Sun + Sand =Heaven On Earth (Part 2)

After a whirlwind Day 1..we woke up to a rainy Day 2...apparently we came to Phuket during their monsoon season ( it only rained one day when we were there..phew.. and even if when it's monsoon season it's so HOT at Phuket)..so when it started raining we were all silently thinking in our hearts 'shit man..the trip to Phi Phi Island how? ' So we just went on ahead with it hoping the weather will clear up on the way to Phi Phi Island which is located 48km away from Phuket...

While waiting for our briefing about the trip we rented these flippers..and boy are they hard to put on..even harder underwater..I'll tell you more about that later...

See the gloomy sky

Dark..and more dark..

I was sooo sleepy

Anyway in the end we had to cancel the trip to Phi Phi Island as the sea was too rough and choppy...it was really dangerous..on the way to the island the small speedboat has to combat rough waves and each time they cleared a wave the sea water splashes in and boy was it COLD! So in the end for safety reasons..the guide had to cancel the trip..let me tell you how bad it was..while the boat was stationary on the sea..the waves were strong enough to send it bobbing up and down really hard..and not to mention swaying side to side..I had to misfortune of watching someone lose their breakfast in front of me..FYI..not a pleasant sight AT ALL!...So we dejectedly made our way back to mainland..and after several complications..our trip was finally pushed to the last day which was Saturday or Day 4..

So it was cloudy on main land..so..we....decided to do what tourist do best..shopping to fill up the gap between the performance we were supposed to see later at night called the 'ah gua show' or Simon Cabaret...and the additional spare time we suddenly had..

So under the recommendation of my "kai mah" we decided to give the street food a try..and boy was it good..we actually ate 'ayam panggang' (BBQ chicken) and papaya salad ( a spicy salad made out of raw papayas) ..take my word for it..you'll just want to keep eating and eating..the wonders of street food!

Saw this at the bar we sat down to at our street food..cute no?

We proceeded to a restaurant to continue eating and saw this..Coca cola in Thai~

While we are on this subject..let me obsess about something...I ate this marvelous dish known as Phad Thai..actually it's more like just a normal dish of something akin to char koey tiow here but the noodles are totally different..I think the noodles is made out of rice flour and the texture is similar to kuey tiao..but the size of the noodles are so much different..it thinner and definitely more springy so when it was fried ala Singapore mee hoon style it just tasted wonderful! (different flour different noodles X) )

So having no real destination in mind we wandered back to Jungceylon to do some shopping..we wound up in the basement where apparently it's a shopper's paradise..there were certainly a lot of things to see..but you have to be loaded to shop there..so not worth it~Curse my poor bargaining skills...zzz..I'll get eaten alive at markets..anyway..after that we proceeded outside where I wanted to get Henna done..Henna is actually dye on your skin in shape of a chosen pattern..and I really love it..so I absolutely had to get it done..I even convinced my mom..*smug*..if my sis didn't have to go back to school on Monday she would have gotten one too..

So here's me and my Henna~~

The guy 1st traced the pattern I chose on the piece of paper..then he rubs some sort of glue stick all over the area where I wanted the Henna to be and puts the paper on it..so the mark will be imprinted on my skin..then he takes out a packet of Henna dye and starts filling in the pattern..

Yeah note my skin colour now

The purple lines are the tracing lines

TADAAAAH! `Tis done!!!!

Look at my happy face..I have to wait one hour for the Henna dye to dry then I could peel it off...

My mom then wanted to have some coffee and we were actually 'spoiled for choice ' *sarcasm* and we headed off to the only available place to have coffee that we know is probably not bad..though overpriced a little..STARBUCKS~I go all the way to Phuket to drink Starbucks when there's on barely 500m from my college...*claps* but..I AM LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT!

Couldn't resist a pic of my Henna!!

