Archive for January, 2009

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Wrapping Up: Reliving Memories

January 24, 2009
I know I haven’t really wrapped up my Phuket experience story. I need to wrap it up now so I can post more about my upcoming travel. To climb Mt. Kinabalu in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, East Malaysia. And so… to make the long story short, I’m gonna make a summary of my recent trip to Phuket with hubby. It was an 8-day trip… which we really enjoyed because we didn’t have to rush up in going places and reliving moments.

We took a 10-hour bus ride. The peak season made it 12 hours. We were stuck in the borders because there were a lot of people going out of Malaysia and coming to Thailand. We reached Hatyai only at 10:30 am. We went straight to buy tickets for Phuket. But since we have appointment to have breakfast with friends, we didn’t wanna rush our trip to Phuket and so we bought Van tickets instead which cost us 400 Baht per person. By traveling in a van, we cut our trip shorter from 8 hours to 6 hours.

When we reached Phuket, it was already 6 pm. There’s no more public jeep (they call it song taew) operating so we took a tuktuk ride that cost us 200 Baht to Ao Chalong. We decided to stay there coz we were planning to go to Racha Island. We stayed in a very cheap inn called Ao Chalong Mansion for 350 Baht, with aircon and bathroom with water heater. Not bad, hey? We also had a romantic dinner by the beach.

The next day, we went to Racha Island by speed boat. Speed boat usually costs 1500 Baht per person but when we tried to look around some more, there was one travel agent that gave us 1000 Baht per person. That would include going there and coming back. So each trip cost us 500 Baht per person.

We stayed at Raya Family Resort because that was the cheapest resort in Raya Island. We got a small bungalow that cost us 1,000Baht per night. The food they served was very good. The only thing is… it’s more expensive compared to the food in Phuket. But of course, it’s an island.. they have to compensate for the transportation cost as well. One thing that amazed me was that there was a high-speed internet available in the island! I used internet once coz I needed to check for my assignments due date.

One of the highlights of the Raya Island trip was seeing an octopus while snorkeling. It was an awesome (and yet scary) sight! We could actually see beautiful fish within 1 meter of the beach… but hubby and I decided to go deeper. And I was intrigued to see a couple of snorkelers following something. I followed them as well… and I was glad I did. There, among the rocks, was an octopus sliding gracefully on the rocks. It was different seeing an octopus in an aquarium. And when you see it swimming with you in the ocean, it’s another story! I think it sensed some people following him… so it hid behind the rocks later. I swam back to the sand and hubby followed me… and we were laughing in awe because we saw an octopus… LIVE! We went back there later to see if we can see it again… but we were disappointed. Sometimes, it helps when yo go the extra mile… go deeper. That’s when you get a totally awesome experience. Of course, we didn’t have an underwater camera. So we were not able to capture it. But this I’m sure… seeing an octopus gliding among the rocks was captured in our memories and it will stay there for a long long time.

Spent a lot of time reading and doing reflections with hubby. We did one thing that we normally don’t do together as a couple. We rose up at 5 am and went to the other side of the island to see the sunrise at the beach. Totally awesome. God is great!

We stayed in Raya Island for 3days/2 nights. After that, we went back to Phuket, met some friends, visited some landmarks like Promthep cape, Kata Hillview where you can see the long stretches of 3 beaches (Patong beach, Kata beach, Karon beach). A friend lent us his Honda Jazz car, barely a year old. It was a totally beautiful vacation. We didn’t do a lot of shopping though. Just bought some things for the kids (shirt for the boy and his cousins and a pair of two-piece swimsuit for my girl). But one thing we did that was totally gluttony delicious was to eat the Thai Food that was in our list (Thai Food to eat while in Phuket).

We were in Phuket on the 31st of December… Patong beach is the most happening of all places to be at for New Year. So we went there… stuck in the jam for 1 hour… managed to get to Patong by 12mn. And so… on the New Year’s eve of 2009, hubby and I were in Patong beach, watching the grand fireworks that lasted for an hour.

We took a bus to hatyai the next day, on the 1st of January. Stayed in Regency hotel when we reached Hatyai at 4am. We only stayed until 12:00nn. We then went out for lunch and met friends again. Took a night bus to KL on the 2nd of January and reached KL on the 3rd morning.

The kids were not at home then. My parents-in-law sent them in the afternoon and was dismayed to see my girl with a very short hair. Why do we need to pay a price for every nice thing we do?

