The Return From Phuket

4 days in Phuket. A place of beautiful scenery, amazing beaches to their exotic culture. This trip is not going to climb very high in my travel list. Why? I have travelled to other parts of Thailand before, Hat yai and bangkok mainly, Phuket ranks very low if not for its beach and the unique experience it offers.

The beaches of phuket island is simply remarkable, so me and my siblings went for a snorkelling dip. Nice fishes, nice fishes, but guess what they bit me, stupid little fishes!. 5 minutes after i went into the bay, either its small jelly fishes stinging me or it has to be stupid little fishes. You watch out fishes, one day i'll catch and cook you for meal.


Being a tourist spot, there are many stalls and shops set up for tourist to grab souveneirs. There are wide variety of products that is sold there from accesories to flip flops, carvings, and many little adorable items. This is where the catch is. There are no price tags on the items sold, the price tag is available at the tourist's face and haggling skills. A stereotypical thai stall owner in phuket will hurl a 300 - 400% increase in price on anytime for european tourist and 200 - 300% for neighbouring asian countries. They will give you pressure and fake assurances like 'Good price for you', ' For you, i give you this price ', and others that resembles the same idea. Exactly when haggling comes in, first you act uninterested due to a digust on the price - make it obvious and then start walking away. 3 seconds later, you should hear a new price about 75 - 100% drop, Do not - i repeat do not show that you are interested in that drop. Its a whole ball game, make sure you give that 'i-can-get-better-price-elsewhere' look. The stall keeper will most likely hold a calculator and punch a low price or he/she will use reverse psychology on you by asking you 'How much would you give?'. Very dangerous and favoured trick because they know you don't know the how much is a bargain. My brother actually played-a-fool and responded by pressing 1 baht on the calculator, that is - 10 cents in malaysian currency. That tickled him and he went laughing still stand by his price - an idiot and a waste of time.

They are some shops i remember after tossing high price on something i asked the price for. He claims that the product he is selling is original! - in the bloody streets of patong beach. To be specific, in a small stall by the streets of patong beach. What the hell is wrong with him?. Later, when i found a mall, i realised there is where shopping is, items of subtantial quality and price. Then, i think, its either you can skip all the hassle and buy something at high price for high quality or go through the trouble to haggle and buy something at low price and mediocre quality. I used mediocre simply because the items sold in the stalls are actually not bad. Its just the attitude of the stall keeper that is hard to handle.

I find that the Thai people in Bangkok and Hat yai are much more friendlier and nicer than those in Phuket island. Not to mention, with better intention!. Thailand is pretty much relying on tourism for their country's income, as a result the people in phuket are real @#$%^&*!

Now to focus on my shopping experience, i got a silver cross and chain from some plaza in patong beach at a bargain, and a silver ring that can rotate - damn i always wanted one of these, adidas liner socks, boxing gloves, two souvenir t-shirts to remind me of my phuket experience and brilliant ideas of what to buy when i am back in kuala lumpur. ( Pictures coming soon in my galleria )

The best part of the trip... Its the thai traditional massage. The masseur did all the thai massage twisting and bone-cracking sound thing. It feels so so so goooooood. After all the assignments and lectures, finally a kickback relax time with thai massage, just worth it.

By the way, the experience at phuket beach is indescribable or perhaps not appropriate to be described here. ;-)

Thats all for the phuket story of the century. ( I m not going back there anyway )

Cheers, A'Dios
Ryaniquel