Krabi Day 1

Went to the airport with Slug the night before to await our morning flight to Phuket. Had a late night supper at the 24-hour Breeks there.

Then was so sleepy that we took a short nap on the cold hard floor of the airport, before getting up at 4am to have breakfast at McDee's. After that, we took a shuttle bus to the Budget Terminal for our flight, and boy, was it an eye-opener when we saw the Budget Terminal. It seriously lacks the comfort and prestige found in T1 and 2. It looks like an air-conditioned warehouse. Budget indeed!

We browsed through the bare DFS shops before boarding the plane at 7am. I could not believe we had to amble across the tarmac floor instead of using the travelator to get into the plane. It really spoilt our flight experience.

After an 1-hour-and-40-minute flight, we arrived at Phuket, a place that we have visited for the third time now. We hopped on a minivan bound for Patong beach, and we checked into our ever-favourite Patong Villa.

We visited the shopping arcade of our hotel because we wanted to visit Mai. When we saw that her shop was closed, we checked with the shopkeeper of a neighbouring shop and we were dismayed to find out from her that Mai had returned to Vietnam for two months. We had made a stop at Phuket with an intention to surprise her with a visit and to pass her some photos we had taken with her the last time we came. Oh well, there's always Speedpost.

After throwing down our bags and luggage, we dived into our bed for a short nap. When we woke, I was dismayed to see that it was raining heavily. Yes, it was not really a good time to visit Thailand after May because that is when the rainy season starts. And rain is definitely the last thing we would want to spoil our beach vacation.

Nevertheless, we braved the rain and made our way to Bangla Road for lunch. And as usual, it is my favourite Pizza Company! The pizza puff (not shown here) and spicy wings were great.

Pizza and wings

Me in front of the salad bar

The rain stopped after lunch and we proceeded to Jungceylon for some shopping. The weather was so grey and gloomy to the extent that we could see thick clouds lying low and shrouding the hills that back Patong.

Low-lying thick clouds

A community between the hilly terrain and tall grasses

We had a relaxing time flitting from shop to shop, munching on snacks like soon kueh and ice-cream, and grabbing Lay's (Thai version) potato chips and candy off the shelves inside Carrefour.

As evening came, we headed back to our hotel to wash up. Along the way, we stopped at Ocean Shopping Centre to get water supplies.

We stopped at Loppy's booth to hire a minivan to take us to Krabi the next morning. He was surprised to see us back again and started to complain about lack of business due to the low season. Indeed, Slug and I both noticed fewer farangs around (but more Singaporeans, yuck).

After a bath and another short nap, we walked with anticipation towards our ever-favourite Sabai Beach Restaurant for dinner. We thought we had gone to the correct location, but after walking around and searching for that restaurant for 5 minutes, we finally saw its dark exterior hidden behind other restaurants and blended into the night. Then it dawned to us that it had closed (probably due to the low season) and we were extremely disappointed. It was a place that we had to come whenever we visit Phuket.

We had no choice but to seek other dinner venues. As we walked towards Bangla Road, we passed by the beer garden with the interesting aquarium, and we could not help but sneak in to pay a visit to the sea creatures again. Upon entering, we bumped into a blonde and handsome farang who surprised us by greeting us a warm 'Good evening'. We were taken aback as he was not a waiter at that beer garden, so why did he have to greet us? We must have been real rude to stare back at him blankly.

It was still the same sharks, moray eels (they seemed to have grown fatter since the last time we saw them), stonefishes and the what-nots, but we were still mesmerized by them. Just then, a farang couple stepped up to the tank and started admiring the sea creatures too. The female farang started cooing, "Ooooh, sharks! Are they reeeeeal?", to which, the guy replied, "Why, do they look electronic to you?" Slug and I tried to stifle our giggles, and just when we thought the guy seemed intelligent enough, he suddenly said, "Look, these are the piranhas". We quickly ran away because we were about to burst out laughing.

(If there were piranhas in that tank, there would not have been sharks, moray eels, stonefishes and the what-nots anymore.)

We came across this Six Restaurant and we had a filling dinner of fried squid in batter, stir-fried pork with ginger, stir-fried prawns with garlic and pepper, and seafood kway tiao soup.

After dinner, we walked along Bangla Road and we could see that the throngs of crowd there were visibly fewer. The trannies (and Joker) were still dancing away, but we were not really in the mood to admire them. It was straight to our hotel to catch up on last night's sleep.

