Phuket 2011 Day 1
Friday, February 18, 2011 @ 7:09 PM


Country: Phuket, Thailand
Date: 11 Jan 2011 - 15 Jan 2011
Explorers: Kelly, Colin, Pei Xing
Accomodation : Hotel Andakira, $222 for 4 nights (including breakfast)

We booked our air ticket during Jetstar Promotion and it cost about $88 per person including all the airport taxes. Its a really good deal! of course, my air ticket is kindly sponsored by them as a birthday gift to me :)

Anyway, air fare could have been cheaper by $60 in total if its not because of a silly mistake made by me. i clicked the wrong flight timing -____-" i know. aiya, ppl make mistakes luh. hahas

Here are some tips when you book your airfare with budget airlines

Budget Travel Tip #1: If travelling in a group, lets say a group of 4, you do not need to buy checked in baggage for everyone on the flight heading to the destination. Just buy checked in baggage for 2 person as on the flight there,your baggage will usually be quite light. The other two travelers can just share. You can save about $30 (given $15 per pax like Jetstar) in that way. Remember, theres always hand carry allowance of 10kg! so not worries about exceeding. Unless you are telling me you are like Paris Hilton that changes 10 sets of clothing daily.

The downside to this is, you cant choose your seats on the plane.

Budget Travel Tip #2: I dont know how is it with other airlines, but in Jetstar, you need to pay $12 per name as administrative charges if you were to use your credit card to make payment. You could be paying up to $48 (for group of 4) just for Visa or Master to process your payment. Thus, always choose the offline payment method!

You can conveniently make payment within 48 hours at AXS machines or SAM machines. Even all 7 eleven outlets does the job for you! well, i am not too sure will 7 eleven charge you though. You might wanna check with them.

All in all, we saved $78 just by doing the above! :)

It took a little bit more effort, but i feel that is worth it.

The bad part about promotional airfare for Jetstar, they give you real sucky flight timing. its either late into the night or early in the morning.

Accomodation:

Hotel Andakira! we love our hotel to bits! its a 4 star hotel and they have good service! free wireless throughout the hotel and their front desk personnel is really smiley and kind! 4 of us stayed in the same room for $888 in total, including buffet breakfast! Its not exactly cheap but its their high season in Phuket, all hotel prices are all around that price (i am refering to only 4 star hotels)

Service there is good! we requested for like additional 4 pillows and extra blanket, yet they gave it to us with a smile! hahas and they provide beach towels for you too!

The location of the hotel is good though its not very near the beach. Patong beach is about 15mins-20mins walk away. but we are away from the crowd in Phuket! something i like as i hate to wake up in the middle of a mess. hahas. And just 5 mins away from our hotel, is where the club and pub scene is, the shopping mall is there too!

Budget Travel Tip #3: When booking hotels, you can check websites like www.agoda.com for better hotel prices :) there are many more out there! just google it.

Without further ado, let me spam you with pictures of the trip!

Day 1: we arrived at our hotel during midnight! checked in and went straight out to explore!

Many of the shops there closes at only 1am, 2am or even 3am. I mean shops ok! not just the pubs. hahas. The massage centre right outside our hotel closes at like 2am. real different from Singapore. I think they cater to tourists like us!

Food is really awesome there! Its not exactly cheap like mad, some meals we got con. i will come to that later. but the tastiness makes the money worth it.


OMG. this banana pancake shop has the BEST pancake i have ever eaten! its only 40 bhat per piece. we ate this every night religiously! drooling as i look at it now.


Thai Beef Noodle Soup


Double Cheese Burger (the patty is like 4 times thicker then ramly burgers in Singapore) - 100 bhat, SGD$4


all of us shared one


Stacking up thai cup noodles and snacks


Their petrol "station" Cool eh! hahas


At the hotel lobby looking at brochures to decide what day tours we wanna go for.


Four of us in the room!


The place where i lay my head for 4 nights


The little sculpture they made out of a towel, placed on every bed

Will continue with day 2,3,4,5 again. hahas. uploading pictures is such a chore.