Zack&Ju's Mini Honeymoon!

so its 8.30am on a sat morning and i really should be in bed. But nope, i'm up for an hour.. fed the dogs, showered, cleaned a toilet and mopped 2 rooms.. haha. Yeah, i do stuff at the weirdest times.. its all on impulse. Now waiting for my laogong to come home with breakfast! So thought i'd better get started on this long post.. nevermind when i'd post it.. haha.. Been really busy at work (cant believe i'm saying this but i love the rush!) so by the time i get home.. i'd just plop on my bed. Also dragging my feet a little cos how am i supposed to filter through 200 odd pics!

alrighty! full deets with color pics for all you picture-hungry ppl.. heh

24 - 27 Aug 2006
ZACK&JU's MINI HONEYMOON!
location: Phuket, Thailand

so we arrived on the Land of Smiles on a sunny Thursday morning! was some 45mins drive from the airport to our resort. Thats Phuket, Patong beach (7.30pm on the map) at the bottom. Just right at the back of our resort. You have to rent those deckchairs by the way.



our resort - PATONG BAY GARDEN RESORT

our resort pool overlooking the sea.. the view was awesome!

back entrance/exit of our resort.. opens straight to the beach! the resort was one of the few that was almost on the beach.. the other was Impiana Cabana which was WAY outta our budget.. their location was just prime!

DAY 1 : WHERE ARE WE?

getting familiar with our surroundings...walked ard Patong Beach and the streets..

now where shall we go....?

so after we filled our stomachs.. (our first meal was subway.. yes i know its silly eating subway in thailand.. haha.. but thats the only thing we can find at that time lah), we were on the prowl for SPA!!!!!!

BAAN LAMAI SPA

Happy hour (lower prices) ends at 2pm.. but the lady very kindly let us enjoy the happy hour price when we booked our appt at 3pm. Difference was 400baht! (SGD17)


while waiting... we had nothing better to do lah..


aint this shioks?!!!!
so i had a 2-hr steam bath/aromatic jacuzzi/mud wrap/aromatherapy massage for only 1550baht (SGD67)! it was soooo good though i was almost steamed alive in the steam room, could only tahan 10 mins of it before i jumped into the jacuzzi.

BANG LA ROAD

this is the street where all the night entertainment, pubs etc were located

AT NIGHT - MUAY THAI! (thai boxing)


Doctor Clinic / Scales room

Before the match.. the boxers took their weight, and get their body slathered with oil (smelt like Tiger oil) Apparently the boxers were paired according to their weight, not age.


before each fight, a ring of.. dunno what.. will be placed on their head.. and for some fights, a rirtual dance was performed.

he's 14 years old..


there were like 8 fights.. every fight has 5 rounds afterwhich a winner will be declared (depending on the score of each round). Interesting sport but after the 3rd fight, i found myself spacing out. The fights were all the same mah.. 2 other interesting fights were the ladies fight (which didnt go past the 3rd round cos there was blood so they halted the fight) and the last one, Denmark vs Thailand!


he was Denmark's thai boxing champion (see his belt).
he lost.. ahahahaha... but to be fair, its a thai game. Thought he lost in a defeated way.. didnt even finished 5 rounds.. by the 3rd round, he just couldnt go on. Oh well, its just a game :) and we had fun! didnt get back to the resort til about 1am.. *plop*

DAY 2 : ISLAND HOPPING!

weather was great! (though there were some drizzles) Had a 30min drive to Chalong Bay (see map above) to board our speedboat. Travelled down south-east to Phi Phi Isle!

MAYA BAY!!!

we came back! but it was different after the Tsunami.. the strip of beach seemed shorter somehow..


and they say its low season..


we had about 45mins to do a lil' tanning and frolicking in the sea..

and snorkelled abit away from Maya Bay.. the waters were alil' choppy.. couldnt see much underwater world at that spot.. then it started to drizzle so we had to hop back onto our speedboat

PHI PHI DON ISLAND

back here again! ate at the same restaurant.. ate the same meal.. walked along the same streets (and the place where we saw the handsome angmoh and the cute puppies 2 years ago.. haha) Apparently the Tsunami didnt do much damage.

Next up - MONKEY BAY

docked at Monkey Bay and the monkeys came on board! we had plenty of bananas.. zack was excited... he wants to buy a monkey *grimace*.. well, not surprising as he's like one himself.. hahaha.. just kidding.. i love you!

KHAI ISLAND

this is just an isle with plenty of deckchairs for sunbathing.. frolicking.. *winks* we had about an hour to bum on this isle!


baking trouts..


my favourite pic... he looks so cool ya!



looming dark clouds..

uh oh.... it drizzled just after we board our boat *phew*

and guess what we did at night?? WE RENTED A KAP CHAY! (scooter)

see anything different?? i'm NOT wearing a helmet!!! rental of a bike was only 300 baht (SGD13) for 1 whole day *amazing* - without insurance.. hahaha.. by the way, this pic was taken while we were on the road, travelling at 50km/h.. thats how good my k8ooi was! :D

went cruising along Patong beach and its streets.. and found this street of roadside stalls!! it was like makan haven...

and i had my mango sticky rice!!!! the seafood looks pretty good and cheap.. but i've learnt when choosing a seafood eatery, besides the prices, you gotta factor in medical fees as well.. haha.. i once paid $3 for an oyster and $70 on medical fees + a jab on the butt!

a book shop!

went for a massage at Oriental Thai Massage which was just across the road. Fell asleep while having my thai massage.. it was good.

