Asia Archives - Page 2 of 22 - Escapes From The Little Red Dot

Hoi An 2019 Day 3 – Hoi An free and easy

Posted on December 26, 2019March 21, 2021 by ziyi

Today was chill day and boy did we chill. It was initially planned with something else but the recommendation to combine both Hoi An and My Son the day earlier and that led to this day being left empty. Which sometimes is a good thing during a trip where you simply want to stay in and do nothing.

We all woke up late and only left for breakfast at 10am, with some 30 mins left. We were the only ones left but were treated like kings since all the attention were given to us. They even served us though this was a self service buffet style breakfast and I shamelessly accepted that treatment! Kudos to the excellent service staff! We had quite a full breakfast and by the time we left it was already 11am.

Returned the room to laze a bit and while K catch some TV, I busied myself trying to find some activities for kids. There were in fact plenty of recommendations online (the resource was unbelievably good on google, just google Hoi An for kids) such as Vinpearl theme park, motorbike rides, visit to farms and coconut forest. But eventually we decided to just chill.

We left after noon time and walked to the old town, this time on the other side of the river to check out what’s there on the same island where our accommodation was on. Along the way we took photos as we walked and were blessed with clear blue skies that accentuate the colours of Hoi An and the calm rivers provided the beautiful reflections. Perfect setting!

View of Japanese Covered bridge from the opposite bank.

One Morning Glory Signature restaurant caught our eyes as mommy called it out as one of the recommended restaurant to visit and so we entered, even though I wasn’t feeling all that hungry from the big breakfast that we had. It was situated on the second floor on the incredibly large building (which looked tiny on the outside but had lots of seating area on the inside) and the deco was really beautiful!

The top seating area had a nice view of Hoi An old town and the Japanese Covered bridge but while we weren’t sitting directly at the edge, it was good enough view. K was busy with the iPad while we ordered some local must-tries like Cau Lao and Banh Mi and the rose dumplings. The food was simply delicious, true to what the recommendations say! Paid 450k including tips and we left to cross over to Hoi An old town.

Took another street that we didn’t take before and there were quite a bit of retail shops here though mostly selling the same stuff. We ended up in one of the Hoi An Roastery which looked like Starbucks and feel like one.

We got ourselves a spacious corner seat in the small seating area and ordered black and milk coffee for me and mommy and vanilla and choco icecream for K, all for less than 200k ( the customer next to us informed that the coconut icecream coffee sounded better than it tasted so we were saved from having that). Spent hour or so just chilling out and having fun with K. As K was pretty loud, it sometimes invited smiles from other tables.

We left to return back to the hotel at 5pm and while the sun started it’s descent it again provided some nice scene for photography. We stopped by a small playground for K to try the swings and slide and fitness equipment before we finally walked back to the hotel.

Spend the rest of the time chilling in front of the TV with Cartoon Network and then a bath at the bath tub before heading for dinner at the hotel’s restaurant. Ordered dried vermicelli and clay pot fried rice and banana fritter for desert. The desert was pretty interesting, the outer skin was coated with coconut which gave it the crusty sweet taste. (The bill was about 600k)

After dinner, it was some time in front of the mini projector (from Taobao) and YouTube cartoons before going to sleep. We had to wake up really early for the trip to Hue the next day.

Hoi An 2019 Day 2 – Hoi An Old Town tour and My Son tour

Posted on December 25, 2019June 6, 2020 by ziyi

Day 2 started early even with K’s frequent waking up throughout the night. I was woken up early by the bodily clock and also the noise outside that sounded like people moving metal stuff. I went to the balcony and found that bikers were traveling on the bridge to come to the island and the metal sounds came from the usage of that bridge.

We prepared ourselves before getting K up and he was surely in a good mood as he cooperated to get his teeth brushed, changed and went to breakfast.

The breakfast in the main restaurant was buffet style and was quite a selection. I took a plate full of almost everything and ordered egg Benedict from the egg station ( yes they have egg Benedict!). K was eating well with his pastries, yoghurt and cereal!

Soon after breakfast, we left to meet with our tour guide for a tour around Hoi An old town and My Son. He immediately recognized us and introduced himself as “Drew” (spelled as Trieu) and we boarded a shuttle buggy to the old town a couple of minutes ride away.

We arrived at the entrance of Hoi An old quarter and after he settled the tickets, he began the introduction of the old quarter. The good thing about having a guide was that you get to learn more than what you see on the surface and we surely did so as he brought us along and explained some of the stuff that we see.

The old town was nice and cool to walk early in the morning and not crowded as tourists haven’t arrived in droves as they were still making their way here. It was quite a bit of walking though.

We walked through small streets diverting out from the Main Street to see Thang Loi silk making factory, starting from silkworm to cacoons and then the collection of silk to embroidery. There was also lantern making and wood carving at the same place and eventually a store to sell clothing products which was pretty affordable for custom made pieces tailored to fit but unfortunately I wasn’t wearing these in Singapore and not worth it to buy any. But I was most impressed with the embroidery work as the needleworker created “photo-like” pictures on cloth! Some of these pieces of work were put up on the walls and they really looked like painting or photos from a distance! However, no photos were allowed.

