I decided to do a photoblog this time round, so that the 750+ photos from each of the 5 cameras will not go to waste. This is my first trip to Phuket and it is indeed a eye opener. I shall let the photos do the talking for me now. Anyway, pardon me for all the mis-alignments, I just can't seem to get them right.

Left S'pore 1305, reach Phuket 1345 Thai time

hello to Seeka (quality for reasonable price)

our room 303

wow, what big sausages they have here!

their quality of artworks never fail to impress me

our first dinner in Phuket

what a big... (bread, pizza, pie??)

Cam on Cam

There was a huge queue waiting to take a photo with Mr Thai MacDonald

one of the most important road signs in Phuket

me & ZQ were totally obsessed with their boxing gloves

this Hello Kitty store is striking in contrast with the rest of the street

our first tuk-tuk experience

played card games and YL's 30s of "forfeit"

Our second day in Phuket is spent in Karon Beach, just located beside Patong. Karon beach is less crowded than Patong, the water is cleaner and supposedly more tranquil (which is still not what I expected) because there is this huge number of angmohs sunbathing. Anyway, the jet skiing was a good experience to remember (but expensive too).

3 kinds of eggy breakfast to choose from : scrambled, fried, omelette

this Buddha was watching us having our breakfast all the time

some exercise after breakfast to loosen up our muscles (of course we suffered from indigestion after that. lol)

all stunts are performed by professionals, pls do not try this at home

the first of our Mr Mocca series

mixed rice @ Karon Beach

foreign lands, common friends

do check out our post on rice of all kinds

a election poster in the middle of nowhere

dinner @ Patong Seafood

like I said, everything is so big in Phuket

the BIG shopping centre, Jungceylon

the leaning Xmas tree of Phuket

the mesmerizing lady-boys of Bangla Road

This is probably the highlight of the entire trip. We visited 4 islands around Phuket during this island hopping event (Monkey beach, Maya bay, Phi Phi island and Khai island), which lasted for the entire day. This is also the first snorkling experience we had, and the sea is gorgeous. Bobby the guide is totally entertaining with his authentic "British accent" (he has never been overseas but he still managed to learnt it.)

It's time to enjoy the bright sun, the bedazzling beach and the beauty of the sea.

onboard the speedboat

the place to be at during the rainy season of Singapore

i'm still wondering which leg is mine

we left our mark on Maya Bay

these fishes must have been super hungry, they were fighting over every piece of bread in the water

we all love Mr Mocca

see how happy I am in the company of babes. lol

these waves remind me of jet-ski

snorkling in Khai island aka Ji Dan Dao

so freaking unglam but hilarious

with the entertaining Bobby (the one in orange shorts)

no island hopping trip is ever complete without these personalised souvenirs ( I didn't get one, so my trip isn't over. hehe)

seafood dinner @ Maeubol market (3 times cheaper than Patong Seafood)

"Our favourite word of the trip - SPAM! lol, spam money at Maeubol, ordered prawns ah, crabs ah, fish ah super lots of dishes, somemore can order seafood but cooked in different styles one. Got the whole long table flooded with seafood, damn shiok. Returned back to the lobby for chit chats. ZQ started sitting at the computer at the lobby, played with the mouse and the recep asked for 20baht 'cause she thought he accessed the internet. Poor him had to pay money for nothing, lol. If I'm not wrong, we played the number game at the girl's room today, where losers had to do a 30 sec of fame video. Damn hilarious, I think I laughed till I got fits. Thank god I didn't lose the game, if not I might have to do a dance on a chair top and be recorded in the video which prob will last for 70 yrs until we die." -xia

Basically says it all after our island hopping trip. For more underwater photos do check out our mixed rice blog here.

Today is supposedly OTOT day cum shopping trip (since OTOT means shopping in this case). Today is also the day we ought to SPAM all our money so that we wouldn't leave any regrets when we are back in Singapore. But we did really regret it when we are stuck in Phuket for another day. Lol.

There isn't any photos for today, since I don't own any digicams (still waiting for someone to buy me one for my birthday, hopefully next year?) Anyway, we spilt into groups to explore Patong once again. You can see what the others did here.

ZQ and I went exploring to the less known parts of Patong, where we visited a school (Ban Sai Namyen School), we didn't managed to get in because there was this fierce looking security guard at the gates.

Went down to this empty stadium at Hat Patong Road and ate from the roadside store there. Basically walked all the routes in the upper part of Patong for the whole morning before meeting up with YL, mil and mel for lunch at BK. Before that we had already tried the BK Pork Burger (S$7 plus). Fast food in Phuket are way too expensive.

SPAM our money on souvenirs and such. I was trying to re-design my home, so I bought some decorative items back to present a different feel. Next time if I were to go Thailand again, I'll definitely get one of those oil paintings back.

