Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Hey Guys, Considering that, non of my sisters have posted this, i will do the honours of posting it.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. May good health and happiness always be with you. Best wishes from Lim Family. =)

3 Days at Phuket

What on earth is SIDE SEAing?

0530
Unlike how drowsy and groggy I was, the car engine sounded a clear and resounding roar and beckoned me out of bed as we rushed to the airport, hauling luggage and hand carried bags of items intended to be used as in-flight entertainment.

And off we go, with the street lights as the only beacons of light that illuminated the ebony night, to the airport, and to Phuket, Thailand!

0700
Forget about in-flight entertainment. All we wanted at this point was our stomachs entertained with food, and some shut eye. Well, one thing I’ve learned is that, always pack your own food on board Air Asia, even if they say “outside food is disallowed”. It practically is daylight robbery to charge RM21 for 2 bowls of instant noodles and 2 cups of milo – and they didn’t even bother to embellish it with pretty airline bowls so that we can’t tell it’s instant noodles!

1000
After renting a car at an agency near the airport which looked almost illegal, we headed off to Kamala Beach Resort to check in. By this point, Mum and I were STARVING, because I konked out on the plane and missed the wonderfully extortionistic breakfast, and because mum was frugal enough to want to remain hungry until we get free breakfast from the hotel buffet. 😀
And well, Dizie was hungry too. Well, he always is. (:

So we sang in the car to distract ourselves! 😀

Upon pulling into Kamala Beach Resort, we caught a whiff of the buffet spread and hurried up to load our luggage into the rooms and tucked in… until we found out that breakfast was not included in our room booking charge for the day of check in. Oops. 😀

1100

My idea of the perfect holiday is to spend time relaxing – to not worry about having my things stolen, or to have woes of getting to a certain destination without getting lost again, or to wonder when would be the next meal – and Phuket was really the best place to do that.

And so I lounged by the pool on one of those tanning chairs with the rest of the pack of European tourists who were hungry to soak up a winter’s supply of sun as company.

And occasionally, when it got too hot, I jumped into the pool to cool off a little (: It was truly one of the most relaxing afternoons I’ve had all year. The cherry on top of the delightful afternoon was the fact that I successfully tanned up by a little! – this is amazing achievement for someone who fails to get even the slightest tan from kayaking trips in OBS when everyone else gets sunbaked like lobsters. Like hello, 5 days of kayaking under the bright, shiny sun and NOTHING! Gosh.

1800
If you google up Phuket’s tourist attractions, the first thing to turn up would be FantaSEA. It is the “MUST-CATCH” show for anyone who bothers setting foot on this sunnier than Singapore island. After a good day tanning and swimming, we headed down to the Golden Kinaree for a sumptuous buffet.

The buffet gloats of 40 thousand renowned chefs, preparing mouth-watering international cuisine; I was skeptical when I read that on the brochure, thinking, “Really? 40 thousand chefs? for 20 Malaysian ringgit per head? Are they trying to get themselves ripped off?”

.. and I still am. I swear, you would probably find a little more than 4 chefs preparing food in an overtly oily kitchen that uses pots and pans dating back to the Malaysian colonial times.
The buffet spread wasn’t impressive. Unlike the dynamic ornation the seats and setting were, the buffet spread had barely 30 dishes, with things you could find everywhere else – I’m talking about Fried Noodles, Fried Rice, Sushi Rolls, Green Curry Fish Balls.

VERY INTERNATIONAL MEH.

2000

You can’t ever visit any part of Thailand and miss their Elephants! They were indeed the grandest (physically and metaphorically speaking, of course) attraction in FantaSEA. Though, however well people them up and feed them, I still can’t help but feel a pang of guilt and a dash of melancholy seeing these supposedly venerable creatures being held under our leashes and have to walk and sit on our commands.

