Stories of Popshie : Wedding Anniversary in Phuket, Thailand

In January 2010, I went to Phuket, Thailand, with my family (esc. my brother). The purpose of our visit was to celebrate my parent’s 25th wedding anniversary. I was still in Australia (I went there for study abroad program) when I booked the flight and the hotel. The flight was pretty cheap! The four of us (my parents, me and my sister) leaving to Phuket from Medan by Airasia and it all cost us only Rp.1.000.000,- (appox 100 dollars) for return ticket. Airasia was on promotion and I did not miss the opportunity. Too bad they have closed the Medan-Phuket route. Probably due to less passengers fly in this route. Medan and Phuket are actually pretty close though. It takes less than 1 hour (probably 45 minutes) to reach Phuket from Medan and vice verse.

For the hotel, I booked it through bookings.com and it was pretty easy. Since I booked it for 5 days at once, I received a bit discount. Later on I found out that the hotel is in the middle of the island and quite far from beach area. Thus, we need to take local bus (or truck) to reach the tourism sites, which is mostly near beaches. We chose bus as traveling with it cost less rather than taking Tuk-tuk (three wheels), which is the most common transportation there.

The thing which I love the most in Phuket is the food! Seriously I loveee Thai food so damn much. I bet Gastronomiers would love to spend time traveling in Phuket or Thailand as a whole. They serve some really spicy foods with a lot of ingredient. And they are so unique and yummy!

As it is already two and half years past, I vaguely remember places which we visited. I just remember we went to orchid garden, big malls, the place where they shoot “The Beach” movie, and the most excited one was to Phiphi Island by boat. I think Phiphi is very much similar with the situation in Gili Trawangan, Lombok. Mini island with beautiful beach scenery, a lot of facility such as Commonwealth ATM in the middle of nowhere, bicycle to travel around the tiny place, cafes and bar, lovely small hotels, etc.

Although my parents liked the trip as a whole, but they did not enjoy it when I took them sunbathing or jumping from one place to another place quickly. They have a very different preference from me. Lesson learn: when you travel with your parents, please just take a tour packet. As they are not as energetic as you are anymore, they love relax yet boring travel tour.