4 days 3 nights company trip to Phuket, Thailand.

Urrgghh….I’m so tired. I will quickly finish writing this post about the company trip that I had just went to and then I will jump to the bed right away. I have just returned home early today from the trip (2am!), slept at 3am and then got to go to work at 9am. Huh…seriously exhausted from all the intense partying, dramas and lack of sleep during the entire trip.

However, it was still a fun get-together with colleagues (over 30 staff) and not to mention that I got to visit this beautiful island of Phuket in southern Thailand. Thailand is the fifth country I visited this year (after Australia, Japan, UAE and China) and it’s my first time visiting Phuket. Surprisingly, this is also my first company trip even though I am already in this company for almost 5 years.

Day 1 – 25th August 2023 (Friday)

Gathered early in the airport for breakfast and lunch before taking an afternoon flight (one and a half hour only) to Phuket. Checked in at the hotel (Holiday Inn Resort) which is located at the Patong Beach area. Joined most of the colleagues for dinner at Three Monkeys Restaurant before heading to the Bangla Road, Phuket’s entertainment hub filled with night clubs, lively music and happening street.

Went into one of the nightclubs and had some drinks with colleagues. This is the first time in my life that I drank that much (fortunately I was not drunk but was very dizzy though). Back to hotel via tuk-tuk ride and only got to sleep at around 3am.

Day 2 – 26th August 2023 (Saturday)

It was a lazy day for most of us after all the drinking and hangover last night. Went out for a walk around Patong Beach, streets and some shopping centers. It was so much quieter during the day. After the long walks, we stay in one of the prettier cafes in the vicinity just opposite the beach to quench our thirst, rest and chat for hours.

Right after sunset, we head to Chillva Market, a cool and trendy night market that offer impressive selection of food and fashion stalls. There are also many seating places with live music that made it such a vibrant market. Our colleagues brought us back to Bangla Road to chill in a bar (drinking again but less intensive this time…haha) until late night again. Back to hotel and slept at around 2am.

Day 3 – 27th August 2023 (Sunday)

After the breakfast in the hotel, I joined a small group on a half-day private tour around Phuket. The tour guide brought us to some famous places in the island. I recalled visited several viewpoints up above hills that offer spectacular panoramic views of the bays, the islands and the ocean.

The tour guide also brought us to visit Phuket’s Big Buddha, a giant Buddha statue on top of Nakkerd Hill. Before that, we also got to feed some bananas to an elephant along the route to the Big Buddha. I have just visited another Big Buddha last month in Hong Kong and here I am seeing another one.

After that, we made our way to visit Wat Chalong Temple. It is the largest and most revered Buddhist temple in Phuket. The tallest building on the temple grounds is a 60 meters tall stupa (chedi) sheltering a bone fragment of Lord Buddha. 

We then went for a late lunch on a seafood restaurant by the sea before heading back to the hotel to rejoin with all of our colleagues for company’s team bonding session at the beach. We played some games (bosses were involved too). After that, we had a brief walk along the beach and then stayed for a short while at our hotel’s swimming pool for chit-chatting with colleagues as well.

In the end, we had seafood buffet at the restaurant on the ground floor of the hotel as our company dinner. The night just couldn’t end with colleagues persuading as many people as possible to join them for ‘chilling’ session. Haha….I just followed along since it’s already the last night of the trip. Couldn’t escape a single night there without drinking. Haha. I just drank a glass of cocktail on that evening. Have had enough. I’m so glad that I can sleep a little earlier that night (around 1am).

Day 4 – 28th August 2023 (Monday)

After checking out at noon, me and some of my friends went to the Old Phuket Town to explore and buy some souvenirs. The area filled with historical shop/town houses immediately remind us of Penang or Malacca. There are also some hipster cafes, cool street arts and temples around the town. Before leaving the town, we managed to get a comfortable 1-hour foot and neck massage.

Went back to the hotel in the afternoon to rejoin with our whole group to make our way to the airport for flight back to Singapore in the evening. Only managed to reach home after midnight as stated earlier.

Phuket do lives up to its name as being a very popular tourist destination in Thailand. Worth a second visit since the island is so huge and there’s still so much more to see and experience from this island. Will certainly come back again to this place in future (and it’s quite near too especially from Malaysia; Phuket is actually just 13 hours drive away from KL).