After breakfast, we walked over to the counter located outside the reception office and browsed through the various day tours offered.
We booked the afternoon mini-city tour at THB750 per person. We were told to assemble at the lobby at 1.15pm.
We spent some time lazing around in the room for a bit and then went down to the lobby. While waiting, we used the public computers located at the lobby.
Guess what! We were the only tourists booked for this tour!
The first stop was the Big Buddha, Phuket. We were able to see the Buddha statue from our hotel, so I had been wanting to visit.
The tour guide was super friendly, the only complaint I had about him was his tobacco-filled breath while he spoke. I wished he had a mint. I always have a problem with older vans or small buses due to the poorer ventilation and the interior always smelt like engine fumes or recycled polluted air. That could cause nausea and since I am highly sensitive to scent, it gives me headache. I had to turn my head away from the guide and allowed Mike to communicate with him instead. I didn’t mean to be rude, but it was quite unbearable.
The guide suggested that I should take a photo of what seemed to me an abandoned path, but there were many people taking photos, so I did too! I like to be touristy!
I love to make donations on special dates. It warms my heart that while I celebrate a happy occasion, the less fortunate might be happy too, perhaps for another reason.
On my birthday, I made a small donation to help put another tile to completing the Big Buddha. I am not very good with making wishes, let alone putting them down into words. It is especially stressful when the guide and Mike were staring.
I don’t have a religion, but I strongly believe that religion gives hope and strength to the followers during the hard times.
The first stop ended quite quickly since we were the only tour members, so there was no time wasted on waiting on one another.
The next stop was Chalong Temple.
The friendly guide helped us collect the necessary items and we followed him around like the ducklings to the mama duck. He said that Chalong Temple is a well-known temple and said to be very spiritual and answers to many prayers.
Anywhere that is packed with tourists, there will be a shopping area. We were way ahead of our schedule, so we shopped at the stalls set up in the same premise of the temple.
Then, it was the fire-cracking! I was really excited!
Fire cracker is prohibited in Singapore, so this was rarity to me. I took many photos and even recorded a short video of it, because I wanted to capture the loud sound.
Now, besides Museums, I love factories too, but it’s the real factory that shows the production process that excites me though.
Next up, was the Cashew Nut Factory. We visited one Nutworks Factory briefly – as it was closing by the time we reached there – in Australia too.
It wasn’t so bad for this commercialized factory though, since they actually have someone demonstrating the de-shelling process of the cashew nuts.
The minute you stepped into the factory – which is really more like a store – you will be accompanied by a personal assistant who carries a shopping and follows you wherever you go. It was almost like a royalty shopping experience, with a non-pushy assistant. We bought some nuts.
While we were there, a vehicle pulled over at the front of the factory. Soon, we noticed everyone crowding to watch. I reckoned it was the filming of a commercial video or tourist guide for the island.
The next stop was uninteresting for me, since the guide spoke very little English, so he wasn’t capable of providing better introduction to the places that we visited.
We stopped alongside a stretch of short buildings – like what we see in some parts of Singapore, most preserved under heritage preservation scheme. I believe the ‘Sino Portuguese‘ has a similar background of post war/occupation history. We moved on very quickly as there was nothing to see or to ‘feel’ for.
We moved on to the fresh market, and I made a fool of myself, or rather, it was just challenging for me to explain my ‘unique’ situation to the guide.
I was amazed by the way the loading and unloading of the produces was carried out. I was also amazed by how the hawkers displayed the long big bean, as though hanging the laundry out to dry. The guide asked, ‘no fresh market in Singapore?’. I paused and contemplated in explaining that I rarely visit market – or anywhere outside the apartment – let alone wet market. I had to run through the ‘information’ department in my brain too, pertaining to his question. I think we still have some wet markets, but mostly are replaced with supermarket now. I didn’t really know how to answer that question as by standard rule, I only answer truthfully.
Alas, I struggled and said, ‘yes, hmmm, we have supermarket’. It was really hard for me, and I nearly felt that I needed to explain further in order not to misinform him. Before I could do anything, he was explaining to the hawker that Singapore has no fresh market, only supermarket, and that we had never seen one before. I decided to let that go.
Still burdened by the ‘untruthful’ reply, we were brought to the Jewelry duty-free shop. We requested not to spend time there, but the guide ‘insisted’ – not rude insistence, but he wasn’t keen in obliging. Usually the gem malls give out special discount, or commission – in Bangkok, the malls issue gasoline coupons to the taxi drivers – to the guides/drivers whenever they sent the passengers to the mall.
We didn’t buy anything, even though the gift shop had quite a large variety of products, but the prices are exorbitantly high.
Usually the female tourists spend more time at the gem mall, but I don’t exactly appreciate jewelry as much as most women.
The tour had reached the final stop, way earlier than scheduled. The last stop was a complimentary dinner. We reached the restaurant only to find out that it was not opened yet. The guide apologized and called the owner of the restaurant while pacing with uneasiness.
He told us that the owner would arrive soon, so we waited. He then proposed that instead of waiting, we may like to walk over to the weekend market just across the street. We’d LOVE to!!!!
The weekend market is located quite a far distance from Kata Beach, where we stayed. It was unlikely for us to travel to this part of the island if not for the city-tour. We considered this as a blessing in disguise. If the restaurant was opened for business, we would probably miss the chance to visit the weekend market.
The weekend market is considerably large, and things are very cheap. We bought some T-shirts at merely THB100 each.
It is like the “pasar malam” in Singapore, but much larger in scale. You will find all sorts of fried food stuffs, and cheap buys.
We returned to the restaurant at the agreed time, had Phat Thai for dinner, including in the package. We had tasted better food, including Phat Thai at Mali, so we didn’t appreciate much of the greasier dinner. We ordered and paid for additional dishes such as stir fried mixed vegetables and Tom Yum Goong. We found the food served in this restaurant passable, and we would probably not patronize again.
The tour ended with the dinner, and we were sent back to our hotel.
I enjoyed the city-tour.
Back in the hotel, we surfed the internet for information on Phi Phi Island after the high praises given by the guide.
(our anniversary trip has been booked for Krabi, and we could surely travel to Phi Phi by boat)
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