Finally got the time to sit down and blog about my trip. :D
So, a little background, I work in Banyan Tree and I've just crossed my 1 year of service last month and I decide to go experience the Banyan Tree experience first hand!
I did a lot of research before the trip as not only is this my first time to Phuket, Banyan Tree is not where the crowd and night life is; Patong. Banyan Tree is situated at Bangtao beach, somewhere in between the airport and Patong. It's about 20mins away from Patong on a light traffic.
Cost of living in Phuket are known to be higher compared to elsewhere in Thailand; and the transportation cost alone can kill us. Cabbing to Patong from Bangtao is 700baht; that's S$28ish one way k. Let alone to say we are living in a 5star luxuryn resort.
I've been looking up online on a trip in Bangtao, but I cant find reviews and clues. So here are some insights (besides the camwhoring pictures we indulge in. :D)
waitingfor check in with my pretty pink <3 luggage.
say I'm a bitch for wearing this, but Taiwan n Thailand are the top 2 countries I like for a holiday for now.
(no, I've been to more places than that)
We were on Tiger Airways (our first time too!), and much to my surprise since I've heard from my friends that the landing of Tiger is bad, it is actually an ok flight! no complains for this budget airline!
Welcome to Phuket!
Airport transfer is 700baht per way to Bangtao beach, you can get yellow metered taxis once you are out of the airport, and turn right all the way, they are cheaper but if you stay in a hotel like mine, coming back to the airport will be a problem because hotel limo is 1900baht (S$76ish!!) per way and there are no local cabs.
Outside the airport waiting for the airport transfer to pick us up.
Beware of taxis mafias too! It's common in Phuket where unlike Bangkok, metered taxis are rare finds.
Reached Banyan Tree! Was greeted with flowers the moment we stepped out of the car by the resort host.
I look fat in this photo cos i'm kinda slouchy but I DUN CARE! :D
he has flowers too!
and we just have to sit there and wait for the resort host to check us in!
No queues, with welcome drink and towels, like a boss!
Oh, and the best thing is, we reached before 10am and was given early check in even though check-in is at 3pm! On the buggy to our villa looking excited. :D
Villa Pictures (might be boring)
mini bar area, coffee tea are complimentary, what's really amazing is the brown... tub? in the middle.
it's an ice tub filled with ice and it can last till the next time the housekeeping comes back in.
how nice!
the pool area; oh yes, we are staying in a pool villa.
view from inside. where we spent many nights facing the pool chillax-ing
the bed is so soft it's difficult to try and climb out of it.
we have INDIVIDUAL WARDROBE for ourselves, no fighting.
and individual sinks too, mine comes with a smaller mirror at the side, his with shaver plug and disposable shaver in his kit.
the outdoor jacuzzi that we failed to use because it rained alot while we were there, and hey! we have the pool.
view from the couch.
the outdoor sala with fan and all facingt the pool. the area behind, facing the lagoon, is also ours, but we didnt have the time to laze on the sundeck there. (partly also too lazy; so many place to laze around at. lol) oh and that expression is from the stuffy nose. the weather is bad the whole day on the first day. RAINING! Thank god for the powerful wifi everywhere the villa to the common area thou.
#likeaboss
n it comes in pairs too!
It drizzled and pause, drizzled and pause the whole freaking day, so no outdoor plans!
boo hoo!
went to the Banyan cafe by the golf course for lunch since it's raining and buggy gets us anywhere.
Look! Coke is more expensive than beer! WTH!
I had (beef/pork) ball rice noodles soup; fav thai local one dish meal!
it's really good n u add sugar n chilli flakes to it~~ nice on a rainy day!!
450baht (S$18ish)
and he had red beef curry that looks really good~~~
450baht (S$18ish)
bz haolianing on twitter and fb and all social media of his holiday.
because the wifi is damn good, WE CAN. :D
after the meal, he had cappuccino while waiting for the rain to stop for a while.
170baht (S$6ish)
while i had fresh coconut! it's a must to eat coconut in Thailand.
the young soft juicy thirst quenching yummy stuff!
260baht (S$10ish)
hehe! ^^
in case u think that i'm tio tok inside cos this is Thailand, no.
I'm staying in a 5star luxury resort chain my dears.
Besides, I've staff rates and all, so it is really manageable. :D
After lunch, we decided that since it's probably going to rain more the whole day, we should go for spa first!
served welcome drink while he snaps away at the surroundings.
welcome drinks~
following my spa therapist to the couple spa villa in the drizzle
here's our villa!
soaking our feet while the 2 spa therapists gets busy.
both of us picked a 90mins Balinese massage treatment.
4,700baht (S$189ish)
The massage was good for me, I did a medium massage while he did a medium hard.
the last time I did the same massage at Banyan Tree Spa @ MBS, I did soft-medium, so comparitively, this is slightly painful for me but of cos, I feel like I can fly after the massage.
My poor boy however, didn't enjoyed it as much as I did because
1. He got bitten by mozzies and was itchy half the time to enjoy,
2. the buibui spa therapist was too enthusiatic on his right shoulder it was sore after the massage
3. picture coming soon.
After the massage and dressing up, there was a 30min relaxation time with nice tea, fruits and yoghurt while we fill out the feedback forms and relax.
