Phuket Mania

There being no direct flight to Phuket from Delhi, one feels the effects of a sleepless night as the flight approaches the Phuket International airport early in the morning after a 3 hour stop-over at KL. The Andaman Sea glistens in the early morning sun and the limestone cliffs jutting out of the sea make it worthwhile not to be tempted by a few winks at the end of the journey. I am told that Phuket is just a stone throw distance from our very own Andaman Islands. We cross several lush green islands and then make an approach towards the largest island of the region. The landing is smooth and perfect. This is a good sign as we expect the holiday ahead to be smooth and perfect too.

Air Asia has revolutionized the Air travel. It made its Delhi debut in August this year. We had started early and booked our tickets in March itself. A wise decision made by 16 wise people. The airline lives up to its ‘low cost’ status. You have to pay even for the water. The Air Asia has its own terminal called the LCCT at KL. At the LCCT you see crowds everywhere. These crowds tell you the success story that Air Asia is.

My honeymoon with Phuket started with our honeymoon in 1992. This was my 8th visit to the island since then. 18 years ago we had boarded the flight a day after the wedding and reached Phuket totally tired and drained. Having then slept during the day we had ventured into the Patong beach area after it had got dark. I had expected a Goa like scenario with a few restaurants and shops, but what we found were the rows and rows of brightly lit shops; lanes and lanes of colourful bars; blaring music; hordes of hookers dressed in mini dresses; bright and colourful lights; and signboards saying that no liquor would be served after 3 AM. The place was rocking with thousands of tourists. It was an unforgettable evening for us as we had never seen so much action at one place in one evening. Patong had given a new meaning to ‘nightlife’ for us.

As the years have progressed, Patong Nightlife has become more vibrant with ‘Soi Bangala’ (Soi means street) being the centre of the action. With years, the Nightlife has become sleazier with hookers and pimps dominating the lanes and by lanes of Soi Bangala. One doesn’t feel too safe climbing the stairs to enter the go go bars anymore. They are now capable of changing the price of a Beer from originally stated 90 Bahts to 500 Bahts by the time its time to pay the bill. One normally pays up seeing the bouncers blocking the exits. Soi Bangala comes alive after 11 PM and the best way to enjoy all this activity is to sit on a bar with a glass of Beer and watch the fun.

The island is picturesque. It has lovely beaches, a few world class golf courses, a good share of greenery and world class hotels. To go from one beach to another you have to go over the hills. The sea covered by green hills from the sides and this gives Phuket a very soothing look. The roads are well maintained and well lit. Taxis and Tuk tuks are easy to find at any time of the day or night. ‘Simon Cabaret’ and ‘Phuket Fantasea’ are two of the long running mega shows which are immensely popular with the tourists. Several other tourist islands like ‘Koh Phi Phi’, ‘Phangnga’ and Krabi’ are just a few hours away. The boat cruise takes you to the limestone caves, Phi Phi islands and James Bond island. Water sports, snorkeling and diving are big money earners for the people who run them. Several big shopping centres have now opened . ‘Central festival’ , ‘Tesco Lotus’ and ‘Big C’ are located in Phuket town while the brand new ‘ Jung Ceylon’ is attracting hordes of visitors in Patong. With so much activity, who wouldn’t want to go back over and over again?

While the opulent head towards Bang Tao beach for a holiday in luxurious Banyan tree or Sheraton or Laguna beach resort, we have confined ourselves to Kata, Karon and Patong beaches. Bang Tao is too exclusive and too far away from action. The most luxurious hotel in Phuket that we have stayed in is Kata Thani located at Kata Noi beach. A lovely spread out hotel facing a row of swimming pools and as you step out of swimming pool, you land on the beach. Patong, for staying, has become too crowded now for my liking and the beach there is not too clean. In the last few years it is the Karon beach which seems to have become our permanent residence. Karon is well located with a nice beach, reasonably priced hotels, lots of water sports (seasonal), shopping clusters, nice restaurants and just a fifteen minute drive to the lively Patong. Eight visits have given us a chance to stay in 17 hotels. Each hotel has been nice and comfortable. Big wonder then why we have never repeated a hotel in so many visits.

No agent was involved for our bookings this trip. All bookings of Air travel and hotels were done through web. Our hotel was called ‘Phuket Island View’ and it was on the Karon - Kata road. The nice part of Karon beach was just across the road and we could see the swirling monsoon sea from the restaurant. The restaurant was well spread out and went right up to the road. The hotel was comfortable with 3 swimming pools and decent rooms. We had the pool facing room and could see some part of the sea from our room on the first floor. There were many restaurants and shops nearby with Kata Centre just a 5 minutes walk from the hotel.


Kata centre had that lovely ‘Dino park’ restaurant where we celebrated a wedding anniversary in our group. The restaurant is designed like a Jurassic park and it had that mini putt putt golf which kept the kids out of our hair. They also allowed us to have our own Black Label after paying the ‘corkage charges.’ Kata Centre also gave opportunity for us to purchase DVD’s, bags, and get the suits tailored.
This being the low season (till October 31st), we got a great deal from the hotel. I will not disclose how much we paid for the hotel lest we be accused of duping the Thais.


Thai Massage should always form the part of itinerary if one is visiting Thailand. Massage parlours are present everywhere. They start from the airport, and the hoardings for an unforgettable massage are ubiquitous at every intersection and market. Basically, there are 2 kinds of popular massages. The traditional Thai massage gets your body twisted and turned as its tradition is in Yoga. If you are not used to it, it can cause a bit of stiffness for the next couple of days. The ‘oil massage’ is well, an oil massage. All massages are done by women so they have been pretty popular over the years for Indian men. If you want a decent massage you go to the beach or your own hotel. If you want an indecent one, you will not have to go far. While ‘Christin's massage’ at Patong offered a body to body massage we settled to a decent oil massage next door to it. It was a nice and clean place with spacious cubicles. The massage had the full potential of going the other way, as the masseuse takes care to first relax you ; then deftly un-relax you, and finally make the ‘indecent proposal.’ I have no way of knowing who from our group accepted or rejected this proposal!

The trip had been preceded by 4 meetings of the 4 families who were venturing on this trip. While booking of ‘tickets’ was the preliminary stage, the ‘meetings’ phase was the ‘excitement build-up stage.’ The meetings had good food, good booze and loads of discussions. The ‘minutes’ of each meeting were recorded and distributed. Strict view was taken towards non compliance towards decisions taken. We ensured that a week long holiday had a 2 months long prologue.
The holiday hasn’t ended yet. All of us are waiting for the ‘epilogue’ now.