This Is What We Love About Phuket (Old Town, Street Food & Sunset Hike)

Oh, it's been a while, huh? Four or five years since we last came to Phuket. Yeah. It's quite vibey. I feel like we honestly don't know anything about Phuket. But look how beautiful it is though. These old homes. Well, these look freshly painted. There's so many good-looking cafes and mom-and-pop shops and restaurants. This looks good too. Buttermilk pancakes, kaya bagels. Maybe tomorrow night. Maybe. Or tomorrow morning. I don't know. Tomorrow morning we'll eat breakfast at our place. Yeah, I mean tomorrow morning. There's like a cute place I really want to go to. So more traditional breakfast. It's just around the corner. Is this place here? Are they open yet? They might not be. Oh, it's not open yet. Oh, what time do they open? We have one hour. What's plan B? Let's go get some famous coconut crepes first. Yeah, this is down here. They open though? They are open at 9. Usually you have to line up but maybe now you don't have to line up. It's this place. There's no one here. This is awesome. Sawasdee krap. Is it open yet? It's open but there's a queue. Oh. You have about 10 minutes and a half. Oh, okay. So we have to order and we'll get it at 10.30. Okay. So flour, coconut milk, and egg. And sugar? And sugar, yeah. I've never seen this before. Is it like a Phuket thing? It's a Phuket thing. It's called Apong. Okay, they said to come back at 10.20. So 20 minutes. They told us to go around the corner and take a few photos with the beautiful buildings first. It's so interesting, eh? Yeah, even though it feels quiet, it's actually lots of busy things happening in the background. And this one is so cheap. Six pieces for 25 baht. But considering what they're making it with, it's also very cheap. Like the ingredients they use, the charcoal. They're only open between 9 to 2 as well. But there was people ordering. So I'm guessing maybe like people just pre-order that know them so they can just come and pick up. Or I mean, if I was a tour guide in Phuket, I would just pre-order these for my tour. They don't need to come to line up and they get to try it. That would be amazing. Like extra tips. Was it always green? I think so. A quick thank you to today's video sponsor, Airlo. If you've been thinking about trying an isam, Thailand is the perfect place to start because they have very affordable plans. So whether you're booking rides, finding the best local eats, or staying connected in remote places, Airlo has you covered across the country. It's super easy to set up. Just download the free Airlo app, pick a plan, You can install it before you go and once you land, just turn it on. You'll get instant affordable data without high roaming fees. Plus you can keep your original phone number as well. Airlo is trusted by over 20 million travelers worldwide and they offer plans for over 200 destinations. Make sure to check out their regional plans if you're visiting a few countries in one trip. So scan the QR code or click the link in our description to install Airlo today. And don't forget to use our code FLORANO3 to get $3 off your first isam. Now let's get back to the video. So a lot of these beautiful looking and colorful houses here in Phuket Old Town were built in the 1800s during this big tin mining boom in this area. So a lot of Chinese merchants made a lot of money and also started building these houses based on European influence and that's why you see kind of this blend of culture in the design. But what is also interesting is that this reminds me a lot of Malaysia like when we went to Penang or Malacca but we know that there was a lot of British and Portuguese influence over there because they were colonized but Thailand has never been colonized. So these buildings are actually built by the Thai Chinese in this area and not so much built by you know Portuguese or British that colonized because I think traders came here in the 1500s but they were not colonizing this area. It was just friendly trade. As an inspiration to build this house. It's beautiful though. And I think we're just so surprised at how narrow and deep these houses actually are because now that we've seen it, it almost feels like three houses put together and you get this like big courtyard in the back. It's such a unique design. Okay, thank you very much. Should we eat over here first? Yeah, let's go find a place to eat over there. Oh, that smells delicious. So this was five baht each piece and six pieces for 25 baht. Okay, he said the trick to eat this is to hold in the middle because the edges are thin and crispy and eat. Make your way inside. It's so yummy. It's like eating a pillow. They definitely deserve the Michelin Guide. We don't find this anywhere else in Thailand. Why are not more people making this? It looks easy but it's not easy to make. Good timing. 