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The Basic Grey JUNE BUG bit and i finally scrapped again!
A fishy-doggy layout to celebrate our friendship :)
I could visualise this layout the moment i touched the papers. Initially i wanted to use pictures of Pooi and myself, then i couldn't find any after looking through all the folders
in my computer! So i borrowed these pictures of us with Fluffie in them :)
Everyone woke up late on Day 3 after the day out at sea, and we skipped breakfast and
walked down to the Kata beach area for lunch. We girls did some browsing at the stalls by the road and wound up with the same bikini in four different colours!
From left:
Blue for my sister, Red for me, Green for cousin piggy, Yellow for my youngest cousin!
We took a couple of hours to go through all the shops that were of interest to us, then
we had tea at a cute little cafe before hiking back up to our apartments.
After a short rest, we left for an afternoon of pure indulgence! Sukko Spa brands itself
as a cultural destination spa. When i visited it in 2007, i had a great time, so we booked
a variety of packages this time.
However, the experience this time felt rather lacking in terms of service. The staff seemed
more concerned with making sure that we kept to our allocated timeslots for each of the
treatments instead of ensuring that we were comfortable and having a good time. I don't think i will visit them again if i return to Phuket, because for the prices, we would probably get something better elsewhere in the city.
I did manage to get some good shots of the serene environment the spa was set in.
Here, you see the grand entrance of the spa...
Some accents in the pre-treatment waiting room where we made our payment...
I love the polished teak furniture they had...
And the gorgeous multi-tiered pool!
My cousins had their nails done as part of their packages, very pretty! The nail-art was
probably the best part of the treatment...
No pictures of the treatment rooms because cameras are banned in there, for obvious reasons! All in all, the time there was relaxing, but not amazing. We ended the day with
a visit to Central Festival Mall, where we had cheap but delicious ramen and sushi for
dinner!
Day 2 was sail-and-canoe day!
Captain Mark of Phuket Sail Tours took us out on a private charter to the Phang Nga bay for the entire day! I snapped a shot of The Sakai docked at the port where we boarded a larger vessel for our tour.
The weather was perfect for a day out at sea, and this was what the picture looked like
as we set off on our voyage...
The front of our boat...combined with turquoise waters and clear skies!
The captain briefed us on the route we were taking for the day. I loved his huge
vintage-looking map of the islands.
More picturesque shots along the way...
Limestone rock formations hanging down from the edges of the cliffs...
We made our first stop at a tiny strip of beach for some swimming and splashing about.
Loads of seashells and hermit crabs, but no pictures...had to protect my precious camera!
Then, we paddled into a hong (= small lagoon enclosure) in our canoes. Had to paddle
through a low, dark water cave to get to the entrance of the hong...
Next stop was the ice-cream caves! Captain Mark docked his dinghy at a corner of the
tiny beach before we proceeded...
Look at the gigantic ice-cream cones below! The formations had actual glitter on them!
When we came to the end of the cave, there was a little opening that provided a glance
of the most gorgeous hong!
We also visited a mangrove hong. Check out the pretty single-clawed crab!
Can you spot the dolphin below? It's the cutest rock formation ever :) :) :)
Shot of the sky from within the mangrove hong...
All in all, we visited about 2-3 hongs and 4 caves, and the pictures above show some highlights of our day. Other than sightseeing, we also had some awesome snacks and
a delicious lunch :) Yummy!
Group photo...i think everyone looks great here!
One more shot of the landscape on the way back to the pier...
Last of all, one of my favourite pictures for the day...
On the way back to our apartments after the sailing tour, we stopped by a marketplace, where my dad and uncle bought tons of fruit! We were all exhausted by the time we got back, so we stayed in, watched television and ate the fruit for dinner.
Tada! That's it for Day 2 :)
I'm back as promised :) This will be a photo-intensive post!
It's been a whole 12 years since we (my maternal aunt's family and mine) have gone
for an overseas vacation together, and everyone was really looking forward to it.
This time round, there were 13 of us, and we were on SilkAir's afternoon flight to Phuket.
Some snapshots outside the departure lounge...i couldn't resist the SIA logos! Can you believe that i've never been onboard an SIA plane in my life? One of my many goals is to
be on an SIA business-class flight to London!
A view of the skies from my window seat...
Approximately 3.5 hours later, we arrived at our holiday accommodation - Kata Gardens Serviced Apartments :) :) :) The apartments were strategically located within the Kata
area in Phuket, within walking distance from both the shopping areas and the Kata and
Kata Noi beaches.
We booked a total of 4 apartments for an estimated cost of S$50 per person per night.
The environment was peaceful and rather conducive, most of the time it felt like we were the only ones there.
There were 2 pools within the premises. Pity i didn't get to use them as we opted for
the beaches instead most of the time!
The next few shots show the interior of the apartment i stayed in with my sister and cousins. Painting at the hallway leading from the entrance to the living room...
Cosy living room where we hung out for breakfast and snacks...
A small dining area tucked away in a corner of the living room...
My favourite part of the master bedroom...the bath-tub! It looks tiny in the photograph,
but the truth is that it was large enough to fit three of us in it!
Every apartment also had a lounging area in the balcony...
And because ours was a penthouse unit, we had our very own roof-top plunge pool!
The view of the beach we got from the roof-top...
Once everyone was done gushing over the apartments and king-sized beds, we left to
do some sight-seeing. Our first stop was the Karon View Point, and this was what we saw from there...
...Karon beach (at the top), Kata beach (middle) and Kata Noi beach (bottom).
Then we moved on to Cape Phromthep. The Phromthep viewpoint is supposedly one of the best (viewpoints) in Phuket. It was so breezy that we spent a good half-an-hour there, just strolling, taking pictures and taking in the scenery.
My father and sister below...i was a little nervous about them being on the ledge because there was an extremely steep cliff behind them, so all i was thinking when i snapped this
was to get it over and done with so that they could get down from there!
My piggy cousin and cousin-in-law basking in the moment...
Elephant mascots guarding the four-faced Buddha altar on the cape...
I spent about 15 minutes walking around the monument shown in this next photograph,
trying to find some English transcriptions that would provide some indication of its significance to Phuket as well as Cape Phromthep, to no avail...
Next stop...Wat Chalong!
'Wat' means 'temple', and Wat Chalong is the biggest and most-visited place of worship
in Phuket. I visited the temple once with my mum and sis in 2007, and was looking
forward to doing so again this time round. However, when we arrived, only one of the buildings was still open, so all i could do was to photograph the exteriors.
Guess what the structure below is used for!
Each of the temples in the area has a unique roof, yet each design is equally intricate
and shows tremendous attention to detail. Nice!
Dinner was at an open-air seafood restaurant off Rawai Beach. I managed to catch
a glimpse of the sunset before it went dark...
After dinner, we headed to the busiest area in Phuket - Patong. I am not a fan of Patong because of the fact that numerous sleazy bars span the area, and the stench from the sewer is unbearable at best.
Was not inspired to take any pictures at all initially, then i noticed an interesting phenomenon...
...that the Thais have a weird obsession with Bangla! Seriously! Haha :)
And that's Day 1 for you. Will be back with more!
This was how Fluffie looked right before the entire family left for Phuket without her.
I know i haven't blogged for a looooong time. Just didn't feel like it. Hehe.
Promise to be back soon with some pretty AMAZING Phuket pictures! :)