Met up with everyone in the evening for a thai massage at Let's Relax. The ambience was fantastic and we really enjoyed our time there. Fell asleep during their smoothing foot massage though. Our remaining cash is spent in Family Mart (their localised version of 7-11).

Our last day in Phuket. This is where we experienced the real Amazing Race challenge. And that is so because we MISSED our flight back. Goodness us. We were stuck in the airport for almost 2 hours, totally lost before our more worldly-wise mildred and YL managed to book us tickets back the next day. You guys are our saviours.

the longest 2 hrs of the trip

like xia said, the Super Super budget Naiyang Garden Bungalows

Same flight, Same time, but different date back

this is all the money we had for the entire day. we are sorry, we shouldn't have spam too much the day before.

the best fried rice we had in Phuket (when we are most hungry)

Dear sir, have some pity on us and give us some money, please?

no one could understand a single phrase i said, so sad

I need a translation. Does it says "Koreans only"?

the kitchen's over there!

the thousand hands mixed rice

the game of our lives: Asshole Daidee

I decided to do the last day (Day 6) together since there is not much happening. We managed to get back to Singapore safely .

once bitten, twice shy. we checked in super early this time round

Victory sign for successfully boarding the plane

Lord of the Thais ?

Exhausted but happy faces

And that's all folks. See ya again soon.

credits: from xia's blog.

I was finding a place to change my currency into Thai Baht in Woodlands Central for the upcoming Phuket trip, but there isn't a single money changer that has any stock for it (there is almost like 10 + money changers in the area).

I wonder why?

These people must be aiming for some currency difference to earn foreign exchange.

I'm glad I still remembered some of the econs stuff from jc. the times in army hasn't really made me suffer from complete amnesia. phew...

Genes and Society final exam is another killer. I couldn't finish the 100 mcqs and most probably going to flop this. arghhh...

On the other hand, a tough semester is over. I shouldn't be thinking too much over things that isn't fixed yet for now. It's time to relax and prepare for some "thai massage" in Phuket. Hurray.

kboxing at clementi.

Shocking News! I have been posted out of FDS-CAB.

Just Received this letter saying "Dear CPL (NS) Heng, you have been posted to SNSR, CAB IHL from FDS-CAB effect rom 19 Nov 2007."

So where is this SNSR, CAB IHL ??

arghhh...

just 3 more papers to go.

Haiz. What should I say?

Overwhelmed by too many problems. Even though it has been discussed for some time, it still struck me by surprise.

Now is not the time to be having mixed feelings about nostalgia. I need some practical solution to solve this economic crisis. Hmm... how should I go about doing this?

(p.s. just wanted to reiterate one point, i'm not really that affluent as everyone thinks, everything I have done is for this day, it's time to start saving all over again. Cycle 3)

"I shall rather find strength in what remains behind"

I'm so bored. Went around surfing youtube and suddenly felt inspired to look for some nostalgic memories of the songs I used to play in the Symphonic Band.

One of my favourites is still Kiroro -Best Friend.



Undoubtedly, my favourite Jap singer. To all my friends.

(p.s i took this because there is a translation for the song lyrics. lol. not trying to act cute or something)

What makes you a Singaporean?

Am I one because I hold a Singapore passport?
Or is it I have a pink IC?
Because I have to serve NS?
Or is it because I live in a territory that is politically divided as Singapore?
Maybe its the local food here?
Could it be because of the people I know that makes me feel at home?
Perhaps it's the HDB & the ownership of home?
The education teaches me that I'm Singaporean?
It can't be on my physical features then?
My almost perfect Singlish?
The local culture?

I can't find an answer to this. I need some definition that can tell me what indeed constitutes being a Singaporean. arghhh... Identity is such a difficult concept, I cannot seem to catch hold of it no matter how hard I try.

Eureka! I have a new inspiration for another story. I shall work on the draft piece for now. Wish me luck.

Ok. I still can't concentrate fully on my studies for now. Everytime I see the amount of readings on the table, I become distressed and discouraged.

Been spending these days listening to Jay's new album, which I personally find to be much better than his previous album. Maybe it is because there is a lot of songs from the his movie, Secret.

Instead of his number 1,2 hits, I find his relatively low-profiled songs to be quite soothing for me. I strongly recommend - 蒲公英的约定, 我不配, 阳光宅男.

4 hours have passed and I'm still scratching my head, trying to finish up this philo paper that is to be hand up on Monday.

After pondering for so many days, reading the Russell's passage umpteen times and almost tearing apart the Descartes textbook, I'm still unclear how do I express my arguments in words.

The consultation with my tutor does help a little, but there isn't any practical tips on writing a good paper. The argument is done, but somehow I cannot write it coherently in sentences.

maybe I should just ressurrect Descartes and ask him to explain everything again. Hmm... since my tutor came up with the tutorial that "anything I can conceive of is logically possible", then maybe some miracle might happen.

For now, I shall just take a nap and dream of myself in Descartes' shoes.