20 minutes to 11 and we can go eat. This is just a teaser. To get us wanting the coffee, you know? The food choices here are so good. Some of them we don't even know and prices are reasonable. And it's not just Thai food. It's Phuket Peranakan food. This means Chinese Malaysian culture because a lot of the Chinese merchants that I mentioned before married Malaysian women when they were working and trading here. So this is what it means. So I think that's why it's a kopitiam. Just like what we find when we are in Malaysia. Do they have kaya toast? I got the Thai coffee mixed with Thai milk tea. Because it's similar to yin yang in Hong Kong which is coffee mixed with milk tea. It was like yin yang. But also in Malaysia, we have also the kopitiam. Same thing. Because I think the tea makes it a bit smoother. You can see the difference in the layers here. So I have to mix it. You can choose the sweetness here which is good because usually I find it too sweet with the condensed milk. I like it sweet though because the coffee itself is quite strong. That's why it's good that they have the choice. So you had normal sweet and I got less sweet. That looks good. I always like bak kut teh. Looks healthy. So bak kut teh is a braised pork rib soup. It's made with a lot of different herbs. That's why you can see like the dark dark color. And if I see it on a menu, I almost always order it. I love like herbal broth. Usually it comes with rice. Yeah, they asked if I wanted rice but I ordered kaya toast because I couldn't resist. So I'm skipping the rice today. Now this. Wow, that smells so good. Amazing. Look at me. So I ordered hokkien mee which is Chinese noodles, right? With lots of toppings. Prawn, squid, egg, and pork and fried shallots. Look at that broth underneath. Oh, there it is. The pork ribs are actually really tender. It's so good. It's really good. Definitely get that. Street here is called Soi Romani. It sounds romantic but this used to be the red light district. Oh, really? Can't tell. The only sexy thing left on the street is this. Oh my goodness. Fridge magnets. Yeah. Your dad likes fridge magnets, right? He's collecting some. We should get some for him. That's not his style. Not at all. So what's special about this shrine that you wanted to show me? So this shrine is called Seng Tam Shrine. Or in Chinese it actually says it's called Ding Guang Tong. So it's not a temple. It's like a shrine dedicated to the Chen ancestry. Which is interesting because I am a Chen. But I'm not from Hokkien. Like I don't think my roots are in Hokkien. But they spell it differently. The Hokkien way to spell Chen, like C-H-E-N, is actually T-A-N. So when I saw this, I was like, oh, that's not, you know, anything related to me. But then when I read the Chinese, this is dedicated to the Chen family. And people related, blood related to the Chen. I was like, that's me. It was built in 1891 to worship their ancestor gods. And the gods whom they were faithful. So I think it's a mix of like Taoist and folk religion. But since we're here, we should go, you know, pay respect to my ancestor. That's pretty cool. I wish I had a Suwon shrine. Nice and beautiful spot to take photos. You ready? Yes. Back on the bike we go. We actually came back to the hotel because we both got from coma. So we took a nap. And plus it's hot. It's really hot. It's hot outside. Honestly, I don't enjoy driving in Phuket at all. So much traffic and people here driving quite crazy. Quite close to you. Yeah. I always kind of look behind and then there's already a car right at our back. Yeah. So coming to Phuket now, we decided to skip the beaches. Because we just came back from Koh Phi Phi. We're going to go straight to this viewpoint and enjoy the sunset. And because we both live in Koh Samui already, beaches don't excite us as much. We did hear that the beaches in Phuket are quite beautiful. Long white sand beaches. A bit more developed than what we're used to in Samui. But we got so much sun in Phi Phi that I think any more sun I'm going to burn and peel. So yeah, we'll just go to the viewpoint. Hopefully we can catch a nice sunset today. He said we can go up but the road is not good. That's why there's like a lot of ATVs parked here. Yeah. So maybe you can rent one or they take you up by ATV. Yeah, I guess so. He did give our bike a good look and he was like... You're good. Now this is fun. Look at that. It's nice, huh? It's been realized with this high up. Looks a bit cloudy though. Okay, which way now? I think to the left. Oh my goodness. Yo, really? You think so? Yeah. Hang on tight. He wasn't joking about the road being rough. Same way up, same way down. Yeah, remember our way. I guess there are people who got lost. All right, 10 minutes, 200 meters. We didn't bring bug spray, huh? Oh, true. We just have to keep moving. So quiet and peaceful. I wonder who's gonna be busy up there. This viewpoint is supposed to be one of the least popular ones in Phuket. Feels like it. There's no one else down here. We've been hiking quite a bit on this bike trip, huh? I'm loving it. This is the only way we can fit in our exercise when we travel. Yeah, but we haven't done much hiking really in a while. So this trip we did three. Pretty proud of ourselves. Almost there. We're here. Only five people here. That was so easy. Oh, wow. Oh my goodness, that's beautiful. That's pretty. What do you think? I think this is pretty epic for an easy hike. Yeah. Wow, what a spot. Let's settle down here, babe. It's a nice spot. You can sit here. Okay, I'm coming. Nice spot. I'll show you Phuket. So what's that beach over there? Naihan. Oh, it's one of the nicest ones. Yeah, lively stretch of white sand popular for swimming and sunset views. One of the nicest beaches. We get the view of one of the nicest beaches. Look at this. It's just us. Wow, they have to make the flag fly. Yeah. Oh, babe, good job. Keep going. I think this bike trip, 70% of the meals that we had was from 7-11. I guess that's only natural when you're on the road. Yeah. So this won't be our last bike trip. I would love to do Northern Thailand. And even, as we mentioned before, Malaysia in the future. How far can you go by bike? As far as your heart. As far as you can get the permits to. Go to China by bike? China is actually one of the most popular destinations for Thai bikers. Sky is the limit, babe.