Hot and Spicy Friday Night

It was 2 days after the 5th Prizedraw of Thavorn Hotels and Resorts. The purpose was to donate the blood, and suddenly the guys (Pi Jack, Pi Chum, Khun Nuch, and Khun Cha) cancelled it, and decided to have a hot and spicy dinner in one of the restaurant around Phuket town.

well, it was not actually around Phuket town, it's quite far. according to the google map, it takes around 9 minutes to go by driving and takes you around 35 minutes to go by walk. I definitely recommend you to rent a motorbike or go by car instead of walk :p

well, the restaurant's name is:

Ran Kon 101, located in Wichit Songkram Road.

The taste of North East Food

It has a unique concept of wooden gazebo for the guest, where we can sit together and enjoy the meals. Unfortunately, the menu is written in Thai Language. But dont be worry, because this restaurant is famous with its hot pot dish, and various desserts.

We ordered the hot pot with seafood. at first, I had no idea how does this hot pot work. but then, Khun Nuch showed me the way.

The hot pot comes with the vegetables, seafoods and sauce. all you have to do is boil the water inside the pot 1st, and put the vegetables and seafood inside. be careful! dont put all the stuff at once, because the pot will not fit them, and better watch out from the heat and the smoke.

but anyway, it was fun though :)

after the vegetables and the seafood well-cooked, grab your boil and pour them in. you might need the sauce to spice it up.

before we had the main dishes which is the hot pot seafood, it's better to order some appetizer, such as the spicy Som Tam, fried chicken wing, and sticky rice.

You should not worry about your diet, because they are too good to be missed :)

and plus, dont miss the dessert option, they have various choices for ice cream. I wanted to order the unique purple "Sa Ku Truadam Ma Praw On", they said it is made from kind of potato family, but it was sold out.

So, I tried the other dessert, which was as delicious as its picture.

after all of 5 dishes we eat, it cost around 150-200 THB per head. An affordable price for dinner after our pay day :)

2 in 1 of Talat Yai Road

I just knew that we are actually surrounded by the great places in the town. If many people said Patong is the best way to hang out, well I dont think so, Phuket town rules!

With just a short walk to Talat Yai, around 10 minutes. you can find this 2 wonderful places:

1. The Halal Budgeted-Restaurant:

They are in the row of this road, which one of them sell a special dish, just the same like in Indonesia. well, you should give it a try, the name is "Martabak", the skin is made from flour, with beef,potato and egg inside. 30 THB per piece.

and just beside this restaurant, you can find the "Chicken Rice" shop as well.

2. The Restaurant and Karaoke

If you feel like enjoying the whole night with food and songs, you should give a shoot to this Ba Lé Restaurant and Karaoke. It costs around 300-400THB per hour to enjoy the karaoke time. Definitely a place to hang out with a group of friends.

me and the guys went there to celebrate one of our colleague's birthday. it is one of the sophisticated place to having a dinner.. the atmosphere is simply amazing with the touch of live music performing Thai songs.

So, what can i say?! Phuket town provides a lot of enjoyment beside its cultural sight. In one night, we could find a new road full of excitement, i cant wait to find another great part in Phuket town!

by: Astrid

Loi Krathong - the Festival

"Loi" means "to float" and a "Krathong" is a raft.

It usually takes place in November, on the full moon of the 12th month in traditional Thai calendar. this year (2010), it falls on the 21st of November. In this celebration, there will be many people floating the small rafts (Krathong) on a river or other body of water, such as canals, lakes and seas. The floating raft is one way to honor and pay respect to the goddess of water.

so last night was the festival night of this Loi Krathong. We went to Patong beach to be the witness of this yearly event.

We arrived in Patong at 19.00 hours, the street was fulled by people from both local and foreigner, and plus the Loi Krathong Parade was passing by the street.

The parade took about 15 minutes, luckily we were exactly in the end of the street, so we could clearly see it.

the giant Kratong from banana leaves with the kid or lady in traditional dress sat in the middle of it, the marching band, the traditional dance, the traditional-dress fashion show, were the main parts of this parade.

everybody was so excited, no exception :)

apart from that, you could find a totally different vibe of Bangla Road! the middle lot was filled by the rows of vendors, started from food, accessories, furnitures, even food massage. while, a stage for the band was also opened in the front side of this road.

shortly, it was a great combination of the modern nightlife and traditional night market in there.

You would find people gather in any beach in Phuket to celebrate the Loi Krathong Festival, not only in Patong Beach though. Kata, Kamala, or any beaches in town like the Saphan Hin (where the Loi Krathong Night Market took place).

as for Patong Beach, the Kratong sellers were over the street, the prices varied from 50 THB, 150 THB or will be more expensive, depend from their models.

this Kratong later will be floated to the beach.

also the flying lamp, fly it after you make your wish

by: Astrid

Loi Krathong - the Night Market

"Loi" means "to float" and a "Krathong" is a raft.

