Thailand is a different world.
Good day everyone! (For everyone who travels to Thailand for the first time, it will be very useful, do not be too lazy to read everything)
The review is rather not about the hotel, but in general about a trip to the country of Thailand, Siam, and now Thailand. This is the first trip to such an exotic and distant country.
And so, in the hands of a ticket for two to the island of Phuket. Bought a month before the trip. Everything was smooth until a day before departure, Utair pleased us: 1. Flight delay for 6 hours, 2. We are not flying to the island itself, but to the Krabi mainland (which is more than 200 km from the island). By the way, when we landed, we looked at the coast of Krabi - a paradise on our planet, it is very beautiful there!
However, we landed as scheduled (flight 12 hours). Naturally, everyone was tired, I wanted to get out of the stuffy cabin of the plane to take a breath of fresh air. Yes, where is it! Are you talking about the "fastest" Estonians? Ha, no matter how! The most of the most are Thais! They are never in a hurry. . . We will face this more than once. We were released after 45 minutes of "marinating" in the cabin. But the quick passage through customs was offset by a long wait for the bus driver. By the way, this practice is interesting in Thailand - luggage is carried not in the luggage compartment of the bus with tourists, but in special covered pickups that carry luggage in front of the bus. This is how you arrive at the hotel, and the luggage is already waiting for you))). We waited for about 45 minutes and drove off, while we were looking at the nature and life of the Thais. They drive on the left, like in Japan. 50% jeep pickups, 10% light sedans and 40% mopeds. Cars are not very expensive, but all new, well-groomed. Almost no one observes traffic rules, and the traffic signs themselves, except for signs in Thai, and somewhere in English there are no more. Somehow I went to the crossroads and point-blank tried to find at least some sign of priority - I did not find it. How do they destroy?? ? By 4 o'clock by bus, we finally stopped at the island. We only managed to set up a couple of hotels when we got into a traffic jam (! ) in Patong. It was already about 6 pm, the guide says there is always a traffic jam at this time, and there is no way around. After pushing with other cars, we finally escaped. When we found out that we were the last ones in the delivery, we were very upset, because imagine how much we had to keep on our way and it’s still just a stone’s throw away, anet... (((Another 2 hours have passed...
Hallelujah!! ! The rest of the travelers sang in chorus when they saw the sign of Natalie Resort. But, here the hotel manager "pleased" us, the rooms that Coral Travel booked for us are occupied and we will be accommodated for the night in a nearby hotel-bunkhouse!! ! Scandal, but our guide from Koral said, they say, be patient ((( Honestly, I didn’t even have the strength to argue. I won’t talk about the rooming house, I don’t need to, but the next day at 2 o’clock we were really moved to Natalie. The hotel is new, if I'm not mistaken in 2010. Everything is clean, everything works, although the staff does not speak Russian, and English is not very good, although they always understood each other after gestures and grimaces). rather, it is a legushatnik, 10 minutes walk from the sea without sharp drops, the food is certainly not for gourmets, but for all the time I have not had a wild case when I feel sick from the "choice". If you came to eat, then the hotel is not for you, if for sea and new experiences, it is quite possible. We only had breakfast, had lunch and dinner in numerous restaurants and coffee shops. Usually lunch for two cost us ~ 600-1000 baht. Well, if some pretentious restaurant, then from 1500 baht. By the way, about the local currency BAT, Baht is practically equal to our ruble 1 = 1. The advice is this, do not take the dollar ry, take our rubles, there they are easily exchanged for baht and there are a lot of exchangers!
