Tigers!!

Hmmm... so this is my first post here. Decided to share my trip to the Tiger Temple in Kanchanaburi, Thailand 3 years ago. It was a great experience for all of us who were there!


Walking with the tiger - we're instructed to not be in front of the tiger and always put a hand on the tiger's body to let it be aware of our presence.


The big cat making a pit stop with Sah.


We walked with the tiger until a canyon where we saw many other tigers resting there. They were all very healthy looking and not tied! Then all the tourists took turns to take picture with the tigers - u hand in ur camera to the staff and they will hold ur hand, lead u around from tiger to tiger and take photos of u with the tigers.


At first we were a bit nervous - u can see it from our unnatural smile and body language...






Then, I approached the abbot, paid respect and requested to have a picture with him. He replied,"Ok, come here and sit down with ur legs folded like in meditation posture."

I did as he instructed and before I realised anything, he got hold of a tiger's head and flipped it onto my laps like this!



Wah! I was a bit surprised but with ajahn's presence I was not really worried. Then he said,"I'll move back and u get a picture with him on ur own." And this was what I got:-




Subsequently, all of us in the group were more relaxed and started taking pictures with the cats with more 'intimate' poses...




If u think the above is cool, wait till u see the following ones:-


Sah's bolster.


Hai and his new pet.


KW pampering the cat.


Handsome KS made this beauty felt embarassed. Kekeke!


Hmm... but Prawn still looked scared! Haha!

Saw a report on this temple on The Star today. Looks like recently the tigers are being chained already while posing. To ensure safety i guess... but u feel more heroic with them unchained isn't it? :)

Nite at Patong beach

This was our 2nd day in Phuket, or I should say it's our 2nd day in Patong. I went for shopping at the night market nearby the hotel we stayed yesterday and bought this really lovely dress.



At first we thought of going to the other beaches but since Patong has so much more to be explored, we cancelled the initial plan.



What that made me frustrated is I CAN'T EVEN READ A WORD IN THAI!!! Luckily English signs are everywhere in Phuket, unlike some places in Hatyai which some signs were totally without an English word.



After coming back from the canoe excursion, we took a rest and then went out again during dinner time and started hunting for food. Then we came to this restaurant opposite the sandy beach of Patong.




The environment was quite romantic and we thought this place fits just nice for 3 couples to dine in after the exhausting canoeing.



The guys were starving and started ordering food.





And meanwhile, the princess enjoyed camwhoring while waiting for the food to be served.



..one on vacation...one on pre-honeymoon...and one on honeymoon..



This is what happens usually when there are 6 people with 6 cameras in hand.



Angela purposely flew all the way from Hong Kong to join us for this buddies' vacation in Phuket. It happened that when I was planning for the trip one day then suddenly Philip popped up in my MSN window, and so, I "dragged" them along to be my tripmates! Had not meet up each other since last X-mas in Hong Kong in 2005. That was 3 years ago and man, we've all grown older!



Michelle was on her honeymoon, different purpose although we all tagged along for the trip.



The environment was really nice, but...price is also higher.



I couldn't remember how many coconuts had we ordered since we landed in Phuket... Everyday feeding on fresh coconut, coconut shake, coconut freeze...



Second glass of coconut shake! No reason for me to say NO since the weather was so damn hot and humid.




Same as for Philip..



Here comes the food! Seafood Tomyum kung.



Fish or chicken? I think it should be chicken with cashew nuts.



Some crab in spicy sauce. I stopped taking photos after this dish because was too hungry by then. Have to make the growling stomach shut up.



Everytime when I travel, I used to travel only with Steve, always just the 2 of us. We always like to go places and do stuffs that most Asian travellers find it not enjoyable. Therefore this photo is precious and meaningful, as it's the first time that I could make a trip with my great buddies!



Dinner done! Time for walking around and doing shopping~
I remember that there's a street named Soi Bangla isn't it.. Soi means street...what about Thanon?? Strange that I couldn't find any Soi Bangla around Patong. Meaning this is actually Soi Bangla?



The photographers on the move. DSLR!!



Guess where I went to...yep, Jungceylon again. But the night view feel was totally different from the daytime.

NIGHT!



and DAY!



Romantic NIGHT.



and sunny DAY.



What I like about Jungceylon is the architectural design and quite a number of fountains around. Do you feel soothed when looking at the waters splashing at fountains? I always feel the tension relieved whenever I go near some running water and listening to the splashing sounds. It's some sort of therapy.








