16.08.2010 – It was dawn and there were no sun rays glimmered into our room but I did noticed the rest were still sleeping soundly, I fumbled my phone next to me only get to know that it was already 7AM in the morning. Our tour transfers will be arriving in an hour time. I quickly gushed out of my bed and head towards the shower to perk up after an enfeeble yesterday. Probably I didn't sleep well the night before. Right. The queues were on and we had a short breakfast before heading the bay and out to the sea.

Phi phi island is beautiful and I can say that 9 out of 10 who had been there were blown away with it's intrinsic archipelago and underwater life. The sad thing was most of the reef next to these islands died off, that left a few remnants behind – dead corals, faded colors and into oblivion. I am not a marine ecologist but the snorkeling site that I was in had dull underwater life that corals were spotted dead or lifeless and these will have a huge impact on marine biology which is linked to global warming. What makes me upset was the RUBBISH DUMPED INTO THE SEA. These people had not consent of what environmental concerns are, blemishing not only tourist attractions but to the ecology cycle as well. Fortunately, swarms colorful fish can still be spotted at the open sea but not much within the archipelago. Same goes to Bali if I recalled correctly back in 2008.

At about 8am, we were then transferred to Ao Nang speed boat center where all departures to the open sea were, off the route 4203. It looks like we will be place on entourage in a group of 20+ with a speed boat. Interesting. There seemed to have a few nationalities from the Europe continent and a number of Spanish. There's a Spanish chap whom I recalled to have humor along the ride and made our day. LOLs. The ride too approximately half an hour before we reach our first site, The Viking Cave. cont.

Day Tour cost : 750 Baht

Do enjoy those wonderful subjects captured along my journey. Hope it gives you some inspiration.

Okay, this is our breakfast, nothing new but The famous-O American Breakfast. Fancied with the starry fried egg actually and bottom is ham, with sausage, and omelette. Corn flakes, bread & orange juices were among the common served as well (but not shown above).

Look at those sleepy faces. Couldn't help much with. Shirley, Jeannette & Darren.

Same goes to Soon Hong & Moon

But the fun has just begun. We alighted at the beach 500m away from the river basin.

Looking around, enjoying sceneries.

Captured some plants grew on the trunk

Fishing boat on the move to start their daily activities

A few tourists had some shots with locals before departing.

Okay… let's rock n' roll!

And everyone hopped into the boat.

Our tour guide of the day gave some instructions before we leave.

We dropped by this island (not too sure where and the name of the hotel) but it happened to be a 5 star resort in a private island. The price is about 5,000-10,000 baht per night. We got to meet some local Indian-Thai family with amazing stories told onboard.

some rocky cliffs

From this image, it looks like the tourist were having fun on the water, which in fact not that they were on the sandy shores.

This is the kind of sail that's rare around the vicinity.

Soon Hong with his D90 Gear

This… looks like a camel island LOL!

Ahoy! Set Sail & Away!

This guy is trying to be ego

There, we reached The Viking Cave.

We didn't get to explore the Viking Cave since it's governed by local authorities. This had reminded me of the risk of ascending those cranky rock surface to pick birds nest. No safety helmet, webbing, ropes, carabiners – noting but just bamboo sticks. Impressive skills. But one slip on the fall is deadly. Probably these skills were adapted since young. Salute.

We reached Lohsamah Bay, a place where we had our first snorkeling for the day. This is where rubbish spotted and dead corals were present.

Bikini girls were enjoying, obviously.

Too bad, I can't dive into this area with my camera…… longing for a waterproof case that is. We'll not much fish here but there's jelly fish that you should be aware of. A stung can swell your skin and the venom can be fatal especially the pink jellyfish.

Later, we reached Maya Beach, this is where Leonardo Dicarprio filmed 'The Beach'.

Enjoy the rest of the photo @ Maya Beach..

Everyone alight the boat and enjoyed sun basking.

 

And we had a group photo here. Should have brought my gorilla pod along but oh well. Nevermind with that. Hope soon hong don't mind. 

We, then move on to Pileh Bay for sigh seeing – The Lagoon.

This place is beautifully untouched, serene and green.

Also a snorkeling site too but I ain't see any fish swimming around.

The water is turquoise in color and pretty shallow at certain point.

Nice Nice? Feels like coming here again. seriously.

Alright, moving to Phi Phi Don for lunch. The time we walked in, it almost looks like you're walking into a restaurant offering free food. There were no sequence, no queues, no records of any kind – you just walk in and eat. These were pretty standard buffet served, Thai Seafood Soup, plain rice, vegetables, fish fillet, fried chicken, spaghetti, and that's all. However, you are able to order some other foods but you have to pay for that else, eat all you can.

Along Phi Phi Don haven.

This small town are full of souvenirs and sea activities to look for, diving were among the popular ones operated by caucasians.

Later, we head to Hin Klarng for open sea snorkeling. This is where those sheer underwater sea life were spotted. Watch out for my video coming soon. After half an hour later, we head to Bamboo Island (above).

Bikini girls were present again. Oh yeah, feels like I am in Bondi Beach at certain times except for the landscape.

There goes another!

