Thailand Graduation Trip - Part 2 Phuket (Day 6 and 7)

Right! I better get going with this if not I will never finish it! Haha

Alright for day 6 and 7, which were our last two days, I didn't take much photos :( Cause in day 6 we went for the ATV ride, water rafting and waterfall trekking! The photos are in Weilun's underwater camera which I'm still in the process of downloading, and it's not done yet. So I'll post them later okay! :) So yup cause of these activities I didn't bring my camera out. But here are some photos I took in day 6 after the activities! :)

Oh and some photos of cute monkeys from the monkey cave before the day begins! :)

 My brother from another species

 On the way back to Phuket from Pha Nga (outside of Phuket)

Fruit stalls!

 So I bought this fruit called Salak!

Which I also eat in Indonesia, and they're called Salak too

Thankfully it didn't rain during our activities -_-

And after we returned to Phuket, we wash up and then we decided to end of our trip (being the last night here) to go for a drink! But before that we went to search for food. So we walked along the beach street but couldn't find anything suitable. So we decided to go walk along Bangla road, which is famous for its night life! And to our luck we find a nice food fair :D So we just bought food and we share it together hehe. And there was an awesome singer too!

And after searching for a place to settle for our drinks, we decided to go to Red Hot Bar along the Ratuthin street, near the intersection of Soi Bangla. To all who are going Phuket, I highly recommend you to go there for a drink haha. Love the band and the atmosphere! They have jug margaritas too! We ordered a jug, and I ordered uhhh...

 

Okay here's the story I got real high that night haha. Drank (and shared) two pints and one bottle of Chang. Plus the jug margaritas. I forgot what happened but I remember that I vomited when I reached the hotel. And I got severe hangover the day after. Oh dear haha. But it's a great night I must say! Would love to come back :D

And yes the picture beside is the jug margarita hehe

Right so that's all for the last night in Phuket. For the last day, we decided to swim at the hotel after breakfast, wash up, and then we went for lunch. Before lunch we decided to go to Patong Beach to walk around but the weather was not on our side so we rushed back to the street. We decided to go to Jungceylon for lunch at a restaurant called the Soup Restaurant. And then we spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Patong :)

We were trying hard to look for the Thai Iced Tea! Haha, we found an unattended stall near Ratuthin street but no one came. So we decided to walk along Patong beach again and... We found it! Alright here are some photos I took during that afternoon.

 Patong Beach in the late morning

(Note the dark clouds at the back :P)

 En route Jungceylon via tuk tuk!

 We walked Patong Beach for this! Hahaha

And it tasted so good.

 Fine day at Patong beach

 The famous pancake stall!

 And what we found when we're back at the hotel HAHAHA

Oh man blogging about this trip made me really miss our trip so very much! At the same time I must also say that it's been a wonderful time I had with the 5 of us. I'm so glad that we went for this trip together and braved Thailand together. And quite thankful that weather has been on our side as well. I really love Thailand, it's a uniquely beautiful place. I would love to come back when I have the chance. I'll definitely be back! :')

And to end off this post, here's our jump shot at Patong!

 

Thanks for everything JAMBS!

-JAMBSGT13-

Thailand Graduation Trip - Part 1 Bangkok (Day 3 and 4)

Right, continuing on!

For the third day, which was a Sunday (7/4) we decided to go for the boat tour down the Chao Praya river. We bought a one day pass which entitled us to stop anywhere we want, but we just decided to stop at a few stops and not everything since we didn't have the whole day. So the places we went were: Wang Lang Pier, Chinatown (Yaowarat), Wat Arun, and then we took the boat back to take the BTS back to Siam (pronounce Sa-yam, not Siam!),

Alright so our first stop was Wang Lang Pier,where there was the Wang Lang market, a temple where we feed the birds and fishes, and a school haha. It's just like alleys and it was quite interesting to walk around there. I can tell it's not a touristy place cause in the market, almost everything is in Thai haha. Bought some street food there too!

There are lots of food stalls, clothes stalls and so on. But we were full from breakfast so we didn't get to try the full meal. Though I would really love to sit in one of their eateries there to eat! But yes I was full from breakfast and the street snacks we had haha.

