Phuket-My Happy Free Vacation
The excitement period-preparation for the journey. Finally, I packed up my mood and went on a trip with LP. In fact, the choice of destination did not take much effort. I learned before that the financial crisis sweeping the world has led Thailand and Iceland to become the most affordable tourist destinations now. Since Beijing is now in winter, of course, it wants to have good contact with the sunshine, so Phuket in Thailand has become the only choice for LP and me. Now it is in the Christmas and New Year discount season, I think there should be a lot of harvest to go there to find goods! Air ticket hotel reservation, exchange foreign exchange in advance before ordering air tickets and hotels, it is best to determine the specific time of your vacation. I chose the trip from 12.20 to 12.25 first. Of course, I want to take this opportunity to experience the atmosphere of welcoming the New Year abroad. Because there are many European and American tourists living around PATONG Beach in Phuket, the Christmas atmosphere is relatively strong, so the hotel is certainly in PATONG District. The rest is to compare the free travel prices offered by various travel agencies. However, during this period, you can collect other people’s travel experience online, focusing on the things that need to be prepared for departure, the specific travel items around Phuket, the charging price of each item, the geographical location of restaurants and hotels recommended by others, the geographical location of large shopping malls and supermarkets, etc. When everything is ready, I am looking forward to the early arrival of the day of departure. Perhaps due to too much excitement, I can’t sleep soundly every night I wait for. However, every day’s work is full of energy, and the effect of hormones is really huge. Of course, another focus of preparation is to exchange foreign currencies in advance. Since Thai currency is a small currency, only the Bank of China can exchange it in Beijing. However, in order to exchange small currencies in smaller banks of China, it is necessary to make an appointment in advance (they have to transfer foreign currencies to the head office), which is usually two working days. In larger banks of China, it should not be necessary to make an appointment. Since there is no Bank of China near my residence, I only exchanged US dollars, which also brought some troubles to my later entry into Thailand. . . Since I have been to Thailand before, Knowing the size of the US dollar, its exchange rate is different, and it was later proved that it is still the same. At the general EXCHANGE exchange point on the streets of Phuket, the exchange rate for 100 or 50 US dollars is the same, and it is higher than the exchange rate for 20 or 10 US dollars. Therefore, if you exchange in China, please prepare for the exchange of large denominations of US dollars.
The beginning of the dream trip is the dream of everyone who has been bound in the city for a long time. I am the same. I am excited and look forward to finally waiting for my flight at Beijing Capital Airport. However, the beginning of the trip is really not satisfactory. . . I booked a charter flight from China Southern to Phuket. Looking back now, there are still many problems with charter flights. For example, our flights didn’t take off on time, At 5: The flight of 50 was postponed to about 7: 30 p.m. What makes people angry is that it was past the boarding time and the ground crew of China Southern Airlines informed us about how long it was delayed. However, when Phuket flew back to Beijing late, it was notified early on the big screen. It can be seen that in China, the service of domestic airlines is much worse than that of ordinary people. Also from Beijing, the plane stopped at a distant seat. Many tourists wore T-shirts and other planes in advance. As a result, they had to transit on AIR-BUS at minus 5 degrees. Moreover, these AIR-BUS were not air-conditioned. When AIR-BUS took us to the parking place of China Southern Airlines, the passengers who had been waiting for a long time swarmed up the ladder of the plane. However, due to the late arrival of the plane, the cleaning ground crew had not yet come out of the plane, and the passengers were stuck on the ladder outside the plane and shivered in the cold wind for half a day. At this time, the intelligence and wisdom of LP and I were fully reflected, Because, we anticipated all this in advance, Therefore, we did not change down jackets, but prepared smaller suitcases to change clothes after boarding the plane. Moreover, we did not follow the large army to swarm on. It was still very dangerous to see the passengers gathered on the ladder from the ground. In case someone fell down, the consequences would be unimaginable. In a word, the experience given now is: if you want to travel comfortably, try to choose the flights of large airlines, which have better guarantee in terms of punctuality and service attitude. Of course, due to the delay of departure time, it was already 12: 30 p.m. Local time when we arrived in Phuket, Thailand. Since there was no pick-up service for the trip I booked, because the travel agency needed the pick-up fee from 300 yuan when I booked the trip, I thought the fee was too high, so I gave up. Therefore, after leaving the airport, we planned to find a taxi ourselves. Since I have prepared a taxi strategy before, Not MINI-BUS, TUK-TUK, The most expensive MINI-BUS is 500-600 Thai dollars, It is equivalent to more than 100 RMB, TUK-TUK cars will cost less, This is also an important reason why I did not choose the travel agency pick-up service at the beginning. However, due to the late landing of the flight, the exchange point at the airport has been closed and the taxis have all gone home, leaving only some fixed pick-up personnel from travel agencies. Of course, there are also some similar local strongmen who charge a relatively high price. We really have no other choice. From the local strongmen, we cut the pick-up service of US $50 to US $40 and went straight back to the hotel. Even so, it is lower than the price of RMB in 300 yuan. Things have developed to this day, as if our trip did not go very smoothly. However, from the beginning to the end, it did not affect my happy mood of traveling. I think this is the whole journey, with happiness and troubles.
