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Writer's pictureThe Asian Muse

SOUVENIRS OF SIAM - PART 1: PHUKET

Updated: Jun 27, 2021

As quoted, "Wherever you go becomes a part of you somehow"


Its been a year and I still cherish all the memories of this wonderful trip to Thailand. It was a great experience going international, getting to know a different culture altogether, meeting totally new traits of people, making new friends, getting to live my life the Thai Way...!! 😉


Day 1: August 31st, 2016


Already at the Kempegowda International Airport Bangalore, cleared all the baggage and security check formalities, clicking selfies with my passport alongside, all excited to board Thai Airways.

And there you go after an hour wait, I boarded the flight at 12:30 am. As I entered Thai Airways, I realized that there were some really beautiful and gorgeous air hostesses, dressed up in their purple attire, welcoming you with smiling faces. As the flight was about to take off, they started with the security instructions and in a fraction of seconds we were in air.


The flight was huge and had accommodated quite a lot of passengers. We were provided with pillows and blankets as it was an overnight six hour journey. Meanwhile they started serving dinner and alcohol for the passengers.



Day 2: September 1st, 2016




Suddenly an announcement came from the pilot, the flight was about to land. Oh damn, I woke up after that peaceful sleep in that cozy blanket. We finally arrived at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Bangkok and all the passengers were in queue with their baggage ready to get off the plane.





It was actually a rush hour for me because the Bangkok Airport was so huge that if you walk fifty steps away, you are lost and there was only an hour gap to get my visa on arrival and board the next flight.


I got off the plane along with other passengers and a bus carried us all to the airport entrance. Just found out I had to fill a form and run towards that counter with all my documents and unfortunately there was a long queue.




Oh damn, I hate long queues, especially the slow moving ones. Somehow was able to finish all the formalities and finally happy to see my visa on arrival in hand. I realized I had to board the next flight in next five minutes. Run, run, run (bhaag neha bhaag😂)..and there you go, I finally made it to the flight. As I entered the flight I was in relief, no more running, now I can finally enjoy my trip. We were in air for an hour and then we landed finally at Phuket International Airport.



I came out of the airport and saw a lot of folks standing with white boards. Finally after a long search found a board that says - "Ms. Neha from Bangalore" but there was no one alongside. I had to search my Gmail to get his contact and finally Mr. Somsak showed up. OMG he came to pick me up in Honda Accord, I really felt like a queen now.👸


While he was driving, I tried to converse with him a bit. He was a very polite old man, understanding a bit of English, told me about some of the tourist attractions in Phuket. Also he showed me the snap of his two sons, one of them sails ships and another one was pilot but still he is driving here in Phuket out of love for his job and that was really impressive. He dropped me at The Sunset Beach Resort, Phuket at around 5 pm.



Able to receive my room keys at the reception and then a staff accompanied me to show my room. The room was beautifully decorated with a huge balcony facing the Pantong Beach. Being fully tired I took a power nap for an hour and then got ready to explore the place.




Just walked down the Bangla Road in Phuket alongside the Pantong Beach, listening to the soothing waves and feeling the cold breezes, there were small sea food stalls where folks were sitting and enjoying the food as well as the beach view.


If you end up being here just don't forget to try the awesome pancakes at the roadside.

They prepare different flavors of pancakes in no time on the fly. I ordered a banana chocolate pancake, the sensation of melting chocolate, it was really addictive.



As I walked by, I arrived at this most famous Night market of Phuket, whole lighted up and filled with crowd.


I came across this chick and flick street bar - a mini bar in a mini van in Night Market of Pantong Beach, it looked so unique that lot of folks were getting attracted to it, to enjoy their drinks and have fun.





After exploring a few shops I walked towards the main entrance of Pantong Beach, sat there for a while, felt the calmness of the place and then walked back to my resort.






The Sunset Beach Resort was full lighted up and there were few English folks enjoying their drinks and listening to the guy singing karaoke.