I truly enjoyed walking around Wang Lang though, it's pretty cool and an eye-opener. But once again, Wang Lang reminds me of my hometown heh. Just that everyone speaks Thai.



In Wang Lang we also found a spot where we could buy some breads and feed the birds and fishes. I think it's just for the fishes but the birds (thanks to evolution) join the party and went for the feeding frenzy too haha. It was my first time like feeding SO many birds, it's really a lot haha. Rather frenzy but a fun experience I must say. Doing good deeds.

After that we walked back to the pier again to catch the next boat to our next destination which was Chinatown or also known as Yaowarat. We headed there to hunt for stuff to bring back, and also to hunt for yummy food! Cause they're famous for the food hehe.







Yaowarat speaks Chinatown to me haha. Almost all the signs have Chinese writings on it. And even the shopholders can speak both Thai and Chinese. We just walked around to get some food. Their street food is quite good! We found food like Chwee Kueh (though I mist say I prefer Singapore one haha) and also a bottle of freshly squeeze promergrenate juice is all I need after walking on such a hot day! And also, we had a bowl of Bird's nest dessert which is nice as well.

And not to forget we brought back the famous pork floss spring-roll :)




After walking back we headed for our next destination which is Wat Arun - Temple of the Dawn. It's a pretty nice temple, grand and majestic, tall and beautifully sculptured! Can't believe it's constructed in the 1800s. Without much technology yet the temple looks awesome. Artisan in its best form. And the climb up was really challenging, but the climbing down was EVEN more challenging haha. Well cause it's super steep!

But it's fun :)










And here are more pictures during the boat tour. Don't worry I took more than this heh. After Wat Arun we took the boat back to the Central Pier to go back to Saphan Taksin station to go back to Siam as we were heading for Platinum mall!

Us at the boat, thanks to a nice boat-lady who helped us take this!

 Wat Arun in the distance

I didn't take a lot of photos at Platinum. Actually I did just that it was taken with my Lomo and the films are still being processed now so sorry no photos! Besides it's only shopping haha. But it's a great way to end my last night in Bangkok by having an awesome foot reflexology, shoulder, back and head massage with Weilun! It's so relaxing and aaahhhhh hahaha.

The last day was spent on last minute shopping too. Same, I didn't take much pictures but I have to share with your this "nice food"! Too bad you can't eat it.

THIS PORK DISH IS SO GOOD OMG hahahaha. It's like slices of roasted pork, dumplings and vegetables. The pork was so crispy and salty and just perfect! The soup was okay, but the pork elevated the dish to seventh heaven! Really good. Oh gawd I think I can eat this everyday, just that I wish it won't bring me cardiovascular problems.

Alright, just gonna end off this post with some photos of Bangkok Traffic, the infamous one haha. And one last photo of Suvarnhabumi before we boarded the plane to Phuket. Thanks for reading! :D

 The infamous Bangkok Traffic

I realised why the motorcycles are in such formation

Hint: Look at the shadow

 Waiting

 5 of us on our way to the airport!

 While waiting for our flight to Phuket

Thailand Graduation Trip - Part 1 Bangkok Done!

When loneliness, gives me happiness

Whew today... Was kind of a failed day. But at the same time it's a really... Happy day for me! Anyway why failed - I'm supposed to go to Punggol Beach for a sunrise shot. Well I DID WAKE UP but... I looked at the window and it was damn cloudy. So I was thinking nahh not a nice day to take sunrise shot. So I went back to sleep! (Y). But anyway yeah I slept again and woke up at 12. Oh what a wonderful day.

Anyway I was really lazing around from 12 to 3. Then somehow somewhat... I have this weird, unexplainable and cool urge of going somewhere. Just go somewhere, anywhere. Just get out of my house. So with a steady gut and this unexplainable urge, I took my bag, took my water bottle, a notebook, a pen and my camera. And I headed to... Labrador Park!

Why Labrador Park? Cause I want to explore something new, somewhere I've never been before.