Not forgetting about shopping, I bought some of these fancy lamps for my new house decoration. Now I realized that I should have bought more...aarrrgghhh!!!

Sailing off to Phi Phi Island

Been too busy in work since CNY this year. Not much time to update my travelog. Writing more technical reports and emails than my blog post these days. 4 more hours then I'll be flying again. To Hanoi. Before my next trip, I'd like to write a little more on my last trip to Phuket, well, more accurately, should be 2 trips before. I travelled to SGP and KL after Phuket trip.




Basically we spent our 3rd day in Phuket to Phi Phi Island. This excursion was not as good as the previous one to Phang Nga Bay. Spent 2 and a half hours from Rassada Harbour to Phi Phi Island and then another 2 and a half back to Phuket!!




So 5 hours gone just for sunbathing on the deck... Luckily my sunblock was doing great, so I only got a little tanned after the trip, and what's most important, no damage to my skin. Was suffering the pain from sunburn in my last trip to Langkawi.






Sky was sunnier than ever, and I could feel myself bbq-ing under the sun. I couldn't have survived through the heat for 2 and a half hours if I did not find the lower deck which was an air-cond room. =)



1 hour plus later, we finally reached Maya Bay. This is the location where Leonardo Dicaprio's movie "The Beach" was choreographed. The cruiser boat was so damn full, everybody was blocking each other and the exit to the side where we could take a closer look at Maya Bay was totally stucked. So I missed the nice coastline!!! DAMN DAMN DAMN. I will never take a cruiser boat again if I ever go to Phi Phi again. Rather pay additional 100 bucks for a private speedboat.




The guys were enjoying the sea breeze and photo shooting... I had never felt so freaking hot (burning sensation...??) before. But a sunny day is always the best friend of a camera.




I would have become blind if I took off my shades. Ok, excuse us for the following camwhore photos... You see, there's really nothing much to do except sunbathing and taking photos.






Half way through some people disembarked the boat for their customized itinerary. They transferred to a smaller boat and headed to Coral Island.



My travel mates - best buddies from Hong Kong, the engaged couple Philip & Angela.



And the newly wed couple, Ethan & Michelle.



Well if Steve would smile a little more, I think this photo looks quite perfect... The colors blend so well!! This is called summer baby!~



See the lady in stripes below? She's a tourguide. In fact, nothing to do with me at all, but she has our photos in her cellphone!!! When we were busy chit-chatting all the way she suddenly tapped on my shoulder and asked me if I could take a photo with her... Hmm...am I a superstar or a celebrity??! She was like...OMG!! I WANNA TAKE PHOTO WITH YOU!! I was quite puzzled for a second before I nodded, then she grabbed my arms and passed her cellphone to her colleague (I think the guy was her tourguide partner), "Tolong ambil gambar." Can you imagine the reaction when you meet a celebrity or so? That's it. I've met Siti Nurhaliza with my best pal in Mid Valley's Sushi King, and yea, that's probably the same reaction like her fans.

Me? A star??!! C'mon!! Weird experience. Maybe she's mistakenly thought that I am one, just not sure who.






How was my skill? My models did better huh..







So this is it!! We've landed on Phi Phi Island. Starving already so everyone was rushing to the restaurants for lunch.



Venue for our seafood delicacies. Buffet lunch.



Forgot to snap any photos of the food...we were like hungry ghosts during the lunch. Hahha...



Phi Phi Island is actually pretty much like Redang or Perhentian Island. But the waters of Phi Phi is emerald green, while the waters of Redang is aquamarine. I was quite disappointed when we could only spend a few hours in Phi Phi Island. There's so much more to be explored, or maybe I could do diving, join a shark hunting trip, or even go cliff diving (too extreme).



The pictursque Phi Phi! Let's see when I can come back here again...then I will spend 3 days here!










An hour after lunch, we embarked a boat for the snorkeling activities. It's really crazy to torture my skin and hair under UVA/UVB and the salt water. But I just love outdoor activities, can't help it! My surname is 'Tan', but my skin is not.



Michelle just bought an Olympus 850u digicam, the one you can bring underwater. So we used her camera during snorkeling. I'm not a fan of Olympus, never liked the colors but this water proof function is pretty cool.




Another half day gone...my hair tangled so badly after soaking in the sea. What's killing me was another 2 and a half hours back to Phuket!!! HELP!! And our pretty couple here fell asleep all the way back to Phuket. =)





What about us? Hahah...see our feet? Needless to say, we barely had no topics to chat about. 2 and a half hours...easy lah.