best trip so far! day 1!
finally, (even though i have yet to wash my clothes and unpack my bagful of purchases) i have time to update.
so, phuket! the bunch of us 7 people (me, alvin, wai, angeline, hon, chuu, binbin) met at 5am in the morning at the budget terminal, mostly groggy and hungry. i was being the perky pest, hopping around with bundles of energy coz i'm a morning person, all the way up the plane, insisting we take pictures all around the airport like a suaku tourist.
but oh, these lovely people... they obliged. =) maybe it was just to shut me up, i don't know.
anyways, we got up the plane and saw the GORGEOUS sunrise!! (7am ma.) and soon we were on our way, up in the sky heading towards phuket. tiger airways was really not too shabby, and we had an ang moh captain whose landing skills were DARN GOOD. he landed so smoothly in phuket. :D
once we were in phuket, we rented a mini bus to our hotel and on the way we made a stop by a travel agency and booked a phiphi island snorkelling trip, and then a phang nga tour and another half day snorkelling trip to the khai islands at the hotel. heehee, our bargaining started then and we got a cut off all 3 trips. coolness.
half day trip to khai islands, snorkelling (800 baht):
only 4 of us signed up for this, me, alvin, wai and hon. while hanging around the beach wasting away time before we had to go back to the hotel, parasailing touts came along and convinced angeline, chuu and binbin to go parasailing (700 baht!!! for only 5 minutes!!! geez.) we managed to get shots of binbin lifting off in the air before the four of us had to rush back to the hotel.
oh, the tout kept mentioning that they parasail with a MONKEY (the parasail controller) and we had no idea why he called him a monkey... until we watched how he climbed aboard the parasail and planted himself behind binbin... just like a monkey. we were all awed.
so, back to the hotel we ran and hopped onto the minivan, which picked up a swedish couple (around our age) and a french couple (around my parents' age!!). the boat we went on was a twin-engine one, so it was not very fast.
and then the storm came. well, it is monsoon season ma.
it was intense. sea spray squirting into our eyes and mouths, blinding us and drenching us (mind you, the boat was covered). that wailiong made me laugh so hard when he turned towards the direction of the wind and embraced it with his mouth open and turned back with a look of disgust while smacking his lips coz of all the salt water. i laughed really hard, which had me open my mouth just as a huge wave smacked against the side of the boat. i gulped sea water. gross.
so i decided to run across the boat and sit with hon, only to be right smack in the position for the next wave to spray all over me. it was hilarious for those 3 boys, coz i was just sitting there having the -_- look,and from then on alvin kept saying 'oh look, there's poseidon's sacrifice; he wants YOU!!!'.
this poseidon joke kept up for 3 whole days, mentioned everytime we were near a body of water. sigh.
the crazy boat ride took FOREVER to get to that island supposedly 20 minutes away. the choppy waters left the 2 swedish cowering under their ponchos and screaming. it was all quite funny to watch their terrorized faces while the 4 of us were totally riding along to the waves. whee~!! oh, the french? they were even more zai; they sat outside near the helm, where it was the rockiest.
we finally got to khai nok (one of the khai islands, where u could see dolphins if the season's right... obviously not when we were there). i hesitated jumping off the boat into the churning waters to swim to shore, but i did it eventually and the water was warm. yay. but when i reached the shore, i was shocked by how my feet was being assaulted by really sharp objects. i thought they were rocks, but noooooo... they were pieces of dead coral all over the shoreline. it hurt like shit, having to step on them. so when this huge wave came, i couldn't dig my feet into the sand and brace myself, so i fell over and head-butted alvin right in his back (ouchhh) coz he was trying to stop me from crashing head first into the deadly coral shore. it stopped me from cutting my head, but my knees were all raw when i stood up.
i stared at them for abit. then blood began to stream out. sigh.
i was actually rather worried that sharks would come sniffing around my knees, but the wind and cold drove me back into the surprisingly warm water. so i just bopped around in my life jacket for awhile, wondering how we would spend our next 4 hours. i tried on my mask a little and snorted in sea water on my initial tries, but u kinda get used to them in abit. the only problem is YOU CAN'T SEE SQUAT coz of the murky waters. sian.