We returned back to the Main Street and arrived at the Japanese Covered bridge built to link up the Chinese and Japanese quarter. It was a bridge with a shelter and a temple in it. We were introduced the historical information and was shocked to see the water level during the flooding of the area, indicated by a sticker on wall.

One typical shop along the street – barber

Continued on and we were brought into a Tan Ky Merchant house where we got to see how the merchant used the place for trading and storage, how the old houses were built for ventilation and the traditional furniture! Again the flood level was a real shock, and a good reminder to K why swimming is an important skill to pick up.

A photo of its opposite neighbours house

Real short bed used by one of the inhabitants

Then another diversion out to another street where we were introduced to a freshwater Ba Le well and then to a family business (of centenarian Mr Ngo Thieu) that sold black sesame paste. The black sesame paste was really delicious and smooth but they didn’t sell them in instant package form as they were meant to be served hot. We could only bring home sesame biscuits though. We managed to catch a glimpse of the senior man resting on his bed and we were told he was already 104! Amazing! The biscuits were pretty affordable for a bag of 4 for 50k.

The final location to visit was Hoi An Fujian assembly hall and within the compound, there was a temple in which we had learnt quite a bit; from the deity who saved the people, to the 6 generals that came to Hoi An and their descendants being still in Hoi An, the different deities for worship and why. We made a donation of 2 bags of rice for 300k for the CNY and got to put our names on a board. It was a nice feeling to be able to give, and what more on Xmas day! By the way, Xmas wasn’t celebrated in Vietnam, evident as kids were still in school while we were touring.

After a quick walk through the central market of Cho Hoi An (as we were looking for a Vietnamese hat for K), we went to have lunch in a Dao Tien River restaurant which was included in the tour (that we thought weren’t included) and they served fish, chicken and eggplant with white rice and fried dumpling as starters and fruits as desert. We had to pay for drinks and we ordered Vietnam coffee, black for mommy and mine with milk. The food wasn’t fantastic but the place had a riverside view. We left after paying 150k for the drinks.

Drew got us on a vehicle and we were soon traveling to My Son, an hour journey away. There weren’t much to see along the way and I had to keep K entertained as he didn’t want to take a nap. But it was all going downhill as I started to have a stomachache. The driver had to make a quick stop to get himself some lunch and I was worried I couldn’t hold it in!

After a while more of driving, we entered the smaller lanes and arrived at the entrance, both K and myself ran for the toilet as he was in an urgent need to pee too. I went straight for the only cubicle there, which was thankfully not occupied and relieved myself. However, the feeling escalated to nausea and I also threw up, everything I had for lunch. I was suspecting the coffee as the main culprit. It took a while before I recovered and rejoined my family, with K enjoying his cone of icecream.

Drew had already got our tickets and we had to walk to the buggy station some distance away. The buggy that drove us to the ruins site which was quite far away for people to walk (though we did see people walk) and after disembarking, another distance to walk to the main ruins.

My Son (pronounced as “Mee Son”, which was close to Chinese pronounciation of beautiful hill) had ruins from the Hindu temple built for Shiva and here we learnt again what some of the architecture were, how to distinguish between the temple and storage buildings, how the bricks were prepared and why some of them had moss growing and those that were prepared for the purpose of building the temple didn’t, about some imperfections of the architecture that were purposely done so and how the statue of Shiva looked like.

Though it wouldn’t sound interesting for a 5 year old, I thought K was pretty amused exploring the ruins and Drew did a good job keeping his level of interest high!

Other than historical facts we were shown some of the remains from the Vietnam war, bomb craters, missile shells and shrapnels that can still be found on the ground. We were also shown one statue with a hole that was made from a bullet being shot from the top.

All these activities took up the time we had for the tour. We returned to the buggy station, buggy back to the entrance and walked back to the carpark.

Reception near the entrance of the complex

The return journey was easy as we slept most of the way and arrived back in the hotel in time for sunset. Paid tips to both Drew and the driver and we returned to the room to rest for a bit and to take a bath before getting out to the old town for dinner.

We walked to Viet Ngon Restaurant and found it along the road. We were the only customers there but the local cuisine they served was delicious, just as described in online reviews. We ordered beef noodle soup and duck breast vermicelli and it was tasty. We had fried spring rolls that didn’t taste like the usual spring rolls that we were used to but these were tasty too. Completed with mango juice which was thick and wholesome and my lime juice as I didn’t want to upset my stomach further, all these for 465k including tips.

Inside the restaurant with open concept kitchen

After dinner, we walked through Hoi An to see how it looked like at night. With the lanterns lighted up, it was more colourful then it was during the day. It was getting crowded the closer we got towards the riverside and bridge but still walkable. We proceeded through the Hoi An night market which had many stalls selling fruits, and some stalls selling goods but there were mostly selling more or less the same stuff. Then we decided to call it a day and return back to the hotel.