Facts have also proved that all things are difficult before they begin! MINI-BUS at the airport took LP and I to the PATONG RESORT Hotel in PATONG BEACH after a 40-minute drive. I learned before that the hotel is divided into two areas, one is an old building in the 1990s, but it was redecorated after 2000. It is said that the facilities are older. The other area was newly built after 2000 with much better facilities. Since we stayed at the hotel almost at 2:00 p.m. and there were no more rooms to choose from, we wanted an old building room FACING GARDEN AND SWIMMING POOL (room facing the garden swimming pool), and it was a high-rise room, just TWO SAPERATE BEDS (two single beds), not QUEEN-SIZED BED (double beds) or KING-SIZED BED (widened and enlarged double beds). However, we discussed with the reception and changed to a double bed room at noon the next day. When we entered the room, we really realized that what was called old. In addition to seeing its old age from tables, chairs, beds and electrical appliances, the most important thing is its old smell. The smell from time to time from old carpets is hard to accept. Of course, the mood at this time is terrible. Although I try not to be affected by the sight before me, the reality is a bit cruel. However, as the journey was too tiring, let’s leave everything to tomorrow. At present, we should rest as soon as possible to ensure more energy tomorrow. Phuket’s first day was not lazy because of last night’s travel. The biological clock woke me up at the time when I should have woken up. The thick curtains were pulled open, and the bright sunshine from Phuket Island poured in. Throughout Phuket, almost every room in all hotels has a large balcony, which is convenient for guests to fully want to be blessed by the sunshine in a relatively private space. Although our room is old, However, the exterior decoration is still exquisite, Can’t see the annual rings of the years, Looking from the balcony to the distance, you can see PATONG’s sea and sailing boats cruising on the sea, while the blue swimming pool downstairs bottomed out, setting off the surrounding green trees and red flowers, which makes people feel pleasing to the eye. At this time, the unhappiness at the beginning of the trip suddenly vanished and the mood was in a good mood. LP, who was still in a dream, was awakened and quickly went downstairs to run out of breakfast and rushed to PATONG’s beach.
