Free time activities

Besides studying we also have lots of free time and Phuket offers lots of activities to spend your time and money. Going to the beach is always an option and there are plenty of beaches to choose from.

Patong beach is closest to the university (15 minutes by motorcycle) but also the most crowded beach on Phuket. It's full of tourists, restaurants, bars, nightclubs and people selling all kinds of stuff. If you're looking for entertainment it's the right place to go but for swimming and relaxing on the beach there are better places. There are also many water sports available in Patong.

Karon beach is located a 10 minute drive to the south of Patong beach. It's a large beach with a volleyball field and when we went there it was not too crowded and the sea was perfect to swim.

Kata beach is just 5 minutes south of Karon beach and a very nice but expensive place. There are lots of activities you can do there such as jet ski (people told me that you shouldn't try it on Phuket, because there are lots of scams, who will charge you hundreds of Euros even if there is just a small scratch on the jet ski), banana boat, surfing and para-sailing. The scenery is also very beautiful but take your own lunch because a simple Pad Thai can cost you around 200 Baht (5 Euros) on Kata beach.

Kata Noi beach is at the southern tip of Kata beach and has been my favourite so far. It's a lot smaller than the other beaches and there are also a lot less tourists. The wave were quite big when I went there and it was great fun playing in the water and diving through the waves.

Photos: Patong, Karon, Kata, Kata Noi

Apart from just hanging out at the beach there is lots of other stuff you can do here. Last week we went bowling (60 Baht/person/game)and two weeks ago asiaexchange arranged surfing lessons for those who were interested. It cost us 1000 Baht (25 Euros) for a 1,5 hour lesson (it might seem like a short time but trust me, it's more than enough!) and we could use the boards for the whole day. It was lots of fun but the next day my body felt like I got run over by the All Blacks... ouuch! Of course we've also had some pool parties since around half of the people are living in two houses which have pools. So don't worry about feeling bored in Phuket, there is always something to do here.

Courses

My first two weeks at PSU are over and so far it has been a great time here. All of my courses have been very interesting so far and I think I will learn a lot during my semester here. Especially when I look at the books that we got from PSU (they are included for asiaexchange students) this semester is going to be quite some work.



Originally I had classes from Monday till Friday but luckily we could persuade our lecturers to move the Friday classes to other days, so we can have a long weekend.

Principles of Marketing (Mr. David):
It's a mixed class with Thai students as well as exchange students and we're around 50 students in that course. I really like this class because the teacher is quite funny and he explains everything very well. The course hasn't been too difficult but I still think that you can learn quite a lot there. Another plus is that the teacher is a native English speaker (maybe British?) so I can improve my English at the same time as learning about marketing. (He is also teaching leadership and management). I can really recommend his classes.

Strategic Management (Mr. Somjate):
This is another mixed class with Thai and foreign students and it's about the same size as marketing. This course is a bit more demanding than marketing but since there is lots of group work involved you get to practice everything quite often. Even though the teacher is Thai his English is very good so there are no problems to follow his class.

International Business (Mrs. Mary):
This class is foreign students only (around 20 students) and so far it has been my favourite course. The teacher is American and she shares lots of experiences she has made in the industry with us. This makes her class very interesting. We have quizzes every week and the first one hasn't been too difficult so I think if you put some work into this class it should be possible to get a good mark.

Thai language (Mrs. June):
You learn a lot in this course but it is also very demanding. We go through the capters very quickly so it is necessary to review everything regularly to keep up with the vocabs. Unfortunately we don't learn how to write Thai in this course.

Koh Phi Phi – "The Beach"

After the orientation asiaexchange had organized a trip to Koh Phi Phi, the island next to where “The Beach” with Leonardo diCaprio was shot. If you are now thinking about the quiet paradise island that you can see in the movie – forget it. The place was so crowded that it would be impossible to build another small shop on it and even though it was low season, the whole island was full of tourists. At night the beach turned into a dance floor and you had to keep a distance of at least 70 meters to the bars to be able to have a normal conversation. If you are into partying, don’t mind being surrounded by other tourists and want to spend a couple of Baht more on food & accommodation compared to other places in Thailand (we stayed at the Harmony House and paid 400 Baht per night for a very basic room with bathroom, fan and cold water), Koh Phi Phi is THE place to be. However, even if you’re not a party person, Koh Phi Phi offers beautiful scenery and if you charter a boat for a daytrip you can go to less crowded but still very beautiful beaches.

