Monday, April 23, 2007

 

Phuket trip

So I’m back from Phuket…. Skin’s very tanned, I think I’m starting to peel now :P

The moment our plane touched down on the runway on our first day, it felt like we were really on a beach holiday. The runway’s been built by the sea so when you look out the plane window, you can see the rays from the setting sun caught on the sea waves.

Our hotel room was really very nice, especially when you consider the price we paid – something like 10-plus dollars for a night. There wasn’t lush carpeting or a bathtub, but the floor tiles were clean, the beds comfortable, the toilet in good shape etc. it was cosy.

We weren’t staying right in the centre of the hustle and bustle of patong beach, but some minutes’ walk away. We spent the night looking at tour options and exploring the area a bit. We had wanted to go to phi phi island coz it’s supposed to be like really lovely. I also wanted to go to james bond island, lol. But they were all really quite expensive. Thank goodness we found a good deal for coral island..

The next day, Friday, was spent at patong beach. Because phuket is quite mountainous, what happens is that you get mountain ranges behind you… then the settlements at the foot of the mountains, by the beach. Patong beach is sorta like enclosed in, like a horseshoe… deck chairs with umbrellas lined the beach in rows – rental was cheap at 160bht for the entire day. Local vendors walked by regularly peddling items ranging from local suntan oil, to roasted nuts, drinks, and tourist items like tees and wooden carvings. If you wanted a massage, or have your hair braided, or hey, even get a temporary tattoo, there were such ‘stations’ dotted about. And of course, sea sports were available.

It was really lovely… we lounged on our deck chairs under our huge beach umbrella. We had chosen a spot on the first row of deck chairs, so we were like, right next to the waves. And the water was not freezing cool, temperature was just nice. Everything was clean, unlike our grossly-dirty beaches in sg (sentosa doesn’t count coz it’s artifical) and we just, well, we stoned.

Every now and then we’ll discuss the sights around us. Most of the tourists in phuket were angmohs…. There were not many Asians, and even when there were, the girls were quite covered and the guys looked blur. I think Nis and I were the most underdressed asian girls on our section of the beach and quite a number of people thot we were thai – we just looked that way to them. You had bodies of all shapes and sizes there. Sadly, there were no hunks on the beach… I had hoped for a james bond-type to walk out of the water :P the older men had surrendered their bellies to beer, while the younger ones just looked like brainless punks. There were older and younger women there too, and while this may sound really mean, I got a huge confidence boost about prancing ard in my bikini when I saw some of the shapes the other female bodies were in.

There were, of course, the very large women in bikinis. There were also the slim ones, some with rather nice faces. But you know, the funny thing is, those girls can be so slim and long-legged they look like goddesses from 100m away. But as they approach, you see the sagging tummies (even on girls about our age!), the extremely visible cellulite and stretch marks everywhere, and the very flabby thighs and butts (imagine if those slim legs could already wobble so much with fat, how thin those girls really are!) I’m no slim girl, but I have some curves and thank God my cellulite and stretch marks are not so visible, and that I’m not quite wobbly fat but have a rather firm tummy and butt and legs. I looked at those girls, and thought, hey, they’re not really to be admired. They may be slim and all, but their bodies aren’t really nice to look at…. Which means, I actually dun look gross in a bikini next to them. And more importantly, if they can be confident about walking around looking like that in public, I should be just as confident.

Male readers looking at this post shouldn’t despair though. There were 1-2 nice female bodies around… and I even saw 2 topless girls stretched out on the beach. It was a little distance away, but they looked pretty and their bods in good shape. There was even an older woman walking topless down along the beach, holding her male partner’s hand. I think she was in her 50’s… but her body was quite toned (gym work) and her boobs very round and firm, aka good boob job done. Nis and I joked that she was either walking ard topless coz she wanted to show off the boobs she had bought, or her male partner had said, “I paid so much for those boobs, you damn well use them and show them off, woman!”

We had gone jetski, and the wonderful thing was that they allowed us to drive out to sea on our own. I drove first, and Nis complained that I was a shitty driver coz we were bouncing along. :P it’s the waves and current, woman! We ain’t driving down a smooth road you know! Lol. When she took over the gear, then she realized it wasn’t all that simple after all. Of course she could have also been distracted by this angmoh guy on jetski out at sea. While I was driving, she had waved back at some guy who supposed waved at us, and she declared him ‘cute’. :p like you can actually see that from afar. Pity we never saw that guy back on land, right, Nis? lol

The weather wasn’t grossly hot, but it wasn’t a breeze either. When we finally the beach, it was about 3-plus. We rinsed off at one of the many shower facilities on the beach (you gotta pay a fee though), and headed for some mcdonalds chocolate mcfreeze. Just to cool down, you know. Lunch, or rather high tea (coz of the time) was at an English pub…. Their liver, mash and peas were lovely! After that, we went opposite for some spa loving at this beautifully decorated place. Body scrub and massage… it was nice, but not fantastic… I dun like painful massages, but even the ones we got were not that great. :P just ok lah.

