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7 people, the end of exams, and an overseas trip to Phuket, Thailand - constitute to 5Es - An exhilarating, exciting, enjoyable, and ever-so-wonderful experience. More importantly, is how it was spent in the warmth and comfort of adored company.
DAY 1
The journey began with me waiting for quite some time, for my dear friend, Norfi in the early morning at the pick up point near my place. "My dad doesn't like people to be late" was the heads up that I had gotten. Apparently, people did not refer to his own daughter. Then again, I've already gotten used to it. XD And so heading out to the budget terminal, on arrival, we realised that sm had gotten the time wrongly and we were all there half an hour early. So much for more sleep. All this were inconsequential however, because, the fun was only starting..
Fun and camwhoring seemed to have gone down in the history book starting from recent years (largely due to our generation - gen X), and so, we started snapping away from breakfast, to checking in, to waiting for our flight to take off. Oh wait, even on board the flight itself (whether or not we were allowed to, that's a different story). When we finally reached the airport at phuket (still continuing the trend of camwhoring), two GREAT bargainers emerged (just part of the chemistry they share perhaps?). From a price of 1000 baht, we ended up paying 750 baht for a taxi ride to the hotel, and that was after many pretense of leaving to look for a different taxi company.
Arriving at Silver Resortel, I was rather surprised to see that it was way more decent that I had expected (since i had been to Thailand on an overseas exercise during NS, my expectations were pretty low), with the hotel having a nice room, excellent location (in between the beach and shopping haven) and presented a pleasant accommodation. Without further ado, we settled down, took our important belongings, and head out onto the streets of phuket on what would be an exciting shopping journey.
We visited the shopping mall called Jungceylon (which sort of became our hangout place in the 3 days we were there), and bought near-midnight movie tickets for Ninja Assassin, to be watched later. We then headed out to the street stalls for more shopping, before docking back at hotel. Leaving to shop for the second time, we were met with a heavy downpour. Having only three umbrellas, the 7 of us had to make do with what we had, and make our way back to the shopping mall to catch our movie. The result? 7 dripping wet zombies walking the face of the earth, arriving at the shopping mall, freezing through our skin. In all fairness though, the downpour was what contributed to the excitement in our shopping journey, with us laughing merrily about it (and surprise surprise, even more snapshots) with no trace of our mood being dampened by 'puny' drops of water falling from the sky.
The movie, Ninja Assassin, was gory right from the start, and blood seemed to be spilled EXCESSIVELY just for the sake of proving its mature rating. Even though the movie was not all that hyped up to be (same creators of "the matrix"), the process was still rather interesting to say the least. Surprisingly though, in spite of being drenched, and having to lend my jacket to shaline, I wasn't feeling cold. Perhaps the biological reaction of providing warmth to the sweet looking thing on my left, made me "hot" enough to sustain through the movie.
With all of us yawning as we made our way out of the cinema, we headed back to our hotels, took a well deserved nice warm bath, and was soon heading for dreamland....
Day 2
Our second day began with an early start at 7.30am, since on the day before, we purchased a full-day ATV (all terrain vehicle) tour for 1,900 baht (of course, not without bargaining down from 3000 baht, thanks again to our bargain king and queen). Hopping on to the van (that arrived a little late), we soon met up with our co-tourists that consist of a cross-racial English couple (who were on their honeymoon), a European with his "thai gf", and an Essex Englishman called Jason whom we did not interact much with, until the later part of the day.
After a one hour journey from our hotel, we arrived at a "kampong" site, and as there were limited ATVs, the phuket gang (us) decided to entertain ourselves by playing camp games (baram, baram.. baram, baram) and basically just crapping around. One hour passed by in a flash (or at least for me), and it was our turn to hop on to the ATVs. First squeeze of the accelerator, and immediately, adrenaline was pumped into my veins. Then again, first squeeze of the brake, and I knew that my thumb would be aching at the end of the day. It was indeed exhilarating going up and down the rocky slopes, despite a few girls (NON-NAGA to point it out) having "crashed and burned" so to speak. Shall not mention what our dear Jas did (coughbangintoatreecough) to protect the reputation of naga girls being relatively good drivers. As I had tonnes of experience tailgating (in sg), the guide that led us along told me to stay in front and keep close to him, and at the same time striking a conversation with me and giving me a personal tour. Was no doubt even greater fun when he allowed us to pick up speed near the end, and showed us how to drift, and even went on 2 wheels, which unfortunately, was where my mimicking skills stopped.
