Updates

The following trips will be updated soon:

Malapascua, Philippines (9 October 2009 to 13 October 2009)
Kandooma, Maldives (31 October 2009 4 November 2009)
Staycation, Singapore (25 December 2009 to 26 December 2009)
Bali, Indonesia (22 January 2010 to 24 January 2010)
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (14 February 2010 to 16 February 2010)

Koh Samui, Thailand 7 August 2009 - 10 August 2009

Koh Samui was a destination trip planned a few months ahead because of the one-flight-per-day to Koh Samui from Singapore. So this was quite an anticipated trip.


The flight was scheduled in the evening. We had a good time grabbing dinner at the airport, then did our usual foot massage using the free machines. We even bought a book on Mental Mathematical Calculations to keep us awake throughout the journey. We arrived at Koh Samui, local time approximately 9.15pm and was quite impressed by the open-concept airport. Our transfer was very timely and in no time, picked us up and delivered us to our accommodation at X-2 Resort situated some 30 mins away from the main Chaweng Beach.

Upon arrival, we had a nice meal in our own unit. We were given an upgrade to a pool suite by the generosity of the hotel and had an early night for our Samui dive the following day.


The next day, we headed for our dive at Chumpon Pinnacle and Koh Tao. The hotel delightfully packed breakfast for us, and before long, the dive centre came to pick us up and brought us to the jetty some 45 mins drive away. We took a nice dive boat off for a 1 hour journey to Chumpon Pinnacle for our morning dive. The waters were severely choppy but we did have a nice dive, witnessing a Groupa as big as a beetle car!

We had lunch onboard and the boat was set next to Koh Tao. The beach was beautiful and pristine sand laced by the kissing waves was a sight to behold. We had our second dive and saw some nice underwater scenery which surprisingly lasted 1 hour airtime in the water! After the dive we had a very bumpy boat ride back to Koh Samui, and it was quite a dreadful one as the waves were strong and motion sickness came through. Fortunately, we made it back shore in one piece and no puking.

After completing the dive, we headed back to the hotel for a good body massage followed by a beautiful dinner at the hotel's restaurant. The food was delectable and the bill was not as damaging as we expected it to be. After dinner, we retired into our hotel room, watched some nice in-house videos and went off to bed.


The third day saw us spending some nice time at the hotel pool before heading to Chaweng Beach after breakfast. The waters at Chaweng beach was delightful with little waves and was crystal clear.

We had a nice snack then spent 2 hours at the beach before heading to the Chaweng shopping area for another massage. After that we returned back to the hotel for dinner and had a nice dip in the room's indoor pool. Then, it's back to more movies before ending the day.

The last day, we had another swim before checking out. We had a little hiccup at the airport as the plane was delayed by 1.5 hours. However, we were pleasantly surprised that we were given 'courtesy food' which actually meant 'complimentary snacks' by the airport. The portions were generous and free coffee/tea accompanied.

Before long, the plane was ready for boarding and we left Koh Samui filled with wonderful memories.

Kuta Beach, Bali 31 July - 3 August 2009

Bali was a place I always wanted to go and it came as a surprise when we decided that life was a little dry and we would head to Bali to try our luck on surfing. So within a day or so, all our things were packed and we saw ourselves heading towards this island paradise on a Friday evening.

There was an hour of flight delay, so we ended up browsing around the airport and trying our luck on the free foot massage machines, which were actually quite a comfort.


Soon we boarded the plane and after a 2.5 hour bumpy flight, we arrived in Denpasar airport. A quick flag of taxi saw us at our hotel, the Kuta Seaview Cottage, right opposite the Kuta Beach surfing spot. As it was relatively late, we went round the vibrant vicinity to buy some groceries and supper for the night. It was a wonderful evening, and the hotel room was beautiful, with a nice bath and sleeper.


The next morning, we had our breakfast at the cafe, nice brilliant hot breakfast and immediately after, we headed for Kuta Beach for our surfing. It was quite a good experience, cold waters, heavy tides. We spent the entire afternoon in the waves, having only to bid the sea temporarily farewell at 5.00pm. After which we took a walk round the Kuta vicinity and walked around the Poppies area.

We had dinner at Ocean's 27, a nice eatery beside the beach. Dinner was splendid and cheap despite the classy ambience. After dinner, we took a 15 min back to the hotel and rested for the next day and its adventures.


