Me and my friend, Nuran, had a trip to Thailand from 14 September 2010 until 18 September 2010. We visited three places in Thailand which were Bangkok, Phuket and Phi Phi Island. We wanted a comfortable trip and did not spend too much time in the street and were not in hurry. We decided to use airplane for our Thailand trip.
Before flying to Thailand, we already bought the tickets 8 months ago before departure from air Asia (on November 2009) and it was promotion tickets, the fare was zero. We booked the tickets 648,000 rupiah around 60 euros for 2 people including 15 kgs baggage and insurance. We also got promotion for the hotel rooms from Air Asia go 5 months ago before our trip (on February) in peach hill hotel resort in between Karan and kata beach, phuket. It is a four star hotel, so we were so lucky to get this hotel with price 5000 rupiah or around 40 cent euro for two nights. Unfortunately, I didn’t buy promotion ticket from Bangkok to Phuket at the promotion time because in the first plan we would use bus from Bangkok to phuket. We changed our plan because at the time a lot of demonstration in Bangkok, so we would leave Bangkok as soon as possible for our safety. I booked Bangkok-phuket ticket 1 month ago before departure time (on august) and it was 70 US but my friend, nuran booked the ticket 5 days before departure time and it became 120 US (on September). We also booked hotel in phi phi island, PP Casita Hotel and it was 1220 Bath (by hotel atm.com). So if u read our story, we were not a backpacker but we were a semi-backpacker. We just brought cash 125 USD each person.
14 September 2010
I picked up nuran in her house to go to airport and my father drove the car. We checked in at 2 pm in terminal 2 soekarno hatta airport. We paid airport tax 150,000 rupiah each person. Our flight delayed for 25 minutes, but in the reality they delayed for 1 hour. We took off at 5.30 pm and arrived at Bangkok airport at 9 pm. The airport was great and modern. It was different compared with Soekarno Hatta airport. I met my Thai friend, Som, in airport. She is my friend that I met in World Movement for Democracy in Shangri-La Hotel Jakarta March 2010.
Som treated me and nuran a Thai food. I ate tom yam, the price was 180 bath and orange juice 85 bath. She also bought me a Thai number and the credit (300 baths). She was very nice. It’s the truth that Thai people was so friendly and hospitality. I promised to myself, if Som would visit me again in Jakarta or Bogor, I would host her well. After we ate our food, som went back to her house. After that, Nuran and I didn’t know what to do all night long in the airport. We decided to stay in airport because our flight to Phuket on Morning and it would spend more money if we went to city of Bangkok. We saw a prayer room (for Muslim) and it was great, clean and no people inside. We decided to pray here and sleep there. There were a spot that we could choose for a sleep area and would not disturb people who want to pray.
15 September 2010
We woke up at 5 am because adzan started in the prayer room. We cleaned up our face and then prayed. After prayed, we went to outside of airport, took a sit and ate our breakfast (bread that we brought from Indonesia). We checked in at 7 am. We used a trick how we would not have a baggage even our bag was more than 7 kgs (2 bags). We left our 1 bag in the chair while we were check in so the woman in counter just saw us brought 1 bag. But, when we wanted to go to our gate, I had to give my conditioner to the airport girl because it was 150 ml (more than 100 ml was not allowed). But it was okay. After that we went to our gate. Before boarding to our plane, we were so nervous that they would check our bag’s weight. But they didn’t, so everything was okay. Our plan took off at 8.50 am and we arrived in phuket airport at 10.10 am. We were upset because our seat separated each other even we checked in together. (I don’t know why, it’s AIR ASIA)
