Ethnic Show Phuket Fantasia

On the first day in Phuket, after having a few hours city tour, we checked in to the Patong Tower apartment. My friend was kind enough to offer me the very competitive price using his membership. The apartment was quite spacious, the main room was big with king size bed and a bathroom. In the living room another king size bed was available also another bathroom. A dining room with kitchen and refrigerator was available for you to cook including a dining table. It's suitable and convenience for family staying a few days in Phuket at Patong beach area. The view from the balcony could be to the city or to the beach. Just 5-10 minutes walking distance to the popular Patong beach.

The car was waiting for us changing clothes to go to the next destination, Phuket Fantasia cost 2200 baht for the admission fee including the buffet dinner, show and transportation. We had to rush as we need to get there at least at 19:00 to enjoy dinner before the show would begin at 21:00. Arriving at the place we were welcome by beautiful girls wearing traditional Thai clothes. A photographer took our picture, then they would sell it during and after the show would be finished.

The place was very nice, it's an entertainment park was a beautiful pool with some statues full of light decoration. There were some artists performing music, acrobat, dancing, etc. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to enjoy all of them. We had to rush to the dinner area to catch the show.

Entering dinner area, called Golden Kinnaree Buffet Restaurant. The restaurant looked pretentious, it's painted with golden colour surrounding with fountains. Going inside, it's very huge area with many long tables capacity around 4000 persons. The ceiling decorated with Thai's picture and story was inspired by 7 half-bird half-angels called the Kinnarees. Various kind of food set just next to the wall against a background of the legendary Himmaphan Forest, guest wouldn't need to have a long queue as they always refilled the food.

After dinner we went directly to the show area, "The Palace of the Elephants" around 20:00. It was a unique creation inspired by the ancient stone palace of the pre Sukhothai era. We're not allowed to bring camera, smartphone, etc. which's possible to record the show, all of them must be deposit in the locker, that's why it took a long time for entering the theater which's capacity for 3000 people. The "Fantasy of a Kingdom" was a spectaculer Thai cultural show, provided in both Thai and English which last around 90 minutes. The stage was over 37 meters wide with extendable side stages to 24 meters on each end. With cutting-edge technology and special effect element, the 4-dimensional stage could be changed dramatically from rice field to river to village including the traditional house, etc. to describe the journey of the Prince of Kamala in discovering and learning to be the perfect Thai person. It was very amazing show some angels also flying on the stage, big population of the real animal such as elephants, sheeps, chicken, etc enliven the show. After the show ended, we were queing again to take our camera and went out the theater.

No street performance anymore, the park was closed already, so we only could take some pictures with shiny beautiful light decoration. All your welcome pictures were set near to the gate, you could buy if you like it. I was not satisfied with the photo result, so I decided not to buy it, unfortunately the beautiful girl showed a very unfriendly face when she knew it. I think, she should treat the guest well whatever the condition, it's not an obligation for the guest to buy, so she should keep behaving well, with her friendly attitude as Thai's girl trademark.

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Popular James Bond Island

Have you heard about James Bond Island? The original and local name is Ko Tapu or Nail Island because it’s used for making James Bond movie (The Man with the Golden Gun), now it’s more popular as James Bond Island.



Two of my friends and I joined tour to Phang Nga Island for reaching the island last March 2010. A long tail boat was taking us to the island passing by mangrove for around 45 minutes rides. The tour won’t provide water or soft drink, so you have to prepare by yourself. Each row could only contain 2-3 passengers, it had more than 10 rows. During the trip we could also see some beautiful stones or hills in the middle of the sea. If the boat run too fast, all of us got wet by the sea water as impacted from the wave.


Reaching the island from the front, we could see directly the mascot of the island, a stand alone rock right in the middle of the other rocks. We went around the island to embark on the other side of the legendary rock. Our long tail boat had to queue, as there were many tourists arrive in the island. Everytime only a boat could put a shore their passengers. How the sailor stroke their long tail boat in a very limited space was very interesting. They could forward and reverse the boat to be closer to the pier horizontally.


Tourist would be welcome by adjoin stalls selling souvenirs made of seashells, sarongs, magnetics, etc. Bargain was a must here, they would give very high price, you had to bargain to get the best price. Some of them were kind, but some of them were also fierce and impolite to tourists when the price didn’t match their expectation.


The guide gave us 30 minutes to enjoy the island. We went to the main attraction of the island, the stand alone rock to take picture. My friend and I posed as if we carried the rock. It took many shots to get the best one. The other tourists were kind enough to wait for us, lucky us :-) You could play with the water, but it’s not too clean, I just put my feet under the water while taking pictures. The sand beach was not too soft here, you’d better wearing sandals.


After satisfied taking some pictures from different position, I was wearing my friend's hat, she was kind enough to lend it to me, because she has bought the brown one which were matched with her blouse. We explore the stalls to find any interesting stuffs, the good and nice one with reasonable price :-) I found interesting bracelets, after selecting from many options, I decided to buy 3 of them, 2 made of seashells while 1 made of white pearls. Because the color was matching with my blouse, I directly changed my bangle with the new one.


On the way back to Phuket we stopped by for lunch in Koh Panyee village. It’s a moslem floating village with houses, restaurants and markets. They had provided a set lunch for our group, the service was quite fast and efficient, they also provided water and soft drink with ice. It’s very suitable with our condition after hot journey on the boat under the sunshine. The toilet was built with ceramics as if on the land. I could not imagine how they could get the water and build the buildings. After lunch we still could have a chance to shop again, the price here was quite reasonable, although you still have to bargain. The trip was quite satisfying with enjoying the scenery, taking pictures and shopping.

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