Traveling with a bunch of monkeys!

I wasn’t sure if I’m going to blog about my sort of weekend getaway trip to Phuket with the keeper and his childhood friends. You see how lazy I got since my new job (not so New now it’s almost 10 months). Anyway,I wanted to share for… if anyone ever come across my blog or if they are searching for an idea for Phuket vacation. So here I go..

Basics
Duration: 4 days 3 nights
People: 6 of us. 4 boys 2 girls.
Airline: Thai Airways
Hotel: Outrigger Laguna Phuket Resort & Villa
Fixed cost (air ticket plus hotel) for the whole trip: HKD 4600 per person.

Standard group photo in front of our boarding gate. We took the 10.25am direct flight, but flight delay due to bad weather, anyway we reached Phuket at 2.30pm local time. It’s about 3 hours flight if you’re wondering.

Prepay SIM with Internet Data
As new gens and with smartphones and social medias, we probably can’t enjoy the fullest without having access to the internet. Don’t bother going roaming. There’s a counter at the baggage claim area, offering prepay SIM card for tourist (TrueMove) at TBH 250 for 5days unlimited data usage. I have zero interest in international call and sms as all can be done freely via whatsapp, line, wechat, viber etc. The only essential is DATA USAGE. To save all troubles as everything is mostly in Thai, just tell the staffs which plan you need, pay them and pass your phone. They will fix it for you.

Car rental
6 of us traveling, taxi or bus is obviously not a good choice so we rent a 4WD. There are few car rental, the big brands like Hertz, Avis, Budget are on your right once you passed the final gate. We picked National though. Budget was expensive and Hertz was fully booked. Anyway,service at National was really pleasant. Took their Toyota Fortune at TBH 10,350 for 3 days, with navigator and full insurance coverage included.
Tips:
# Pay by cash so you won’t have to deal with the currency with your bank after. And a friend told us some car rental convert locally at high price before charging your card. BUT you do have to swipe your card holding some amount for deposit. There won’t be any transaction unless you badly damaged the car.
# Strongly advice not to take your mobile phone as gps navigator. Although you have data access, it’s on 3G and most of the time, it doesn’t work.

Accommodation
We booked a 3 bedrooms Pool Villa at Outrigger Laguna Phuket Resort & Villa. It’s 25 mins drive from the airport and about 35 mins to Phuket Town or Patong. It’s not crowded and definitely no tour group. All are on free and easy, mostly European. Also, 5 mins shuttle bus to hotel’s private beach. The following photos are taken by myself, so it’s real, no photoshop and not as professionally pretty as the hotel’s website’s:

Main pool at the reception. Where you find the resort hotel room, cafe, kids club and tour information counter.

I forgot to take external picture of the villa. It pretty much look exactly like a 2 storey house. First floor, we have a guest toilet, the living & dining area plus open kitchen.

Private pool! It’s a small pool with about 1.4m dept. Not exactly for swimmer but perfectly fine to hang out and play water ball fight with friends.

We bought the ball for about TBH150. The most well spend as everyone loves it. It brought out our inner child. Floating bed is free. Got it from the store room next to the pool.

Bedrooms are pretty much the same. 1 master room with a king bed toilet with jacuzzi and walk in wardrobe, 1 room with a queen bed and sharing toilet with the other room with 2 single bed. Comfortable mattress and squeaky clean.

Oh, and you can take the shuttle bus from your villa to the private beach owns by the hotel group. What to do at the beach? If you’re really asking… Sunbathing, swimming, beach volley ball, foot massage, food and alcohol available. It arrived at Canal Village where you’ll find restaurants, souvenir shops, money changer. There are shuttle bus to Angsana Laguna for Spa and Massage too!

Day Tour
Its definitely cheaper if you have the time to find one in town. We are super lazy so we asked the reception for recommendations. First timer, Phi Phi Islands are a must. And we went with ALP Adventure. No tour group, having different nationalities on board i.e European, Russian, American, Singaporean, African, Australian, Malaysian (myself)，Hong Konger and only 3 PRC.

