Phuket Trip - Island Snorkelling, Sea Canoeing etc.

This is soOOOoo overdue but here goes anyway. Was at Phuket for 6 days during Christmas hols. Went out for excursions and island hopping almost EVERY day, it was sooOOo much fun!!!

My favourite gotta be the Similan Island outing! I'm SOOO glad i went for it and i gotta thank one of the locals for highly recommending the island. Almost gave it a miss because of the long journey to get there. The jetty itself is 1.5 hours drive from Phuket and then another 1.5 hours speedboat ride to reach Similan Island which consists of 9 small islands scattered nearby.


Let's checkout the pics!

Similan Island excursion

My absolute favourite outing in this trip - an island-hopping day which includes Similan Island, Miang Island, Payu Island and Bangu Island.


Taken from longtail boat.. omg, the gorgeous clear water! I feel like packing up and running off to the island again! lol



I climbed up to Similan Island Viewpoint. This is the awesome view you can get from there.



And you get this view of another beach when you turn to the other side



Random shot taken while climbing up to the viewpoint.



.. and another



.. and yet another!



Crystal clear water at Similan Island *dreamy sigh*



Checkout that SPARKLING water



The white sandy beach of Similan Island. Notice the little people beside that one single rock on top? That's the viewpoint which will take about 10-15 mins climb :)



yay! I swam with the turtle! It was spotted near our boat when we stopped at a snorkelling site in Similan.

Snapped this photo before jumping in! It was awesome! Apparently not everyone get to see turtle at that spot so we were really lucky that day to have one swimming on the water surface with us!! On the surface ok!! how cool is that! Fed bananas to the turtle and it must be hungry to wrestle and tug the fruit out of our fingers. Eventhough it's not as HUGE as the giant turtle i saw in Perhentian's sea bed, this one was swimming on the surface with us!!


This is Haad Lek or Honeymoon Beach in Miang Island. There's a private bungalow belongs to a Thai Princess there and when she visits, the Island will have to be closed to tourists.

Love the islands and I'm SO going back here!!

Okay, the next batch of photos are from my James Bond Island + Sea Canoe Outing.

Sea Canoeing at Panak Island & Hong Island

yeah, I went sea-canoeing!! Paddled from the sea, passing through dark bat caves to gorgeous mangrove lagoon inside. We canoed out twice actually, at Panak Island and Hong Island but I can't remember which is which island from the pictures now - having posted this 6 months after the trip :P


You gotta lie down allllll the way to enter the cave!


Took this quick shot before I went horizontal like them


Without our torchlights and occasional camera flashes, it would be pitch black inside. Well, at least we can sit up here :)


Sleeping bats...watch out for bats dropping.. close yer mouth when looking up!!


Emerged from the cave to this gorgeous lagoon!


aaah, so calm and peaceful


Can see monkeys jumping around sometimes


Paddle paddle...


Mangroove tree at the lagoon





Canoeing back and out from the cave... i see the light!!



Out at the sea again. Canoeing to our boats to go off to James Bond Island.

James Bond Island

Our boat for the James Bond Island and Sea-Canoeing excursion


Longtail boat at James Bond Island



This is where James Bond movie was shot... wayyy back when Roger Moore was Bond

Phi Phi Island

Went to the famous Phi Phi Island too but i have very very few pics to show. Read the sidenote at the end of this post *sigh*


Loh Dalum at Phi Phi Island. Snorkelled here too and saw 3 HUGEEE giant squids swimming together here. Too bad i did not have waterproof camera at that time.



Maya Bay, where the film 'The Beach' was shot.


I love this Phuket trip to BITS!!


Sidenote: Just discovered that except the online pics i uploaded on Picasa, all my Phuket pics are GONE!! *burst into tears* I accidentally deleted them on my laptop when i needed hdd space a few weeks ago, thinking that i have another copy on my home desktop but apparently i did NOT copy them over!!! gahhh... Even use DiskInternals' Flash Recovery to recover my deleted pics but it has been overwritten.. sobs

Chiangmai Trip

So I've been chastized for not updating the Lair for AGES!! Been busy at work and when i'm not working, i go for vacations!! Went to Chiangmai and Phuket since my last post update.

