Up Close and Personal with Koh Phi Phi

Six days in Phi Phi Islands gave me enough time to feel the heart beat of the island. I started to enjoy the relaxed vibe in the morning and afternoon, when people ran to the beach to get as much tanned as they could; chatting or at least smiling at the people at the dive centers who try hard to get new customers; making friend with the cashier at the internet café where I spent at least half hour to check my email, blog and facebook (yes, I’m still addicted to facebook!); chatting with the waiter of the café where I had breakfast in the morning - sitting on one of the umbrella chairs facing the beautiful view of the limestone cliffs and spent the next two hours writing my travel journal; trying different Thai dishes at local restaurants; having drinks with my dive buddies in the evenings; and of course… sunbathing on the beaches on the days I didn’t dive ;)

The island reminded me a bit of Mykonos Island in Greece. Why? Both islands have the same party vibe combined with beautiful beaches. Plus, most of the tourists on these islands are young people, around 20 to 37 years old. The type of tourists here is different with the one in Phuket (either sleezy old guys or families). Thus, I love Koh Phi Phi. Young people everywhere. Plus, there are a lot of hotties ;), good looking, beautiful and fashionable people! Oh la laaaa...

Ok.. enough talking about gorgeous people. Now let's talk about... food!!! Hmm... Thai food is famous among food lovers. It has rich flavors and some of the dishes are spicy for Western standard (not for Indonesian standard!). One of the best restaurants in the island is "Papaya". It's everyone's favorite! Why? The food is delicious, huge portion (1 dish can be shared to 2 persons, really!) and it's cheap (50 Baht/portion - in average)!

One tip: if you want to try Papaya's food, come a bit early... before 7pm, because if you arrived after 7pm, there would be a long queue outside!
If you passed by this resto, you might not notice that it's one of the most popular restos in the island. In terms of interior and exterior, it's far from fancy and stylish! Wooden table, plastic chairs, no modern and minimalist decoration whatsoever. It proves that... when the food is good, no matter how simple the restaurant's look, people will come anyway!

And oh... when you're here... have a look at the fridge. You might find two fat cats sleeping comfortably inside, in between the bottles of beers! Haha... Seriously. Am not joking. Apparently, the fridge is their favorite place to chill and relax. Hilarious!!! They must be European cats.. Thailand is definitely too hot for them! Hahahaha...

For those who love to drink and party, don't worry, there are plenty of bars on this island. These bars are located either on the main road or in the small alleys. Apart from Carpe Diem, here are the popular bars that Leonardo DiCaprio might hangout when he's here: (hehe.. joking!)

- Breakers : it looks like a European bar, from the interior. Mostly Westerners here. You'll get discount if you come here with the people from the dive centers!

- Tiger Bar & Rolling Stones. The latter offers a live band (not every night, tho)

- Reggae Bar: always crowded, every night! It's popular for the Thai Boxing show. In the center of the bar, there's a boxing court in which they perform a fake Thai boxing. The Thai boxers are skinny! Really! :D The funny part is... after the fake Thai boxing performance, the bar offers free buckets for tourists who want to be volunteers for the next show. Of course the volunteer won't fight with the Thai boxer, instead... it will be tourist vs tourist! For most people, this is the most interesting part of the night, because usually the volunteers end up punching each other seriously. People get very excited during this part of the night. Wow. I was wondering, why would people do it only for a free bucket or two, while they're risking their jaw or might lose their teeth on their holiday??

- Hippies Bar: nice bar and restaurant. It offers fire shows as well. The music gets very loud at night. I could even hear it from my resort. It turns into a club and they throw a beach party now and then.

- Deco Bar: a popular bar among divers. Mostly divers hangout here.. and they offer a special price for students of Phi Phi Scuba dive center. How come? Well... it's pretty obvious by judging the location of the bar which is right on top of the Phi Phi Scuba!
I like this bar. It has a friendly vibe and it seems everybody knows everybody. Well, it's a small island, anyway. Even I know some of the faces there! :p

- Apache Bar and Ibiza Bar: both throw beach party at night. Apache bar has a beachfront resto, nice, wooden interior. Ibiza Bar is very messy during the night.

