Bangkok

Day 1

My friend and I decided to holiday in Thailand. We booked the ticket and just a few days before the departure date and we found out that it's rainy season in the period we are there.

We didn't expect it, and we couldn't cancel the trip, so we put a big home that the weather will be friendly.

It was hot when we arrived, but then it was starting to light rain. Since we woke up early in the morning and felt tired, we decided to take a nap first. We woke up at around 4 and prepared ourselves to go out. But when wanted to leave the room.. it was raining. While waiting for the rain, we did some searching about the area around us.

After waiting for almost 1 hour, then it turned into light rain, and we looked for our dinner. Before that, we explored the stores nearby. We entered the electronic mall, and I found out an interactive stuff. That's an old Game Boy haha.

Then we had dinner at platinum mall food court. I had the prawn tom yum soup, and my friend ate fried rice lol. For dessert, we ordered the famous mango sticky rice!

Mango Sticky Rice

Prawn Tom Yam Soup

Day 2  - Trip to Ayutthaya & Unicorn Cafe

- You can find my experience exploring Ayutthaya on separate post -

We had a nap after the trip to Ayutthaya. Then in the evening, we went to Unicorn Cafe - of course, I was the one who initiated. LOL. We went day by BTS then continue walking to the place. The cafe was not big, and always crowded in the afternoon. We arrived at around 20:30 and they close at 21:00. The cafe was unique with "magical" ambiance, and indeed you could see many unicorns stuffs there. 

We ordered a waffle and also cheesy french fries. It was a bit pricey. The pancake was good but it was too big for me- It was a sharing portion 

Day 3 to 5 - Trip to Phuket

- Please read separate post -

Day 6 

We stayed at Lebua at State Tower for the rest of our trip in Bangkok. We could see the city of Bangkok from our room. The view was fantastic, especially at night.

Today’s agenda we visited the weekend market at Chatuchak. We walked to the nearest BTS to go there. It’s a must for tourist to visit this market because it’s only open on the weekend and if you have a business, you can find a lot of cheap stuff here. There, I just bought a t-shirt and tried the coconut ice cream and another mango sticky rice.

As a fish lover, I searched on the internet of where to find the predator fish and surprisingly it was located in Chatuchak. I asked the police about the location, and it was at the back of the market. I was so happy when I found it because I saw some predator fish that were rare in Indonesia, and also I saw so many Motoro sting ray.

From there, we explored the Sukhumvit road. We visited some mall there then we stayed at the park. We sat there for a while and caught some Pokemon hahaha. Afterward, we went back to the hotel and had a short nap.

At night, we decided to walk to Patpong. It was our first time to go there. The night market was not attractive for us not as what we expected and as what other people said some guys who offered the “ping pong," shemale or men performance. We just walked around the area, and then we had dinner at Pizza Hut, sadly I couldn’t order the meat lover since they used pork. 

  

Day 7

Based on our itinerary, today we were planning to go to The Santorini Park. However, based on a review from some friends and on the internet that it wasn’t worthy to go there. It wasn’t finished yet and nothing special except the Instagram-able spots. As for the plan B, we changed our agenda too fast forward our trip to Grand Palace.

To feel the different mode of transport in Bangkok, we chose the river taxi to reach the Grand Palace. The dock was close to our hotel, around 10 minutes’ walk. Be careful if you want to use the local river boat because there was someone who offered the private boat which cost very expensive. The local one was just cost around 10 Bath per person.

  

The trip took around 15 minutes to the nearest pier to the palace. You can enjoy the view during the journey, it was a huge river and the tide was high but the ride wasn’t bumpy, however just be ready to get wet because sometimes it has a splash. To continue to the Palace, we need to walk for around 10 minutes. Just followed the sign or other people there since they were going in the same direction.

To enter the Grand Palace, visitors must wear proper clothing. Short pants and sleeveless shirt are not allowed. However, there are a lot of stores whereas selling Thai sarong around the Grand Palace area. The ticket price was 500 Bath per person. I amazed with the culture and the architecture inside there. 

There was a lot of tourists, and when we came there, there was a special day or ceremony because I saw a lot of people wore a black shirt and they were in line for praying in the temple. 