Shops closed with not many people around

More crowded towards the eateries near the river

It was quite a distance from the old market back to the hotel and we took about 15mins to walk back. Away from the main sights the streets became dark and quiet but never felt dangerous as minimarts and accommodations were sparsely located and provided the brightness to the surroundings. We arrived at the fussball machine at our hotel entrance, played a bit of that before returning to the room.

Night was standard procedure, getting ready for bed after some funny Xmas cartoons on Disney channel with Mickey and gang and a couple of rounds of handphone games on mommy’s handphone (a new craze for the both of them) before lights out.

Hoi An 2019 Day 1 – Arrival into Da Nang and transfer to Hoi An

Posted on December 24, 2019June 6, 2020 by ziyi

Our last trip of the decade started really late as we woke up from an afternoon nap on Xmas eve and only had slightly less than 2.5 hrs to get to the airport. We got out of the house after our baths and getting ready.

The traffic was pretty smooth, with the exception of one accident on PIE which we had to divert to ECP. Arrived at terminal 1 with about 1.5hrs to spare before boarding.

Checked in at the shared automated auto check in machines between Qantas and Jetstar but went to the wrong bag drop. Luckily the Qantas staff was quick to stop us and we embarrassingly walked back to the Jetstar counter to bag drop.

We took a few photos with the Xmas trees there with our parents before biding goodbye. The immigration was busy since everyone seemed to be leaving Singapore for travel and after a wait at the queue, we finally got through and proceeded to the food court for dinner. Chicken rice, quick and tasty choice but more importantly, acceptable to K’s increasingly limited acceptable choices for dinner.

We realized we forgot to pack our lightning cable for charging our devices and I quickly went into an electronics shop to get one for 15ish dollars while mom and K went on their way to the gate first, which was at the tail end of the terminal.

After a quick visit to the toilet, I caught up with them and found ourselves being the last passengers. The displeased staff let us through after the Xray scan and reminded us about being timely for our boarding and we moved quickly to board the almost full plane.

Our flight took off only after 20mins of taxiing on the tarmac and it was a smooth 2.5hrs flight and almost too boring since there weren’t any entertainment onboard. My phone provided the main source of entertainment of games when we alternate turns. Bought ourselves an apple juice for 4 bucks and tried to go to sleep but it didn’t work out and before we knew it, we were landing.

Went through the initial single counter immigrations that quickly opened up to another 3 lanes and we were quick to get to the first of the queue when a new one opened but had to wait for our luggage anyway. After picking up, we visited one of the many counters there selling SIM cards for unlimited data at irresistible prices, like 240k D for 10days throughout Vietnam and we installed that onto our IPad mini for hotspot use.

Immediately outside the Arrivals I found a man standing there with a board with my name on it and he was the driver for our private transfer that we arranged with the tour agency( which we engaged since being with them for our Hanoi tour). He brought us to wait by the road and while waiting for him to return with a vehicle, we took some photos with the Xmas tree there. Soon he came with a huge vehicle and then we were on our way to Hoi An River Town hotel, about 40mins drive away.

It was quick an easy drive without much traffic but nothing much to see along the way, as colourful restaurants were sparsely located. The big roads became smaller roads before we crossed a bridge to the island where our hotel was situated. The driver got lost for a moment before I tried to explain that he had gone the wrong way with my google maps but in no time, we disembarked at the entrance of the hotel.

The bell helped with the luggage as we checked in, that came with welcome drink and cold towels, then we were brought to our room on the 4th floor. It was a huge room and had a huge toilet and we were pretty satisfied with it. K had some time to play his toys and after a quick shower down and some milk and story books, it was time to get to bed. Tour starts early the next day so we had to catch as much sleep as early as possible

Escape Plan to Vietnam December 2019

Posted on December 23, 2019July 5, 2020 by ziyi

A brief summary on the itinerary

Escape Plan to Vietnam:

Total duration 9D8N
Singapore is 1hr ahead of Da Nang.
Flight time is 17hrs 15mins on Singapore Airlines from Singapore to Newark Airport, New York. Return flight is 2hrs 10mins on Scoot from Ho Chi Minh to Singapore.

Evening flight on 24th Dec at 650pm and arrival in Da Nang in the Night at 835pm. Return flight from Ho Chi Minh on the 1st Jan at 555pm and arrival in Singapore at 905pm.

Day 1 Arrival into Da Nang and transfer to Hoi An
Day 2 Hoi An Old Town tour and My Son tour
Day 3 Hoi An free and easy
Day 4 Day trip to Hue
Day 5 Ba Na Hills and Dragon Bridge
Day 6 My Khe Beach and transfer to Phu Quoc
Day 7 Vinpearl Land and Waterpark
Day 8 Bai Dai Beach and transfer to Ho Chi Minh NYE 2020
Day 9 Home Sweet Home

This escape plan was to getaway to somewhere close and not too expensive while at the same time, see how people are doing Xmas and New Year’s Eve.

