Phuket

Phuket…

Mete has been born for 10 months. The period after having a baby was a difficult one. Cold winter days and an intense pace of work. There is a lot more to summer, how would the time pass …

We knew that an escape in this predicament would be very good for us. As we have experienced before, there is nothing like going to the heat in the winter. Leaving yourself in the comfort of the heat by leaving the plane with the jackets, shorts, t-shirts and flip flops, slippers … It is as if we have wrapped our lives forward to reach the summer. The therapy itself!

I am in my favourite moments that I enjoy the most. Before the holiday, don’t determine the destination or make preparations for it! We will go somewhere, for sure, but now we do not have many choices.

No matter where you want to go, what immediately should come to mind is of course collecting beautiful memories after coming back from the holiday. Nothing else.

I can say that the selection was very easy. Why? because the most suitable flight ticket is our first choice. We are going to Phuket, Thailand.

The preparations started immediately, of course, but this time we will go with master Mete, a new member of our team (if we do not count Batumi), because we will have our first overseas experience, we search for every detail. Mete, who is going to go for 11 + 1 hours without knowing what will happen to him, looks strange. Yes, 11 + 1 hours. Our flight is first to Kuala Lumpur for 11 hours and then to Phuket for 1 hour.

What to do in Thailand, what to eat and drink, how to take care of the baby there ? Leaving all these questions without answers and we get on the plane almost as fast as we escape from the freezing Ankara winter and get on the road through Istanbul.

Our 11-hour flight starts at 20.00, Mete’s bed time. He spends part of his journey sleeping in the stroller and the other part travelling in the airplane. We’re finally landing in Kuala Lumpur. The hardest part has been over. Now, next to the 11 hours, we have another 1 hour journey and finally we are in Phuket.

Me and Ozlem had The desire to go to our hotel in the shortest way. The city centre takes about 45 minutes to 1 hour from the airport and transportation to the city is provided in several ways. The most convenient is, of course, buses. It departs with specific periodic times and has a capacity of about 20 people. We prefer another alternative, taxi. The reason is very clear: Mete ? Taxis are not very cheap, but when we compare it with our country, the distance they travel and the fees they take are reasonable. Many taxi drivers will make an effort to get you at the airport exit. The research I did before I went was not a money beast and had average prices was; “Phuket Metered Taxi” company and w set off towards our hotel. By the way, remember that tour companies also have airport transfer services.

We will stay in the Panwa district in the south of Phuket. Our plan is to stay in our hotel and take a daily tours and visit Phuket.

After all, it’s the first overseas trip we’ve had with master Mete. We settle in our room without knowing about the nightmare waiting for us. Mete, who got his sleep on the road, and is jetlagged from the flight won’t sleep and even started living the next day. While the only thing on our minds (who were perished during the trip)  was to sleep as soon as possible.

After long efforts, we finally get it to the morning without even understanding how. (I think we both flaked out )? Attention! We strongly recommend that at least one of the couples sleep, rest and be prepared for such events during the journey while the other is staying up with the baby.

Great weather, sun creams and swimming clothes are immediately worn. Coming from minus 15 degrees the day before, we jump into 30-degree waters without losing much time. Here is our treatment starting.

The ideal time for Phuket is between November and March, with an average temperature of 24-32 degrees. Rain is almost non-existent. This means many more places to visit, of course, with the 10-month Mete, we will see how “much more” it will be.

Phuket is a tourism paradise. It is the heart of both natural beauty and entertainment. Beautiful beaches, unlimited nightlife and wonderful islands around it. Thanks to these beauties it is always among the first choices of honeymoon couples.

Now we are used to the heat, especially with the increasing joy of the little buddy, we can start exploring the outside of our hotel. We are going to Patong, which is the first place that comes to mind when Phuket is mentioned, both to see the most popular place of Phuket and to get our daily tours. Whatever you say here, “everything”. Officially, everything revolves around here. From the cheapest to the most expensive of hotels, restaurants, cafes and bars, from those places where that scarab beetle is sold, countless massage salons, “all kinds of” night clubs, people serving “every purpose” are all here. So, it’s naturally too crowded.

