Phi Phi Phu Phum
Welcome to the land of Thailand! Well, not really. While I'm back in my comfy HDB flat, my heart, soul and mind are still swimming in the waves of Phi Phi Island, and rolling around in the duvets of our hotel room. This trip to Phuket, Thailand has really been nothing but AH-MAZE-INGGG. Well, I had experienced many first times in this trip. So, to start off...
For the first time I:
1.Stayed in such a royalty hotel.
1.Stayed in such a royalty hotel.
We were very blessed to have been offered free accommodation at Marriott's Mai Khao Beach vacation club. Upon our arrival at Phuket International Airport, we were greeted by a friendly staff who showed us to a taxi( not the regular blue cabs we see in Singapore, but those red exclusive kinds) , which brought us directly to the hotel. Then, as we stepped off the car, "Sawadeekap" and each of us were handed this bracelet which were made by local gypsies. I must really say this, the staff were SOOOOOOO friendly and happy. After all the boring admin stuff, we bugee-ed down to our hotel room which turned out to be more like a house. I mean, the room was HUGE and there was a GRAND BATHTUB. When was the last time i had a shower in a tub. When I was a baby? Anyway, of course I couldnt let the bathtub go so easily like that so I choped it (Singaporean pride).
I know this doesnt look grand or whatsoever, blame it on my photography but trust me, it was really grand. At least now I know 0.1% what is it like to be Dutchess Kate Middleton.
I actually have a video of the hotel but I dont wanna bore anyone so... :D Anyway, there was a really pretty wall in the vacation club and of course it calls for....*drumroll* OOTDs!!!! Not of me of course, but my dear parents. They gladly voluntered as you can see, and even posed for the camera. What posers. They must've had a deprived childhood and/or is suffering from some post mid life crisis.
Disclaimer: I'm not trying to show off that I lived in a fancy hotel room as in all, I can only say I have been blessed as without my mum's client who kindly gave us this offer, we could not have been able to afford such a luxurious stay. So, I'm really thankful :)
2. Ate by a beach with crashing waves and real sand that is not imported
3. Had clear tomyum soup. (And many much more yummy Thai Food)
We were driving (supposedly to central area for some shopping, however got a little lost, stuck in a traffic jam, and was hungry. So we decided to stop by some small town to get some food. And hohoho, did we chance upon this glorious Thai shop that had a huge menu printed on the wall in the language you can only expect to see in Thailand:Thai. Thankfully, the shop owners kinda found out we couldnt speak Thai (obviously) and passed us a mini menu with some English. We then delightfully ordered some fried rice, tom yum soup and some drinks. As much as I would like to store the aroma of the food into a bottle and release it right here right now, I cant. So I shall leave it up to your imaginations to imagine the smell of goodness. During this trip, I also drank Thai milk tea, had the BEST green curry of my life, pepper crab (mini version), pineapples, and so many more authentic Thai food that I cant remember as of now. I think Thai food is in my top 5 list of favourite cuisines. However, being Chinese, Chinese food is still number 1! Just a little shoutout to all you foodies out there, please visit Thailand if you love to eat. EVERYTHING IS DELICIOUS. And for all you couples out there, you can kill 2 bird with 1 stone. The girl can do all her shopping(provided Bangkok), and the guy can eat all the good food, while working out dem' biceps (carrying all your GF's loots). See, what a great place. (P.s. I am some small fry that will never be sponsored for these kind of shout-outs so be rest assured)
See this type of cups, I've been really obsessed with them. Like I think they look so atas, so classy and so pretty. Am I weird?
4. I had real cafe food//real pizza
As the area we stayed at was quite ulu ukong, aside from the one and only beach food stall (that sold yummy Thai food), there were no other authentic Thai food stalls. Therefore we dropped by the nearby turtle village which had no real turtles and in fact, was just an area catered mainly for the vacation clubbers and so there were ang moh restaurants and cafes like ThaiExpress, Swensens, The Coffee Club and so on. As you may or may not know, I do not especially like going to cafes in Singapore as I do not really know what to order as the names are usually very weird(?) and they're mostly quite expensive AND in my mind, I have this thought that cafe food are usually served in very small portions. However, we decided to eat at The Coffee Club and my my, THE FOOD WAS GOOD. I can officially say I love cafe food. Just maybe not the eggs benedict. Although the prices weren't exactly cheap, they were acceptable for cafe food. I had a big breakfast set for dinner and the next day, had some good ole' pancakes for breakfast. (It was on the day we went driving around Phuket) Also, on the day we were scheduled to leave, we went to the neighboring J.W. Marriott which was another lovely hotel with a lovely view and great service, to have some dinner at an Italian restaurant and MY MY MY, HANDS DOWN THE BEST PIZZA I'VE EATEN IN MY LIFE. They hand tossed it for you on the spot so the pizzas were fresh and crisp! We had the seafood and pork pizza and they were sooo good. We also had complimentary focaccia bread draped in olive oil. I must really once again compliment their staff service man, really so friendly, kind and genuine. I felt bad cos I was dressed so casually in such a fancy restaurant. AND you must think the bill would be super ex right? But no, the price is the same as dining in at Pizza Hut in Singapore. But the difference between the two, HUGE.
I don't think I've ever really prepared and waited for the sun to set ever. Maybe once in a while, I will witness the moment just before the sun sinks into the horizon, or let me just say a block of flats. On the second day of our trip, we decided to head down to Sunset view//Giant Buddha area to witness the sun set and wow, God truly is an amazing artist. With the beautiful view, surrounding nature and sipping a glass of freshly blended mango juice, what more could I ask for man. The world is really beautiful. The feeling is just different when the sun sets into the horizon of the see, versus disappearing into some blocks of flats (from my house view). Not only once, but TWICE did we manage to catch that beautiful moment! On the last day at J.W. Marriott, we were so blessed to have been able to catch the sun set as well. The hues of pink, orange and red were so magical.
Well, I've always ALWAYS wanted to see those blue sea as from young, I think all of us painted//coloured our seas blue and not murky brown right? So, I was so eggcited when we finalised our decision to join this tour on the last day, to Phi Phi Island. Although it was quite expensive, I'm really glad we went ahead because I think the time I spent with my family there, and the experiences I had there, can't really be bought with money. Talking about snorkelling, I must say it was quite a view down under. All the fishes swimming towards you, surrounding you. OMG, if you' re someone like Haru, it's your heaven. If you're someone like me, it's one foot in hell.
I guess every holiday you go to, you experience many 'first times' . I've done and seen so many things that I hadn't seen before and I'm so grateful that we could go on this holiday together. This is why I really love travelling as I can be amazed at all the artworks of God and meet so many new people and discover new things :) If only travelling wasn't that expensive, I think I'll be travelling overseas much much more. Of course, I'm still thankful that I even have such opportunities to travel. Anyway, hopefully someday I'll be able to travel to many many more countries!!