halfwhiteboy

Inside Vista , the resort's main restaurant. With hundreds of hotels scattered all around Phuket, it was quite the task to choose where to stay. And although we were already set at staying in the island's tourist central, Patong Beach , picking a hotel was still a challenge. So we decided on splitting our 5-night stay in 2 hotels, the first of which was the wonderful BYD Lofts and the other one set farther away from the beach atop the hills--the 5-star Avista Hideaway Resort & Spa , where we spent a very short 2 nights. Let me break our whole experience down into sections.

Yeah, I found myself a statuesque lady while we were in Phuket a couple of weeks ago. No wait, it's a boy. No, a ladyboy! We decided to watch Phuket Simon Cabaret on a whim. We just knew it to be a show featuring beautiful ladyboys lip-synching to some song in elaborate production numbers. Funny how quickly we dismissed the idea of watching it back in 2010, thinking marami namang ganiyan sa Pinas (referring to the fact that we also have a lot of lip-synching gay impersonators back in the Philippines). But after watching the show, I have to admit that Simon Cabaret is on a totally different level.

Parasailing in Patong Beach. Arguably Phuket's most popular beach, Patong is pulsating with activity and is, as expected, its most crowded. And for that reason, people either love it or hate it. On our first time in the island province back in 2010, we skipped the presumed crowds and opted instead for the much quieter Bang Tao Beach  and later, Mai Khao Beach up north. This time around, however, we decided to embrace the chaos and the loudness of Patong, and booked a really spacious suite at BYD Lofts .

A mere slice of our 100 square meters of rented space. It's no. 1 on TripAdvisor not just in Patong but in the whole of Phuket for a reason. Thanks to a sweet last-minute deal, we got to stay at BYD Lofts Boutique Hotel and Serviced Apartments for 3 nights last week. Here's a rundown of our experience. Reservation and check-in You can always get a room from a bevy of hotel booking sites but BYD has its own booking facility, which was no hassle at all. They also don't charge you the whole amount until you're actually there but of course cancellation policies apply. Guests also have the option to book airport transfers with them but because it's a Mercedes Benz sedan (two of them actually), it costs more than a regular cab. There's also a surcharge if your arrival or departure is between 10pm to around 5 or 6am I think.