小驴话语: Phuket 2010 - The Outdoor Activities

Date: 23 to 27 September 2010

:: The Patong Beach ::

Patong Beach, a touristy beach is near to our hotel. We took a stroll along the long beach after lunch.


Can you spot a rainbow? Interestingly, this section seems to be designated for a certain group of people and we saw pairs of them lying on the beach seat.

:: PARASAILING ::

SCB Preparing to Parasail~!

Yes! She's up there and a binocular will be useful here. The weather is definitely not the most ideal weather for parasailing but SCB had fun nonetheless.

I like this photo! Sut poses! He was one of the guys who helped to prepare SCB to parasail~

Why isn't there any photo of me parasailing? I didn't get the chance to do it. I was hesitating if I should and finally decided to do it during night time to get a night view. But it was too late after our shopping!! Nvm..来日方长. .Even though i did not get to parasail, the parasail rope rubbed against my skin when SCB landed. I was really silly to assume that the rope will cross over my head (wrong estimation!) and it ended up hitting just where i was! Silliness aside, I missed filming her landing due to the 'collision' and also missed her take off moment as the video filming time of my dear friend's camera ended just before her take-off! URGH!! What a moment!!

:: The Bangla Street ::


Daｙ Scene v.s.

Night Scene

Neh! We did not party! We only walked past . . . & woke up early the next day for a day packed with activities~

:: Phi Phi Lay - Maya Bay (Snorkelling Package) ::

On the bumpy boat ride


Maya Bay is crowded with tourists! It should.. because it's one of the famous filming site for the movie starred by Leonardo Dicaprio - 'The Beach'. Our boat has lotsa of couples from difference countries ie. Korea (couple that looks like 黑社会老大and小姐）, Italy? (intimate couple) etc. yes! I'm people-watching but what is there to do on a boat except to watch the sea & people??

Maya Bay's toilet is so interestingly separated!! Hahhaa... the female toilet is of course indoor & the male toilet is OUTDOOR! I feel so paisei just taking a look inside.. and this photo is taken secretly =P Can you spot the urinals in the picture?

Found a camping site as we ventured inland

Absolutely love this photo! We look like we are dancing (but actually we did not plan to dance)! Credit to the Ang Mo photographer~

This is the inland view of the Maya Bay.. It's definitely worth a visit!!

A stunning view from the beach ~

Maya Bay is super crowded due to the large amount of tourists. Both of us wonder if the sand and the sea will still be so clean & beautiful few years down the road if it continues to be so packed with tourists everyday . . . Hmm...

:: Pileh Cove ::

Fish Feeding

:: Viking Cave ::

:: Monkey Beach (SP) ::


It's high tide so we are unable to step on the beach. However, we witnessed the tour guide throw watermelons to the monkeys on the tree branches. It's a pity we didn't get to feed the monkeys ourselves but did so in other tour packages~ =)

:: Snorkelling ::

100 bht Flippers for rent~ Aided in swimming while snorkelling

Although our package is a snorkelling package, i did not enjoy the snorkelling part as much as SCB. It's her first time but my third time already. Snorkelling at Redang and Tioman Islands were much more enjoyable with more to see and experience. The water here is not very clear and fishes at the second snorkelling venue were fierce with dead corals! In conclusion, I enjoyed the sight-seeing instead but i feel proud that SCB was able to snorkel under my coaching !! :P

:: Phi Phi Don ::

It's Lunchtime at Phi Phi Don right after snorkelling.. we were so so so drenched. . .

Buffet-style Food was okay but not exactly delicious. There's rice, spaghetti & fries, catered for both Asians & Caucasians.

Pls note that this is not a Jetstar advertisement. SCB always does crazy matter with me,hahhahaa!

:: Khai Nui Island ::

Our tour guides who are preparing fruits for us~ The lady tour guide is quite hilarious~

Look at the number of bench seats!! Each pair of bench seat costs 150 baht and this is the view from the bench seat we are comfortably lying on ^_^

My friend's 'engraved' name. .

This was the last part of the package. It was simply rest n relax on the beach or snorkelling. The couple besides us went snorkelling and came back with fishes bites. Daring SCB hopes to go and she suffered from fishes bites too . . Sigh . .what a place that was opened for snorkelling !

Another interesting part of the trip is to the opportunity to chat with other tourists from other countries. A curious Msian/SPR approached us and asked if we are Singaporeans! On the way back to the hotel, i had a nice chat with a couple from China while SCB chatted with an guy from India.

:: ATV Ride (Raft 'n' Ride Package) ::

Lala.. this is the best activity i have experienced in this trip cos' i have been wanting to try this for a long long time. (I will get the chance to do it again during my Korea Trip in Jan'11, Yeah!) For those who are adventurous, this is worth a try!

We took a 1 hour + van ride to reach our destination. After a short demo on the operation of the All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV), each of us got hold of an ATV and get on for our 1 hour ATV ride.

The engine of the ATV will start using your thumb to push the accelerator located below the handle. It does sound very simple to operate but it's not! First and foremost, the control of your speed is based on how far you pushed your accelerator. An hour of continuously pressing the acceleration is no joke. I shifted my thumb numerous times and even tried to use other part of my hand to press the accelerator. Towards the end of the ride, my thumb was numb and swollen red, 简直苦不堪言.