Bidding good bye to our faithful ATVs (I seriously grew attached to that little green thing in that short 1 hr), we hopped on the van once again, and headed for monkey cave. In the midst of the journey, being monkey-like myself, I was constantly reminded that I was revisiting my ancestors, descendants and relatives. They weren't exactly wrong though, when I bought an ice cream and had to be "on the move" so that I would maintain the one to finish it. It was like running away from my nephew to prevent him stealing my stuff. However, as there wasn't that much to see there, we soon left, and headed for our whitewater rafting location where our lunch awaited (YAY!).
The moment we stepped out of the van, my keen sense of smell immediately picked up the scent of food (oh, glorious food), and without further ado, we were all waiting at the table for our dishes to be served. We had deep fried chicken drumstick (which was rather cold, but still yummy IMO), mixed vegetables, tom yam koong, and the best of all, omelette, which was a delightful meal indeed (once again, to me at least). Not knowing that whitewater rafting was immediately after lunch, I ate up all the leftovers on my table, including nora's leftover rice. Feeling satisfied but bloated, I put on my lifejacket and headed on with the others where we were briefed on what we were supposed to do on board the raft. We soon met up with our "rafters" (each raft had 2 local rafters), and by chance, ours was pretty entertaining. We sure had a hell of a time bumping up and down waves, screaming, shouting, splashing water at other people, colliding into boats and various obstacles, doing 360 turns, and getting injured by my oar (having hit the front rafter twice on each leg, and hitting jas on her chin =X). The 5km down slope thus seemed a tad short, when we soon realised we had reach the end, and were whisked away to our next location, a waterfall. Being the hyperactive children we were, we jumped into the waterfall water, despite its freezing cold temperature, and splashed around like we were 10. Unfortunately, our camwhoring could not continue, not because of us becoming sane, but because the camera's battery had run out. Nonetheless, it had already been ingrained into our minds.
Returning onto the mini-lorries, we were brought to yet again, our next adventure - elephant trekking. Though it wasn't the first time I was sitting on an elephant, it sure was a new experience for me to be sitting on one that would be walking through the forest/jungle, through cliffs, lakes, and various obstacles. A bumpy ride, is a far from apt description of the journey, and only the cheeks of my buttocks can truly understand the actual process. An interesting thing to point out though, was how the elephants showed no sign of constipation, while defecating (in ball-like shape), and even seemed oblivious that they were in the process of doing so.
With our last adventure for the tour in the bag, all that was left for us to do was head back to our hotel to dock once more. This time round, it was a 2 hrs journey back, and as much as I would like to say that I slept soundly throughout, the uneven roads of Phuket prevented me from doing so. That was the least of my worry though, as I had a hearty conversation with my fellow passenger for the remaining 1 hr of the journey, in what must be my softest voice ever (yes, I can talk SOFTLY too).
The rest of the night was pretty mundane (yes, more street shopping, and snacking), with the exception of us looking high and low (literally) for candles (in planning nora's bday surprise), and even having to mime spastic actions to ask for directions of its location. When the clock struck 12, we burst into a "happy birthday" song for nora, as it was her 19th birthday, at their local convenience store. Having also bought some drinks on the way back, we drank and chatted away into the night back at the hotel, and before long entered slumber yet again..
Day 3
Aware that we still had not bought a cake for the candles to be place on, WL and I left the hotel to purchase the next best alternative we could find at the convenience store, a rounded brownie (I swear the nice looking cakes that were placed there only appeared at night). After everyone had written on her birthday card, we headed to Nora's room, armed with poppers, waiting to give her the "morning of her life". Thankfully, to the skilled fabrication and weaving of words by Jas, Nora was still lying in bed, which allowed us to give her a successful surprise. Camwhoring resumed once again, and then we prepared to head out for a day at Patong beach.
