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January 2010

Thailand 2009: Day 5 (Part 2) – One night in Phuket

Date: Dec 17th, 2009

Phuket airport
Taken on the Nokia E72

I landed in Phuket International Airport by around 3pm, collected my bags, got some dollars exchanged and took the airport taxi (an A/C van) heading to Patong (150 baht/Rs. 200). As per my original plan, after I picked up my camera in Bangkok, I wanted to come straight to South Thailand. But that changed after the weather forecast indicated rain showers for the coming days.

I was hoping after spending three days in North Thailand, the rains down south would have subsided.

Nope.

Phuket rain
Taken from inside the van

It rained quite heavily for a few minutes after I boarded the van. I was upset thinking this is how the weather would be like for the next few days. Fortunately, by the time I got to Patong, the rain stopped.

I checked in to my hotel room, which I got for 800 baht (Rs. 1000)  from an agent the van taxi stopped at. She said it would be very hard to find cheaper rooms in Patong at this time of the year. But as I found out later that evening, there were decent rooms available for less than 800 baht. Oh well.

Not that mine was bad or anything. It was a twin-bed A/C room with the standard amenities but I wouldn’t really recommend the room I got (it barely had any ventilation). You could probably find better on the road I was on (which was parallel to the Patong Beach road).

First thing I did was freshen up and soon after, I headed straight for Patong beach.

Patong beach panorama
Patong beach: A merged photo from 8 or so shots

The place was fairly crowded (the photo may not imply the same) but that was expected given how popular Phuket is. Since all I had was the cold ‘lunch’ on the flight, and since I hadn’t eaten a proper beef burger in ages*, I walked into the Burger King on Thaweewong Road (popularly called Beach Road).

Burger King, Patong beach*[In India, the international fast food joints are too chicken (pun intended) to serve beef burgers because of politics and religious sentiments]

Plus, it felt good not to pay for mayonnaise at a fast food joint! (The international chains in India do that. It’s a crime.)

After my evening ‘snack’ (which except for the burger, I couldn’t finish) I walked down Beach road…

Patong beach road
Left: Superbikes for rent; Right: Muay Thai matches being publicized
Patong, Phuket
Thaweewong Road, Patong, Phuket

… checked out the food stalls set up on Patong Beach…

Patong beach, PhuketStreet food Patong, PhuketStreet food Patong, PhuketStreet food Patong, Phuket… watched the sun set…

Chairs stacked up on Patong beach, Phuket
It was raining far away in the distance

… took a turn at Bangla road…

Bangla road, Phuket… and then finally went to JungCeylon mall to see if I could find a decent tripod.

JungCeylon is Phuket’s largest shopping mall (I believe South Thailand too). It houses a Carrefour, a Bayshore hotel (its not by the ‘bay’ or the ‘shore’ — trust me) and several other brands. It had two camera equipment stores too. After picking up some supllies on the cheap at Carrefour and looking around the mall, I bought a lightweight (though, better quality) tripod — a Slik F630 — for 1500 baht/Rs. 2000 (it was 1590 but I bargained) from .

Jungceylon Mall, Phuket
They had a lot of sporting goods on sale there
JungCeylon gaming arcade Phuket
The ‘arcade’ at JungCeylon, Phuket

On the way out, I watched a bit of the fountain show JungCeylon puts on every night before closing time.

JungCeylon fountain showJungCeylon fountain showJungCeylon fountain showIt’s no Bellagio but it’s still pretty good.

Patong street
Rat-U-Thit Road: Where Jungceylon is on and the area my hotel was located

I walked back to my room, read up on the new tripod, re-packed and set out with my gear in the hope of shooting some videos. I headed back to Patong Beach to check out the Phuket Carnival 2009 — and to savour the deep-fried sea food I had seen earlier.

Patong beach batter fried seafood
My ‘more-batter-than-prawns’ mini-dinner

As I had dinner, I could hear the sounds of thumping basslines in the distance and figured there was some open house party going on. I walked towards it as it grew louder and then walked faster as Daft Punk’s “One More Time” came on.

It was an open beach party as part of the Phuket Carnival 2009. I took a lot of HD videos — but since I haven’t figured out how to edit videos properly yet, please make do with a few screen grabs from those videos.

Phuket Carnival 2009
There were two DJs on set; the white dude played better tracks; the Thai dude’s mixing wasn’t all that great

Phuket Carnival 2009Phuket Carnival 2009Phuket Carnival 2009Phuket Carnival 2009Phuket Carnival 2009One moment I regret not capturing was when a young chubby flower girl came to me asking me if I wanted to buy a rose from her. Our interaction went exactly like this:

Flower girl: Hello! You want rose?

