Hua Hin

My friend Vic recently asked about places that I’d recommend as an “extraordinary getaway” from KL without burning a huge hole in the pocket. Well, me thinks there’s no better places like Let’s Sea Resort in Hua Hin if you are looking for a quiet and relaxing break isolated from the hustle and bustle. The place is quite remote and the journey to get there can be quite a pain, but trust me, you will not regret it. The boutique resort itself is already impressive enough to make all the hassles worthwhile.

Hua Hin is a beach resort town along the coastal area 200km south of Bangkok. It takes about 2.5 to 3 hours drive by taxi and approximately 4 hours by train to get there; costs about 2500-3000 bahts and 400 bahts for a one way journey respectively. However if you are opting for train, I strongly encourage to get the fast speed train which takes off at 8am every morning from Bangkok Railway station.

 

We wanted to get a taste of being on a train to enjoy the rural scenic view of greater Bangkok, and it’s cheaper thus we opted for a one way ticket to Hua Hin. I must say it’s quite an experience….

The train captain who was doing his inspection duty. The 4 hours ride was pretty long but the nice sceneries along the way have well compensated for it.

 

  

Beautiful paddy views outskirt of Bangkok.

After 4 hours we finally reached Hua Hin! To my surprise the journey was rather pleasant, train was well equipped with cushion seats and air-conditioned and there was no chickens running around nor smelly armpits.   PHEW!

 

The tut-tut ride is a ripoff though. It’s hard since they already know you are a tourist unless you speak native Thai. Asking price starts from 300 bahts onwards for a 10 minutes journey.

Voila! After a long journey we finally reached the resort we’ve been looking forward to. Isn’t it pretty?

This resort was recommended by my Thai friend who lives in Bangkok and true enough it didn’t disappoint us. 

Stay tuned for part 2 for more elaboration of the resort!

Lemon Garden, Shangri-la

Family lunch at The Lemon Garden Cafe

Food was great, it’s a buffet lunch and needless to say, we all ended up stuffing ourselves silly. I skipped all things carb to make rooms for desserts.

I love their dessert, everything is so pretty and sinfully delicious 

 

Fondue anyone? They have two flavours: Dark Chocolate & Chocolate Orange

 

Took a snapshot before leaving the hotel – the place where memories flashed back to the happy old times during one of my best friend’s wedding last year. I haven’t been back to Shangri-la since then… but everything is still so vivid as if it was only yesterday’s affair. I could see shadows of the event running in the background like the rehearsals, the touching matrimony ceremony, the hotel lift I never used oh so frequently and how I rummaged of the bridal suite with the bestman to search for a Gstring and etc. Ah.. memories...

World Cup 2010

WorldCup 2010 is all about the odds and underdog surprises this time.

As an England supporter, I know they didn’t deserve to win.

A disjointed team to start off with and they were disappointingly losing steam in every match.

But  it was flabbergasting to watch Brazil the Argies defeated by Germany 4-0. Big Ouch… 

Who do you think will be the World Cup Champion this year then?

I've been watching football with my mates at ECOBA during this worldcup season.

In a way, I’m feeling sad coz worldcup fever is going to be over soon!

Yogitree @ Gardens

♥♥♥ Happy belated birthday, Dottie! ♥♥♥

Wordless Wednesday

Diving at Tioman

Despite all the skepticism I had earlier about diving, I'm so glad I actually went for it. Saturday was a nightmare and so much hardwork was entailed, our final exam finished at 1am and this morning I had a scary experience of drowning but guess what, it doesn't matter now coz I'm a certified PADI Open Water Diver! ;) When they told me it's a totally different world in the sea and that I would love it, I didn't believe it until today. Breathing compressed air makes you a little “high” and all the marine lives you see takes away all the worry in mind. No wonder divers often say “ Turn me a fish. I don’t want to go back to reality.” I understand why now :)

Tonight, I am stargazing at the sky and saw the Orien Belt shining from up above, couldn't help but feeling abit sentimental... Hmmmm

That's yours truly chiling out at the resort while her mates have gone for the night dive...

Road Trip to Penang

Had an awesome 3 days 2 nights trip to Penang over the Wesak long weekend break. Imagine this, 5 to 6 meals a day… Basically we were eating non-stop! I definitely need a tank size stomach for this sort of trip lol. Will let pictures tell the story.

 Gurney Drive

  

Every morning I woke the boys up at 7am to religiously work our lards off  and get rid of the food guilt.

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When it comes to food…

Lorong Seratus Curry Mee.

I didn’t enjoy the black pudding but the curry soup was good.

 

Balik Pulau Lemak Laksa.

Definitely the bestest Laksa I’ve ever had!

Check out how many servings did we manage to whack?!

Island Glade Chee Cheong Fun and Popiah

 

I was hoping to get the Sisters Char Kuey Teow but friends said it’s overrated and overly priced, so I had it at Island Glades instead. 

 

Last day, we had dinner at Hooi Boey Seafood restaurant. Seafood there was super fresh… the clams and crabs there were my favourite dishes among all.

p/s: Pictures you see were courtesy of John Heng, using a Nikon D90 with a combination of 10.5mm FishEye and WideAngle lens.