Night Life @ Phuket

In Phuket night life is concentrated in Patong and around Bangla Road. Before we started to Phuket we heard and read a lot about this area. We decided to enjoy this night life completely. There are 2 roads in Patong where you can enjoy the night life. Rat-U-Thit Road and Bangla Road. Once you enter this Bangla road the surroundings speak about the night life here.




The whole road is loud, raunchy and rollicking nightlife and entertainment offered in this area unforgettable. I would rate this area as number one nightlife zone in all the places I have been to in Asia. You have a mix of restaurant-lounges, beer bars, Go-Go bars, pubs, discos, live music clubs, and a lot more.

The Bangla road which looks very quite and calm during the day time just goes wild during the night. The whole road is full of life till 4AM. The music played in the bars and pubs is simply superb. There are so many girls arranged by the bars and pubs who dance to these numbers to attract the tourist to their pubs. Some of the places may have girls in some kind of a school girl outfits and some places may have choreographed shows. Bottom line is that the basic element of girls, stage and dancing will be present.

As you walk through the road you can see Beer Bars which are little joints packed side by side on the small arcades known as 'Bar Sois' which has a wide variety of drinks and beer available. These beer bars also have the dancing poles where girls dance in batches. We went into Tiger Pub which had the best crowd and music in the whole road. We danced to those wonderful hip hop numbers till 4AM.

There is lot more to write about the night life here. But I would not like to reveal the whole fun around Patong. It would be good if somebody experiences this rather and reading about the whole excitement.

Snorkelling Experience at Phuket

My first day at Phuket was very eventful. Did so many activities and most of them were first time for me. As soon as we arrived to Phuket we decided as what to be done on day 1, but we were not sure as what should we do on day 2. Our hotel owner Mary helped us in this decision. She suggested us to go on for a Snorkelling tour to Phi Phi Islands. I have read a lot about Phi Phi Islands and hence decided to go for it. So on the day 2 we had booked a speedboat snorkeling tour to some Islands off of the coast along with the Phi Phi Island. The snorkeling trip was really worth the money. We had 2 snorkelling sessions and visit to islands along with the speed boat experience.

Tours with which we went

Thats the speed boat in which we went

Speed Boat driver

Tour Guide

We woke up early and by 8.00AM a vehicle came to pick us up. We reached the place where these speed boat trips were organised. Firstly the guide explained us the trip details and then suggested everybody to take the sea sickness tablet to avoid any health problems during the tour. We were also asked to take the fins in order to avoid any damage to the feet while doing the snorkelling. We headed out in our 50 seater speed boat. On the way, we were shown the monkey beach which was at that time empty without any monkeys.

Thats Maya Beach

View from the Beach

Lime Stone Mountains

Crowd at the Beach

It took us almost an hour before we reached the first beach (Ko Phi Phi Leh). The Maya Bay, the white sandy stretch that became famous by the Hollywood film 'The Beach' staring Leonardo Di Caprio. It was really a nice place to relax. The island has steep limestone hills surrounding a shallow bay. That was a great experience as we saw some really wonderful clear waters. We spent some time there taking some pictures. We didnt really got down into the water as we directly wanted to jump in for the snorkelling.

Coral

Close up shot where you can even see some fishes

Colorful Fishes

Our second stop wasn't actually on an island, we were just stopped at some distance off the shore and were asked to jump off the boat for snorkeling. We were so excited to see that clear water. We were able to see the coral with our naked eye from the boat. We were given 30 mins to enjoy this beauty. We wore the goggles and the respiratory pipe and jumped into the water. The coral here was nicer than any of the other islands we stopped. Here we saw a lot of fish too. Here at all the islands the fish just swarm around us. I actually saw some really really beautiful and colorful fishes in the sea. As this was my first snorkelling experience I felt great and had a nice time in there.

Phi Phi Island

Umbrellas

Lunch House

Our third stop was Phi Phi Island. This island was very calm. It was in the mid afternoon when the sun was right on our heads we went into the huts where we had our lunch. The lunch was organised by the tour guys and it was simply superb. We liked the food a lot. After lunch we just enjoyed at the beach and did some photography of the location. We got total 1 hour rest at this island. There was lot more to see in the island but we just passed some time at the beach and started to our next destination Khai Island. It was more than an hour journey from Phi Phi Island.



By the time we reached Khai Island it was around 2 in the afternoon. We spent almost 2 hours at this beach. We did swimming and snorkelling for more than an hour here. It was really great. We almost went into middle of the sea seeing the coral and the fishes. We could also see some creatures which looked dangerous. We have seen those in Discovery Channel and now we are seeing them directly. It was a great experience here also. We once again did some nice photography and finally the whole trip ended at 5PM. This tour costed 1500 Bhat per head.