The best things we did in Patong was to walk around the streets of it all day long, do shopping, take lots of photos, watch the sunset from Patong Beach, which faces west, and have a massage in the massage room at Jungceylon shopping center. It is a unique experience to spend the night in Bangla Road, which is the heart of Patong, with a stroller and a sleeping Mete in it between go go bars and ladyboys.

We got our tours in Patong. The most beautiful way of touring Phuket is day trips. Thanks to these days tour, you can spend both very comfortable and relatively affordable holiday. How does tours work? Like this; First of all, almost all of them are available on the internet sites. You can find detailed information from these sites and even buy tickets. But if there are several questions that you have in mind like me, and if you say I might be able to get a discount, then you can visit their place and buy it there. (It Worked for me :))

You pay the fees and take your receipt, you provide your information containing (address, room number) and your phone number to the tour guides. The day the tour will take place, they tell you ‘we will be there at that time, please be ready at that time”. Later that day they come to pick you up from where you are staying at the hour they set before by a minibus or a jeep which might not be very luxurious but also not bad.

If your tour is about the islands, you are taken to the ferry port with these vehicles. If your tour is on land, you complete the tour by the same vehicle. The best thing here is that that vehicles are yours that day. For example, when you return from a tour in the islands, the same vehicle that takes you there in the morning is waiting for you at the place where it left you, or if you are on land, it will never leave where it dropped you off during your trip.

This system is very popular and it has a lot of demand, so there are a lot of tour companies. Prices are also very variable. Of course, the cheapest is reasonable, but I think it is useful to read the user comments. Remember that you should definitely negotiate, because the first given prices can often be an exaggeration. Do not shop around the country anyway without negotiation. We can say that we were satisfied with our tours that we bought from a company called SRC tourism. www.phuketsrctravel.co

Our vehicle arrives at the specified time after we had our breakfast. Our route is James Bond island tour. Other customers are also collected on the way to the ferry port. Together, we get off at the pier in front of the other guides of our tour and get on our ferry. Since we are a family with baby, we used the big ferry option. It was also very good for Ozlem, who has seasickness, and was much more comfortable with a stroller. The ferry first stops by the island of Panak and then to the fishing village of Koh Panyee. Then to James Bond Island, which gave the name of that famous tour. It is a tremendous natural wonder, much more beautiful than it looks on the screens.

Mete, who is put in his kangaroo, also looks at this beauty, but I wonder what is he thinking. 🙂 Soon we understood that he was bothered with the heat and we solved this issue by getting an umbrella (Bring along a small umbrella from Turkey, or you will get one for the price of 10 like it happened to us) them we go back to our Ferry at the end of the allotted time and we start to eat the dishes served. Mainly Thai cuisine and seafood are in the majority. If you do not like these dishes, I recommend you to take snacks with you. After the meal, those who want to have a Bat Cave trip jump into canoes, but if you have a 10-month-old baby, you can choose to stay on the ferry :). During the return, it is worth seeing the white-headed eagles catching the meat parts the tour attendants throw into the air from the back of the ferry.

saying that ferry tour every day with a small child isn’t ok we decide to visit Phuket city so we are waiting in front of our hotel at 7 o’clock in the morning.

Our first stop is the Tiger’s Kingdom. It would not be possible not to come all the way here and not take pictures with tigers. So, we put this thought in the first place. We arrive at the Tiger’s Kingdom, while we travel inside; the friends accompanying us are waiting for us in the vehicle. This is literally a tiger farm. There are many tigers in it, from the smallest to the largest. The entrance fee varies depending on the tiger’s cage you want to enter. Özlem’s preference was the baby tiger with Mete and I the biggest of all. Mete, who sees a baby tiger like himself, thinking of him as a toy he gets comfy in a short time. He even cried when he got out of the cage, the gentleman 🙂

It’s my turn, no lie; I’m going into a cage with a huge tiger, even tigers (4 in the same cage). The safety here is naturally much more than the cages of small tigers, but what safety my friend; after all, you are in a cage full of tigers. Based on the instruction of the caregivers, I should approach from the back of the tigers, not from the front, and live this wonderful experience.

