The last 10 days have been quite eventful. It started with a Tuesday morning when Sairozi was driving me to my Thai language class. However when we entered the university the street was blocked by a huge snake (around 2 meters long and 15 centimeters thick!) and a security guard tried to catch it with a black plastic bag. The snake then quickly crossed the street so I was only a couple of minutes late for my class.
The following events at the university were luckily not as frightening as the snake. From Wednesday until Friday we had research week. However, most Finnish students used the time to conduct some beach research in Bali. Since Sairozi and I were staying in Phuket we decided to attend some of the discussions, workshops and presentations offered by the university. The Thai cooking workshop we joined was lots of fun for everyone (except for me cause I was feeling a bit sick that day, but the food was super delicious). They also offered a cocktail mixing workshop that we missed, because we went to another presetation. We also met some other interntional students who are studying full time at the Prince of Songkla university.
On Friday we didn't go to the research week, because Sairozi needed to extent his 60 days tourist visa. Equipped with a his passport, a photocopy (you can make photocopies there for 2 Baht/copy) of the front page as well as a copy of the page with the visa/entrance stamp, a photo and 1900 Baht (ca. 50 Euros) we went to the immigration office in Phuket town. If I remember correctly the opening hours were Monday-Friday 8.30-12.00 and 13.00-16.30. After filling out the application form it took us less than 10 minutes to get the visa extension for another 30 days and the staff and volunteers there were very friendly.
Sunday, 20 November 2011
Friday, 11 November 2011
Loy Krathong
Yesterday was a holiday in Thailand, Loy Krathong. Our university teachers had recommended us to go to a dam close to the university to see the festival because it would be less crowded than in Patong or other places on the island. We went there at around 7.30pm. The first impression was amazing. People let little boats made out of leaves, flowers and candles float on the lake and ballons where lighting up the sky. It was a truely magical experience.
The week before Loy Krathong a friend of mine visited us in Phuket. Actually he is staying in Bangkok but he left the city due to the floods. His visit gave us the chance to visit some other places in Phuket that we hadn't seen before. On Sunday we took him to Kamala beach. We hadn't been there before either but I was pleasantly surprised by it. It had a really relaxed and laid back atmosphere. However, the restaurants were totally overpriced (120 Baht for fried rice in a very simple looking place at the far end of the beach!). But if you just want to hang out there it's a really nice place.
It is also very close to one of the main attractions in Phuket. When we had a walk around on our search for affordable food we ended up at Phuket PhantaSea. They have daily shows there with an all you can eat buffet (show only: 1500 Baht, dinner only: 800 Baht, both: 1900 Baht.... so not in our budget). From the outside the place looked touristy but nice. However, two other exchange students went there and said that they weren't too impressed by the show and the food.
In the end we went to Patong to have dinner at a nice Isan restaurant (Isan is a province in Thailand) with live music. The singer tried his best and even sang an English song, even though it took us a while to figure out that it was English :) In the end it turned out to be a really nice evening.
The week before Loy Krathong a friend of mine visited us in Phuket. Actually he is staying in Bangkok but he left the city due to the floods. His visit gave us the chance to visit some other places in Phuket that we hadn't seen before. On Sunday we took him to Kamala beach. We hadn't been there before either but I was pleasantly surprised by it. It had a really relaxed and laid back atmosphere. However, the restaurants were totally overpriced (120 Baht for fried rice in a very simple looking place at the far end of the beach!). But if you just want to hang out there it's a really nice place.
It is also very close to one of the main attractions in Phuket. When we had a walk around on our search for affordable food we ended up at Phuket PhantaSea. They have daily shows there with an all you can eat buffet (show only: 1500 Baht, dinner only: 800 Baht, both: 1900 Baht.... so not in our budget). From the outside the place looked touristy but nice. However, two other exchange students went there and said that they weren't too impressed by the show and the food.
In the end we went to Patong to have dinner at a nice Isan restaurant (Isan is a province in Thailand) with live music. The singer tried his best and even sang an English song, even though it took us a while to figure out that it was English :) In the end it turned out to be a really nice evening.
Halloween
Thailand was celebrating Halloween and the exchange students decided to have another pool party on that occasion. Everyone got creative to have a great costume. Check out the results:
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