But poor boy didnt enjoy the sour apple and just look at the face!! HAHAHA
After spa, we went back to the villa since the weather is so unpredictable.
When the
drizzle paused for a bit, I decide to strike this off my bucket list!
Skinny dipping!
I’ve always wanted to do this and now I can!
Soli I humji dun dare to do this in public. LOL
bucket list item needs GPGT, but nope! No neh neh, no ass, non-provocative!
PPS: If you think Im damn devastated cos ppl say I fat and all, u must be kidding me.
Im confident of my body n it's a once in a lifetime thing. Next time haolian to my grandchildren when I old n saggy. hehe!
Lazing a bit more in the pool before it's almost time for dinner.
After shower, my head hurts though. Our original plan was to head to Angsana Phuket for dinner n drinks, but my head was throbbing so badly that it was impossible to even speak coherently.
So instead, I popped 2 panadols and rested a while before the painkillers kick in.
Thereafter, we decided to walk to the beach side restaurant for dinner.
(small buggy episode: we were on the buggy in the afternoon and we asked the bellman who drives the buggy where's the beach, and if it is far; the bellman chuckled and said it's only 1MINUTE walk from our villa and we were puzzled at why we did not see the beach at all)
That evening when we walked out to the beach, we totally knew why he was laughing at us.
-.-
The tide was fierce and the waters were choppy.
It was lucky we didn’t plan any water activities at all; the waves and wind were kinda scary in the dark.
And it's time for dinner! I was looking for Lotus restarant with all my might because there is a lot of raves about it but tough luck finding in the dark really. So we settled at Tony's instead.
Had a huge dinner and the silly boy insisted that he want to order steam rice.
end up we cant finish the glass noodles which is damn sad. A good Thai dinner despite that too much for 2! (Just dont order the steam rice the next time)
from top left clockwise:
Broccoli with Shrimps 230 baht
BBQ Squid 280 baht
Claypot Glass Noodles with King Prawn 400 baht (good for 2)
Coke 50 baht
steam rice 20 baht
Total: 1030 baht (S$41ish)
yep! there he is with his STEAMED RICE.
and my empty plate. :D
the difference between shrimps and King Prawn.
in Singapore, I think we call those shrimps fat prawns, because I think of shrimps as heh bee.
LOL.
After the huge dinner, we could use some drinks or walk, so we walked back to the villa, called for a buggy, and hopped on a shuttle bus to Angsana Laguna Phuket to check it out (since my headache is gone now)
while on the shuttle bus out of boredom, we decide compete who makes the ugliest face while trying to take a clear non-shaky shot.
totally different feel from Banyan Tree.
But pretty stairway!
It was really quiet at Angsana. The beach club, XANA, was closed due to the weather, and everywhere else is just cold and quiet.
We walked to the lobby bar, thinking to get a bottle of rose wine to chillax. The only staff was poor and slow in attending to us, and much later, told us that they don’t have this bottle here and she needs to travel somewhere else for 10mins if we wants to get this.
My initial thought was that we have all night, what is 10 min? So we said ok.
But after 2 more minutes, I really don’t like it.
Because we discovered (to our horror) that unlike Banyan Tree, ANGSANA LOCKS THEIR WIFI CONNECTION.
This is a huge turn off because 10mins with nothing is like 20mins, so we decide to be gangster and just went to the counter girl (another girl) to tell her (nicely!) that we would like to cancel the order.
And so, we scoot off on the next shuttle back to Banyan Tree. Hee!
My initial thought was that we have all night, what is 10 min? So we said ok.
But after 2 more minutes, I really don’t like it.
Because we discovered (to our horror) that unlike Banyan Tree, ANGSANA LOCKS THEIR WIFI CONNECTION.
This is a huge turn off because 10mins with nothing is like 20mins, so we decide to be gangster and just went to the counter girl (another girl) to tell her (nicely!) that we would like to cancel the order.
And so, we scoot off on the next shuttle back to Banyan Tree. Hee!
And look at the difference in treatment back in homeground!
the moment we sat down, we were given menu, served nuts (local flavored yummy)
Will u wanna run away now??? NO!!
And of cos there is Wifi without saying. ;)
He tried posing and it turned out a lil gayish, so he gave this "man" look for the second shot. (but he's really drinking pussy drink lol)
Not recommended IMO. lol
Tequila Sunrise 380 baht (S$15ish)
my Pine Mango Mojito! 380 baht and taste non-pussy.
Worth drinking IMO.
The comfy lobby bar~~
He needed something to wash the cocktail taste away; honestly it tasted like sweetened medicine syrup. So he stuck to beer!
Holiday for me always means local beer regardless of where I am, and I'm not a fan of Heineken anyway. :D
Both bottles @ 190 baht each ($7ish)
He had another bottle I think, before we end the night. I was having a headache earlier, so no more for me. After drinks we hop on to the buggy and went back to zzz.
(Buggy episode: it's damn awesome that the buggy services are 24/7 and super fast in picking us up! It usually takes less than 5mins when we call from our villa for them to come pick us to the lobby. King and Queen treatment! We hardly walked!!! LOL)
Finally, end of Day 1.
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