We see the other tigers in the farm and continue towards our vehicle which is waiting for us. We have elephant safari next. With a short driving distance, we came face to face with the elephants. They’re really huge as we’ve seen on TV! We sit on the back of our elephant on a specially made platform. In fact, even though we did not like this neither me nor Özlem, we release ourselves with the thought of doing this for the first and last time. Mete on his side, falls asleep during our journey, which is going slowly and swinging in the lush forest. Now you won’t say I didn’t sleep on the back of an elephant, Master  🙂

Next is Big Buddha. This 45-meter high statue welcomes us from a far distant. He really chose the hill he is setting on very well, located looking at the incredible view of Phuket. Be careful here! Because they are temples, they don’t want your costume to be very revealing when entering. Instead of shorts, trousers or a cover that can cover you. In addition, there are visiting hours: 08.00-19.00. Or you can go without visiting the temple, you can still return with great landscape photos.

Mete Bey is tired now. There are many more places to visit but what to do, we return J But if you have a more flexible team You can go to Wat Chalong Temple, Thai Boxing, Upside Down House, Go cart, using four wheeler cars, Snake Farm / King Cobra Show, Monkey Show, Phuket Zoo, Cashew Nut Factory and Dolphins Show.

We wake up to another tour day. The place we are going to go today is Koh Phi Phi Island and Maya Bay, which are the places we want to visit the most in Phuket. We have our breakfast fast and prepare our snacks then wait in the lobby. (On this day, you should prepare snacks / fruits / nuts etc. not only for your babies / children but also for youself!) After a short time, we get on our tour vehicle and take the road up to the port of Rassada. People are brought to the port with a lot of vehicles like us. Our ferry is again from the big ones. We were not taken to the speedboat because we were already with a baby, but we would still prefer it anyway even if Mete was not with us. Because the journey is long, there are a lot of situation that might happen.

On the way, we first descend on the island of Khai Nok for a while. This is like a Maldivian island that has lost its way. It is a wonderful place with its white sands and tiny land area. With the mask and snorkel provided free of charge at the beginning of the tour as a deposit, we meet those famous green fish of Thailand here for the first time and jump back on our ferry.

With a journey of about 45 minutes, we are finally on the island of Koh Phi Phi. They found the best way and to win and made a fee for the entrance to the island. Paying a very small amount, we set foot on the island with Mete in our lap kangaroo. Phi Phi is officially the superstar of Phuket island! It is a place that almost all of the tourists who come here want to see. But how won’t they! It easily put it’s self in the first place thanks to its magnificent beaches, naughty monkeys at Monkey Beach, colourful fishes and unique nightlife. There is also Maya Bay, love at the first sight, nothing else!

After a short trip on Phi phi island, we board one of the long-tail boats waiting to take us to Maya Bay serving the purpose of a taxi. After 15 minutes, I think we are in Maya Bay, which we say that we must be in heaven. We are in an exotic place where the island is green and the water is even greener. We take so many photos, eat corn, sunbath a-lot, and then jump on our taxi boat which was waiting for us without tiring Mete further more. With our time running, we proceed for returning back to get to our ferry.

I would like to talk about the issue of accommodation on the island of Koh Phi Phi, which is something we did not do here. You should stay here for at least one night in order to fully experience this island and stay up to the times when it’s not crowded with tourists coming on tours to attend the magnificent parties that start in the evening. Because when you come with the tour, there are dozens of tourists like you and you try to travel in overcrowding. Moreover, having a time limit is another drawback.

You can stay here either by telling the tour company you are a customer of and returnthe next day with the other ferries coming from that tour company, or by taking the ferries operating between the Phuket-Koh Phi Phi, which has 3 trips a day, without the need to be a customer of any touring company you can go and come by yourselves. In this way, you can go to the highest place of that island and take that phenomenon photo from above, and you can do it at a lesser cost. Don’t forget that you can buy bread to feed the fish, fruits or snacks for monkeys on your way to the island of Koh Phi Phi.

