Pesto Sauce

I have always liked pasta with pesto sauce. Never realized how easy it is to make the pesto sauce. 

2 cups basil leaves
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (don't add if you want to freeze and store the sauce)
1/2 cup pine nuts (lightly roasted on a pan) or walnuts
3 garlic cloves
Salt and pepper..

Just run this in the mixer and you have pesto sauce. If you intend to store it, skip the cheese, run everything else in the mixer. you can pour the paste into ice cube maker to make cubes of the sauce. freeze them; once frozen the cubes can be packed into a container. You can then use the cubes as and when needed. Just before using, after you have defrosted the cubes, add the parmesan cheese to it and the sauce is ready... wow.. so easy...

Phuket and Phi Phi Islands, Thailand

Alright, I am keeping the promise I made to myself. To blog about the trip keeping focus on the facts and $'s in a bid to help fellow travelers. Also helpful tips for "Things to do in Phuket and Phi Phi Islands"

My travel log: 

Travel Date: May-2013
Duration: 5 days (4 nights)
Hotel reservations: I made all my travel hotel reservations on Agoda.com I have been using Agoda for a couple of years now and I think they offer good rates. 

Day 1 - Arrive in Phuket in the afternoon. 
I booked myself at Ramada Southsea @ Karon beach. It is about an hour journey from Phuket International airport. I found out from blog reviews that we can just hire a cab (red and yellow taxi) from outside the airport. Walking towards right after exiting the airport. I was expecting 600 THB cab fair. To my pleasant surprise, I noticed booths/kiosks set up right outside the exit at the airport that offer shared mini-van service. The drop to hotels is as per the corresponding beaches the hotels are located at. Karon beach drop was 200 THB per person. So 400 THB and 1 hour later we arrived at the Ramada southsea. No hassles. Reached hotel around 5-6pm.

Tip: At the airport its required to pay 1000 THB tax per person. I chose to pay in $ and thus ended paying slightly more. So in hind sight, it is advisable to pay in local currency. 

The mini van was a nice AC coach. I think 6 to 8 co-passengers.

The Hotel - Ramada Southsea @ Karon beach (approx US $60 per day)- well, its a good hotel. The rooms are nice and clean. We are particular about the sheets and the sheets were indeed clean. Overall the hotel is tidy. The location is great. Just cross the street and a 10 meter walk takes you to the beach sand. Beautiful beach. Though for people who are not used to medium waves and those who do not know to swim, might find the beach a bit rough. I was ok with the beach. the waves breaking point were probably 2 feet. My wife expected smaller waves and preferred a quieter beach. So this one was not her type. 
The only complaint my wife had about Ramada was that while its location was very convenient, there are open drains. Well the drains are covered, but probably have vents in between. And that was giving the area a bit of a stink. Maybe stink is too harsh a word, but yes, there was some fish/drain funny odour up in the air.  Its not so bad, you kinda get used to it. Shopping, local foods, etc. a lot is available around a 10 min walk on along the road. 
Tip: If you have not tried it, and if you have a sweet tooth, try the Thai Pancakes. they come either with Mango or banana. 40-60THB. Street food. lot of oil, so not very healthy, but hell, aren't you on vacation. Enjoy. Beer is also around 60 THB.

Highlight of the Night: After reading a lot of reviews and colleague recommendations, Simon Phuket Cabaret was on the cards. There are several Tourist Information kiosks setup by local shop keepers (within 10min walk of Ramada). They sell the tickets for 600 THB per person that includes pickup and drop back to the hotel. If you have never seen a cabaret, rather, if you have never seen a musical; then this is worth it. Especially the fact that this is enacted by ladyboy's (the locals call this a ladyboy show). 
Tip: For many, the word Cabaret probably brings to mind, nudity, sleeziness, etc.. well this one is a family show.. there is no nudity, though one character playing the barbie girl wears extra big fake boobies dress. Maybe PG16 or PG13. Hell, I do not have kids and I do not care. even if it had nudity. It was nice.
The ticket if you purchase at the venue costs 300/400 THB, the rest is the agents and the pickup and drop charges. Distance from Ramada to Simon Cabaret is 5-8 kms.
Tip: If you are game to ride a bike or 4 wheeler, rent one out. It turns out that tuk tuk's and taxi will cost a lot higher. The bike daily rent is 200/300 THB. Plus the fuel cost. So if you plan to travel around the city, try the bike rent (2 wheelers).

Day 2 - Karon Beach - Rassada Pier - Phi Phi Don Islands
The breakfast at Ramada is minimal. But so is it elsewhere. Since we didn't book the room with breakfast, we had to pay 500 THB for 1 person. Either book it along the room, or even better, step outside the hotel and eat at the restaurants nearby.

The Beach - We arrived at the beach in the morning around 10 am. It's a nice beach. The beach chairs cost 200 THB per day. We paid the same for half an hour. 
Tip: If you are planning to be at the beach only for an hour or two, just take your beach towel along and spread it out on the sand instead of using the beach beds. You can save 200 THB! Which is not bad... 

Karon to Rassada Pier - We had booked the Phuket to Phi Phi online on phuketferry.com. 600 THB one way per person. (50 SGD for 2 ppl). The pickup van was supposed to pick us up by 12:45pm, but they picked us up 10 mins late. Ofcourse, never mind. We had enough buffer time. The van ride through the town to Rassada pier is about an hour. The ferry was to leave at 2:30 pm; we arrived at pier about 1:40 pm, but we departed only after 3 pm. There is a burger counter at the pier. Chicken burger with fries and coke - 140 THB.

