Phuket, Thailand- For the kids

As the subject suggests this trip was planned for the kids.

This was our third trip to Thailand. Thailand has been running a promotion of free visa for tourist promotion. To make use of this offer, we chose to fly down straight to Phuket. While I would have personally preferred Krabi for its peacefulness, for kids we had to finalize on Phuket.
All the arrangement at Phuket was done by Mr.Selvaraj of GoZo Tours & Travels. He's our go-to guy for all our international travels so far. Our accomodation was at Blue Ocean Resort, Patong, Phuket. Reason we chose this hotel was it was of walkable distance from the beach, main city & close to a lot of Indian restaurants. Got 2 adjoining deluxe rooms giving us our space while the we could watch over kids too.

Plan was to cover Tiger Kingdom & the blue green Beaches of Thailand :)

Day 1: April 25, 2019

Visa on arrival taken at the airport. Cab pickup from airport to our resort was already arranged by Mr.Selvaraj. We reached our room around lunch time. But chose to relax for sometime and walk down to the market. That is where we had some good banana chocolate pancake, some bit of window shopping in the market (really clean). Lunch was at Indian Delight restaurant and then we headed for Patong beach for some beach time. It is hot during this time of the year, we expected it too and had carried clothes accordingly. Had an early dinner closeby and ended our day early.

Hot yet happy

@the beach

Kids jumped into the water

We chose to just sit n watch

Sunset watch

Om with sunset

Waiting for Banana Pancakes at the market

Day 2: April 26, 2019

Buffet breakfast at the hotel and we were ready to picked up from the hotel by 8:30am. Our ride today was in Big Boat. First stop in big boat was at Phang Nga Bay & James Bond Island. We explored Phang Nga bay in Kayaks..silently moving & enjoying the clear blue green water, watching the mountains made of limestones. Phang Nga Bay has over a 100 islands. Take a look at the videos of Phang Nga Bay. We got off our boats into Kayaks. Each Kayak can carry just 2 people and a guide. There were monkeys on the island, fearless. One of them jumped onto our Kayak and took a ride till the outside.

In Big boat ready for Kayak ride

Kayaking @ Phan Nga Bay

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Back into big boat, next stop was James Bond Island. James Bond Island is a famous landmark in Phang Nga Bay. The movie 'The Man with the Golden Gun' was shot here hence the name. James Bond island was earlier known as Koh Tapu which means Nail Island because of the pointy rocks.  This island is under National park protection. The entrance of James bond island is all rushed up because of lots of small shops at the entrance and it also happens to be the spot of waiting and boarding the boats. The two best ways to view James Bond Island are from boats or from the small beach on Koh Ping Ghan(meaning Hills leaning against each other). While the weather was hot, the water was cold and soothing. 

@ the entrance

The James Bond island

Caves

@Koh Ping Ghan

Koh Ping Ghan

James Bond Island view

We exploring the caves

in the caves

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After we were back in the boat, the crew announced that those who wanted to get into the water for 30 mins could jump in and swim. Kids & VJ jumped in with the safety jackets on. What we didn't notice were the Jelly fishes in the water. Unfortunately one of them stung my son and he was immediately pulled out of water. Next hour or so went in getting him out of the sharp pain that was caused by the bite. After this we noticed that the water was full of Jelly fishes. Showing the video below...notice the pink/ white jelly fishes floating in the water.

Lunch was served in the boat on our way back. Buffet of veg and non-veg. Not great, but then we had vegetables to go along with the rice and some pakodas. Cold drink and water was available as and when we needed, stored in cold box on the boat. Once we were back in the room, kids wanted to go for a swim in the pool at the hotel- so they did get to go in the evening. What an amazing view of the pool from our room. I chose to stay back and relax.

After the swim we walked out til Jungceylon Shopping mall. Didnt do any shopping though. Enjoyed the music and hustle bustle on the road. Dinner and icecream at one of the restaurants in that area. Post this we went in for a foot massage..kids too :) loved their first experience. Walk back to the hotel we crashed out for the night.