We spent around 2,5 hours at the palace and then we had lunch at Ear Sight Story with Chaupraya river view. We knew the restaurant based on a recommendation from my friend. There were some other temples around the grand palace. However, we decided to leave because it so crowded and the weather was hot.

In the evening, we went to Asiatique and had dinner there.

Last Day

It was my last day in Bangkok, so I packed my stuff in the morning then my friend and I had our late breakfast at Petchak Duck, that was our second time here. I like the food, and it was very cheap there. Yesterday I had the rice duck, and today I tried the noodle duck. 

After that we explored the mall in Sukhumvit area, we stopped at After You, one of the famous dessert cafes in Bangkok. Then we got back to the hotel. We had dinner at around the hotel and then took Grab to the airport.

I took Air Asia to Jakarta and experienced 3x times rescheduling the flight. It was at 20.00, then move to 00:55 and then I had delayed until 1:30 am on the next day, 

Phuket & Island Hopping During The Rainy Season

James Bond Island Sign

Wish we knew that it was the raining season before we booked the ticket to Phuket, maybe we would't go there. 

Day 1

We woke up early in the morning and checked out from our hotel in Bangkok. We took the first flight of Thai Lion Air and it took around one and half hour to Phuket. From there, we went to our hotel by the airport taxi. It was quite far from the airport to our hotel in Kemala, around 30 minutes. We were impressed with the hotel since it looked good and we closed to the beach - just a walking distance. However, don't expect that the beach is beautiful as in Bali. Beaches in Indonesia are more beautiful :)

View from the lobby

Hotel Lobby

Since we arrived before the check-in time, we went to Patong area to grab our lunch and then back to our hotel and enjoy the sunset 

Since our room was a bit far from the lobby, we could utilize their caddie service. We tried to call the receptionist but we found out that the phone were not working. So, I called them using my cellphone and asked them to fix the connection. The technician came and tried to fix it but then it didn't worked. Hence the staff offered me to move to another room - next to us, then we moved. We were so tired at that night so we preferred to have our dinner at the hotel. I had Pad Thai, while my friend had Roasted Duck then we slept because tomorrow we would have a trip to James Bond Island

Day 2 - James Bond Island, Island Hopping + Canoeing, Patong

we woke up early and look at the window, it was raining! we hope for the rain to stop because we would do islands hopping today. After having our breakfast, the driver from the trip picked us up to the pier. We already booked the trip in advance via Dfeelhostel.com. It costs 1,400 Bath per person for the island hopping, canoeing and visiting James bond island by using the big boat. We left the pier at around 9.30 and it was light raining. The boat and the crew were nice. They gave us explanation about the trip and the place that we wanted to visit. 

The first stop was Panak Island. We did canoeing there and also entered the bat cave. It was very dark inside there and sometimes we need to lay down because the low ceiling. 

Canoeing Activity

Canoeing Activity

Bat Cave

After around 45 minutes, we moved to Hong Island. Here, the view was better, there were lot of high rocks island and we explored by cannoning again. We could swim if we wanted but we preferred to just stay on the boat because it was raining and the water was not clean. 

The lunch was also provided on the boat. While having for our lunch, we were heading to James Bond Island. All the passengers were enjoying the meals but worried at the same time because the sky got darker with thick cloud. By the time, we reached to the island, the rain fell heavily, so we were waiting for a moment until it stopped.

There were so many tourists on the island and we were amazed with the view there but sadly we couldn’t see the scenery with the blue-sky background but the grey sky instead due to the rain. After about 1 hour, we got back to our boat. 

We thought, the trip was finished but then the captain told us that he had a surprise for us. We reached arrived in a small island. There was a cave on the island and the guide guided us to go inside there. We could see some stalagmite inside, sometime the path was covered with water. However, with following our guide we could reach the way out and surprised with what we saw afterward. There was a hidden place, an open-air area in the middle of the island, there were mangrove trees and some tiny creature, maybe a mudskipper. It was our last spot before we got back to the pier.

There was another surprised on the boat, suddenly there was a loud music and 3 lady boys were coming. LOL. It was just for fun, some of the passenger were happy but there were also some who were afraid. Also during on the way back, there was an area where we saw a lot of big jelly fish.