Oh, what else to do here apart from sunbathing, scuba-diving, swimming, islands hopping and partying? There's nothing better than pampering yourself in a massage parlour! Try the Thai massage... it'll release all the tensions and the sore of your muscles ;). You can find the massage place in almost every 10 meters on this island. They're simply everywhere! Some of them even open until 11pm. Woohoooo! ;D

Koh Phi Phi will always have a place in my heart. The beaches, the limestone cliffs, the yellow frog fish ;), also the people. I had such a great time, even more when I was already familiar with the people (mostly divers) there. It's a fun place to be. A party island with beautiful scenery... on the surface and underwater! A perfect place to go for young people. But also, a romantic place to be for couples. And I have to admit that I felt sad to leave this beautiful island... :'(

Where's the shark?

Thailand: (January 10th, 2009)

On my last day in Koh Phi Phi, I woke up at 5.50 am! Can you believe it? That's because I had to be at the Adventure Dive center by 6.15am. What for? I booked myself for a "Shark Watch" trip at the Shark Point, just across the Long Beach in Koh Phi Phi.

Josh, the "snorkel master" said, "100% guarantee you'll see many black tip reef sharks!". That's why I was willing to wake up so early. Couldn't miss the opportunity to see sharks!

There were 3 other people joined this "Shark Watch" trip. The dive center provided everything: snorkel, wetsuit and fins (for 800 Baht, all in). We took a long-tail boat to get there. Damn it was cold! Josh had a long wet suit, while I wore a short one. I left my own wet suit at the hotel to dry it up as I was leaving for Koh Lanta on the same day. Seeing Josh putting on his long wet-suit, I got so jealous, "I wish I brought mine! The water must be cold!!"

Before we jumped into the water, Josh shared the rules:

- When finning, don't make any bubbles as those bubbles will scare the sharks away. So, the fins shouldn't be sticking out to the surface

- Be quiet, don't move so much, especially in the shark area

It was very shallow, though. Around 3 meters depth, max. I saw 3 baby black tip reef sharks that morning, only one of them is 1 meter long, the rests are still babies, I think. Josh saw more coz he kept on pointing on something, many times.. but I didn't see anything! "Where are the sharks???"

It was amazing what Josh did. Sometimes he had to hold his breath to swim to the bottom to attract the sharks to come. According to him, the sharks sometimes are curious and will come to check him out. What a job, huh??! Even though black tip reef sharks are timid, but still... what if they decided to play around and feel like tasting a bit of human flesh? :p

We went back to the dive center, had a cup of tea and chatted for a while. People passed by and I recognized some of them. Wow! I was only here for a few days but I started to know people??! That explains how tiny the island is!

Even though today's shark expedition wasn't that successful, I had a good time and learned something new (the art of snorkeling and attracting the sharks, that is!). Plus, I got a chance to enjoy the sunrise in Phi Phi! ^-^ Lovely...

How to choose a scuba-dive center?

Sometimes, it's hard to choose a dive center when there are so many of them in an island. Too much options can be confusing! :D

During my trip in Thailand, some islands have more than 20 dive centers. In Phi Phi, there are around 22 dive centers, while Koh Tao has more than 40 dive centers! The next question is: "How to choose the best one?" Well, it's tough. As for me, I usually read some recommendations from the guide book first, then walk around and talk to some people in the dive centers. Here are some of the questions I usually ask, assuming each dive center has the same facility:

1. The schedule for the next day: which dive spots? --> Normally, I already know which spots I'd love to see. Plus, I can always ask for further info on certain dive spots at the dive center. After knowing the schedule of each dive center, I usually match it with my own interest. Which dive spots I'd love to go.
2. 
   
3. How many people in one group? --> I prefer 3-4 people max in one group. Too many people in one group means you'll get less attention from the dive master.
4. 
   
5. How many people will be on the boat? --> I prefer smaller group, again. Too many people on one boat means chaotic! It's always nicer to have more space :)
6. 
   
7. How do they divide the group? --> If the dive center put the more experienced divers in one group and the new divers in the other group, then it's better. But sometimes if there aren't enough people, they'll just put the experienced and new divers in one group.
   
8. 
   
9. How experienced are the dive masters? How long have they been living in the island? --> It comes handy to have a dive master who has been living in the island for quite sometime. It means, he/she knows exactly where the ornate ghost pipe fish is hiding, where the pygmy seahorses can be found, etc etc. Plus, a more experienced dive master would not make us swim against the current! :D Instead, he'll know exactly where he should take us, so that we don't need to swim against it... instead.. we just follow it :).

