Back from HK/ Macau

hmmm, back from holidays. been away for too long that i'm starting to miss home. damned, i've not finished writing about my taipei trip nor have i finished my disastrous phuket trip and now i still have my hongkong and macau trip to write about. i've been wondering about my holidays and i really didn't enjoy myself too much as i've got to take care of my parent's and sis's intinerary and be their guide. i guess i need to make a personal trip alone to do things that i really wanted to do.

so what lessons have i brought back this time? the balance of wants and needs. the questions of what i want and need props up again. as i walk along nathan rd in tsimshatsui with all the shops bombarding and beckoning me to buy. i felt abit excessive and pondered to myself. do i really need all this? am i harbouring too much for my own good? mistakenly thinking that i need all those things? how much is too much or enough? so what i have all those? am i satisfied with a small cafe, drinking tea or coffee my whole life away or do i want to be top of the world?

with this in mind, i set about revamping my life again. taking a first small step in my life, i'm taking a closer look at my wardrobe. mind you, i occupy a 4 door wardrobe and 4 drawers. all for my clothes and etcs. it's a bit too much as i don't wear all my clothes in it, it's just occupying space. books piling up on my desk to be read and notes are scattered all over. i need a room make over and it's time to visit ikea again.

Phuket - a disaster trip [day1]

just reach home at 9pm and i rush off to get a new camera for my hongkong trip tomolo... well let me start from the beginning...

 

i'm flying on tigerair that my colleague book online for 132sgd. the flight's at morning 0710 and as usual, i'm late for it. actually i woke up at 515 and we're meeting at 6 at the budget terminal but the night before, i slept late at 230am [more like dozing off] preparing for my parent's trip to hongkong. i fell asleep at my computer desk. after brushing my teeth and pack my stuff, i type out the instructions on how to get to the hotel, the location and things to do for the day and a half before i arrive in hk. by the time i've finished, it was 0555am. i reach the airport at 630am and we checked in 5 mins later. well, i guess i'm pushing my luck but thanks to the efficieny of the s'pore airport, i think that even if you check in 30mins before, it shouldn't be a problem thou i know they usually close their counter 20mins before boarding time, not that i wanna try the system. i managed to get my self a O'brians sandwich at 8.15sgd, my goodness. i can't imagine me paying this in s'pore.

 

DAY 1

anyway, maybe i got used to the normal airline, once on board on the airbus 320, i felt it was cramped and there was lots of kids. therefore, it was noisy. luckily, we sat at the back so it wasn't that bad. we reached phuket in the morning at 745am phuket time [ 1hr slower] and the flight is only 1 and a half hours. we reach the hotel patong bay resort at 830am and guess what, the check in is only available at 1pm so we got roughly 5hours to spare. in the morning, phuket is like a dead town and shops usually opens at 10-11am. we changed into beach attire in the lobby toilet and left out luggage with the concierge and headed for the beach. somehow along the way, we met another of our colleague at the beach, we know that he'll be in phuket for 2 days but hey, it was such a coincidence. he suggested we head for phuket town instead as there's nothing to do here now. we paid 20baht for the 30-40mins bus ride to town and it's just like the 70-early 80s s'pore bus, everybody just cramped into it.

 

we got off somewhere near the town and into this shopping centre called Central or something. it's like s'pore neighbourhood shopping mall with some pricy labels. we had lunch in a ramen shop and search for some bargains in the shop. anyway, the clothes there are similarly priced compared to s'pore so no big deal. however, my friend managed to get an adidas polo tee and shorts for only 40sgd, i think he save around 30over dollars. after stoning there till 12plus, we caught a tutut back to our hotel. it cost us 360bt for 6 of us. my colleague's galfren managed to bargain 40bt off by telling him 360 is easier to divide among 6 of us than 400. haha. first time i've heard it.

 

after checking in, we headed for the beach to stone and swim for the afternoon. we headed out to look for snacks to sustain our stomach till 7pm before meeting our colleague for seafood dinner. we took some pictures on the snacks we're eating when disaster 1 struck, my fren dropped my sony camera while taking photos. i dun know how he did it but after passing my cam to him and turn my back, i heard the sound. usually when i dropped my cam, it was in off mode but now, the mechanism jammed and it couldn't retract the lens. damned, first day on my trip, my camera's out of order.

well, since there's nothing both of us can do short of spoiling the trip, he's appointed as my personal photographer.

 

we walk around the area till 715pm before my colleague arrived. we then headed for one of the seafood restuarants. we ordered 2 squids, 3 crayfish, 6 king prawns, 2 small crabs [like those u find in the coffeeshop], a tomyam soup and a vege. total bill for 6 = 250sgd [who said phuket is cheap?]. to me, it's bloody expensive and it wasn't that nice. i could have gotten better food in s'pore with the price i'm paying.

 

after dinner, we walk around again and for place to shop and chill. as it was the king's birthday, lots of bars/pubs/7-11 are not selling alcohol. it's funny watching lots of angmos drinking coke in a bar as we walk along blanga soi, it's so uncharacteristic of them haha. most of the bars and pubs are closed for the night so we ended up at the beach watching angmos paying ridiculous price ~ 200bt [10sgd] for a hotair lantern that the thais would burn the solid fuel and watch it float into the sky. after sometime, we walk into a sports shop and i got myself a adidas polo tee and a singlet for 50sgd total. we then headed for thai massage. now, this shop looks the best among all that we have seen along the way, the interior looks new, clean and neat, surrounded by glass panels. my frens chose foot massage while i took thai massage. we then proceed to wash our feet and drank tee before we had our massage. it wasn't a room to begin with as the place is glass paneled so the massage lady drew all the curtains and asked me to change into the clothes provided, then disaster 2 struck, as she massage me, i realised that she was concentrating on my thighs and later, she start to massage my balls. now contemplate this, the lady which is in her late 30s or early 40s with a below average face which i can't tell whether she's female or lady boy started to massage your balls and expect you to erect. arrrgggg, i have nightmares... i quickly told her to stop and skip the part as i'm not into this kind of activities [with or without pretty face]. it spoils my whole experience and my night as i felt raped haha. we then headed back to the hotel to turn it for the night.