On Saturday we all went on such a trip and it was definitely worth the 250 Baht we paid for it. First we went to another island and spend some time at the beach. We could also go snorkeling; however you could hardly see anything (i.e. nothing at all) due to the recent rainfall and the rough sea. Hanging out at the beach and playing in the water was lots of fun though. Afterwards we went cliff jumping and some of the asiaexchange students were brave enough to try it… I wasn’t one of them. In the late afternoon we arrived back in Koh Phi Phi.

That evening Sairozi and I had a nice dinner at the beach to celebrate our 3^rd anniversary. Even on Koh Phi Phi we could find a quiet place and we had a wonderful evening. The next day it was already time to return to Phuket, because the following day university started.

Phuket - orientation, accommodation and course selection

After lots of travelling we finally reached Phuket on September 27. Phuket welcomed us with heavy rain that wouldn't stop for days. But luckily Gerard, who I met on facebook, offered to pick us up at the airport and drive us to the university, because he had brought his wife to the airport the same afternoon. He runs a business renting out motorcycles in Phuket so the first thing we did was getting a motorcycle. It cost us 2,500 Baht (around 65 Euros) per month including 2 helmets.
Gerard and the other asiaexchange students recommended us the Ormthong hotel for the first couple of nights. It's located within 10 minutes walking distance of the university (2 minutes from Baan Maksong, another accommodation option) and costs 500 Baht per night (1 room/2 people). The rooms are quite large with fridge, aircon, TV, internet, hot water and a small balcony. After the first night we decided to stay there for the entire month which costs us 7,000 Baht plus water and electricity. So far I'm glad that I've made this decision, because the staff has been very friendly and when we had problems with the internet they did their best to fix it as fast as possible.


The next two days I was busy attending the asiaexchange orientation. Unfortunately, I had missed the first two days when the important stuff was discussed, so I had to figure things out on my own. Luckily, the other students were very friendly and helpful, so in the end it wasn't too difficult to e.g. buy the school uniform or get the fotos for the student ID taken.
I also had to change some of the courses that I selected because Human Resource Management was at the same time as two of the other classes I intended to take and International Economics wasn't offered at all. In the end I decided to take the following classes: Marketing, Strategic Management, International Business and Thai language.

Singapore

After we had collected our visas on Friday we decided to visit Sairozi’s aunt in Singapore. On Saturday we went to KL Sentral to buy our tickets. Two 2^nd class tickets for the 6 hours journey from KL Sentral to Woodlands ciq cost us 68 ringgit (34 each). We also bought the return tickets at KL Sentral because tickets bought in Singapore are more expensive than those bought in Malaysia (even though for the same train!!). It’s also more expensive to start your journey in Woodlands, Singapore (34 Singapore Dollars/ 88 ringgit/ 20 Euro) than in Johor Bahru, Malaysia (33 ringgit/ 8 Euro). That’s why we bought our return ticket from Johor Bharu to KL Sentral. We took the night train at 11pm and reached Singapore in the morning at around 6.30am. The train station in Singapore is located right next the border to Malaysia so we had to take a bus and the LRT to go into town which took around 40 minutes.

Sairozi’s aunt met us at the LRT station and took us to her employer’s house. We received a very warm welcome and they had already prepared some maps, public transportation tickets and even food (Sushi… yummy!) for us. Then we headed into town to see Marina Bay. However, it was a bit difficult to go around the city because the Formula 1 race was held in Singapore that evening so many roads had been closed. Luckily, we still managed to find our way thanks to the security staff that was everywhere around the F1 track. Singapore and Marina Bay left a very good impression. It was extremely modern, clean and everything was well-organized. In the evening we went back to meet Sairozi's aunt and have dinner together. She had prepared some delicious Chinese-Indonesian food for us. Unfortunately we only had one day to visit Singapore because the next day we already returned to Kuala Lumpur to catch our flight the following day.