The nearest beach is Kata Beach - a large beach, a lot of people in good weather. When we arrived, it was raining for 3.5 days and there were very few people on the beach. As soon as the sun came out, sometimes there was nowhere to step. The sea itself for the entire time of our stay was not calm, sometimes the waves were so big that sometimes it was risky to go into the water. Kata is certainly a good beach, but don't be too lazy to go to Kata Noi (small). It is much cleaner, less crowded and quieter. Mostly Europeans and Australians rested there, there are few Russians there. And there are more fish there than anywhere else. When we found this beach, then we only went there. And I also want to say about the beaches, you probably heard about the singing sand on Karon Beach, how pretentious and prestigious it is? So, the fact that he is singing is yes. And if you say how clean it is, it's not really probably the 2nd on the island in the ranking of the dirtiest beaches on the island after Patong !! ! Very creepy, do not recommend!
Back to Thai food. Thai food is spicy, sometimes tough! When we ordered, we immediately stipulated "But spicy! ". Large selection of seafood every day ate something new. Everything is very delicious. There was such a case. We went to a coffee-restaurant (we had already eaten in it), I ordered myself pasta, which I liked before. They brought pasta from under the noodles "Doshirak"!! ! Well, of course, with their seasonings and ingredients. We were positive, and it made us laugh more. I did not make a scandal, and you know, you will lick your fingers!
We went on excursions: Free sightseeing, Similan Islands and "On the Elephants".
Free review. Be sure to go, it's very interesting! There was a Buddhist temple, a snake show, a confectionery factory (rather it's a sweet shop where you can try every product! Can you imagine what it is like when the Russians heard "for free"! ) And a latex products factory. Of course, this tour is rather aimed at getting out of the den. signs from your wallet, a lot of divorce, but it's still worth the trip.
The Similan Islands are nothing to describe here, this must be seen.
Well, I don’t remember the name of this excursion, “To Elephants”, in general, we went to a pineapple farm, rafting on the river, a turtle farm, riding elephants, feeding wild monkeys and something else...
Regarding the weather, as I wrote above, at first it was raining tropical rain for 3.5 days. Low clouds, that even the Buddha was not visible on the mountain, but then the sun both lit up and did not stop) By the time you reach the beach, you are already burning. Your faithful traveler everywhere is an umbrella, first from the rain, then from the wild sun. Fortunately, the hotel prudently in each room has zoniki for free.
Well, now about shopping. There are 2 famous shopping centers on the island - Festival and Jan-chi-lung. Cheaper in Dzhana, the Festival is more pretentious. Jan is a large shopping center, it will take half a day to get around. Prices, well, maybe a bit lower than in Russia, but the quality of things personally seemed to me higher. Huge selection of clothes and electronics. Be sure to leave a certain amount in the shopping center. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you about taxi prices. Taxi is very expensive 1000-2000 baht. There is an alternative - "Tuk-tuk" for an acceptable 600 Thai rubles can be reached from Kata to Patong, but in the evening the price tag can double! If you take a ride on the Tuk-tuk, you will not regret anything, with the breeze and under the light-music you will have fun.
Patong (in the evening) - probably the capital of debauchery and vulgarity. There is a street, I don’t remember the name, and so they block it in the evening and there it is. Of course, there are many "transformers", but not naked ones. A lot of strip bars, barkers with signs lure tourists with the offer "you don't have to pay anything, it's free, just watch", but in fact, when you enter, if you don't take anything for a certain amount, you are shown the exit.
A lot of foreigners can be found on this street. I often saw American football championship matches broadcast in the bar, so the Americans themselves sit in these pubs. Oddly enough, there were few Russians. Well, maybe I didn't see it. But in general, on the beach, in the city, Russians are often found, mainly from Siberia or the Far East. Not enough from the European part of the country. There are many Chinese, very friendly and smiling. The funniest are the Japanese. They are really kind of funny. They rage in their company (never disturbing anyone), they are always positive, but when you turn to them, for some reason they are very shy))) And also, dear mother, they themselves cannot figure out their photographic equipment)))))))) ))). They rotate the camera for a long time in search of turning on and the shutter button.