PATONG’s beach faces west, so only sunset can be seen, not sunrise. The sea was quiet in the morning. She came shy like a young girl. She stepped on the soft sand beach and followed the beat of the waves. We chased, played and took pictures on the foreign sand beach. . . The beautiful day finally opened its prelude! Near noon, returning from the beach to the hotel, we bypassed Bangla Road, which I call Bangura Street. Bangura Street is the most famous street in PATONG and is also a pedestrian street. There are many bars on both sides, and all kinds of shops are on a par. As we came out too early (in fact, it was almost over 10 o’clock in the morning), almost all shops were closed and there were few people in the street. Their living time was about 11: 00 noon to 2: 00 p.m. Turn Bangura Street and walk a short distance to the PATONG RESORT Hotel where LP and I stayed. Now it seems that the location of this hotel is very advantageous. He is located in the most prosperous area of PATONG. It takes less than 10 minutes to walk from the hotel gate to the bar street and PATONG’s commercial center, where there are three major shopping malls and supermarkets of CARREFOUR/ROBINSON/JUNCEYLON. On the right, you can reach the seaside. If you pass through the landmark building PATONG TOWER next to the hotel, you can walk to the seaside in 3 minutes. Therefore, it is very convenient to shop, go shopping and watch the sea. Although we don’t have any Thai coins, we are not in a hurry to change them. After all, there is no place to spend money now. Moreover, all EXCHANGE exchange points do not open until about 11: 00, and some open at 10: 00, but very few, at least not near where I live. So, during this time, we found a Travel Agent very close to the hotel. Because the clerks are two middle-aged women, who are very kind and enthusiastic, we chose this one. In fact, when I came, there were small travel agencies recommended by other tourists in my self-help travel strategy. However, because I have already learned in advance that the approximate price of each island is already in mind according to its distance and travel content, Therefore, as long as the price is reasonable, it is no problem to book ONE DAY TOUR. Facts have proved that our experience is right. We quickly confirmed the itinerary for tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, and the price was actually very low. The following specific itinerary is: similand (Smithland Island) on the second day, with a total of 4200 baht for the two, Raya (Emperor Island) + Ko Coral (Coral Island) on the third day, with a total of 1600 baht for the two, and 500 baht for the fourth day. All day tours include HOTEL PICK UP + SPEED BOAT + LUNCH + BOTTLED WATER + SNORKELING, Snorkeling equipment will be uniformly distributed, Don’t prepare), everything is done, hand in the deposit, for example, emperor island + coral island one-day tour paid 200 baht deposit, smilan island paid 400 baht, and back to the airport 500 baht paid all, the other part of the cash by the local travel company to go out to play on the day we received the departure dock and then paid them, everything went very smoothly. After the reservation, we went to several exchange points to sum up EXCHANGE’s relevant experience: the closer the exchange point is to the bustling Bangura Street, the lower the exchange rate, while the more remote exchange point has the higher the exchange rate. Even the next EXCHANGE has a different exchange rate. If you have 100 US dollars, you can only exchange it all. You can’t say that you only exchange 50 US dollars for Thai baht and change the other 50 US dollars to you. That won’t work. And they hardly accept RMB. At the beginning, the exchange rate of US dollar to Thai baht was 1:32. 98. I saw that some EXCHANGE was only about 31, and the exchange rate of my hotel was even lower than 1:30. The exchange rate of US dollar to RMB in China was 1: 6.84, so after settlement, the exchange rate of RMB to Thai baht was 1: 4.82, which was not bad. If you exchange Thai baht in the Bank of China in China, it should be more cost-effective.
After booking the trip for tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, my whole body relaxed a lot, but I still played drums in my heart. I didn’t know it would be how tomorrow. After all, this was the first time I took LP out to play. If I didn’t have a good time, the money would not be worth it. However, when I returned to the hotel, I still found the front desk and asked them to change us into a double bed room. The procedure is very simple, just change the key directly. This time we changed the room to the new hotel area opposite. When I went in, I found out, It’s a paradise, In stark contrast to the noise outside, What surprised LP and me even more was that The room is simply oversized, a bit like a suite. All the facilities are new. There are even two bathrooms, one for shower and the other for oversized bathtub, including luggage rack, writing room and private oversized balcony. Compared with the old bedroom last night, this is really heaven. LP and I are happy. The mood is really incomparable-beauty! After tidying up the room, it was almost 1 o’clock in the afternoon and my stomach was growling. LP and I are going to find a restaurant along Rat-U-Thit 200 Pee Road. It went smoothly, and the previous strategy was used again. NO.6 restaurant was easily found, just opposite GOOD MR.SEAFOOD good seafood restaurant.LP and I each ordered a FRESH RICE WITH SEAFOOD, 80 baht, and 50 baht fruit ice. The appetite for the whole plate is relatively small. Later, it was proved that eating in such restaurants was rather deficient. LP and I have been eating seafood food stalls since then, Near Deevana Resort, The stall we chose is opposite the purple Thai bank. Next to it is an optician’s shop, There is a LCD TV playing out inside. Playing Korean dog movies all day long, I don’t know if the store owner is Korean or because the store owner is more Korean, This is a digression, To be clear, it is convenient for everyone to find it. A paella there costs only 50 baht, The quantity is large and the taste is quite good. My curry fried crab, A large one is only 250 Thai dollars. And 50 yuan a large plate, the domestic certainly can’t eat, almost all the food stalls they can bargain after weighing seafood, but for the sake of the Chinese people’s face, everyone also don’t cut too hard, meaning it is enough, like my plate curry fried crab original price 280 baht, they directly give me 250 baht, don’t need me to cut, every time eat also give fruit. Of course, this store will also remind you in particular. His recipe is in Chinese and English. One of them is a woman who collects money. She is very thin. The one with glasses can speak a few words of Chinese and can understand it. If your English is not particularly good, here is a very good choice. After all, there are few restaurants that can compare Chinese and English. It is estimated that they are also descendants of several generations of Chinese. One more thing to remind is that you can only have dinner or midnight snack at the food stalls. They are not open at noon.
