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#1
18-01-2008, 19:24
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My Experiences...
Ladies and gentlemen, I have for the past couple of year’s been using this forum as a valuable source of information for forthcoming trips to Phuket and I feel it is about time I a) thanked those people who have given their advice and recommendations and b) offered some advice of my own that others may find useful.
It is not beyond the realms of possibility that this will be my one and only post, but as stated earlier I have benefited from this forum and hope that others will benefit from my own experiences, so here goes… My trips to Phuket are always with a group of friends whom share the same outlook to life; work hard in “Blighty” and work even harder on holiday! We are all in our mid to late 30’s and have fairly good incomes, which allows us a certain lifestyle and for that reason we tend to do the higher end stuff during our holidays. We have now been five times and are due to be back in Phuket in March this year, we have always rented Villa’s during our stays, mainly because of the freedom and privacy it gives us, we have stayed in Villa Lilla in Kamala four times, Baan Sabai once and in March we will be staying in another Villa in Patong. In terms of how we get to Phuket from the UK, we fly business class and have flown with BA – nice beds, EVA – nice seats great service and will be flying with China Airways via Amsterdam this time, bit concerned about seat comfort but the flights were under £1000 – bargain me thinks! We often stay in Bangkok for a couple of days, have done the Siam Reap thing in Cambodia – recommend doing but not for more than a couple of days. Fly down to Phuket with Airasia or Nok Air - who were cheapest this time £100 for three of us return. My experiences of Villa renting are very good, being able to step out of your room suffering from a hangover, with your hand in your pants checking everything is still there from the night before, is far easier and more acceptable if you know those other people by the pool are your friends and not a Eastern European buffalo who checked in the night before – No offence to Eastern European Buffalo's! Villa Lilla is a lovely villa, the owner is a friendly chap and the villa itself is great if your happy to be slightly away from all the action, we have always eaten just across the road and have spend many an hour in the Kamala Lawn Bowls Club throwing black balls backwards and forwards in an activity that in any other location or situation, I would never dream of doing! Baan Sabai is a cracking villa, it’s expensive don’t get me wrong, but the staff are amazing, the food is to die for and the delight on the faces of your overnight guests when you get home is fantastic to see! In March we are staying in a different villa, from the pictures I have seen it looks magnificent, it does not have live in staff, but it is close to Patong itself so we don’t expect too many problems on the food/laundry front. The villas we have rented have been through Phuket Luxury Villas or direct with the owner, can recommend “PLV” – this is not meant to be an advert just advice – but they are expensive and do deal only with high end stuff. Activities wise, we do the normal BG stuff, all LT we pay what we want to pay, know what the going rate is and go from there. As mentioned previously we do the Lawn Bowls thing a couple of times each visit, it really is good fun even if the preconception is that it’s a hobby of old codgers. Sometimes play golf either at Phuket Country Club or Laguna, prefer Country Club but only for the reason that it’s more relaxed and the caddies wear “Smurf” suits! We also tend to do a couple of scuba dives, this is done in conjunction with the chartering of Blue Lena, a 38 odd foot cruiser, absolutely fantastic experience, even though its quite expensive, which I can recommend highly if your budget can manage the cost – they will arrange a Dive Master plus all the gear needed. Never knowingly been to MTB; may have unknowingly! Although think this time we will make an efforts to at least pop in for a couple. Well that’s about it, I hope this will be useful to someone along the way, I could spend hours telling this or that story, but overall the thing my friends and I like the most about Phuket is that every day creates its own story! Once again thank you to all those BM's who make this forum possible, life generally only gives back what you put in and clearly some people put alot into this forum. 
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#3
18-01-2008, 21:27
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Hear... hear... Totally agree. Welcome to the board and I hope you keep posting from time to time.
__________________
 Operation SnowGirl will continue 
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#4
18-01-2008, 21:28
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Welcome and I agree, please keep posting ..plenty of info on here about cheap hotels etc...very little really from the higher end...your insight on villa rental I found very interesting. Question... just curious...why do you go cheap flights on the BKK to Phuket sections? A few thousand baht more and you are in business class with Thai, waiting in the lounge and enjoying the "free" scotch etc?...That part was in clear contrast to every other part of your trips...as I say, just curious. Once again..Welcome and.....Enjoy __________________ "Heaven holds a sense of wonder...and I wanted to believe..."
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"Heaven holds a sense of wonder...and I wanted to believe..."
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#7
19-01-2008, 03:07
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Very interesting reading when not on a budget. The Villa style accommodation is definitely an option I would like to hear more about.
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#8
19-01-2008, 12:59
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sounds like you like phuket man, i was in phuket 3 times before i went to pattaya, i taught phuket was paradice, you should always keep your options open and dont get caught up goin to the 1 place all the time, try a week in pattaya, try to see all the go go's etc, def worth it...
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#11
20-01-2008, 17:02
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Good summary
Welcome to the board.
 I have flown China Air Business Class from Ams.The seats are huge and the staff very helpful. 
__________________
 If you can't take a joke you shouldn't have joined up!!! 