Phi Phi Don Island - Andaman Legacy Resort (approx $90 per day) 
We reached Phi Phi island in the ferry from Phuket around 5 pm. Based on maps and googling, I knew the hotel was approximately 0.8 km from the pier and I was prepared to slowly walk the distance lugging the baggage along. But I was pleasantly surprised to see a porter (read local hotel staff with the hotel name placard). He showed me a list of expected arrivals to check if my name was on it. Upon confirmation, he took our bags and put them in a handcart and asked us to follow. A short 20 min walk took us to the hotel. Greeted with a kokam surbat (Garcinia indica, it's a  popular drink in coastal western ghats on India as well) and a cold wipe.

The Hotel - Room was nice. Well kept and tidy. Only problem with the shower was that the hot and cold water toggled on its own, so no way you could set the water to the temperature you actually needed. Lots of dining places available in a 10 min walking distance. Phi Phi Don is a very small island, and the hotel was almost at the edge of the city/pier area. So dining/eating/shopping is all possible within a 5 min walk. 

Day 3:
The breakfast at the hotel was nice, nothing great. Since it was already included in the room booking we didn't have to pay extra as we did at Ramada, so no complaints. It kept us going till our late lunch. 

Long beach is indeed a very beautiful beach. It's about 2 km hike from the hotel. The locals would suggest a 10 to 20 min walk from the hotel. But we actually took longer as we were leisurely walking, enjoying the scenery and breaking in between. There is no clear road, but a path way through the beach, hilly area and such. Thus it takes a bit discovering every now and then to determine which path to take. But if we just follow the logical path along the beach side, you should easily reach your destination. Offshore snorkeling is possible on many of the beaches along the Tong Sai bay, a couple of nice small beaches (about 100 meter) are there along the way to Long beach, any one of those can be used to sit back, relax and enjoy the scenery. Saw many fish and sea cucumbers during my snorkel. Also spotted a few baby sharks near the shark point. Totally Awesome!!

Thanks to the movie 'Life of Pi' we knew of the luminescent plankton that glows at night. It seemed like a rare kind of phenomenon happening in nature. There are a few beaches in Peurto Rico where this plankton appears, apparently that's where the scenes from Life of Pi were shot. So with this background, we did not want to miss the chance to witness such a rare phenomenon. Well, the tour organizers know this as well. There seems to be only one tour that runs/operates a half day tour to the nearby Phi Phi Ley island that covers this snorkeling at night to witness the luminescent plankton. And thus they charge a ransom. About 1200 THB per person. The day was fine and weather was just great so we took the tour. A half day trip covering the same route but returning before nightfall costs 400 THB in the long tail boat. Our trip was in a much bigger trawler converted to a tourist carrier. Our trip covered the plankton and an onboard dinner. Thus justifying the additional 800 THB! Well, that's the justification we were given. And we bought it... :) 

But the trip was nice, snorkeled twice. Snorkeling at night and watching tiny phosphorescent green spots in the water was an amazing experience. The on-board dinner was good, or maybe we thought so coz we were hungry. It consisted of baked fish and fried rice and steamed potato. Well, I overate. And then realized that I had to hastily finish my dinner and prepare to snorkel. That is what caused some discomfort. Imagine taking a swim right after a heavy meal. But that was my bad. While it caused a little nausea, the overall snorkeling with the phosphorescent plankton was nice.

Day 4: Back to Phuket - 
We bought the tickets for the return ferry on day 3 when we got back from the late evening tour to Phi Phi Ley. One way ticket costs 300 THB. The person checking the tickets at the ferry terminal asked us where in Phuket were we headed and offered a shared mini-van drop from Rassada to our hotel in Surin. The hotel drop was again 200 THB per person, not bad actually.

The big ferry boat was almost like a cruise ship... well am exaggerating... but it was probably carrying 500 people, and they served free coffee and donuts! Well I did not know that, I went to buy the coffee and the donut for my wife when I discovered it was free. Ended up eating a donut! We arrived at Rassada pier at 5pm; promptly met the van driver for our Surin hotel drop. We were in our hotel by 6pm.

The Hotel - Surintra Boutique Resort, Surin (USD $60 per day) 
Nice hotel, clean and tidy rooms. Big room, big bathroom, excellent shower. Breakfast minimal. Small pool. Well other than that the hotel doesn't have anything else. Gives it a petite and private touch, and we only saw couples in the hotel. The reason I chose to call it hotel rather than a resort is the sheer size of it. Resort makes it sound like a big place. This one is really petite.

The Beach - Surin beach, it's a nice beach, bigger waves than at Karon beach. Beach is at a 10-15 min walk from Surintra Boutique resort. Surin is expensive part of the town. We intentionally avoided staying around Patong beach where the hotels are cheaper, but the beaches get excessively crowded. We wanted a bit of a honeymooney feel.. :) Well staying a crowded city like Singapore we wanted a little quiet time. Surin offered exactly that.

Day 5: Surin Beach: Nothing much to see around the Surin beach. So we decided to just lazy around the beach, eat some cheap local street food by the beach (We were running short of the local currency and I was in no mood to convert some more $ on the last day of the trip). We had some cheap beer (happy hour 50 THB for a glass of local draught) at Nok restaurant. Retired early; took a dip at the resort, got fresh and were ready for our airport drop by evening. Airport drop costed 600 THB. The meter fare from Airport to Surin is supposedly 300 THB, but for the way back all the hotels seem to charge a premium. We succumbed.

At the airport, there is a local Thai restaurant run by non other than Thai Airways. Nice food. Pricing is reasonable. Ate some local Thai curry and seafood noodles. And slept our way back home.

End of journey.