We arrived in phuket airport at 8.15 am. We booked share bus to go to Kata beach (our hotel, peach hill hotel and resort). We paid 180 baths each person, the shared bus was so great and inside bus looked so fancy. Sharing bus was cheaper than using taxi, but we should wait until the bus full with the passengers. If u want to use public bus, u can use bus to phuket town (85 baths) then from phuket town to patong beach (45 baths), but we decided not to use this way. Then we arrived in our hotel (peach hill hotel and resort) and it was in a truly hill. It was so great. We went to the lobby for check in and they upgrade our room to the new one in peach blossom. Wooohhooo, it was so amazing. We paid only 40 cent and they upgrade our hotel room into the new one. We didn’t believe it. We were so lucky. The room was perfect for honeymoon couple hahahhahaha... it was perfect for 2 young budget girls. The view was perfect; we saw the hill from our window. I could say that WE WERE SO LUCKY!!!! The bathroom was perfect too.. I took a bath (yeaah in the bathtub hehe) and could see view of the hill from the window...sounds cool hah for a budget student like us
Even the weather was so bad because of rain, we still went outside to rent motor bike and searched for cheap tour to phi phi island. We rent motorbike for 200 baths and bought gasoline 100 baths (actually it was too much; you could buy the gasoline only 50 bath). Besides that, we also got our phi phi tour near from Karon beach area just 900 bath (it was open ticket including picked up from and to our hotel, snorkeling in monkey beach, lunch and sightseeing Maya bay and phi phi island). The travel agent helped us nuran to use blackberry in Thailand, so she could use her blackberry during our trip. After that we ride the bike to Patong beach to get our lunch. We ate at halal food restaurant in Ra-U-Rit street just 44 baths. It was so cheap. Then we did sightseeing in patong beach area. Actually the weather was not good coz rainy. We used our umbrella from hotel while we ride the motor bike. And we didn’t know the street in Patong Beach, we just tried to remember the street because when we used the shared bus, there were passanger who stay in Patong Beach so we crossed already the street. Actually, I still didn’t believe how we can survive at that time. We just followed our feeling without map. After that we back again to our hotel in kata beach. I ride motor bike from patong to kata beach about 30 minutes, and the street wasn’t easy coz in a hill. You should be careful. İ swam in the swimming pool and no people there. İ felt like in a private pool hehehe.
After that we dressed up to go to Patong beach to have our dinner. We prayed and at 7 pm we ride the motor bike from Kata beach to Patong beach about 15 minutes, it was lil a bit hard cause we had to cross the hill and it was so dark and no people in the street. I was so afraid that I would hit anything in the street. But we still ride the bike safely until Patong Beach. I really wanted to eat chicken and rice in KFC or Mc.d hehehe, but we didn’t get it. So we decided to eat in burger king (it was 200 bath) we just realized that it was overrated. Don’t try again to eat there, it’s so expensive. U can get a cheaper food in Patong beach area and also u can get cheaper burger king with same menu in other Burger King Frencise. And then, I contacted Hanny, my friend from couchsurfing to meet up. Then he came to Burger King and we decided to walk around Patong Beach Area. We crossed the street, named Bangla Street. Hmm what could I say, it was a prostitute area. A lot of lady boys who sell their self in the street and bar. You could have the menu, but not food or drink menu, but the girl that they sell it to costumer. But, the street was so interesting. You could see people drunk and danced with the lady boys. Maybe the drunk man did not recognize that the girl was a lady boy hahahahha. However, we did not want to party at that area because we had to ride motor bike to go back to our hotel and we should wake up early to go to phi phi island. So we decided to keep walking along the street, and went around Patong Beach Area until 11.00 pm. Then we back to our hotel in Kata Beach even it was rainy and already mid night.