one hour later, we tried going out abit further... but still nothing. just a lot of sand. and maybe wai/alvin's legs. hon was more adventurous, since he's the only one who's snorkelled before. one hour later he came back all excited saying 'i can see stuff!!! but u must go THERE.' pointing to a bunch of snorkellers (with flippers) that were freaking far away.
as we slowly swam out, the waters became clearer and i actually saw corals! albeit mostly dead. it's quite sad, coz they're all colourless and dull.
then i saw my first fish.
i will remember it for life. it was white-ish and rather like a huge sucker fish the size of my forearm. it darted away on the seabed as i blinked, then i never saw a fish that fit the description throughout the whole snorkelling expedition.
as we tread further into the waters, we saw schools of fish (!!) and there was this pretty rainbow colored one that looked pretty psychedelic because its scales kept changing colors as the light glinted off it. everyone was positively thrilled and we kept squealing under our masks shrilly everytime we saw a school dart past. shiok.
'mmmmmff!! mmmmmmmFFF!!!' *points downwards*
after awhile we went back to our boat and it brought us to this spot between 2 khai islands. then the guide threw bananas into the water. i had no idea why, and i thought he was trying to make a really bad joke when he pointed to the banana and said 'banana fish' after throwing it overboard.
when we went down to snorkel, my goodness, he actually threw the bananas to attract the fishies!!! there were SO MANY OF THEM. whee!!! alvin and wai liong were totally squealing 'fishyfishyfishy' by then. it was fun being able to touch the fish as they crowded around my banana wielding hand. :D
before long, we had to return to phuket and it was bloody cold, geez. we got back to our hotel only to find the other 3 sleeping coz they were bored out of their minds, haha. we washed up and went out for dinner at some roadside stall, tried some mango sticky rice, and headed towards bangla road.
it was... interesting, the time when trannies came out to play. kinda creepy too, coz they were towering over us with their manly voices and platforms. *shudder*
hon was petrified. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. the rest of the night wasn't so eventful; we just went back to the hotel and i watched 30 rock with the fellas before heading to bed.
ok next post will come up soon!
so, phuket! the bunch of us 7 people (me, alvin, wai, angeline, hon, chuu, binbin) met at 5am in the morning at the budget terminal, mostly groggy and hungry. i was being the perky pest, hopping around with bundles of energy coz i'm a morning person, all the way up the plane, insisting we take pictures all around the airport like a suaku tourist.
but oh, these lovely people... they obliged. =) maybe it was just to shut me up, i don't know.
anyways, we got up the plane and saw the GORGEOUS sunrise!! (7am ma.) and soon we were on our way, up in the sky heading towards phuket. tiger airways was really not too shabby, and we had an ang moh captain whose landing skills were DARN GOOD. he landed so smoothly in phuket. :D
once we were in phuket, we rented a mini bus to our hotel and on the way we made a stop by a travel agency and booked a phiphi island snorkelling trip, and then a phang nga tour and another half day snorkelling trip to the khai islands at the hotel. heehee, our bargaining started then and we got a cut off all 3 trips. coolness.
half day trip to khai islands, snorkelling (800 baht):
only 4 of us signed up for this, me, alvin, wai and hon. while hanging around the beach wasting away time before we had to go back to the hotel, parasailing touts came along and convinced angeline, chuu and binbin to go parasailing (700 baht!!! for only 5 minutes!!! geez.) we managed to get shots of binbin lifting off in the air before the four of us had to rush back to the hotel.
oh, the tout kept mentioning that they parasail with a MONKEY (the parasail controller) and we had no idea why he called him a monkey... until we watched how he climbed aboard the parasail and planted himself behind binbin... just like a monkey. we were all awed.
so, back to the hotel we ran and hopped onto the minivan, which picked up a swedish couple (around our age) and a french couple (around my parents' age!!). the boat we went on was a twin-engine one, so it was not very fast.
and then the storm came. well, it is monsoon season ma.
