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February 07th, 2010 | Author: gabriel

Due to the situation where Valentine’s Day this year falls on the first day of Chinese New Year, Yin Sin and I decided to celebrate it a week earlier, as well… Valentine’s Day is kind of man-made anyway.. So, we just set it a date around that time.

The day started with a trip to Tampines’s Ikea. We were supposed to be there for breakfast but ended up there for lunch instead. We didn’t really have many things in mind to buy but just wanted to take a walk there…

So, we lazed around the Ikea setting…

ikea-sofa

And had lunch there. With their famous Swedish meatballs.

ikea-meatballs

Bought a few stuff from Ikea (no bulky items) and we headed off to Giant, which was just opposite Ikea. The Giant there is really big.. Kinda remind me Malaysia when in GIant. Even the air smells like the one in Malaysia.

Giant isn’t really a good place to walk around, especially in the cold storage area. There’s so many people there!! Pushing the trolley around proves to be difficult. But one thing good is that, when walking down the aisles, we get to taste various samples of food..

After that, the silliest thing happened. We wanted to go back to the North East area and decided to take the free shuttle bus which takes us from the ‘retail area’ to Sengkang/Punggol. We managed to board the bus but the thing is, we didn’t know where to alight. We wanted to go to Punggol and I was waiting for the bus to alight at Punggol Central. The bus was so near Punggol Central… but it didn’t end up there… So, what happened was… we waited and waited.. and we ended up back in Ikea/Giant/Courts area. We took one big round around the area.. lols

One good thing happened from there was that, we took our nap in the bus and was energized to walk again. He continued our journey to Courts. Courts is a good place to shop. Lots of cheap electronics and many other electronics to see.. I even bought YIn Sin’s valentine’s present from there! haha

comb-dryer

It’s a comb + hair dryer! Hot air coming out from the brush end…  =)

And we did the smartest thing ever in Courts. We went and sit on the OTO massaging chair. Damn syiok.. lol

When we were done, it was almost evening. We headed to Punggol correctly this time and I took her to Punggol Beach.

punggol-beach

Lots of people were fishing there.. But the beach wasn’t very big. We just chose a cosy spot by the rocks and just enjoyed the waves there..

gab-yinsin

Took some pictures there…

yinsin-lalang

Had ice-cream there and took some crazy pictures…

yinsin-fierceyinsin-icecream  

The breeze was great.. even gave a nice effect to her hair..

yinsin-beach

Right before it starts to get dark, we took the bus to Kovan for our dinner. We stopped by at some floral place where it provides landscaping solutions.. Very beautiful flowers..

yinsin-flowers

And of course, lastly, we had Thai Cuisine for dinner! Very good and spicy Thai food at Nakhon Kitchen… Both of us were having tears and our faces all red from the spiciness. The tom-yam soup is a must try!

 

thaif-food

After stuffing our stomach with all the food… (did I mention it was a 45-min wait for us to be seated?), we walked around Heartland Mall in Kovan. Okay, it may not be a very romantic Valentine’s Day outing, but we sure did enjoy ourselves.. By the time we reached home, we were like half-dead already… Anyway, one more week to CNY!! Can’t wait.. =)

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July 03rd, 2009 | Author: gabriel

It’s a good thing I went to Langkawi a few days before going to Phuket. It kinda ’seasoned’ my body to be more resistant to the sun. The sun was scorching hot when I was at the different islands as part of an island hopping tour.

I reached Phuket on Saturday afternoon, on the sixth day of June. Got delayed at the Immigration for about an hour cause there were a lot of people and the immigration people were very slow. And once I came out from the immigration, there was another delay at the 150 baht minivan to Patong Beach as they wanted to fill up the seats. It took me more than 2 hours to rendezvous with my parents and my sis at Patong Swiss Hotel.

Patong Beach

Patong Beach

I spent the remaining of the day with a delicious Thai cuisine. Food was quite good. My first taste of real ‘authentic’ Thai food in Thailand itself.

Green Curry

Green Curry

Tomyam

Tomyam

Pad Thai

Pad Thai

After dinner, we walked around Jung Ceylong Shopping Mall.. Saw some cultural performances but we just took a quick glance.

cult-perf

Slept relatively early cause well, we can’t find anything to do. haha

The next morning, woke up at 730am for breakfast before our main events.

My parents and I went Island Hopping! Sat on a large and comfortable speed boat heading towards the different islands near Phuket. The first island we went to is Phi Phi Island.

It has beautiful sand; very soft and powder-like sand.. Has a very nice scenic too!
Phi-phi-island

The beach itself is very small and imagine such small beach with so many people there. It was very crowded.
phi-phi-beach

After that, the boat took us to Bilik Lagun (Lagoon Room). It’s just a lagoon where they let us take a dip in the ocean for ‘warming up’ before we start snorkeling. It was a refreshing swim for me and my mum. Then, it’s snorkeling time!

snorkeling

There weren’t many fishes there though and the water’s a bit murky. But many just attempt to look at fishes. There are some.. just not that many.