16 September 2010
We woke up at 5.30 and we packed our stuff. We had to check out from the hotel soon because we had our tour to phi phi island. We left 1 of our bags in the hotel because we will back again. We didn’t get breakfast from the hotel because the promotion price did not include the breakfast. The tour guide picked us at 7.30 am then we went to ressada pier (to harbor) to get our cruise to phi phi island. The cruise started at 8.30 am and the weather was so bad. When the rain stop, we decided to sit on top of the cruise so we could see the view. Well, we got an amazing view. Blue water, great islands, it was perfect. The rain came for 1 hour but after that the sun came. We did sightseeing in Maya Bay and snorkeling at Monkey Beach. It was not satisfied because too many people in the sea and sometimes they were so rude. We finished our tour at 2 pm and got our lunch at PP Princess Hotel. The lunch was buffet and the food was delicious. After had our lunch, we searched our hotel P.P Casita and got our room. We were so tired at that time so we decided to take a rest in our room and we woke up at 5.00 pm. Then we went to the beach and swam there. Took some photos, and enjoyed the beach. Hey, we were a best friend. We were so happy could travel together outside our country. After swam on the beach, I swam on the swimming pool at the hotel. We talked with a couple who also stayed in PP. Casita.
Then, we took a shower and dressed up. We had our dinner at Rock Restaurant near PP. Casita. I spent 95 Bath. The price was average. We went to a beach bar; I just bought an orange juice for 80 baths and watched fire dance show (I didn’t drink alcohol). After that we had beach party. We did not want to dance with a drunk man, so we still kept together. We back to our hotel at 2.30 am. We saw an interesting thing. On the day we saw a massage shop and at that night it changed became “Open Now Happy Enjoy Never Ending” heheh. I wonder who came to that place.
17 September 2010
We woke up at 8.30 am. We got our breakfast then we swam on the beach. No people there. Maybe the other travelers still slept because party hard last night. We did sightseeing in Phi Phi Island; we haven’t seen all the part of the island. We saw some are that got tsunami impact. We checked out at 12 pm and waited until 1 pm. We went to our cruise at 1.30 pm from the hotel but our cruise left the port at 2.30 pm. We arrived in Phuket Island at 4 pm then we checked in again at peach blossom hotel. We got our old room, room number 514. After that, we went to Kata Beach at 5.30 pm. We could not see the sunset from that beach. We had our dinner from the beach. The beach was so empty. We back to our hotel but I got my period so we went to family mart near from the hotel to buy the pads. After back to my room, I realized that I lost my camera and thought where the last place that maybe I put my camera there. Then, we tried to ask receptionist and she didn’t see it. And maybe I left it in family mart. So we back to family mart, and the cashier kept it for me. Oh my god, she was so nice. It will be a disaster if we lost the camera, not just the camera that I lost but also our moments that we captured from that camera. We slept at 11 pm and woke up at 3.30 am. We should go to airport early morning because we would fly to Bangkok.
18 September 2010
The receptionist woke up us by phone at 4 am. We checked out at 4.30 am and went to airport by taxi. The taxi was around 1000 bath or more. Our flight to Bangkok is 6.55 am. We arrived in Bangkok at 8.20 am. We bought noodle with price 17 bath and coffee with price 15 bath in 7 eleven at the airport. Som picked up us in the airport because she would took us around Bangkok. She is my nice friend, I LOVE YOU Som. We visited som’s university which is Culalongkorn University. We also visited Siam Paragon and ate our lunch there. After that we went to J.J. market for buying souvenirs. We did shopping around 50 euro and more. Then we back to airport from JJ market at 5.00 pm. We took off from the airport at 7.45 pm, but it was delayed 1 hour and so arrived in soekarno hatta at 12.45 pm. We just had 20 baths left, so we didn’t buy anything for dinner. My parents waited us in soekarno hatta.
So my budget for my trip excluding shopping are 324,000 rupiah for Jakarta-Bangkot Airplane ticket, 640 rupiah for Bangkok-Phuket Aiplane Ticket, 150,000 rupiah for aiport tax in soekarno hatta, 5000 rupiah (for 2 nights hotel in phuket/2 people), 1220 Bath for hotel in phi phi island/2 people, 900 bath for phi phi island cruise open ticket (including snorkeling, transfer from and to hotel, lunch), 180 bath for sharing bus to hotel from phuket airport, 200 bath for rent motor bike, 100 bath for gasoline, 600 bath for food.
At that time 1 bath = 300 rupiah.
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