Damnit. Yes, I was thinking of the poem we did on Elephants and performing creatures earlier this year in Lit. ):
And so, we fed the elephants.
And they posed for us.
And we took some photos.
And made our parents take some photos, before we headed into the theatre to wait for the “MUST-CATCH” show to begin. For the record, I was highly sceptical about the show, as well. Having been to many of these shows ranging from “The Thousand hands of the Guan Ying Pu Sa” in Beijing to “Jumping Dolphins” in Australia, I was not a terribly big fan of these 2 hours long performances whose aims, other than to entertain their overcharged customers, were completely hazy. Though despite my sceptical view, the FantaSEA show proved to be quite spectacular with elephants cruising in as an opening scene. They were in such proximity, they could make you go ‘WHAT!’ The acts were… interesting to say the least. There were magic acts, crowd participation, and acrobat performances! The acrobatic action was breathtaking, though! Perhaps the best of the load of uh, things, they did.

If you don’t mind a fairly hazy plot, and just want to watch fireworks and people on ropes and animals – you can check it out for a good RM 100 per adult, inclusive of the dinner that precedes the show itself. Even if you’re not the show type of person, it’s always worth your buck to watch the ever diligent Thai put on a show with such warmth and sincerity.

DAY 2 – 0700
After a bowl of good cereal, and bacon and egg for Dizie, we headed off to visit some of the most renowned beaches in the world. (sendy beach! haha) We were greeted by chopping blue seas as it rocked the boat back and forth, sending sprays of salty seawater in through the window openings. Dizie and I were both going, “Oh gosh, I feel my breakfast coming on!”

While we were making hurling sounds, I think we accidentaly triggered an upset stomach in one of the other passengers as a Taiwanese girl clad in a bikini suit hurled towards the back of the boat. And yes, after that incident, we stopped making hurling sounds. The sight wasn’t pretty. at all.

0900

I felt extremely dumb when the tour guide Ms. Linda, who was clearly physically male but mentally female, introduced us to our first activity of the day – snorkelling. I felt extremely dumb not because I didn’t anticipate this, but rather, because despite clearly noting the itinerary, I didn’t pack for it. So down I went in, dressed in my Nike Human Race shirt with a life vest strapped on tight on my virgin attempt at snorkelling.

You know how you always see in the advertisements where people go into the sea and snorkle; they usually see all these beautiful corals and amazingly clear water and schools of fishes just swimming by?

Yeah, it was something like that… except for the fishes (there was only one school of fish. i think they were on holiday or something.), and the beautiful corals (they were so deep down under, and because the water was so dark and unlit towards the bottom, we could hardly see any).

Not only did I drink a heck lot of salt water trying to breathe through the mouth piece, I was dragged down multiple times by my aquaphobic brother. To be honest, I could understand the fear of drowning, especially in the sea where the depth is unknown. I wasn’t that much afraid because of that quary jump we did at OBS – from then on, I have had vested good faith in life jackets and know that they never fail. 😀

1100

After a fruitful 25 minutes of snorkeling, I have 2 tips for those who want to attempt:
1) Beware of Jellyfishes, no matter how small they may seem. OR in other words, Don’t touch anything you don’t recognize!
There was a kid on board who got stung by a jellyfish, and I swear, you could see him turning purple. Oops.

the hurling taiwanese girl is in the top left corner of the picture!

2) Always, ALWAYS pack for spare change of clothes and TOWELS when you intend to snorkel.
I was left shivering, had a horrible taste of salt water in my mouth, smelled really really bad (almost like pee only less salty) and was on the verge of puking, with much thanks to the rocking boat. So yes, prepare for these. Thank goodness Daddy lent me his shirt to keep warm from the clutches of the violent sea breeze as we coast along bays like James Bond Bay where they shot one of the JB movies about 20 years ago; we visited a bay where they shot ‘The Beach‘ with Leonardo Dicaprio as well.

thats, daddy shirtless and mummy with her mannn braving the winds. ZIS IS FOR YOUU, NIAN YING!

1200
After unpleasant hours on the rocking boat, we made a pit-stop at Monkey island. And obviously, when an island is named after an animal, you can expect it to be populated by the same animal.

and obviously, they must be skilled enough to open a pepsi bottle to be credited an island with their species name branded on it. 😀 Dizie kept asking me, at this point, whether monkeys get sugar highs. -_-

this is mummy and her half frightened, half excited expression upon being in such close proximity with a monkey! 😀

daddy and mummy – i like this photo!

attempted star jump shot by Dizie.

dad and dizie in green. 😀

hahah and this was taken after much request from me for daddy to do his Daniel Craig, Casino Royale walk from the sea debut. haha! ahhh, i love their seasss!

