A Thailand Travel: Phuket & Krabi

I am back, from "sawadeekap" land! Got myself a good tan and some crispy burnt skin hahaha

Just a not-so-brief post on my recent trip to the beaches today. Picture-filled post!

Itinerary

Our travel itinerary was a 7D5N trip.

We would arrive at Phuket and then travel to Krabi for a 3D2N stay. Thereafter, we would head back to Phuket for a 4D3N stay.

Travelling

Basically, we took a flight from KUL to HKT, i.e. KLIA to Phuket International Airport. It was an extremely early flight as it was the cheapest we could get. Little did we know, that the said early flight was not as extreme as the flight home heh.

Took a cab for THB700 from Phuket International Airport to Rassada Pier (or some sites spell it as Radsada Pier) the moment we arrived.

This is a shot of sunrise when we got to Rassada Pier. 2 hours to kill before our scheduled ferry time.  We got our ferry tickets beforehand online via phuketferrydotcom @ approx THB700/per pax/per trip.

One of the reasons why we opted for a 2-hour ferry ride instead of by land transport to travel to Krabi was because, we wanted to experience an out-of-the-norm ride. We're stuck in our vehicles getting to work and back home on a daily basis, and ferry was the more exciting option, ain't it?

BUT, the main highlight of the ferry ride option was because of the SCENERY on the way there...

I've always had a love for sun (when I am dressed for it la k). These are only some of the photos that we shot on our ferry ride across the Andaman Sea to get to Ao Nang @ Krabi.

At Krabi, our ferry, Aonang Princess would port at Noppara Thara Pier.

Our ferry was a fairly small one. I asked around from friends who've been to the Thai beaches on what sort of ferry would it normally be and they told me that it would be those that you take from Penang mainland to the island.  To be honest, when I knew about that, I was pretty worried. Pray was all I could do - for safe journey by sea. Especially after the Sewol ferry incident...

But! Thankfully, we got ourselves to and fro Krabi safely heh Evidently, because otherwise you wouldn't be reading this post now, would you? ;) Also, our ferry was a fairly small one compared to those parked at the pier. We were busy guessing which would be our ride during the 2 hours to kill. Haha

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Accommodation

As you'd have read, we were at Krabi and Phuket this trip.

For our Krabi stay @ Ao Nang, we got ourselves a Living Social voucher which costs MYR458 [link HERE - but for some reason it is now priced at MYR459 heh].  The hotel we called home for that 2 nights was Ao Nang Cliff Beach Resort - one that is overlooking the beautiful cliff from the lobby.

A view of our hotel. The rooms that is seen from this photo below will be overlooking the beautiful cliff across the hotel!

Unfortunately, the Superior Room that we got from the Living Social voucher only warrants us a room downstairs @ Level 1 which overlooks the Ao Nang streets.  Having read reviews on the noise that would be pretty disturbing to a good night's rest at night, I sort of prepped myself for it, mentally. Hah!

The first night was pretty noisy as it was a Saturday. Still, it was bearable for me. :)  But the second night was peaceful!

What I liked about the hotel:
1. Front desk personnel were very helpful with sharing of information on the local transportations and any other little help needed!

2. We actually forgot to research on the power plugs at Thailand and hence did not bring adapters of our own. Thankfully the hotel had one to rent per room! Although limited, but it was a saviour as smartphones/ smart cameras ain't that battery-smart when you are constantly whipping out your gadgets to snap beautiful sceneries around. Hehe

3. The voucher states roundtrip transfer from Krabi Airport. Obviously we didn't flew directly to Krabi. So we were all set to forgo the roundtrip transfer from Noppara Thara Pier. A couple of days before the trip, I reconfirmed our booking arrangements and also enquired for tips on the local fare & duration to get from the pier to the hotel. They somewhat gave me an early birthday surprise informing that they will be picking us up from the pier! After our stay, they also dropped us off at the pier for our ferry ride back to Phuket. :))

4. Our room has a balcony that comes with a clothes rack for us to dry our laundry. Mama! I just did all our laundry there like a boss, from our swimwears to sweaty smelly shirts and pants and even undergarments HAHAHA Thankfully, everything was dried by the time we checked out so we had somewhat fresh clothes to re-wear! ("somewhat" because we used body soaps as detergent hehe)

Some photos of the hotel and it's surroundings..

