A Rainy Affair in Phuket

Prior to booking our tickets to Phuket, I remembered making a short research and concluded that the rainy season in Phuket ends in October and November is already considered as the peak season. However,  the conclusion I made was totally wrong. We found out that the time that we were in Phuket at the end of November was the tail end of the rainy season which is the worst! We were there only for 3 days and it was raining all day from the minute we touched down at the airport until the morning we check out from our hotel on Sunday morning. Ok maybe not all day (i was exaggerating as usual, haha) but it did rain about 60% of the time and we didn't get any chance to swim in the sea without being chased by the sudden pour of heavy rain. If the weather is good, i really do think that the Patong Beach is perfect for a dip in the sea and also sunbathing. From what I heard, Patong is the safest beach whereas other beaches especially the ones in Kata/Karon is quite dangerous. Luckily, island hopping was not on our plan. We were still traumatised by our Langkawi boat experience in March last year.

We stayed at the Amata Resort Patong which is about 10-15 minutes walk from Patong Beach. I was torn between staying at a beachfront hotel or a bit further away from the beach , you know why. So I booked this hotel with that in mind. It has a balcony that overlooked the city and the swimming pool. The hotel has 2 swimming pools which is located at the ground floor and on the roof. However, because of the rain we did not get to swim in it. The rooftop pool was very basic and I was a bit in doubt about its cleanliness.The room itself is spacious as well as the bed. However, the floor was uncomfortable as it gets sticky and lack of mats / carpeting made it worse. What's best about the hotel is that its close proximity to where the action is which is the Jungceylon Mall and Bangla Road. Although it's quite close to Bangla Road, it's at a quiet end and you don't really hear the noise. For Muslims, this hotel is within close proximity to a few arab/indian halal restaurants. However, the popular Kusuma Restaurant is quite far from this place (25-30 mins walking distance). It's much nearer to Novotel. Take note that the arab/indian halal restaurant is quite pricey. Well, generally, everything in Phuket is expensive except for massages. It only cost 250baht for a foot massage and around 300baht for full body massage.. really really cheap compared to the prices here in Malaysia.

We would love to go to see the Fantasea show, but we didnt have enough time to do so. On the last day we booked a car from Phuket_Easy_Tour for a half day city tour. It costs us THB3,200 which is quite pricey i think but its easy to deal with them. Their agent is very responsive to all your queries and you can settle the booking online. We got to visit Wat Chalong, Promthep Cape lookout point, a tour of the Phuket city as well as shopping for local snacks at Pornthip Phuket (you'll be spoilt for choices here and the snacks all looks delish and it's really had to resist buying them). The tour agent arranged lunch for us at Gaddafi restaurant which is located near to the Mosque and it was delish! Totally recommended! The city tour was supposed to end with a sunset tour but we skipped that as we had to go to the airport at 5.00 pm as we have to catch our flight. Well, that pretty much sums up our  trip to Phuket last year. Hopefully the next time we come the weather will be kind to us... 

View from the hotel balcony

A rainy night in Patong

Jungceylon Mall

NaRaYa on discount! Credit card accepted here at the Kanjana Shop

The ever happening Bangla Road. This is very early in the night. We did not dare to go there late at night as we were with our daughter

massage place just 3 minutes walk from the hotel

Patong Beach - the rain is about to hit the beach

Patong Beach

Wat Chalong

:-D

View from Promthep Look out Point

Kusuma Seafood

food is so so only

Thai Iced Tea- Must Try!

Banana Fritters

Mango & Sticky Rice  - Must Try!!!

heavenly tomyam @ Gaddafi

Fressh fish @ Gaddafi

Bought this at Family Mart

Pornthip Phuket

Loot

How's The Weather Today?

It's 1.15pm and the rain just subsided. However, the weather felt different, and kinda bizarre. It's quite unusual for me to see the sky as  gloomy this. As if it can read my mind, or my heart rather... (drama! :)) Anyways, it's really dark outside for this time of the day and the street lights are turning on automatically. Hmmmmm... Is it mists or fogs that im seeing outside my office window or is it the haze coming from our neighbors? Hmm, I wonder. All I know that it's making it hard for to me to focus on my work and not thinking of things that's not supposed to be thought of (confused much?)

