The weather was mostly cloudy and even drizzled a few times. It was definitely not favorable to my camera. However, our moods were not affected by the weather at all. After lunch, we continued our journey to Wat Chalong(N 07 50.773' E098 20.256'), which was about 9km away from Phuket Town, shown by my N5800 garmin. Wat Chalong was the biggest and the most beautifully ornamented of Phuket's 29 Buddhist monasteries. Therefore if there was only one temple in your Phuket itinerary, then it had to be Wat Chalong.
On the way from Pa Tong to Phuket Town, Phuket Town to Wat Chalong or Wat Chalong to Pa Tong, we passed by these two shopping complex, Central Festival(N 07 53.567' E 098 22.086') and Big C(N 07 53.773' E 098 22.063'). They were at Phuket main highway, highway 402. So after Wat Chalong, we decided to pay them a short visit. For Naraya fans, there was a Naraya outlet in Central Festival.
Soon, it was dinner time again. Since we had motorbike, of course we would not want to eat in Pa Tong. The plan was to have seafood at Kru Suwit Seafood Restaurant, Laem Hin Pier(N 07 56.147' E 098 24.481'). We set our GPS and was lead to Laem Hin Pier. There was a few branches to different piers, therefore we spent some time before figuring out the correct one with the free boat transfer to Kru Suwit Seafood Restaurant.
There were many restaurant signboards at Laem Hin Pier. Kru Suwit was one of them.
We took the path on the right....
...and turned in here.
This was the pier with Kru Suwit long tail boat.
Within 5 minutes of boat ride, we had reached the floating restaurant.
Compare to frozen seafood in Pa Tong, over here we were able to pick the swimming seafood directly from the nets in the sea. The waiter was very helpful in explaining the seafood and the cooking styles available. He even told us the seafood price so that we could have a better control of our dinner budget.
I was so delighted when I tried out their dishes. All the dishes were so delicious. This fabulous floating restaurant provided us a comfortable environment to unwind and enjoy the cool sea breeze. Overall, it was a pleasant dining experience.
menu 1
menu 2
menu 3
BBQ cockles with chili dipping sauce. The cockles were bigger than the normal size.
Mantis prawn in Salt and Pepper. One mantis prawn was about 350B, but it was huge.
Seafood fried rice
Fresh oyster in thai style, where fried shallots, fresh garlic, herbs and lemon juice were served.
Coconut juice. I had lost the receipt, but the meal was ~600B for two.
Before we left the restaurant, I took a picture of the cutest waiter in the restaurant. :)
After dinner, we went to Phuket town again as we had forgotten to buy some cashew nuts this morning. With the help of gps, we managed to locate a Nong Kaeo cashew nut (N 07 53.160' E 098 23.850'). Actually it was closed when we reached there. But there was an old lady in the shop. We told her that we wanted to buy some cashew nuts. Even tough she did not understand English or our Thai, but she still opened the door for us. So, finally we managed to buy some cashew nuts back for our families. Mission completed and we went back to Pa Tong.
Nong Kaeo Cashew Nut
Add: Luang Pho Rd,
Talat Yai Mueng Phuket
GPS Coordinates: N 07 53.160' E 098 23.850'
Methee Cashew Nut Factory
Add: Tilok Uthit 2 Rd,
Talat Yai Mueang Phuket
GPS Coordinates: N 07 52.884' E 098 23.737'
Remark: Methee was another cashew nut shop that I found in GPS. It was closed at night too. From outside, Methee was a bigger shop.
I have been very lazy in updating my Phuket trip, but very hardworking in preparing for my coming trip. Guess I prefer travelling much more than blogging. Feel so sorry to my reader.
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When we woke up for breakfast, we quickly checked with the receptionist on the car rental. We needed a car to explore Phuket island. Their affiliated agent quoted us 1300B/day for Honda Jazz. Prices are slightly steep, compare to the price that I had surveyed which was only 1000B/day. And for security reason, we requested not to leave our passport with them. We wasted about 15 minutes explaining to them that since we were the hotel guests so it should be safe for them and listening to the reason why they have to take our passport. In the end, we decided to pay 200B for a scooter which did not require a passport.
So, I was pumping petrol for a scooter and not a Honda Jazz. Petrol was more expensive in Phuket compare to Malaysia, full tank for a scooter was about 150B.
The first destination was Phuket town. The above photo was the clock tower in Phuket town.
We started to explored Phuket town with the scooter. Once, we came to one of the food market which had just started the business. One of the stall had all the colorful snacks and desserts.