Overall, the trip was nice but sadly it was raining so we could not enjoy the beautiful scenery. After the trip, the driver dropped us to the hotel again. We were so hungry after the trip, we were thinking to make the cup noodle when we reached the hotel. We were shocked when we saw the cup noodle was bitten by a creature - we assumed it was rat. We complained to the hotel staff and asked them to check our room. They didn't find anything but the evidence was there. They offered us to upgrade the room because of this accident. Then we moved again for the second time. The room was bigger with outdoor Jacuzzi, but it was dirty.  
We took nap for a moment then we had dinner around Patong area. It wasn’t rain when we left the hotel but on the middle of the way, the rain fell heavily . Hence, we just had dinner in the mall and waiting for the rain to stop. After that we walked around there and saw a lot of go go bar and the night clubs. Along the way, there were some people who offered us to watch the “pingpong” show. But we just left them. We were back to the mall before 10pm because we would take shuttle provided by the hotel to go back, the shuttle was coming and it was like a tuk-tuk not a minibus. The rain was falling again on the way back to the hotel but we had a good sleep because of the weather.

Day 3 - Last Day, Phiphi & Khai Island

Today, we would have trip to Phi Phi Island. We booked from the same site, it costed 1,000 Bath per person for the trip with speed boat. We checked out in the morning and brought our luggage to the pier. When we checked out, we were complaining to the hotel because they charged our dinner on day 1 while the staff told us that they gave complimentary due to room issue. There was a miss communication between us. The morning shift staff didn't get any note on this, so they called the lady who gave us this. I talked to her and she said that since they upgraded our room therefore the complimentary dinner was not given anymore. We were so angry at that time since they were no clear explanation on this. Since the driver already there and we had to leave, at the end we pay the dinner. 

The travel agent was different with the previous one. Before the trip, the agent briefed us about the whole trip for today. Afterward, we were heading to the boat to start our journey. The speed boat was big, however there were so many tourists so it was super packed inside the boat. Luckily, the weather was super nice at that time. 

For the first stop, we went to a small island – I forgot the name. Honestly, I did not understand why we need to stop here, the guide told us that it was just to wait for a moment before heading to Khai Island. There was nothing on the island and we could not do anything except of walking on dirty beach – we saw lot of rubbish there. We stayed there for around 40 minutes and continued to Khai Island. 

Khai Nai Island Signage

First impression when we arrived in Khai Island was super crowded with tourists. The island itself was not too big especially they had so many restaurants there. We could do snorkeling and other water activities if we wanted but we were too lazy because it was so crowded there. I tried to snorkeling but not much I could see there. So that I just enjoyed the beach. Lunch was provided at the local restaurant; the food was ok and they provide the soda and fruits as well. After spending for around 2 hours, we were leaving the island. I personally think that 2 hours was too much there, because it was just a small island but maybe it was worthy if you did some water activities. 

The trip to Ph Phi Island from Khai Island was around 1 hour, it was a bumpy ride since the tide was high. A bit scary, but the captain could manage it. We were amazed with the beautiful scenery and clear water around the area. Also, we passed the Pirate Cave on the way there. 

Pirates Cave

Arrived in Phi Phi Island, the guide told us that we only have 1 hour here. I was shocked, it was a short time. So that, I just walked around the island (to find a toilet lol) and did snorkeling there. 

Phi Phi Island

We were a bit disappointed with this trip because the limited time to enjoy Phi Phi Island.

The driver dropped us at Dfeel Hostel, a nice hostel near Patong area. We kept our luggage there and walked to Patong again. I forgot to mention that I think there are many Moslem community here because I saw many women are wearing hijab and found some mosque too. We had dinner and then back to the hostel before leaving to the airport. On the way back to the hostel, we some the fire-flies. It was my first time to see this insect, tried to capture it but it was too dark.

At around 11pm, we flew back to Bangkok with Air Asia.

Overall the Phuket trip was ok for us. We like the hotel but disappointed with the service. If they communicated clearly it would be a perfect stay. James Bond island & the island hoping were great but sadly it was raining. Need to consider the Phi Phi Island, maybe it would be better if you choose the bigger to avoid over crowded on the boat. Lastly, lesson learned from this trip, please check what season it is in the destination that you want to visit :)