1. Visit a beach

You might want to avoid busy & crowded beaches if your purpose is to relax in peace. Also, avoid beaches with huge waves that are not suitable for swimming. We went to Kata Beach & would recommend it to you guys. You can rent surf boards or body boards at reasonable prices. It was quite peaceful and the waves were gentler than at Patong Beach. 

2. Stay at a resort near the beach

We would recommend "Sugar Marina Resort", a nautical themed resort, which is just 3 mins walk to Kata beach. How awesome right! The resort was really clean & beautiful and reasonably priced. 

Lighted up swimming pool at night, how pretty right!

However, the down side was that their airport transfer was freaking SGD $40 & food served in the resort was quite pricey.

3. shop for bikinis 

You can find lots of shops selling bikinis so you'll be spoilt for choice. But remember to bargain! 

4. Dino park mini golf

Even if you don't play/don't know how to play golf, just give it a go cause it's really a good experience! It's an outdoor mini golf park so it's weather permitting. Also, try to go earlier in the day as we suffered a hell lot of mozzie bites when we went there at night. 

Look out for this baby elephant at the entrance of the golf park (if it's still there). The cutie is owned by a lady who sells you bananas to feed it. 

5. Have a massage

The massage is relatively cheap so give it a go. The one near our resort opened till pretty late.

6. Try local dishes 

such as tom yam, green curry, phad thai etc.

*7. Elephant ride

Our virgin elephant ride! It was something I have been wanting to try but I didn't really enjoy it. Main reason being that I was feeling more guilt than enjoyment during the ride. Why? 

Cause I read an article prior to this trip saying that elephant riding was harmful for the poor elephant. Despite being able to carry heavy logs with their trunks, an elephant's spine is not made to support the weight of humans. It can lead to permanent spinal injuries :( This is just one of the reasons. But since we were in phuket plus I really wanted to experience it, we went ahead, full of guilt :/ We felt so horrible inside when we saw how hard the poor elephant had to ascend the slope with us on his back :( #sorry #firstandlasttime #nomore #weswear 

So we fed the elephant in return for his hard work

         

8. Karon viewpoint

Fantastic view up there! Grab a cheap cold drink or an ice cream while you admire the scenery (:

9. Jungceylon shopping mall

Supposedly an entertainment spot besides shopping & food, where you can find a 12 lane bowling alley, 4D mini movie theatre, shell museum, shooting range bar but how come we didn't see any?! Maybe we were blind... cause we only ate lunch, did window shopping (stuff not cheap) & played at the arcade. Oh man....didn't know we missed out so much!

*10. Simon cabaret show

The famous ladyboy show. We got VIP seats (first few rows) because the staff told us it was more worth it. We couldn't stop commenting on how gorgeous the ladyboys looked. I felt so ugly in comparison hahaha! The performance was alright. Everything was okay until the photo taking session...

Okay so we got to meet the cast & could choose who to take photos with. So I chose this ladyboy who was wearing fake boobs cause it was cute and before we knew, another ladyboy joined in the photo, asking so friendly which country we were from. Then out of god-knows-where, popped out this freaking ah gua who so kindly offered to help us take the photo using both of our phones. So why not right? BUT AFTER TAKING THE PHOTO, ALL OF THEM DEMANDED FOR 100 BAHT EACH, LIKE WTH??? NO ONE TOLD US WE HAD TO PAY! &WHEN WE SAID NO MONEY THE AH GUA SAID: PAY SINGAPORE DOLLAR ALSO CAN, $10. WTF YOU KIDDING ME? BITCH PLEASE, 100 BAHT ONLY $4 EH YOU SI AH GUA!!!

Ended up paying 100 baht to the ah gua cause that was the only amount left in my wallet & cause they were SO DAMN PUSHY! The ladyboys who didn't get their money gave us super black face!

SO GUYS, PLEASE BEWARE OF THIS SO CALLED SCAM OKAY! 

So right, just take photos OF them, its free. But Some of them damn bitch, turn sideways so you can't get a good free shot of them 

11. Tiger enclosure

We went to Phuket tiger kingdom. Really excited as well as a little scared. There was a range of sizes of the tigers you could choose & the price varies - the smaller the tiger, the more expensive. We wanted the baby tigers but it was really too pricey. So we went ahead with the medium sized cats. It was a little nerve wrecking as we walked to the enclosure & the staff had to (jokingly) make it worse. He was like: "Dinner time!" when he lifted the gates for us to enter......not funny eh really very scary okay!!! 

As instructed by the staff, we were told to approach the tigers from the rear. We started with a pat on the back. It felt just like patting my dog haha. 

Sup guys, nothing much just chilling with my tiger 

There was this case of a tourist getting injured after being mauled by a tiger so go at your own risk guys. Maybe he was just unlucky la, you guys should at least go & experience it once. #yolo right! Oh, the admission fee includes basic insurance coverage if i'm not wrong. Have fun! 