In the later time, life is like a movie! Free travel gives us too much freedom. Shopping malls, eating snacks, watching small shops and walking on the beach. . . . It was very beautiful, very beautiful, and soon it was the second day in Phuket. The travel agent picked us up on time, As it was a long way to Smithland, So at 6: And he waited for us at the entrance of the hall, Check with him the booking card, Make sure you didn’t pick up the wrong person, Smooth getting on the bus, their cars are all the same, called MINI-BUS. Similar to our golden cup car, the size and appearance are also very similar, but the interior is full of leather seats, which looks very advanced. Ha ha, it’s a bit earthy to say so, but after chatting with them, the price of such a car is also very high, about 200,000 RMB, and you can buy several golden cups. After the driver picked us up, he went to several other nearby hotels to pick up other tourists. Obviously, they were all booked at that travel agency. We were six people in a car, very comfortable, and headed for the dock. Of course, we learned later that the beautiful scenery was not so easy to enjoy. In order to get to Smithland Island, it took us 2 hours to drive from the hotel to the dock. However, there have been many people waiting there, almost all of whom are devils, except that one person with children is Asian. I don’t know if it is from our country, but his mouth is full of pure American. After a little trimming, drinking coffee and tea, eating some bread and paying the rest of the money, the local tour guide took us to the speedboat. This speedboat is very good. It is a big speedboat with three engines. It runs smoothly. People can stand on their seats and watch the scenery. I don’t have to head to the ceiling for one meter eight. At this time, the tour guide will tell us some information, telling us that it takes us 1:30 hours to reach one of the nine small islands of Smithland. In order to enliven the atmosphere on the ship, the tour guide took the initiative to greet each of us. Knowing that we came to Phuket from Beijing, China, he was very excited and talked a lot with us. It can be seen that he still likes the Chinese very much. This is really a little proud abroad. In fact, we also learned later that he is a descendant of the Chinese, his grandfather is Chinese, his grandmother is Thai, and now he can’t speak a word of Mandarin, that is, he can’t listen to or speak it. However, through his talk, we also know that the Asians with children nearby are Chinese, but they have immigrated to the United States. With such a lively start, I think the previous worries have disappeared, so let’s fully enjoy the small island of this beautiful country. The nine small islands of Similan Island are lined up in a row. Due to snorkeling conditions and time constraints, it is impossible for us to go to each island, but we will go to the main scenic spots. What impresses us most is that its snorkeling points are relatively large. Therefore, safety measures must be taken well. One of the small islands in the route has bare stones. The appearance is very similar to DOG HEAD, and on the same island, there is a huge stone standing on the top of the mountain. You can climb from the beach to the top of the mountain, but the mountain road is very simple. There are some big ropes around the tree to help you. However, the scenery after reaching the top is very spectacular, with a panoramic view of the snow-white beach and the blue sea, which makes you relaxed and happy. In this way, time is like our speedboat on the sea, drifting away quickly. At 3: 00 p.m., we began to return to the dock. At 4: 30 p.m., our MINI-BUS was waiting for us on the shore. At 6: 30 p.m., we finally returned to the hotel. At night, we ate SEA FOOD RICE at the food stalls, went shopping and listened to the sea. . . . The story of Phuket’s third day is not as wonderful as that of Smilan Island. The same team of about 20 was crowded into a small boat. The waves were not very big, But the ship was very bumpy, To make matters worse, a little Hong Kong woman and her little daughter, who looked less than 3 years old, crowded in the stern of the boat. I’m worried that a big drift will throw them out. They are all Chinese. I have to give up my better seat to her. She is very grateful, especially seeing that I was drenched with splash in the back. However, I don’t think there is what. Don’t say that she is Chinese. I will give up my seat on the Beijing bus. I am used to giving up my seat on the Beijing bus. Ha ha, our quality has long improved. The scenery of Emperor Island and Coral Island is obviously much inferior to that of Smithland, especially Coral Island. The tsunami hit it fatally that year. The houses ravaged by the sea water were still empty and deserted, quietly telling people to go to empty buildings and the world was fickle. . . Therefore, it is suggested that for those who go next time, it is enough to only go to Emperor Island for a one-day tour.