Day 3: September 2nd, 2016





As I woke up in the morning, I could hear the soothing sounds of the running waves. Phuket known to be the largest island of Thailand, turned out to be such a calm, quiet and peaceful place with a touch of natural beauty.



I prepared myself a cup of coffee and walked up to the balcony and saw folks jogging, walking on beach, continuing with their daily routines and enjoying their life the peaceful way.










After a bit of relaxing I got ready for my next pickup in a nice blue Matarghasti dress, yes the same get up by Deepika Padukone in the Hindi song "Matarghasti" from the Bollywood movie "Tamasha".













Yeah I enjoyed my trip the "Matarghasti Way" as well, the only difference was in the movie she was in Corsica Island, France and in real life I was in Phuket Island,Thailand. 😁😁









After having my breakfast in the resort, we moved to a place full of speed boats and folks sitting together, getting instructions from their guides. All folks were divided into groups and were provided with snorkeling fins & pumps. My group got into a speed boat and we were referred to as Jhony Family as we were in his boat sailing towards the Phi Phi Island.





The amazing thing about the Jhony Family was that it included folks from Kazakhstan, Bangladesh, Turkey, a bunch of guys from Qatar, a Japanese family and all the folks were enjoying and dancing along together as we sailed through.




As the boat was in the middle of water, Jhony asked our group to get ready for Snorkeling. All of us jumped into the water and snorkeled for few minutes.

The water was so cold and I found it hell difficult to keep myself stable in there as the waves were against us. All of us climbed up the boat and we were served with few snacks and soft drinks.

Our boat started picking up speed and in an hour or so we reached the Phi Phi Island.




All of us got down from the boat and decided to meet after an hour when Jhony signals us to come back on the boat by shouting "Jhony Family". All of us had lunch together and then we explored the place a bit, enjoyed the beauty of nature.



As we moved back on the boat we visited different nearby islands. It was quite a wonderful and tiring speed boat tour.



We parted ways with each other and I arrived back at my resort and got ready for my next pick up at around 7 pm.




Waited in the lobby in my red dress on, finally someone came to pick me up. There were other people as well in the car along with me aiming to reach the same destination. Finally we arrived at The Phuket Fantasea Show.








The ticket counter was crowded, finally got my tickets to enter the place and the whole venue was filled with different kinds of creatures and was colorful and lighted up.



Initially all the visitors were redirected towards a huge king size dining hall which has red coloured seating arrangements actually alot matching with my dress.😁











I walked into the hall, looked around and saw a lot of people from different places were sitting all along and dining together.






After the dinner, we all moved to the auditorium and yes none of the electronic items were allowed inside so had to submit it all at the counter before entering the auditorium. As the curtains moved up the show started, they explained about how they started worshiping elephants by their actions, cultural dances and performances. It was really magical seeing all those visual effects, artists as well as the trained animals all synced up at perfect timings to present with an awesome stage show.



As the show got over, we all moved out of the auditorium and I decided to take a tour of the whole place. There were a lot of craft shops and a lot of animal trainers and other performers performing on stage and gathering a lot of crowd. Most of them were enjoying the performances and clicking pictures of the place.



I came across this cute & innocent Thai Kiddo trying to pose for a snap and me trying to imitate the same but no matter what I do I cannot match the innocence of this kiddo. Love the innocence on the face of this cute little kiddo, yeah she has got it from her mommy.. 😉😍 Not only Thailand is a beautiful place but it has beautiful people too. Apart from that I touched the cub and felt him breathe while he was busy sipping milk through the baby sipper. I was a bit scared to stand beside the elephant but was made to hold his trunk to pose for the shot, post which the elephant realized me of being scared and I felt he was smiling at me and tried to play with me using his trunk as I was getting away. Finally I got clicked myself with a cub and a baby elephant and they framed those snaps and handed it over to me.


Soon I got pick up from there and reached my resort sharp at 11 pm.


Day 4: September 3rd, 2016


It was my last day in Phuket and because of my love for beaches and as I am beach person, I chose to spend it all at the Pantong Beach.






And with a happy note and a lot of memories of Phuket I left the place and headed towards my next travel destination. 😉






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