Caramel Macchiato 

I am seriously addicted to this drink already..I dunno why but I was hooked when my college mate got me to try Ice Blended..and now every time I go Starbucks I tend to just look for this..X)

This is actually the dried Henna dye..while I was sipping my drink I noticed it already peeling off so I decided to peel it while we're in Starbucks~

TADAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

(but after island hopping I shortened its lifespan..it was supposed to last 2 weeks..but I don't think it can make it past one week now..it's really faded)

After that we whizzed (walked) back to our hotel to prepare for the show we had at night..the 'ah gua' show..actually I'm not too sure what to expect when I heard that I was going for this show..but it was actually really really fun! The show is a bunch of transvestites dancing and lip syncing to popular songs..and they even parody popular groups also..and it's actually enjoyable and it's marvelous to see how the change scenes..it was really well rehearsed and nothing went wrong with the show at all..no glitches nothing..amazing...and plus..they are all soooo pretty (with a few exceptions damn demoralizing that a guy can be prettier than us girls ) and there's even one gay who looked sooo HANDSOME! Impossible to believe right? but it's true...too bad he's not eligible X)

They put up performances as mentioned above by lip syncing and parodying for example..Dreams Girls ( the lead really looked like Beyonce..)..You're Gonna Love Me...Wondergirls Nobody..Sally Yeh..Theresa Theng...and countless more..you definitely have to go and see it..but the ultimate show stopper was the comical renditions of Aqua's Barbie Girl and Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive..the transvestites who perform these 2 numbers were more set on amusing the audience..and they really stole the whole show away...but unfortunately photography is  not prohibited..the fine is USD 50,000...@@!!!! so I couldn't share the night's performance with you all...  D=

Taken while waiting for transport

The Hotel Lobby (throughout the duration of my stay I actually managed to get to know some of the personnel there...and there was this bell boy which my bro nicknamed 'Superman' for he seems to have a 24 hour shift )

Sometimes she cracks me up...haha

The ticket!

When we got there I was actually happy to see the place all deco-ed in purple..even their TOILETS are purple..

I just noticed the handsome gay is the one on the right in the middle of the poster..X)

Before the show I chanced this picture....X)

Day 3 brings about SUNSHINE with CLEAR BLUE SKIES and we could head of the explore again! So thus begins island hopping day one!!!!! Our destination is Phang Nga Bay which is somewhere on the Andaman Sea and apparently part of the island is a National Park..but I couldn't remember the name..remembering Phang Nga is hard enough..so anyway..we were here to see the national park and the famous 'James Bond' Island which according to the guide..Hollywood once filmed a JB film at that island...to tell the truth it was nothing much but good for photography since there were so many places to climb and see the scenic view..I enjoyed the national park more..

Heading off to the boat!

Before the captain takes over~

Tee Hee..Pretending to be someone in 'The Gem of Life'

Goodbye Mainland

*HEARTS!!*

So this is the bat cave the 1st stop of the day..we have to get into canoes which were rowed by our friendly guides and boy were they skillful in maneuvering through all those tiny spaces..they also provide you with info about the places you are visiting..and since we were in the National Park we could actually admire the scenery around us and take a look at all the wildlife..

The entrance 

Couldn't resist..back there is our friendly guide

The bats that were inside the cave..there were SO MANY of them..and the smell was really..Funkay..seriously..it smelled WEIRD

Erk

We exited to this lagoon where we were surrounded by lush greenery and limestone mountains that reach up to the skies above us..we could see mangrove trees all around us..so you can probably guess hows the bottom of that one metre lagoon like...yeap..muddy

The scenery

The guide said if we were lucky we can see monkeys..I guess we were pretty lucky

Mangrove trees~

The roots

MUD SNAPPER! X)

Love the scenery

This rock is shaped like an ELEPHANT..only in Thailand baby!!

Apparently the Thais believe that elephants bring good luck but I don't know why..my tour guide didn't say why during the 1st day..

This is what is known as the 2nd James Bond Island..I don't know what's the Thai name...my canoe guide didn't say anything about it..

Can you believe people sit here and snap your pictures as you go past? Then sell it to you for 200THB..

Marvelous

This is the exit of the cave..so narrow and low

This is what I mean when I say narrow

Behind me is Ko Tapu or more famously James Bond Island X)

The scenic spots around the island you can see Ko Tapu behind me

There were many rocky places to climb and it was really nice..if you like climbing this is really a place for you..and it's safe except you need better footwear than slippers as some places are really rocky and slippery

After visiting the islands we stopped at a lagoon near the Andaman Sea where we were given leisure time and we could do activities such as swimming canoe-ing and just lazing about on the boat....

