Phuket Trip (last day)

For our last day at Phuket, we signed up another half-day package to coral island.

While driving to the jetty, our bus passed by Kata beach and Karon beach. Unlike Patong beach, Kata and Karon beach are more quiet and laid back. They are definitely less vibrant than Patong beach but if you want a more relaxed holiday, i believe its a nice beach to stay as well. The beaches are more beautiful as it was not so commercially packed with rented beach chairs.

We arrived at Coral beach. It is just another island, nothing much to do and see but the water is clear. Good for a relaxed afternoon swimming, snorkelling and sun-bathing. We were so excited cos' our package includes a para sailing but that day's weather was too windy thus they had to cancel it. :(

We had nothing much to do except snorkelling, munching on tibits and dd taking a 'beach portfolio' of mine. They were not too good to be shown here (cos' of his poor photography skills and not me!) :P

Hehe... The sand was fine and beautiful, perfect for engraving. :P

We saw this really cute boy who was stark-naked. We couldn't resist taking a photo of him and with him, with his parents' consent, of course, whom i believe will be more than happy since they have such a cute boy. ;)

Better to have the photos sensored. Opps! :P

Our dinner back at Patong beach. :D

Phuket Trip (Part 3)

Part 3 of my phuket trip! I'd better keep up with my blogging of my phuket adventures in case i procrastinate further and forgotten some of the details... like the names of beaches i went. My memory is failing... like during the course of my work, I could forget what I spoke about over the phone after a day if i didn't minute it. Even when my mom asked me to do something and I can forget about it the next minute! anything food that can boost my memory?

Alright... Day 3 was another package that dd and I signed up. We went for the ATV ride, water rafting and elephant ride. They also brought us to visit a waterfall and money land. We totally enjoyed the activities. I would highly recommend going for these activities if you visit phuket. ;)



This was the first activity stop where we had our ATV ride. Look further down if you do not know what's an ATV.

This photo was taken when we finished our entire route. As usual, they would took snapshots of us and sell it at the tourist rate later on. Haha i think both of us look damn serious cos' we were driving all by ourselves for the entire 45 minute journey along their planned track, past humps and roads along with other vehicles

The ATV looks cool doesn't it? Being the lousy driver, I couldn't control the ATV at the beginning kept bumping right into the bushes while driving in the practice route. That was exactly those times when I used to play car or motor racing in arcades but it was the real thing then. The guide had to rescue me many times by pulling me out of the bushes. :P

I thought of giving up and ride on dd's ATV with him but it was too late. Before i could get down, they'd started the engine for me and I had to quickly follow the rest of the group out to the track otherwise I would be left behind. But oh i was glad I went for it cos' the real route was much smoother than the practice route. My hands were numb from having to prepare for emergency brake but I totally enjoyed the ATV! It was real fun!

After the ATV, we were up into the van where they drove us to our next activity site for water rafting.

Yeah that was water rafting. we had to wait for the water at the man-made dam to start running before we could start the activity as the flow of water depended largely on the man-made dam in order for the water to flow swiftly. There were actually many boats around so we were like playing bumper boats in the river, deliberately pushing and splashing water. haha...

This was the waterfall area. The water was real cold...

Elephant ride. It was quite scary when the guide got down the elephant and let us control the elephant by ourselves.

Monkey Land. I wasn't that fascinated with this place cos' the monkeys were snatching food and running around you. That was our last stop for the day package.

The tour guide drove us back to our respective hotel.

Then comes the proposal. :D

Had our dinner at Subway.

Followed by street snacks - grilled corn and banana crepes.

After dinner, we had a good long bath and rest before going for Thai Massage. That was my first time trying out a thai massage and it wasn't as painful as i thought it would be. I guess probably their technique is still not so traditional. Anyhow it was good man that i'd fallen asleep.

Our supper - chicken noodle soup with a stick of grilled chicken (like Singapore's satay).

Black Sesame Pudding

Another Recipe from "Okashi Treats" by keiko ishida. If you love black sesame paste dessert, you'd love this sweet pudding. I bought this black sesame paste specially for the black sesame chiffon cake recipe in this book. I made it successfully but did not feel like posting because the pictures taken of it was awful. *lol* I was lucky to have found this in an organic store around my neighbourhood where I live. I couldn't find black sesame paste anywhere else.

The paste are rather sticky and in big clumps. I had to wear a glove to separate the clumps!

My parents and dd doesn't seem to appreciate something more extraordinary. *lol* I lke it anyway. It has the texture of a red bean pudding that I had in a Chinese Dim Sum restaurant.

Have a go at it if you like. ;)

Ingredients

300g fresh whole milk

50g store-bought black sesame paste

35g castor sugar

5g gelatine sheets, soak in ice water to soften

40g whipping cream
black sugar, chopped into bits for topping

Method:

Combine milk, sesame paste and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.
Add softened gelatine and whipping cream. Mix well. Pour mixture into the prepared cups and chill in the refeigerator until set.
Serve jelly topped with black sugar bits. Combine milk, sesame paste and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.

Phuket Trip (Part 2)

The second day of our phuket was the island hopping package. You'll have to go for this if you go Phuket, at least for the first time. The tour brings you to different island where we snorkeled and visited the beautiful islands and beaches. Had a very early breakfast at 7am and we were ready to go!

Vainpot dd wearing the sunglass he bought from
chatuchak night market

An hour to two bus ride before we arrive at the ferry terminal to board the speed boat

Phi Phi island... where we snorkeled. I kept worrying that I would float away as I couldn't swim well. :D The water was not as clear as we expected. Dead corals and murky water :(

This was maya island. Yeah the water here is much clearer.

It's really beautiful. The water was crystal clear with fine sandy beaches. The photos over here were all taken using the water landscape feature with flash.

wow.... dd helping a bikini babe to take pictures!

Next stop was heading to Krabi for lunch, included in our package

After our lunch, we board the speed boat to Khai island... Also a beautiful island...

Our tour guide preparing refreshments (water-melons and ice water). We were served an abundance of water-melons on that day that we really got sck of water-melons.

It's a really commercialised place here. Each beach chair cost 100 baht. This was where I had a Walls ice-cream cone for S$6! I didn't realised it could be that exorbitant until i took a cone, paid the money, then compute the currency in S$. :P

That was the last stop of our day trip. We were back to the hotel in the evening.

Dinner at Savoey restaurant. Serves everything from seafood to western cuisine. Nice ambience with live band.

Haa... the table spread says it all... let me recall... we ordered a shrimp salad, mixed vegetables, stir-fried chicken, tom yam soup and tiger prawns!

The most expensive part of the meal...we had a tiger prawn each.

We chanced upon this interesting facial salon concept where customers can go in and have a quick facial and you just lie down with many other customers! The salon operates in a see-through glass room! It's an interesting concept, works like a hair salon. Their skills are not tha bad considering that they managed to remove dd's blackhead/mole(?) for many years! lol... we just hope they do sterilise those picking sticks (or whatever you call) they use!