Day 2 in Phuket

Now after the sunniness of Day 1, we had thought "come on lar, we can't be that suey rite? Can't possibly wake up to our 2nd day in Phuket with the rain still pouring down rite?

It just can't be.

And so, when i woke up bright and early on Saturday (having booked a day tour to Phi Phi Island for 50 Sing bucks) I drew the curtains with great anticipation.

And i saw gloomy clouds, and cascading rain.

SIAN AH!

Nevertheless, we refused to let the weather get us down. Though the Hotel staff did get us down. Now i know the importance of good service and how it really makes a holiday feel so much better. When we were in Japan, the level of service there was really immaculate. U feel like a King (literally for me, see the pictures in Japan below) and all the Arigatos and Shumimaseis make u feel damn shiok, even while u're coughing up the exorbitant prices for that little piece of sushi.

But at Royal Palm Resortel, i guess service wasn't the most important class the staff had to attend.

The coach was coming to pick us up at 700 am, and we knew the hotel breakfast was supposed to start at 630. So we promptly went down at 630 for the typical American breakfast. The restaurant light wasn't lit when we went down, which was an ominous sign to say the least. When we approached the staff there, they curtly told us they weren't open until 730 today. Bewildered, we went to ask the Hotel counter staff, who promptly pointed at a little A4 sheet of paper stuck onto the desk, which we were supposed to have spotted with our eagle-eyed vision and read the night before. Apparently they had some hotel function which ended late (like that is our problem) and therefore the breakfast would start later.

I was indignant to say the least, and the rain hadn't made my mood any better. So i stormed (or rather piaked in my slippers) back to the restaurant to ask the staff whether we could eat first.

And i tell u hor, they simply ignored our presence lor! Like i would go:

"Erm we have to leave for a day trip soon. Can we eat something first? Anything would do..."

And i said this because we could see the trays with food inside already. Though i dunno since when lar...

Generic staff reply: "auehghuiajglkjgfdd" then walk away.

Cos he actualy juz turned to his friend, mumbled the above, and turned away from us.

Power lar. I so wanted to take the hot dogs which i could see but not eat, and bitch slap them.

Anyways we decided to do something with the time, so we went back to Patong beach, which was slightly nicer since the rain wasn't as heavy. Talk about small comforts.

I like this picture best. Describes our wu nai.

Yes i know its not much, but we very happy le. Anyways after tat unhappy episode, the hotel staff finally told us to just go in and eat so we finally barged into the restaurant, seated our asses down, and started munching on food. The restaurant staff pretended we were invisible so we felt like 2 beggars eating for free like that lor.

Now to go phi phi island, we needed to drive for abt an hour to the jetty to take a boat to the island lar. Rain pelted down on the bus, while waiting for the boat, on the boat, and on to the smaller boat we had to transfer to for our snorkelling part of the trip. Yes rain was our one constant friend.

On the boat. Which was something like our army fastcraft (u know, the one u take to Tekong) except its bigger. Oh and the word fastcraft is a misnomer, its not fast at all.

One of the islands, phi phi ley. Phi phi island is actually divided into 2 islands, tho i can't remember the other one liao.

Yes we braved the rain to take photos. But the water is nice lar, very green. Emerald actually.

Nope this is not a spoilt picture. This is an actual picture of the sky.

Us on the smaller boat. After snorkelling in the rain!

Couldn't take picture of us while snorkelling rite? Damn freaking cold cos the wind was blowing in and there wasn't much shelter from that in the small boat. But the water was really damn shiok, and well worth the trip lar. The fishes were aplenty, and they were not afraid of humans at all. They can swim straight for u lor. And bite u when u get in their way. My ahem parts also got bitten. But the fishes and corals were amazing lar.

Nah picture to prove we did land on phi phi. I lazy to rotate the picture lar.

Our Phuket Adventure!

Like i mentioned in the entry on my blog, our little stint in Phuket didn't turn out exactly the way we envisioned, but it was still a whole lot of fun! Weather notwithstanding, the very fact that we were away from the realities of NIE and PLC, of dreary work and lectures and tutorials, and familial responsibilities made it a memorable trip nonetheless.

And of course, most importantly, that we were there together lar.

But advancing from where i stopped, the sight of the East-coast-like Patong beach did dampen our enthusiasm. I mean, i had this image in my head when i landed in Phuket lor

Sian.