BUT . . . I still enjoyed the ride despite the thumb torture!! The scenery i seen during the ride was so beautiful that i felt it was definitely worth the pain (but of course i hope i know the correct tactic to press so my thumb need not suffer.. or did i really press correctly?) We rode through rivers, mountain views, rubber tree plantations, palm trees, forest, roads.... as well as rocky, sandy and muddy paths. The fun part is the navigation part which is exciting yet dangerous. The amount of speed coupled with the right direction will guide your ATV to pass by the obstacle. However, 你一稍微不留神，就可能翻车了。This is what happened to me.. i was distracted and my ATV steered into the wrong direction, rode up a sloppy wall and viola, my ATV overturned! I fell off flat on the sandy floor and wounded my arms and knees.

You can see my stressed face. . this part of the journey is one of the difficult journey to get thru and yet they choose this section to take a photograph! I was so worried my ATV will turn into the river besides me and i will say BYE BYE~

Yes! We completed the 1 hour ride~

:: Water Rafting ::

Superstars? keke.. they are our rowers!

Great Sceneries on our way to our water rafting venue

Getting geared up to raft!

Training Time! Why does my neighbour looks like a motorbike learner instead?

I thought we were be sitting inside the raft but to my dismay, we were taught to sit on the edge of the raft!

Practice and Fun Time! Our companions are from Aussy and they were great. Practice is not exactly practice because our VERY mischievous rowers were just splashing water to us and dragging us into the water! It was fun though.

If you noticed, i was not rowing at all,hahahaa.. opps! feel quite embarrassed to admit it. =P I really wanted to row but the front and the back rowers were completely navigating our raft! They keep rafting our raft towards rocks and boulders, making us fall forward and backward constantly! I was afraid that my paddle will accidentally knocked off the people ard me everytime we have collision with the rocks hence i decided to give up rowing (anyway, it did not really makes a diff even if i do row~)

Our raft ride ended next to a road side and all of us have to step on the grass and then road pavement barefooted. I felt like a native at that moment~ A van came to pick us up but SCB & I choosed to sit on the stack of rafts (to be exact, it's 3 raft!), Hell of a ride! It was so high and scary as the van dragged the rafts towards our final destination!


Our great guide who helped us to take photos and also re-dressed my wounds from ATV ride :D

:: A Visit to Monkey Cave ::

Monkey carrying a baby monkey =)

Our Raft 'n' Ride guide took us to this place with many monkeys roaming around!! We bought peanuts to feed them.

With peanuts on your hand, monkeys will come running to you no matter where you are.

This monkey came to sit beside me, keke..

SCB directing the monkey to me =/

There was a golden buddha cave hence we went in to take a look. My dad used to take us to such places in Malaysia when i was a young girl.

:: Canoing down Sok River (Elephant Hills) ::

This is the first activity we did upon arrival at Elephant Hills (2 days 1 night stay of rainforest experience). It was a tranquil 1 hour and 30 mins canoe ride which we simply sit back and enjoy the scenic environment presented in front of us. We could view seaweeds beneath the partially clear river and the rower pointed a black and yellow snack hanging on a tall tree beside the river.

The river cruise includes a tea break where we rested at a place and be served with tea/coffee. The above is set up by the rowers for boiling of water~

pOsinG with our canoe :)

We could also swim at our rest stop. Rope swings were tied on the trees which we could use to swing ourselves into the water!

There was a cute Aussy boy in our group and he really loves to talk! He even came to talk to SCB and I and lent us his binocular, haha.. However, his accent was too strong for me to grasp what he was talking abt most of the time.

:: Elephant Ride ::

Our Elephant Hills guide explaining to us information on elephants before the start of our elephant ride.


Our elephant is called Pubu~ I was very excited to have the chance to ride on her! :P Little did i expect the ride to be so bouncy! Our bodies kept moving back and fro, up and down! Pubu stopped several times during the trek and the rider seems to have a hard time getting her to move sometimes. Most of the time, the rider used his feet to navigate the elephant but if the elephant is rebellious, they will use a sharp object to poke behind the elephant's ears... shiver finds it a bit cruel to do so although the elephant skin is pretty thick. Riding the elephant even allows us to witness her poo and shhhh.. hahaha.. the amount is a lot! At the end of the trek, we rewarded Pubu with a basket of fruits and tipped our rider.

:: Rainforest Trek ::

Introduction before our trek. . .

The route to the start of our trek!

Yup! I'm feeling pretty excited. It's a great feeling to stand on a bamboo raft.. I love the 大自然 environment! Each of us hold on to a bamboo stick to better aid in our trekking~

Snail found on the riverside

Plenty of bamboo shoots! According to the guide, it is advisable not to touch the bamboo shoot because small hairs on the shoot will stick on your skin.

Rubber Plantation

The guide demonstrated the extraction of latex from the rubber tree.

The guide revealed that her family members are rubber plantation workers too. Workers will have to wake up at 2am, the time which they could extract the most amt of latex. If you have never smell rubber latex before, i can tell you my experience - it's VERY VERY SMELLY!! The guide said the latex is used to make car tyres and . . . . condoms!