The next morning, we checked out from our room but kept our luggage at the hostel itself.
We had breakfast from the cafe at the hostel itself. This was the green milk tea (฿65) I had along with my toast and eggs (฿70)
Since it was already noon, we took the BTS to Asoke and checked out the recently opened Terminal 21 mall.
(Took this photo on my phone)Yup, it’s another mall in SukhumvitLike all new malls, it’s pretty bigThis is a nine-storey mallIt’s a themed mall, where in each floor is stylized based on a world-famous city. The first floor is ‘Tokyo’.
Sumo wrestlers helping out with pillar support 🙂Second floor is themed after LondonTube-slash-shopsThis floor aims to resemble an Istanbul marketLove these lightsHonestly, the stores at this mall aren’t that impressiveOscar hint: guess where the cinemas are locatedThemed after San Fransisco’s pier is the food courtThe food court has enough choice, with various cuisine on offer
As always, Ramesh needed pure vegetarian while I had my mind already set on another. We decided to split and I sat down at the The Manhattan Fish Market (a Singapore-based chain, not American).
I ordered the ‘Small Flame’ set meal which came with a soft fish fillet (tastes like Dory), 3 grilled prawns, herbed rice and french fries. All for ฿275 (Rs. 500/$8/€6). Along with a beer and tip, I spent ฿418 in total for lunch.This is the view you get from the restaurant
Ba-dum-tish!
I re-grouped with Ramesh and the next few hours were wasted on trying to get my SM Town tickets. I’m not going into the details, because I’ve already talked about the ordeal here.
A lot of time (and taxi money) was wasted going to parts of Bangkok inaccessible by BTSOh well, never came to this side of Bangkok beforeWe ended up checking out at an IT expoIt was held at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre
Back at the hostel, we freshened up, collected our bags and made our across the street.
Ramesh and I waited inside the railway station… for our busWhen it was time, the travel company staff would escort us outside to where our bus was waiting
The bus was full and I didn’t get a seat next to Ramesh. Instead, I got some French backpacker… who stank! You could tell he hadn’t taken a bath. Everytime he lifted his arms, you could sense the heat emanating from his armpits! His feet smelled even worse.
I struggled to get sleep. I kept my nose as close to the window as possible!I kept hoping we would get to Phuket soonerWe had a stop en route and I caught up with Ramesh to have some snacks — and take in some fresh air!Before sunrise, we arrived at Surat Thani where we were instructed to get off the bus and wait at some shack
From there, they divided the passengers into two groups – those going to Koh Samui and those going to Phuket.
We were then asked to wait at another transport office!
We were surprised to know the ticket fare (฿850) we paid in Bangkok was only until Surat Thani. We had to pay an additional ฿200 for another van taxi to take us to Patong beach!
This is the route the bus companies followWe waited nearly an hour for the van. Tried to pass time, had a cup of coffee and watched strangers tease stray cats.By the time we hit the road again, it was 6amThis journey was going to take close 2 hoursThe roads were great for much of the rideWe stopped again for another short break
We were going to be staying in Patong for the next 3 daysThe uphill road to PatongI was desperate to hit the bed as I barely slept the whole night
We had reserved a double room at Bangphu Inn using Agoda, and as per the map, the hotel looked pretty close to Patong Beach. When we finally got to our destination, we couldn’t have been more pleased with our decision.
Bangphu Inn has everything you need nearby, and it was right opposite an Indian restaurantWe had asked for a twin bed room but they didn’t have one available. So we had to with this (Rs. 6759/$122/€87) for three nightsIt was clean and everything workedThis was from our balcony. The beach was just a minute’s walk away.Bangphu Inn has a restaurant and bar below
As soon as we stepped out, we were lured by a Nepali staff to lunch at the restaurant that employed him. We weren’t keen on eating Indian food all the way here, but at the same time, we were too lazy to find another place. We didn’t have a proper breakfast, and just wanted to be done with lunch so that we could get some sleep!
While Ramesh had his daal and sabzi, I indulged myself by ordering a seafood tandoor platterMy challenge: finish the crab, prawns, a whole red snapper, squid, and some other fishAfter nearly an hour, I managed to stuff 90% of it. There was still some cuttlefish left… but it just couldn’t finish it! I feel guilty wasting precious food (and because it cost a ฿1000), but I had to give in.
It was a good thing we decided to sleep after lunch. It rained rather heavily the rest of the evening. At night, we stepped out after the rains had stopped.
Ramesh and I decided to walk around PatongPhuket’s Hard Rock CafeJungceylon, the largest mall in town — just a few minutes walk from our hotelWe spent some time at the mallWalked past a lot of tempting street foodPatong comes alive at nightWe had to book a tour to James Bong island, and there are enough and more tour operators selling them. This guy was one active vendor who tried his best to sell us his tours.Patong’s Walking StreetWe took another route
A lot of go-go- bars up ahead
For dinner, neither of us wanted to have a heavy meal. I was still feeling stuffed!
This was the lane leading up to our hotel. Enough restaurants, bars, and massage parlors here.We picked up our dinner from Beach Road‘Honestly’ selling pirated games, movies and software 🙂I thought a Burger King burger would be a ‘light’ dinner. But even this was too much for me to stuff down tonight.All said, we were happy with our location in Phuket. We didn’t hit the beach today, but no worries.
Tomorrow, we would go on an island-hopping tour, which included a stop at Koh Panyee village and James Bond island.
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One Comments
soloflightEd
09/07/2013
Great report as always, Mithun. I suddenly miss Terminal 21 mall in BKK. I remember that this was a regular hangout for me because of the free WiFi with free electrical outlet plugs in the food court! Just that you have to bring a jacket/sweater with you because of the airconditioning since I spent at least 4 hours just in the food court. Nice Pictures! 🙂
soloflightEd
09/07/2013Great report as always, Mithun. I suddenly miss Terminal 21 mall in BKK. I remember that this was a regular hangout for me because of the free WiFi with free electrical outlet plugs in the food court! Just that you have to bring a jacket/sweater with you because of the airconditioning since I spent at least 4 hours just in the food court. Nice Pictures! 🙂