeper and his childhood friends. You see how lazy I got since my new job (not so New now it’s almost 10 months). Anyway,I wanted to share for… if anyone ever come across my blog or if they are searching for an idea for Phuket vacation. So here I go..
Basics
Duration: 4 days 3 nights
People: 6 of us. 4 boys 2 girls.
Airline: Thai Airways
Hotel: Outrigger Laguna Phuket Resort & Villa
Fixed cost (air ticket plus hotel) for the whole trip: HKD 4600 per person.
Standard group photo in front of our boarding gate. We took the 10.25am direct flight, but flight delay due to bad weather, anyway we reached Phuket at 2.30pm local time. It’s about 3 hours flight if you’re wondering.
Prepay SIM with Internet Data
As new gens and with smartphones and social medias, we probably can’t enjoy the fullest without having access to the internet. Don’t bother going roaming. There’s a counter at the baggage claim area, offering prepay SIM card for tourist (TrueMove) at TBH 250 for 5days unlimited data usage. I have zero interest in international call and sms as all can be done freely via whatsapp, line, wechat, viber etc. The only essential is DATA USAGE. To save all troubles as everything is mostly in Thai, just tell the staffs which plan you need, pay them and pass your phone. They will fix it for you.
Car rental
6 of us traveling, taxi or bus is obviously not a good choice so we rent a 4WD. There are few car rental, the big brands like Hertz, Avis, Budget are on your right once you passed the final gate. We picked National though. Budget was expensive and Hertz was fully booked. Anyway,service at National was really pleasant. Took their Toyota Fortune at TBH 10,350 for 3 days, with navigator and full insurance coverage included.
Tips:
# Pay by cash so you won’t have to deal with the currency with your bank after. And a friend told us some car rental convert locally at high price before charging your card. BUT you do have to swipe your card holding some amount for deposit. There won’t be any transaction unless you badly damaged the car.
# Strongly advice not to take your mobile phone as gps navigator. Although you have data access, it’s on 3G and most of the time, it doesn’t work.
Accommodation
We booked a 3 bedrooms Pool Villa at Outrigger Laguna Phuket Resort & Villa. It’s 25 mins drive from the airport and about 35 mins to Phuket Town or Patong. It’s not crowded and definitely no tour group. All are on free and easy, mostly European. Also, 5 mins shuttle bus to hotel’s private beach. The following photos are taken by myself, so it’s real, no photoshop and not as professionally pretty as the hotel’s website’s:
Main pool at the reception. Where you find the resort hotel room, cafe, kids club and tour information counter.
I forgot to take external picture of the villa. It pretty much look exactly like a 2 storey house. First floor, we have a guest toilet, the living & dining area plus open kitchen.
Private pool! It’s a small pool with about 1.4m dept. Not exactly for swimmer but perfectly fine to hang out and play water ball fight with friends.
We bought the ball for about TBH150. The most well spend as everyone loves it. It brought out our inner child. Floating bed is free. Got it from the store room next to the pool.
Bedrooms are pretty much the same. 1 master room with a king bed toilet with jacuzzi and walk in wardrobe, 1 room with a queen bed and sharing toilet with the other room with 2 single bed. Comfortable mattress and squeaky clean.
Oh, and you can take the shuttle bus from your villa to the private beach owns by the hotel group. What to do at the beach? If you’re really asking… Sunbathing, swimming, beach volley ball, foot massage, food and alcohol available. It arrived at Canal Village where you’ll find restaurants, souvenir shops, money changer. There are shuttle bus to Angsana Laguna for Spa and Massage too!
Day Tour
Its definitely cheaper if you have the time to find one in town. We are super lazy so we asked the reception for recommendations. First timer, Phi Phi Islands are a must. And we went with ALP Adventure. No tour group, having different nationalities on board i.e European, Russian, American, Singaporean, African, Australian, Malaysian (myself)，Hong Konger and only 3 PRC.
Groupie before we gets wet and wild.
I love the ocean.
Stop by a beach they called the Leonardo DiCaprio Beach. I think it’s from a movie or something but… it’s so crowded! We walked further for some crazy pose.
Selfie with my keeper.
TBH200 for this picture and frame from the agency. We didn’t pay for the videos although I remember posing a lot while he filming haha.
If you’re there for the weekend, don’t missed their weekend market, near Phuket Town, open till 11pm. There are food and goods at cheap price.
Don’t just go to restaurants recommended by the tourist book, explore yourselves. Ask the local, ask the money changer… You might be surprised.
That’s my trip.
xoxo
64.6 Day Dreamer 