But, given the eternal optimists that we were, we endeavoured to brave the rain (which would later turn into a typical, tropical downpour) and walked down the streets of Patong Beach. This world famous stretch of beach is famous not just for the pristine quality of the sand or the water, but for the shopping you can actually do just across from the beach. Essentially, the entire place is like a huge pasar malam, where you get stalls after stalls of vendors selling fake shirts, fake watches, fake DVDs, fake shorts, fake gold, aiyah fake everything lar. What the tour agency we booked with trumpeted about our hotel was the proximity to the beach, and the fact that it was in the centre of the pasar malam. Ok lar, that part was true, cos once you step out of the hotel, you get an Indian accosting you with "Sir want to buy shirt? Good quality, best price!"

The scene right outside our hotel. Oh and did i mention the fresh dose of CO2 u get the moment u step out of the hotel? Yum!

Our first meal in Phuket! I had fried rice i think, but it tasted more like mui fan

Carine and her long-awaited Pad Thai. Tasted too peanutty for my taste. Oh and the Tom Yam soup was rather bland. But authentic Thai Tom Yam ok!

Streets of Phuket. Oh and Carine decided to be artistic and took this slanted photo. Artistic meh?

Eh course we were so bored of being accosted in Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean by the vendors asking us to buy stuff, we went to the high class shopping centre. Its called Jungceylon( i think) and its damn atas ok! Got City Chain, Giordano all this lor! (Eh wait, Giordano...hmm...) Oh, and i dunno what is the significance of the elephant.

Indochine is opening there lor! So atas!

Random shot of the place. But observe that the floor is still wet. And again, note the fact that i was in SUNNY PHUKET (as their adverts and promos always claims) Sigh...

Another random shot of us. Actually we were resting here because we were making an important decision. Which was...

Guess what i'm doing?

Yes i am. Yes. A Pedicure. Me.

But its Carine's fault! She wanted to get a manicure and pedicure! So I do with her lor. But actually, for my FIRST (and probably last) pedicure, quite shiok lar. I mean, you get someone to cut yur nail, polish the ends, scrape off all the dead skin accumulated over the past 25 years, and a foot massage, what more can a guy want? Oh, and did i mention, he/she's a Ah-Qua.

End-Product

So i decided, what the hell, i'm on holiday! Must pamper myself! So i went for a MANLY MAN'S FACIAL lor. Only 359 ma (thats less than 20 dollars) so i was like, what the hell. Felt a little weird, but uncomfortableness was dispelled upon discovering that almost every customer there was male. But pain lei! Dunno how the girls take it. Got steamed, then they forcefully pluck out my blackheads lor. Carine said I look much better after that. Handsome already.


Took this picture on a stretch of pubs and bars. This is where Phuket at night really comes alive. Phuket is famous (or perhaps notorious) for its vibrant, and colorful night life, and here we found out why. In almost every pub, you would see an old ang-moh, sitting with some Thai girl dressed in an oh-so-tight-its-almost-illegal dress, and his hands would be roaming liberally around his young Asian friend. After observing this for the umpteenth time, I have made the conclusion that Thailand is truly a friendly country. They even take pains to ensure that lonely, old, ang moh men do not have to explore the island on their own; and instead, send these lovely (from certain angles, best from the back) girls to accompany them on their trip. So thoughtful!

But quite scary lar, so we din venture into any of the clubs. We guai gia one.

Dinner! Notice we drink Pepsi and Sprite at every meal. Cos the water there is salty lor. Even the bath water. Eeeks.

Ok end of Day 1. More coming up.

DAY 9 + 10

Oops, I kinda forgot that I didn't upload all my Japan photos. Yeah it has been 3 months already, but it's okay lah, I will upload pictures of the last 2 days of my stay in Japan!

At Ginza in the morning

Our typical lunch - fast food! Had lotsa problems reading the menu and placing an order...

Outside the East Gardens of the Imperial Palace... quite nice!

I think it's some ruins behind me haha

Roppongi!

Tokyo Tower as seen from Roppongi Hills

After Roppongi, we took this cool train across the waters to reach Odaiba! Supposed to be romantic place... but it was a bit too cold lah haha...

Sunset in Tokyo, pretty!

The famous Rainbow Bridge and Tokyo Tower!

Our only nice meal in Tokyo at Red Lobster! Food was good, though portions a bit small...

At night, when the bridge and tower were both lighted!

Day 10 - Tsujiki fish market in the morning!

Fresh sashimi! Yum yum.

After that, we bummed around somemore, bought more sovenirs before our flight back home! A memorable grad trip for us!