Budget nature: Inexpensive except when in the resort

Costs of living was pretty low in Vietnam and thus we found that things were relatively inexpensive. We catered SGD$800 but wouldn’t have overspend if we didn’t buy stuff along the way. It could also be that we had paid upfront for private tours and transfers and even so, it was still affordable.

Complexity: Easy

It was easy since most of the transportation was taken care by our private transfers and tour. Phu Quoc transfer was taken care by the resort while Grab app worked pretty well in both Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh.

Phuket 2019 Day 5 – Home Sweet Home

Posted on August 13, 2019June 4, 2020 by ziyi

The morning of our last day was spent preparing to go home. I initially thought I could get up to jog around but after contemplating where to run to since the roads on the outside of the resort seemed very secluded, and that I had to return early so that we can go for breakfast early and in addition, K wanted milk so eventually I ended up lazing in bed.

We started to pack for the remaining items before K woke up and when he did, it was about getting everything ready quickly. We went for breakfast earlier than the rest of the other days, and started eating at 9am. Returned to the room after breakfast and checked out soon after, paying the dinner that we had for two of the days before boarding our Grab car, for a cost of less than 500baht.

We disembarked after a quick 30mins ride and proceeded to check in our luggage. Went through immigrations which took a while since they took all the prints on both the hands and spent some time shopping at the small area. There was a tiny playground where K spent some time before there was the call to board.

The return flight was a much bigger plane than the one we arrived in Phuket, which was great because it came with an entertainment system where K was so looking forward to to play his game. The Endgame was available as a new release but I caught Shazam instead, which the flight was too short for the entire show. The plane took a while to taxi before taking off and landing took a while too due to traffic and weather. Food was so-so though and was a rush to eat before the announcement to land. Overall I thought the flight was a better one compared to the SilkAir one.

For this trip, we spent the super long weekend in Phuket. I believed that K had enjoyed himself and he kept saying he have to return to play the Dino mini golf. It was a good reprise from the daily grind although there were some moments of anxiety trying to fix stuff over the phone with regard to the domestic helper but nonetheless I too enjoyed the stay. Only thing was we learnt that maybe it would be better to stay more south than where we stayed, even though the resort was excellent in every aspect.

Phuket 2019 Day 4 – Splash Jungle waterpark and Mai Khao village

Posted on August 12, 2019June 4, 2020 by ziyi

It was a restless night for K and I knew that K didn’t get enough sleep like he was supposed to. Eventually that translated to him waking up at a much later time. He was also throwing some tantrums and ended up being punished for it. We got out of the room only by 10 for breakfast.

It was again a busy morning at the restaurant and we had our breakfast on the outside this time around. It was the 3rd morning and it was getting boring already. But I can live with egg Benedict everyday.

The weather was exceptional today, no signs of clouds at all! However we didn’t plan anything so we ended up visiting the kids club first.

There were some activities planned for Thailand’s mother’s day but K outright rejected the staff when she offered him to create his own DIY aquarium. He went on to explore the 3 spacious rooms and the toys within. There were some kids there but they weren’t interacting much, 2 of them were on the PC and another one playing with one of the toys.

I thought I like the spaciousness of the area, one of the biggest that I had seen but there just weren’t enough toys. However K could spend more than an hour playing in the kids club was just baffling to me; he even didn’t want to leave initially.

We returned to the room to prepare to get to the Splash Jungle waterpark as K agreed to pay it a visit. Once out, we got a Grabcar which cost about 440baht there. The driver brought us through a shortcut and in 15mins time, we arrived at the waterpark.

Thought I could get tickets on Klook but it wasn’t available for the same day booking, and missed the chance to save on a few dollars. However, we only need to pay for 2 adults for a total of 2900baht, as K who wasn’t 5 yet, got to enter for free.

We weren’t allow to bring any food and my packet of chips was taken away into temporary custody, in exchange for a number card to claim back later. At the entrance, we were given one wrist tag that was used for storing digital money as they didn’t allow cash transaction within the park itself. I topped up 1000baht into it and we entered the park.

Our first stop was the Jungledeli where we had our lunch. There were ongoing pop up stalls that sold cheaper food than the restaurant itself due to the Thailand Mother’s Day promotion and so we got some prawns and chicken on skewers and a bowl of fried rice from these stores while we ordered K spaghetti. All these amounted to less than 500baht in total.

After lunch, we headed to changing room to change into our swimwear. At the lockers room, I couldn’t find a locker with a key and only found out that the lockers had to be rent for a fee of 150baht on the outside. Since mommy was not going into the waters, she would take care of the stuff.

We managed to find a sun bed not taken and left the cheap stuff there before heading to the water play. Mommy headed to the massage area to get some massage at the same time.