*12. Trickeye Museum

It was just a 5min walk from our hotel in Phuket town, how convenient. We realized that they charged differently for locals & foreigners so we got our dear driver to get us the tickets hehe. Oh we went quite late so we were the only people inside, it was damn awesome man! Imagine not having to queue or squeeze with other just to get a shot & you can take your own sweet time taking multiple shots with no one photo-bombing you!! What's more, there was a staff following us around which means free photographer wheeeee :D 

What a yummy dinner this fatty would make :P 

If only those 6 pecs were real hahaha ;D

One of my favourite photo!

13. Visit a temple

Sadly, we didn't get to visit any but if we could, wat chalong would be our choice. If im not wrong, you can see the majestic Big Buddha there. If you're planning a visit there, remember to dress appropriately as a form of respect. 

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14. Supper at 7-11 

If you're hungry in the middle of the night, just head to the nearest 7-11. They have snacks like bread, hotdogs, instant noodles and sweet drinks. The best thing is that it's cheap! 

15. Weekend night market 

We almost gave up going there cause we were lost & no one seems to understand where we wanted to go. The receptionist told us it was just nearby our hotel in Phuket town so we decided to walk there. Walked past restaurants, closed shops, patrol kiosk but the night market was nowhere in sight! Even asked a security guard & some locals but omg they can't fathom what night market meant :( So we decided to try our luck asking the owner of a photo printing shop. He had no clue too but luckily, he was kind enough to let us use his computer to google it. He instantly understood when we mentioned 'Talad Kaset'. & we managed to get a cab to fetch us there. Like finally man!!

Cheap & yummy sushi we tried. Not sure about the freshness tho...

Mini pineapple which tasted really sweet. Actually pineapples in phuket are generally very sweet we realized.

16.*Phi Phi Island (day trip) 

Booked a day tour package which was reasonably priced, thanks to our driver. The package that our resort offered was wayyy out of our budget. So basically we island hopped on the second last day of our trip. It was raining in the morning & we were afraid the trip would get cancelled but luckily the rain subsided in time. A bus came & pick us up to the pier, along with various tourist from other hotels. When we boarded the boat, they supplied us with mineral water, 'coke' and sea sick pills (how thoughtful). Anyways, we visited 3 islands: Maya bay, khai beach & Monkey beach(?) Did snorkeling twice, had buffet lunch (included in package) & enjoyed chilled fresh cut sweet pineapples & watermelon. #megashiok 

Maya Bay, super beautiful & blue waters. A pity that it was overcrowded 

One of the staff on board feeding watermelon to the monkeys. Was surprised one monkey plunged into the water to retrieve a piece of fruit without drowning haha wow

Unglam me in my snorkeling gear

17. Hire a driver 

Okay so when we met our driver, he introduced us to some places to visit but we rejected him. Glad that he was not so pushy about it. He also told us that he could give us discount to some of the places in our itinerary & he did! We found out that he gets a commission whenever he brings tourist to certain attractions & the discount he gave us was actually from his share of commission! So smart and nice of him (: The places marked with an asterisk* were the places that he gave us a discount. 

  

If you're going to Phuket, you can contact him. He's a Muslim Thai btw (: 

Name: Man (pronounced as 'mun') not his actual thai name tho.

Contact: 0858879559

That's he's vehicle at the back, more suitable for smaller groups up to 3pax? But I think you can arrange with him for larger groups. 

Some tips:

- After collecting your luggage at the airport, don't forget to collect a free SIM card. It allows you to surf the net by purchasing the data plan at any 7-11 store. 

- Girls please dress appropriately even tho we know the weather is so warm, don't wna attract the wrong kind of attention do you?

- Avoid night life in Patong unless u wna mingle & party with desperate dudes (at least that's what the internet told me)

- Agree on a price beforehand for tuktuk/taxi & bundle >1 location for better price

- Do not eat roadside food or drink tap water (boiled or not) 

We got food poisoning on the second night, it was sooooooo bad i'm not even exaggerating! Vomited & diarrhea-ed countless of times & it was in the middle of the night so we had to wait in agony till the next morning. Our driver brought us to the best clinic he knew of :') 

- In case you need it, it's called Kowit Clinic & they have a few branches. One each in kata & patong, the rest i'm not sure. Visit kowitclinic.com & translate the page so you can find out the one nearest to you or visit this link. 

- Last but not least, please buy your travel insurance! Whatever that can go wrong will go wrong #murphyslaw 

- In case you were wondering, our 2nd hotel was called Casa Blanca, a lovely boutique hotel in Phuket town with an old school lift (the kind you have to manually close the lift door, quite cool)

That's all folks, hope you guys enjoyed reading! Would be so grateful if you could hit the share button :D