Monday, May 07, 2007
The Phuket Trip (Part 2)
It was still early when we had filled our stomach and we drifted back to bed. Lol. Think we slept for another 2-3 hours before we went for another swim.
Again, there was no sun and we did a little swim before Gerrie decided she wanted to go back to take a bath. I left her for the gym and it was hours later when we hit the streets.
Suddenly, it was scorching and we had to hurry along the streets.
There's something about this pink building, situated along the Bangla Street. This is the Bangla Boxing Stadium, an arena for boxers to pit their skills. Spectators need not pay the entrance fees but are expected to give tips after the fights. Vehicles would travel up and down Patong Beach declaring, "Tonight... Tonight... International fight... Bangla Boxing Stadium..."
Damn, I wonder why they love pink so much. Imagine Hello Kitty vs Powerpuff Girls.
Across this boxing stadium is another H.U.G.E. shopping center.
Once again, we were hungry and had wanted to go for lunch first. We headed to their foodcourt where they promised "local food from all over Th@il@nd". They use this card system where you have to purchase their cards to pay for the food.
I came to this store where they sell chicken leg, one of the favourite food among the people there. It was commonly sold along the streets, but I thought I should give it a go in the food court instead.
Scared tummy pain mah.
What I didn't know is they are such small eaters! It doesn't come with rice, like what we have here. It is considerably cheap still, costing only 45 baht (appx. S$2).
While Q-ing up, I was watching the stall owner preparing their famous salad. I noticed she added some small raw crabs into the papaya salad and asked her if we could eat those, including the shell. She replied yes and offered to let me taste the sauce. I immediately declined. Lol.
But as I continued to watch, I thought it might be adventurous to try. The papaya salad with blue crab cost 55baht (appx. S$2.40). I took a bite at one of the crab's legs and spat it out immediately. So salty!!! I can almost taste the sea water!
Damn. Act hero only. KNS.
Gerrie had ordered a bowl of noodles but it was only half-filled. Unsatisfied, we went for Dunkin' Donuts. Her favourite.
After the donuts, we kick-started our shopping trip. I mentioned Boots in my previous post, an equivalent to our Guardian. I somehow prefer Boots as they carried a wider assortment of products.
Like the Toni & Guy products! And guess what, a bottle of wax happened to be the only purchase for myself the entire trip! Damn sian can. The wax was on offer, yet not exactly cheap. It was priced at 500baht (appx. S$22.20).
Then they had the fcuk products as well.
Gerrie was the one who did most of the shopping. She went to Playboy and blew about S$80 on a singlet with sequins.
Then she spent another S$80 on a bag.
We came to this stall where their products are made of calf leather. We saw this wine holder, which we thought my sister would love. She's a wine collector, and it would look nice with a bottle in it.
It cost 1000baht (appx. S$44.40) but we were running out of cash and the stall owner doesn't accept credit cards.
So how?
We went to their local bank to exchange money. The banks were unlike ours. They are open, even on Sundays, till 10pm.
The shopping continued.
Gerrie bought her heels.
And more heels.
She walked away with 3 pairs of heels that day.
I was only glad when we could afford the time to sit down and relax. But that lasted no more than ten minutes and we continued walking in the shopping center. That is how big the place is!
We came to this Italian brand, which also sold leather goods. I was so in love with this shop! We walked past it many times and on our second entry into the shop, I was determined to walk away with something from this shop.
All their products had this luxurious feel and were quite pricey. I had wanted to get this pair of sandals but it didn't come in my size. I saved more than a hundred bucks. Then, there was this diary with leather cover but at S$70, it was quite expensive.
Gerrie saw a couple of bags but they were priced over S$500. She then chose a small brown bag, which went more than S$300.
Sadly, I didn't walk away that shop with anything. But I got my mom a wallet instead.
All in all, we spent more than six hours walking.
We had initially wanted to take a taxi to Chalong Bay to have seafood dinner but thought we could save that 600baht of taxi fee and spend it on something else.
The nightfall came quickly, and we were ready for dinner. But I didn't want to walk around with all those baggages, thus we had to return to the hotel.
The night was another adventure by itself and I would update it in another post.
For now, take care and good night.