@ Jungceylon

Day 3: April 27, 2019

Today's ride was supposed to be Cruise boat to Phi Phi islands. All set hoping that we will get into blue waters, all of us had water proof clothes on. Expectation Vs reality- Expected a comfortable cruise; reality heat and charred on top floor of the boat. When we got into the boat we were all routed to move to the top floors of the boat. What we were not told was the ground floor actually has A/C seats. We ended up going to the top floor and burning ourselves under the sun in summer heat even with Sun block cream on. The other disappointment was the boat was SLOW!! In our earlier trip to Thailand we had gone by the speed boat and that was absolute fun. This Cruise boat would have worked perfectly with elders at home, not for us with kids. We lost our day sitting in the boat and watching the sun reflect back on us. The tan from this journey was so bad that it took 6 months for our skin to get back to normal. It was just a whole of sitting under the sun until we reached Phi Phi island. Finally the kids got to get into the water and play. Lunch was at the island, buffet booked by the boat at a restaurant there. Ended up eating just fruits and vegetables. I would say Big boat of Day 2 was a better experience than this. There are changing room/ bathroom on this island but not enough to manage the rush,  huge waiting time. It would be easier to change under a long shawl or behind a tree :D

The glow before the tan

The charred look

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The kids were so tired that they refused to step out the room once we were back to the hotel. So we walked down to Sanjha Chulha restaurant which was just behind our hotel. Excellent North Indian food. Boondi raita is a must try here.

Day 4: April 28, 2019

This was the most exciting day of our trip. Tiger Kingdom was the first on the list for the day.

The last time VJ & I had visited we had opted for spending time with Older tiger. But the kids had been wanting to touch a Tiger cub, so we got ourselves tickets for Tiger cubs. Tickets are expensive but worth it I would say. One adult accompaniment is mandatory, so I went in with the kids. Turned out to be the most exciting visit for me too. We played with the cubs, slept on them. One of the cubs was so playful that it decided to jump behind my back giving me a scare. But then it was just a young one being playful :)

Excitement

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Monks@Tiger Kingdom

The playful cubs

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We had a great time playing with the cubs while VJ took a tour on the outside of cages looking at the large & medium sized tigers.

Next was Gems gallery where we saw the process of turning a gem into jewellery. The moment we walked in, we were welcomed with some cold drink and guided towards a Gems Gallery ride. The ride was for about 15-20 mins giving us the history of gems & how they mined for it and converted it to precious jewelry. We didn't make any purchases, but left with glittery eyes :) .

Jewelry preparation shown using puppets

Depiction of how it went on to being used by the royals

Next was old city tour. The old city has been maintained very beautifully. Walls are full of art. Small stores on either side of the road. We spent about an hour here. The snapshots below show you the old city.

wall painting

Time for icecream

Old buildings

The colors!

Wall art

An old store

MGM Studio

The cab guy picked us up from Old city to take us next to Wat Chalong Buddha Temple (Wat Chaiyatararam temple).  Remove your footwear & cover your legs if you are in short clothes. Buddha temples here are strict about not having short clothes- you can borrow shawls, tie them around your waist and enter the temple and return it back on your way out.

One of the temple's halls features statue of Luang Poh Chaem and this busy hall also contains statues of Luang Poh Chuang and Luang Poh Gleum, all ex-abbots of the temple. Luang Poh Chaem & Luang Poh Chuang both led the citizens of Chalong district to fight against the Chinese rebellion in 1876 and helped the injured with their knowledge of herbal medicines. The tallest building in Wat Chalong is 3 floored and has a 60 meters tall stupa which has a bone fragment of Lord Buddha and each floor contains large golden statues which have been donated. 

Buddhist people pay respect to the Buddha by lighting candles, offering lotus flowers and applying gold leafs to Buddha statues. We saw firecrackers being set off in a kiln just outside the temple. We were told that its a way of showing gratitude for prayers that have were answered. Local people also go the temple to ask for health, good luck and wealth.