That night, we headed to this place called ‘simon cabaret’. If you ask, “for what ah?”, I’ll knock you over the head. The name of the place kinda says it all, right? The dancing and lipsyncing wasn’t as good as the cabaret in Bangkok, but the set… omigosh… they were so massive and very detailed. Nis and I were amazed by the sets and how they could do the changes so quickly. And the costumes were very flamboyant and beautiful to the eye… no expense spared on the clothes.

We went on to a tiger show after that. In hindsight, it hadn’t really been worth the money we paid… but I guess, you’ll never know a show’s worth until you’ve paid to see it, right? I mean, they weren’t totally dull… and I guess, there’s a limit as to how original you can get with a sex show. But it was definitely overpriced.

:P

anyway, on Saturday, we spent the entire day on coral island. We had struggled to get out of bed early in the morning. Then we were picked up together with a bunch of other tourists and headed to the ferry terminal. From there it was a speedboat ride to coral island.

It’s a small beach with clear water lapping the shore – perfect for snorkeling. And that was what we did all day til mid afternoon. We’ll lay a bit on deck chairs, then hit the water. Small colorful fishes swam very close to shore and if you swam out a little further, you’ll see corals and big ugly fishes, the sort you have for dinner, nibbling at the corals. It was a surreal experience. It’s just you, out in the water, with the fishes. You spend lots of time just floating around, or chasing a particular fish which has caught your eye… it’s just really beautiful to observe the water creatures. It’s so peaceful, you get sucked into the whole fish paradise… til water enters your mask or the breathing tube and then you swim furiously to shore to clear out the water before heading back out.

The package included a buffet lunch at the resort on the island… nothing fancy, but still, quite a variety of dishes. Then you rest a little, before heading back into the water.

That was really loads of fun.

By the time we headed back to our hotel in the early evening, I was red from the sun. we were feeling rather lazy so we lounged at the hotel pool side, reading and munching on snacks. When it finally got too dark to read, we headed back to our room to shower. Maybe it was all the fish watching… for dinner we had a seafood dinner, lol.

Because it was raining quite heavily on-off, we decided we wouldn’t walk around as we didn’t want to get caught in the rain. So with more snacks, we went back to our hotel for a lazy night, the objective being to finish the bottle of baileys Nis had brought. Lol. I think because it’s baileys, you dun really feel like you’re drinking… more, gulping a sweet dessert. So ya, it was quite easy to fulfil the objective.

Our final day was a real relaxing one. We checked out close to noon, left our luggage in the hotel and went walking. The weather was really hot, the sun burning down on us. Being the bums that we were, we finally sought the cool shade of molly malone and spent the rest of the afternoon there. Their meals are huge, I tell you… but we had time to kill. So we basically just stoned there, chatting away til we had to go to the airport. Then it was back to the hotel to collect our luggage and our ride to our plane.

On the whole, the phuket trip was what it was supposed to be – a lazy holiday. We shopped a bit, ate some, got lots of sun… we didn’t make elaborate plans on how we would spend our time… things just flowed together naturally. And that was good… I dun like holidays where the events dictate you. That’s not what a holiday should be… you should dictate time, not the other way around. If I wanted to be dictated, I would have just stayed home :P.

And Nis was a lovely traveling companion… I guess it helped that we’re similar in enough ways, with similar interests so it was easy to just do things together. So yup, thanks Nis for a great holiday…. Maybe we’ll do another holiday together again in the future… maybe somewhere where we can learn to surf or something, lol.



ok… I better get on with my packing… it’s off to Bangkok tomorrow for an exhibition for a week…

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

 
Ok.... I'm off to Phuket tomorrow for 4 days and 3 nights of sun, sand, sea, food, and drinks. I hope to be really tanned by the time I arrive home on Sunday night.

Then after a day in the office on Monday, Bangkok will be next from the 24th onwards for a business trip, all the way to the 30th.

I love telling people I'm a frequent traveller, lol... nevermind that this round of trips doesn't really qualify me as one.
Anything can be taken to be truth, depending on what your perception is. So indulge me, my ego, and vainty.

Ta for now, people!

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

 

To the victims of the Virginia Tech killings...

May you rest in peace.

And to Chou... I wish you had sought the proper help, instead of building walls around you.

People do not have to die.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

 
Going to be an extremely busy week.... lots to do before i can go on holiday....

:P

well, there's a price to pay for everything...

Saturday, April 14, 2007

 
i had my day all nicely planned out. I would sleep til noon (i actually got out of bed at 1pm, but that's close enough), then shower, have a bite, read the papers, and go cycling. I was going to try to cycle all the way to east coast park.

then the rest of the evening will somehow fall together.