It usually takes place in November, on the full moon of the 12th month in traditional Thai calendar. this year (2010), it falls on the 21st of November. In this celebration, there will be many people floating the small rafts (Krathong) on a river or other body of water, such as canals, lakes and seas. The floating raft is one way to honor and pay respect to the goddess of water.

One of my friend also told me, there is also a belief that people may find their soulmate during this celebration. If your raft hit someone's raft when you are floating it on the water, he/ she will be your soulmate, it always be a romantic time for many couples in Thailand, she said :)

anyway, apart from that, Phuket town has its own "party", in Saphan Hin, you can find a huge night market near the roundabout. They sell a lot of stuffs in here, start from foods, fruits, jewelery, hose hold equipments, plants and even wooden furniture. They also have a stage with a lot of unique performances, and the game zone for kids.

you will be greeted by the big lotus from the main entrance :)

unique plants to be sold during the night market

the row of food vendors

When I told you the foods are unique, they really are unique (see below):

the performance

By: Astrid

a sunny journey in phuket

Last sunday was a perfect sunny day to hang out.

We decided to go to several places in Phuket, well, actually it was an unplanned trip, because i just got a call from my friend, and she invited me to go out together.

we met at 12:30, when the sun is exactly above your head. Lon mak mak (ref: very very hot), and we stopped for a lunch in Chao Fa East Road, a plate of delicious chicken PhadThai from a noodle restaurant there, "Pah Teaw VIP Noodle Restaurant (since 1943)".

you should not miss the great coffee stop either, just in front this noodle shop, owned by the friend of my friend. 40THB for a fresh ice espresso, and other coffee menus.

after a short chat in the coffee stop, we continued the Sunday's trip,

Chalong Temple!

Thai people believe the 1st place that need to be visited by the visitor for their 1st trip in Phuket is this temple. the believe says that it would give them the good luck.

well, it is quite late for us, since we have been here for almost 4 months and it was the 1st time we visited the Chalong temple.

But anyway, we were amazed by the beauty from inside and outside the temple.. superb!

next! the Chalong Pier ! another beautiful spot :)

a very short stop in the pier, then we moved to Promthep Cape. People said, it is the most beautiful spot, and yes! it is!!

the last stop of the day was in Phuket Old Town. we tried to find the Phuket museum there, but well, it was almost close. so, we decided not to go.

Phuket Old town has a elegant atmosphere, the style of Sino-Portuguese colors all the way there.

By: Astrid

The Beautiful Angle from Phuket

Hi..hi..hi..whatz up?

Here you are with Iyeck , I’m going to share my wonderful experiences in phuket Thailand to you.

What’s going on with Phuket …???

I have a lot of hobbies one of my hobbies is Photography, I like to take pictures of beaches, sunset, Peoples, old town and mountains. Here in phuket you guys will find many wonderful angles. The most important if u are really want to get the best view in phuket ,so you should know where’s nice and beautiful places, I got information about that from sites and Lonely Planet guide book, that’s what I do.

I took this Pictures on the Pier of Tavorn Beach Village Resort and spa.

That Pier one of my favorite place for me even evening time, because from front of the pier you can see beautiful ocean, on the right side u can see small hill with a villa on the top of it and on the left side u can see Patong beach, sometimes in the night many people celebrate the night with firework. So, what a beautiful pier it is.

I took this picture when the sun set was starting to go down in Kalim Beach

The sunset in Phuket is beautiful, one of the famous place for sunset view in Phuket is promthep cape view point, you need to drive in around 40 minutes from Patong beach.

Rawai is a 'working beach' and a launching point for day boat excursions out to Phuket's surrounding islands. Many boats available for hire line its shores, where you can arrange a trip to Coral island, Koh Lone or Racha Island,for fishingor snorkel trip. The beach is also used as a mooring point for the many fishermen who live in the area.

Phuket Town.

One of tourist destination in phuket is Phuket old town, because of the architectures is still in an old Asian style, even restaurant and bar, many tourist visit the old town because of the situation more quite than another places in phuket.

One of the old building in phuket town.

One of bar and café

Night situation in one of the roads in phuket old town, many Chinese living in this old town.

So far during my second training in Phuket island is amazing because many things I do in here than I like to learn culture in Thailand. They are totally different with Indonesia, one more thing that why I like to stay in here is the culinar, the taste of the foods are different. They made the food more spicy and delicious, hhmm..yuummi…

So what are you waiting for guys…?? Just visit Phuket and welcome to Thavorn. J

Old Town with beautiful lights

Created by: Rahmat "Iyeck" Hidayat (Indonesian Trainee)