.: Day 3 : Phuket :.

Day three, the both of us woke up not feeling too well. The husband had a series of diarrhea the night before, and tho I had purge (only once thankfully), my body felt weak and I was having a slight fever. We contemplated postponing our second island hopping trip, but after weighing the pros and cons, decided to proceed anyway.

Breakfast spread at the hotel was good, a slightly different variety from that served yesterday. The husband had porridge due to his upset tummy, while I tucked away eating 'normal' food (I never quite did with the 'sick' food thingy whenever I'm not well).

Yummy breakfast!

The transport to pick us up to the ferry came spot on time. However, other passangers decided to follow "Malaysian time" (and they are NOT Malaysian, mind you) and so we ended up spending almost close to an hour waiting! If I were the driver, I would have just droven away. Both of us were feeling a little annoyed, and it doesn't help that we are not feeling well at that.

Thankfully the boat at Ao Po pier did leave without us (or I swear I would have strangled that family on the spot!). Our tour guide on board gave a quick introduction and explained to us the places we are about to visit. Unfortunately, he was not as entertaining as Darling (of our first island hopping tour) and was as dry as stale bread, so I drift off to enjoying the view & breeze as we slowly cruise to our first destination.

Our first stop was Panak Island, where we went in pairs with a canoe deep into a cave full of bats. To the batcave *cue for batman's theme song*. It was a new experience for us sitting in a canoe going deep into the limestone rock cave. There was at one point deep into the cave where it was pitch black (the canoe rower switched off his headgear light).

The Batcave aka Panak Island

We came out and proceed to our next stop - Hong Island. We were given a choice to canoe ourselves or have someone canoe for us. Thankfully, we decided to have someone row for us. Reason is that he took us to this beautiful place at the lagoon, only accesible thru a cave entrance. And it's no joke that it takes skills to manuver the canoe through the caves - with high canoe traffic and also it being high-tide ish. But all the traffic-canoe-jam enduring was worth it because when we reach to the other side of the lagoon, it was BEAUTIFUL.

View from the canoe

Seriously took my breath away, like I was in some scene of a romantic movie. Gosh! The the blue skies, the sun's ray glimmery on the surface of the crystal clear water, I could just die on the spot and be happy! This was definitely the highlight of my whole trip here.

Tight squeeze (watch your head) to the other side!

Ok, fine, the second highlight, first being to spend time with the husband *cough*cough* But I seriously felt sorry to those who opt to canoe themselves, coz they didn’t get a chance to see the even more beautiful side of the lagoon… Such a pity!

This picture does no justice! It was absolutely beautiful!

Another peak to the other lagoon!

After that adventure, we had lunch on board. As we were both not feeling to well, we took a few bites of the buffet spread. Again, like the buffet of the previous island hopping tour, it was palateble, but don't expect much.

Our cruiseboat right there!

Our next stop, James Bond Island. To me, I didn't appreciate this place much as it's too touristy for my liking.

The tourist souvenir shop that greeted us at James Bond Island. 

The iconic landmark of this island

Our final stop was to Naka Island, where we were allowed to canoe to an island and swim around. We decided to stay on the cruise boat and took a nap there, which was absolute bliss!

We slept throughout our car journey back to the hotel. Recharged from the nap and also the fact that we felt much better already, we decided to explore the night life of Patong town. We decided to try this restaurant recommended by some. It was tuck away in one of small streets off Patong's. It was a lovely, quite place, with just a few patrons. But the food was good, portions were huge that I regret not swapping my fries for some salad as there was plenty of fries leftovers after we stuffed ourselves.

Dinner!

We headed down to the busiest street of Patong at night - Bangla Street. It was an eye opener to see many of these lady-boys standing about touting everybody to visit their pubs/clubs. Being a tad adventurous, we decided to have a look at the famous Phuket ping-pong shows.

Night light of Bangla Street!

As there was many to choose from (it was so confusing!), one of the tooters said that we can have a five-minutes-no-obligations-peek at the choices of club he has. We went to a couple, and settled for the one that was on the second floor called Ah-Go-Go club, being that it is less dodgy that the others available. Do also note that the will usually start off with a crazy price of THB1000 (equivalent to RM100). Then, they will give a "discounted rate" or THB750 (RM75). Again, if you turn them down, they will move down to THB500 (RM50). And when we show that we are not really that interested, they will lower it to their lowest of THB250 (RM25) if I recall correctly. Which is a bargain, given that it's the entrance fees to watch the ping-pong show was well as two drinks (one alcohol & one soft drink).

And so we saw what we came to see. I felt that it was amusing and disgusting all-in-one. At some parts, my eyes were open wide in amazement, but cringing at most part. Will never look at VeeJayJay the same again. There were some intermission strip shows and what not too. I observed a couple sitting nearby - the wife/gf was not too happy to be in such a place, and her partner was obviously insensitive to her need. She was showing such black-sulking-face, but her block was either too dumb to not read her or couldn't care less. Anyways, if you are going to such places, it is best to get consent from your partner. The last thing you need is to have some harmless fun ruin your relationship. Also,be warned that there will be "compulsary-tipping" at the end of the show, and if you refuse they will give you that dirty look so much so that you'd think they unleashed their VJJ at you to swallow you up!

Pole dancing aplenty!

It was close to about 1am, when we left the place and took a tut-tut back. Remember to check with your hotels what is the standard rate, and use that rate. The tut-tut drivers do not think twice to slaughter you with ridiculous price, and you must always remember to bargain!

That was the end of Day 3 at Phuket.

*pardon the pics, can't seem to rotate it (didn't bother to try hard anyways, hehe)