Phuket adventure 2

August 30, 2009 was our second day in Baumanburi Hotel.

I woke up around 9AM. Since we had a free breakfast included, we need to catch that because they will only serve it until 10:30AM. To my recollection, it was Olga who rang me through the intercom and I had to go to the bathroom and wash my face. I was still a bit sleepy then. Olga went to knocking in my room and let her in as I was still preparing for breakfast as fast as I could. We went down together from the building and went to the dining area which was beside the pool . I ate a lot to regain my strength and beef up for the upcoming activity. The plan for the day is to have ATV, elephant ride etc. So after we had breakfast, we went to our rooms and prepare for the next activity. MJ my friend from Cebu was also coming to Phuket and will be my roommate. She was still in Bangkok as there was no direct flight from Cebu to Phuket. When we got out of the building heading for a good walk to checkout some activities, there was this girl on a scarf with a long hair which looked familiar and I blurted MJ and there she looked back and saw me. I then approached her and helped her in the hotel check-in counter and then we went back to our room. Since she did have breakfast and it was still 10AM, I advised her to get a good breakfast and after that, I told her that we are going to check for some tours and that she can get a few hours of nap.

Olga and I went straight to the beach front as there were lots of stalls lined up the street offering tour packages. We stopped by at this stall and asked for the tour price. We got a good price for the ATV, elephant ride and monkey show for 3100 Baht which was good for three persons. I'm not really sure if it was a good deal but when we converted the whole thing in SGD, it was way less expensive than doing those activities in Bintan, Indonesia, an island just 30 minutes ride from Singapore. Well, we agreed to be picked up at our hotel lobby at around 2PM. Since it was still around 11PM, Olga and I checked the beach front and had some photo ops aka cam whoring lols.... When it was around 12 noon, we went back to Baumanburi. MJ was actually taking a hot bath so she was not able to open the door when I knocked it a few times. So I went to Olga's place and gave MJ a ring on the intercom. Then I came to my room and knocked again and at last it was opened. She was half finished with her hot bath. I told her of the itineraries. I rang Olga when things were ready. We went to the stall where we planned to book the day's activity. Since it was lunch time, we went to Burger King. After the meal, we had some photo sessions along with it on the street. We then went back to our hotel as we would be picked up there by a private car. When the clock strucked 2PM, a metallic silver toyota arrived and it was our service for the adventure trip. We rode for like 20 minutes and we stopped at this mountain top and we had this great view of Phuket and so it spelled another photo session. After that, our driver took us to the elephant ride activity. I was so excited because there's really no elephant in my dear Philippines and it's my very first time to see and ride one. We were not failed by our expectations. I had great ride. It was really wobbly but I braved to ride atop of it like being the actual driver. I could feel the warmth and the pricking fur of this gentle giant on land. It was so amazing and a great experience. I definitely would want to try it again and next time by the river banks. The adventure that we had with the elephant was on the mountains. After the ride, we had some feeding sessions with the elephant which costed 50Bahts per basket. After the elephant ride, there was a monkey show. It was also fun when the monkeys did there various tricks like unleashing me when I volunteered to be tied up, when the monkey did a push up and bent knee curl up, when it did cycle a mini bike and when it did some coconut harvesting. After the show, we had the ATV. It was Olga's prior request as she had fun with it in Bintan. Well after the ride, it was truly fun as we had a chance to do it in an actual paved road and also in this rugged terrain in the mountain side where a cliff hangs and in the horizon was a great view of the see South China sea. After the activity, the driver toured us around and he brought us to this food and pasty house and then to this jewelery complex where Olga bought a nice ring for her mom. After all the day's activity, we went bank to our hotel and took some naps ready for then nights activity.

At around 9pm, we got up and prepared for dinner. We walked to the beach front and had dinner at this cozy restaurant which I forgot the name. After that dinner, we proceeded to the party strip that is Bangla. As expected the crowd was wild and after a very long stroll and sight seeing, we settled at this mini pub and boozed. We went back to our hotel very late in the morning like around 4AM of Monday.

It was another blast at our 2nd day in Phuket.

Ciao!

Phuket adventure 1

I had a blast last week for almost nine days. It was like me being placed in a bottle and tossed to the oceans with all its ebbs.