So the guide said if we want we could jump off the upper deck of the boat..and when I was standing there I seriously chickened out for a few moments..it's...just..SO FREAKING HIGH...in the end I did it..and it was exhilarating..but a tip..remember to breathe out when you hit the water or else sea water will rush up and trust me..it hurts like nobody's business..then after that I tried canoe-ing

Wee..here's me paddling with all my might (my face looks determined here)..since I was the last few to hop on a boat they didn't have those lightweight paddles anymore..so I was given a wooden paddle..it may feel light when I took it from the crew but as I paddled it became apparent that it was really heavy for an oar/paddle..my arm muscles were burning from over exerting them..but if you can get past that it's actually pretty fun (also if you get the hang of it then it's fun)..since I was teamed up with an experienced oarsmen ( AKA my dad) it was really easy to just 'tou lan' sometimes when paddling was just too hard..hehehehehe..( but to be fair I did pull my weight) ..it's all about synchronizing with your partner..and just row..X)

After all these activities we headed back to mainland..and to go for a famous show in Phuket known as Phuket FantaSea and till today I can still remember the song that they keep playing while you are there...

Phuket FantaSea is like a carnival..there's stalls with games and stalls selling trinkets all around the area ..the actual performance is inside a place known as the 'Palace of Elephants' and it's actually a theater fitted with pyrotechnics and amazing lighting effects and a stage sturdy enough to (get this) hold the weight of several elephants!!!! Amazing right? and once again photography was prohibited..D= so no sharing pictures of the performance..but just walking around the carnival was fun! Oh yeah! I forgot to mention they even have an animal exhibition..they have animals in all these glass cages for us to view inside an enclosure..so to sum it up it was like a zoo + carnival +  performance all rolled into one place..X)

This is the map of the whole place..it's pretty huge

The decorations mounted on the rocks

Standing in front of the huge rock they had proclaiming the name of the place

Some of the sights 

Doesn't this place make you feel excited?  It's like being a child again

Coolio

The ticket as you can see you can do lots of things here..the box on the farthest left is the buffet time then right next to it is our seat number for the buffet 'F62'..then the adjacent box is the details for the show and the box on the right to it is the place where we should enter for the show..

On the bottom row left hand side is the mini zoo and on the right is the seat number for the performance..

great huh?

Some sights

This is actually a souvenir shop...and look at those decos!

The venue for the performance later at night..'Palace of the Elephants'

Tadaa

It's more impressive with lights~

Here's where we had a buffet styled dinner and this is just the entrance..this place so really huge..imagine this space all around you..if this is one seating times it by 3..and I mentioned 'F62' up there? That was our seat..

When you walk in there are sign boards directing you to your seats.

Tee hee so cute~

Walking about the area after dinner

If it wasn't for my brother we would not have discovered the mini zoo and here's the upper floor where it was more brightly lit than the ground floor..as we walked up we were greeted with this HUGE white statue of a unidentified bird (any guesses?) and it will light up and make bird like noises at a high volume at random intervals scaring the crap out of people

Prior to the bird lighting up the place will dim down...

This is a WHITE raven @@

Makes me think of teen titans..the episode when Cyborg goes to the future and the character Raven is all decked in white..back then I thought white ravens were a myth or something..and now I'm seeing it with my own 2 eyes~

Ok this is the cutest thing ever..mice in a cage designed to look like a candy processing factory!

It's so cute watching them scurry about in the brightly coloured cage..of course one must ignore the fact that they poop and piss for this 'cute' image to remain forever...

So CUTE! The udders of the cow right next to the wheel is actually where the mice drink water from X)

Pelican

White tigers! My fav!

Look waaaay inside you can see its poop (haha..randoming!)

You don't know how hard it was to take this picture..the tiger kept pacing up and down and you had to stand there with your pose until it comes and get someone who is amazing at capturing photos and with great reflexes to hold the camera so the moment the tiger comes you have to IMMEDIATELY without a moment of hesitation press the camera's button to activate the shutter and hereby taking the pic..

So needless I stood there with that same smile plastered on until my brother could capture me and part of the tiger together..X)

Thank you in various languages

The balloon that floated down after the performance I managed to grab this (hehehe..allow me a few moments to gloat to myself )

The performance was amazing..they have managed to incorporate animals and pyrotechnics together on one stage..I was a bit amazed that the animals do not react to the loud sounds or the bright flashes of lights...my favourite part of the performance was when they had acrobats in mid air suspended with wires ....but I did also feel abit sad for those animals that have to be in the performance...imagine going through all those training to do unnatural stunts (unnatural for them..have you seen elephants in the wild standing up their hind legs? )....who knows what goes on behind stage?

Stay tuned for Part 3 

[Jean]