Shopping with Ah Sir and Wee

Went shopping with Ah Sir and Wee at Vivocity. It was unbearably crowded but we still had to do our shopping!

Wee took a long time to find working pants at G2000 and I spent a bomb at Shiseido. Then we had dinner at this Kim and Gary which serves Hong Kong-styled food. Ah Sir insisted that I must show the world how I suck lemon slices (from my Lemon Honey) dry.

Tattered lemon slices

When I am old, I am going to spend my retirement years sucking on lemon slices all day, and Wee said that I could save on air fresheners for my home because I could delight the atmosphere with my lemony burps.

Both Ah Sir and I snagged a decent skirt from my favourite brand, Joop, at only $19.90 (considering that its original price was $59.90)!

As Ah Sir and I were craving for deep-fried and greasy food (we luuurrve Long John's!), we had supper at Carl's Junior, snacking on their sinful criss-cut fries and more lemon slices.

Don't know why Ah Sir took this photo, but I will just post it anyway. I was actually calculating to Wee the costs of my Krabi trip.

We topped off the night with a sweet picture of us.

Night Out at Marina Mandarin (2)

Had a good sleep and we woke up at 11+am. Miss Carebear and DHL hated me for taking up the most bed space and DHL complained that I elbowed her boob and that jolted her awake. Ha!

After washing up, packing and some watching of the Animal Planet (which Miss Carebear does not appreciate), we checked out at 2pm. We then walked over to Marina Square to have a sumptuous lunch at Spaggedies and then some shopping at Orchard.

Sigh, what a great way to spend the public holiday ...

Night Out at Marina Mandarin

Miss Carebear was nice to invite me and DHL for a night's stay at Marina Mandarin, woo!

I arrived at the posh hotel first and while waiting for Miss Carebear and DHL, I watched cable TV and took some great pictures from the balcony.

Bright lights of the city

Cosy-looking room and toilet

When DHL arrived, we had supper at Xin Wang cafe where DHL's iced milk tea tasted blander than water and my hot Horlicks was practically concentrated condensed milk. We even contemplated stealing Miss Carebear's car, much to her horror. It was just a fantasy and she actually took us for real.

After supper, DHL and I retreated to the room for a bath and HBO. Miss Carebear soon returned from her late-night merry-making at Zouk, appearing tipsy and abnormally happy. She was stinking of smoke and alcohol and we were disgusted when we flopped onto the bed. DHL hastily chased her away.

When Miss Carebear finished her bath, DHL and I had finished watching Skeleton Key. We were flabbergasted when Miss Carebear climbed onto bed in a bathrobe. Sleeping in a wet bathrobe??? While we were all lying on the bed and exchanging some girl talk (with DHL still glued to HBO), we realised that Miss Carebear was still in an intoxicated state and her incoherent ramblings did not really fit the topic of discussion. Halfway, Miss Carebear's mumbling trailed off and I gave up talking to her and proceeded to sleep (with DHL still glued to HBO).

Lovely breakfast

It feels so great not having to work.

I even had the time to enjoy a simple kopitiam breakfast with Slug!

Night Out with Bong and Mo (3)

Finally returned to the bosom of dbl 0 after a loooong break. Can't remember much about that night except that I got allergic to some over-enthused dancer's sweat and rashes broke out on my arm.

Otherwise, it was a lovely night.

Steamboat Dinner at Marina South

Had steamboat dinner with Slug at Marina South. Was sad to know that the chain of steamboat restaurants there will soon be taken down to make way for the IR developments.


The fun part about the steamboat dinner at Marina South is not about grilling and cooking your own food, it is about waiting to be served the cooked food. So there I was chilling out with a jug of iced green tea while Slug was furiously battling the flames and heat while trying to stir-fry the chicken shreds and butter prawns. Tasted good.

However, the variety of ingredients at the steamboat restaurant we went to was a tad disappointing. Slug made me vow to go to the neighbouring steamboat restaurant, Zhen Fa, next time.

We finally topped off the dinner with an omelette, which I cooked and rolled myself, and Potong ice-cream!


Then it was off to hail a cab home, but that place was practically a dead city where no taxis were willing to come to. Spent a desperate 30 minutes and lots of chasing to nab one.

