I love traveling. I love every single moment on my vacation travel. After slaving away at work for so long, everything I see and do on travel becomes so interesting and refreshing to me. My old Nikon D60 and current Nikon D7000 camera always work as hard as cow snapping shots after shots, capturing every moment on my travel with which I can recall them clearly in future.

It’s the end of the year 2011 now. It would probably be a good time to recall some of my best travel memories so far in some of the travel destinations for the past few years, like this special scene I captured in Phuket Island of Thailand about 3 years ago… A special scene in one of the many bars at Bangla Street, the famous night spots for pub crawl in Patong Beach.

I was really impressed by how crowded the street during late night hours, especially during weekend after midnight. There were all kinds of bars along the street but this was one that caught my attention (in fact others’ attention as well ). Why? There were ladyboys in action! Many ladyboys were gathered in this bar and they were dancing on the podium right in front of the entrance! Tourists were gathered in front of the bar entrance and got exhilarated!

Thailand is famous for her gorgeous ladyboys. As you can see from the above photo, Patong Beach is no exception. You won’t believe if I did not tell you they were actually ladyboys. It was my first time to see them in person and one of them actually sit beside us later on.

But what I highlighted here is not only the beautiful ladyboys. My special travel memory was on the night we spent pub crawling at Bangla Street. It was so much fun to drink, joke, play and mix around with other tourists there! We hopped from bars to bars, drank from Heinekken to Chang Beer! The environment was so happening that made me completely care less about my daily job! What still fresh in my memory is the friendly atmosphere in the area where you can freely enjoy your life without any worry as policemen were seen everywhere as guards against violence and drug trafficking if any. I totally passed out that night!

A truly special travel memory for me to be crazy at night in Patong  Beach, Phuket Island, Thailand. Coming up next is another memorable destination in Europe. – Travel Feeder, the ultimate travel guide to Thailand

Guest Post by Travel Writer Bradley Fink

When I first visited Thailand in 2004, I had an epiphany. I realized that America is too stressful, that the culture there is whack, and that there are much better places to be. And so after a three week stint on Koh Phangan, I went home, sold my apartment, gave away everything I owned, and planned for my life in South East Asia. But before I had the chance to move, there was news of the tsunami. Images of the devastation inevitably changed my plans.

Instead I went to Argentina, then Europe and Africa. While I lived in odd and exotic places, I kept Thailand in mind. And so in 2008, after 4 years waiting, I finally made my way back.

In my travels I had often been told about the beauty of Phuket. In 2004, this is where the tsunami had done much of its damage. Four years later the island was rebuilt, and apart from Mediterranean Turkey and the north shores of Hawaii, I had never seen a better place. The weather, the palm trees, and the delicate beaches were more spectacular than I had imagined.

The most popular tourist spot on Phuket is obviously Patong Beach. Patong is known for its crowds, its resorts, and its thriving bars and nightlife. To avoid this scene, I travelled south to a beach known only as Nai Han. Nai Han is a small and quiet village at the southernmost tip of Phuket, and it sits on one of the most beautiful lagoons that I have ever seen.

Perched on a hill at one end of Nai Han is the The Royal Phuket Yacht Club. This is a swanky resort with a spa, fine-dining, and perhaps the island’s most romantic views. A room here can cost between $140 and $500 US dollars, but there are more affordable places to stay directly on the beach. At Ao Sane Bungalows, a simple beachfront room will cost less than $20 dollars.

While I stayed in Nai Han, most nights I ate at a local place called the Rum Jungle. The menu was an excellent fusion of Mediterranean and Thai cuisine. The seafood was fresh, the eggplant delicious, and the wine list was sufficient. If you ever make your way to Phuket, I recommend Nai Han. – Travel Feeder, your ultimate photo travel blog

Apart from being a South East Asian and an Australasian tourists destination, with a totally different culture, weather and religion, Phuket and Gold Coast do have something in common. Both of them have beautiful long, white sandy beaches, beautiful sunshine, and friendly people. Also they are both very popular destinations among travelers around the world.

Why travelers around the world, including Australians love to visit Phuket while Thai and South East Asians love the beaches and sun in Gold Coast? Here are the top 5 travel experience travelers can have either in Phuket or Gold Coast and tourists should travel to these 2 hot tourists spot with 2 different approaches to have 2 separate travel experience:

