First Day Pictures of Phuket, Kata Palm Resort

Here is a selection of some the pictures taken from our first day in Phuket...


Later on we enjoyed a our evening meal in Phuket Kata Resort. Tucking into sumptuous Italian pizza and spaghetti bolognese. Not your typical thai food but we fancied a change.








After traveling in a hour long mini bus drive to the Kata Palm beach resort, we were starving. So popped out to the local cafe for a quick bite to eat, before exploring the rest of the Resort.











Guzzling a refreshing Sprite in the Hot Mid day sun.















The entrance to Kata Palm Beach Resort...
















Arriving safely at the entrance of the hotel ready for a shower.















Eagerly anticipating our flight to Phuket from Penang. A few snack were purchased for the relatively short (1hr 15min) flight.

Arrived in Phuket

Yesterday, we arrived in Phuket at around mid-day. We initially thought that the flight from Penang to Phuket was 15 minutes, as our flight card said .."Depart 11:30 Arrive 11:45". We didn't think anything of it, just thought it was amazing that a flight of 15 minutes existed.When we boarded the aircraft, their was an announcement that the flight time is 1 hr 15 minutes, because Thailand is an hour behind Malaysia! So, we did kind of land 15 minutes after, but thats only because our clocks went back an hour.

Phuket is alot different to the other places we have visited, when we landed, we got a minibus to our resort. For the first two nights, we are staying on Kata beach, and on the last night in Phuket we are staying on Patong beach. (Patong is the lively area of Phuket).

Its been relaxing and more of a touristy place compared to the other locations, lots of people trying to pull you into their restaurants with many different techniques, most on the hard sell.


Today, we woke up, went down to breakfast and are going to have a relaxing day chilling out around Kata beach and the hotel pool.

Jamie's going to update the blog with another post with some pictures shortly :)

Fishing, Monkey Island, BBQ and a visit to Georgetown

For 1st July:

Today was fun, very active and became very tired later on in the night.


On tuesday night, a hotel "tourist attraction" salesmen offered us a day fishing, a visit to monkey beach and a BBQ on monkey beach, picking us up and returning us to the hotel. We had seen this advertised around for 150 ringets (30 pounds) each, however he offered us it for 100 ringetts (20 pounds) each. After a small negotiation we managed to get the days trip for 70 ringetts, (14 pounds) each, for a full day fishing, and some good grub.

The minibus came to pick us and 4 other people up at 9:30 am. There was a Saudi couple and an Australian couple. The australian couple we're really nice, in the 50s/60s and were chatting to us throughout the day. They told us they paid 100 ringetts for the trip (we didn't tell them we got it cheaper, we just nodded as if we payed the same price), this made us realise we paid a good price in relation to others on the trip.

We got to a beach, in a town in penang near our hotel, other people joined us and we boarded a motorised fishing boat to set sail on our fishing quest to catch some fish and then eat some on the BBQ.

The fishing was a success, Ben caught the first fish, reeling in a comfortable catch with a good start to the days fishing challenge. I then equilised and managed to catch a few more making it at one point 4-2, Jamie was continuing to wait patiently for his first catch, the fish were strong believers that his bait was not as nice as ours and obviously placed the trust in our bait. As we kept on reeling them in, Jamie became anxious and (as Alan Hanson would say) he persued with great "Grit and Determination". Ben came back into the competion with an initial consilation which was then added to another quick catch levelling off the fish caught to equal with me. Jamie then surprised us with a whopper! Weighing in at just over 500 pounds came the biggest fish ever seen, some may call it the 'Killer Whale' however the Man hosting the fishing trip had no English translation for such a fish. Whatever it was, it took 4 men and a midget to help Jamie drag in the whopper. (See picture below to see the size of Jamie's catch).

Also, a member of our fishing crew was a middle-aged alone Austrain man, who performed similar characteristics and appearance reflecting that of Mr Bean. We had previously met the Russian and Female version on our flight, however this was incredible!


Ben was the first one to notice Bean, however it was confirmed to the rest of the group when he started throwing sticks at the monkeys and running back in a "High knee's with high pants" manner with a cheeky grin. Mr bean like manner. He even told the fishing staff when it was "time for dinner", and his voice was even similar to Bean. He was one of the funniest characters to meet, he even walked into the sea patting his belly and roaming the ocean is a similar way to how he roamed the land (With his hands constantly on his hips).