We start another Phuket day with excitement. As we are tired from the tours we decide to spend the day at the hotel and we head towards the hotel’s pool. while we were at the poolside andhad already put Mete to sleep, we are startled by a scream not from Mete but from the ladies in the pool. The reason is the a green tree snake, about 50 cm long, jumping from the tree next to the lady! Yea after all, we are in a tropical country, there is nothing to do 🙂  In minutes of the officials come and catch the tiny snake, we watched a live documentary in the morning.

No! We can not stand it anymore, we do not say that we are a family with children, we take a taxi again and we are on the way to the viewpoints in Phuket and which I enjoy very much. There are many charming spots in Phuket. We go to the closest Panwa Viewpoint and Kata Noi Viewpoint. Let me write the others to you, and once you go, you take pictures for us J Promthemp Viewpoint, Windmill Viewpoint, Karon Beach Viewpoint, Rang Hill, Laem Singh Viewpoint, Radar Hill Viewpoint.

It’s time for the Ocean and sun! We set off for Kata Beach.If you ask us, this is the most beautiful beach in Phuket. First of all, the most important feature that distinguishes it from other crowded facilities is its large beach and the plenty of tree shadows behind it. Here, we enjoy swimming to the full and store the heat in us before going back to the cold Ankara.

If we will talk about other beaches, Patong Beach, yes beautiful but very crowded, Karon Beach is the longest beach, you will not feel the crowd and you will swim pleasurly while using a snorkel, Surin Beach is beautiful but hard to reach, Kata Noi Beach is great but most of it is to serve the hotels behind it. Of course, there are many more beaches, but I am directing you to the following address because we have wrote you about the ones we experienced but for the ones that we didn’t I direct you to this address: http://www.phuket.com/island/beaches.htm 🙂

I advise you to consider this important note; The south and east sides of the island are heavily influenced by the tides. The western side is relatively less influenced. According to this, I think it is not bad to make your hotel choice based on them and spend the most beautiful hours of the day with a not drawn ocean J Here you can easily find the latest tide information. https://www.tide-forecast.com/locations/Phuket/tides/latest

Also, I would like to talk about how wrong the negative judging of food and drink is among  the first things that comes to mind when you think of Thailand. Don’t worry, people here don’t spend their lives just eating bugs. Like us, they eat mainly red meat, chicken, vegetables and especially seafood. It is a fact that they create wonders under the name of Thai cuisine. It even ranks among the top 10 most famous cuisines in the world. In addition to these, there are many kinds of tropical fruits that you have never seen before and you won’t get enough of it’s taste. We were able to eat without any trouble during our stay, we even found Greek yogurt for Mete, can you imagine 🙂 That’s why we forgot the thought of starving hungry.

Thai cuisine. It even ranks among the top 10 most famous cuisines in the world. In addition to these, there are many kinds of tropical fruits that you have never seen before and you won’t get enough of it’s taste. We were able to eat without any trouble during our stay, we even found Greek yogurt for Mete, can you imagine J That’s why we forgot the thought of starving hungry.

It is also useful to know that it is possible to find everything you are looking for in 7eleven and Family Mart markets, which we encounter almost in every step. Do not search for the product you are trying to find elsewhere without looking here.

We have come to the end of the time that Mete has reserved for us. It’s time to slowly leave Phuket and return. With the airport transfer vehicle I purchased from the tour company, we will soon head to Kuala Lumpur from these beautiful, exotic places. We are on the roads with the happiness of what we did and the astringency of what we couldn’t do. But we promised Thailand, let Mete grow up and we’ll be back here again 🙂 Goodbye Phuket, goodbye Thailand!

“Don’t go back without doing” list, we couldn’t do them but you should;

-Without watching Simon Cabaret Show or Phuket FantaSea Show, or both,

– Without visiting one or more from Similan Island, Hong Island, Surin Island,

-Canoeing in Phang Nga Bay,

-Without ziplining,

-Without going into Seduction, Tiger or any Go Go bar on Bangla Road,

-Do not return without going to the Krabi side.

Have a nice holiday…