Olga and I went to Phuket for a vacation. We were excited and in fact, two days before the trip I was like busy packing stuff. Anything I could think of what to bring to Phuket. I even had issues with my baggage if it was already 7 kilos.

Anyway, on the lastest Saturday of August, was our flight to Phuket via AirAsia. The flight took only 2 hours. It was not that tiring. When we got out of the airport it was drizzling a bit. It was not cold or anything but the idea of going to the beach should be sunny.

On our way to Patong, the mini cab had a stop at this center of various tours and activities in the island. Olga and I decided to get the Phi Phi Island tour for 1500 Baht. The girl named Lilly, also offered other things but we decided to get just one tour from her. When we arrived at Patong, it was in the afternoon. We did not have any lunch yetand the drizzled had stopped. We just unpacked our things at our hotel and fix ourselves for the next activity and that is to pig out. Well, we wanted fresh sea food and we were never denied of it. Our bill was a whooping 800 Baht. After that late lunch, we just walked around and decided to go back to our hotel. Since I was so tired, I actually had a nap and so with Olga. After that nap, we headed to checking out the place. We checked some shops for good buys and also roam the road nearing the beach front. Since we loved to take pictures, we had all the sorts of shots and poses.

We had to have an endless fun walk and so we took the liberty of soaking ourselves with the Bangla crowd. With which, I described as wild and crazy. It was fun taking pictures with all the chaos in a non aggressive and torturing way. I never had such chaos in Singapore so that was maybe the case. It was even fun just watching all the passersby.

We also checkout the JungCeylon mall and took some pictures of those interesting metal art of the predator. It started to rain actually so Olga and I decided to have some snacks at Starbucks. I ordered chocolate cake and Olga bought a souvenir. But mind you, the rain did not stop the crowd from having that earthly fun. It was pretty tough as it is. Well after Starbucks, we decided to go home and so we bought a cellophane raincoat for about 50 Baht a piece. The long walk going back to the hotel made my feet ached and a hot bath did all the trick.

I had so much fun in our first day.

My friend died from Lupus

My friend came here in Singapore to work - seeking greener pasture and give a better life for her family. She applied at an agency and got accepted at company **Tooooooot** located at **Toooooot** . She worked for almost two months here but she got sick.

****Tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot****

Then, she decided to go on sick leave but she did not inform her company that she was going home to the Philippines. In the Philippines, she spent only two weeks and last weekend, she was admitted to the hospital and was in ICU last night. Then she lost her life today, August 16, 2009.

All of us in our flat were in shock and some of my friends cried upon hearing the news. That was all we could do, just wept.

To my *tooot* , her *toooot* was *tooot* by the *tooot* *tooot* she had at T***t. All about lupus can be found in this wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systemic_lupus_erythematosus

I don't like to talk about it but I have to. This is for all people to know that stress really is a silent killer. As much as possible we need to avoid it. If things get toxic, be it the boss, the work or any situation for that matter, try to get out of it first for a few hours and allow ourselves to breathe and then go back to it once recharged. We should not forget to also eat healthier and never ever forget to exercise.

I pray that she meets our Divine Creator and she be at peace for eternity. Hope she would be able to seek the light and face God.

We were friends since college days and I know she is a good friend and person. She is very responsible and in fact, she is the bread winner in the family. Hope and pray that her family will be able to survive this great burden that has come along their way. May God carry her body and gave her all the comfort she did not have when she walked on earth.

What a loss.... God bless to everyone.



Note:
The toot's(*******) there were made because originally I placed the actual company name and address here in Singapore but they called my friend and my friend who is ever innocent asked her who I was and they threatened to sue me if I do not take out my blog entry. It's gonna be me versus a multinational who is a competitor or her previous company NCR (they do some atm, pos machine stuff). And I think this company has been monitoring the web probably through web crawlers (software that analyzes the web for some keywords useful to the company, sometimes gathering information related to the company or their competitor).

Long weekend, it's Singapore National Day

I had a long weekend and I needed to have some activities. I don't want to stock myself to a pile of people to the venues where Singapore is celebrating the National Day. For one thing, I am not a Singaporean and another one, their parade do not looked fun at all. I guess to some extent yes but not most of the time.

