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Thailand's Temptations

Thursday, January 26, 2006
Sawadikaa~

haha ok that just about sum's up whatever thai i know~ even after 1 week there..haahz i'm still awful at the sing-song language of wrigglies and dots.

was a pretty nice trip..not so much of the fun and non-stop action kind *case of wrong expectations* but we kinda of did more exploring and walking around on our own...a little aimless at times..but it was nice to simply walk your time away..

enjoy the soft sands of the Krabi beachfront..the Thai version mango milkshake..watch sunbathers sizzle under the scorching rays..laugh at the monkeys up to their mischief..listen to the tide crashing inland under the cool of the cave's shadow..



snorkelled at 5 islands..Hong island's the most remarkable..haa gotta remember to bring bread or rice next time..took lotsa pics pity it all got deleted =( .. but nvm the memories tt stay are more impt rite? ;p tried my hand at fishing..and ended up ruining the fishing rod..hee the poor guy had to snap the lines after attempting to untangle it in vain..*oops*

last day overslept..hee but turned out to be the most fun..took a cab up to the hot stream..think it was at least 40 degrees under the blazing sun..think desmond got it worse..with his sunburnt back..felt a little like pelepah falls when we met the locals at the shaded falls area..poor boy was screaming his head off which his granny dipped him into this "healthy natural spring" water..

headed to the tiger cave temple..climbed the amazing flight of 1200+ steps..it's no mean feat..esp with some steps that are almost knee high..made me wonder if the people then were so physically different from us now..or maybe it's just a test of the determination and faith in the followers who come here..the view was definitely worth the climb though..anyone there would not deny that the buddha has indeed been looking over this blessed land..its tranquility admist the bustle, the stretches of untouched landscape surrounding civilisation..it's amazing how such balance was struck and blended.

headed for phuket..6 hrs minibus ride over..was bummed twice cos most guesthouses are full..but finally got to Phuket Nice, recommended yet again by another 2 sg gals for just 800baht, with aircon, hot shower, cable tv, 10 minutes to the beach..fantabulous!!

phuket turned out to be kinda pricey..food tours etc etc..hee but once again the idle walking found a trip to Phi Phi Islands for just 550baht!! a real steal when all other agencies were going for 1000baht each..never underestimate the possibilities round little corners off the main roads..that's where the best deals are found..of course after some effort in haggling the costs..well desmond's the expert with his ni noi thai~ ;p

splurged the extra savings on our first seafood meal that day..7 dishes for just 500+ baht for two~ hee with mussels, crab, tom yam seafood..veg..and beef *i think* also..my first cha yan a.k.a thai ice milk tea..fantastic!!


hahaz just realised i've posted qt a bit on phuket already..read on below for gay scene in phuket~ interesting!!

waiting for pics from desmond and jeffrey for the bkk shots..will add in those posts later..kapkunkaa~

3:05 AM :: 0 comments ::

sabz :: permalink


gay in phuket~

Thursday, January 19, 2006
in phuket now..nice place..cheap cheap food too..hee just had a 540baht meal of tom yam seafood soup (yes it's REAL seafood..with a whole crab..squid..prawns etc etc)..a dismal pepper crab *again* and thai style sotong..mussels..hahaz boy do we sound like pigs *oink*

went strolling ard to get tics for phi phi tom..haa only 550 baht..hope it's reall7y comparable to the others who're paying 1000+ haa..dun wanna end up watching ppl eat buffet n we eat rabbit food..;p

checked email today..100 plus mails..siao..hee heng mostly all replies here n there..hee too lazy to read already..got one great news from jen..got our pay~ yipee!! hee got onto msn..n got a msg from *him* hahaz so happy oso..think i gg crazy le..but it'sjsut a passing phase..think i need something to preoccupy my dreamz by the german guys come in..hee hee..

okaiz..gotta end soon..using the net from this net cafe in a gay pub in the gay street..omg..haha u MUST check it out when you come here..Massage palore reads "For Men by Men"...clothes outlet "Jacky's : Sexy wear for Men"...bar calls "We'll meet tonight...a bar for ago-go boys" *hee*hee*hee*

gg to bkk in a few days time~ prob log in then!!

sawadikap~
11:43 PM :: 0 comments ::