Off cruising after our massage... went down south to Karon Beach (see map above) but turned back when the road got too winding and dark.. cruise through Patong up north to Kalim beach, which was just a sliver of beach between Patong and Kamala beach (see map above)

KALIM BEACH

we stopped along the road, enjoyed the seabreeze, sound of the crushing waves and lomantik lomantik a bit.. *wink*
that stretch of lights was actually Patong



DAY 3 : REST & RELAX - it rained!..
for the entire morning... so we slept in.. but it wasnt too bad cos we were going to spend it relaxing anyway.. no sun activities for us. We were afraid this might happen so got our isle hopping and watever sun activities done as soon as we get there.

look what we've found! its a local eatery! not a single tourists in sight, no english words on their menu.. we gotta tell them what we want by pointing and hand gestures... haha.. we love these!! as local as we can get.. the ppl eating inside were like staring at us cos we were tourists :D





salad, fried chicken and tomyam soup... all for only 220baht (SGD9.50)!!! cheap and good! one of our best meals! this is what we came thailand for... to infuse as much local flavour as possible.. we try to shy away from the tourisy areas.


the dusk was magnificent...


was a good hour spent fooling ard in the water... the best things always cost nothing :)

now here is where a prime location of a resort comes in handy.. we simply just walked back to our resort all dripping wet.. haha

then met up with Andy and Leanna for seafood dinner, who happened to be holidaying in Phuket during the same weekend. The dinner was pricey and really not all that good. 2000 baht (SGD80) for 4 pax, that's SDG20 per person.. and the way they prepared the seafood wasnt fantastic.. oh well.

of crse there's only SPA after dinner :D went to Let's Relax, like the pricest spa in Patong. Package of a bodyscrub/aromatherapy massage cost 2200baht (SGD95).. we didnt mind the price if it was good but it wasnt *sigh* the deco of the spa looks good but the rooms and massage were only so-so. Seriously not worth that pricetag. We concluded the best spa we ever had was at Koh Samui.

Patong - Theeraweng Road at night


Last night was Booze night!

a bottle of Barcardi is only SGD2! we bought tons...


my blue lips and his red cheeks..

brought a couple of bottles down to the beach for some boozing and yakking.. then the remaining bottles to the pool to continue our decadent rendezvous.. before it started to rain.. sheesh.. but it was really nice.. listening to the soothing waves.. just talking.. laughing..

Day 4: Shopping - Phuket City
the morning of our last day was spent the way i feel every beach holiday morning should be spent. Took a novel, with a suntan lotion and a beach towel, i went down to the pool for some suntanning. Zack wasnt with me (snoozing!) so i wasnt allowed to the beach on my own.. hai.. had only 30mins of sun before it started to drizzle.. sheesh!

checked out at noon and arranged for a cab driver to bring us around Phuket City. Thought would be fun going there on our kapchay but didnt wanna risk getting lost and missing our flight back. He brought us to Robinsons and this really huge shopping centre, Central Festival.. akin to our Takashimaya.. set with cinema and all.

CENTRAL FESTIVAL SHOPPING CENTRE

and we bought our Levis!!!! i managed to get my 593 (only SGD77!) and zack bought an engineered jeans which looks absolutely great on him and his disgustingly long legs!

back at our resort about 4.30pm and went off cruising in our kapchay!

Now let's go on a scenic ride up north with more scenic shots! (all shots were taken by my trusty k800i, travelling at a speed of 80km/h.. i simply cant expound enough the marvellous qualities of my k800i :D)

KALIM BEACH during the day - we were here 2 nights ago



ride up north to Kamala beach (see map above)


sleepy Kamala town

SURIN BEACH

the bend towards Surin beach.. it overlooks Kamala beach. The view was awesome!


and its also an evacuation site


"we were here!"

and on our way down south...

we saw some moo moo cows.. just next to the road!


a pleasant surprise when we round the bend and the view of the ocean greeted us.. SPECTACULAR~

DAYTONA!... wooohooooo...!

autumn and summer 1min away?

back to Patong and that's the end of our scenic ride..

PATONG OTOP SHOPPING PARADISE (akin to Bangkok's Suan Lam Night Bazaar)

spent our last remaining bahts here.. 2 items on our list but with only 1550baht left, we reckoned we could only get just 1. Walked around to find the cheapest stalls and with some bargaining, we managed to get both items! a tatami (3 folds which is the longest, can cover zack's long legs as well) and a pair of lamps! and we only paid 600baht (SGD26) for the tatami and 950baht (SGD41) for 2 lamps (one stall was selling 1100 baht for 1.. goodness) *delighted!*

OUR SPOILS!

realised the more often we go to Thailand, the less things we buy there. Good buys this time round i must say.. but more importantly.. we had a fabulous time together! operative word: together :)

jeez, i'm so proud of myself for finally completing this post.. took me about 2 days.. sneaking in an hour here and there in between of all our weekend activities. And if these pics aint enuff for you.. here's the whole truckful of them.. ENJOY! :D