June 2011 - Krabi, Thailand!

Time to go! Destination: Krabi! Where everyone can fly! hahaha...

Jess decided to visit this year and i asked her what would she like to do. i can take a few days off and spend some time with her. and we decided on krabi cos it's cheaper! hahaha.. so here we are... flying off again!

we actually took another shot like this where the guy behind was giving this confused dunno-what-we-doing face ! ahahhaa...

checked in. our room is amazing! we booked this accommodation together with the flight and airport transfers via airasia-go. this is the first time i actually tried it but all in all, it was worth it and save a lot of extra googling for help. definitely will do it again.

it's quite big! and comes with a big balcony too which we used to hang all the wet clothes coming back from all the soaking wet activities!

and the amazing window that can look into the toilet. hahahaa... we had so much fun taking funny shots with it but it's all in jess' camera.

this is where we stayed. the Aonang Princeville Hotel. if you do not know, krabi has this one street where all the activities are like mushrooms growing along there. our hotel is situated just at this street which makes life much more easier for us. every day we walk up and down this street looking for goodies and for food and shopping of course!

it's at this street. up and down we walked. (cos no other street.. hahaha..)

first stop, at a tailor! ABSOLUTE TAILOR. the workmanship is quite good! and me being cheeky, wanted to take photo with this huge coat that was hanging there. ahahaha....

i made didnt know earlier that it's the best place to do custom made clothes but jess came all prepared with some pants that she wanted it to be copied. in the end i made a blazer. the amazing thing about their services is i can ask for anything and they will try to put it in... shorter in length, one button to become two buttons in front, one pocket on one side and two pockets on the other side, gets to choose the material, i wanted three quarter length sleeves with striped lining inside, and finally even a hidden pocket at the inside lining! Anything also can! and they can make it fast like overnight or in 2 days. i love my new blazer!

our first thai meal. nice-y! before this meal, we went scouting for a tour agent for activities for the next two days. since it's low season, all prices were cut by 40%! which is really good for us! and it's really by God's blessing. both of us didnt know what to expect or whether is it a good time to go krabi or not but God really blessed us. although it's supposedly low season cos it's rainy days, the two days that we went for all our activities were just cloudy but not rainy so we got to do everything. but on the last day, it was pouring cats and dogs when we were at the airport. wow! good timing cos we serve a good God! =)

So Day 2, we head out quite far for the white water rafting + elephant trekking + atv ride. Half way through the drive, we HAD to stop at the monkey temple! goodness! why must there be monkeys every time i travel?? i assertively told the guide I AM NOT GETTING OUT OF THE VAN! and good thing he didnt insisted for me to go down after he heard my traumatic encounter with monkeys at bali. he wiisely left me alone. Jess went with him for a walk. there were seriously soooooo many monkeys.. on the trees, even crossing the road, hanging from the trees and some ang mohs even carried them on their shoulders for photos! in chinese we have a saying "dunno how to write the 'die' word"!

after that, we head straight to the white water rafting venue. there's like a certain timing to do this so that water is fuller at the river.

that's me blending in with the raft! hahha...

just killing time cos waiting for the other group to come along so can share the raft wor...

more goofing around.
after the rest arrived, we left all belongings at the base and the guide tied a string to my specs so that it wont fall off. first they started with the training on how to "lock in" ourselves and how to balance and how to paddle forward/backward. then finally, threw us into the raft and we hanged on for our dear lives! hahahhaa...

after 5km, the rest alighted but me n jess decided to head down another 4km. during this time, it's just the two of us plus the two guides paddling. i decided to give up my paddle altogether because jess hit me with hers then i hit her with mine then someone hit me on the head with her paddle (thank god for the helmet cos it prevented a serious concussion from the hits). what a nuisance. the guide took my paddle from me and i just hang on to the strap at the raft! hahaha...

the whole ride was super funny and the guides were super playful. everyone (other rafts + other tourists) were just splashing water all over everyone and during each stop, they try to drag us or pull us from behind INTO the water!

at one particular time during the last 4km, both the guides conspire to send me into the water! and after landed into the water, they say bye bye as though leaving me there. i jokingly shouted 'cut money! cut money! discount 500baht!' and they laughingly apologised and took me back into the raft. at one point, they decided to pull a prank on me by jerking me across the raft! at the brink of sliding down a slope, they purposely twisted the raft so that it does not go forward down but side ways down! making me lunged forward. they were happily high-five-ing in front of me! hahahaha... the whole thing was pure wet fun! ahhaha...

then all drenched, we continued on to elephant trekking just 5 mins drive away. we sat barefooted on top of this prickly female elephant and walked around in the plantation/jungle. this is the 'elephant-driver'.

again we were just hanging on for our dear lives! but it was so bumpy, i told jess it's possible that we will slim down from moving our bodies so much!


this is the tour guide that took us to the activities but he's not the guide for each of the activities. he just carry my bag and waited for us at each activity. he speaks better english than the rest. i cant understand the rest of the ppl!

when we came back to the base for lunch, i went straight to the toilet and jess went to the lunch table. she later told me she was wondering why were the ppl hanging around and peeping behind her when she walked past. then when i came out from the toilet, the cheeky rafter was waiting outside there with a stalk of flower and asked me, "dun cut money?" hhahhaha... jess told me later that my serious face made the two guides concerned and he even asked her if i'm ok or not.. hahaha..


after lunch is ATV ride time! me driving it was just for photo's sake. after like, i think, less than 50meter or 5 min of driving it, we were going down a slope and i suddenly forgot how to break the thing.. and flew straight down the slope and almost slammed behind another guide. he swerved to avoid me so i slammed into the the wall of a mound of earth i think. aahhha... after that the guide in front of me turned around and told me, "you no drive. you passenger.".. ahhaha.. which i gladly let him take over the driving as i sat behind him and hang on for my life again!... but that gave me time to look around and enjoy.