And here it is. I will explain to you my little adventure today. All of these words were written as accordingly during my small adventure. Lets go!

  4:00 PM - Urge to go somewhere

Currently at bus 7 on my way to Holland Village. I've decided to go to Labrador Park. Not sure why but I just have the urge to go somewhere than rotting at home. For a little taste of adventure, I've decided to go somewhere new, somewhere unexplored by me.

4:16 PM - Buona Vista Interchange

Will take me around 13 minutes to reach Labrador Park. I really don't know what to expect there but hopefully will take some nice shots. And hopefully my time will be enough. 1.5 hours should be ample huh?

4:23 PM - Haw Par Villa

I guess life can be depicted as a train ride. People come, people go. But the train journey still goes on. Some go to the same destination while others different. And at one point of you future train journeys, they will come into the same train you take again.

4:56 PM - Labrador Park

After walking for about 16 minutes from the MRT, I've finally reached the beack (or the park). They need more directions. I'm sorry. Was feeling quite lost but nevertheless I found it! So yup. It's a nice place for a walk and dating cause it's very tranquil. But less for group outings. Exploring new places is always fun. I better get going so see you!

 

5:31 PM - The end of an adventure

Currently sitting on this walkway facing the beach. In front of me lies Sentosa and the slow, moving, crashing waves. The wind is blowing, cooling off my body. I guess this is the end of my little adventure at Labrador Park. a new place explored, a new bliss discovered and felt. I'm still not sure what made me go here, when it's just this urge that pushed me to do all of these. Walking and exploring this new place alone was really fin. I guess it's true that loneliness, gives me happiness.

Yup so I guess that's all for my "little adventure" at Labrador Park! I know it's quite weird and sudden. It's quite... "unusual" for someone to explore new places alone. It's weird for someone to have the urge to go somewhere. Just go somewhere. Well now I do have that urge, and it's really one of the best feelings ever! I'm serious. It feels weird and unexplainable but honestly speaking, it's an awesome feeling.

And the times I had exploring Labrador Park alone, walking along the beach, shooting the photos, enjoying the sea breeze. Everything. Was really awesome. It feels pretty surreal and just great to spend some times alone. It feels like you're coming back to yourself, it feels like the whole world belongs to you. There's an unexplainable sense of freedom you get. And most importantly, a sense of joy. Just pure joy.

Genuine happiness at its best.

We all tend to enjoy others' company with us. But most of the time we forget that we, too, need time to ourselves. Just spending time alone. I don't mean to things like eating dinner alone, or going to school alone. What I mean is - you, choosing yourself to be alone. Sometimes we have "no choice" to be alone. But sometimes when YOU choose to be alone. There's this joy that no one else but you can feel. Pretty lovely.

Not saying we should be alone all the time. Just saying it's important for us to spend some times alone. Not being "forced" to be alone. But your will.

But as the song goes, anyway, we're all alone in this world haha.

LEAP Intermediate trip - Mount Kinabalu

As promised, I will blog about my trip to Mount Kinabalu alright! Finally get the chance to blog so here it is WARNING: Be prepared for a very long post :)

Anyway so we went to stay in Moberly the night before our flight (Saturday). We went to watch the lunar eclipse together! Quite cool huh, and we were there sitting down on the parapets like the scene in "You're the apple of my eye" hehehe. After briefing, packing, we went to sleep cause we gotta wake up by 4 to leave for Johor Senai aiport at 5! :)

Once we reached there we took a flight to Kinabalu which took about 2h20m. Kinabalu, my first impression was, it's like my hometown (kinda)! Quiet, empty, not so bustling but nice and modern at the same time. And then we went for lunch at this Malay restaurant. It was fried rice, so yummeh with a nice salty soup. We went to get some extra stuff and then we made our way to Strawberry Garden Hotel! :)

The boys' bunk

On the way there, it was my first time seeing Mt Kinabalu with my own eyes. Even though she was still partially covered with clouds, seeing her majestic appearance made me feel two things - fear and excitement. Seeing the height that we need to climb, and anticipating the trek we're going to do the next day. Anyway Strawberry Garden is a nice hotel, especially the view! Woo yeah :D And dinner was awesome as well. Then we tucked in to our bed and sleep to prepare for tomorrow's 6 hour trek!

