Phuket Town from Metropole Hotel. This is a relatively quiet town with not much action here. Shopping is also limited but food is quite cheap.

One of the larger shopping centre in town, the items on sale were mostly clothings and accessories. No where near the more sophiscated Bangkok which we visit in another trip.

Ban Raya Resort on the Racha Island. Racha island is a secluded little island south of the main island. The rooms here are air-conditioned, but only from 6pm in the evening to 8am next morning. A peaceful and quiet for a personal retreat.

Hibiscus flowers floating in water greeted us as we made our way to the reception. Could not resist shooting this as the red and green combi attracted my attention and the curve of the flowers were just beautiful.

Blue sun shade umbrella line the beach of The Racha resort. This resort is found on the other side of the island which is about 1.5km walk from my resort. It is supposed a higher class hotel with white spartan walls.

View from the Raya Resort's restaurant. This is a fantastic place to chill out, overlook the sea, the beach, the hills. Looking at people, boats and blue sky. Just letting time past as you let the gentle sea breeze take away your stress...

A beautiful eagle/kite perched on a wooden edge. Lighting was kind of tricky: bright setting sun with red sky and eagle in the shadow. Armed with only a medium telephoto, I cautiously approach the eagle for a close-up. Had to fill-in the flash for light up the eagle (-1.0 flash)

Setting sun scene with boat in the foreground, golden sea surface. The silohuette of the land leads my eyes to the right where the sailboat in the distance is berthed.

How wonderful it is to just sit on these sun chair, slowly waiting and watching the sun set, and the sky changing from bright white to gentle yellow, to intense orange, strong red and a blue-purple hue.

Long tail boat such as this(เรือหางยาว) navigate in near beaches. They use a car motor engine to be propelled. They run quite fast and are a nice way to discover the beaches around thailand.

A trip to Phuket is never complete without a dip in the turquiose waters of the sea. Taken at the main beach at the Raya/Racha Island, a man enjoys the time watching marine life in the rocks and crevices underwater.

Siam Bay is another beach on Raya/Racha Island. It is far more deserted but beautiful and unspoilt. From the restaurant of Raya Jungle View resort, we sipped iced tea and enjoyed the strong and cool breeze while enjoying the quiet and tranquil of the place.

What is a canoe doing in the land-lock inland of the Raya island? Maybe this area floods during heavy rains and may really require a boat to move around? Nevertheless it aroused my curiosity...

The last daylight for the day casts a purplish hue in the sky, the nearby pool of water created a near perfect reflection of the silouette of country-side on Ban Raya Island.

The Tonsai Retreat and Spa resort - a pool, surrounded by four rooms. It is a rather exclusive and nicely furnished accommodation - good for a couple's getaway. The only weakness of this resort is its distance to the beach, which is about 15 minutes' walk

Bang Tao beach was nearest to our accomodation - Tonsai Retreat and Spa. To get to the beach, it's a 15 minutes slow walk. We had dinner at the beach restaurant from dusk until the last ray of light disappeared from the night sky. If you want quiet and peace away from the crowds, Bang Tao should be a good choice.

We met this pair of young sisters at the Gypsea village (Chao Lae) at Rawai beach, South of Phuket. They were very eager and happy albeit shy, to be photographed. Although their life is simple and slow, city life, although of higher standard, has turned rather too busy and tiring for comfort.

Onward to the Phi Phi Island Day tour - snorkelling, reefs, marine life, and many people onboard a rather crowded fastcraft. We were fortunate to find the best seat onboard and even had a basket of delicious banana just in front of us. Need to say, we had more bananas in a day than we had in a week back in Singapore - partly also to recoup energy from all that swimming!

Maya Beach - the beach in Phi Phi Le island where "The Beach" movie was produced, had unfortunately suffered from over-tourism and the water has lost it clearness due to frequent boat movement in the waters. The overhanging cliffs were magnificent though.

In the street of Phi Phi Island, where restaurants and shopping abound. We had the privilege of visiting it before the tsunami destroyed much of this place on December 26, 2004.

Three engine powered boat! I always had this illusion that these were the faces of three men - the screw were the eyes, the notch below the nose, and the mouth were blowing a tube of some sort - do you agree with what I see? :)