A few snaps of their wardrobe: Bathrobes, non-moveable hangers, hotel slippers to be worn in the room and also out of the hotel and a laundry basket

Their bathroom. Check out the details in the folding of their floor towel.

The other side of the wardrobe. A safe box and a beach-bag for the ladies! You can bring em out to the beach and on island tours. In it, there's also beach mats!

 Folded towels on our King-sized bed.

The next morning, our view from the lobby

Our scrumptious spread of buffet breakfast

Breakfast overlooking the cliff. Such is life!

Freeflow beach towels for you to use at the pool or on island tours!

Loved the pool!

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As for Patong @ Phuket, we booked our stay @ Seven Seas Hotel after much research via TripAdvisor and Sawadeedotcom.  It was fairly priced at approx RM80/night. But our stay excludes breakfast.

Contrary to Ao Nang Cliff Beach Resort, this hotel is one that is back to basics. One that is suited for a budget traveller. Reminded me a lot of Namsan Guesthouse during our Seoul trip exactly a year ago, except the breakfast part. ;)

There is also a mini pool at this hotel. Reviews have stated that we shouldn't even bother with the pool due to its pathetic size. Then again, we actually DID soak ourselves in the mini jacuzzi (where I suffered injuries from being too excited about jumping into it ouch...) and also the mini pool which helped cool our bodies down whilst waiting for our midnight cab to the airport. :)

To be honest, we were spoiled crazy at Ao Nang. There were times when I wished that we ended our entire trip at Krabi instead of Phuket.  Then again, there's always a blessing in disguise!

What I liked about this hotel:
1. This is a no-frills hotel. Yet, they helped add value in little ways like helping to watch over your luggages even after check-out if you are not leaving Patong just yet. Yes, you may say most hotel do that. But bearing in mind, I repeat, this is a no frills hotel.

2. They provide beach towels. Fresh ones, every single day. They even gave us beach towels for our lil swim at night whilst we were waiting for our taxi ride to the airport. This was AFTER we've checked out for the day!

3. The front desk personnel were pretty friendly and homely to its guests.  We have heard of encounters where ang-mohs are treated superiorly as compared to us asians.  During our stay, I'd say 80% of the hotel guests were ang-mohs. But, we were treated equally as good! :)

4. The bed may not be king-sized like the one in Krabi, but it was much more comfy-er. Mainly because I prefer a hard bed heh!

5. They have individual clothes hanger that we could bring around the room and this definitely made doing laundry much easier as compared to Krabi. Clothes were dried fast enough as there was direct sunlight at our room located on the 3rd floor :)

6. The taxi driver who drove us to the airport after the whole trip was such a kind and friendly soul. The front desk quoted us THB800 for the 11PM ride. However, we realised that we only had THB770 in small change or THB1,000 to pay. He chose the THB770 instead as he didn't have any change if he were to take the THB1,000. So nice of him, kan! ;)

Some downside however are that the furnitures in the room are fairly old. An example would be the wardrobe door that couldn't close properly. Wasn't much of an issue for us because we didn't even use the wardrobe besides the safe in it.

Also, remember we forgot to bring our adapter? Unfortunately at Seven Seas, they didn't have any to loan us. So we had to go out of our way to hunt for it at the local 7/11. Finally got one China brand adapter for THB49! Thank goodness it worked mighty fine! :D

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Am feeling a lil light headed from drafting out the above. Gotta get some rest and write about the remaining parts of this trip later on.

Public holidays are great! I woke up today feeling and thinking I was LATE for work. HEHEHE So not used to going back to work after a week away. Peak is coming up. Wish me luck!