There was quite a good section of areas for K even though I thought more information can be shared ahead of time, such as height restrictions. These info was only available on site. We were disappointed to find that the slides tower require a minimum height of 122cm. The wave pool was nothing like the one in Desaru and frankly disappointing as there weren’t much of a wave to speak of. There were a couple of children play area, a kids section where the waters were warm, an area where water jacuzzi was available and a lazy river which we tried all. Fortunately K was easily satisfied just playing over at the kids pool area.

Another kids section but with warm water

We stayed for almost 3hrs before convincing K to leave. Got ourselves changed and went through the store to exit. I have utilized the amount within the digital payment and had to come out with 50baht cash in addition to pay for the icecream. K wanted to get the rubber chicken toy but I disapproved it.

We got the same driver to pick us up (by dialling his number on his name card) for a cheaper deal of 400baht and he sent us to the Turtle village near to our hotel. We explored the area to find some restaurants there but thought we would visit Mai Khao Plaza instead. While walking there, we saw the elephants at a compound (from Mai Khao Elephant home) where there were many visitors also trying to interact with the 2 elephants there. We left when K wanted to use the toilet.

Stacked turtle fountain at Turtle Village

Eventually we ended up at the Living Room restaurant for dinner, where we got ourselves pineapple baked rice, Tom Yum Goong to share and Beef noodles for K. There was mango sticky rice that we bought for desert. The food was not too bad and I liked the Thai Iced tea with coconut milk!

Spent some time at the fountain playing with the plastic balls there and also at a small kids playground while waiting for the resort shuttle bus return. Boarded the tuktuk pickup with a couple of other guests and returned to the hotel just before 9pm.

Balancing balls on the water sprout around the statue

We had our bath in the tub and the usual night preparations and soon K was fast asleep as expected since the exhaustion from the day spent at the waterpark was sure to knock him out. I managed to gather some of the day’s thoughts onto the trusty note on the phone with a struggling battery before getting my rest for the night.

Phuket 2019 Day 3 – Dinopark mini-golf, Weekend market and Jungceylon

Posted on August 11, 2019June 4, 2020 by ziyi

We woke up close to 9 and K had wet his pants again! Diapers were pretty leaky and I had to use a towel to cover the wet spot for him to continue sleeping.

K was pretty cooperative and we were soon finding ourselves queuing up for the seat to enter the crowded Loca Vore restaurant. Managed to get a seat inside and went to get our breakfast. I had to have my egg Benedict again cos it was really good!

After breakfast, we returned to the room to chill for a bit before getting out. The Grab app again didn’t give us a match for whole day rental and so we had to try the same trick as it was yesterday. Booked one car to get us to Dino Park mini golf and when the driver arrived, we asked for a whole day booking of 10hrs and was offered 3000baht instead. It was quite expensive compared to what can be gotten on Klook but I wasn’t negotiating so we just boarded.

The journey to the mini golf was very far, about an hour drive, which made us think if we got the right accommodation to begin with. K spent his time singing his favorite cartoon songs on repeat.

Saw Buddha statue at the top of the hill on the way to Dino park

The car exited the larger road onto the smaller streets and we got off onto the street right next to a large space that was designed with huge boulders like those in caveman shows. Registered ourselves for the 18-hole game and was each given a ball, a club with different length for different heights and a scoresheet to keep track! This cost us 240baht (11SGD) per adult and 180baht (8sgd) per kid and for adults not playing, it cost 120baht (5.5SGD) to enter.

It was quite fun to go around trying to push the ball into the holes, some course came with short cuts that K was adamant to use even though it took more shots to use them. Sometimes K ended up playing hockey than golf! The weather though cloudy was still hot and humid. However we enjoyed the course while walking amongst the dinosaurs models and tricky course so much that K wanted to go another round. There were quite a few groups there and it was common to be held up by the earlier group if they were slower.

Panoramic view of one section of the course

After much convincing, we ended having lunch at the Dino restaurant next door. Ordered a noodles with sauce for K, curry for mommy and me to share, glass noodles salad and a Thai iced tea and fruit juice. It was a huge eating area with a few dinosaur themed displays that K went around taking photos with his camera but the area under the shelter where we had our lunch was too dark and they didn’t turn on the lights till much later.

We returned for a second round of golf after considering the other options of zipline which I thought was too expensive and trampoline park which I thought was too dangerous. This time around, K was much more disciplined to wait for the ball to stop before hitting but still very adamant to use the short cut. The hold up was worst with a bigger group in front and we even had one behind us too impatient to wait for us to finish and hit their ball when we were still not done. They eventually passed us to skip ahead.