Wat Chalong Buddha Temple

The inside of the temple

The view from top

Lotus offering & Incense sticks being lit

Prayer room

Next stop was at Big Buddha. The Big Buddha is 45mtrs tall and can be spotted from almost anywhere in Phuket. Next to the main Phuket Big Buddha is a smaller Buddha statue, which is gold in colour, though actually made of brass. Funds for this structure comes entirely from donations.We seem to have lost all the pictures taken on our Canon, so am completing this blog with my mobile camera pictures. It was hot when we reached the top and kids just wanted to go back to a cooler place. Place around the statue of Dharani Mata is well shaded by the trees and has cool breeze flowing. Once we came down we all had some icrecream to cool us down.

Statue of Dharani Mata

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Big Buddha

After the Big Buddha we went back to our hotel to freshen up and get ready for the evening Phuket Fantasea show. Phuket Fantasea is a cultural theme park. There are many games for the kids which is mostly expensive. Even the souvenir shop offerings are priced quite high as compared to the stores outside. There is a lively carnival like atmosphere with games, shows & shopping. We had paid for the dinner buffet, hence got to experience one of the best buffets in 4000 seat restaurant. Variety of food ranged from Indian to thai to continental to Chinese to American- from starters to desserts. Along with dining there was continuous cultural entertainment with dancers & performers coming in and out of the dining hall. Note that the tickets look expensive but the Fantasea show makes it all worth-it. The colors, lighting, stunts, animals, birds, dancers, glitter & performance- all of it just keeps you in awe. No cameras or mobiles allowed inside for the 70 minute cultural show so no pictures here. You need to surrender your mobile at the entrance of the hall and collect it at the time of leaving. Make sure you are inside the hall in time for the show and before the show time complete seeing the shops & other shows that go on in the premises.

At the entrance

Lighting at night

All the glitter

beautiful lighting

Day 5: April 29, 2019

We kept this day relaxed for us to spend the time to relax by the beach with kids. No set agenda. Just sat by the beach, munched on snacks that we had picked from 24x7 store nearby.

just for fun

He & I

Evening we decided to walk up towards Patong main street and found a small eatery which had a printed poster saying they had the best Mango sticky rice in Patong rated by CNN travel. This is run by an old lady and her daughter I guessed. We placed the order for 1 mango sticky rice just to give it a try and we ended up ordering for another one immediately after putting one spoon of it into our mouth. It was delicious!!!! Sticky rice cooked in coconut milk & sugar(sweetner), layered by cream of tender coconut, some sesame seeds and cut mangoes on the side. My mouth waters as I type this..I want to eat it again someday.

Mango Sticky Rice..slurrrppp

Reading all the post-its stuck by customers

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Day 6: April 30, 2019

We had to take our flight back to Bangalore. Bye bye phuket.

Some pointers that might help.

• It works out cheaper if you wish to plan everything on your own, but then want to save some energy for yourself then please do try GoZo tours & Travels. Mr. Selavaraj plans out the tour depending on the age group of the travellers. We've done 4 travels through him and have no complaints so far.

• Take the big boat/ cruise ship for day travels if you have aged family members or friends traveling along. Kids would enjoy speed boats or long tail boats. Big boat/ cruise boats move really slow.

• If you have opted for cruise boat, make sure you take the ground floor room (with A/C) and block your seat when you get in.The crew will guide you to top floors..which is basically in the open (hot). Once you have a seat blocked for yourself you can move around in between to go take in fresh air.

• Dont jump into the waters if you spot jelly fish in the water. It can be dangerous

• Carry light cotton clothes (short preferably) for days without water or water resistant clothes for days you have plans to enter water. 1 set of party wear for visiting the fantasea show. One dress which covers your legs when you need to visit the Buddha temples.

• Towels, caps, sun glasses, good sunblock cream a must. Carry a foldable mat if possible. 

• There are plenty of family marts & 24x7 stores across Thailand, purchase snacks and drinks for your journey & room from here.

• Any chips & wafers that you pick, check for vegetable oil and then purchase so you dont get stuck with a pack of chips which smell of fish oil.

• Lots of fresh fruits can be bought from the market areas.

• Try the banana & nutella pancakes- they are yummy- even if its being prepared in a cart. 

• Definitely try the Mango sticky rice.

• Lots of Indian restaurants near Patong area, try and get your hotel/ resort in Patong to enjoy some good Indian & veg food.

• If going with kids, avoid walking on Bangla street..adults only road :))

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