1. Phuket is best for singles while Gold Coast is best for family. You can stay up late until even next morning in Phuket for endless and lively night life. Bars, dance clubs and restaurants are open until late at night especially in Patong Beach. If  you feel hungry in the middle of the night, you can always find something to fill. On the other hand, Gold Coast’s lifestyle is more relax and ‘healthier’. Most shops and restaurants close very early at night. Nightlife in Gold Coast is very limited. However, if you visit if your family, there are so many themes park for family and your children in Gold Coast. Being the Theme parks capital city of Australia, your family would love to visit either Warner Bros’ Movie World, Sea World,
2. Gold Coast is best to drive around while Phuket is best to hike a Tuk-tuk. Perhaps it’s just my perception, I feel much safer and easier to drive in Gold Coast than in Phuket. Motorways are more systematic and motorists are more behaved (though not necessary at weekend night) in Gold Coast. The best part of driving in Gold Coast is to be able to drive up to the Hinterland and soak with the beautiful mountain scenes and vineyards. On the other hand, Phuket’s taxi or Tuk-tuk are so convenient that you better don’t risk yourself driving through all the trunk roads;
3. Phuket’s food is cheap while Gold Coast’s wine is cheap. Quite a straight forward calculation. Aussie Dollars is much stronger than Thai Baht. Living standard in Australia is much higher. Thailand holidays is famous of its cheap but fantastic local cuisine. However, if you are a wine drinker, drink a lot of Australian wine in Gold Coast where they are cheaper than a Coke in Phuket!
4. Gold Coast is best to stay higher. Phuket is best to stay lower. Why? Gold Coast has many high rise apartment along its 57Km long beaches. Staying higher at one of those apartment can have a wider and better view over the vibrant city. There isn’t many high rise apartment in Phuket and their best accommodation type is beach resort (perhaps it would be better for a city which experienced Tsunami attack before);
5. Gold Coast is cool and windy while Phuket is hot and stuffy. My favorite time to visit Gold Coast is in March or Autumn when the weather is cool in the region of 18°C but still have plenty of beautiful sunlight. What about Phuket? Gosh. When I was there in October last year, it was really hot at day and stuffy at night. Without any wind blow, it felt even warmer than in Malaysia!

So be prepare when you travel to one of these 2 popular beach destinations in the world. They should be explored differently in different approach and travel experience you are going to have in both places are simply unforgettable. Good travel! – Travel Feeder, your ultimate travel photo blog

What do I do most on my travel to Phuket other than sight seeing and pressing my camera shutter? Eat. Eat. Eat. What do I eat on my travel to somewhere I’m not familiar with? Local foods. I love trying out delicious local foods at all places, be it restaurant, cafes or even street. I tried some local Thai foods at food court in Jungceylon which was good. I’ve also tried some local seafood at local seafood restaurant along Rat-U-Thit Road that was worth trying. But what to me was the best local food that we had in Phuket? Not the specialty food. Not the lobsters. Not the fragrance rice but the Tom Yam noodle selling on the street! Let’s find out how we discovered the street food while wandering about Patong Beach.

We actually went to morning market in Patong Beach on our 3rd day travel in Phuket. Walking along the Rat-U-Thit Road, we spotted a steamy motobike with a few of local Thais standing around the bike that tucked in the alley between shops.

Looking like we have found some local favourites, I decided to have a look closer. A bowl of soup noodle. It’s a mobile noodle stall!

Interestingly, this Thai was pouring some kind of sauce and started mixing the noodle himself. This vendor is selling noodle soup with fish ball and crispy pork skin.

It looked delicious and I wanted to give it a try. I asked the patron how much did he pay for a bowl, he showed four fingers to me, which meant 40THB or USD1.25 only. Sounds good. “Give me a bowl please.”

This hawker asked me whether want the pork skin and which flavour we like, Tom Yam or fish ball?

We ordered 2 bowls, one Tom Yam and one fish flavoured soup noodle with fish ball and cripy pork skin. It looked YUMMY!

Jean and Bobo. “Who wants to start off first?”

‘You taste the noodle, I taste the Tom Yam soup…’ Umm, it is delicious!

Who cares how we look?

Faster! Faster! Where is my other bowl?

Fish ball soup noodle finally came. Jean tried it first also. Now you know who was our taster in Phuket trip!

The best photo to show how much we loved the noodle soup, though it was only street food.

“Honey, stop snapping!  Come on and try some of it! I’m going to finish it all!” OK OK. I’m coming…

(Click this link to see all photos of Phuket taken by me using my Nikon D60.)

This mobile  noodle stall can be spotted along Rat-U-Thit Road opposite the Cristin Massage parlor and Patong Resort. Subscribe this travel blog to receive free updates of my travel stories around the world via email. Until then… – Travel Feeder, the ultimate travel photo blog

Good news! Travel photo wallpaper calendar for June 2010 is now available here to download FREE! If you still haven’t got the April and May 2010 wallpaper calendar, Download it first. As usual, 2 sizes are available here: 1920 x 1080 px for Full HD wide screen LCD and 1280 x 1024 px for conventional computer screen (or neither size is fitted nicely on your computer screen? Please let me know…). Choose either one to fit your LCD and download it here for FREE. Or you may want to download both. No problem. They are for my readers!

Download this widescreen version of 1980 x 1080 px

Download this standard version of 1280 x 1024 px

This travel photo was taken in Patong Beach, Phuket. 2 parachutes in the sky has added some lives to the scene in the evening hours. Patong Beach has one of the most beautiful beach that I’ve ever been to and it reminds me of Kuta Beach of Bali. Both beach towns have many identical characteristics such as long sandy beach, happening nightlife and also shopping heaven. Read my series of posts on my travel experience in Phuket for more interesting stories of Patong Beach.

Again, this travel photo wallpaper calendar is free to download from here and there are more wallpaper calendars for other months coming up next. If you like it, please support me by dropping a note to say ‘hi‘ in the comment section of this post, or preferably, subscribe to this travel blog feeds via RSS or email for free updates, or, you may buy me a cup of coffee! – Travel Feeder – the ultimate travel photo blog.