We called our driver after we were finally done and got to our next destination, the Phuket Old Town Sunday market (Lard Yai). It was about a 30mins drive there and the closer we got, the heavier the traffic, I was so glad I didn’t choose to drive, I thought to myself. We got off at the entrance of a temple at Dibuk Road and walked towards the pedestrian only Thalang Road and there were just so many people looking at the many stores selling mostly food at half the section and handicrafts at the other half. We walked the entire length end-to-end and only bought an ice-cream for K. The food wasn’t looking very appetizing (and the stuffiness of the area didn’t make me want to stop to get anything) and we didn’t get anything from the handicrafts stores. Along the way there were also street performances mostly singers belting out their tunes. There was a sudden downpour and we all got under shelter to wait out the short and common occurrence. But I felt the rain was good because it cooled down the entire place pretty quickly and was nicer to walk around afterwards.

Spent about an hour there and we returned to the temple to board the car after contacting him via message. We decided to skip Fantasea and went to Jungceylon Mall instead for dinner. Another 30mins drive and we arrived into super busy Patong town and Jungceylon was one megamall next another huge Central Patong mall dominating the area there. We alighted behind the mall which was less crowded and proceeded in.

Randomly entered one of the building and out of the corner of my eye, we spotted a famous brand of restaurant also available in Singapore and decided to have dinner there. It was MK, but the gold edition!

Ordered a plate of pork slices, vegetables for our steamboat and a bowl of char siew green noodles for K. The food was ok and we took about an hour and a half to finish our dinner. That dinner was about 1400baht which I paid by card, fearing that we didn’t have enough money to go home.

We walked around for a little shopping and entered an OVS store that had quite nicely designed tees but found them quite expensive (it was later that we found out that this was an Italian fashion brand!). Entered a inflatdecor store where they sold all sorts of inflatable bags and we bought ourselves a waterproof bag for 230baht and got ourselves a freebee inflatable cup holder by adding their contact into Line app.

Then we caught glimpse of the water fountain show before calling our driver for the last time for our trip back to the hotel.

The ride back was about an hour and I paid the 3000baht to the driver before we headed back to the room. The night routine was hastened up as it was getting late and K cooperated to bath quickly and got his playtime before it was lights off for all.

Phuket 2019 Day 2 – Phuket Aquarium, Upside-Down House and Chaofa Variety weekend market

Posted on August 10, 2019June 4, 2020 by ziyi

Day 2 started with a overcast skies as expected. We were all up by 9am (which was early by holiday standards) and went out for breakfast at the Loca Vore restaurant that was near the reception. It was quite crowded but we managed to get a seat on the outside. The variety of breakfast was ok but there was egg benedict, a special version of it made with crab meat! The food quality was very good and that compensated for the its variety I supposed.

After breakfast, the sun began to emerge from the clouds and K wanted to visit the kids pool. So I went back to retrieve his swim wear while mommy brought the excited boy over to the kids club.

I made a detour to check out the beach and was shock to see the waves of the beach – waters were very rough. The red flags told the same story of danger at the seas and I quickly return to the kids pool with the knowledge that we weren’t going to the beach, at least for today.

Dressed and K found himself in the pool in a flash. I made a second trip back to the room to retrieve a beach ball and we spent about an hour there in the water while mommy perched herself on the sun beds with her hp.

After many last rounds of the beach ball, we finally left the pool and walked towards the beach. K was disappointed that he couldn’t crash into the wave like when in other resorts but we didn’t get our feet wet with a little sea water as the waves spread towards the seashore. We washed up near the pool and returned to the room for a quick shower.

Went back to Loca Vore for lunch where we ordered fried rice for K and mommy and I shared Tom Yum Goong and fried noodles, having learnt of the enormous portions that they served. Again the quality of food was good, except that noodles tasted a bit Chinese.

We wanted to get a private charter so that we could get from places to places without the need to get a taxi and Grab app had an option for that. However, booking it didn’t result in any acceptance. We spoke to the Navigator, a travel coordinator at the desk and he proposed we book a ride to where we wanted to go and negotiate with the driver directly. Punching the aquarium as a destination, we got ourselves a Grab driver, and with the help of the Navigator for translation, he agreed to a price of 2400baht for the entire day.

Boarded the vehicle and it was a long, almost 1.5hrs to the Phuket Aquarium. During the journey, we fell asleep most of the way and awoke to find ourselves traveling towards Panwa beach. We alight at the aquarium, used the restroom before heading into the aquarium close to its closing hour of 430pm. After paying the tickets for 2 adults (for K it was free as he was short) for about 16sgd in total, the staff assured us that we had enough time and sure enough, the place was small enough to clear under an hour.

I was busy on the phone trying to fix an issue with our domestic helper who was trying to fly back to Singapore after her leave. Had to coordinate with my mother back home with the documents and in the end that didn’t turn out well and had to leave it till she visits the embassy.

K was pretty fascinated with the display on the other hand and had a connection with some of the displays like the zooplankton and phytoplankton ones, some knowledge that he picked up on TV. On the other hand, he was spooked by the creatures of the deep sea display. We were impressed to see gigantic giant groupers near the end. We took a quick walk around it’s store, which was also bringing down their shutters and got ourselves a snack before getting into the car.

