Date : 11-20 June 2010
My soft callings didnt work 2 years that he should spend sometime with me here in SG. This time, I added pressure by sending Visa. Just before its expiration, he was kind enough to take a week’s off from work. None indulges at work more than him I know. I got into work and drafted some quick plans. I wanted to work out a month’s plan and ended up dealing with 8 day plan. Well, honestly, thats too short. I cant even get Malaysian visa on time to explore the country.
He landed and I couldnt be more happier to see him. Its the bond. Its there in our every DNA prints. Well, first few days, He explored the City, Merlion Park, Singapore Flyer, Singapore Zoo, Night safari and we accompanied few. Later he went on with Sentosa, BirdPark, Chinese Garden in the following days.
My search for the nearby Visa-on-arrival/Visa free countries returned Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia. As this is his first trip, I didnt want to experiment with Vietname and Cambodia and took the safe route to Thailand. Phuket has been chosen as it had real good options (dont forget Phi Phi Island).
On 17th June, we started to Phuket. I had my reservations at Burasari hotel which is at Patong Beach of Phuket via agoda.com. Patong is the happening place for tourists. I was thinking the beach would be nice if its within walking distance considering the true beauty of the beaches and the colours. Well, forget it!! Phuket is to enjoy the night life and we were there not to enjoy.. Unlucky enough that am not eligible except some exceptions for a beer at the beach. If you need good beaches, Patong is not the place. So I shouldnt have considered the beach at all. Burasari hotel is a good renovated hotel within 2 mins walk from Beach. Looks really good and gives the vibes of Spa living. But considering the beach is not worth, we have other options for a better cost in Phuket shopping areas.
We took metered taxi from Airport to the hotel and ended up befriending the taxi driver Om (she). She offered to drive for city exploration for a fee. I carefully took her card and kept inside the passport and I shall search everywhere else in the following days. Next day Vijay went on a speedboat tour to Phi Phi island and myself and Thenmozhi headed to John Gray’s Sea canoe tour as we have explored the other earlier.
Weather (forecaset) was pretty bad for the next two days and I was little worried. Luckily, until the day we left Phuket, weather was really good. We were picked by the tour operators and headed to the sea area. It was almost an hour journey crossing the island to the east. After a brief wait, we boarded a big Dhoni. Limestone rocks were really looking weird. I was doubting the presence of a base to them. There are Hongs (A small limestone hill which has the inner circle completely immersed in water with mangroove treees and accessible on low-tide days by Sea canoes).
With some light lunch and plenty of soft drinks, the sea canoe started. We will be given a Canoe with a paddler and he takes us to the nearby caves. It was eerie and scary literally. Its really cool to paddle in the sea with a sea canoe, which is like floating a leaf.. 😛 Caves were very sharp and the access was possible only by laying flat totally. A little bit curious raise of your head can result in a 5+ stiches. I resisted my temptations and felt the touches here and there. Most of the places were total dark and had to use torches. Infact at one place, they deflated the canoe to half and passed the rocks for the access. It was wonderful totally. Later, we had our own time and tried to teach her how to paddle. After a early dinner, they made us to prepare some of their traditional offering by making a idol kind that we leave in the water. Later went on a cave in total dark again and floated that offering with the candles in the water in a Hong. It was a wonderful experience except the strong stench of bats. Later we had been dropped to our hotels.
After dinner, we wanted to explore the places and Bangla road is one of them. Even before entering, we decided not to try as its a complete non-family-friendly environment. I heard there are good music, bars, and more others.
Next day, after my search failed to retrieve Om’s business card, I ended up in picking a driver who had a SUV for the day. He totally looked funny and we did have doubts on his skills. But he came on time and kind enough to buy fruits and water at regular intervals. and drove that SUV like a auto. 😐 First stop was at Jungle Bungee jumping. She was so desperate for Bungee jumping for a long time. With initial briefings, slight fear joined. Its decided that all 3 of us will jump. First Vijay took is turn and did it like a very skilled one. He went all up there. On their note, he leaned forward and left the board and flew. In no time, it was she, with all fears. Since Vijay gave no symptoms of fear or a scream during jump, she too adhered the same. Now its my turn.
There were numerous dreams in my life I felt like am being dropped from the sky or from the tallest buildings and used get outta sleep in the most unusual way. Still this is not one of them – this thought made me to get prepared. Its a quite simple process. They tie both the legs with a small foam blanket and a thick tape. Then I moved to the cabin which takes to those heights by jumping like a toad. Instructor warned not to look below and told me to enjoy the scenery. I controlled my heart and adviced not to come out. Cabin started to up all the way and never stopped. One look below gave me some weird feelings in my stomach. Finally came to some dizzying heights and the instructed hooked me to the chord. I stood and moved to the get-set-ready position. Even now I dont want to close my eyes as the thoughts are fresh even now. Fear!!! thats the first. He said, on a count of three, I should slide forward with the chin up. sounds easy to tell I guess. He started with 3. I gripped the grill as if thats my only hope to live. Two!!.. Aligned better.. Gooooooooooo!!!!.. Jeeez… where did I get the courage.. I slided with a slight push at the toe. I felt the Air zzzzzzzzzzzhhhhhing through my ear for the first second and got amplified in the next. Right after the 2nd second, I felt that birdie feeling.. Too thrilling.. or extremely thrilling.. what a rush of adrenaline. Luckily in the next 4-6 seconds the chord got the grip and led me to fly slowly. What a chord, it brought me back again to the half-of-the-height and let it free again..
Later, they got me down and felt happy that am still alive.. With some bragging and sharing of the experiences, we left the place. Later the driver took us to Phromthep Cape which has lovely view points. We had good fun with the driver’s language issues and Vijay was giving us hard time not to laugh. Later Katong view point and a temple which sounded a perfect mixture of Hindu, Malay and chinese.
Phuket Fantasea is a evening theme park with some attractions and a Las vegas style show. I had my bookings through internet and got the gold tickets. Its really worth by all means. Its a 90 min show and covers wonderful things. Literally its a story which is little hard to follow but however mindblowing. Its totally worth going there. With that we called it a day and the next day we bidded bye to Phuket.
Same day, Vijay started to Bangalore. When he left, its was a certain missing.. Just waiting for my vacation to India.. 😉
1 Comment
Malar · July 15, 2010 at 2:08 pm
Looking soooo good:)