Groupie before we gets wet and wild.

I love the ocean.

Stop by a beach they called the Leonardo DiCaprio Beach. I think it’s from a movie or something but… it’s so crowded! We walked further for some crazy pose.

Selfie with my keeper.

TBH200 for this picture and frame from the agency. We didn’t pay for the videos although I remember posing a lot while he filming haha.

If you’re there for the weekend, don’t missed their weekend market, near Phuket Town, open till 11pm. There are food and goods at cheap price.

Don’t just go to restaurants recommended by the tourist book, explore yourselves. Ask the local, ask the money changer… You might be surprised.

That’s my trip.
xoxo

Reviewing 2012

Few more days till we say good bye, 2012. Despite the ridiculous world-end joke and countless of lives taken by natural disaster and some by corrupted monster. It has been good to me. I just looked back my photos from 2012 and some little notes I’ve been writing througout the year. It’s all quite beautiful. Sometimes you don’t realize how much you’ve done and what happened in a year until it’s all over!

So let’s do a little recap. Mostly for myself, really.

Roy and I rang in the new year in Taiwan, which included good food from local restaurant to night markets, and comfortable stay at Taipei, Beitou and Taoyuan.

Shortly afterwards, I celebrate my forever-21 birthday with closest friends (seemingly my only crowd too) in Hong Kong. With most delicious cheesecake cake, hometown favourite’s bah-kut-teh and homemade party food.

That same month, Roy and I went home for Chinese New Year. The first Chinese New Year without granny. Prayed. Missed. Smiled.

Travel to Chiangmai, Chiangrai, Laos, Myanmar and Bangkok with Roy, his sister and father in February.

Start working with Roy’s father in March. A motor manufactory. Office based in Hong Kong. Department? International trade and development. Job title?  Business Development Manager. Job description? Mostly acting as a translator, then, some sales operation, handling customer inquiry and follow up, and production organizer.

April, my first business trip to Taipei.time 3D2N , Taipei, Taichung and Taoyuan.

Stay up all night for the Champion League Finals in May with the boys, mahjongs, blackjack, poker, boardgame and lots of snacks.

Another business trip in June, to Japan! Excited. I haven’t been to Japan since 1995. So , business or not, busy or not, it’s still a great trip. 4days 3nights in Tokyo. Shibuya, Shinjuku, Odaiba, Asakusa; Sushi, sashimi, crepe, ice cream, ramen, bento; even went hot-spring at Ooedoonsen!

A lot happen between July and August…

Visit Sophia and spend time catching up with her mother after months.

Applied to study law and accepted by HKU.

Girlfriend, Claudia finally came for few days.

Completed our probationary period. Having my very own work station.

Exploring different summer activity such as Kayaking…

and clam fetching

Then, September. Marked the fifth year. 1827days together. Not long, but definitely not short.

Travel month – October… I went Taipei and Taichung with Roy and my parents. Then to Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto with Roy.

November, big month! Most important of year 2012. Roy and I bought a place of our own. A place we proudly call “our home”. Although it means years of loan repayment and certainly one of the biggest commitment, but we are truly happy. We are very blessed, to have supportive family, to have good luck in property hunting, to have the bank approved our mortage loan. Thank you.

Early Christmas celebration and Bear’s belated birthday celebration the night before our flight. It’s been a while.

Flew to Wuhan with Roy and his mother to visit her family, relatives. Great luck to have experienced first snow on Christmas night.

xoxo

Chiang Rai, Myanmar & Laos Photo Post!

Alrighty, Back to my Holiday trip post. After spending two days in Chiang Mai, we travelled to Chiang Rai by bus. It’s 3 hours drive to the other side of the northern Thailand. And Chiang Rai is really close to Thailand neighboring country – Myanmar (Burma) and Laos. Basically you can jut walk over to Myanmar, and take a 5minutes shuttle boat to Laos.