Another stall was selling economy rice.
We tried banana cake in sticks(10B/stick) which was not bad.
We also passed by Natural Restaurant(N 07 52.861' E098 23.056) which appeared in my eating list. However we decided to go to Tun-Ka Cafe(N07 53.524' E098 22.852') at the peak of Rang hill which offered great view over the town.
The journey to Tun-Ka cafe was not easy. We followed the signboard to Rang hill, but the signboard discontinued half way. After few rounds of asking-for-directions with my limited Thai vocabulary, finally we found the junction to Rang hill(N 07 53.301 E 098 22.931). I took the above photo at the junction for your reference.
We heaved a sign of relief when we saw Tun-Ka Cafe banner at Rang hill. We made it to Tun-Ka Cafe!
Following the banner, we reached Tun-Ka Cafe. The restaurant was a hidden gem, surrounded by lush greenery and have very matching wood decorations. It was, if not the best Thai restaurant in Phuket, then would be one of the few in the top list.
Without second thought, we picked the first table facing to the town view.
I turned to my back and these were the tables behind us.
Click to enlarge the menu
The atmosphere could not be better with such a fantastic view. With the research I did before hand and the recommendations from the waiter, we made our orders.
Stir fry "Pak Liang" with egg, 90B.
Crab meat and "Bai Chaploo" herbs in coconut curry, served with rice vermicelli, 120B.
Smoked dried shrimp chili paste served with vegetables, 120B.
Iced Coffee with milk, 30B.
Glutinous rice with durian in coconut cream, 50B. Highly recommended for durian lovers.We enjoyed every single dishes that we had ordered, including the iced coffee and the dessert. This meal was definitely one of the best Thai food that I ever had. The only regret we had was we could not make a second trip to Tun-Ka cafe.
Tun-Ka Cafe
Top of Rang Hill,
Muang,
Phuket Island.
Tel:(072) 211-500
Google Map
After an exhausted day at James Bond island, we agreed to go for a relaxing evening. Trying not to be too ambitious, we came out with simple plans, to have some good thai food at 99 seafood restaurant and to have facial at one of the saloon in Junceylon. These two places were along Rat Uthit 200 Pi and we had passed by them many times. Finally we had a chance to try them.
There was a row of seafood restaurants at Rat Uthit 200 Pi opposite Royal Paradise hotel and 99 Seafood was one of them. In fact, it was the biggest restaurant with the most customers among them. After browsing through the menu, we ordered Pad Pak Boong Fai Daeng(Deep fried Morning Glory) and Gai Pad Graprow(Stir Fry Chicken with Basil). When we asked if they have kaeng som fish(it was not in the menu), the waiter nodded his head and let us picked our fish from their seafood display. Since most of our friends told us that phuket food was not spicy, so we told our waiter that we wanted the spiciness to be local standard.
Gai Pad Graprow 100B
Pad Pak Boong Fai Daeng 80B
Kaeng Som fish 300B
Fruit juice 50B
We were pretty excited when the kaeng som was delivered in a hot pot. Do not confused this with Tom Yam, Kaeng som was a different sour and spicy soup originated from southern Thai. I could still remember vividly that the fish was fresh and the texture was great. The advantage of serving soup in a hot pot would be keeping the soup hot throughout the dinner, but the disadvantage was this dish tasted more spicy with high heat. After sometimes, I could feel my mouth burning and flaming. Anyway, we loved spicy food, so it was not much of an issue. (My salivar is dripping now.) The other two dishes, Gai Pad Graprow and Pad Pak Boong Fai Daeng are mediocre to me. We paid 560B for the truly thai dinner.
Then it was facial time. If we did not missed out any, there were a total of 3 facial saloons in Junceylon, Takashi Tokyo, First Spa and Hanako Tokyo. These facial saloons offered competitive facial packages, 299B from Takashi, 300B from Hanako and 359B from First Spa. At first, we decided to go for the moderate one, but Hanako wanted to put us in waiting list. So we switched to First Spa. Afterall, it was 45 minutes at 300B for Hanako vs 65 minutes at 359for First Spa.
The facial package from First Spa consisted of complete cleaning, facial scrub, steaming ozone, removes blackheads, pimples, white heads and impurities, head to toe massage in first spa style, cucumber face mask or chamomile gentle mask or soothing acne mask(copied from the brochure) and it was only 359B. After two island trips with excessive sunlight, I really enjoyed the refreshing cucumber mask in this facial treatment. :)