Of course, and my word about the Thais themselves. Sometimes I think this is the most tolerant and friendly people. The smile never leaves their faces. And when you say something else in Thai (eg Greeting - Savadi-ka from a woman and Savadi-crab from a man), that's it! Great location guaranteed! Happy as children. You can joke around with them too. When every day we went to the sea past the Thai massage parlors, the girls barkers shouted: "Messsssssshshshshshsh !!!!!!!!! ", and it was every white day. On the second week I go by, silence !! ! Well, how is it? Not usual! Do you know how turkeys are teased?? ? So here I am, too, loudly stretched out “Myassssssssssssssssssssshsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssinging !!!!!!!!! ” that until the last days of our stay when they saw us shouted “ Myassssssshshshshshshsh!!!!!!!!! )))))))) Moreover, as I understand it, they themselves “smoked” jokingly rave like horses. Thai and resentment walk along different streets, this is 100%. Even the cops showed all 33 teeth when they stopped our van for checking documents when we waved to it. What is there, we were on an excursion to Semilans, a Thai Navy destroyer stood on the pier, guarded by sentries every time we passed and greeted him waving his hands, his monolithic gloomy face broke into a smile).
During our entire stay, we only once met a local bum, well, maybe he has an apartment / house, but we constantly saw him day and night all the time in one place. He did not pester with alms, he just sat in nirvana. We called him the Buddha because he always sat in the lotus position. It's definitely not a monk!
It is worth mentioning our guide, if you can call him a guide. His name was Paulo, but in fact he was Russian Pavel. Still the lazy one. We saw him only once, when he "shoved" us excursions that are around the corner 2 times cheaper. After that, he completely lost interest in us. I will say this CaralTravel disappointed me, next time I will look for other operators.
And so, the journey was coming to an end, suitcases were packed, souvenirs were bought, a tan on the body. Departure from the room was scheduled for 02-00 at night. Naturally, even no one could even try to take a nap. Everyone gathered on this flight in the lobby, waiting for the bus. We wait 15 minutes, we wait 30 minutes, we wait 45 minutes. There is no bus. We call the guide Pasha, and he tells us that the flight was postponed 5 hours later, that is, the collection is at 07-00. Okay, let's talk by numbers. The picture is repeated as a carbon copy at 07-00. We wait 45 minutes, there is no bus. We call Pasha, he says like: “I just received an SMS”, we are going to 14-00... ” Is this normal? We didn't sleep all night because of the guide's sluggishness. We have already been kicked out of the rooms, we are sitting "homeless" in the lobby with things. The bus arrives at 14-10. . . That's not all!! ! The guide (not Pasha) says that UTair is rescheduling the flight for tomorrow and from the master's shoulder makes us an indulgence and books rooms at another hotel. Did we still have to kiss their feet? And now, 6 hours on the bus, we collected all the other "sufferers" and by 8 pm we stopped at the Missin Golf Spa & Resort 5 * Hotel. It turned out that in this hotel they only feed us (by the way, we didn’t like the food at all and the drinks are paid! ) And at 10 o’clock we leave. Where were these body movements then?
By 02-00 o'clock in the morning we drive up to the airport. In fact, this airport is more intended for domestic flights than for international ones. Once again we were made happy, registration will be only in 3-4 hours because the plane on which we are supposed to fly has not yet arrived. Cool, huh? ! Ours have already begun to slowly go crazy. Girls from nothing to do arranged rides on luggage carts through an empty airport entertaining the stewards of the terminal. The rides ended until one of the girls fell and hurt herself. The Russian people are resourceful even in the most difficult situations. Registration took 3 hours due to the fact that only two check-in desks were working and the machines for printing tickets were out of order on both, after an hour of opening / closing the printer-typewriter, it dawned on them to write manually. Well, can you imagine what it is, the speed of Thais + writing by hand...
When we got on the plane and the wing of the plane was slowly but surely taking off from the land of Siam, we were happy that soon the house, and sad that we were flying away. There are 15 hours of flight ahead, + an hour of refueling in Bishkek. Regardless, I really enjoyed the trip. It's worth visiting Thailand again. Good luck to all!