The island of Phuket - Day 1 (23 August 2012)

Trying to be a little bit different from the past, this time around we decided to celebrate our remaining Eid leave in Phuket. Thanks to nek Umi for blanjer all of us on the flight ticket, we took off to Phuket on the 5th Syawal (Thursday). Kroni onboard this time is my family, my parents, my single brother, my eldest brother & his family….and also Farra’s family! So total pax is 9 adults, 7 kids and 2 infants (Ammar & Maher if u wonder who they are hehe).

Our flight to Phuket is at 4.15pm. Hubby and I decided to go to LCCT using the public transportation. Hence we brought our car and parked at ERL putrajaya (RM7/day), and purchased the ERL+shuttle bus ticket (RM19/one-way for 2 adults and 2 kids). The ERL departed from Putrajaya station, alight at Salak TInggi, and then proceeded to LCCT using a shuttle bus. Very convenient I tell you, we will definitely be using this method next time! Total hours taken is about 1.5hours from our home to LCCT. You may refer to the ERL website for the bus and ERL schedule.

@ ERL Putrajaya. There's a lift over here to go down to its platform, so no worries for those carrying a stroller and big luggage :)

inside the ERL. Sgt cantik dan selesa! and fast of course! hehe

us at LCCT. waiting for departure.

from left: paksu, atok, idlan, hana, huzaifah. and tgn nek umi si baju oren :p

Flight to Phuket took around 1.5hours. Phuket is one hour earlier than Malaysia. We landed safely at Phuket International Airport around 4.35pm local time. Claimed our luggage and proceeded to airport counter to check on the airport transfer to hotel. We were approached by this one travel company, and after about 1hr++ of explanation+negotiation and what nots, we decided to take the company’s package tour. The company name is Phuket Travel & Tours. Consist of 1 day city-tour to few places + snorkeling trip via ferry to Phi Phi Island + airport transfer to and fro. All cost us 14,800 baht. The cost for snorkeling is 1200 baht adult, 1000 kids. Infant is free. Me and my brother cheated for Firas and Huzaifah (well both of them are 4 years & 5 years but they’re still small and definitely will not be using the snorkeling gear and whatnots). Kira tipu sunatla tuh :p 

They gave us a minibus for transport from airport-hotel, which is more or less similar with Hyundai Starex (11-seater) tapi sgt best dan selesa dan high class! Airport transfer charge to hotel is FOC. Airport transfer from hotel on our way back is 1000baht for minibus and 600baht for Farra’s family (since Farra’s flight is way earlier than ours). All that already included in the total of 14,800baht paid earlier. The journey from airport to hotel is nearly an hour. Distance is only about 32km but since the road is winding and hilly ala-ala jalan nak pegi pantai batu feringghi, the motorists cannot run too fast, at most around 30-50km/hr at certain roads. It was Maghrib already by the time we reached our hotel.

Now is the check in time. I was quite disappointed when the front liner said the single beds are not available for 3 superior rooms that we booked, hence we were given a king bed instead. My mom was requested to add extra bed since there will be 3 adults sharing in the same room, hence additional 300baht per night is charged. We paid the full amount in baht. Oh I forgot to mention that our hotel name is Aspery, located in Patong beach. When we stepped into the hotel room, ahhh rasa sgt selesa despite the earlier argument I had with the front desk. Bilik besar, selesa, nice deco n interior, nice bathroom, comfy bed, and got extra sofabed at the corner some more. Oklah sesgt worth all the money paid! Plus point, it’s location is very near to Kusuma Seafood Restaurant (about 5 min walking), one of famous halal eatery in Patong :) So total cost for our hotel is 3600baht for 3 nights for superior room. Farra booked for deluxe room at 3960, and her kids enjoyed its bath tub very much! Booking made via booking.com, and you need to provide your credit card number to secure the booking. 

In case some of you wonder how do we fit our family of 5 in 1 king bed, well anda kenalah tido secara melintang..barulah muat kaki2 yg panjang tu atas katil hihi :p Oh there’s a free wifi in the hotel room, connection super fast, I like!! boleh la check in dlm fb terus the moment we arrived at Aspery hihi. They also provide 5-6 desktop computers at the hotel lobby, so our kids can lenjan playing the games and surfing the net. We booked the hotel without breakfast, sebab agak in doubt tentang status halal food dlm hotel tuh…better safe than sorry ek.

kids landing in the king bed @ Aspery Hotel. Comfy bed, no complaint on this hehe

posing tomey dari Ammar :)

a sofa bed at the corner of the room. Just nice to fit your kid or tod at night. Tapi idlan jatuh on the second night...tido ganas sgt hehe

32" LCD tv is provided. A mini fridge, and kettle.

its toilet. Big enough compared to toilet in Hong Kong or Singapore!

si busyuk babah!

in front of Aspery entrance on the next day, before we had a morning walk to the Patong beach. Farra & family were not in the pic sebab depa dah kuar jln ke beach lg awal dr kami.

The Aspery Hotel. Super cheap hotel right in the heart of Patong beach. Around 1200baht per night..kira ok sgtla kan...standard 3-4 star hotel in KL sbb bilik cun. Yang slack cuma front desk staff yg tak reti speaking omputih..agak mengecewakan sebab fail nak kasik enough information when we asked for tips and places of interest near Patong. Hatta camner nak pegi Patong Top pon dia tak reti nak kasik direction arghhhhh stress!

We had maggi kari extra pedas for dinner...and some kerepek bawang dan tok nenek biskut untuk kasik perut lebih ketat!  Was too tired to go out and scout for halal restaurant. meggi pon sedapppp apetah lagi hari hujan hmmmm. So that’s basically wrapped up our day 1 in Phuket…tbc.