Me: How much?

Flower girl: 100 baht!

Me: 100 baht!? That’s too much. I’ll give you 20! (I wasn’t angry… it’s just that the music was loud & we had to shout)

Flower girl: OK! (with a big smile on her face)

Me: (hands over the money)

Flower girl: (gives me one rose)

Me: (gives back the rose and lets her know she can keep it)

Flower girl: (points to herself as if to say “For me?”) … smiles and says “Kob Khun Ka” (‘Thank you”) in the traditional Thai way (hands folded), says bye and hops away (she actually did hop)

Patong beach rose girl
All that I could capture of the girl selling roses as she hopped away

She was really adorable and I just felt like giving her some money. I really wished I had captured more of her because she running all over the place with a huge smile on her face trying to sell flowers. She seemed happy despite her plight.

Someone whose night turned from happy to sour a bit later was none other than mine. A few minutes after my interaction with the young girl, I noticed one of the knobs/screws used to adjust the tripod was missing. (“Oh crap” moment #6). I had moved from one spot to another in the 2 hours or so that I was at the beach party. I figured it would have fallen off when I carried the tripod around to take videos from different angles. I re-traced my steps and tried looking for it in the sand but in vain. It was hard trying to look for something so small at night with ever-changing stage lights and hundreds of feet reshaping the sand every second.

Disappointed and upset over yet another screw-up, I decided to call it a night and headed back to my room.

Patong beach at night
Lanterns on Thaweewong road
Patong beach sign
Patong beach pavement

I really wasn’t happy (with my bad luck) and now I pondered about what to do next. I wanted to leave for Ao Nang the next morning itself. But now I had to waste precious time (again) to go back to the store & see if I could get just that piece of the tripod.

I knew that wasn’t going to be easy.


Other posts in this series:

Getting ready for my trip

The day I left for Thailand

Day 1 – Suvarnabhumi, Pantip Plaza, Fotofile & MBK

Day 2 – Bridge over the River Kwai and Tiger Temple (Wat Pa Luangta Bua) in Kanchanaburi

Taking the bus to Chiang Mai from Bangkok

Day 3 – Maesa elephant camp, ‘long-neck’ tribe village near Chiang Mai

Day 3 (Part 2) – Chiang Mai Night Market

Day 4 – Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai… and back in town

Day 5 – Leaving Chiang Mai for Phuket

Day 6 – Leaving Phuket for Ao Nang by bus (via Phang Nga)

Day 7 – Touring Koh Phi Phi (Maya Bay, Monkey Island & Bamboo Island)

Day 7 (Part 2) – Exploring Railay, Krabi

Day 8 – Flying from Phuket to Bangkok

Day 8 (Part 2) – Chatuchak Weekend Market, Bangkok

Day 9 – MBK, Siam Paragon… and ‘little Arabia’?

Day 10 – Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha

Day 10 – Wat Pho (the Temple of the Reclining Buddha) and finally leaving Thailand

Figures, lessons learned, and things I couldn’t do

Phuket from sky

Thailand 2009: Day 5 – Leaving Chiang Mai for Phuket

Date: Dec 17th, 2009

Woke up around 8am and the first thing I had to do was return the rented Honda Click. I then took a taxi to the Pantip Plaza in Chiang Mai to see if they had any decent reasonably priced tripods.

Chiang Mai fountain

Chiang Mai morning
Chiang Mai in the morning

I got to Pantip Plaza but it hadn’t opened yet (main doors open at 10am) so I hopped on over to the other side of the road to some temple I thought I’d spend some time clicking.

Wat Suan Plu, Chiang Mai
The temple opposite Chiang Mai’s Pantip Plaza
Wat Suan Plu, Chiang Mai
Sorry, don’t remember what it was called

Chiang Mai Wat dragon

Chiang Mai school
This was at a school adjoining the temple

I headed back to Pantip and walked into the local Big Camera outlet. The had a few Manfrottos and the cheap light weight tripods, like the one I was carrying — until it got smashed into pieces — but nothing in between.

The Pantip Plaza in Chiang Mai isn’t very big and the stores didn’t have anything I particularly felt like spending money on.  I had already spent enough on camera equipment, so I really couldn’t afford the high-end tripods everyone recommended for the 7D and the 70-200mm Sigma.

I checked out a few other stores there but ended up not buying anything. Saw a video game store thinking I’d find good deals on PS3 games but the selection was poor and it mostly stocked pirated CDs (much like the rest of Thailand).

Grand Theft Auto San Andreas Diablo II
Grand Theft Auto Diablo San Andreas II — must be awesome!