Day three in Bali saw more surfing after breakfast. We literally spent the whole afternoon at the beach and was pleasantly intrigued by our aptitudes in surfing. After returning the surf boards, we spent another hours playing in the waves - it was a remarkable experience.

In the evening, we took a walk round the Legian region, had a nice delectable indonesian dinner as well as a pleasing foot massage before heading back to hotel.

The next day, we woke up, packed our stuff and had a nice breakfast before calling the trip quits by heading to the airport for a nice flight home. It was a really nice trip.

Phuket 5 June 2009 to 8 June 2009

Our travel to Phuket came about when my travel mate exclaimed one day that it would be very nice if we can have some nice sun at a beach again after a stint at Kota Kinabalu. So grabbing the nearest weekend, I put in place a quick weekend trip after acquiring a couple of budget tickets for the weekend. It was yet another evening flight and we touched down at Phuket 2 hours later at around 7.45pm where our transfer was already waiting and took us for another 30 min ride to the resort we booked. Instead of the common Patong Beach area, we chose to stay at Aleenta Phangan Bay.

A quiet place with total privacy and absolutely beautifully put together resort - possibly the nicest I have been to. A small room with folding glass doors on two side, and can be completely opened. There is a small personal plunge pool. The decor was very tasteful. All in all a beautiful place. The resort overlooked the beach which had pounding waves. The sound of the sea, the tranquility of the whole place and the dimly lit skies made it perfect for our first impression. We had room service for the night and the delectable thai food was indeed icing on the cake.


The next day saw us lazing up quite late in the morning, had breakfast - we were the only ones at the very chic cafe. Then we went over to the private beach and soak ourselves under the sun. The waves were rough but the waters clean and the beach nice. A couple cocktails entailed and by afternoon, we were ready to take a nap, followed by massage and dinner - the entire day was indeed in the resort itself. It was most comfortable and the place simple captivated us and commanded us to stay - no need to venture out.


The next day we headed for Patong Beach for a day trip. We had quite some fun at the beach before indulging in some mild shopping - had Kentucky - and by late afternoon we headed back to the resort. We had a nice dinner at the cafe followed by dessert in our room. Watched some TV and by midnight, we were back with Mr Sandman.


The next day, we checked out early as our flight home was in the morning. Although this was a pretty short trip, I had the time of my life and as usual, nothing beats the company. Great trip.

Kota Kinabalu 30 April 2009 to 3 May 2009

This trip started because of a simple reason. Read - Of Diving III

The dive trip to Kota Kinabalu saw us flying to the city over a late night flight, reaching Kota Kinabalu International Airport at 11pm. We booked a taxi and headed for our hotel - The Imperial International - a nice chic hotel which we saw ourselves housed on the 15th floor overlooking the beautiful coast line of Kota Kinabalu. We had a quick late night meal and then rested early for the next morning's dive trip to Pulau Sapi and vicinity.

Morning came and we had a nice breakfast at the rooftop cafe before being picked up by representatives from Borneo Dream Dive Centre which we signed up for their Advanced Open Water Dive course.We were shuffled to the jetty alongside with two Taiwanese girls, a German guy and a Japanese dude. All of us joined the dive trip for different reasons but for me and my travel mate, we were very determined to complete the Advance Open Water dive training.

We had our dive training during the morning and afternoon, with an intermission at Pulau Sapi for lunch. It was a beautiful island with crystal clear waters, horded by thousands of fishes and a layer of pristine white sandy beach. We had a nice local lunch on the island before we headed by to the waters for more dive training.

We completed day one at about 4pm and headed back to the hotel to wash up and then wander around the shopping district of Kota Kinabalu. Along the way, we spoilt ourselves with massages and a heaping good dinner of local chicken rice - we each ate 1/2 a chicken along with lots of local dishes. Needless to say this sent us sleeping early with a filled tummy.

The next day, we resumed our dive training and again, had lunch at Pulau Sapi. This time we saw some resident monitor lizards scavenging for bits of food left by the islanders. They seemed so tame and harmless that many of the locals were oblivious of their existence. More diving training in the afternoon and we finally earn our Advance Water Certification. It was unfortunate we did not have underwater cameras to capture the underwater views - which we a total delight.