And YES! I went to "Love At First Bite" which is known for their fabulous cheesecake and highly recommended by Ling, Matt and Egg. Managed to find the hidden place thanks for Ling's direction on his blog. All was fine until one part where he said, "go NORTH", huh?! i was halfway walking and i see that... ahh?? where is north?!?! I don't have a compass with me!! lol... it was a crossroad and my first instinct was to head up straight.. apparently that's not north! Finally found north on my third try..hahaha.. I tried their white chocolate cheesecake and chicken pie. I guess my expectation was way too high after hearing all the good stuff from friends. The cheesecake was good and decent. About the same standard as Secret Recipe cheesecake. Didn't bring my big cam out that day and all the photos are in my Dopod, which I lost on my way back from Phuket few weeks ago!

Gonna make this quick so let's go straight to the Chiangmai photos! :)



Ride this elephant for half an hour across the village. Won't say that it was a peaceful and relaxing ride since every step was like going over a huge speedbump! And of course, had to lookout for those tree branches since i was so high!



My sticker to Maetang Elephant Park for elephant riding and bamboo rafting.



Bamboo rafting down Maeteng River. After going for whitewater rafting, bamboo rafting felt like a sedated ride.



Lisu tribe village



Also went for ox-cart ride



Picture made of gemstones. Chiangmai is well-known for their umbrellas and gemstones :)



Handmade paper umbrella



Random shot at Orchid farm... yawn.. it's part of the tour or i wouldn't have bothered.



Nightmarket near Changklan Road



Tuk-tuk ride at night


Food in Chiangmai!!!


Saturday market outside this shopping mall.. err, forgot the name.. that's what i get for posting my November trip now!



Bug snack!! Silk worm, grasshopper, whirligs, bamboo worms, etc. I've eaten them ALL!! hahaha



The grasshoppers are crunchy! :P



I like the bamboo worm! Bought some back for colleagues to try!



Also ate this... looks like normal egg cooked in banana leave right? Well... this actually is...


Egg with Ants' Larvae!!! Pretty okay stuff once you got over the ick factor... i got this milk-like liquid squirting out when i bit on those ants larvae... kekeke


Okay, that's that for Chiangmai. It was a pleasant trip but between Chiangmai and Phuket, i definitely prefer Phuket!! Love all the island-hoppings!! Similan Island is absolutely GORGEOUS!! Will post the pics from Phuket soon! ;)

Stuff I gobbled up

Yet more pics from the Terengganu trip! These are some of the food i captured on camera before gobbling it up!! Quite conspicuous lugging the big cam everywhere so i only bring it out occasionally.



Frankly i don't really know what this is. It's not lobster but probably a branch of lobster/prawn family. So freaking yummy!!!



Look like ebiko



Sotong bakar (grilled squids)... *drool*


That's the Garbage Bin drink on the right.. A layer of dragonfruit juice and a layer of mango juice with watermelon and laici on top for the complete rubbish effect.. haha.. On the left is lemon + apple juice with asam.


The purple drink is called the Amber Chia drink. If i remember correctly, it's blackcurrent and dragonfruit mix topped with laici and blackcurrent. On the right is a mix of kiwi and erm... gosh, i forgot.. that's what i get for procrastinating and posting this a MONTH after i've been back. :P

Anyway, we went the shop (it's a shop with no signboard opposite The Store in Chinatown) almost every night to try a new drink. The guy also made a few not-in-the-menu drinks in for us guinea pigs to try and made us guess the fruits in the mixture. Good thing that our stomach could handle all those fruit mixture.. :)



Nasi Dagang with ikan tongkol! yeah, i try to eat all the 'nasi' whenever i'm in Terengganu. Stuff like Nasi Dagang, Nasi Minyak, Nasi Kuning.. haha.. don't get those much in KL.



Fried ice-cream... Not a specialty there but something i came across and ordered. Not that good. I've tasted better ones.



Food aside, i have to post this.. haha.. took this shot from a moving car. Wow, they decorated the bus like a tradisional malay house!



Wood on the outside. Batik decoration on the roof inside... hehh



I was told that it's for tourists to hop in for a small tour around town for free. Nice :)