A video store there did have something that caught my eye — a 23-DVD Studio Ghibli collection for 2300 baht! I would have picked it up but I figured I’d do all such shopping when I got back to Bangkok.

I left Pantip and headed back to my hotel room, checked out and took a taxi to Chiang Mai International Airport as my Thai Airways flight was scheduled for 12:45pm.

Chiang Mai city
Taken from inside the pick-up taxi

Chiang Mai city

Chiang Mai cityChiang Mai airport road

Chiang Mai airport
Reaching Chiang Mai airport

The ride took no less than 20 minutes from Loi Kroh road.

I checked in my baggage, got my window seat, boarding pass (twice! The first one got stuck in a machine near the gate) and waited upstairs.

Chiang Mai airport
Some big shot arriving…
Chiang Mai airport
… some little guy leaving. (Me!)
Chiang Mai from sky
Bye Chiang Mai. Definitely coming back!

I wasn’t too happy about having spent Rs. 8k on a last minute flight booking, but I guess I was lucky to have gotten a seat. The window seat I got was right in front — and the flight was full!

Since it was Thai Airways, we at least got a meal.

Thai Airways meal on Chiang Mai to Phuket flight

It was cold chicken patty with cold salad and cold juice. Seriously, it was like they served it right out of the refrigerator. The cake was nice, despite being cold too.

Thailand from sky
‘Clouds in between’

Phuket from sky

Phuket from sky
Hello beaches!

(Part 2 of Day 5 coming soon!)


Other posts in this series:

Getting ready for my trip

The day I left for Thailand

Day 1 – Suvarnabhumi, Pantip Plaza, Fotofile & MBK

Day 2 – Bridge over the River Kwai and Tiger Temple (Wat Pa Luangta Bua) in Kanchanaburi

Taking the bus to Chiang Mai from Bangkok

Day 3 – Maesa elephant camp, ‘long-neck’ tribe village near Chiang Mai

Day 3 (Part 2) – Chiang Mai Night Market

Day 4 – Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai… and back in town

Day 5 (Part 2) – One night in Phuket

Day 6 – Leaving Phuket for Ao Nang by bus (via Phang Nga)

Day 7 – Touring Koh Phi Phi (Maya Bay, Monkey Island & Bamboo Island)

Day 7 (Part 2) – Exploring Railay, Krabi

Day 8 – Flying from Phuket to Bangkok

Day 8 (Part 2) – Chatuchak Weekend Market, Bangkok

Day 9 – MBK, Siam Paragon… and ‘little Arabia’?

Day 10 – Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha

Day 10 – Wat Pho (the Temple of the Reclining Buddha) and finally leaving Thailand

Figures, lessons learned, and things I couldn’t do

Buddha statues at Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai

Thailand 2009: Day 4 – Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai… and back in town

Date: Dec 16th, 2009

The next day, I woke up and checked out of Rux Thai by 8am. I left my bags at their store room as the first thing I needed to do was to get a bus ticket to Phuket. I took a pick-up taxi (unlike Bangkok, few Toyota Corollas here) and headed for the Chiang Mai bus terminal (cost me 50 baht).

Unnnnnfortunately, when I got there, I was informed that the buses to Phuket go via Bangkok — (“Oh crap” moment #4) — which meant a one-and-half day journey.

Disappointed as hell, and it felt like hell given the heat, I went to a internet cafe nearby and tried again for flight tickets. There was the option of train but apparently even that goes via Bangkok — meaning, one really long journey.  I would have taken the train if I had the time because I would have loved to see the country side, but time was not on my side. All the budget carriers were full and the only flight that was available from Chiang Mai to Phuket the next day was with Thai Airways. Even though it cost me around 5900 baht (Rs. 8,300), I had no other choice, I had to go for it.

I booked my flight, printed my tickets and headed back to Rux Thai Guesthouse by pickup taxi. In a way,  I was kind of happy that I now had another day in Chiang Mai. But now, I had to find another room to stay in.

Just before I picked up my bags from Rux Thai, I stepped into an adjascent guesthouse called City House. They had rooms from 200 baht, 300 baht and above (!) Since it was already noon and I was going to be checking out by early morning, I opted for the single room w/fan  (200 baht/Rs. 270) plus  50 baht (Rs. 69)  for their WiFi service.

Small room, but it was clean, had the basic frills and it had a working hot shower (important to me). Overall, a very good deal given the location.

I freshened up, planned where I needed to go next and then headed out for lunch.