 

 

 

 

 

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Holidaying again!!! Yay!!!

Hmmm, i've not even finished writing my blog on taipei and i'm leaving for holiday again. Later today in the wee hours, i'll be waking up at 0445 to prep myself to the airport for 0710 flight to phuket. however, this time will be slightly different. i'm taking my virgin flight on a budget airline, tiger airways instead of the usual SQ. somehow, i've gotten so used to SQ that whenever i take anyother flight and when they miss out something, i'll start to whine to myself why aren't they like SQ. So far, my experience with the european airlines have been quite disappointing. well, enough of the crap.

 

the weird feeling has gotten into me again. i'm thinking now that i'm typing my blog and later in the day, i'll be in phuket, enjoying the sun, booze, spa and the gals, hahaha in a way, it'll be different as i've always travelled to the city instead of resorts or a more layback province. this time, i'm gonna take it slow and enjoy the wind in my face as later in the week, i'll be hustling and bustling in hongkong/macau for my second part of the trip.

 

i really love travelling, it gives me a sense of uncertainty, curiosity of a new place that makes me wanna explore further which will amaze me in one way or another. maybe i'm sick of singapore. not the fact that i want to migrate but just the need of fresh air and a new perspective. i remember sitting at tel aviv beach near the old jaffa town looking at sunset across the mediterranean sea. the sun has never look so big, round and red before and it just slowly but surely disappeared into the horizon. i never felt so peaceful and calm for a long time.  

 

i've learned to appreciate different cultures and realised that my local papers are a load of bullshit. despite the neverending propaganda saying how good we are and how bad other countries are, when i was in that country, i see the lighter side of it and people making the best out of the system. things still function thou not as efficient as us but i can feel the heart, the human factor and the sincerity in it. after travelling to quite a number of countries, i've realised that we're sterile and why we lack the buzz factor compared to hongkong or even taipei. the former two countries might seem chaotic but it's organised chaos. people found ways to  function efficiently in an chaotic environment and that is what makes them buzz. we? we're like traffic light, always waiting for lights to change before making any movement, too systematic for our own good. and one thing's for sure, i lost the trust in my local papers, they're not giving new perspective but just regurgitating old thoughts and lack of courage to be neutral in reporting.

 

well, i think i'm gonna sleep later, still got to plan an itinerary for my parents on what to do in hongkong before i get to meet them. till then my frens, i'll try to update my latest trip and finished my taipei discovery when i'm back on the 13th. :)

 

 

 

 

Back from Taiwan part 2 - the beginning...

it's must be tiring for me for the past few days as I've slept from 1am in the morning to 5pm today. damn, when i woke up, the whole day have almost past and i ponder to myself, what have i done again...

 

well, let me recalled on my taiwan trip before the memory leaves me. the trip begins on the 3rd Nov, i remember working till 8pm the day before due to the last minute adjustment to the layout of the magazine. it totally spoils my plan as i need to collect my contact lens from the optical shop for my trip, see a doctor for my bad cough. by the time i reach northpoint, both have already closed and that leaves me with only 1 pair for the trip and a bad cough. i started packing at 12am and by the time i'm done, it was already 3am plus... i finally get to sleep at 4am in the morning and i got to be up by 8. i dragged myself up at 830 and still stoned from the lack of sleep. i need to photocopy my jap notes for my classmates, see a doctor for my bad cough and finished packing the little last minute stuffs like toothbrush, facial wash etc. well, the photocopy shop's haven't open and i didn't have time to rush to the clinic (which i later regretted) and by the time i left home, it was 1030am, the time which i'm supposed to meet my my fellow travelling colleagues. the thing is, it's hard, extremely hard to get a cab in Yishun after 930am, i think they must have gone for a break or wondering around in the city as there's no shit in sight. i gave up and took a bus instead. as i'm taking SIA, the flight's in T2. now, because of the security thing going around, every buses or large vehicles that goes into the terminals needs to be check by the CISCO guards. there's something i don't understand, what's their purpose and objective? i find that's a total waste of time for them to go up the buses as they don't check no shit, more like going thru the motion. i must be feeling damn pissed as i'm very late and there's more than 5 buses/vehicles infront of mine. it took more than 15mins to get going... by the time i met up wif them, it was 1130 and my flight is 1240.

 

when they saw me, they were complaining like why so late, must blanja makan etc. after finishing the check in, i rush off to mail my personal jap notes to my classmates as i din have the time to scan and email to her nor photocopy my notes. I'm quite thankful for the efficient service in the airport whether it's checkin or others. i remember reaching the HKIA one and a half hours before checkin and we're rushing like mad due to the long check in timing (they only open 2 counters for the economy flights), the immigration and the subway to the terminals. here in changi airport, one hour before my flight, after check in, i still have time for a subway sandwich and do some shopping.

 

i've taken lots of different airlines and i realised why SIA is among the best. They have the latest inflight movies. haha. other than that, the meals are not bad. i remember taking Swissair in jun, imagine it's a long haul flight and the inflight entertainment is down... and the food is only average... well, shortly after taking off, i started to cough... the sign of more to come.