It's Zhen Fa next next next weekend (hopefully)!

Wild Hogs

Watched Wild Hogs, a comedy about four big men hitting the road on their Harleys to have a brief gettaway from their screwed-up lives. Slug and I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, as it was hilarious and well-worth our time. There were slapstick, gay humour, nudity and a heartwarming ending. There was even an unexpected parody of Extreme Makeover Home Edition at the end of the movie, where the four big men helped to rebuild a three-storey bar, complete with neon signs, for their nemesis: the tough and burly bikers. Imagine the tough guys sniffle, cry and kiss the ground when they saw their new home!

As the four big men (who called themselves Wild Hogs) rode through lush coniferous forests and arid deserts and bathed under cascading waterfalls, I felt that I could use a good riding vacation like this too. I was filled with envy as America offers many breathtaking sceneries. Don't mock me, but there is beauty out of barren and scrubby wastelands and rocky gorges.

After the movie, we went for the Merlionster at Ben & Jerry's. Oh man, it was an orgasmic ice-cream creation with six scoops of ice-cream, topped with brownie chunks, chocolate chip cookies, caramel, chocolate sauce, rainbow sprinkles and whipped cream, and all contained in a waffle bowl. The humorous ice-cream scooper implored us to go for a 10km run after this ice-cream, but methinks a schoolday of screaming and chasing after naughty kids is more than enough to burn off those calories.

School Chronicles (1)

Was teaching a Sec 4 class in the afternoon when an announcement over the PA system disrupted my lesson.

"Sec 3s and Sec 4s, today's NAPFA test will ..."

"Be cancelled," one student whispered intently. It was raining heavily at that moment and it could not be possible to conduct the test outdoors.

"Be ... " Everyone listened with bated breath. "Postponed to ... "

"WOOOOOH!!!!" The whole class erupted into triumphant cheers and a few jokers jumped into the air. When the noise died down, the announcement was already over and one of them asked, "Eh, postponed to when?"

" I don't know," someone replied. The rest looked at one another blankly.

Can you believe these guys actually could not even wait till the announcement was over before behaving like monkeys, and then realised that they have missed out the important information?

Met Granny in My Dreams

The day before was the 7th day since Granny's death, and according to Chinese folklore, the spirit will return to his house to pay a last visit to his loved ones before embarking on his journey to the nether world. My relatives planned to stay overnight at Granny's house, in the hope of seeing her in their dreams when they sleep. I decided to go along too.

When I got there at night, 7 of my relatives were already there. They went to sleep early while I watched cable TV with a cousin till 11+pm. Before going to sleep, I prayed to Granny and asked for her to appear in my dreams so that I could see her for one last time. With that, my cousin and I proceeded to sleep in Granny's bedroom (while the rest of them were cramped into another bedroom).

Unfortunately, I could not fall asleep because of the uncomfortable mattress, so I just laid there keeping a clear consciousness of the surroundings. About an hour or so later, I heard the sounds of buckets in the kitchen toilet, and I wondered if Granny was around. Whenever I was about to fall asleep, I would feel a presence on top of me and would be jolted awake instantly.

When I finally fell asleep, I dreamt of Granny. I dreamt that I was in exactly the same place where I was sleeping, so it seemed as though it was really happening. In my dream, I heard the shuffling of feet in the living room, so I got up and rushed out of the bedroom. There Granny was with a solemn look on her face. I was overjoyed to see her and I yelled "Ah Ma! Ah Ma!" repeatedly so that I could wake everyone up to see her. I ran over and hugged her, and started crying with relief. My relatives started to stream out of the bedroom and surround us, and that was when the dream faded to an end.

I woke up again at 5+am to hear the gentle pitter-patter of the rain. When I woke up at 7+am, I could remember the dream vividly and I felt consoled. I prayed to Granny again thanking her for taking the time to see me for the last time.

When I checked with my relatives, one uncle told me he did dream about Granny but it was a very vague dream and that he had no recollection about it when he woke. My cousins said that they also heard scrubbing noises in the kitchen toilet and suspected that she was actually doing some household chores for the last time.

When my auntie opened the cover of the rice bucket, we could see that the rice had been stirred before. I believe Granny did come back last night, and I believe she would be happy to see us over at her house.

I am sorry for not taking the time to see my Granny when she was still around.

Never wait till a person is gone before you realise how much you love him / her.