By the way, I lied about being too wordy and emo for this post. The thing is, I don’t want to be boring. It’s just picture and caption. And of course, some with longer word counts.

# We checked out and on the road to Chiang Rai before sun rises.

# First stop in Chiang Rai ain’t checking in to our hotel. We went Doi Tung to visit the Royal Villa. But they are closed because the princess scheduled the very same day to take her graduation photos there.

# So, no Royal Villa, the group skip right to next door’s Mae Fa Luang Park. This place is amazing! I felt as if we are in a wonderland.

# The park is carefully and beautifully designed with thousands of flowers plants and bushes. Apparently, the Thai put more effort into making their park / garden of the royal elegantly pretty. It’s just amazing.

# Roy decided to take few personal shots of mine.

# Main purpose of the trip is the golden triangle. Which is the border of Thailand, Myammar (burma) and Laos. It’s funny how you can just walk over to Myanmar. It’s just cross the bridge and… TA-da!! Welcome to Myanmar !!

# Took this picture with the local boy at a temple in Myanmar. He held umbrella while I’m roaming at the temple, so I don’t get burn too much by the sun. Wanted to tip him 20baht but he doesn’t want tip, instead he want me to purchase the old Myanmar notes from him which cost me 100baht. Paid him for the notes though. It’s collectible anyway. Maybe I should start collecting currency notes of diff country.

# Then, hopped on to the little truck and head down to visit the long-neck tribe aka Padong

# The oldest Padong in the tribe at age 65 if I haven’t heard wrongly and her granddaughter. She is the oldest in long-neck tribe whom were filmed in Nat Geo or Discovery Channel.

# I think she is pretty and cute. Its hard to snap a pic with her looking sweet and friendly. Because she wasn’t when I approached after the performance. Caught her playing with her younger siblings, bubbly, and requested a photo like this! Heart it. Hope she enjoy while she’s free from wearing the neck rings. Apparently, every girl should start wearing the rings at 7. =(

# After Myanmar, walked back to Thailand and took a boat to Laos. It’s just 5-10 minutes ride. Right opposite of Thailand separated by the Mekong River.

# Tried the local beer – Laos, and I don’t like it. Too thick.

# Love this shot by my personal photographer Mr Roy.

# The Laos kid were waiting at the port when we arrived. No, actually, there’s their hang out spot. Waiting for tourist like us to spend some money or food I guess. The thing is, they aren’t pushy, they aren’t putting an act to get sympathy. Somehow you just feel it. They were grateful when we gave a pack of chips. They shared among. Enjoying. We put a smile on their face just by giving a pack of chips which many easily got it and wasted back home. Kids from developed countries, you should learn this manner. Be grateful, appreciation.

# This little girl caught my eye. Not because of her wound right at the corner of her eyes but because I saw her holding a baby with the basket on her bag. She was carrying the baby for her mother behind, hence, she didn’t get to eat much of the chips we gave. The thing is, while we are looking at them with sympathy, upset by their misfortune, they actually don’t feel that bad. It’s just their life. Although it is really different from ours.

# So, this place is the Golden Triangle. Borders of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos.

 

*FYI, all pictures are un-edited and taken with Olympus XZ-1

*HUGS & KISSES*

Chiang Mai Photo Post

Good day matey!

Fifteen day of Chinese New Year is over. Hope everyone earned some notes from games and of course from red packets received.

# Flying with Thai Airline. Food was mehhhhh 😦 Air stewardess ain’t too helpful.

I am back in Hong Kong on the 6th day of Chinese New Year. Then went on a holiday trip with Roy, Kammy (his sister) and his father on the 4th of February. Joined Hong Tai travel group to Thailand. I’m sure everyone’s pretty familiar with Bangkok or Phuket when we talk about travelling in Thailand. However, this trip to Thailand, we are visiting Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai before stopping by Bangkok.