Nevertheless, I am thankful to God for giving us a good long break. I came back renewed and refreshed, ready to do my tasks again. I found myself to be a better me, a better parent and a better wife.

Now I am ready to climb a mountain. That would be my next episode: A Quest.

: phuket, reliving memories
2

Reliving Memories: Food Trip in Phuket

January 14, 2009
On December 31, 2008… we were in Phuket. We slept in in the morning. We need not worry about rushing up because we had a car to use. So we drove into Phuket, looked for Black Canyon coffee for breakfast. Only to realize they moved to another location, at Central Festival mall. So we went to Coffee Lovers instead. Peter had chocolate waffle with ice cream… yes, for breakfast.

And I had waffle with cheese and ham.
Then I checked my work online and found a bunch of opps waiting for me. Spent two hours finishing them because I didn’t wanna bring them into the New Year with me. It’s always nice to celebrate New Year when everything you wanna do is done. So, done. Two hours in front of the public computer. By the way, we didn’t take our notebook with us.

Then we drove to Rawai for lunch. Peter’s favorite. We ordered and ate like there was no tomorrow. It felt like it was almost a glutony. Ouch. Forgive us Lord.

Mango salad (som tam style), grilled squid for hubby, green curry chicken, fried chicken with cashew nuts…

And 4 fresh, raw oysters for me with two glasses of ice cold lemonade (nam manaw). We decided not to eat dinner after that because we were so filled. But I got hungry at 10:00pm… 2 hours before the New Year’s Eve… and there’s one more thing in my food-to-eat list. My ever favorite Kanom Jin (it’s a rice noodle dish served with green fish curry.

You have to eat it with raw vegetables to moderate the spicy-ness of the food. But I could jump up and down feeling so miserable with the insides of my mouth burning with hot and spicy kanom jin. Guess I’m not used to eating that spicy food anymore. But I had satisfied my tummy’s thai food trip desires.
: food, phuket, reliving memories
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Reliving Memories: Phuket, Finally

January 13, 2009
After staying in Racha Island for 3 days, we went back to Phuket to see places I wanna see. Places that had created a memory in me. Places that I had share with Peter during the courtship days. But of course, we had to meet old friends first. So I called Somchai… whom I know could help us with accommodation and transportation. Times like these, it’s good to meet the right person. And we did. We wanted to stay in a decent hotel in Phuket called the Crystal Inn. It’s a 3-star hotel but hubby likes the service and the place. It’s actually at the center of the town so you could go anywhere you want to the easy way. We didn’t plan to rent a car because I knew all the bus routes. But God has his own way. And that time, He really wanted me and hubby to enjoy our vacation so much.

So realizations had been made:

1. We realized that my friend, Somchai, had bought a house just outside the town, for rent. It so happened that the tenants left a month ago so it was empty. He offered his place, which of course, we gladly took. We wanted to borrow his car but he’s too busy doing stuff for the New Year… so he asked me to call another common friend.

2. When I called my friend, Winai, I realized that he didn’t have a car for rent. He only had cars to sell. LOL. Winai used to be the driver of my friend Fong Mei (who used to take me to Bangkok with her for her prawn business). It was him that I asked to pick Peter up from the bus terminal… and I broke his heart. LOL. Anyways, I am not going to tell you anything about it. Just go figure. So he asked Somchai to take us to his place. And how he became so rich! He sells cars and he has branches all over Phuket! And he had a car to lend us.

Honda Jazz, barely a year old! Imagine how Peter felt when driving the thing… after being so used to drive an old and heavy car… He sure felt like very young again.

And so… to extend Somchai’s hospitality, he invited us for dinner… which, of course, we gladly said yes. I know that only Thais can get you to eat the real, authentic Thai food… in a cheap but decent place. I was glad we came because I wouldn’t have known how to order those food. Food photos will follow suit.
And because he was excited to go to Colorful Phuket countdown 2009, he also took us there, along with two new Thai friends.

We came to his house (for rent) late and feeling really exhausted because we just came back from Racha Island… but it was worth spending time with him. We had free place to stay for two more nights and a free Honda Jazz to roam around Phuket. And yes, free Thai food for dinner, too. God is awesome. He must have seen our desperate need for a vacation He put every thing in order before we came. He is an amazing God.

We were happy to sleep knowing that the next day, we would have a car to drive around the places I wanna revisit, food I wanna eat, and friends I wanna meet.

: friends, phuket, reliving memories