The trek itself was alright I guess. We have a total of 6 huts before our destination - Pendant Hut. We stopped in hut 4 for lunch, and occasionally for water break and stuff in every other pit stops. But I think we didn't stop at pit stop 6 cause it was so near our target, we just chionged up! But uhh sadly it rained from pit stop 6 onwards. So we had to trek for about 300m to Pendant Hut. Was an interestingly-cold experience.

Group 3 before our trek!

Go go go! :D

The journey from 3 - 4 was kinda tough, cause it was rather steep so yeah... But I love hut 5! Cause somehow during that part, the sky was clear and we could see the peak of Mt Kinabalu! Pretty awesome and interesting sight to see eh. In total, we trekked for about... 6 hours I think. I know we reached Pendan Hut at about 2.50 PM or so. Then moving on with via ferrata training, dinner, and a good night sleep before summit! :D

Us at around hut 5! 

Presenting, Mount Kinabalu

We woke up dark and early at 1.30 AM to prepare for our trek at 2.30 AM. We were quite late, I think we set on at about 2.50 AM instead. So we gotta meet up with the human jam. Nevertheless, we made our way up the summit (which was 2.7km in distance of trek). The danger zone was... Quite scary and exciting! We need to hold on to this rope where we climb up (like abseiling) pass through a steep rock. So envy the guide who don't need all these ropes! :P

And then... After the danger zone was when things go interesting.

I got AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness). I guess it's due to my not-so-good physical level, plus fatigue, plus altitude, plus low oxygen level. I was blabbering non-sensical stuff to my team (esp Kai, Chloe and Clement). They asked me to ease my load by helping me take some stuff and I got defensive towards them. And when they're about to take my bag off, I was telling them "Don't touch my bag! Don't touch my bag!" but eventually they succeeded to get it off me.

After that, I cried. One was because I felt so touched by their kindness and care, and two was because I felt so disappointed with myself, selfish with myself cause I won't be carying my bag unlike them. It's like as if I'm a burden for them. But then Kai told me that if they were not to help me, then I would drag the team more. Clement was also saying we should all summit together, as one team.

One thing for sure is - I'm just so touched by their help. And lesson learnt - don't get AMS (but how?)

The trek up! Almost there...

The way to the summit goes as follow. First we passed by Sayat Sayat hut. Then followed by about 500m of "flat" terrain, then a 150m hike up to Low's peak. In that last part of 150m, I don't know how and why but I was making my way up there by crawling. I was just pushing myself up, telling myself whatever happens, I'll reach the summit. And then I saw the signboard, and just push myself up. Like as if I forgot what happened, my AMS, life, troubles, problems, school, everything, and push myself to the peak.

HELLOOOO~ from Low's Peak of Mount Kinabalu!

The feeling was REALLY GOOD. To stand on the peak, looking down to clouds like as if you're standing above them. Feeling like as if you're on top of the world. Feeling like as if you can do anything. Best thing was being surrounded by your friends too. The summit has taught me so many things. Of friends, of life, of everything. But being on Low's Peak was just something I can't explain through words. Just being there, is surreally unreal. At the same time.... Okay I seriously don't know how to explain in words.

But the sad thing is... Thanks to my AMS (and happiness and excitement), I didn't take much pictures on the summit. It strikes upon me when I'm back in Singapore, transferring my photos, then I realised I didn't take much pictures in the summit. Oh well, thankfully I have our summit photo with the team though! O yeah!

