THE EVER EVOLVING SOUL

To know what I did before this happened, click here . Where was I? Right. I was telling you that we finally managed to lower the price from the official brochure rate (originally 4500 baht) to 3333 baht per person for a 2-day trip to Phi Phi Islands and James Bond Island including buffet for lunch and pick-up from and to the hotel. We wanted to get 3000 baht but those people at Diamond Travel were such tightfisted bitches. Thinking that we had made this far and for the sake of efficiency, we perforce agreed with the deal. Lastly we handed the down-payment for 3333 baht, and set to pay the rest 6666 baht when they picked us up the next day. After the booking was done, we got in the taxi and went back to the hostel in Phuket Old Town to pick up our luggage. As we were already using the taxi, we decided to keep using it to go to our next destination in Patong with additional 300 baht. We had to spend 45 minutes to reach Patong from Phuket Old Town. Arriving at Patong Paragon Hotel that wa

Our next destination was The Big Buddha Phuket, located on the top of the hill between Chalong and Kata. The road leading up to The Big Buddha was actually a bit tricky, so we decided to take taxi to get there. At the exit gate of Wat Chalong, a taxi pulled over near us and the driver came out. Guess what? The driver was a woman! It was the first time ever I encountered a woman taxi driver. She asked us where we were going and after negotiating for a while, we managed to get 500 baht. Quite expensive, huh? However, despite the accent, her English was good so we were fine with the price. Anyway. The road to The Big Buddha was sloping upward. It was like when you're going uphill to the Garuda Wisnu Kencana (GWK) in Bali, only steeper. Hat off to Ms. Taxi Driver! While driving us to the top, she shared some trivial info to keep us entertained along the way. She said that Phuket had no train line (so I noticed); that it took approximately 10 hours to go to Bangkok from Phuket by bus; a

It was around 08.00AM when the alarm rang off and woke us up to the sunlight that was beaming through the closed curtains. I slowly shuffled to the window sleepy-eyed and took a peek outside. Then there I was, having my first sun exposure in Thailand since our touchdown the night before (see here if you haven't read our arrival in Phuket). Adjusting my eyes to the blinding sunburst, I tried to get my senses absorbing the warmth of Thai morning sun and taking in the panorama of Phuket Old Town from our room in the third floor. Here's what it looked like: Contrastingly yet beautifully juxtaposed. After taking a bath, grooming up as tourists, and packing our bags; we went downstairs to the reception and checked out. Yup, we stayed in Phuket Old Town for one night only and intended to spend the rest in Patong. Yet first, we were planning to go to Wat Chalong, esteemed as the most important of the 29 Buddhist temples in Phuket. Out of simplicity, we entrusted our belongings to the

For those who missed the part one of Asean Trip Day 1, please click here . Apparently, there were no train or bus service available at the Phuket International Airport. You could use public tricycles or cars, however you'd need to exit the airport area to access them. As for us, Nana had previously taken the initiative to use the hotel's pick-up facility so we didn't have to worry about the transportation. It was around 10PM when we got in the car and the driver took us to our first lodging, Rucksack Hostel Phuket located in Phuket Old Town, where we were gonna stay for the night. FYI, the driver who picked us up from the airport was from the second hotel in Patong where we would stay for the next couple nights. Thus in exchange of escorting us to the first lodging in Phuket Old Town, we had to go to the next lodging in Patong by ourselves. As our driver was a Thai native, of course we were eager to ask him abundant questions about the country. Too bad his English was very

So I just came back from a brief getaway to Phuket, Thailand, and am gonna try to blog about it so someday in the future my grandchildren would be able to read how adventurous their grandpa was. The beauty of internet... The trip was supposed to be consisting of 4 friends: me, Gina, Nana, and Buddy. Unfortunately, Buddy had to cancel the trip due to personal matter, so there were only 3 of us who finally embarked on a getaway to the neighboring countries. Gina, Nana, & I were waiting at the boarding lounge, Husein Sastranegara International Airport Taking off from Husein Sastranegara International Airport Bandung, Indonesia, at 08.45 with AirAsia, we landed safely at Kuala Lumpur International Airport Low Cost Carrier Terminal (KLIA LCCT), Malaysia, at 12.00 sharp. FYI, Indonesia is one-hour behind Malaysia, so Bandung-Kuala Lumpur can actually be reached in 1.5 - 2 hours. It was the first time I landed my feet in Kuala Lumpur, and from what I could tell, the weather was not much d