I began my day with a visit to Rang Hill viewpoint and once I was done with that, I decided to walk down the hill.
But not before I bought a cold mango shake to cool off (it was very sunny!)
How I got down and walked to Old Town is in my vlog* (video blog), which you can watch at the end of this blog post. But it is possible to walk from Rang Hill viewpoint to Old Town in around 30 minutes.
Old Town is renowned for its distinct architecture
The Sino-Portuguese architecture is present in almost all the houses here, many of which have now been painted in a variety of colours
Phuket island used to have a rich history in tin-mining and many who came to work in the mines in the 18th century were from China, Malaysia and India. Then the Europeans came and the result of all these influences is what you see in Old Town’s architecture.
Although the buildings are not very big, many of them have now been converted to cafes, restaurants, shops and hostels
Much of the activity in Old Town is by Thalang Road
I had lunch at this restaurant. China Inn is an old house renovated and now primarily serves as a restaurant.
I arrived in Phuket yesterday but did not go sightseeing anywhere as I ended up sleeping due to jet lag. Also, the skies were grey and it rained a bit too.
I woke up at 7am after a good night’s rest
I had just one full day in Phuket and fortunately, unlike yesterday, the sun was up and the skies were blue!
It’s like the rain gods went, “Hey, we don’t wish to waste your one day in Phuket… go out and have fun. You deserve it!”
This is the back side of the villa I was staying at; the main entrance is actually from the back
I walked towards the breakfast area
Breakfast buffet was exhaustive — from live counters, to Chinese, Thai, Japanese and Western dishes served
I piled on my plates and ate a nice, hearty breakfast while enjoying the view
This trip began because earlier in the year I won a contest organized by Thailand Tourism where the prize was a two-night stay at a luxury resort in Phuket. I initially kept it thinking me and my brother could treat the rest of my family to an international vacation but when those plans did not pan out, I decided to make use of the prize myself.
I took advantage of Go Air’s direct flight from Bengaluru to Phuket. A ticket I got for Rs. 9k.
It was my first time flying a budget airline to Thailand from Bangalore. I had exclusively flown Thai Airways up until now.
The flight was 80% full but luckily, my row was completely empty 🙂
The flight was supposed to depart at 2:15am but there was a slight delay
I tried to sleep but it wasn’t too long before I saw the sun rise
It was hard to keep my eyes closed as the view kept getting better…
… and better
Hello Phuket
This would be my third visit to the island. My last visit here was in 2012 with a friend.
The flight landed on time at 7:45am
I had downloaded the visa on arrival form, printed it out and filled it up in advance. The queue at the visa on arrival counter was mostly all Indians who had landed along with me and as usual, many had not filled up the form in advance, nor did they fill up the arrival card given to every passenger on the flight. I did both. Since I was also alone, I got my form inspected and done with everything in less than five minutes. After that, immigration didn’t take long.
