Travel writing by Ong Yun Qing

Phuket was the place I went for a holiday for four days from 28th May to 31st May 2023 to celebrate my brother’s ninth birthday. I had a whale of a time there and would want to share my experience with you.

28th May 2023

I arrived at Phuket at 2.30pm and the airport staff were very friendly and polite. Then, we went to our hotel—Marriott Vacation Club, by van and checked in.

Marriott Vacation Club is a four-star hotel. It has many buildings scattered around a large area and we will have to walk or travel by a golf cart to every part of the hotel. Although it was far from the airport and the town, we chose this hotel for our vacation because there are many activities we could do in and around the hotel. There were many facilities such as a game room, restaurants and shops in the hotel, and a shopping complex is located right beside the hotel. It was still raining but the hotel facilitators were extremely friendly and they were wearing pink coloured clothes which looked like Baju Melayu.

We got to our room’s building in a golf cart and went up to our room. When we went in, we were fascinated. Our hotel room looked like an apartment house and it was huge. It has a kitchen, dining room and living room, as well as a balcony and two bedrooms to accommodate all of us. There were bathtubs in both bathrooms, and a total of 3 televisions.

Since it was raining, we just stayed in our hotel while my father went out to buy dinner at a restaurant near our hotel. There was an enormous chess board, a mini golf game, a ping pong table, and a popcorn machine in the game room of the hotel and my parents were watching a movie right beside us. My grandparents, on the other hand, spent the day resting.

29th May 2023

We went on a tour to four parts of Phuket. We were picked up by a van and a tour guide led us everywhere. We originally planned to go to a tiger shelter but decided to skip that for The Big Buddha. There was a big buddha on top of 5 sets of stairs and it was the biggest in the whole country. According to what I remembered, the Big Buddha was imported from Ukraine to Thailand and that was one of the fun facts of the Big Buddha. We bought lots of snacks there like prawn fries, chips, walnut cookies, and ice cream. We also saw an enormous bell there and we hit it several times. It was loud.

We then had another journey of about 20 minutes to visit Wat Chalong Temple and take loads of photos there. The temples were made of marble, gold, and emeralds. The Wat Chalong Temple is the largest of 29 temples of Phuket. It was built in 1837. Some remains of older structures have been found however it is unknown exactly how old they are. The temple is dedicated to two highly venerable monks, Luang Pho Chaem and Luang Pho Chuang, who led the Chinese rebellion in 1876. With their knowledge of herbal medicine, they also helped the injured people during the war. My mother and I never went into the main temple as we wanted to take more photos of other parts there. However, my father and brother, who were very athletic and curious, went in the temple and climbed to the highest part of it.

We then went to Khao Rang Hill and bought drinks there. Khao Rang is one of Phuket’s most famous viewpoints. It is located to the northwest of the city centre, and offers views out over the town, to the south of the island, neighbouring islands and along the hills forming the ‘spine’ of the island, upon which sits the Phuket Big Buddha that we visited earlier.

We also took photos there at a part of a big building on the hill. We did not go that far up because we were with my grandparents and they could not get far on foot. However, we still had a whale of a time there. My brother stroked some of the wild cats and my grandma and I went to a unique toilet. Why? It is because the wall to the outside was transparent and you could see the view outside the toilet. There were many trees and plants all over. the curious me who also was scared of heights looked outside and God, we were high up.

Our last destination was The Old Town of Phuket. The Old Town of Phuket is in the heart of Phuket Town, which is the capital of the island. Moreover, the historic area is extremely walkable. There are three parts of the town, but we explored one part. That part was a road with many shops and the buildings were very colourful. If I did not go there in person and experience it, if I had just searched it up on Google, I would have mistaken it for George Town. Other than that, I spent around 1000 Baht to buy souvenirs for my friends and myself. My father, brother and grandparents on the other side were buying fried fish snacks for my grandfather. We went back to the hotel after some time exploring. It was a one hour’s road trip from the town area to our hotel.

My parents and grandmother went to the beach to enjoy the view and take photos. It was not raining then, but about 45 minutes later it started to rain. They came back soaking wet. We then had dinner the same as the day before and went to sleep.

30th May 2023

The third day was the most fun. We finally went swimming in the morning. We first went to a swimming pool that was way too deep for children so we went to find another one and almost got lost in the maze of buildings, swimming pools, lakes, bridges, and gardens. On the way, there were rocks, plants, and trees all around. We found a beach and found a canopy. I was forced to take pictures on the canopy. I have no idea why I was scared to get on it. We also saw the sea in front of us and enjoyed the picturesque scenery of the waves splashing at the shore. Then when we came back to our senses, we went on to find a pool to swim at.

We then found a suitable pool which was 0.7 metres deep and there were a lot of people. I tried going to the part where it was almost my height which was 150 centimetres and my father got me and my brother to the part where it was 200 centimetres deep. My brother almost drowned when my father was bringing me there. But good thing, I could handle myself so he went to take care of my brother. On the way back to our hotel room, it started raining heavily. We rushed back and washed ourselves up. After that we walked to the shopping complex to have our lunch.

We then went for lunch at Love Noodles and saw a trishaw right outside the restaurant. We took photos with the trishaw and then enjoyed our lunch. We also went to the giant, life-sized chess board and a mini golf game thingy at the game zone of our hotel. My brother made seven hole-in-ones, seven!

We then had a movie night at the theatre while my grandparents rested in our hotel room. My brother was playing chess with another guest and my father was taking photos. My mother and I were watching the movie “Brave” . We then walked back to our hotel room after that. I bathed in the bathtub for about 20 minutes and almost fell asleep. Then, I actually went to sleep after my bath.

31st May 2023

My last day at Phuket was not filled with as much fun than the third day. It was really sad for me and my family to leave Phuket as we had made many memories there. We then departed from Phuket for home in an hour’s flight with Firefly. That was the end of our 4 days 3 nights trip.

Phuket is a beautiful place to visit and admire. However, try to avoid going during the monsoon season unless you want to get soaked in the rain while enjoying your trip there. I miss my time there and wish to have a chance to go there again soon.