We made our way down for via ferrata. But since we were late, we (Chloe, Yisheng, Clement, Firman and me) decided to take the shorter via ferrata (walk the torque instead of Low's Peak circuit) instead. It was really fun and challenging man! Being on the steep side of the cliff, abseiling down, jumping here and there, walking across rocks and etc. One freaking awesome experience I'll never forget :)

Via Ferrata baby! (Photo credits to Clement's Camera)

And finally we via ferrata-ed  back to Pendant Hut, and we were the first team to arrive! Mwahaha. Went for lunch and then the day just went by with each team arriving back. Poor them, some of them were caught in the rain while via ferrata-ing and they were really cold! The team quickly went to help them out by giving them hot water and taking off their bags and shoes. Thankfully they're alright after a good sleep :)

We made it down! :D

The next day, the 2nd summit team (Candy, Warda, Afiq and Helmi) went to the summit! They were really blessed with an even better weather than us there :D Kudos to the 4 of them. Even though they were not feeling well the day before, they decided not to give up and went up all the way to the summit! Especially Candy, who summited with a sprained ankle (wow, if I were her I think I would just tell myself next time). I feel really happy with the fact that all 27 of us made it up! Cheers to the awesome team :D

The second summit team arriving in Pendant Hut! :D

While waiting for the 2nd summit team to arrive, the rest of us were drying our stuff below Pendant Hut on this rocky spot. We were laying out jackets, shoes, soles, shirts etc as the sun was out. The weather was clear, and well (thankfully) my stuff were dry so I was just there to enjoy the sun and view with them. Then... It strike upon me that I will really miss this place. The view, the serenity and the weather was just amazing. Not everyday in our lives can we see them. And what's even better? Was to hear the team's chatter and laughter as I enjoy the view and the wind. It made me look back on the long journey we've went through thus far.

This is the view that I saw, as I was sitting down on the rocky spot

We made our way down to the Kinabalu park HQ. We were really late, and we were caught in the rain! So we trekked for about 1 hour plus under the rain. Pretty awesome experience heh. Weird enough, I was feeling... Rather "empty" on the way down. Not sure if it's the fact that the journey is coming to an end, or is it me just wanting to get down quickly, or... I don't know. All I know I was feeling neither happy nor sad, neither tired nor energetic on the way down. Pretty weird no?

And we boarded our bus back to Kota Kinabalu. Somehow, during the earlier part of the drive, where most people got knocked out from the trip, I couldn't fall asleep. I was just looking back, and couldn't believe myself that I've climbed mount Kinabalu. A mountain of 4095.2m in height, the highest peak in Southeast Asia. I've never climbed a mountain before. And here I am, writing this, as someone who just climbed a mountain. Sometimes is is thoughts like this, that made you feel, what's there in life, that we can't do?

Many times one would feel so insignificant, so weak, so incapable of doing this and that. But well this trip just taught me one thing: Life is just too short for us to tell ourselves "I can't do it". Initially when I saw the poster of this trip, I told myself "Nahh I shall go next year, don't think I can do it". But then I decided to go, just to tell myself, that hopefully, I get to prove myself wrong again.

So I did prove myself wrong.

And just like my Inner Mongolia OCIP trip, this trip has made me realise how wonderful and beautiful this world is. It's just such a waste for it to be left unexplored. Go out, and have an adventure. You have no idea what it can do to you, what it can teach you, and what changes it can bring to you. But of course do plan and prepare the trip before you go. Safety always comes first before fun (Thanks Mr Kwok! :D)

Well, the mountain teaches things that sometimes the school won't teach you. Life is a journey, is all about learning. There are things we get to learn through the event that happened to us, through the journeys and experiences that fell upon us. The mountain teaches me so many things about life, people, and myself. It's quite amazing isn't it. Well as the famous saying goes: The best teachers in life are your experiences.

The trip then progresses on with a night in Kota Kinabalu, which we spend eating seafood and walking around (yumz). Then the next day we had our certificate-giving ceremony, which everyone (including me) got emotional into. It's been such a great journey for everyone I guess. So great.

This trip is just another reason why my 2011 has been so awesome. I've certainly enjoyed myself from this trip (excluding getting AMS), and I've certainly LEARNT a lot from the journey as well. I've accomplished my LEAP Intermediate. And now I can't wait to finish my LEAP Advanced, before I graduate! Alright, one item from my life's to-do list stroke off, and another added!

Do you knoq how does it feel on top of world? I do :)

And you should try it one day too