Of course, we had to have breakfast first, and after walking for a while without any other alternatives, we settled for Macs. It was there where I ate a double BIG MAC (yes, 4 beef patties) and Shao Ming ate a TRIPLE cheeseburger. Feeling full and satisfied once again, we left for the beach and purchased 7 seats, and comfortably lie and bask in the sun's glory, though most of it was taken away by the clouds.
Not long after, we were approached by a local, who we concluded was a thai version of Yong Nan, in NO PART due to his melodramatic actions and animated movements, when our bargain king and queen deliberated with him. First of all, we bargained down the price of para-sailing from 1000 baht, to 750 baht (for joyce and myself), and bargained up the time for jet-skiing from 30mins to 41mins (yes.. forty-ONE minutes), bundled with a banana boat ride.
Before I knew it, I was wearing harnesses wrap tightly around me, hooked up, and dragged up into the air into the wind's current. Soaring higher with each distance the speedboat traveled, I started humming five for fighting's superman <"I can't stand to fly... I'm not that naive...">. It was indeed a feeling to remember, having get brushed by the strong wind currents at that sort of altitude, and upon returning to shore, my adrenaline was sky-high and I was ready for more!
So, on to the banana boat we go! It was extreme highness, for the 6 of us riding the waves, as we sang tunes, did camp cheers, and basically just went berserk at every opportunity we could. The speedboat that was dragging us did a sharp turn, and all 6 of us went straight into sea in all different directions. Our immediate reactions? Coughing out the extremely salty water upon resurfacing, probably because all our mouths were opened when we went in. In trying to climb back on, we struggled quite a bit due to the slippery surface of the banana boat. When all five of us had got up onto the boat, our dear papa shao ming tipped all of us back into the water, when he was trying to get himself up. After some more struggling, we finally got everyone back up, and was ready to ride the waves yet again. The second time round, the speed boat picked up speed and gave us more "near misses" which made it all the more entertaining. Going berserk once more, we remembered to close our mouths (at least I did) when thrown into the sea a second time. When we were done with everything, we were in such elation that we began playing our own games (frisbee, volleyball and more water splashing) while waiting for our turn on the jet ski.
When it came our turn on the jet ski, I was taught by the "instructor" on how to control it (due to his stereotype that guys would be drivers), and riding the waves brought immediate ecstasy! With my secretary holding on tight, and triggering full throttle on the accelerator, the onslaught of waves made my heart beat to a whole new level. We then decided to do a role-swap, and as I became the passenger, the riding of waves became the ride of a lifetime.
With our water sports coming to a close, and in subsiding our excessively high adrenaline, we "took a chill pill" and laid on our beach chairs, and dozed off into the sounds of the sea..
Then came the last dinner that we would have at Phuket. With all of us reaching a consensus, we decided that it would only be fair to ourselves to indulge in a seafood feast in dedication of the amazing things that we had done on this trip. Dish after dish of seafood appeared magically on our table, and bowl after bowl of rice disappeared from sight into my stomach. It was certainly a feast to remember (and a diet to forget).
Finishing whatever last minute shopping we had to do, we headed to Jungceylon for the last time, bid our silent farewells to the already familiar surroundings, and headed back to the hotel where a lethargic me drifted off to sleep, while the others were still talking and laughing about comedy sitcoms that were showing at that time..
Aftermath
Packing up our bags in the morning, we were soon ready to check out of the hotel, and say our goodbyes to the beloved island, Phuket, where 3 days of wonderful journey was embarked upon, and completed. The journey had been its 5Es, not only because of our action-packed itinerary, but also due to the company that we had (Thanks, Phuket gang). It definitely was too, a trip engraved in stone deep down within my heart, with it bringing on a voyage into a whole new episode...