We were totally beaten by the day's training that we decided to have room service dinner for the evening and indulge in some good local TV. Before we close the day, we bought some nice donuts and had a couple of Lattes from Starbucks brought back to the room.

The next day, we had our breakfast and went for foot massage, before flying back to Singapore via Kuala Lumpur. This was a very short trip but all in all, another one worthy of my memory.

Read: Kota Kinabalu AOW

Gili Trawangan 9 April 2009 to 13 April 2009

The flight to Lombok was on a sunny afternoon. We usually take night flights to our destination, very hardly one in the day. But for this trip we were left with no choice as the only flights to Mataram was via Silk Air and they only have certain schedules. So, half day leave from work, we made our way to the airport and took off to a destination both myself and my traveling mate had absolutely no clues about, other than a nice seaside township. The flight was a rather bumpy one, almost 2.5 hours.

We landed in Mataram in the evening at 6 O'clockish at the Mataram Airport. Our transfer was very efficient as we were shuffled into a nice MPV, with drinks and towels. We had no idea where the car would take us to and what would be expecting us in time to come.

The car journey was one of adventure, going up a mountain region, then swirling on single lane mountainous road. We were told by the driver, it was called Monkey Forest and true enough, there were monkeys everywhere along the road. After an hour, we arrived at a very quiet jetty. It was already into the 7 O'clock and the whole place was very dark, illuminated by a full moon. The driver said we were at Teluk Kodek Jetty. The driver took our minimal traveling bags and passed on to another young local, who greeted us with a wide smile.

After which he led us to our next mode of transport - a speedboat parked by the side of the jetty. What entailed was a speedboat ride towards an island dimly seen in the moonlight. The speedboat ride took about 20 mins and when we arrived at the island, we were told to jump off the speedboat into the shallow waters. We took off our shoes and hopped into the water - for a cold night, the waters are so warm and soothing.

After alighting the boat we headed towards our dive centre - Manta Dive, who arranged our everything for us onb board Gili Trawangan island. We were brought to our accommodation, the Gili Villas - these individual villas were spectacular. From the doorway, the first thing that caught our eyes was the personal plunge pool and the bamboo pavilion. The glittering lights under the night sky, and the aroma of lemongrass sprawled around the whole villa. We settled in quickly, and then headed for a nice dinner at a restaurant by the beach and then settled in nicely for the night.

The next morning we had a delightful local breakfast at a small cafe before heading for some snorkeling. The snorkeling reef was fantastic - we saw all kinds of marine life and followed the drift. We even saw resident turtles. It was probably the best snorkeling reef we had ever been to.

After the snorkel, we ordered delivery lunch back to the villa, and on the way back, took a peep at a baby turtle sanctuary with many baby green and hawksbill turtles reared in tanks.

We had an in-house swim after lunch and napped till the evening before we went to the same restaurant for dinner, a night walk along Gili Trawangan main street. Back at the villa, we had another dip in the plunge pool before resting for the night.

Day three saw us diving at Shark Point and Halik Dive Site. Plenty of marine life to see, from cuttlefish to huge Parrot Fish. We also saw many turtles and black-tip sharks. The diving stint took almost the whole day.

We went back to the beach for a swim after we returned to the island before returning back to the villa for a shower and dinner. We saw a lovely moon-rise - first time in my life, and did a water painting before sunset. It was a very nice evening after an equally great dive day.

The next day was another dive day - we dropped in at Manta Point and Good Heart Dive Site after a nice breakfast. Again, plenty of marine life, turtles and sharks abound including some dazzling cuttlefish and eels. We spent some time wandering along the main street before heading back to the villa and swim at the plunge pool before ordering dine-in dinner and resting for the night.

The last day was quite a reluctant one because it was going home. We had our last pool splash at the villa pool and after we checked out, we had some last minute cocktails at Manta dive centre, enjoying the galloping horse carriages before the speedboat came by and sent us back to Lombok main island. Our car came by, took us back to Mataram Airport via Monkey Forest again. On the way we saw a local wedding - so many colours and the villages congregated to shower the couple with flowers and blessing. It was a very joyous site.

It wasn't before long that we board the plane for a 2.5 hours journey home. It was a fantastic trip and we promised to return to the island in the near future.

Read: Gili Trawangan