DAY ONE
My Bali adventure is coming real soon and i really cannot cannot WAIT!! But here's a post that i should have posted long ago, well #throwback !!!!!! 2 years ago i went on my first trip with Nico just before i entered LASALLE, it was hell lot of fun 8 days in a row! We transit from Krabi to Phi Phi island and then Phuket for the last stop. Krabi and Phi Phi Island post was already up two years ago but editing and filtering these photos ain't easy.
More of procrastinating actually....so... let the journey begin :D
Checked into a lovely small and very affordable boutique hotel, ACCA. We were on a mini van from the ferry terminal together with a few other tourist heading to the same area. Nico doesn't like staying at a single hotel for long, for the 8 days trip, we never stayed in a hotel for more than 2 days. We didn't even book any hotels in the first place. This caucasian couple recommended this hotel to us so yup we got off and book a room right away~
Travelling by bike is a very common thing, even for tourists, saves you a lot of transport fee and beat the crazy traffic jams at peak hours. Well but it is indeed dangerous, the roads over there aren't even and the crazy curving steep slopes, some are so steep i felt like we are literally 90 degrees parallel to the ground!
rode around to explore and familiarise the place a little, just looking at this view is enough to take my soul away~~~
According to the signage, it says the left side is safe, idk what will happen to people who turns right though :/ Apparently it is not, once we turn, the traffic police is there to give us a ticket. It does not matter if you have a license or not. It does not matter if you have your helmet on or not. Either way no matter how legal you are, as long as the traffic police wants to give you a ticket, you have to pay.
(advise* Just pay the bloody ticket and you are good to go, don't even try arguing, it's pointless!)
This boxing stadium is just right at the corner of our hotel, i will never forget the truck that goes around announcing, "MONDAY NIGHT MONDAY NIGHT~" We contemplated to watch one of the boxing match but the price is a little steep and we're not really fans of this sport, perhaps next time?
Later in the night we decided to catch a movie at one of their most prominent shopping centre, Jungceylon. For some reason, it's name sounded very korean. I can't remember what movie did we catch but i can clearly remember our dinner experience at this restaurant called urban food. We requested all our dishes to be less spicy but it came extra spicy! That's not the issue though, half way trying to swallow the crazily spicy dishes, what happened next made us wanna puke out all the food! 2 tiny cockroaches crawled out from our rice bowl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NO WAY!!!!!
Yeap, from the rice bowl!!! We talked to the waiter and he didn't even give a damn about it, all he replied was, "ohhhh~". Not even offering to replace the dish or apologise. Note, this is a restaurant in the shopping centre, not some road side store and price is not exactly cheap. We didn't wanna make a big fuss or miss out movie so we just left without eating the rest :(
After movie, Nico brought me to see this really huge sculpture by Yoshitomo Nara, a very famous artist. It is so cute i want to bring it home! I love big doggies, this one is huge!! Also pass by some street soccer, stop for a while got bored and we headed back to rest.
DAY TWO
"Get on the bike or I'll leave~" :?
Day two, we started the day with breakfast at the top of the mountain~
Eating with such a view, it was this day that made me wanna leave Singapore for good and stay here if i could, this is what i call life, this is living. I would really give up everything here in Singapore if i get a chance to settle at this lovely place. Imagine, waking up everyday, looking at this view. Do nothing but sculpting or drawing, my life would be complete!!
Like I said, Nico and i never stayed at a hotel for more than 2 days, after filling our tummies, we went around stopping at different hotels to take a look at the actual room condition. Pictures on the internet are deceiving most of the time. If you wanna get what you see, i guess this is the only way.
We settled for this extremely beautiful boutique hotel. I have a thing for boutique hotels :)
It is located right above Junceylon, super prime area.
Initially we wanted a regular room, then the staff showed us to this suite. Couldn't contain ourselves, splurge a little for the biggest room.
They even have beach essentials all ready for you to bring to the beach. Also provided i-pad~
next up jet skiing!! My first time trying and i loved it so much!
Somehow, idk how, nico made friends with the person who rented us the jet ski. They were having a conversation about about seafood and the jet ski guy(DEE) said he just caught a lot this morning and invite us to join him for dinner at his house up the mountain top. I'm not really comfortable with strangers and ain't that spontaneous. I wanted to decline politely but nico replied with a, "YES SURE!" ENTHUSIASTICALLY -__-'''
So since nico said yes, we went ahead with the plan. It was a very heart warming experience. We were thinking of what could have happened us initially, like, what if we got murdered or robbed? I mean, seriously we know nothing about him and his house is right at the top of the mountain, if we get killed, no one will ever know!
Dee brought us to the place where he and his fellow jet ski friends will park and wash their jet skis after a day of work at the beach. We waited patiently and made friends with the rest, we became less paranoid :/
Dee is a simple man, he lives in a tiny house with his brother which consist of one room, a toilet, a cupboard and a television. Nothing more~ There are other houses near by, just a few, it's like kampong style. An a little mini mart where we bought some veg and herbs.
Dee's cooking class, he taught us how to cook tomyum. He is an awesome host, he gave us all the food and insist we eat. He said he's not hungry at all, sweetest man. Dee's grandpa dropped by after we had dinner, he told us stories about Dee. The rental fees that Dee collected through jet skis were all donated to the children and houses that needed the money in his tiny village. So, if you ever happen to be at Patong Beach and feel like riding on a Jet ski, look out for Dee :)
We left Dee's place at almost 4am in the morning, was dead tired but a very fulfilling night. I am not sure when are we ever gonna see Dee again, infact he might not even remember us when we meet again. Or maybe we won't ever get to cross paths anymore, but whatever it is I'm glad it happened.
DAY THREE
We read reviews on internet about this restaurant that sells really cheap and good english breakfast.
I really can't remember the name of the restaurant, pardon me, its 2 yrs ago.
For the price we paid, there's nothing to be not satisfied about.
Once again, we packed up and off to another round of hotel search!
Indochine for the last night of our 8 days adventure. Not in favour of the interior but i fell in love with the view and the private dip pool.
Second last day, we wanted to get gifts for our love ones. Filled the tank and off we go.
Rode for about 3 hours, asking for directions for so many times, i lost count to get to this place. Laguna, i'm not sure with the area but it looks like Sentosa cove, a separated place from crowd. Things there are all pretty expensive and the hotels over there are pure luxury.
After we're done with the gifts, we rode another 3 hours back to Patong for some jap food.
Movenpick ice cream for dessert~ went back to chill at the hotel and that's the end of our day.
DAY FOUR
I wasn't looking forward to this day, i didn't want to leave~
Best Hotel breakfast I've had~
It was really a sad moment for me, last picture at the hotel room :'(
We had some spare time before our flight in the evening, i insist that nico bring me back to visit this huge dog.
Had korean BBQ for the last meal~
I was feeling bittersweet the whole day.
A farewell to the beautiful hotel and off we go, home we come! AWESOME trip ^^