Flower Photography in KL

The Simon Cabaret Show

There are some compulsory to visit places in Phuket especially for the first time visitors. One of them is the legendary Simon Cabert. The show is a dance performance of the "beautiful" ladyboys. This started in October 1991 and have been attracting many visitors around the world. As most of the tour agencies my hotel lady also suggested us to see this show. We already had some info about this show so we asked the hotel owner to book a ticket for us on day 1 itslef. Actually the tickets to the show are available at any small shop or hotel or restaurant on the island. They charge us 500 Bhat for the show.


At around 6.30 we had the pick up for the show. We had a Pizza in the evening and went back to room where the pick up van was waiting for us. We sat in the van and it went along the Patong road and picked some more visitors on the way to the Simon Cabaret. Finally we reached the place where the show happens. The whole show is very well organised including the pick ups and drops for the show.


As we showed the tickets and entered the hall, we saw the lights and sets built for this purpose of concert hall were amazing. The show is indeed classy and the dancers are professionals. Some of the girls (Lady Boys) were unbelievably gorgeous.You just cant think of the procedures they would have done to become "more of a woman than a woman". Some more were just plain scary-ugly. This was their main livelihood. They lipsync to hollywood hits and even showcase some Asian songs.


After the show we can take some pictures with them. We though did not show interest in taking the pictures with them. But we took some of the pics of the dancers who stand outside at the exit and invite us to take a pic with them. We have to pay around 40 Bhat for the pic. Finally I would say that the dancers, costume, makeup, stage props, lightings, sound system etc are of professional quality, you wont regret the 500 Bhat you paid to watch the show.

Activities at Phuket

After my bungy jump, we went for other activities which we planned for in Phuket. I was always fond of water sports as they were not really available in India. Our taxi guy took us to shooting center from the world bungy. I was not really interested in doing the shooting as I did some very interesting and exciting shooting at Cu Chi Tunnels in Vietnam. Srinivas and Nagaraj did the shooting part I did the camera work. Even I posed with the sniper gun for a photo. After shooting we headed for the ATV ride.

Revolvers

There were guns guns and only guns

Price List

Nagaraj Trying his Shooting skills

Hmmm none hit the bulls eye

I remember Akshay Kumar driving the ATV in one of his movies. I always wanted to see how it goes. This was an exciting experience here. Finally we were at the scene and I could see so many ATVs and Dirt track bikes parked there. Just besides this was the Go-Karting track. The cost for ATV ride was 800 Bhat and Bike ride was 1500 Bhat. Me and Nagaraj took the ATVs while Srinivas took the Bike Ride. I have already experienced the dirt bike in Hyderabad. So I wanted to try ATV. We got the necessary gear which was just the helmet for ATV.

The shop guy started the ATV and that very sound when it started was awesome. Now I knew how much fun I would have. I mounted the ATV and started accelerating. But to my surprise I was finding it difficult to handle in the first lap. But as the laps increased I started feeling the ease and enjoyed the ride. The track was very muddy with ups and downs. Meanwhile Srinivas was taking pics and video of the whole ride. It was fun. Later Srinivas enjoyed the ride and this time I did the camera work.

Me & Nagraj ready for the ride

Look at the muddy track

Those are the ATVs we rode

Srinivas Biking

From here we wanted to go for Go-Karting. We could see some real fast go-karts were available there. But the cost was way too high around 2000 Bhat for a 125cc Go-Kart. So we took a wise decision of not doing that as we all already experienced that in Hyderabad. So we moved on. As the activities in the city were done we went to the room had some lunch and moved to Patong Beach.

The beach was just 2 mins walk from our hotel room. At the first look of the beach we felt it was too crowded. There were so many people resting the umbrella shade along the beach. There was no place for us to take a shade. So we decided to directly go for the activities. We could see that people were surfing, swimming, playing football, jet skiing, para sailing and many other activities.

First thing we went for was Para Sailing. I took the first plunge again and tried it. I was tied with the protective ropes and attached to the rope from the speed boat. Behind me was a huge parachute. I was so excited as I was doing something which I have just seen in the television. But the only regretting part is I cant fly alone as somebody has to navigate the parachute. So there was one more guy who accompanied me for this. Once he said 3..2..1 I started running towards the water and the boat started speeding. With in 2 secs I started to go up in the air. It was great fun. Things started looking very small. We took a round in the sea and once again came back to the same location where we started. The guy who did the navigation of my parachute was just a small boy. This ride costed me 800Bhat. Later Nagaraj and Srinivas didnt really wanted to do the same as most of the part of it was done by the navigator and we have to just sit there.