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#13
21-01-2008, 15:22
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My word do we put on airs! 5555 you want to have a party? get out of the first class and we will teach you how to party. While I agree flying business or above, I like hotels where I can meet and party with others who are there to have fun. Somehow your vacation sounds more like a retreat or team building with coworkers, then learning and experiencing new things that you have not prepackaged and brought with you. Perhaps your afraid of meeting new people, or your teacher marked "Does Not Play Well With Others". You will find most in LOS very forgiving. To truly enjoy LOS you need to step out of you comfort zone, or you really have not learned much from the Thai people.
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#14
21-01-2008, 16:15
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So this guy chooses to stay in nice villas with his friends, but states that he does everything else we all do. Your response Slow is, to get out in the real world, and this you feel is only acheived staying in a standard of hotel you like going to, as in your opinion, this is the only way to learn from Thai people?? I know we all have our own opinions here but really yours is the oddest post I've read in ages, but giving you the benefit of doubt, accepting I may have misread your post, please enlighten me how staying in the hotel you choose, teaches him more with regards to learning much from Thai people??? more so than all the other things he chooses to do to maximise his enjoyment from his holiday. And whilst at it, do tell us, what he has not learned that is leaving his life so empty???
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If I havn't done it already, then i'm gunna do it today.
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#15
22-01-2008, 00:28
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Re-reading my last post, from very late yesterday, I can understand that it could sound a bit offensive, please believe me, I indented no harm or foul. Some years ago I ran into a strange group of people that always travel together, and stay at the very best hotels. Landing in a new and exciting country they are picked up at the airport and whisked away to their ivory tower. They leave the hotel for a couple of guided tours, watch the cultural show put on by the hotel staff and return to their home telling everyone that they are now an authority about that country and the people. Then there is the people that backpack through a country staying at hostels eating with and dealing with the people and culture everyday. These are two extremely different people, but illustrate my point. Traveling with friends and staring in only the best places really don't prepare you to be a seasoned traveler. I feel I am still not making my point, I would much rater have my birthday bash at MTB surrounded by a bunch of people there to have a good time then at a villa with a pier group who are going to tell me what a great guy I am, because they travel with me all the time. I would rather be part of the fish bowl then the guy simply looking in at all the strange fish.
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#17
22-01-2008, 01:14
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Hi JBR
Welcome to the board. I am flying out bus. class with China in march. I will keep an eye out for a happy group of guys in the KLM lounge in AMS. By the way the aircraft is fairly old. The seats are not flat bed but the service, food and liquor all make up for the old seats. Have a good trip 
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#18
22-01-2008, 01:48
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I'll be happy if the stewardesses are of the same visual quality as my trip last year...i know i'm shallow and easily pleased!
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#19
23-01-2008, 05:32
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Thank you to those BM’s who have been kind enough to post replies to mine, I really had no intention to post anything further but life in my ivory tower seems to be quite boring at the moment!
Pleased to hear the positive comments about China Air, thanks. The purpose of my original post was to say thank you and to try and give other potential visitors to Phuket another option on the accommodation front/activities available, before previous visits I have done searches both on Google and this forum looking for advice on boat chartering, private villa’s, golf etc often finding websites promising nothing or being led up a one way street. I don’t profess that we visit orphanages or take pencils into schools but we do try and see both sides of the coin and certainly we “involve” ourselves in the local way of life as best we can, but when it is all said and done we are on holiday and our holidays do not involve living out of a rucksacks preparing for the day we can become “seasoned travellers”. Anyway must go, I can hear someone calling me….. “Rapunzel ….. Rapunzel are you up there?”
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#20
29-01-2008, 09:46
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Yeah that was me...I'll trade you three rabbits for your hare and..still curious on the the discount part of the trip Question... just curious...why do you go cheap flights on the BKK to Phuket sections? A few thousand baht more and you are in business class with Thai, waiting in the lounge and enjoying the "free" scotch etc?...That part was in clear contrast to every other part of your trips...as I say, just curious. Once again..Welcome and.....Enjoy Hope to see more than two posts from ya...Enjoy.
__________________
"Heaven holds a sense of wonder...and I wanted to believe..."
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#21
29-01-2008, 10:00
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Have to say Baan Sabai is one of my favorite villas around.. Could do with a larger pool, but love that area there.. The mater suite is superb.
Did you notice the 'questionable' pictures in the gym of the body builder guys with the large snake ?? I was wondering of the owner had read anything about Freud  ??
__________________
Men have only 2 emotional states, hungry and horny.. So ladies, if you see me without an erection, make me a sandwich.
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#22
30-01-2008, 10:45
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Hi all,
Having finding and reading these forums it has help me alot for my last 2 visits[2006&2007] to Phuket. However for my 1st visit back in 1999,I had no info about ST OR LT etc.Didn't know where Phuket was in Thailand.Remember picking up tg at banana disco taking her back to hotel,had no idea on how much for ST,LT.Asking tg confused me even more as she said up to you.So next morning I offered 700baht which she accepted.Upon reading these forums I gathered she must of thought I was a cheapie charlie but she did say she will visit me again but she did'nt. Thanks to these forums I now know better and never made that mistake again.
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#23
30-01-2008, 10:56
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maybe a tad light but 700bht in 1999 would have been fine mate...don't beat yourself up!!.....she probably found someone to pay her 1k the next night...otherwise she would have been around the next night for her 700... Inflation skews perceptions over time!
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 ....but of course I was verey verey draaank at the taaame!!!
Last edited by nelsonone : 30-01-2008 at 10:58.
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