Nice place to hang out but I don't quite like the sand there. There were lots of coral remnants on the beach and doesn't feel comfortable walking along the beach, really.

There goes the last one. At about 4PM+, we head back to Ao Nang beach and took some rest in the hotel before having a stroll down Ao Nang town, and for dinner!

We dropped by Bernie's Place by taking tuk tuk.. It cost about 20 Baht per person from our place. From the above, it's all you can eat buffet @ only 250 Baht. affordable yet perfecto but most of it were fried / bbq which is not really healthy.

Spaghetti not up to expectation but still fine with it. There's the mash potatoes on the right.

Grilled chicken. Surprisingly it tasted tender and juicy but other claimed that it was too hard and dry. Well, lucky me! There's this BBQ potatoes & satay stick @ rear.

Pork chop & Weisswurst (german hotdog). Taste awesome. Just lack of something.. ah.. mushroom sauce.

Fries & toast

My fav. Pasta & Veggies

Thai Tom Yam Kung. The meat used here was fish but not chicken.

Last but not least, Ice-Cream (self-service)
This, I bloated and couldn't really move around.
I almost threw out due to those heavy food consumed but SATISFIED!!!!!

Hope you enjoyed Day 2. Do Stay tune with my video coming your way. Won't disappoint you!

Yesterday, I had the chance to meet 2 humble Korean moms who are part housewife part home chef & teacher. They resided in Singapore for quite some times and I was assigned on a field trip with another friend from Mulltiply for food tasting on lunch and dinner. Didn't eat much on the first session though but I do have plenty of it during dinner. Those mouth watering dish were awesome I tell you! Korean dish are definitely healthy and palatable! Haha.

Due to copyright concerns, I cannot publish all featured dish but whalla, I do have some side dishes on the shots. Oh, the morning session had plenty of it and had my full lunch @ Bakezin instead

This is my Aglio Olio with ham & bacon! Oh, those chili padi were flaming spicy!

Guess what? It's oily though! Didn't quite like it but olive was used which gave me a relieve.

Dinner time @ a Korean mom's house. She cooked Kimchi Chicken Soup. First time I had this and it's really strange, brings back memories of Tom Yam & Asam culinary. Not too bad!

This is a type preserved leaf that's only available in Korea, not sure what it's named, and behind it was another type of minty preserved leaf followed by squid (non-fermented) haha.

There, the popular Korean Kim-Chi.

21.07.2010 – A stranger that I knew online for more than a year had visited Singapore for leisure. His name is LG, carried NOKIA & SAMSUNG phone, but didn't see his SONY ERICSSON along, utterly not a fan of APPLE. LOL!

Okay, the meowgite had a short visit to Singapore and his schedule was pretty tight and gotta rush back to Sentosa to catch his last bus back to JB @ 10.30pm so this dinner was meant for him and surprisingly, to my amazement, a lot of netizens from Multiply social network turned out; 19 of us including me, separated into 2 tables.

Woot! What a huge gathering with strangers I say and only knew a few of them in the group before this, the rest are just sheer new faces first time seen on the spot and again, I had problem remembering those names. Forgive my rusty RAM! Definitely need a hot swap! This time we're heading to a Heng Hua Restaurant named Pu Tian (莆田兴化菜馆). First try on the dishes and concluded it doesn't pleased my stomach (too much Teochew dishes I supposed!) much but some dish are still acceptable as appetizer.

Ah, didn't really chat much with LG bro but glad 3 Kuchingites were present though which includes Gomus. Whilst, enjoy all photos below.

Click photo to zoom

Stir fried kailan with bean curd skin.
They should blend some enokitake in it.

 

Pu Tian Sweet & Sour Pork with Lychee.
Probably I ate this often and didn't impress me much. lol.

Deep fried duck with yam.
Okay, this yam taste alright but I couldn't gnaw on any duck chunks?

Deep fried chicken with garlic.
Taste like any other chicken. It's kinda unique to chew with the leaf I say.

Steamed prawn with minced garlic.
Tasteless but garlic with prawn is fine for me.

Fruit platter.

Tony ↑

Albert ↑

YT ↑

Gomus ↑

Phang ↑

Alger ↑

Harnes ↑

Vinci ↑

LOL! He loves that camera!

Table 2 with the girls. Didn't get a close up shot for each and every of them. Dunno who is who.

Group photo

My sister came up with an idea of home made Gimbab (김밥) for dinner. So I had a short stroll @ the groceries store and bought a piece of Norway salmon, cucumber, carrot, eggs, wasabi paste, Japanese soy sauce along with some miscellaneous items. Well, she's the one who finished off making the dish.

The salmon I bought were full of bones. After I skinned the fish, it has to be cut into thin slices but I failed instead, that most of it turned out into chunks. LOL! I was worried with the freshness of the salmon so decided to pan fried it for 10 seconds before placing it on the rice atop of Nori. Roll it tight so the Nori is firm enough to support the ingredients within. Place it aside and slice after. Easy!

Check  this site to see simple illustration of how-to? Check out our home made Roll Gimbab below! Best served with wasabi & soy sauce / mayonnaise

Burp! There goes the dinner for today!