Personally, I prefer to dive in a smaller group. It's nicer and more relaxing. Plus... there's more space to sunbath on the boat! ;) Perfect!

Phi Phi Islands, Underwater!

Thailand: (January 8th & 9th, 2009)

It's time to explore Phi Phi Islands from underwater! Woohoooo..

I dedicated two days to scuba-dive in Phi Phi. There are a number of dive spots here. Some of them are easier to reach from Koh Lanta or Phuket, but some of them are just a stone throw away. After walking around and talking to some dive centers on the island, I decided to dive with "Island Diver". It's the second biggest dive center in Koh Phi Phi and they had the schedule to go to King Cruiser Wreck on the following day, which matched with my plan.

King Cruiser Wreck can be reached from Phuket, too due to its location which is in between Phuket and Koh Phi Phi. So, it's up to you whether you want to do it from Phuket or Phi Phi :)
The wreck itself is located on the sandy bottom at 30 meters depth, however, the top of the wreck is now at 15 meters depth. The "King Cruiser" ferry sank in 1997, therefore, the condition of the wreck itself was still good. Even the toilet seats are still there in an almost perfect condition!

When I was there, the visibility was around 10-12 meters and our max depth was 27.1 meters. No current. Some of the fish I saw: lion fish, ring angelfish, moray eels and some other usual suspects. Nothing special, really. But I managed to spot a nudibranch's egg :) Always love them! In terms of wreck dive, I particularly love it coz usually there are a numbers of fish around the wreck. Schools of them. It feels very nice to be surrounded by them and see thousands of fish swimming in circle in front of me :).

My dive computer showed 32 minutes of bottom time when the dive master gave a signal to go up. "What??? So soon??", I thought. I looked at the gauge, I still had 110 bars in my tank!
"What the hell?". Apparently, one of the divers in our group was running out of air. On the surface, I found out that he only had 10 bars left!!! Wow!! That was close, huh?

After the shortest dive in my life, we went to the Shark Point (Hin Musang). There are 2 Shark Points in Phi Phi. So, don't mix up. The first Shark Point is nearest to the island, while the other Shark Point is nearer to Phuket. So, this time, I went to the latter one. Dive centers usually combined Shark Point and Anemone Reef in one trip. These two pinnacles are located approximately 25 kilometres east of Chalong Bay in Phuket.
The visibility was around 15 meters. I saw white eyes moray eel, porcelain crab, lizard fish, batfish, barracudas, emperor angelfish, red-tailed butterfly fish, and a school of soldier fish sleeping peacefully... they didn't move! :)

Anemone Reef was our next destination. As one might guess from the name, this dive site has a huge number of anemones that cover the reef. It was an easy dive. No current, beautiful anemones that could be seen at 4-7 meters at the shallowest part. In short, one could dive here for the longest time to enjoy the different colors of anemones, clown fish, shrimps and porcelain crabs :). A lot of soft corals and sea fans here."Very pretty"... I wrote in my dive log.
We dove for 47 minutes with the maximum depth at 18.9 meters and I still had 110 bars left in my tank when we went up :) That is one of the advantages of being a petite girl. Ha!

The next day, I decided to dive with "Phi Phi Scuba" center. It's the biggest dive center in the island. They have more experienced staffs. Some of the dive masters have been living in Phi Phi for at least 1 year and these guys dive everyday. Some of them even have been around for 3 years or more! Somehow I felt safer diving with them. They're nice people, too. So much fun. Most of them are Westerners, only 1 Thai dive master. I reckoned that there aren't many dive masters in Thailand. Some of them admitted it. They said they're having a language barrier. Not all Thai speak English very well, while all the dive master courses and tests are conducted in English. Tur, a Thai dive master whom I met in Similan Islands, said, "It was very difficult for me to study all the theories in English. My English isn't that good".
What a pity. I think it would be nice to have local dive masters as these guys tend to stay in Thailand forever, thus, they would know each dive spot by heart, just like Sing - my Thai dive master in Similan Islands.