Pano view at the entrance of the aquarium

We got to the upside-down house Baan Teelanka in a 30mins journey and paid about 40sgd for the 2 adults and 1 child tickets. The staff then helped us with the photos showing us how to take them and we were off to explore the 3 levels building. K was excited just to climb the steps and not really interested with taking photos. Had to take a few to show him how it would look like on photos and he then reluctantly do a few. We spend the entire 1hr there till it closed at 6pm, even though it wasn’t that big but K was busy climbing up and down the stairs. After a visit to the restroom, we headed for our last destination, the weekend market.

A 3D painting to take photo with at the house

About a 15mins drive, we parked at a carpark just opposite side of the road and the driver guided us to the market. Crossing the super busy road was a challenge and the skies decided to start raining too. We found shelter inside a shop that sold ponchos for 30baht and we got ourselves 3 adults one as there were none for kids and we had to cut K’s one to size using scissor borrowed from the shop owner.

After we got the poncho on, we walked into the Chaofa Variety Weekend Market. Then we realized the rain stopped, its like we had been pranked by the rain.

The market was split into 2 sections, one for food and the other for goods and we bought ourselves a Thai milk tea first before heading into the goods section. There were many shops selling mostly clothes, some toys shops and some souvenirs. We ended up buying quite a bit of stuff, negotiated for some of these goods. I got myself some shorts for 150baht per pc, got K a swimming vest for 200baht, a jigsaw toy for 200baht and a set of clothes for 200baht for K.

We looked for a place for dinner and just near the entrance was a restaurant that had seats and had our dinner there. Ordered fried rice for K and mommy to share, a plate of vegetables, a bowl of green curry and a Phad Thai for myself, all this for under 500baht. The food didn’t taste good though.

After dinner, we went over to the restroom at the end of the market, paying 3 baht per person to get in. The toilet was not the best as expected but we did what we had to do and returned back to the market. Spent a bit of time marvelling at the toys in a toy store selling a variety of mini blocks before walking back towards the entrance where we met the driver. It was then already 830pm.

The rest of the journey back was smooth after an initial jam near the market and we arrived at about 930pm. Paid the driver 2500baht for his additional hour although he wasn’t going to charge and we went back to the room.

K had fun with his jigsaw while I packed the tub with water and we tested whatever we bought and were satisfied with the purchases. The swimming vest was initially having an issue with keeping the air in as the stopper kept popping out but I fixed it.

We spent some time at the tub, then it was straight to bed. There was a pee spillover from the K’s diapers which resulted in a PJ change before finally going off the dreamland.

Phuket 2019 Day 1 – Arrival into Phuket and check into resort

Posted on August 9, 2019June 4, 2020 by ziyi

It was a super long weekend we decided that we wanted to spend it away in Phuket. Our flight was in the afternoon of the National Day holiday and thus it was an easy start to a trip without the rush in the morning.

We left home at about 1115 as my dad drove us to Changi. Without any much traffic on the roads, we made it easily to check in at Terminal 2 for our SilkAir flight just before noon. Pretty familiar with the self service machine, we dropped off our one and only big luggage at the automated gate (and K was just intrigued with it) and went through immigration.

The plane took off soon enough and the flight was pretty ok, though there were about 2 short periods of turbulence. Lunch was served for the children first and K had his meal of sweet and sour chicken with rice. This was a simple set without the bun that SQ normally have and mommy was disappointed with the simple affair.

Ours came much later and without a choice so we had the same thing that K had. By then K was already done with his food and was busy with Tom and Jerry cartoon on my hand phone that was linked to the aircraft entertainment system.

Shortly after our lunch, the plane was already descending into a cloudy and misty Phuket. We were forewarned about the bad weather online and true enough, it was dampening sight looking out of the window.

The immigration had a short line but K had to visit the toilet first so mommy went to queue. By the time we returned, mommy was already at the start of the line and we cleared immigrations promptly.

I met a colleague and his family on the same flight at the luggage belt (of all places) and after some quick exchanges and a selfie, we went our separate ways for our holidays.

Tried asking the car rental companies only to find that all of them were fully booked out. So we took the exit on the left and found 2 yellow stands offering taxi. Approached the busier one and was offered 1000baht (SGD50) based on their map with standard rates. Paid and left for a private sedan. While in the car, we thought we might have taken the more expensive option and should have checked around first since the distance didn’t seemed too far off.

Line of car rental companies but no car for rent

We arrived into a Renaissance Phuket after going through a portion of small roads. The reception area was beautifully designed and brightly lit and stood out in the gloomy weather. We were given some drinks and towels to freshen up as mommy went through the check in while K and me chilled. From there we saw a kids pool area with Dino design but we couldn’t really go there currently with the drizzle nor the clubhouse which the staff informed that getting there would need us to cross a path in the open.