He started chatting to us, and we asked him to take a picture of us three with the sea behind us, after he took the picture he gave me the camera back and without him knowing, I took a picture of him, for the sole use of the Blog, to show you what the real Mr bean looks like. Take a look yourself and see if you can see the Mr Bean in the below man.





If anything, we did feel sorry for this lonely man coming on holiday filming himself abroad. However, it did add to the trip giving us a few laughs when looking back over the day.

The monkey beach was great, the monkeys were aggressive but happy when we fed them.

We then recieved a barbeque, which was fish, chicken and lamb, also Chicken hotdogs. A great dish for vegetations on the trip (good job there wasn't any :) ).

After the BBQ we relaxed on the beach and then got a boat trip and drive to the hotel. Arriving back to the hotel at 3:30pm gave us a great oppurtunity to have a dip in the pool. We chatted to an Australian man who told us about his experiences he found in Krabi (Thailand) and the best places to visit when we're there.

Later on we went to Georgetown, to a shopping centre and had a browse through shops, got some food and then got a taxi back to the hotel. We went to the bar had a cocktail, played some cards and watched a live band. It was a relaxing night before checking out in the morning to goto Pelau Jerejak.

Penang hill, Georgetown ..

For 30th June 2009

Today was more of a relaxing day. We knew we wanted to goto Penang hill, and we also knew that transport to Penang hill was very cheap, frequant and ran until 8pm at night.
We got up and went down for breakfast around 10:25 and spent most of the morning by the pool and at the beach.

We are lucky that our hotel has its own beach, as it is very quiet and its easier to relax in without being pestered by "Discount for you my special friend" sellers. Also, there were 6 empty deck chairs and a hotel host awaiting us for us to lie down and watch the waves it the shore and the spectacular view of mainland Malaysia/Thailand.

After the beach, we went for a swim in the hotel pool. Played our own version of water polo, and met an older Australian couple who gave us some great advice for places to visit when we get to Krabi later on. They were from Sydney and it was nice to recieve some advice for which beaches to visit when we fly to Australia towards the end of July.

Later on, around 4ish we got a taxi to the bottom of Penang hill, it was a 35 minute taxi ride and cost 30 ringett (5.50 GBP).
We got the cable train up the 60 degree angled slope to the top of Penang hill. Penang hill's transportation infrastructure was built by the british navy in 1922 when they wanted a cooler place to sleep at night. It was very high, a great spot to take some pictures of Penang from a height and interesting to see some of Penang hills features.

It was fun and definately worth a visit. After this, we got a bus into Georgetown (Capital of Penang). The bus cost around 20p each and took 30 minutes. (A little cheaper than Stagecoach). When we got to Georgetown we walked up the restaurant street and found a nice hotel restaurant offering a 5 course meal for 6 pounds. We decided to go for it, as at those prices, its very hard to say no!

I had Prawns and Muscles which was a first, a beautiful dish of Lamb, Asparagus soup, Coffee and a Desert. (Not bad for 6 quid). Felt a bit under-dressed in our shorts though as we were on our way back from Penang Hill.

Ben and Jamie both had the fish starter too, Ben had chicken for his mains and Jamie had Fish. Both giving a top rating for a fantastically cheap/posh meal. Roll on... more cheap feasts!

Before we headed to Penang hill, we booked an activity to do for tomorrow. It consists of going out in a fishing boat, catching fish then going to a Monkey island and having a barbeque (probably having the fish available to eat :) (My new found food).
If there is one thing I have found, its that if your fussy before you come here, you will be unfussy when you leave as I am now a chicken lover and have also tried some fish in my diet too. Two types of food I would have previously left untouched that are the main options of most food menu's

.We are looking forward to tomorrows fishing trip/ visit to the island. It will require lots of suncream as I am imaging that there will be little shade available. I'm sure we'l manage, and have another great day out. There is lots to do here, for very little cost. Which has meant we have been able to get the balance right between relaxing in the pool/beach and going out to visit places and do activites whilst also planning the travel/hotels for our next location.

Today I also booked our flights to Phuket and Ben found a great hotel on an island just off the coast of Penang on Palau Jerejak where we will spend our final night in penang before heading to Phuket on Friday. The hotel is around 13 pounds per night, and is a chalet which we are hoping will also be another great/cheap hotel to stay at.

Our hotel for Phuket is also booked, and we are staying in Phuket this Friday/Saturday night before making a move to Krabi on Sunday.

Be blogging again soon!