Phuket suggestions

[CardZeus]

We've been to Phuket many times, though I'd agree with CD and mention that Krabi (Aonang to be precise) and Samui are more pleasant.

It's very easy and cheap to rent a jeep for 500-800 baht and drive along the coast, stopping off at lots and lots of places that are breathtaking and interesting.

We tend to spoil ourselves in terms of hotels and such - why stinge when on vacation?! - and the choice is huge.

Eric mentioned Patong - umm, maybe not the best place to go with your kids when the pubs open - unless you crave drunk english/german/dutch/italian/australian overnight ladies-men. (Watch for bafana, though, he's a regular when he's not trawling Pat Pong)

Sorry for all the questions V - Will I be able to hire a car with my UK driving licence? Which hotels do you recommend in AoNang or Samui?

[Quasimodo]

No worries, CardZeus.
It's easy to rent cars with your UK license, many of the owners are 'expats' anyway and make a few quid renting out their three or four little jeeps. Nothing fancy, but they drive and have a/c.

We have stayed at:

Samui:

Imperial Samui (great atmosphere and very well maintained)


Impiana Resort (simply the nicest staff)


and a few more, but the two above are nice and a good walk away from the noise of 'downtown' Chaweng.

Aonang is a bit less developed and much smaller on the tourist scale, but the surrounding scenery is simply magnificent. Again, rent a car and go to some of the islands that can be reached by ferry (an experience in itself or catch boats to neighbouring islands, like Eric mentioned Phi Phi:

Aonang Villa resort:


And these are some of our photos of the Aonang/Krabi area.
[/URL(In the white jeep, a cool Mrs 'Cluse rests and practises her "No, I am not Thai and do not speak Thai" phrase
[URL=http://imageshack.us]


One of the nice things here is that service is absolutely wonderful. On our return drive from one of the 'developing islands', we stopped near the ferry at a stall and bought 8kgs worth of fresh crab, still snapping in anger. asked the hotel staff to boil them for us and shared the meal - - - really nice. (pesco-vegs, of course)

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[Bafana]

(Watch for bafana, though, he's a regular when he's not trawling Pat Pong)

LOL - Thought I saw you in amini Skirt on Lor 12 Geylang Vit V...

[Loops]

I quite like Phuket. Three places we've stayed are:

Baan Krating, right down south, near Nai Harn beach - it was a good place to stay, very peaceful, but maybe too peaceful for teenagers.

Peach Hill in Kata - this was OK - no sea views but we managed to get a bungalow which is what we like. Handy for Kata (north Kata) and tuk tuks right outside to go anywhere you want.

Coral Island resort - as the name suggests, on coral island. You have to get a boat there and there is only this place to stay. Again, it may be too quiet for teenagers.

All of them we found on the sawadee.com website.

But I'd look at staying in Kata for convenience and nice beaches. Patong is too noisy for me and too seedy, but your kids might enjoy it being a bit older - I went to Amsterdam with my family when I was 15 and thought it was brilliant

[CardZeus]

Final questions - promise

Re: car hire - I don't have a credit card, is cash ok?

What about Langkawi??

Do you book through an agent or arrange everything yourself?


Thanks for the pix V - looks great

[Vaucluse]

Final questions - promise

Re: car hire - I don't have a credit card, is cash ok?

What about Langkawi??

Do you book through an agent or arrange everything yourself?


Thanks for the pix V - looks great

Eric:

bafana: that was eric

loops: Coral Island sounds great

CZ - Quite right, I wouldn't give academics credit either . . .

kidding!


As theirs is usually a tiny business just to keep them afloat while they 'live their tropical dream', most of the fallang (foreigner) owned rental places will want a cash deposit as they don't have credit card facilities.

I'd say Thailand beats Malaysia any day -

[Mary Hatch Bailey]

Final questions - promise

Re: car hire - I don't have a credit card, is cash ok?

Not usually. They want a deep well in case something awful happens. May be in Thailand you can find a place that plays fast & loose with the rules?

[Loops]

Do you find you get hassle when you check into a place and they want a copy of your credit card? I checked in somewhere the other day and they wanted a credit card and I didn't have one, but someone else in our group did. I don't know what they would have done if none of us had had one.

loops: Coral Island sounds great

It was - very nice place to stay. Very quiet in the evening (after the day trippers had gone back to Phuket), apart from the waves crashing on the beach right outside the bungalow! They have wild hornbills living there too which was cool to see.

[Rose_YG]

(In the white jeep, a cool Mrs 'Cluse rests and practises her "No, I am not Thai and do not speak Thai" phrase

I guess Mrs 'Cluse was practising her phrase, 'Mai kuntai '


I agree with Loops that the beaches up north are more beautiful. Kata is of course not as lively as Patong beach. I was there years ago during the monsoon season, saw a big crowd of people searching for a lost boy.They found him..... drowned
I can't say much about Krabi, was there for a while... not impressed at all.

CZ, i think renting a bike is more convenient in phuket than a car.We did that once and it was fun.Riding from patong up to the beaches in the north.Then we went to the city.Had some good food in the thai restaurant.Can't remember the name.And we visited the 'Gypsy Village'.

RYG

[Loops]

They found him..... drowned

That's really sad

The sea during monsoon is very rough - we were there last year during it and could only go in up to our knees. That's why we went to Coral Island, on a boat trip, because you can swim all year there, the sea isn't affected by the monsoon too much. We saw the resort on that trip and went back there earlier this year because we liked the look of it.

Quasi - that pic of all the cars parked up looks like the car ferry to Koh Lanta. Where was that taken?

Koh Lanta is really nice too for anyone wanting a change from Phuket. It is very peaceful there and they don't build above the height of the palm trees so it is all bungalow resorts. Not seedy either.

[EADG]

Phuket is still a great place to visit, been going there since '90

...as long as you steer clear of Patong

stay south, Kata Noi and Kata are my favorites, with Karon a second, or up north at the Laguna for a 5-star

sad thing is, it's constantly getting over-developed, and will run itself into ruin

I mean, how many girlie bars and and foot massage parlors and Indian tailors do you need on one street?

[Mary Hatch Bailey]

Has anyone been to Hua Hin? Supposed to be lovely.

[Quasimodo]

Hua Hin is quite pretty, in a Thai way. The hotels can be nice and right next door you have slums. But, seeing as it is the King's choice of vacation spot it is generally tended to better.
The sea is very calm and you can walk out for miles, it's so shallow (almost like the beauty thread)

Yes, it is the ferry to Koh Lanta, we were there last May.

Agree with EADG, the problem is that these places are cheap to run and have a high profit margin, I guess, and is sooooo 'Thai' for the typicqal Phuket tourist crowd.

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