The Day I Came Back From Phuket

I'm back from my weekend Phuket getaway! =D

It was truly a relaxing, stress-free trip out of the country. I ate my fill of my favourite Thai dishes, had some pretty exciting first-times, and most importantly, bonded with Norris and strengthened our friendship. Will now try to recount my journey as accurately as I can.


Day 1




After checking in at the Budget Terminal on Saturday morning, we headed over to T3 for breakfast (it's so much more atas and cosy haha). We had breakfast at Ya Kun with my parents and my little cousins were there too. Poor things had to wake up so early to accompany us to the airport.




Ok, so here's the deal: we aren't supposed to take photos on/of the runway. But I did. It was a really lucky shot cos right after I snapped, the security guy motioned menacingly at me (with killer eyes and flailing hands) and warned that no photos are allowed. Thank goodness he didn't ask me to hand over my camera. Lucky me.




We were really lucky cos for both our flights to and from Phuket, we got the seats by the emergency exits. In case you don't already know, that just means that we've got extra leg space compared to the other passengers on usual seats. And the best part? I'm pretty short, so extra leg room = a whole lotta space to stretch. This was one budget flight experience well worth the ticket price.




That's our ride from the airport to the hotel. We had a whole minibus to ourselves! Totally had a "Lifestyles of the rich and famous" moment.





Our hotel room at the Baumanburi Resort.
It was quite well-furnished but I didn't like the location of our room. We were living right next to the fire escape and didn't have a pool-facing view. Instead we were looking right at the water tank. But we were only staying in the room in the night cos we were out most of the time so it wasn't too much of a problem.





Lunch at the Savoey restaurant along Patong Beach. We had the traditional Tom Yum Koong with seafood and Green Curry with Beef (served in a fresh coconut). It was good, and it eased our famished stomachs as well as recharged us for our next act of the day...





Tanning at Patong Beach!
The beach was so packed! And there were tons of ang moh's (who were mostly not in the best of shape)! And Patong Beach being a tourist area, we had to fork out 100B each for our tanning chairs. The sun was strong, and the sea breeze was soothing. Because of that, by the end of 2 hours, we were charred and had to get ourselves some after-sun moisturising cream from the nearby Watsons store.




Our dinner was consumed at this really cosy little restaurant just across the road from Savoey, right in front of the beach. We actually caught sight of this little gem during lunch and decided collectively to go check it out. And I couldn't be happier for having given it a shot. The food was wonderful, and the service was impeccable. To top it all off, the view of the beach from the restaurant was just jaw-droppingly good. It's really a must-go for all visitors!




After dinner, we walked around Bangla Road to allow our bloat to go down. There we witnesses first-hand how touting really can get extremely out of hand. We had touts shove offers for "Tiger" (Thai-girl) shows and cabarets in our faces with every 5-steps we took. And things didn't turn for the better when a couple of trannies (I have nothing against them, god bless them) started grabbing us and asked us to take photos with them (and by doing so we'd have to pay them a substantial amount in tips). We ran away as fast as we could, of course, but it was still a pretty harrowing experience.

How bout a trashy photo for good measure?




They even have a bar with such a sleazy name. Talk about in-your-face.



AND THERE'S A FRIGGIN SHOPPING CENTRE THE SIZE OF VIVO IN PHUKET!!! Our eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.




Following the walk, we went for drinks at a bar next to Banthai Hotel. The live band were playing pretty old songs and we didn't really enjoy the music, but the Korean tourists there really brought up the mood with their crazy-dancing antics. Just wanna say that I really like this photo because it really captured the colorful mood of the evening.


Day 2






The next day we went for our day trip to Phi Phi Island! We took a fast craft and boy was the ride a bumpy one! We visited several islands throughout the course of the day, namely Maya Island (the island on which they filmed the Leonardo DiCaprio movie "The Beach"), Phi Phi Island and Kwai Island. Along the way, we even got the opportunity to go snorkelling (my first time!!!) and played with the fishes! But my favourite island out of all of them had to be Kwai Island.




Kwai Island had the best beach! There was even a little lagoon around it which had corals and fishes that would swim around you playfully. After a good tanning session, nothing beats having an ice-cold coconut to cool off. Mmmm...