Our following stop is “monkey island”. It’s just an island filled with monkeys. They can just put it in the programme and it would seem like a ‘big thing’. The only thing people do there is throw bananas to monkey and watch them eat. And of course, the usual making monkey faces to the monkeys..

monkey-island

We then went to Similan Island for lunch. It was an island hit by the tsunami last time. You can see many trees that has lost its bark but the root is still there.
similan

Our last stop is Khai Island. My parents just chilled by the beach. Taking naps in the sea breeze.
relax-on-beach

I roamed around the island.. At the back of the island, there’s this very beautiful rock formations.
rock-formations

rocks-ocean

When we went back, we were pretty tired. Not to mention sun burn for me. My second round of sunburn after the first one from Langkawi. We ate Thai food again for dinner. The quality is pretty standard there. Good food.

For the final day next morning, I went out with my mum and sis to buy souvenirs and scarfs. We even went for Thai massage! They stretched us real good.. My first authentic Thai massage. haha.. Anyway, trip was good. Had a 3 hour transit to Singapore at LCCT when I reached KL. Needed to shift to my new house the following day

June 05th, 2009 | Author: gabriel

I spent two nights in Langkawi as a holiday trip together with my girlfriend. I’ve never actually been there before and I heard a lot of stories about super cheap booze and nice corals. As I don’t really have lots of time to blog about it, let me categorize the things I do instead of doing it chronologically.

Accommodation
We stayed at this place called Zackry Guesthouse. It’s a very friendly and decent place where it’s mainly for backpackers. Lots of Caucasians hanging around there and it’s at Pantai Tengah. The people there are very friendly.

zackry_guesthouse

Activities As we only have like two days there, the things that we can do are quite limited.

  • Island Hopping
    We purchased the island hopping package at Kuala Kedah itself through an agent there. They charged us like RM45/pax for it only to find out I can easily get it for RM35/pax from the guest house itself.
    The island hopping includes a boat ride to three different islands.
    First is Pulau Beras Basah

    beras_basah

    We are given 1 hour to do our own things there.
    People there just hang around on the beach
    hang_around

    Sun Bathe
    suntan

    Ride on the Banana Boat
    banana_boat

    Or if you’re really that bored, you can find a group of people and carry rocks
    carry_rocks

    Then, the next place they bring us is Pulau Singa to see Eagles feed on fishes
    pulau_singa

    eagle

    Lastly, to Pulau Dayang Bunting where the shape of the island resembles a pregnant maiden
    pulau_dayang_bunting

    They took us to the lake within the island. The scenery at the jetty was beautiful.
    dyng_bunting

    Then at the lake itself, people just chill there. You can even swim in the lake. And to my surprise, the water is not sea water. It’s not salty at all. When it enters my eyes, I don’t feel a thing. Oh, and legend says that if a girl who finds difficulty in getting pregnant drinks water from the lake, they can get pregnant easier. Or something like that. haha
    lake

    Then, there’s a small location where you can dip your feet into the ‘mini pond’ and feed the catfish! haha.. It feasts on your deadskin but to me, it feels like they’re having fun tickling our feet with its whiskers.
    catfish_therapy

  • Pulau Payar
    Paid RM140/pax for a return trip to Pulau Payar, lunch, Snorkeling and shark feeding. It was not as great as what people hyped about it. Compared to the islands that I’ve been in Sabah, the water is a bit green and ‘commercialized’. In Sabah, the water is crystal clear and the marine life are actually in the ‘wild’. The fishes in Pulau Payar to me are like reared. But because the fishes are ‘bred’, there are more concentrated.

    pulau_payar

    The density of fishes is very high. Especially when you feed it bread, you can see the fishes swarming towards it. So there are a few times where the workers managed to ‘bully’ yin sin. She was snorkeling near the jetty when the workers threw bread near her. Then, the fishes all swim towards her scaring her away. And as she fled, more bread landed around her and wherever she goes there are always fishes swarming towards her and biting her. haha..

    Then, the corals are quite nice as well. But can only be found deeper in the ocean. There’s also the shark feeding session. The workers lure the baby sharks near the shore with dead fishes and feed it to them.

    shark_feeding
    baby_shark

  • Tanjung Rhu
    This is the place where you can walk from one island to another island in the ocean. Too bad, by the time we went there, it was high tide and wasn’t safe to walk in the sea. But at least, we get to see the sunset there.

    sunset_tjg_rhu

Transportation and Island Exploration
We rented a scooter from the guesthouse at RM30 for 24 hours (A car costs RM70 per day). Started the rental from 2000hrs. We went to Kuah town for dinner and some alcohol + chocolate shopping. The beers are dirt cheap. Can get a 6 pack carlsberg for only RM9.90. A bottle of Chivas is RM68.

alcohol bottles

Renting the scooter is a very good idea. Rental is cheap and petrol is cheap. We rode from one end to another, taking a few wrong turns. One good thing about Langkawi is that you won’t get lost cause no matter where you go, it’s just round the island.

Eateries
We ate fried rice at Kuah town and Ramly burger at a roadside on the way back from Tanjung Rhu. And of course, the usual tuna bread, cup noodles and junk food. =)

The trip is quite enjoyable especially if with the right company. Only bad thing is, i got sun burnt real bad… =(

note: For a great selection of places to stay with discount prices visit Langkawi Hotels for more information

Category: holidays, photography, travel  | Tags: , , ,  | 2 Comments