Getting tied

Seconds before I was in Sky

Thats me there

Thats the far most point they took me to

On the way back to ground

After Para Sailing, we went for Jet Skiing. Yet again I went for it first. I was very very much excited for this as speed is very much involved in it. I missed this when I went to Bintan, Indonesia. As I know swimming I thought I would directly go for it without any life jacket. But as people suggested I wore the life jacket and sat on the machine. Once the Jet-ski started my pulse rate increased as I was going to drive that in the middle of the sea. The guy said GO and I started accelerating the Jet-Ski. It slowly crossed the waves coming from the front and reached the middle of the sea. I could hardly see the people clearly at the beach. Now I started accelerating the Jet-Ski and it was going so fast that even at a point of time I got scared about that and slowed down. It was a great experience. We did for Half an hour with 10 minutes each. We were charged 1500Bhat for this ride.

About to start

Waves Ahead

Jumping in Water

In the Middle of the Sea

Thats me & the Jet-Ski

My Bungy Jump Experience

I had a wonderful experience last month when I tried bungee jumping for the first time in my life in Phuket, Thailand. Since the day I started planning to travel around Asia, I had always wanted to try out bungee jumping. I wanted to do this directly in NZ, but as a net practice as I was in Phuket I thought I will try this. When I was in Phuket last month, the first thing we did was to go to World Bungy at Patong Beach in Phuket. Without thinking twice, me and Srinivas went for it! Everything happened in seconds and before I knew it, I was already bouncing up and down.

The first thing we were asked to do was signing up some declaration forms stating that I was in the sane mind and physically fit to take up this jump. Me and Srinivas signed the document and paid 1600 Bhat each for the jump. The cost would include the Jump, a T-shirt and a certificate of bravery. I was the first person to take the jump. So jump master asked me check my weight. It was 78Kg. He wrote that number on my right hand. He then explained me how the jump is done.

My Weight being taken

My friend and I proceeded to a clearing where we could see the crane which would take us to the 60m height. From the ground I didnt really feel that it was so much height. I was asked to remove everything from my pockets and also remove the shoe. I was tied up so hard that it was a bit hurting me. At this moment I was thinking as why the hell they were tying so tight. After carefully tying my ankles they asked me to hop to the crane that will take me to the top. I asked the jump master if I can do a half dip. But Nagaraj and Srinivas did not allow me to do so.

Rope being tied

Hopping towards the crane

And the final moments came. The crane started going up. The cameras were rolling. Jump master introduced himself and asked about me. He also asked me if this was my first time. He suggested me not to look down when I go up. But while going up when I started looking down I could see the things becoming very tiny. I could hardly see Nagaraj and Srinivas who were taking pictures of mine. I was on the top and saw down now I could feel the 60mts height which is equivalent to almost 20 storeys.

On the way to the top.

Seconds before the jump, you can see me at the edge

I was talking to the jump master who was coming up with me and he gave me the last set of instructions. He said: "When you are up there, you will move to the edge of the platform. When I say 'ready,' you will echo back 'ready.' Then I will count 3, 2, 1 and you will jump out of the platform with your arms opening wide like a cross". I said OK I shall do it. When I was on the edge and when he said ready, I couldnt really echo it back but asked him if I can wait for a while before taking the plunge. He warned saying the more I wait the more would be the tension. He also said that if I get tensed and miss the jump then there is no refund.

Now I was standing at the edge of the crane. I kept my head straight at horizontal level and took a glance at the beautiful scenery in front of me. It was just seconds before the jump and so many things going on in mind. Here I go ... Jump Master shouted, "Ready?" I echoed back, "Ready!" He then counted down, "3 ... 2 ... 1 ... jump!"

And thats the jump

Voohoooh ...

Flying like a bird

About to touch the water

Bouncing back

As I have been seeing Bungy Jump videos for past few days I knew the exact way I have to jump. So I simply hurled myself forward and out of the jumping platform. The split seconds after I was out of the platform I could hardly see or hear anything other than my saying to my self voh voh voh what am I doing ... For a while the clock stopped ticking. By the time I realised I was already bouncing back. The worst part came when the tension was releasing in the rope tied to me. I was being swirled like clothes in the washing machine. As I was having the head problem it was really difficult during this time to keep my heart strong. Because of this swirling action I was just kept quite. Nagaraj and Srinivas were enquiring if I was still alive. I was saying Yes in between. Finally it took few moments before coming to a stop.

Coming to rest with the help of bamboo

Srinivas Half Dip

I was brought back to the ground with a bamboo pole. I gladly grabbed the pole as I wanted to get rid of that swirling action. The guy standing there pulled me on to a platform having a sponge bed just besides the pond. They untied me from the rope. What an experience! Yes! I had finally done my bungee jump! The next was Srinivas turn who did half dip successfully and he was much comfortable even with the swirling action. It was great fun. When I was back at home and told my family about my jump they said I have gone crazy. My next jump would hopefully be at Macau when I go to Hongkong. FYI: Macau has the worlds tallest bungy jump (233mts).