We patronised the same restaurant we did a day before for dinner of Day 2, just because of all the above mentioned plus-points. This time, however, we managed to catch the sunset at the restaurant! It was so so sooooo beautiful. Almost poetic even. We ordered a plate of fries to munch on before dinner and the cute thing was that they gave us tiny dessert forks for the fries (see the above picture for photographic evidence). The best thing of the night was of course the traditional Thai-style vermicilli with prawns (pictured). We had wanted the vermicilli with crabs but sadly, it was beyond our budget. Nevertheless, it was very savoury and we fell in love with the restaurant all over again.


Day 3




And we were soon whisked back to the airport and homebound. The Phuket airport is really run-down. And I thought our Budget Terminal airport was bad. If you put them side by side, our BT actually stands out by a mile. But I guess it isn't fair to compare something so old with something so new.




What really shocked me, though, was the slip-shod way out boarding passes were done. They didn't even have the decency to print our names onto the card. Instead, they have a cut out of our names from what is obviously a flight nominal roll and pasted shabbily with scotch tape. Very chachat. Urgh.

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I really enjoyed this short trip. It has broadened my views about the Thai people and showed me the intensity of Phuket's tourism industry. But I'm very sure I will be back in Phuket in the near future for another visit. Can't wait for next time! =)

The Day Boon Turned 21

The past week has been pretty awesome. Tiring (as you can see from the eyebags in my photos below) but thoroughly satisfying. There were also a couple of firsts: it was the first time I've had training two days in a row, and it was my first experience at The Mind Café in Boat Quay.

I managed to make it to the race team after the crazy 500m time trial two weeks ago. Last Saturday, we had our first additional training at Bedok Resevoir. Being the noob that I am (compared to the rest of my teammates who have more experience than me), I was under constant scrutiny by Lele (our coach). It wasn't a bad thing though, cos she corrected many of my mistakes. Yes even after 6 months, I still have some problems with my rowing technique. Ah well. To err is to be human; I'm not a robot after all. The following day, training resumed at our usual Kallang spot. Altogether, the two days were quite tiring, but I found it immensely satisfying. Maybe I'm just a masochist. Heh.

My first time at The Mind Café was an eye-opener. Granted, I was never much of a board-games person. I'd rather be sitting in front of my computer YouTubing, or out and about town. But the Café changed my whole perspective on the board-gaming culture. I always thought of board-games as the last resort in the list of entertainment choices, especially so when you're stuck at home with unwanted company (eg. the times when you meet relatives whom you only encounter during special occasions). But I was wrong. The ambiance of the place was very cosy, and the high ceiling lit up the whole space, enough to make claustrophobes feel at ease. The main draw of the place was of course the huge selection of board games, ranging from the universally-known ("Monopoly", "Game of Life", "Cluedo"), to the obscure ("Compatibility", "Sabotage"). Basically, any conceivable board game you want, you can get.

Anyway, I was there for a reason, and that was to celebrate Boon's 21st Birthday! His mum had kindly booked a table for 10 and I was one of the "honorable invitees" to the party. We drank, ate and played "Compatibility" as well as "Sabotage" (games which I've never heard of before until I saw them that day). Basically it was good, fun bonding. Sadly I had to leave early due to training, but I had a lot of fun nonetheless.

I think the café could very well become my new favourite hangout. Hmmm.

Some photos from the little get-together:


(Clockwise from top left) Meifeng & me, Boon & me, Jiapei & Meifeng, (group shot) Jiapei, Meifeng, Me, Boon, Erwyn, Ker Min

Phuket this Saturday! =)

The Day We Haarto-ed

It's been awhile.

Met up with Kitson, Shaun, Meifeng and Tammi for dinner at Chomp Chomp tonight. The last time I actually saw Kitty and Shaun was waaay back in February, so it was really nice meeting up again today after such a long while. I can still vaguely recall the days in JC where we would hang out together in between classes, bitching and moaning about everything under the sun. Oh, those were the days. Time really does a whole lot to your social landscape if you don't hold it under tight control.

After dinner, we made our way to Haarto for yummy gelato! I love Haarto! They've got the best milk tea gelato around! Imagine this: your teh-c in frozen form that melts into a cool yet satisfying cream concoction as soon as you put it into your mouth. Nothing can beat that!


The lot of us at Haarto. Clock wise from left: Kitson, Shaun, Me, Tammi and Meifeng

Tammi's flying off to Paris tomorrow night! I'm gonna miss her ALOT (at least for 3 weeks). But I've got my upcoming Phuket trip to look forward to. The sun, the sea and the beach. Mmmmmm. Nice. Just thinking about it makes me all excited already. Can't wait!