it was intense. sea spray squirting into our eyes and mouths, blinding us and drenching us (mind you, the boat was covered). that wailiong made me laugh so hard when he turned towards the direction of the wind and embraced it with his mouth open and turned back with a look of disgust while smacking his lips coz of all the salt water. i laughed really hard, which had me open my mouth just as a huge wave smacked against the side of the boat. i gulped sea water. gross.
so i decided to run across the boat and sit with hon, only to be right smack in the position for the next wave to spray all over me. it was hilarious for those 3 boys, coz i was just sitting there having the -_- look,
the crazy boat ride took FOREVER to get to that island supposedly 20 minutes away. the choppy waters left the 2 swedish cowering under their ponchos and screaming. it was all quite funny to watch their terrorized faces while the 4 of us were totally riding along to the waves. whee~!! oh, the french? they were even more zai; they sat outside near the helm, where it was the rockiest.
we finally got to khai nok (one of the khai islands, where u could see dolphins if the season's right... obviously not when we were there). i hesitated jumping off the boat into the churning waters to swim to shore, but i did it eventually and the water was warm. yay. but when i reached the shore, i was shocked by how my feet was being assaulted by really sharp objects. i thought they were rocks, but noooooo... they were pieces of dead coral all over the shoreline. it hurt like shit, having to step on them. so when this huge wave came, i couldn't dig my feet into the sand and brace myself, so i fell over and head-butted alvin right in his back (ouchhh) coz he was trying to stop me from crashing head first into the deadly coral shore. it stopped me from cutting my head, but my knees were all raw when i stood up.
i stared at them for abit. then blood began to stream out. sigh.
i was actually rather worried that sharks would come sniffing around my knees, but the wind and cold drove me back into the surprisingly warm water. so i just bopped around in my life jacket for awhile, wondering how we would spend our next 4 hours. i tried on my mask a little and snorted in sea water on my initial tries, but u kinda get used to them in abit. the only problem is YOU CAN'T SEE SQUAT coz of the murky waters. sian.
one hour later, we tried going out abit further... but still nothing. just a lot of sand. and maybe wai/alvin's legs. hon was more adventurous, since he's the only one who's snorkelled before. one hour later he came back all excited saying 'i can see stuff!!! but u must go THERE.' pointing to a bunch of snorkellers (with flippers) that were freaking far away.
as we slowly swam out, the waters became clearer and i actually saw corals! albeit mostly dead. it's quite sad, coz they're all colourless and dull.
then i saw my first fish.
i will remember it for life. it was white-ish and rather like a huge sucker fish the size of my forearm. it darted away on the seabed as i blinked, then i never saw a fish that fit the description throughout the whole snorkelling expedition.
as we tread further into the waters, we saw schools of fish (!!) and there was this pretty rainbow colored one that looked pretty psychedelic because its scales kept changing colors as the light glinted off it. everyone was positively thrilled and we kept squealing under our masks shrilly everytime we saw a school dart past. shiok.
'mmmmmff!! mmmmmmmFFF!!!' *points downwards*
after awhile we went back to our boat and it brought us to this spot between 2 khai islands. then the guide threw bananas into the water. i had no idea why, and i thought he was trying to make a really bad joke when he pointed to the banana and said 'banana fish' after throwing it overboard.
when we went down to snorkel, my goodness, he actually threw the bananas to attract the fishies!!! there were SO MANY OF THEM. whee!!! alvin and wai liong were totally squealing 'fishyfishyfishy' by then. it was fun being able to touch the fish as they crowded around my banana wielding hand. :D
before long, we had to return to phuket and it was bloody cold, geez. we got back to our hotel only to find the other 3 sleeping coz they were bored out of their minds, haha. we washed up and went out for dinner at some roadside stall, tried some mango sticky rice, and headed towards bangla road.
it was... interesting, the time when trannies came out to play. kinda creepy too, coz they were towering over us with their manly voices and platforms. *shudder*
hon was petrified. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. the rest of the night wasn't so eventful; we just went back to the hotel and i watched 30 rock with the fellas before heading to bed.
ok next post will come up soon!
posted by feline @ 1:00 PM