Jess was the champion! she drove behind him all the way without stopping.. at the end of one hour, her thumb was so sore from pressing the accelerator! hahaha... she admitted that there were many times she wanted to ask for stop to take a break! hahaha..

we came back all muddy and in a total mess! the locals were amused with us wanting to take a picture of how muddy we look instead of just quickly washing it off!

after the atv, we took the long drive back to the hotel. by the time we reach hotel, the flower was already crushed by jess' bag... aahahah.. i was already tired and was just glad to be able to get out of the wet clothes and take a long hot shower!

after shower and went for fitting at the tailor and then - hunting for McD!
if u see the extra bag i was carrying, that's cos along the way, we cant help ourselves and stopped for shopping. bought a black cocktail dress that i super loved it. the moment i see it, i knew that it will definitely fit me and if i try it on, i will surely buy it. true to every word, i tried it on and bought it.. along with a purpler pair of slippers for pc (which she loved it).

Trish, this is for u! first the yam pie at hong kong, now the pineapple pie at thai!

jess insisted that we try the pork burger. so here we are. the fries were kinda like coated with salt! sooooo salty!

we wanted to go for a massage but since it was too late for that, we decided to do manicure and pedicure and nail art instead! they asked us to choose the design. then they didnt manage to copy the design onto my nails. again the locals were concerned that i will be angry and added 'bling bling' stones to my nails to pacify me! ahahahaa... i think i seriously got a serious face! 3 times in a day!

jess' nails. i prefer the artistic types (which they didnt manage to copy) whereas jess prefers the more batik style!

Day 3 is the day of island hopping.. about seven islands! we were joined by many others in one boat. about 20 pax i counted.

first stop, snorkelling at this beach. nothing to shout about since it's quite shallow and not many fishes.. but good place to start so that we can learn the trick of it.
this is my actual first time snorkelling. in fact it's also the first time for jess. took us a few tries to get used to it. the trick is.... jeng jeng jeng.... dont move your mouth once under water else water will go in and instead of breathing with your mouth, you will be broop broop broop-ing! hahaha... not even a smile or a tweak of the lips!

next island - some kind of abandoned caves or so.


there's this japanese man sitting next to us. he's from osaka. a retired high school teacher travelling one month in krabi+bangkok. he cant speak much so i totally salute his travelling alone!

next island - stop in the middle of nowhere and ask us to just drop in for snorkelling... water is really deep here! i was too lazy to keep myself afloat so i used the life jacket. when i wanted to climb back into the boat, i knocked my left knee and right shin at the steel stairs and fell back into the water! hahaha... ops...

ok... there are three couples here. (from left to right)
first couple in black and white are sooo sweet... the husband will go down into the water first to wait for the wife then they will snorkel holding hands together! sooooo sweet...
then this couple in the middle are the most make-me-n-jess-jealous. ahahha.. the guy really take very good care of the girl and hold her whenever she almost fall and when she dozed off, he held her head so that it does not fall off and every time he turned around, he will kiss her forehead.. awww... sooooooo loving! =)
the two couple sitting in front are like two independent souls. always the first to jump into the water. ahahaha...
that's us at the front of the boat!
next island - a beach where we stopped for while. the two of us were already counting how many more to go. we just sat there at the beach and watch ppl. there was this korean couple on honeymoon (i guessed)... one in pink bikini, one in pink boardshorts and using a pink camera, snapping and playing with each other! hahaha.. i feel like watching i'm a korean drama series. ppl actually do DO like the drama series in real life?! hahahaha...

the bruise is starting to swell from the fall earlier... this is the before.

jess was so bored, she made me into frog-leg-pads! hahaha..

next island - monkey island!!!!!! how come i always ended up in places like this. i was adamantly telling Jess that I WILL NOT GET OUT OF THE BOAT! hahaha.. and then the guide announced that we wont be going down (phew!) because the monkeys are wild and if we dont feed them, they might bite and then we will need to turn back to land to get vaccine shots so it's safer for us to only take photos from a short distance away. again i see all the ang mohs seeking out the monkeys to take photos with them! another group of ppl that in chinese we say 'die d also dunno why'!

lunch time we stopped at this island. there are lots of shops and it's also the diving hub where PADI is stationed and also many diving classes were offered.
that's my lunch! the ppl were so hungry that they were just pushing at the buffet queue!

dont ask me why she got this shocked face! she also dunno why.

the final island for snorkelling before heading back to land. i decided to skip this one out partly cos my bruise is painful and partly i didnt want to climb into the boat again later! so i took shots of jess instead. but there's definitely more fishes swimming here!

After a long hot day from beach to beach, we definitely need to hydrate ourselves. this is my ever faithful supplements. a must to bring along during all my trips - PECKERS! life saver! sick saving! cheers! =)

after the supplements, we can now eat all the junk food we want! ahahaha... this pack looks like little drumsticks. so cute!


on the final night, we decided to try the street food instead of a restaurant. we packed to eat back at the hotel in front of the tv. this is phad thai. it tasted sweet. i was not really used to sweetened "char kuey teow" and by then, i was starting with a mild gastric pain so i didnt finish it.

the deep fried 'potato chips' that got jess into the must try mode!

this is how it kinda looks like now. 6cm in diameter! hahaha.. my souvenir from krabi. actually there are 4 bruise patches but this is the most severe. last nite i saw little joanna.. and she kept staring at it and ask .."wat happened..??" in such a cute way!

and my camera fogs up every morning. this is my final and daily breakfast looks like.

after this, it's time to go home! travelling is nice and fun but home is home. glad to go home now and back to the mountain of work that i'm sure is piling higher by the day! next destination? cuti-cuti malaysia this december! =)