Check out at 8.30am and start our journey driving to Hatyai.  Along the Patong beach – Phuket town bypass, there is a huge premium branded outlet where we thought dropping by but unfortunately it was not open for business yet.

Refuel to full tank in Phuket and that should bring you all the way back to Malaysia without refueling again.  From Phuket to Malaysia is about 500KM.

Passing the Sarasin bridge, we are back to Thailand mainland.

The bridge is undergo expansion where additional dual carriage lane added.

Right after the bridge at the mainland, there are one roll of stall selling all kinds of sea food products.

According to grandma, the quality is good and cheap, of course another few kgs of goods added.

This is steam crab available from a few stalls.  The small size cost about 10Baht each.

Finger licking good.  Zheng Hao like it….

Grandma also like it….. We continue after enjoying the steam crab. Along the way near Phang Nga bay, there are a number of stalls by the road side selling handicraft. Again more shopping…..

Proceed to Trang via Highway 4 and we take Trang bypass highway to avoid traffic and Trang town.  Lunch at Khao Pubpa at about 2pm.

Pisang goreng again….

Check-in  hotel at Asian Hotel Hatyai about 5pm, the hotel cost less then RM100 and the location is great. You may book the hotel HERE. Walk to the nearby market.  As usual… Ubi Kayu with santan is my favorite.

Grandma like the small little pineapple from Chiangmai.

Dinner at the popular Duck noddle near regency hotel.

The stall operates from 5.00pm to 4.00am morning.

The location of the stall is a bit off the main street, it is located at a dead end alley.  The land mark is look for Regency hotel, from the hotel entrance looking towards Lee Garden Plaza, there is a small lane on your left hand side ( next to Regency open car park ), the stall is located at the end of the walk way.

Drive To Phuket – Day 1

Drive To Phuket – Day 2

Drive To Phuket – Day 3

Drive To Phuket – Day 4

Drive To Phuket – Day 6

One of the most important activity is island hopping where kids get to experience snorkeling.

There are a number of different packages offered, the most popular one is Phi Phi Island full day tour, in my opinion it is not so suitable for young kid as the distance is longer ( about an hour ) and you may not have full day energy taking care of them.

The second one will be full day Phang Nga Bay or James Bond island where focus more on sight seeing, kayaking and lunch at the famous Panyee island. I don’t think my kid will enjoy it.

I decided a 3rd option, half day 3 Khai island snorkeling trip which is just  20 minutes boat ride from Phuket Island.  It is short distance so that I would not get question like ” are we there yet”  often.  It is low season and the cost is about 1800baht for 1 adult and 3 children.  The booking is done at the road site stall where better discount offered.

Since it is half day tour, no lunch is included but free flow drink and fruit and limited snack is provided. Be prepare to bring some snack just in case the food – sandwich provided might not suit your taste.

Pickup from the hotel at about 7.30am by van and move toward jetty at near Phuket town.

We depart to the island at about 9am from the jetty. For those of you who travel with young kids, try to be the first to board the speedboat so that you can pickup the limited small size life jacket.

Khai Island, Chicken Egg in Thai basically is 3 small island.  If you do not like to hop 3 islands, you can tell the tour guide so that they will drop you at the last island.

Only the first and last island has a beach, there is no beach at the 2nd island so only snorkeling in the middle of the sea.

The cost of the lazy chair with umbrella is 150Baht for a day, if you are fine with you bags on the sandy beach, you don’t need one.

Beach is nice with fine, white and soft sand.

A lot of fish, you can buy bread from the near by stall for 50baht each. Please note this bread is just for fish and not for us to consume.  It is rather expensive but who cares when 3 little monster enjoy it. Alternatively, you may buy some bread from Phuket as light lunch and also for fish feeding.

No No No.. Zheng Hao is taking a sausage buns, not the bread for the fish, in fact he is share his buns with the fish.. A restaurant selling food and drinks at the island.

This is the second island, the boat will park near the island so that you can do a deep see snorkeling. It is raining season and we spotted a numbers of jelly fish.  After a few dive, everyone decided to move on the the last island.

The last island is Khai Noi. If you decided to stay at one island, the boat will drop you at the beginning of the trip. This is the place where they serve you fruit and snack- sandwich.Continue swimming and snorkeling.

Blue sky and white sandy beach.

150 Baht per seating.

Back to the Phuket Jetty about 1pm and transfer back to hotel.  Rest and relax at hotel pool…..

At night, we check a food stall not far from the hotel.  If you see a lot of local patron the stall, it should be good.Simple setup with good food and low price.

Drive To Phuket – Day 1

Drive To Phuket – Day 2

Drive To Phuket – Day 3

Drive To Phuket – Day 5

Drive To Phuket – Day 6

After breakfast at hotel, decided a walk to the famous Patong beach.  The beach is not the best we seen in Thailand, but that is good enough to make the kids excited and wanted to jump to the sea. I promise a better beach experience tomorrow when we go island hopping and snorkeling.

After a slow walk at beach, we decided to explore Phuket by driving round the island. First stop is Karon View point at the south of Patong Beach.