Which was at a small family-run restaurant…

A small restaurant in Chiang Mai
Run by what looked liked a mother & daughter duo

A small restaurant in Chiang Mai

… and I had the sea-food curry rice meal. At just 40 baht (Rs. 55), it was filling — and good.

Sea food Thai curry & rice
Sea food Thai curry & rice — a staple diet for me while I was there

After lunch, I walked around the area and looked for a specific bike I thought I’d rent to go to Doi Suthep.

Bikes for rent in Chiang Mai
Tempting… but not what I was looking for
A canal that stretches throughout Chiang Mai
A canal that stretches throughout Chiang Mai city
Thapae gate, Chiang Mai
To the left is Thapae gate

I crossed the road and walked to the other side and… just kept walking. The bylanes all housed small hotels and casual bars making it a ‘quieter side’ compared to Loi Kroh road.

A small road in Chiang Mai

Bricked lane in Chiang Mai

Freedom Bar, Chiang Mai
Freedom Bar, a popular reggae joint in Chiang Mai

After having checked out a few rental bike shops, I realized time was going by. I stopped at a travel agent who was renting bikes for 200 baht (Rs. 270) a day. He didn’t have the bike I was looking for (which damn bike? That I shall talk about in a later post) so I opted for a Honda Click — a 110cc regular automatic scooter.

Honda Click for rent in Chiang Mai
The Honda Click I got

Tip: It’s advisable to take photos of whatever vehicle you rent in Thailand, be it a a bike, car, jet ski etc. There so many cases of scams or renters accusing you of a damage you may not have caused and seeking a lot of money. I’m not saying this agent looked like he was going to pull one on me but you never know. At least having evidence in your hands helps.

I rented a bike because I needed to go to a temple called Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai’s most famous temple. I also knew it was a bit of a drive there and taking a taxi would have cost me 600 baht/Rs. 830 or more (that’s what they were quoting anyway). So renting a bike seemed like a better option.

But what I didn’t know was that it was perched on top of a hill and that it was 17kms away.

So I set off quickly after getting a few directions and filling up a litre of petrol (40 baht/Rs. 55)…  and then some more directions after taking a few wrong turns.

 Bikky in Chiang Mai
Only a few (mostly family) will get the reference

I was finally on the right path and I drove past Chiang Mai Zoo and the Night Safari to enter the foot of the hill. What I also didn’t know was, how beautiful the drive was going to be!

I absolutely loved it! Tall trees on either side, the sunlight barely making it through the trees, dried leaves on either side of the road, professional cyclists biking their way up hill… it was just lovely. The road was divided into 2 lanes going up and 1 lane going down. There wasn’t much traffic going up as most people were on their way down. I really wished I had stopped to take a few photos but I just couldn’t! It was already 5pm and I had to drive 7kms uphill on a 110cc scooter before it got too dark. (Not taking photos of the uphill drive was one of my biggest regrets of this trip but I’m definitely coming back to Chiang Mai to do it right.)

By 5:20pm I finally reached my destination. Took a left, went a bit downhill to the parking area, then walked back up and then saw I had even more climbing to do.

Chiang Mai Doi Suthrep stairs
(Taken on Nokia E72)

I was quite knackered after I took a few steps with my camera bag and the tripod on either shoulders. Panting for breath, I stopped for a while…

Doi Suthrep, Chiang Mai
Took me a while, even though it wasn’t many steps

… took a few photos, drank some water and then made my way back up.

Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai
Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep (‘wat’ in Thai means temple)

There was a sign board pointing to a ticket counter for tourists, but when I went there, nobody was to be seen at the counter. I didn’t wait as it was already late, so I went inside the temple after leaving my shoes outside (as is the requirement).

Doi Suthrep, Chiang Mai
Some renovation work was going on

Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai

Buddha statues at Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai
There were a lot of Buddha statues at Doi Suthep
Emerald Buddha at Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai
An emerald statue of Lord Buddha at Doi Suthep

Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai

By the time I had gone around the temple, the sun had nearly set. After I felt I had clicked enough, I went down, got my shoes and stepped out of the temple.

Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai

Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai
Taken at 6:20pm

I was dreading the ride back downhill as it was quite chilly on the way up. And the fact that I was only wearing a T-shirt and shorts, it was only going to get chillier on the way down with the sun all set.

But I braved the chill factor and still made my way down in the dark. Until I saw this…

Chiang Mai city at night
Chiang Mai city at night

I drove a bit further down to an observation deck.

Chiang Mai at night

It was a hassle setting up the tripod in pitch darkness, not to mention changing lenses too. I played around with the camera’s settings to try and capture the starry sky.

