Travel: Phuket Trip, Transportation (Part 2)

This is part 2 of my experience sharing about the transportation while I was travelling in Phuket in the middle of January 2017. In part 1, I was talking about the cheapest way to move from Phuket International Airport to various popular destinations. In case of you miss my Part 1, you can check it out here. 👈

In part 2, I'll be talking about some transportations choices to move around in the main area. 😃

Motorcycle taxi

Just like in Bangkok, motorcycle taxis are also available in Phuket and widely available at Phuket Town and Patong. This is a cheap & efficient way for you to reach your destination faster especially during rush hour. You can easily find this taxis around the time especially in front of convenience store (7-eleven, Family Mart etc.). The drives are easily recognised wearing red or blue vest. 

But not sure if they are willing to take passengers for a long distance trip like Patong-Town. The price depends on your destination, but mostly for foreign tourists, they demand from 100 baht. Make sure you negotiate and decide your price before using their service. I took motorcycle taxi from my hotel to Chillva Market (about 4km away) for 100 baht. The taxi was about 300 baht. However, if you are travelling in a big group, you might wanna consider to take a taxi or tuk tuk instead.

Local bus

I think the local bus is the most suitable transportation choice for low budget travellers. The price per route is less than 50 baht. Even though it's cheap but it's slow because the bus will make some stops before reaching your destination. I personally like the bus because of its uniqueness using wooden floor open traditional blue buses. Some buses do not have AC and you still able to see electronic fans in the bus.The buses operate between around 7am to 6pm everyday. No timetable is available. 

I think it's actually a lorry transformed into a bus.

The interior of the bus. You can see the electronic fans.

I took this bus from the Town to Patong just for 30 baht per person. You can find the bus stops at Ranong Road, a walking distance from Thalang Road. They don't have a specific terminal building or bus stop signs for the buses but you'll recognise them parked beside the road waiting passengers. Different buses will have different route and you can see their destinations written on the bus. But sometimes no English name, so don't be shy to ask the bus drivers for your bus. Or else you'll wasting your time and money going to other places. 😜

These are the popular bus stops if you are travelling from Town to Patong or vice versa:

*There are also some other stops as well along the way.

Town (Ranong Rd.) → Central Festival Mall → Jungceylon Mall/ Bangla Rd → Patong Beach

Tuk Tuk

Tuk tuk is very well known in Bangkok and is considered a cheap public transportation but NOT in Phuket. Since the main income in Phuket comes from tourism, tuk tuk drivers place ridiculously high prices to the their passengers eventough the distance is just about 2~3km. Unlike tuk tuk in Bangkok, mostly tuk tuk in Phuket are modified small lorry and they are usually coloured red.

If you are a solo traveller or a low-budget traveller, I don't recommend you to use tuk tuk. The cheapest price that I can get was 500 baht one way from Patong to Big Buddha. So round trip will be 1000 baht!!! 😡I'm going to spend that kind money just to see a Big Buddha. I can take another 1-day island tour with the same amount of money. Eventually I didn't take it. Plus, I was over-spent too. 😓

At Patong beach, you can see many tuk tuks along the road every time you passes them, each drivers will approach you promote their mini-tour. Sometimes it gets annoying but don't stressed out 😝, a polite "no" will be appropriate😀👍.

Taxi/Grab Car

If you are planning to travel in a group of more than 3 people or money is not an issue to you, just use a taxi. Mostly that I aware, they are using Toyota Camry. The cost are is quite expensive but reasonable. Sometimes, you'll find that tuk tuk is much more expensive compared to taxi. My experience, a tuk tuk asked me for 700 baht from Patong to Town, but when a Grab Car (a taxi) has a fixed price of 460 baht. So, you might wanna compare these prices before deciding which transportation to take.

Even though Grab Car service is available in Phuket, unlike in Malaysia, they do not offer Grab Car (economy), the one that offers ride on a stranger's car like Uber, but rather you are calling a taxi or limo. Well, the good thing is you just don't need to argue to use the meter or negotiate your price because the price is fixed as decided by the app. But you would hardly find Grab Car taxis in the Town area compared to Patong.

Travel: Phuket Trip, Transportation (Part 1)

Based on my experience during my trip to Phuket for 4D3N, there are limited options of transportation available to move around in Phuket. Since the attraction spots in Phuket is actually quite separated from each other, you might wanna prepare enough budget for transportation cost. It might be costly especially if you are planning to travel solo.
I'd like to share you some of transportation choices I learnt while in Phuket based on my personal opinion. I hope it will be useful.

Minibus

This is the cheapest transportation that perhaps you can get especially departing from Phuket International Airport to various destinations. The price is less from 200 baht per person. Just right after you exit the arrival hall, you will immediately notice some booths selling tickets of the minibus. You won't miss the booth.

The price from the airport to Patong beach costs you 180 baht per person. If you wish to go to Phuket Town, the ticket price is 150 baht. The price varies depends on the location. The prices are displayed at their booth. I wish I could show the price list of other destinations but unfortunately I was too excited when arrived and forgot to take one. 😭

Image source: Google
http://www.khaolaktravelcenter.com/

The minibus was quite comfortable. It was a big van with AC. It took us around 40~60 minutes to reach Patong beach. There are nothing much to watch along the way, but if you are a first-timer in Thailand, it might be fun the stay awake and watch the busy road of Phuket.