We dove in Bida Nok. It's a part of national park, located in Phi Phi Leh. There's another dive spot called Bida Nai. Usually dive centers have daily schedule to go to these two spots.
The visibility was 15 meters. Some of the marine life I saw: a 2.5 meters leopard shark who was sleeping on the sand, quietly; cuttle fish; a small yellow box fish (very cute!); flutefish; giant clam and of course the usual suspects, such as moray idols, angel fish, parrotfish, sweetlips, goatfish, etc. I saw a parrot fish eating a mussel, then he threw it out again! :D "Not my kinda food", he thought, maybe :p.
When we did our safety stop, we saw a 2 meters of black tip reef shark swimming around. The shark is kinda fat :D. Maybe he ate too much.

The second dive site was Malong Bay, also located in Phi Phi Leh. This dive site is famous for having a lot of turtles. I saw a few of hawk turtles. So, for turtles lovers, u've gotta dive here :). Apart from turtles, we saw juvenile harlequeen sweetlips (yep, this species can't stop dancing around! so cute!!!), 2 seahorses - up to 10cm, bubble corals, a purple pipefish, nudibranch, cone, titan triggerfish (ok.. ok... they're pretty common in SE Asia) and... a striking yellow frog fish!!! ;D I loveeee the frogfish! Its yellow color is so bright, making it easy to recognize. He seemed didn't care, tho :p. The visibility was around 15 meters, too.

Koh Phi Phi isn't only beautiful from the surface, but apparently it also has a beautiful marine life. However, if I may suggest, if one wanted to dive in Thailand, choose Similan Islands as your last destination to dive... coz it's simply the best in Thailand. As for me, after diving in Similan Islands, other dive spots in some other islands in the country look just ordinary... but hey, it's just my personal opinion. Then again, scuba-diving is about personal preferences, don't you think? ;) As some divers say, "Every dive is different. Even if you dive at the same dive spot, you might see different things". I agree.

A Boat Trip in Phi Phi Islands: Worth to Try?

If you had enough time in Koh Phi Phi (Koh means island), then I would recommend you to do a boat trip around the surrounding islands. It might be the most touristy thing to do, but believe me... you'd enjoy it :). You can either rent a boat for yourself or join the others. If you don’t want to spend that much money, then you can buy the ticket of the boat trip from any tour agents in the island. They will offer you a half-day trip or full day trip. Both trips include snorkeling in several spots and visiting some small islands nearby. I chose the full day one as I didn’t like to rush, not when I’m on holiday ;).

My boat was pretty full with around 12 people on the long-tail boat. Most of them were Italians, including a little girl named Isabella. She’s such a sweetheart! She has a long curly brunette hair and always got excited every time our boat hits the wave. Too bad my Italian friend has gone back to Singapore, otherwise he’ll enjoy meeting his fellows from his home country! As for me, I always feel happy if I traveled and bumped into another Indonesians during my trip. Too bad that doesn’t happen too often :(. I wonder why??

Anyway, our first stop was at Shark Point. This spot supposedly has a lot of black tip reef sharks, but none of us saw any that day. After spending around 45 minutes snorkeling, we left for Bamboo Island and Monkey Island to embrace the beauty of their white sand beaches. Both islands are breathtaking! Loved ‘em! A simple vegetarian Thai fried rice served in a stereo-foam box made my stomach happy, while my eyes were entertained with miles of turquoise water before me. Walking down to the other end of the beach, I was stunned with the different colors of the sea water. Turquoise, green, turquoise again, then dark blue… it looked like a glass of cocktail which comes in different layers of liquor! :D
Several colorful long-tail boats parked on the beach, while a few numbers of young tourists were sitting under the shade of a tree, enjoying the beautiful view that the nature has offered to them that day…

On the way to Phi Phi Leh, we passed the Viking Cave, but I wasn’t too impressed with it. It would be more interesting if we could get in.. or maybe I was disappointed coz I had an imagination of me being on the boat in a dark cave with lots of bats flying around above me and their sounds echoing in a total darkness.
Phi Phi Leh easily made me forgot about the Viking Cave. The lagoon was amazing, surrounded with numbers of limestone cliffs, the view got even better in the afternoon with the sun shining the cliffs and giving them a golden touch. Very pretty. Snorkeling there was nice, too. I could even see schools of fish from the boat as the water was very clear! :)

