Thursday 11th March 2010

It was so cold on the flight that I had to get drink to warm myself up.

The flight ran out of ice so instead of having warm soda water to go with my vodka, I just drank it straight. With some orange that Shallen snuck onto the plane. Excellent!

Even though our flight into Singapore was delayed by about an hour, we still had a few hours in Singapore so we took a taxi and went in search of food. My cousin recommended we go to Lau Pa Sat as they are open 24 hours.

We reached there by taxi and although it was well lit, most of the stalls were closed. Pity, because we were hoping to find more choice in foods but we had to make do. It was, afterall, about 4am in the morning on a Thursday.

Chicken Feet - SD$3	Har Gow - SD$3
Yong Tau Foo - SD$2.5	I really couldn't decide what I wanted to eat, so in the end I just went with the yong tau foo. Pity that most of their foods weren't ready, so I just had it with some chinese cabbage and okra.

	Ling, Shallen and Meng polished off some char kuey teow, rice flour rolls and siew mai.

PHUKET - DAY ONE
We arrived in Phuket, a little tired but really excited to start our holiday! We took a taxi to our hotel - the Mercure Patong Beach Hotel - where we checked in early.

I had taken some nasi lemak onboard the flight from Singapore, but Tiger Airways have become rather strict over eating 'outside food' onboard. I had to wait until I got into the hotel room to scoff it down while we spent a few minutes relaxing before we headed out in search for some lunch!


SONG PEE NONG RESTAURANT

Myself: Green Papaya Salad - 80THB

Ling & Shallen: Pad Thai - 80THB

Meng: Fried Rice with Crab - 80THB

Myself: Mai Tai - 150THB
Ling & Shallen: Fresh Coconut Juice - 40THB
Meng: Pineapple Juice - 40THB

Now, if you're familiar with the Thai Baht, the above meal was soooo cheap! We just couldn't get over how little we paid for our lunch!

1 Australian Dollar converts to approximately 29.5 Thai Baht.

Back at the hotel pool, we enjoyed some cocktails at the swim up bar. I want a swim up bar at my house!!

Me and my mojito during HAPPY HOUR! - 115THB
That's like...less than AUD$4!

Later at night, we went for a walk in search of some street food for an early dinner. We were very happy to come across a few mobile stalls not too far from our hotel. At first glance, some may be turned off by the apparent lack of hygiene, but this is the real way to experience food when you're travelling in Asia.

Braised Pork Trotters! - I think it was 40THB

We weren't sure if these were trotters or knuckles, or in fact, what part of the pig they were from. But what arrived on the plate was absolutely delicious!!

Bee Hoon Soup with sliced Pork and Pork Balls - 25THB

Ling and Shallen had Pad Thai

After dinner, we walked the streets (hee hee). We were looking for some other street vendors. We came across this vendor selling an array of meat on sticks. There was marinated chicken, chicken wings, squid, livers and offal. I don't remember how much we paid for them...but it was really cheap!

I had some dried squid - or is it cuttlefish?
After being BBQ'd on the charcoals, it shrivelled up so about a quarter of the size and tasted like the dried cuttlefish you buy from Asian supermarkets.

As we walked, we grew more hungry. Yes, it was time to search for our second dinner!

We eventually settled on this place.

Myself: Seafood Tom Yum Soup - I don't remember how much I paid!

Shallen: Seafood Salad

Shallen also ordered a serve of stirfried vegetables.

Meng: Pad Thai with Prawns

Ling: Thai Green Chicken Curry

I enjoyed a nice cold Chang beer.

We went our own ways after dinner, but Meng and I weren't ready to call it a night yet so we hit the town.

After spending a few hours in a nightclub playing Jenga with the girls, we were hungry and in search for supper. We couldn't go by the fresh seafood on offer from the restaurants we passed.

We settled on the Cairo Restaurant. I don't remember much of the night because we were both pretty tipsy!

We picked out a fresh lobster!

We also ordered half a kilo of prawns that came grilled.
These prawns were MASSIVE!!
Just look at Meng's hand in the background to get perspective.

The lobster was also grilled and came with melted cheese.

OH MY GOD - WE WERE IN HEAVEN!!
The dinner cost 2200THB in total, including drinks and rice. That's just under AUD$75 for a whole 1kg lobster, 0.5kg of prawns, a fresh mango juice, lemon juice, and rice. I am loving this place!