However, there is one thing which I don't really like with this minibus. In my case, the bus will make a brief stop around 10~20 minutes at a travel agency. They will ask everyone to get off the bus to. Then, the some travel agents will approach us asking our accommodations. I was informed that they need the accommodations details so the driver could send us directly to the place. Then, they'll promote their island tour package but we politely refused then returned back to the bus.

I was so afraid that I took the picture of the travel agency just in case. 😂

First, I was afraid that this might be a scam to force us joining their tour package, but when we googled (luckily we bought SIM card at the airport earlier), it seemed to be a common practice for some minibus companies to make the stop and confirm back the exact location of the passengers' hotels so they could plan their route properly. They should've mention this before getting in the minibus. 

Since my hotel was in the Phuket Town, we just mentioned them to drop us at Patong beach instead of to any specific hotels. They dropped us in the centre of the Patong area, at Bangla Road near to Jungceylon Shopping Mall.

Overall, quite satisfied with the service, worth the price, comfortable and safe. Except if you experience the brief stop at the travel agency, a polite "no" might be appropriate. If you are interested to join the tour packages, do not rush. There are still lots of travel agencies at Patong with much more cheaper price.

.....stay tuned for Part 2

Continue reading to Part 2

Resolutions

Why do people do make new goals or resolutions every time a new year is coming? People said it is a motivation for one to be better than the year before. But does it have to a new year? Logically, if someone wanna be better, they should start now instead of waiting a new year. Procrastination is thief of time. The more you procrastinate, to more you lose. Time never waits and never stops. What I’m trying to say is if someone wants to be better, they set new goals to that direction, don't wait. Just do it.

But to start something is easier said than done. For most people, we usually like the idea of a new year’s resolution because we feel much comfortable with the feeling of starting something new in a “new” time. As if we start a new life where you start something clean. I think we have higher motivation to achieve our goals in the beginning of the year.

Me, myself have made some new resolutions for 2017 (which I’m not gonna expose here). At the same time, simultaneously continuing my 2016’s. I’ve always wanted to achieve something big but I don't want that achievement is judged by the incomes I earn, amount of money nor materials I have. I want to achieve something that is meaningful to me and everyone else. It just that I still don't know what is that I want to achieve.

In the meantime of exploring my potential, I think I’d like focus on myself. So, I’ve decided to set motto of the year.

BE SELFISH

BE INDEPENDENT

I wish to describe more what is the meaning behind these, but I don't think I can explain very well. (I’m such a bad writer.) So, I leave it to you figure it out. You are freely to think whatever you want.

My 2016

Well, like always everyone around the globe celebrated the countdown New Year’s Eve, then some probably have thought about to start new resolutions for 2017 to live a better, happier and more productive life than the year before. But actually, to be better, we don’t need to wait for new year to change, in fact we can change anytime we want. Yet, I believe most people prefer to make major changes in the beginning of the year. Perhaps, most of us just love the idea of starting new in a new year, giving us the feeling of starting all over again (because you can’t rewind your own life.)

I just beat 2016!

Eventhough we’ve already went through few days after 2017, I hope it’s not too late to write something about my 2016. I’ve learnt a lot in 2016 about how to be independent and be myself. Most of the time, we restrain ourselves from doing something we might want/love to do because we are too afraid of what other people might think of us. So, I kept reminding myself to “Just do it!” just like the Nike always said and I stop living in other people’s opinion too much.

The biggest lesson I’ve learnt in 2016 was making choices. No matter what happens, bad or good, we do always can choose of what person we want to be. You can choose to be sad, be happy, mad, productive, etc. This is something that I should’ve known before, the power of decide.

Keeping those in mind, I decided to go for travelling. With low budgets, in 2016, I managed to travel 4 countries nearby in separated trips. I went to Siem Reap (Cambodia), Bangkok (Thailand), Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam), and Yogyakarta (Indonesia).

The most adventurous trip was in Bangkok which my 4D3N trip was a solo travel. My only guide were my phone and my travel book. Most of the time I walked instead of taking tuktuk. I woke up early in the morning, went out early to see how a sleeping city woke up. People starting their daily routines. Seeing people went to work, open their shops, cleaning the streets, delivering flowers to the temples, taxi/tuktuk drivers waiting for passengers, the monks started to pray in the temples etc. Each person was playing different roles is what created Bangkok. But like other cities or countries, people do what they do because of one similar reason, to survive. Made me wondered why we should hate somebody or group of people just because they are different from us. Plus, they never chose to be different.

Well, I don't wish to elaborate too much about my trip, but that is just one of few things what made me thought deeper than before while in Bangkok. The issue is not new, but if something really happens in front of your eyes and experience it, it affects deeply.

As folks say don't judge a book by its cover,
don't judge me by the books I've read.

Other than travelling, I decided to start reading. I’m not a fan of books but I encouraged myself to read something. When I did, it was strangely a satisfied experience. A friend told me that reading could make your mind occupied and make you forget the problems you have for a moment. I thought that was ridiculous but after experienced it, I have to admit she was right. Still, I had difficulty to finish few books as I lost my reading motivation in the middle of reading which eventually I didn’t finish reading the book. Here, I’ve learnt a trick in reading. Just stop read the book, then buy and start reading a new book you interested in. The more you force yourself to read a book you are not interested in, the more you’ll waste your time making reasons not to read.

Those are few things happened in my 2016. Just to shared some of mind. How’s your 2016?