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brilliant idea *i think*

Sunday, January 15, 2006
ahhh jus deleted my post accidentally..*pouts*

anyhows think i'll create a day-by-day calendar like photo journey plus a quote of the day kinda thing...hee inspired by desmond's friend's pics..DEM COOL!! ;p should be pretty easy to get them done..as long as i get started..which isn't soon cos will be off in thailand tom!! ;p *hee*

okaiz..meanwhile entertain urselves with "the fotolog" k? hee there's a few albums there..chile..argentina..france..redang..;p

see ya soon!!
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sabz :: permalink


the Santiago scene~

Tuesday, January 10, 2006
hahaz looking back at the old posts..decided to be less wordy and more colorful~ so shall just keep the descriptions to the min n pics to the max =) *ok..no photos for this post cos was too lazy to get the camera out till day 2..;p*

from the airport
boarded bus to Hotel Diego de Velaquez
reached at 10.30pm
no food!!! =(
went to our room..hms think its was 306..or 307..hee hee..sama sama cos we often cooked there later..
dumped bags..began food hunt..
the nearby mall..
bar found! yipee!!
oops no food but nice customer who walks us to Suicia Street..
lotsa bars..passed a posh looking one..
police car parked nearby *feels safer..or maybe not?*
walking on..free cover charges..*darn should have dressed better wouldn't mind a drink if i weren't so bushed*
yeah~ finally found the food stall..time to practise y hablar espanol~ muy mal!!
under "coldfoods" they had everything tt sounds sandwich-y..jamon y queso..napoliano..etc etc..was offered a set meal even..Prav asking if there was beef in it or not..hahaz..todos no entiendo!! hahaz..
more customers from the bars ard zipping in for a "____" ...didn't managed to catch tt..but mostly bottled drinks..
P.S. u pay extra for taking the whole bottle..cos they return the bottles for money later..*muy bien! tres thumbs up for recycling efforts!!*
Also..when they say coldfoods they mean it..hotdog sandwich was cold though they just cooked it..greenish er.. mustard sauce? ;p
starting to freeze with the spring midnight breeze..down the sandwich *mas o menos* and coke *well tt's the safest choice right..;p*
headed back to the hotel..passed Santa Isabel..will head there for morning H2O shopping~

K-O.......zzZZZzZZZZzZZZzZZZZZzzz
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Cape Town to Santiago~

Sunday, January 08, 2006
Dec 4th 19:35 approx finally landed in South America~ Cheers!! hahaz thou we still had one more flight to endure everyone's spirits are definitely up up up..hee ok..doesn't really show in our photos but after almost 30hrs on board what more can we expect right?


huiling and i looking absolutely deadbeat...think my stomach's the one keeping me awake *hee*

All kinda did a mad rush to the next gate and found out tt we really did miss our flight..but the folks were nice..they helped arranged us on the next one tt's leaving at 20.30 or so..which will bring us into Santiago abt 10-ish at night. Whilst everyone's in a daze, can't really give a damn abt what's gg on..ambling over to the toilets and all..think Danny's the only stressed out one trying to sort things out in his light speed english..hee took a LAN guy *pretty cute one too* to calm his nerves and get things going..;p

Crashed with Thenuga on the flight there..thnk we were chatting with some traveller halfway when it happened..think we were both really bushed..even my rummbling stomach didn't react to the dinner served on board. Landed, got off, found the agent whom Gleen has been liasing with..let Larv n Danny handle the stuff whilst i stoned for a while..stomach rumbling..thus not in a v good mood..hee but excited nonetheless..

the first gust of wind felt so good..not nearly biting cold..but enough to make you feel refreshed and cooooool~ hahaz now the journey there didn't seem tt bad right.. ;p
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BSM Chile: Takeoff

Dec 3rd 19:70 Arrived at changi airport 10 min past meeting time..but thank god there's still a handful who's not here..seeing the scatter of parents around made me kinda feel a little bad for telling my parents not to send me off..=p anyhows checked in at about 7.50pm with some of the rest..luggage 11 point something kg *light*..got bored mulling ard so went in early with wanwen, samuel, fei fei, etc. and had a sushi snack before bumming at the terminals inside *cool..they had webcams and everything..only uncool part was tt you had to do everything standing up ;p* headed to the gate at about 8.40pm and had a pretty uneventful flight over to KLIA *i think* tt's where the adventure began..


