27 December 2018
The breakfast at Ibis Styles has been an excellent buffet of Western and Thai food. After stuffing ourselves this morning, we thought we'd head out to Chinatown to explore on foot.
We went back to pier Phra Arthit to take the express boat to pier Rajchawongse. I forgot this was a bit later in the morning and walked right past the ticket office. The ticket lady came up to me on the pier and told me off for walking past without buying a ticket.
Tickets were cheap at 15B per trip.
Again it was a fun boat ride, though a bit crowded later in the morning.
We got off the pier Rajchawongse and walked towards the centre of Chinatown and saw some familiar roads from the bike tour previously.
Being Chinatown, there were all kinds of vendors, food, goods, jewellery, wholesale, wet and dry markets.
We bought some delicious ice desserts and juice from a street vendor for 20B each, and wandered the alleyways lined with shops and stalls on both sides. Though narrow, these are thorough-fares for motor bikes and cars, the vehicles squeezing between the many pedestrians.
After walking for a couple of hours, the heat got the better of us, and a decision was made to adjourn to the nearest cool mall by tuk-tuk.
I asked google for the nearest mall and was directed to Stadium One.
This time the tuk-tuk driver demanded 150B to take us there. The tuk-tuk was more attractively adorned, so this must be more of a tourist tuk-tuk.
I was wondering why most locals were paying their tuk-tuk drivers with coins and here we are paying with 100 and 50 bhat notes. Perhaps they know which ones to take, and also to keep the destinations "local", rather than towards hotels, malls and touristy locales.
Stadium One turned out to be a real stadium with sporting shops around it. We gave up and decided to go back to the hotel, and for some shopping and dinner around the Khao San area. After a cooling durian ice cream at a parlour, we were on the street hailing a taxi. A passing tuk-tuk offered to take us for 200B, and Marcus offered 150B which was accepted. A bit pricey but at least no curry lunches were hurt in the process.
28 December 2018
WT had booked a private taxi to take us to DMK airport for our flight to Phuket this morning. It was agreed at 500B, so not much of a premium on our taxi from the airport or so I thought.
There were no tolls to pay on the return trip, so the premium was about 250B. We arrived early at DMK for our flight.
It was a 1.5 hour flight to Phuket. Being domestic, the plane took off and arrived on time.
The taxi from Phuket airport to our hotel Lantern Resort at Patong Beach took one hour. The taxi driver applied the meter but we were also guaranteed the price would not exceed 800B including the airport surcharge of 100B. It turned out to be 750B.
Once checked in, we went for a walk around the hotel area, and had dinner at Patong Corner restaurant.
After dinner, Marcus booked his boat and snorkeling tour of the Similan Islands tomorrow for 2,400B. This is a full day trip from 6 am to 7 pm.
29 December 2018
The van was early to pick up Marcus, he got a call at 5.45 am. I decided to go for a walk on Patong Beach soon after, passing through Bangla Road on the way. Bangla is the "racy" street where there are bars with girls on poles and massages comes with extras. I won't bother posting any pictures of this street scenes as there are plenty already on YouTube if people are interested.
The beach itself also looked like it had been partied on. There were people sweeping the sand and lots of deck chairs stacked up. There was also a large music stage on the beach.
I noted the nearby Phuket town bus stop with a bus waiting. It was breakfast time, so I hoofed back to the hotel to see if WT was awake.
We decided to go to the Banzaan Fresh Market for some noodles for breakfast. The lower floor was a seafood market. Upstairs was a row of food stalls with menus to cook BYO (sea) food from the fresh market downstairs. It offers many different ways to cook your seafood etc, and the price is based on per 100gm. Payment was by a cash card which must be purchased beforehand, and unused money can be refunded (the same day).
The temperature was rising rapidly, so we ducked into the very large Jung Ceylon shopping mall to spend a few hours. There isn't a lot to do in Patong if you want to stay out of the heat (except for the two kinds of massages).
After a couple of hours at the mall, I was most happy to adjourn to our hotel room to catch some action movies on the large TV with my new supply of Chang beer from Big C supermarket.
This evening's activity was the Simon Cabaret Show. It was 550B each including transport. To accommodate Marcus' tour, I booked the 7.30 show.
The van arrived for us at 6.45pm but Marcus was still on his way back from his Similan Islands tour, so we went ahead. He was dropped off at the hotel, and took a motor-cycle tuk-tuk to the Cabaret for 100B.
The show itself was a troupe of transvestite dancers lip syncing to songs/themes for 90 mins. These guys have to perform 3 shows a night so they didn't put too much passion into the dancing. Still, the mainly mainland Chinese audience were appreciative and I am certain "cheesy" wouldn't have crossed their minds. The "girls" did a photo op after the show.
After the show, we went for a walk along the "racy" Bangla Road at 10 pm in full action, and along Patong Beach before retiring rather late.
30 December 2018
We took the 30B each bus to Phuket town this morning from the previously noted bus stop on Patong Beach.
It was a warm 45 min ride, and we arrived at lunch time. After 30 mins of walking, we found a Pad Thai restaurant for lunch. And then went looking for a mall to get out of the heat.
Prices here were a little cheaper, and some purchases were made from the Robinson's mall.
The trip back to Patong Beach was on one of these smaller van tuk-tuks.
We were squeezed into 3 rows of seats in the back.
It was instant noodles for dinner and a massage for WT and Marcus at the hotel.
31 December 2018
We leave for KL this evening on the 7 pm flight. Marcus went for a swim at the beach and WT had one last massage.
We then packed up and went for lunch at the Lucky 13 cafe. Our taxi driver from Phuket airport had arranged for a taxi friend to drive us to the airport for a discounted price of 650B.
Phuket airport is pretty nice and has lots of food courts. We had dinner there, and bought some duty free whisky. We have one day in KL before heading to Ipoh to visit Marcus' maternal grandma.
Happy 2019!
We stopped at Cruzin' In The 50s cafe at Deloraine for some coffee and fries before the drive up to the plateau.
Ladies toilet at Cruzin' In The 50s.
After about 40mins we reached the Great Lakes lookout on the plateau. The drive was one of the best drives I've had, with enough wind to keep things interesting but hardly any traffic either way.
We pulled over at one of the boat ramps by the lake for a close-up of the Great Lake and Marcus in front of the car.
Another great booking Maylene, nice beaches, restaurants and shopping all within walking distance.
And then there were blue things. And also red things.
Bikes that don't work. 
And lunch was at Prince of Wales Pub at Battle Point.
We went for a walk around that area including Salamanca without the weekend market.
An Indian curry dinner ends our very nice Tassie road trip, a treat from Maylene and Marcus for our 60th and 57th birthdays. The hot curries gave Marcus a nosebleed. Thanks kids. Back to Melbourne tomorrow.