DAY 1
The journey began with me waiting for quite some time, for my dear friend, Norfi in the early morning at the pick up point near my place. "My dad doesn't like people to be late" was the heads up that I had gotten. Apparently, people did not refer to his own daughter. Then again, I've already gotten used to it. XD And so heading out to the budget terminal, on arrival, we realised that sm had gotten the time wrongly and we were all there half an hour early. So much for more sleep. All this were inconsequential however, because, the fun was only starting..
Fun and camwhoring seemed to have gone down in the history book starting from recent years (largely due to our generation - gen X), and so, we started snapping away from breakfast, to checking in, to waiting for our flight to take off. Oh wait, even on board the flight itself (whether or not we were allowed to, that's a different story). When we finally reached the airport at phuket (still continuing the trend of camwhoring), two GREAT bargainers emerged (just part of the chemistry they share perhaps?). From a price of 1000 baht, we ended up paying 750 baht for a taxi ride to the hotel, and that was after many pretense of leaving to look for a different taxi company.
Arriving at Silver Resortel, I was rather surprised to see that it was way more decent that I had expected (since i had been to Thailand on an overseas exercise during NS, my expectations were pretty low), with the hotel having a nice room, excellent location (in between the beach and shopping haven) and presented a pleasant accommodation. Without further ado, we settled down, took our important belongings, and head out onto the streets of phuket on what would be an exciting shopping journey.
We visited the shopping mall called Jungceylon (which sort of became our hangout place in the 3 days we were there), and bought near-midnight movie tickets for Ninja Assassin, to be watched later. We then headed out to the street stalls for more shopping, before docking back at hotel. Leaving to shop for the second time, we were met with a heavy downpour. Having only three umbrellas, the 7 of us had to make do with what we had, and make our way back to the shopping mall to catch our movie. The result? 7 dripping wet zombies walking the face of the earth, arriving at the shopping mall, freezing through our skin. In all fairness though, the downpour was what contributed to the excitement in our shopping journey, with us laughing merrily about it (and surprise surprise, even more snapshots) with no trace of our mood being dampened by 'puny' drops of water falling from the sky.
The movie, Ninja Assassin, was gory right from the start, and blood seemed to be spilled EXCESSIVELY just for the sake of proving its mature rating. Even though the movie was not all that hyped up to be (same creators of "the matrix"), the process was still rather interesting to say the least. Surprisingly though, in spite of being drenched, and having to lend my jacket to shaline, I wasn't feeling cold. Perhaps the biological reaction of providing warmth to the sweet looking thing on my left, made me "hot" enough to sustain through the movie.
With all of us yawning as we made our way out of the cinema, we headed back to our hotels, took a well deserved nice warm bath, and was soon heading for dreamland....
Day 2
Our second day began with an early start at 7.30am, since on the day before, we purchased a full-day ATV (all terrain vehicle) tour for 1,900 baht (of course, not without bargaining down from 3000 baht, thanks again to our bargain king and queen). Hopping on to the van (that arrived a little late), we soon met up with our co-tourists that consist of a cross-racial English couple (who were on their honeymoon), a European with his "thai gf", and an Essex Englishman called Jason whom we did not interact much with, until the later part of the day.
After a one hour journey from our hotel, we arrived at a "kampong" site, and as there were limited ATVs, the phuket gang (us) decided to entertain ourselves by playing camp games (baram, baram.. baram, baram) and basically just crapping around. One hour passed by in a flash (or at least for me), and it was our turn to hop on to the ATVs. First squeeze of the accelerator, and immediately, adrenaline was pumped into my veins. Then again, first squeeze of the brake, and I knew that my thumb would be aching at the end of the day. It was indeed exhilarating going up and down the rocky slopes, despite a few girls (NON-NAGA to point it out) having "crashed and burned" so to speak. Shall not mention what our dear Jas did (coughbangintoatreecough) to protect the reputation of naga girls being relatively good drivers. As I had tonnes of experience tailgating (in sg), the guide that led us along told me to stay in front and keep close to him, and at the same time striking a conversation with me and giving me a personal tour. Was no doubt even greater fun when he allowed us to pick up speed near the end, and showed us how to drift, and even went on 2 wheels, which unfortunately, was where my mimicking skills stopped.
