mad bangkok weekend

heyhey

we made a super short trip over the weekend to bangkok to join my parents and bros who were there earlier. shopping was ok and food was ok, but the best thing was the company. it's been ages since i've done this with my family, so am really glad that we did it.

it was funny cos there were ppl on the plane and in bangkok who recognised us from our stint on tv (gasp!). must be his botahead lah...hahha. and some even thought we went there cos we just won the money. which is like hilarious cos we've not gotten the money yet and the recording was done ages ago and the timing of the trip was purely coincidental. so anyways...THAT (our tv stint) was something huh...hahha...we sure had fun!

i've still got loads to talk abt on phuket, i've not uploaded the pics for bangkok yet, and we might just be riding to samui over the cny hols. happiness. seems like we're in a rush to do things yah...but we ARE starting a new chapter in our lives and we just wana do all the 'enjoying' first before the real 'work' begins.

used to be that i was apprehensive abt this, but now that it's actually gonna happen i'm kinda looking forward to it actually. i cant wait to see how it all pans out. i'm praying for us both to be given the strength to go through this period in our lives...may we emerge from it victorious...insyaAllah

food fiesta

It would be stupid to be in phuket and not partake of the food, especially since there are SOO many halal options around. As much as possible, we tried to get our fix where the locals do – if the food’s good enough for the locals it would definitely do for us. But of course there were times when we’d be too tired to travel far, and eating joints in touristy areas (many many arab and indian muslim joints to be found) would do the job too.

som tham - mango salad
a must for every meal!

chicken green curry
a yummylicious treat when we were in phiphi

seafood fried rice
comfort food

seafood tom yum
to die for!!!!

sorry cant get enouff of som tham hehhe!

grilled fish..i like!

grilled sotong..nice!

pancake wif bananas (n sometimes wif nutella!)
another one of our sinful staples :P

phuket revisited

this boy was in the mother's stomach the last time i saw him...heee. that was three years ago. we chanced upon this place while travelling ard on the motorbike. back then, we only made a pre-booking online for 2 nites at a place in patong, so we had to look ard for other accomodation. i'd actually made a list of places we could stay in, based on my research online, but they didnt quite come up to mark. dont get me wrong, i wasnt looking for some 5-star resorts, just a nice cosy place that's cheap.

the place looks quite nondescript actually. it lies on the hill along the main road linking patong to karon, and many would have given it a miss cos they'd be too busy concentrating on the uphill ride to notice it. we passed it on our way to karon and kata to check out the hotels there, and passed it again while on the way back. that's when we decided to stop cos the kapcai we were on was sputtering for dear life attempting the uphill ride.

we were greeted by a very frenly "good eveniiiiiiiiing" by an affable guy called joe, whom we later found out to be the owner of the place. we saw the rooms, LOVED the view, and immediately made bookings for the rest of our nites there. We were even contemplating extending our stay, but because we've already made plans to join our families in kl, we said our goodbyes reluctantly.

and the very next day, tsunami struck.

it was sobering. we had to entertain many many calls n sms-es from friends and relatives who still thought we were there, since we were not back in sg. and we were frantically trying to reach joe to see if he and his family was ok - his wife was pregnant then. and yes, they were all alrite, being on the hill. but we were affected, emotionally affected. we tried to do what we can with the efforts in sg, and spider had the opportunity to fly back to phuket to help with the relief efforts there.

so you could say phuket holds a special place in our hearts. we love the people, the food, the relaxing lifestyle of it all. yes it's way too commercialised, but look beyond the touts and you'll see people trying their best to make an honest living. yes there's too much debauchery but there are also many many pure things to be found there. like the magnificent views of minarets from the mosques littered around that never fails to make me gasp in awe.

so there we were again, 3 years later. we had a ball of a time, and we cant wait to go again.... "next time with yr children ok"...mrs joe's parting words to us :)

mr & mrs joe - the lovely owners

the aptly named hotel :)

~ S$50 per nite

change

i suppose it's 18 days too late to be wishing everyone a happy new year. and kinda pointless to be doing reflections of the past year and resolutions for the next since the moment has come and gone. so i'll leave it at that.

and so my wish was fulfilled and i'm finally given a new posting...yeyy! it's not exactly what i had in mind but it's definitely way better than where i was before. the downside's that i've lost my partner-in-crime, my lunch buddy, my idea-bouncer and shopping partner, all at one go. that's the thing with postings and rotations. which used to scare me once. you get familiar with the colleagues around you and the working environment and before you know it, you have to start all over again.

so here i am in a new environment, if you can call being in another corner on the same floor different. then again you CAN call it different cos i'm now stuck in the middle of two very loud guys, one of whom thinks he's god's gift to women (which he's not). the dynamics here is different - it's a much bigger set-up and hence less cosy. but it's exciting and challenging, and it's in the thick of it all....so i'm raring to go!

in other news...i'm going off again next week, this time with the family. and we might just be going off somewhere for the cny hols next mth . suddenly the jet-setter arent i? :P

in other other news, i was suddenly struck by a huge 'maluuuuu' attack last night when i realised it's actually gonna happen. oh nooooo!!!!! *hides face in embarrassment*