1230

Lunch was in order, after much sight-seeing, monkey-seeing and taiwanese-girl-hurling. Buffet spread again; honestly, i was really starting to doubt Thailand’s status as having an eclectic selection of food. Before lunch, mum, dizie and I hopped by the nearest shirt store to get something dry for me to change into -and we got a black sundress! 😀 hee hee. tried on like a thousand and one dresses before we bought it LOL.

1330

A relaxing day at the beach.

Daddy and mummy were sleeping in the shade, while Dizie and I tried to entertain ourselves for the 2 hours we spent at Khai Island. I went snorkelling again for a bit, and got a splinter in my toe. D: I was honestly annoyed at how there was really NOTHING to see down there – stop telling us we can snorkel there just because there are no sharks!

Oh, and it didn’t help that those little kids (probably from one of the Asian countries) went around screaming AHH THERES A SHARK THERES A SHARK! ITS GREY! ITS COMING! For the first time I heard it, I actually believed them and swimmed upshore ASAP. Then, when I was greeted by a bunch of squealing kids running about tickling each other, screaming its a shark! its a whale! its a monkey with a pink tail!, I decided to continue snorkeling ANYWAY. Take my chances.

oh god forbid, if I actually do get eaten up by a shark, it’ll be the kids’ fault.

after which, I pulled a Lilo* under the suggestion of Diziekins, and went around snapping photos of random strangers on a beach.

*To pull a Lilo is to hold a camera on a beach and take random pictures of random strangers no matter how invasive it seems. With reference to the movie Lilo & Stitch and the character Lilo. Exhibit A of a photo from a Lilo-stunt.

Exhibit B –
Dizie fell in love with this baby and kept asking me to take a photo her in the car on the way back to the resort.. and kept insisting that it was BOY.

Exhibit C –
totally hot fedora hat guy playing ball on the beach. omg this is for you, jolene! :D:D

Exhibit D

1900

wonderful desserts at Lai Mai!

The evening was spent at Patong Beach; after dining at the ever most exquisite Lai Mai restaurant where you really do get the most bang for your buck, we roamed around the streets of Patong beach for some bargain hunting. It is really a haven for bargain hunters who derive joy from slashing prices by half or three-quater.

Mum and I had a real kick from buying knock off chanel and gucci shades. 😀 Though Patong Beach is well-known for its congested streets with tourists inundating the scene, there wasn’t much elbowing going around when we were there. It’s been a low tourist season, mentioned by most stall holders we’ve spoken to.. with much thanks to the instability in the mainland.

Day 3
It was a day of massages and relaxation – we went down to the beach to get massages while Dizie locked himself in for some good ol’ fashioned TV.
Afterwhich, we made a trip down to Jungceylon Shopping Centre for some sushi lunch at Fuji!
Fuji is a MUST VISIT place, totally recommended by yours truly.

They serve generous portions at a very reasonable price! Bento sets for RM 22 and I bet you, it’ll taste better than Sushi King, Genki Sushi, Sakae Sushi or whatever it is that serves your jap meal. 😀 Meals come with free parking for 3 hours and coffee or tea, and fruits. 😀

Our shopping buys include:
– New specs for Justin and Mum (authentic Dior, baby!)
– 2 Pairs of coloured contacts for me (though you can totally not tell that they are coloured, at all.)
– Free reading glasses for Daddy
– A pair of New Balance shoes for my running endeavours! 😀
– T-shirts (they are like, staple shopping items!) for Justin and Daddy
– Stuff for Joe and NY (we didn’t forget you! :D)
And some other stuff. Hee hee.

All in all, I loved the trip – despite having to haul Dizie out of bed at hours late into the day! – its been so long since I’ve truly spent carefree moments with my family and this trip was perfect. Sometimes, I can’t help but think that in a few years time, we wouldn’t be able to do this. Dad and mum would be marching into their early fifties and I’ll hopefully be overseas for academic pursuits. Nian Ying’s already gone If I could pick one moment to freeze time, I would wind back to a few years before this – before we were all spreaded out in different countries – and freeze it all right there.

Aging sucks.