my 1st trip to THAILAND yo!! (Phuket) - DAY 1

i've always wanted to go to Phuket, since i don't know when, thought i'd go there for my honeymoon but looks like that's not likely to happen.

anyway, it all came about when mum said she wanted a holiday, we were planning for Bali, but her BBF said it's kinda boring there... hmm.. i thought Bali would be interesting... so, we decided on Phuket. so i went online to FireFly and did intensive research on the available hotels (had to have by the beach) and shopping/nightlife area, and found that Patong would be the one. managed to get a package for 2pax, RM1100+ which includes, flight, acc (junior suite mind you) and buffet breakfast for 3D2N. i thought it was a good deal! mum's friend joined us as well!

i also managed to get a driver for us to pick us up to/fro airport and hotel, and booked my Phi Phi island hopping trip with him. found him through an aussie couple who did a review on him online. you can check him out, his name is SAM.

also, because mum will be hanging out with her friend, i'll be on my own most of the time, so can say, 1st time traveling alone (in a way). so first things first, got to find out what the singles do in Phuket and my my what i found out was quite overwhelming. u really got to have an open mind to hear what they have to say and what happens in Phuket / Thailand...

found this forum where it's moderators are mostly whites (they are called "falangs" in Thailand) and been reading their threads and posts and they sounded like a lovely bunch! half of them lives there and half of them married thai girls! and members of this forum always hang out at a specific bar in Patong. this bar is like the meet up point for all the members of the forum who goes to Phuket to meet each other. so i joined the forum, and started to make friends, one even voluntered to bring me around Phuket but it didn't happen as he was sick. but it was ok, i had fun, just hanging out with them, all they do is play cards, UNO, dice games and drink! LOL

so the 1st day was not much, by the time we reached and checked in and changed to come out, it was nearly dinner time, so the 3 of us (me, mum and her bff) went walking along the beach road, finding for food, looking at stuff and finally found a place to eat and they serve pork openly!! oh my!! lovely! also i tried McD's pork burger! yum yum!!

after dinner, we got ready to go for a ladyboy-lipsynch-cabaret show, it's called Simon Cabaret! it's where they wear big huge feathers, costume and perform on stage with hit numbers in english, chinese, japanese, thai... they were quite good, as if they were actually singing!!! after the show, we then walked up and down Bangla road to see the night life coming to life! saw soo many ladyboys in sexy dresses and makeup, live bands playing, millions of bars left and right, massage parlours!! you'll get a headache taking all this in!!

we couldn't take pics of the show in the theater that's why i didn't have any. here is where after the show, the performers will come out to the side of the building where u can take pictures with them, but mind you, they'll expect a tip from you. i took these pics at a distant! :P

mum and her bff went shopping abit at a mall nearby i went to get my BRAIDS done!!! so excited!! so i found this decent saloon (didn't really trust the ones on the side of the road/by the beach) and got half my head done for 400 Baht. yea i think it's abit expensive but guess there was quality in a way, and it's a saloon, nice chair and air-con! lol then met up with the ol ones and continued our journey down Bangla Rd and back to the hotel

then when the ol ones are tucked in bed, i headed towards the bar where one of the forum members own :) just sat there, had some drinks, made friends, recognise some nicknames and now see their faces, played UNO and just chilled out till nearly closing time (i was soo dead by then). i didn't go around exploring the bars/clubs cause i was alone. i knew i would be "safe" at this friends bar so that's where i stayed. on my way back to the hotel, there's this karts/stalls at the side of the road selling grilled meat-on-sticks... just had to try some, and they had PORK!!! heaven i tell u!!! imagine, having a pork grilled stick at the side of the road!! sweeet!!! didn't know how much it costs cause the lady took all the coins i had (wanted to get rid of it... ) it wouldn't come up to 50Baht (RM5) or so.. correct me if i'm wrong. after a few sticks, i went back to the hotel and slept like a pig... had to get up early the next day for the Phi Phi trip. the van was to pick me up at 8am!! O_O

this is Soi (lane) Eric, where it has many mini bars on both the left side and right and extra tables in the middle incase it gets crowded. my friends bar is on the right side, somewhere in the middle... i haven't seen a mini bar before, quite impressive