All the boarding passes buds. Clockwise from top left: Singapore-Kuala Lumpur; KL-Buenos Aires *both Malaysia Airlines*; BA-Santiago *my only LAN flight*; and my passport with the Chilean immigration stamp =)


22:00 approx landed in KL *first time i've flown into msia..was kinda excited..and hungry again* headed straight for Burger King with the others after Glenn (our prof) found the gate we were supposed to check in later. We were still pretty much in our cliques but Ling joined us, had quite a bit of fun playing silly little childhood games like Heart Attack and all. Danny got a lucky '8' onion ring..hahaz we all thought it's a good sign..if only we had known what was going to happen later *grinz* We got bored after a few rounds and headed to the DFS to check out the chocolates on display. Ling educated me a little on German choc *hee clearly i've kinda forgotten for now* and how to get a life while at ebs..ie. grab a bf..hahaz guess she really missed the german guys *wink*

us bumming at KL Burger King..they accept SGD too..but change is in RM only..confirm lugi..=p

Headed to the gate at about 12mn..still damned early but at that hour there's really nothing much to see nor do..so took some bored pictures of one another there. found out Su San lost her phone on the previous flight *the first sign?* and it was gone by the time she went back to retrieve it. Nonetheless she kept smiling n really enjoyed the rest of the trip =) our ms. cool~ Fei Fei told us that she had problems with her visa..didn't seem to serious at first..seemed like just a miscommunication glitch which could easily be settled once she can verify that she's on the trip with us and would be returning..and was pretty much a singapore citizen. Turned out, she had to be detained at the airport during boarding (along with some 60 over ppl from the people's republic) and luckily Glenn and Ling were still pretty calm even then *hmz..were they putting up a front?..hee Glenn did look like he was looking forward to a long nap on the flight to BA*

Rest of us boarded the plane as Glenn instructed, thinking that all will be fine in just a while. After the usual take off delay, announcements were made on the plane that there will be further delays for some technical issues or something along those lines. 30 min later in the stuffy plane..still no sign of Fei..no news either..or we might have missed it thinking it was some safety warnings about seat belts..penned some thoughts on this transit visa thingy and nationality crap in a letter and continued waiting..this went on for about 3 hours..news..no news..lotsa speculations amongst us..one min Glenn's on..then Ling's on..then we're not too sure..sum it up..we were in quite a mess..but the plane was warming up quickly, with fidgety passengers roaming along the isle for water and ice, or both..a number of us passed out for a little while due to the heat..i know i did *hee*

The plane took off somewhere during my semi-conscious state and i vaguely remember sending a prayer that it finally did. Later did we realised that Fei Fei still wasn't on board and no body's really sure if either Glenn or Ling was. But rumor has it then that Ling was with us heading to Johannesburg.

Landed in J'burg sometime in the afternoon..caught a few movies on the plane..ate every meal..at least the food was pretty decent =)..but the long journey was getting to us..and were pretty glad for the 50min stopover we had at J'burg. Got an sms that we were on our own with Lavania as the official translator and Danny as the coordinator. *a streak of worry followed by excitement* my first school trip n we're on our own for at least the first 3 days! =) Most of us were pretty cool with the arrangements..in fact we kind of went ahead to the washrooms and the DFS visits as if nothing much happened. I guess even if it was something serious it's really out of our control *shrugs*

Headed to the souvenior shops with Samuel and tried on all the silly little rugby caps..sooo adorable..hahaz looks kinda childish actually but it's just so fun to play silly when you're overseas ;p hahaz from caps we went on the the sunglasses and act cool poses..then with the soft toys..ended abruptly as we had to board the plane *too soon*


the silly rugby caps..*hooorrrnnnyyy* hee~


=====> next stop Cape Town....
6:40 AM :: 0 comments ::

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tech-fool to net geek

just did some new additions to the blog..it's finally looking a little more dignified ;p though content wise it's still dismal *sorry i'm a huge fan of mr. procrastination* anyhows the message board is up, so do feel free to add your comments and feedback regarding absolutely anything under the sun here!I =) will be posting the first few bits about the trip in the next post..coming right up in a few minutes~
6:22 AM :: 0 comments ::

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the story begins::vive la vida

Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Yipppeeee finally got the blog up and running..hopefully with my minimal IT skills this blog will be able to look vaguely cool and draw fellow travel-holics on to post some travel tips and interesting stuff to share~

Thanks my sugar mummy Caiyun for inspiring me to get started on this..hahaz didn't really make it my new year's resolution cos it's just way too much trouble..but I actually did it!! hahaz..

Alrights enough crap for the night..too bushed to start writing about my trip tonight. Let the pics do the telling for now! Adios mis amigos! Buenas noches!



the Andean highlands on our way to Mendoza

atop San Cristobal in Santiago, Chile. fantabulous view. you just wanna be there forever.

Parrilla..typical chilean dish consisting of grilled meats all mixed into one huge black pot..hahaz whatever is inside sure looks potent..but it sure can feed an army of hungry and lost travellers *us!!*

hahaz yeap a little pisco sour desert tribute at Casa Silva for the BSM that brought my pals and I so far down S.America~ Salute!!

lost most pics from the 5th day onwards..sobs.. will try to upload more tomorrow!!

hasta mañana!

1:28 AM :: 0 comments ::

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