So.... everything was going according to plan, like clockwork.... then it came time for cycling.

My frigging bicycle chain wouldn't unlock!!!!!!!

i tried... i really tried. but the lock wouldn't budge!

So that completely screwed up my plans, and caused me to miss much-needed exercise. I did think about going to the gym but the last time i did, my knee got sooooo sore... i'm now able to predict the weather again :P and to think i had been so happy my 'weathergirl' days were over.

maybe i'll swim tomorrow...


Updated:
Ms Niki Koh Yuet Zhen! The next time you wanna do something on a Saturday, pick up your hp and sms me! While I do read your blog regularly, I dun necessarily do it every Friday night!

Cable ski at East Coast when I return from my travels?

Friday, April 13, 2007

 
I do like Friday evenings spent alone. Sometimes I’m not out with Him on Friday nights… we both go home early. And coz my family will normally not be home at that time, I get the whole house to myself.

So I’ll just sit in front of the tv and stone…. While that sounds really lazy of me, I enjoy it. Coz for a couple of hours, you just let your mind drift away, after a long week’s work. It’s good to rest… lol, it’s called taking care of yourself.

Hmmm… I’m be in Phuket this time next week… really looking forward to it. Then immediately after that, I get a day in sg before I have to fly to bbk for an exhibition. Lol, no time wasted in getting back to work after a holiday. But I’ll be with Him in bbk… so that’ll be nice… very nice…. ☺

I hope all the females walking along the beaches in Phuket are old women with extremely flabby thighs and cellulite all over their bodies. Then people wun notice my slightly flabby thighs, bloated tummy and minor stretchmarks… lol, I’ll look good in comparison to the other females.

Mean, I know… but oh well… women are vain creatures after all.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

 
I have nothing against the pay hike for ministers and the civil service. I believe, if people are doing good work, then they should be rewarded.

But I wish a parliamentary debate was really a debate. I wonder if the government even reads all the letters that come in from the public and are published in the papers. I wish there was greater attention paid to the people’s voice. You shouldn’t just be talking and talking for three days and then declare the ‘debate’ over. What about the public and their views? All those speeches made by various MPs… it’s not like the MPs had time to attend Meet-the-People sessions, then gather all feedback from the people, write them into a speech, then present that speech in parliament.

So effectively… the people never really got a say.

And then we wonder why the people dun seem to care about politics?

:P

Friday, April 06, 2007

 
today being good friday, the family had a more special sort of dinner.

i hadn't been cooking for a while and was itching to do so.... so i volunteered.

dinner went very well, if i may say so myself, lol. We had a proper sit-down meal..

i did this cream of brocoli soup.... all by myself! and it was lovely i tell you, just lovely. i only wish i had the time to do some garlic bread coz that would have made the soup even nicer.

i roasted a leg of lamb which tasted so beautiful, and looked so lovely taking centrestage on the table. accompanying the heavy-going red meat was this lemony butter potatoes & carrots thing. it was basically boiled potatoes and carrots with a dressing mixture of butter, lemon juice and various other secret ingredients. that went very well with the lamb coz the lemon taste of the potatoes and carrots was light and refreshing... always thought a heavy bit of side dish accompanying lamb was very bloating.

the one dish which wasn't so good was the veggie one... and coz it didn't taste fantastic, i'm not going to talk about it :P.. lol

for desert, i baked brownies and drenched them in chocolate syrup.... the brownie mix was one of those ready-pack sort... thought it would be too tiresome to measure out ingredients.. lol. but yup, the brownies went well... oh, and i almost forgot... i had mocha almond ice-cream with the brownie... heavenly...

next is to try roast beef, and desert pie!

Wednesday, April 04, 2007

 
my mum and i somehow got into a 'why no bf n potential hubby?' discussion which for the first time, nearly turned into an argument.

she was saying things like how i should marry by 28 and she even went as far as to profess a prayer.

and that was what really pissed me off. it was no longer about just suggesting. she really would force me to maay if she could. she thinks that's the only way i'll ever be happy in life, marrying someone of her choice.

but i do not want it. as the years and months go by, i've been even more sure about it. the only thing i'm unsure about is having kids but that's another story.

i want to study more in the near future. i want to travel... i dun want to get married. only something to consider when 30-35. not in a mere four years!

:P

Sunday, April 01, 2007

 
quiet day today…. Just what a day of rest should be like…. Pity about the cycling though.

I had planned to go cycling… wanted to explore a way from bedok reservoir to east coast park. But before that, I decided to clean my room, dust it etc… ended up in one of my sneezing fits, complete with red watery eyes :P

I knew that with my violent sneezing, it was impossible to go cycling. Can you imagine, me cycling, then suddenly, AAHHH-CCHOOOO!!!!!!

I’ll fall off the bike lah!

Oh well….