Chiang Mai night sky
This is the best I managed with what I knew of the camera so far
Chiang Mai at night
Playing around with long exposure shots

By the time I slowly packed up all the equipment (it was dark, so I had to be careful) and left the observation point, it was 7:30pm. It was a pain to carry the camera tripod around but I wouldn’t have been able to take these shots had I not used it.

I made my way back down and by then, the evening had come alive with locals thronging the side streets. I stopped on the side when I saw a fairly large ‘food court’. It’s something I saw a lot of in Chiang Mai. Community eating. A stretch of food stalls serving a variety of dishes at very economical prices with enough tables and chairs for the groups of people — from school kids to young adults — who throng to such places.

Chiang Mai food court

I saw a ‘dosa’ stall but it was nothing close to the one I’m used to having with curry. These ‘dosas’ (some here even call it ‘roti’) are mostly sweet and can be filled with all sorts of delicious high-calorie stuffing.

Chiang Mai dosa stall
I chose a banana & egg filling
Chiang Mai dosa stall
(Photo on the right was taken on Nokia E72)

The batter is fried (margarine was used here) and then folded in with the filling, cut into squares and then topped with condensed milk and sugar if you want. I said ‘I want’ 😛

At 20 baht (Rs. 27), there’s enough for two… but I enjoyed having it all. I tried to get back to Loi Kroh road after that but being new to the city, ended up taking a few wrong turns. Not that I was complaining, I loved Chiang Mai. It looked lovely with the lit up fountains in the canals that divided roads. Again, I regret not stopping and taking photos.

As I did near Loi Kroh, I stopped at another road with food stalls lined up by the canal.

Chiang Mai canal

Chiang Mai at night

Just after I took the above photo, I hastily packed up and set off. And then I hear something fall onto the road. I quickly moved to the side of the road and I knew the tripod bag had fallen off because I had placed the strap on the open hook the Honda Click had below the seat. But just as I was about to turn — “CRRRAACCKK!!”

A car ran over it. I quickly ran towards it as the vehicles slowed down seeing this dark long object on the road. I picked it up and I could already feel pieces move inside the bag.

I reach my hotel room and instantly assessed the damage…

Broken lightweight tripod
Yup, it’s broken alright

… “Oh crap” moment #5

It was beyond repairable. So I just trashed it in the bin.

The irony was, I was thinking about picking up a really good tripod as the Canon 7D is a slightly heavy camera but decided to manage with the one I was carrying for two reasons. One, I had already spent enough and two, it would have definitely been heavier. But now, I had to get one!

It’s like God heard my thoughts and assumed that’s what I wanted. (God, if you are reading this, thanks — but this is not exactly the way I wanted it to happen!)

Instead of dreading over my loss, I went out for dinner. Back to the Night Bazaar it was. I had seen some very tempting fare the previous night so I decided to eat from Anusarn tonight.

Chiang Mai Anusarn market
Anusarn market, near Night Bazaar

Chiang Mai Anusarn restaurant

Honey baked duck and Chang beer
Dinner: Honey baked duck and a glass of Chang beer

I also had a bit of deep-fried crab cakes. They were okay, nothing exceptional. The duck was nice though.

After dinner, I checked out the Night Bazaar one last time (photos in previous post) and then called it a night as I had to wake up early to first, give back the bike and then, waste precious time looking for a new camera tripod.

Chiang Mai internet bar
A lot of the internet cafes there serve alcohol

(Something I saw on the way back to my hotel room)


Other posts in this series:

Getting ready for my trip

The day I left for Thailand

Day 1 – Suvarnabhumi, Pantip Plaza, Fotofile & MBK

Day 2 – Bridge over the River Kwai and Tiger Temple (Wat Pa Luangta Bua) in Kanchanaburi

Taking the bus to Chiang Mai from Bangkok

Day 3 – Maesa elephant camp, ‘long-neck’ tribe village near Chiang Mai

Day 3 (Part 2) – Chiang Mai Night Market

Day 5 – Leaving Chiang Mai for Phuket

Day 5 (Part 2) – One night in Phuket

Day 6 – Leaving Phuket for Ao Nang by bus (via Phang Nga)

Day 7 – Touring Koh Phi Phi (Maya Bay, Monkey Island & Bamboo Island)

Day 7 (Part 2) – Exploring Railay, Krabi

Day 8 – Flying from Phuket to Bangkok

Day 8 (Part 2) – Chatuchak Weekend Market, Bangkok

Day 9 – MBK, Siam Paragon… and ‘little Arabia’?

Day 10 – Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha

Day 10 – Wat Pho (the Temple of the Reclining Buddha) and finally leaving Thailand

Figures, lessons learned, and things I couldn’t do

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