Well, what better way to do it is go to the mall and buy some stuff. Right after some fun stuff at home like facebooking, watching some funny episodes of the geeky Big Bang Theory and also some cleaning stuff (not so fun at all), I decided to take a quick bath and headed to Orchard district. I had to send money by the way to the Philippines since it's examination time for my brother and also some bills they needed to pay there, so that was the first order of the day outside the premise of our flat. After queuing at the money remittance center, I went to Wisma mall to check a good travelling bag. There's Esprit and they sell a travelling bag which was actually on bargain but I think it was too bulky. So I just walked around and then found myself at the Nike shop. There were less choices so I went out and checked the other Nike store. Since I had to pass by at Takashimaya, I also checked there and found none of my taste. Since my friends and I are planning for a beach vacation, I decided to check some board shorts. The one I had was old and has holes on it which one could peep. Anyway, I bought this nice and simple looking board short from Speedo. After that, I went out of this huge Takashimaya store and went to venture out to this newly opened Nike shop. There was nobody in the store except for the two attendants. I just proceeded where the bags were and saw nothing of my type. Then walk around and about and saw this nice sling bag. I did not care for the price and just told the attendant that I will get it. And when he checked that there was no stock, I opted to look for another bag. I then found this another bag which was in acid gray color which looked to me, nice. I don't know what has gotten me but the color of the bag and the board short I bought were all in the shades of gray. I got all things in.... It was actually a planned purchase somehow as I have said I will be traveling.

Anyway, I saw on posters that G.I Joe is showing in cinemas so, I proceeded to Plaza Singapura and got a ticket for myself. Since the movie will start at 9PM and my tummy is growling already, I went to the food court. I ordered food from this Indonesian stall. It was actually chicken in barbecue sauce with rice in a honey glazed gravy. It's good and had fun with that meal. I still had a lot of time to savour before the movie started so I went around and found myself in this otaku store. I bought a pair of naruto slippers wahahhaha. I find them cool and cute so I bought a pair. When the clock struck near 9, I went to the cinema and the movie has not started yet. It's a bit eerie as I was the first viewer to have come in. Literally, the place is empty. In order for my imagination not to run wild, I decided to play bowling on mobile. Suddenly, there was a rush of viewers already. People were starting to pack this small movie house. The movie was in cinema 1. I had fun with the movie but there was this OA scene. I guess all movies have this certain OAness or a bit of some corny part. Overall, the movie was interesting. I am not sure if the movie followed the original part but I could see there parts that sounded familiar. Anyway, for two hours and 10SGD it was worth it because I got excited and had a laugh at some part. Good thing they have billed this funny Marlon Wayans. After the movie, it was the time to go home. I rode a bus and arrived around 12.... I got hungry so I ate again.

Big Bang Theory Series

Sing with me guys with this new anthem, national anthem of the geeks and those who will be :



Our whole universe was in a hot dense state,
Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. Wait...
The Earth began to cool,
The autotrophs began to drool,
Neanderthals developed tools,
We built a wall (we built the pyramids),
Math, science, history, unraveling the mysteries,
That all started with the big bang!

"Since the dawn of man" is really not that long,
As every galaxy was formed in less time than it takes to sing this song.
A fraction of a second and the elements were made.
The bipeds stood up straight,
The dinosaurs all met their fate,
They tried to leap but they were late
And they all died (they froze their asses off)
The oceans and pangea
See ya wouldn't wanna be ya
Set in motion by the same big bang!

It all started with the big BANG!

It's expanding ever outward but one day
It will cause the stars to go the other way,
Collapsing ever inward, we won't be here, it wont be hurt
Our best and brightest figure that it'll make an even bigger bang!

Australopithecus would really have been sick of us
Debating out while here they're catching deer (we're catching viruses)
Religion or astronomy, Encarta, Deuteronomy
It all started with the big bang!

Music and mythology, Einstein and astrology
It all started with the big bang!
It all started with the big BANG!

Well, I am having some stomach rumbles with this funny series :D Thanks to some magician friends who were providing me with this fun stuff.... I think I'm not going anywhere this long vacation just because of this.