The next stop is Phromthep Cape, the southern tip of Phuket Island.  A very convenient place as car park is just at the foothill. On top of this hill there is an area where hundreds of elephant circling in the middle of open area.  I did not really check out what is the reason behind.

There is a light house on top of the hill where you can climb up to have a better view of the surrounding area.

Southern tip of Phuket Island.

Behind the souvenir shop near the entrance, there is a restaurant by the cliff where can you dine while enjoying the sunset…. I might try if time allowed.

Opposite of the car part across the entrance of Phromthep Cape, there are a lot of stalls selling souvenir.

From Phromthep cape, we carry on to the east of Phuket island, we noticed this elephant attraction and decided to check out what they have to offer.

Elephant riding to the jungle for 30 minutes cost RM80 per person.  We did to take up the offer as we have seen and ride elephant back home.  We notice a lot of mat salleh waiting in line for the elephant ride.

At noon, we passed by some shop near Phuket town where Wai Yee spotted this delicious food and decided not to let it go.

The owner is the second generation chinese born in Thai. However, they could  not speak Chinese anymore.

Since we planned for the Fantasea show at night, we decided to head back to the hotel for some rest.

Fantasea is a Theme park with cultural show, it is very popular among visitor to Phuket.

The Published entrance fees is about RM180 per person inclusive of buffet dinner.  According to the Fantasea website http://www.phuket-fantasea.com/index.php, the entrance fees is fixed and no discount allow from their agent.  During out visit, we can get good discount from the road side agent, may be due to low season ( But the show is almost 80% full).  Travel agency residing at hotel usually do not give good discount on trips. Always try the agent at the road side.  They will issue you with a receipt and use it a a proof to collect the ticket when you reach Fantasea.

Transport is available for a fees as well. Since it is less then 30 minutes drive, we decided to drive to Fantasea show at 6pm.

First, you have to bring your receipt to the ticket counter to exchange for the computer generated ticket and with a sticker indicated your seating location. You have to peel the ticket sticker and stick on on your shirt.  If you purchase the ticket with the buffer dinner, your buffet dinner seating will be indicated as well. We dine at the restaurant inside Fantasea, right after the entrance through the security check point. The price is higher than ordinary but food is quite ok.  The toilet is design with farm land theme where the entire toilet featured “kampung” lifestyle.

Push my nose to flush!!

Hold my nose to turn on the tap!!!

This is the outlook of the buffet restaurant.

This is the outlook of the Theater. No camera is allow in the theater. They will collect it before you enter the theater. You will be hand a token with number where you may collect your camera after the show at the exit point.

The theme park is basically shopping bazaar and  games counter like what we had in “fun fair” like throwing balls, shooting. etc

The decoration and lighting is very beutiful especially at night. The whole theme park light up with colourful neon light.

The theater outlook at night.

Stage show at the theme park.

Zheng Yuan in front of the largest buffet restaurant in the Theme Park.

Kids with “bigger” angel at theme park.

The show last about 1 hour and 30 minutes. At the end, this is where you collect your camera according to the colour token that you have.Some might think that Fantasea is not worth paying that kind of money.

Its really depends on individual.  Like it or not, it is one of the most popular tourist hotspot where thousand of people watching the show every night.

Drive To Phuket – Day 1

Drive To Phuket – Day 2

Drive To Phuket – Day 4

Drive To Phuket – Day 5

Drive To Phuket – Day 6

After breakfast at hotel, checkout at 9am and continue our journey to Phuket, about 300km from Trang.

During our last trip to Krabi, we stop by a very famous honey roasted pork coffee shop in Trang, we decided to drop by before  leaving for Phuket.

Unfortunately, the shop is not open because owner’s mother is sick ( see how women can dig out so much information in a short chat ). Luckily the stall selling the authentic teochew moon cake is open. It cost about RM4 per pc.

Always buy some food when you are traveling as you will never know when is your next stop for food.

We reached Krabi about 11am, since it is still early we decided by drop by Tiger Cave temple again.

Grandpa and grandma in front out God of Mercy- Kwan Yin.

The temple is still in construction since our last visit in 2009.

Continue our journey and having lunch at this Cabbages and Condoms Restaurant along the main road to Phuket.

The restaurant is directly facing the main road, the decor and environment is clean and comfortable.

Fried rice with Crab Meat in Star shape. The outlook is nice but not as good as the one we had yesterday at Trang.  I noticed we had this popular, cheap and delicious food almost every meal whenever we are in Thailand, I guess because it is fast and all kids like it. In Thai, it is call ” Khao Pat Poh “.

Finally, reach Phuket at 5pm. We stayed at Patong Resort Hotel costing about RM110.00 per night. Room is spacious and clean. Location is strategically located in the middle of Patong beach and walking distance to beach, shopping and the famous Bangla road.  You can book the hotel HERE.

Night time at Patong Beach.

Zheng Er enjoying her ice cream after dinner.

Drive To Phuket – Day 1

Drive To Phuket – Day 3

Drive To Phuket – Day 4

Drive To Phuket – Day 5

Drive To Phuket – Day 6