Canal Village

Just bordering the lagoon is a small but high end shopping mall

named Canal Village, there are top notch souvenir shops, a Jim Thompson silk shop with great material and a real estate company who is selling the apartments and houses built around. Note that it is strictly forbidden by law for foreigners to own more than 49% of any land. 

They are selling this stuff with a expensive trick via a company where the seller has some rights, but this is also limited to 49% so they sell you this and the foreign buyer is totally at their disposal, if there is any conflict they can cut you out with a snap because all this is illegal under Thai law. They will put you in jail because you did something against the law, they will not touch the Thai people who screwed you with this scam because some money will shift and you have a real problem. 

There is also a scam with the ladies, assuming you have a girlfriend who officially buy this you will not have ANY rights after the purchase it belongs to her and usually this women has a Thai guy in the back who direct this cheat. So, what they usually do is after all money has been paid the lady will tell you to get lost, sell the stuff and disappear with her Thai husband and you have NO rights to claim anything because you are  foreigner. Every years hundreds to foreign guys are cheated this way.

Bangtao Beach

Phuket Airport

Phuket airport is the second biggest in the country after Bangkok

There are only 5 international airports in Thailand, the other three are Krabi, Chiang Mai and Hat Yai. Aircrafts come in from Asia and Europe with strong increase from Russia and China. 

Some Airport Data, IATA code is HKT. Location is at longitude 98° 18' 45" and latitude 08° 06' 38" and 82 feet above sea level, it is 32 km from the city and a few km south of the north end of the island. The airport can handle 24 flight operations per hour and is officially open 24 hours which is de facto not true, the runway is 3,000 m long and 45 m wide.

Phuket Airport from above

In times of cheap flights congestion in front of the immigration counter at arrival is inevitable. From time to time the airport gets an upgrade but the worst is probably at arrival when 2 aircraft come in within a few minutes time frame, usual wait in front of immigration can be up to one hour, there is no problem with going through custom, people are very friendly and tolerant. 

Cheap flights to Phuket

The biggest problem is transportation because the companies doing this job by minibus, limousine, taxi and bus make all kind of illegal tricks to cheat the traveler. The other day (2013) a group of EU ambassadors filed a official complain because of this and other problems ( jet ski scam etc.) but only lip service was the answer. 

The problem is that there is no public transport on the island 

since decades "influential" people (the mayor of a part of Patong and his son) block anything in this direction to make sure their limousines and tuk-tuk have passengers. Their monopoly prices are high, this is known to the authorities but they do nothing. Actually in September 2014 they got rid of the guy first they tried via a unsuccessful manhunt by the police and military and after they did it the "Thai Way" a killer sent him to hell. 

Only one half rotten bus is heading for downtown from sometimes in the morning to around 7 pm. This bus only leaves the place when it is filled up, means circling around between arrival and departure for about 20 minutes trying to get some more passengers. On top of it after leaving they don't drive the main road to town which would be the fastest way, they take the route to the next beach and again circle around to get the bus even more scrammed with local passengers etc. all together a drive to downtown can easily take up to 3 hours. 

There are minibuses around which usually only start after they are full and that can take a while, again after around 7 they try to shift the people to the limousines which are much more expensive. Now after comparing all this it is probably the best to take a taxi, they are at the right side after exiting the building. Just tell the driver to turn on the meter, if he refuse and ask around Baht 600,- (this is around the double of a similar ride in Bangkok) to downtown you could take it or ask at the counter for another one, the metered fare is about this price. They other day when I arrived in the evening the same story I finally got the airport police involved to find a taxi which was willing to turn on the counter.

If you are hungry use the restaurant upstairs, 

the food is excellent and not expensive. Avoid the fast food counter opposite to check in, their food is lousy, the employees totally ignorant and funny, just the items what you want to order is not available today, this is a "Chester Grill" outlet but when asking for a chicken leg, they usually answer, today not available.

Inside the domestic departure area is also a fast food restaurant from Burger King, their food is quite good, at least they serve real hamburger, about 10 mm thick. Not this flat junk you get at McDonald's downtown where the hamburger is 3 mm thick, actually looks like a small size tortilla between some bread. 

Everything is very similar to Bangkok's new and old airport. The real problem is that the whole organization is wrongly done. Thai immigration officers need about 3 times longer compared to their Singaporean counterpart. Beside of the wrong organisation they have a similar problem as in KL, having many counters but only a few are open.

Behind the counter row usually around 5 people are sitting around, chatting,  eating and whatever but working?

Here are some more airport pictures

 

Beach at the waterfront

Endless beaches to the south

Tropical waters and streams

Bus to Phuket

Phuket Weather

Phuket weather is usually excellent because of the topography at the Andaman coast

During October - November the Phuket weather pattern changes a little bit since the bad weather comes in from the other side, that means from the east over the South China Sea and brings torrential rain. Extreme flooding are the result but a big part of this flooding is just because the people don't clean ditches and make no escape channels for the water.

Usually the clouds are coming in from the Indian Ocean and deliver their wet load onto the hilly coastal region of Khao Lak to Ranong in Thailand and between Kawthaung (the former Victoria Point) and Myeik or Mergui further north in Myanmar. Actually Myeik, about 600km north of Phuket is one of the wettest place on earth.

Travel to Phuket

Travel to Phuket is by air, bus, ship, car or motorbike

Several airline operate scheduled and charter flights to the international airport from global destinations, some for very moderate prices. Notable Tiger Airways from Singapore and Airasia, plus Nok Air, Thai International and Bangkok Air. But they come in from everywhere, China, Russia, Germany, Scandinavia, England, Singapore, Malaysia etc.

Best prices are with Tiger Airways and Airasia, if you come from an overseas destination it would make some sense to use Thai International because they give you a very good domestic price as an add on to a international ticket.

A excellent idea is the bus in Thailand

It's low priced (Bangkok to Phuket Baht 680,- for a 12 hour ride), big and mini buses serve almost every town and village in the country and usually modern and new vehicles are used.

Some people from Singapore and Malaysia come with motorbikes, it's a bit of an adventure tour. Renting a car or motorbike could be an option, when already here try this car rental.

The island has got a new bus terminal in 2012 with all necessary facilities and this is still more or less in town on the airport road.