Bidding good bye to our faithful ATVs (I seriously grew attached to that little green thing in that short 1 hr), we hopped on the van once again, and headed for monkey cave. In the midst of the journey, being monkey-like myself, I was constantly reminded that I was revisiting my ancestors, descendants and relatives. They weren't exactly wrong though, when I bought an ice cream and had to be "on the move" so that I would maintain the one to finish it. It was like running away from my nephew to prevent him stealing my stuff. However, as there wasn't that much to see there, we soon left, and headed for our whitewater rafting location where our lunch awaited (YAY!).
The moment we stepped out of the van, my keen sense of smell immediately picked up the scent of food (oh, glorious food), and without further ado, we were all waiting at the table for our dishes to be served. We had deep fried chicken drumstick (which was rather cold, but still yummy IMO), mixed vegetables, tom yam koong, and the best of all, omelette, which was a delightful meal indeed (once again, to me at least). Not knowing that whitewater rafting was immediately after lunch, I ate up all the leftovers on my table, including nora's leftover rice. Feeling satisfied but bloated, I put on my lifejacket and headed on with the others where we were briefed on what we were supposed to do on board the raft. We soon met up with our "rafters" (each raft had 2 local rafters), and by chance, ours was pretty entertaining. We sure had a hell of a time bumping up and down waves, screaming, shouting, splashing water at other people, colliding into boats and various obstacles, doing 360 turns, and getting injured by my oar (having hit the front rafter twice on each leg, and hitting jas on her chin =X). The 5km down slope thus seemed a tad short, when we soon realised we had reach the end, and were whisked away to our next location, a waterfall. Being the hyperactive children we were, we jumped into the waterfall water, despite its freezing cold temperature, and splashed around like we were 10. Unfortunately, our camwhoring could not continue, not because of us becoming sane, but because the camera's battery had run out. Nonetheless, it had already been ingrained into our minds.
Returning onto the mini-lorries, we were brought to yet again, our next adventure - elephant trekking. Though it wasn't the first time I was sitting on an elephant, it sure was a new experience for me to be sitting on one that would be walking through the forest/jungle, through cliffs, lakes, and various obstacles. A bumpy ride, is a far from apt description of the journey, and only the cheeks of my buttocks can truly understand the actual process. An interesting thing to point out though, was how the elephants showed no sign of constipation, while defecating (in ball-like shape), and even seemed oblivious that they were in the process of doing so.
With our last adventure for the tour in the bag, all that was left for us to do was head back to our hotel to dock once more. This time round, it was a 2 hrs journey back, and as much as I would like to say that I slept soundly throughout, the uneven roads of Phuket prevented me from doing so. That was the least of my worry though, as I had a hearty conversation with my fellow passenger for the remaining 1 hr of the journey, in what must be my softest voice ever (yes, I can talk SOFTLY too).
The rest of the night was pretty mundane (yes, more street shopping, and snacking), with the exception of us looking high and low (literally) for candles (in planning nora's bday surprise), and even having to mime spastic actions to ask for directions of its location. When the clock struck 12, we burst into a "happy birthday" song for nora, as it was her 19th birthday, at their local convenience store. Having also bought some drinks on the way back, we drank and chatted away into the night back at the hotel, and before long entered slumber yet again..
Day 3
Aware that we still had not bought a cake for the candles to be place on, WL and I left the hotel to purchase the next best alternative we could find at the convenience store, a rounded brownie (I swear the nice looking cakes that were placed there only appeared at night). After everyone had written on her birthday card, we headed to Nora's room, armed with poppers, waiting to give her the "morning of her life". Thankfully, to the skilled fabrication and weaving of words by Jas, Nora was still lying in bed, which allowed us to give her a successful surprise. Camwhoring resumed once again, and then we prepared to head out for a day at Patong beach.