Too many pictures to share! I’m too lazy for long wordy post. Let’s just keep it simple = photo + caption 😀 for your information this post is purely Chiang Mai photo post!

# 2.5hours to Bangkok Airport, then another hour of local flight to Chiang Mai.

# Four of us on the modified truck. Local transport sending us to Doi Suthep

# Caught one local girl enjoying her can of coke. What she did was mouth rinsing with coke, not drinking.

# My second favourite flower is Lavender. Tulips are my top love!

# The Opium Poppy. Such a cute name but it’s extraction is morphine which created heroine 😦

# This temple on Doi Suthep is really famous in Chiang Mai. Crowded not only with tourist like us but locals.

# Many people knocking the bells as rumors says it brings good luck.

# The country’s religion claimed to be Buddhism. There are over 300temples and over 300,000 monks living in Thailand.

# I actually like this wind chime hanging around the temple a lot. Regretted for not buying it home for souvenir 😦 should have just pay 150baht for it.

# Thai-style temple is really beautiful. Artistic, cultural and very… Buddhism as compare to the Chinese temple.

# Our local tour guide, Kitti took this picture of us. I love it! By the way Kitti is a woo chai (male in Thai)

# Local home-store nearby our hotel, Furama Chiang Mai. It’s simple, not fancy and it’s the only store we have near by.

# Roy in front of the entrance of Maesa Elephant Camp. Yeah he hasn’t shave for a couple of day 😛 looking cool aight?

# Apparently this is the biggest elephant camp in Thailand where they breed, trained and send them all over to perform and to be ride on.

# Shooting balls, wearing hats and even kicking balls are old school. They impress me a little with drawings although it’s clearly controlled by trainer through ear pullings.

# Elephant’s drawings. It’s not cheap yo! The first one cost 6000 Baht = appx MYR 600 = appx HKD 1350

# Last night in Chiang Mai, it’s Roy’s 24th birthday 🙂 surprised him with a cake, and everyone sang him the birthday song.

 

Stay tuned for next Chiang Rai, Myanmar (Burma) and Laos Photo Post!!

XOXO, SYLVIA CHANG

Hello June

Good day mate ! Wow, June already? Time really flies. What have I been doing for the past 5 months after graduation? Guess it’s really time to settle down and start sending out my resume/cv more aggressively. Find a job and support my living. Hopefully the savings can do it’s purpose before I got myself a salary earning activity :p

It scares me. The idea of unemployed and the possibility of employers rejecting me, putting my resume/cv in the shred-paper machine, or just shooting it in the basket. I’m new to this whole thing. Preschool, primary, highschool, college, university… It’s all about studies and being a student. I got a job back then – student. Now, graduated, I’m unemployed. What’s next? Whats waiting in the future? I know about working, marrying, labouring, growing old. But what exactly happen? How it happen? I have no idea.

Went Bangkok last weekend. A short trip there mainly for eat, pray & massage 🙂 of course, we did enjoyed some massage everyday. And the ladies do have a great time shopping in Zara. The spring collection is sweet and the sales are making us happy! Had larb moo almost everyday, Tom yum gung too! Both my favorites Thai dish. We also tried the teow chew food! I know, teow chew food in Thai? Sounds weird but it’s amazingly delicious.

Last day of May, the 31st, is my granny’s big day. Her children held a big 89th birthday party for her at Grand Imperial Hartamas branch. She had a good time. We all do. It’s a blessing to have live and see your children, your grandchildren and your great grandchildren. Granny is happy. We all are. So many relatives from my mom’s I never met! Granny couldn’t remember them all though. She has the memory of fishes, which stays for 3mins. Sometimes she forgets me, but when she remembers, she always ask when am I getting married. I like to tease her, asking her to wait for another 7 years maybe… Her reaction entertains me.

There go my May 2011. Well, again, hello June! Be nice 🙂