On the fourth day of Phuket, I was still PATONG BEACH in the morning, enjoying the sunshine, the beach and all the gifts from nature to my eyes. . . Check out at noon, deposit your luggage in the hotel, and then continue shopping with ease and bring gifts to your friends. . . Although the Christmas shopping malls on Phuket Island are not very discounted, However, it is still much cheaper than that in China. The latest LEVI ‘S 522 series jeans and T-shirts only cost about RMB 500 yuan, which is very cheap. Plus the other 0708, you can also enjoy the discount of tax refund at the airport, which costs more than 2,000 baht. However, remember, you must register and stamp at CUSTOMERS SERVICE. Of course, L ‘Or é al of Carrefour in Patong is the cheapest, which must be remembered, especially those with yellow signs for special offers, which are even cheaper to the end. The discount rate is usually 50% after the discount in domestic shopping malls. Therefore, if you go, you must not let go! Since we thought duty-free shops at the airport would be cheaper at the beginning, we didn’t buy more. We regretted it when we went to the airport. That was called regret. However, forget it, I won’t let you go again when I come next time. We must fight to the end! After coming to Phuket for so many days, I haven’t watched the sunset. Today’s schedule is good, but the clouds are very thick, which seems to leave me a little regret. When I was walking on the beach last night, I lit a Kongming lantern with LP. It flew far away. When it almost got into the clouds, we could still see it faintly on the beach. Now I don’t know which cloud it is hiding in. Ha ha, it is estimated that it has turned my love for Phuket and LP into a star in Phuket’s night sky forever. It appears from time to time from the clouds and takes another look at this beautiful and peaceful world. While your thoughts are flying around, you should be able to imagine that what is called seeing the sun through the clouds. In a flash, the setting sun dyed the sea red. This is really a gorgeous ink painting. It seems to be telling me, time, don’t go, guests from afar, please stay. . . . I don’t know when, when the lights come on, they add radiance to the sea. People can’t bear the joy of Christmas, wearing Christmas costumes, and moving between the crowd, and we, at this time, are also deeply infected, vaguely heartache, only love and don’t give up Phuket. . .
The taxi driver was waiting for us at the gate of the hotel in his Toyota car on time and successfully sent us to the airport. Get your boarding pass. On the left hand side of the exit gate is the tax refund window of Phuket Airport. The door is very small. Customs officers can also speak simple Chinese. After completing the formalities quickly and entering the waiting hall, you can look for cheap cosmetics, perfume and Swarovski crystal in DUTY FREE. . . However, I feel that the discount rate is really not very large, but I still have spent the remaining Thai baht after the tax refund. What I miss is just waiting to board the plane early and return home quickly. The next day, the plane arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport smoothly, pulling a heavy suitcase and getting on the airport express train. In front of it, it flew across the gray sky of Beijing. I really hope that spring in Beijing will come soon, or I am looking forward to the next distant trip with my lover.
为什么这么多中国人在这里买呢？我象征性地买了几个，估计以后不会再去了。
# The garden of Shantaa hotel
通塞湾里的shark point是另外一个浮潜点，非常不错，景色非常丰富。而且离long beach不远。如果下次再来，我们不需要到处走动，就住在long beach的酒店的海景房，然后租一个kayak，划到shark point进行浮潜，也很不错的。
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