Speaking of weather, it's raining a lot these days. I love rain. Yes both "rains", I mean the rain rain and the kpop star, Bi Rain :P (he completed his mandatory military service just recently.. ehem..)..I can't remember it raining this much in July last year. Malaysia used to have only 2 seasons which is the hot and rainy season. Nevertheless, one can still enjoy traveling in the rainy season in the West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia as it does not flood much as compared to the East Coast (rainy season in the East Coast starts in November until March). However, since few years back we have an additional season which is the Haze Season - which is really not a good time to travel here as you can only see and smell smoke. The smoke is coming from our neighbor country which had hot spots that burns the forests / agriculture plantations. And there are also cases of open burning but I do not want to dwell on this. U can just simply google them and you'll know what's been happening. This year the schools have to shut down a few times as the air quality was really bad. (I guess school kids love the hazy season). So those who intend to come to Malaysia, do take note that the haze season is in June-July.. I'm not sure about August but usually it subsides when the heat cools down. I think the East Coast of Malaysia is less affected of the haze, but I could be wrong. Btw, June to Septmber is the perfect time to go to our islands - perhentian, redang, tioman - you wont regret going there :). Well, I think that's all about the senseless ramblings about the weather for today.

Ahh... It's raining again.. I even saw a lightning in the horizon. I think I better lie down for a bit and enjoy the sound of the rain.. (it's the lunch break time btw) :P

It does not look that dark in the picture isn't it. Pardon the quality of my phone cam.But in actual, it was really2 dark outside..

Surviving Tsuyu - Osaka

Our destination that I mentioned about in my previous post to replace our China trip was Osaka. We were grateful that everything went smoothly except for the quite bumpy flight to Japan. Upon finalising the travelling arrangements, I was not aware that it is now Tsuyu (rainy season) in Japan. I was really really worried prior to the departure cos what i read from the internet about the rainy season was not good at all. One thing which got me confused was that Tsuyu, which lasts for 1 month starting in June coincides with the summer season which is supposed to be hot and muggy. But in fact, during my short stay of 5 days in Osaka, that was not the case at all. Well, at least in June - it was nothing that fellow Malaysians can't overcome - we've had worse :) During the past few days, clouds were hovering above the sky, making it pretty comfortable to walk outside (but bad for photos). However, i do understand that summer temp will peak in July / August, so.. Going to Japan during Tsuyu is a big gamble, really. But we were really really lucky that it only rained a little during the 3 solid days we were in Osaka which enables us to walk outdoors. It was raining quite heavily on the morning that we were to depart from Osaka. 

One thing that I've learnt was that, the weather forecasts are not reliable at all. Different sources will give you different forecasts. So don't really depend on the as u pretty much will not know what will happen. So I would say, just seize the day! armed with an umbrella, of course :) Those disposable plastic raincoat are also good to have as the wind could blow ur umbrella upwards - happened to me, hahaha.. Just one thing to caution, from what I've read, after the rainy season comes the typhoon, so just be aware of it whenever u make any travel arrangements to Japan in August or September. You might want to google for more info just to prepare urselves ahead.

To me, Osaka is an underestimated travel destination. Most ppl just regard Osaka as one of the pit stop in between Kyoto and Kobe. Of course Kyoto is much more exciting but I do think that Osaka do have a lot of things to offer. Our five days stay (with only 3 full days) to explore is too short for us to make the trip to Kyoto or Kobe. We've only managed to cover one destination out of Osaka this time - which is Nara, a 50 minutes train ride from Osaka Station. I need more time to rearrange my entries and also pics.. So till then, I'm posting some pics of our adventures in Osaka...

Kaiyukan Aquarium

Shinsaibashi Suji - Major shopping area

Dotombori River Cruise

Osaka's famous Glico Man