Goodbye 2006

2006, ended in a blast - phuket

hello! phuket.

the long planned phuket trip finally ended it's chapter, together with year 2006. the whole trip from planning to coming home was full of unexpected "surprises", till the moment we touched down homeland, we were glad n grateful tht we actually made it home...

from the date we booked the flight in september, we couldnt get any hotel as new year eve is really the "peak of the peak" season in phuket. we only managed to secure one in the month of december, which was about one week before our departure.

on our very first day, the flight delayed as the pilot needed to step down dued to personal reason (!?). the plane reached phuket airport but parked slightly off the skybridge (!!??), tht caused another 20mins delay. after a long winding road to patong beach, tht made me omos wanted to puke in the cab, we finally got ourself settled in the sofa of rico's hotel at bangla street, the most happening street in patong. our mood was cheerful til we were told only cash terms is accepted for the room charge. our jaws dropped n we spend omos 50% of our cash on the room oredi.

we counted our cash balance in the room then a breaking news from tv got our full attention, saddam hussein was hanged. for the next 3 days aljazeera omos became our main channel in the hotel room. protests started. people got killed.

we did a lot of streeting hopping in this trip, ed drank beers like there's no tomorrow (damn cheap, i mean the beers). on the 3rd day, we rented a bike n travel from patong all the way down to promthep cape. we made quite some pit stops on the way there - karon beach, the tyre shop (cos d bike tyre punctured, someone blamed it to the pork i took. nonsense.) elephant jungle trekking centre, kata beach, na yui beach, the view point, and the last is the promthep cape. the view along the way is simply, magnificent.

the most memorable part of this trip have to be the new year eve countdown. firework was expected but we never have imagined the firework were all around us, n even right on top of us. the sound, the blast, the fire, the smoke n thousands of lanterns released to the sky made the night so graphical as if we were in a movie set. we released a lantern too, i wish my sangria is healthy n happy in heaven...

in the early morning on our last day, we received a sms telling us the flight wud be delayed for 2hrs. we couldnt get the late check out since next guests were expecting the room, we wandered around patong aimlessly n stopped by few cafes n shopping mall. later in the afternoon when we were at phuket airport, i was so sure the phuket airport tax was included in the air fare, but we were told not. i cant imagine if we didnt keep spared ringgit and usd notes, we wud hav stranded there. we checked in after the havoc, again we were informed the flight wud be delayed for another 30mins. we accepted jus-another-hiccups quietly as we were too exhausted to bitch about it anymore.

jus when we thought no more unexpected incidents wil happen when we reach lcct sepang, we found out we didnt have enough ringgit to take a cap home. we laughed, cos we couldnt think of anything better to do at tht moment. finally we got a "taxi sapu", a "flies" tht willing to giv us a ride at the amount we hav tht night... it was the 1st january 2007. happy new year.

pieces of here and there in phuket...

she shouted: "pussy power!".

i witnessed the "pussy power" on my first night in phuket. we were approached by a guy who later led us to a "a-go-go bar", which is small and dim inside. there's a narrow stage with few dancing poles, about 10 seats right in front of the stage and an elevated platform approximately fit 15 guests.

it was my first time watching a show like that, i was told how funny it is tht these women can do "stunts" with their privates downthere, but when i finally saw them doin it, i jus couldnt laugh at all. first thing i noticed is how uneasy was their expression, n when they did the "stunts", they hav this deep frown in their face. seeing them putting ping-pong balls, bananas, strings with razor blades...etc into their privates n push/pull them out, i had a deep frown between my eyebrows too. what kind of job for living is that? dignity can mean so little when we r in poverty. i walked out of the bar with a long n heavy sign...

we traded our souls for, food.

we spent with careful calculation for the rest of our days in phuket after paying a big chunk off the cash to our stay. yet our stomachs stil get treated well, all thanks to the credit cards. the starvation wil start during month end when the bills arrive, yeah we certainly know the terms & condition when swapping the evil plastics...

monkey's business

we stopped by this elephant jungle trekking centre, 50 ringgit for 25mins short ride on the giants, our wallets asked us to focus on the 2 funny monkeys instead. these 2 r truly born comedian. we had some fun there, with the monkeys at the elephant jungle trekking centre. hmm...

picture this & that...

reminder to the disastrous past.


many talented artists r found here, but mostly doin imitation work on famous paintings.
maybe they r in the middle of finding the true colors of themselves.


the bumpy bus ride to phuket town.


love birds in d bus.

what a piece of graphic.


let me say it again, it's really not because of my weight ok?


nice apartments at karon area.



ya nui beach.


chilling at ya nui beach.


somewhere on the way to promthep cape.


the view point tht overseeing half of phuket's coast line.


jam packed & crowded bangla street on new year eve.


forgive my camera for not being able to take a panaroma shot, but trust me,
this is not even close to the number of lanterns being released to the sky tht night.


n trust me again, it did happed like this, all blasted at the same time!



- the end-
happy 2007