We went to the restaurant below to get free ice cream as K was given a wristband that would entitle him to one ice cream every afternoon (from 3pm-5pm) since the room wasn’t ready yet. While at the restaurant, mommy ordered some spring rolls to munch on. It was served soon after an initial bread appetizer with olive oil and peanut crumbs, which we thought tasted pretty good.

At Loca Vore restaurant to get ice cream

While sitting along the outside of the restaurant, we saw tiny frogs hopping around. One girl was shocked to see them and yelped while passing by. I wouldn’t have noticed as well if not for her.

tiny frog! So tiny you can unknowingly squash them

Went back to the reception to collect our keys and proceeded to the room via a buggy. It seemed like a long journey as the buggy went through a tiny curvy road and then travel alongside the building. Got off and took the lift to the top floor (3 floors). Opening the door revealed a big and beautiful room that came with a balcony -I was already liking it.

Chilled in the room for a long time, as much as it took the rain to drizzle. K had quite a bit of screen time while I fell asleep on the comfortable bed.

When I woke up, K was just finishing his cartoons and asked to be bathed in the tub. We spend some time there as well before getting out of the room for dinner.

The rain had stopped and we thought we would walk to the beach. We managed to see the swimming pool and 2 restaurants in a single building but on different floors but didn’t get to the beach as it was dark.

Went to the Takieng on the 2nd floor but was advised that it was fully booked and we had to wait if interested to have their Thai cuisine. However they also adviced us to dine at the Sand box below as they could deliver the food there too. So without much of a choice, we went downstairs and sat at the more casual Sand box, that had a sandy beach floor.

Ordered dinner consisting of nuggets and fries for K, mommy had a curry and duck with rice and I ordered a Margarita pizza to share with K. With the inclusion of one passion fruit drink, the entire dinner was about 1500baht. The food was good, as the nuggets were huge and tasted like they made it by themselves, pizza was baked in a flame kiln and Thai food was spicy.

We took a walk after the filling dinner and found out where the kids club was which was closed for the night, the kids pool which looked pretty fun and came with a slide and the way back to reception which now didn’t seem so far.

Back at the room when we prepared for the night, I came to a shocked realization that I had forgotten to pack K’s diapers! Called the reception and they advised to try find them in the coffee shop next to the gym and thus I went there quickly. There was a mini store inside the coffee shop but I only found medium sizes. The staff there advised that I should take the hotel shuttle to 7-11. I could make the trip at 9pm and still make it back before the last one at 950pm.

Went to the lobby and waited for the shuttle which was a small pickup with the back modified into a passenger seating area. Was dropped off at 7-11 at a building with 2 floors next to Turtle Village and I was glad to find XL sizes there under Mamypoko brand, something that I was familiar with back in Singapore, all for about 330baht.

Bought milk and yoghurt too and proceeded to walk to Mai Khao Plaza just a minute walk away to get on the same transport back. The plaza which was brightly lit seemed to have more restaurants and some shops but I didn’t have any time to explore and the annoying drizzle was back.

Heading towards brightly lit Mai Khao Plaza

Mai Khao Plaza, shuttle pick up point just next to the sign

A short 5mins ride and soon I was back at the hotel. Returned to the room to find mommy reading K some books. Got through the night routine and soon, everyone was in bed. I went for my bath after everyone dozed off and went to bed soon after, ending an uneventful first day in Phuket.

Escape Plan to Phuket August 2019

Posted on August 8, 2019June 23, 2020 by ziyi

A brief summary on the itinerary

Escape Plan to Phuket:

Total duration 5D4N
Singapore is 1hr ahead of Phuket.
Flight time is 1hrs 50mins on Silkair from Singapore to Phuket. Return flight is 4hrs 45mins on China Airlines from Taipei to Singapore.

Morning flight on 9th Aug at 120pm and arrival in Phuket in the afternoon at 210pm. Return flight from
Phuket on the 13th Jun at 1145am and arrival in Singapore at 220pm.

Day 1 Arrival into Phuket and check into resort
Day 2 Phuket Aquarium, Upside-Down house and Chaofa Variety night market
Day 3 Dinopark mini-golf, Weekend market and Jungceylon
Day 4 Splash Jungle waterpark and Mai Khao village
Day 5 Home Sweet Home

This escape plan was to utilise the National day and Haji super long weekend for a short getaway to somewhere close to home. Since we hadn’t really been to Phuket, we thought it would be a good time to do so.

Budget nature: Comparatively costly

Comparative to other parts of Thailand, I thought it was rather costly to visit Phuket. The flights were obviously expensive since due to the long weekend but we reduced the costs by claiming expiring miles for the flight there and paying for the return on a day after the long weekend. Our transportation could have been cheaper if we booked through Klook or negotiated with the driver more. We spent more than $700 cash than we bought for the 5 days.

Complexity: Easy

It was easy since most of the transportation was taken care of with a chartered driver. It could have been difficult had we been able to get our own car as we realised while in the taxi that it was quite challenging to drive in the chaotic traffic especially in town.