Of course, we had to have breakfast first, and after walking for a while without any other alternatives, we settled for Macs. It was there where I ate a double BIG MAC (yes, 4 beef patties) and Shao Ming ate a TRIPLE cheeseburger. Feeling full and satisfied once again, we left for the beach and purchased 7 seats, and comfortably lie and bask in the sun's glory, though most of it was taken away by the clouds.
Not long after, we were approached by a local, who we concluded was a thai version of Yong Nan, in NO PART due to his melodramatic actions and animated movements, when our bargain king and queen deliberated with him. First of all, we bargained down the price of para-sailing from 1000 baht, to 750 baht (for joyce and myself), and bargained up the time for jet-skiing from 30mins to 41mins (yes.. forty-ONE minutes), bundled with a banana boat ride.
Before I knew it, I was wearing harnesses wrap tightly around me, hooked up, and dragged up into the air into the wind's current. Soaring higher with each distance the speedboat traveled, I started humming five for fighting's superman <"I can't stand to fly... I'm not that naive...">. It was indeed a feeling to remember, having get brushed by the strong wind currents at that sort of altitude, and upon returning to shore, my adrenaline was sky-high and I was ready for more!
So, on to the banana boat we go! It was extreme highness, for the 6 of us riding the waves, as we sang tunes, did camp cheers, and basically just went berserk at every opportunity we could. The speedboat that was dragging us did a sharp turn, and all 6 of us went straight into sea in all different directions. Our immediate reactions? Coughing out the extremely salty water upon resurfacing, probably because all our mouths were opened when we went in. In trying to climb back on, we struggled quite a bit due to the slippery surface of the banana boat. When all five of us had got up onto the boat, our dear papa shao ming tipped all of us back into the water, when he was trying to get himself up. After some more struggling, we finally got everyone back up, and was ready to ride the waves yet again. The second time round, the speed boat picked up speed and gave us more "near misses" which made it all the more entertaining. Going berserk once more, we remembered to close our mouths (at least I did) when thrown into the sea a second time. When we were done with everything, we were in such elation that we began playing our own games (frisbee, volleyball and more water splashing) while waiting for our turn on the jet ski.
When it came our turn on the jet ski, I was taught by the "instructor" on how to control it (due to his stereotype that guys would be drivers), and riding the waves brought immediate ecstasy! With my secretary holding on tight, and triggering full throttle on the accelerator, the onslaught of waves made my heart beat to a whole new level. We then decided to do a role-swap, and as I became the passenger, the riding of waves became the ride of a lifetime.
With our water sports coming to a close, and in subsiding our excessively high adrenaline, we "took a chill pill" and laid on our beach chairs, and dozed off into the sounds of the sea..
Then came the last dinner that we would have at Phuket. With all of us reaching a consensus, we decided that it would only be fair to ourselves to indulge in a seafood feast in dedication of the amazing things that we had done on this trip. Dish after dish of seafood appeared magically on our table, and bowl after bowl of rice disappeared from sight into my stomach. It was certainly a feast to remember (and a diet to forget).
Finishing whatever last minute shopping we had to do, we headed to Jungceylon for the last time, bid our silent farewells to the already familiar surroundings, and headed back to the hotel where a lethargic me drifted off to sleep, while the others were still talking and laughing about comedy sitcoms that were showing at that time..
Aftermath
Packing up our bags in the morning, we were soon ready to check out of the hotel, and say our goodbyes to the beloved island, Phuket, where 3 days of wonderful journey was embarked upon, and completed. The journey had been its 5Es, not only because of our action-packed itinerary, but also due to the company that we had (Thanks, Phuket gang). It definitely was too, a trip engraved in stone deep down within my heart, with it bringing on a voyage into a whole new episode...
From left to right: [Top] Gwyneth, Daichi, Hui Xin [Bottom] Eason, Gina, Jia Min =D
Wan Hsin ('twist' sign above my head), Daichi, Jia Min, Gwyneth. =)
Jin Hao, Yu Xuan ('twist' sign on left), Wan Hsin and others.
New person in photo at top left is Micah (same pronunciation as Michael).
Canon EOS 350D taken by LG Secret's 5MP cam =D