As you might know, Phi Phi Islands got more popular after the Hollywood released the movie called "The Beach", starring the handsome Leonardo Di Caprio. Nowadays, almost everyone wanted to see this beach when one has the chance to go to this island. As a result, the famous Maya Beach (Ao Maya) is always busy. A friend warned me, "Nila... you wouldn't like the beach. It's full of people. When I was there yesterday, there were around 200 hundreds people laying on the beach!". I was prepared to see a bunch of tourists with their bikinis and shorts when my boat reached there. And.. guess what... I was sooooo lucky! There were only a few tourists there... yayyy!!! Probably because it was already in the afternoon...
Sitting there, I realized why the movie was taken place on this beach. It's simply beautiful. The sand is white and as soft as powder, the water is crystal clear plus the view of limestone cliffs few hundreds meters away make the whole landscape a picture perfect! A breathtaking view, that is. I think it's definitely the prettiest beach in Phi Phi Islands.

The Italians gang couldn't wait a minute to run to the turquoise water. I bet they tried hard to forget that it would be winter time when this holiday ended. Even Isabelle, the cute Italian girl, swam happily. She then came to me and gave me a flower, "For you", she said in Italian. Oowwhh... how cute!!! I got a flower from a little angel.. :)

After spending around 1.5 hours on Maya Beach, we had to head back to Phi Phi Don. On the way back, the sun started to set down... the sea was calm, the sea breeze whispered softly, we enjoyed the beautiful view of the sunset quietly. None of us spoke any word... we were all hypnotized by the sun and the sea!

Another beautiful day in Phi Phi Islands... I smiled.

"Phiiiin Phiiiin" in Phi Phi Islands

Thailand: (January 5th – 10th, 2009)

White sand beaches… crystal clear water… beautiful limestone cliffs… what a paradise island! Koh Phi Phi (Koh means island) is definitely an island that can easily steal many hearts…

“Phin… phiiiinnn!!!”. That was the first thing I heard when I landed on the island. Before I knew it, a wooden carriage almost hit me! What the hell??!! That’s the situation at the pier. Busy. A lot of people walking around with their heavy suitcases, some locals pull carriages and try to warn other people to clear the street by yelling, “Phin phiiiiinnnnnn!!” (it’s supposed to copy a car’s honking sound. I guess, for Phi Phi’ers, that’s how it sounds :D).

I took a long-tail boat to go to the Andaman Resort. It’s actually a walking distance, but since I didn’t book a room yet, there was no one from the resort picked me up at the pier… and carrying a suitcase plus a dive gear bag were just too troublesome for me. It’s a holiday. It’s supposed to be easy and relaxing ;).

I met up with my Italian friend who happened to be in the island as well. We spent the whole day chilling at Long Beach, in which can be accessed by chartering a long-tail boat, too with the fee of 100 Baht/person/one way. It’s a less busy beach and the water is nice for swimming. The scenery? Lovely. Every beach on this island has breathtaking landscape. Really. Swimming, sunbathing, eating, drinking and sunbathing again until we fell asleep on the white sand beach. What a relaxing holiday!

When the night came, I checked out the night scene. Carpe Diem is one of the coolest bars located just across my resort. It has a fireman show every evening. Two of them are very skillful, but the most impressive one is a young girl, around 7 years old and a little boy, around 5 years old, who are able to play around with the fire sticks! Wowww…. These kids got so much applause from the tourists. I wonder how long they practiced until they’re able to carry such a show!

My Italian friend showed me the night life in the heart of the island. Omigod. I didn’t expect that it was actually very crowded in the downtown area! A lot of tourists and backpackers in this area. I found it a bit chaotic. There, I realized that this place is very touristy! However, the whole island has a nice vibe. It’s touristy but not sleezy, if you know what I mean. The type of travelers who come here is different with the ones in Phuket. I felt safe here… and I didn’t really see any sleezy guys and working girls around. It’s all good ☺.

The downtown area is full with souvenir shops, bars, restaurants, dive centers and travel agents shops. We walked around, going from one alley to another until we ended up at a beach party with a lot of people dancing on the beach, a dj playing high volume of dance music at the corner, some tourists dancing on the “stage” at the center of the so-called dance floor (if we can call it a dance floor) and a bar that was always full with thirsty tourists. This place is called the Ibiza Bar. And I was happy to find that they have a brand of vodka that’s familiar to me here (Absolut, that is… it’s pretty rare in the island. Forget about Greygoose and Belvedere.. we’re lucky enough to find Absolut!). Most of the bars here use a local brand of vodka, which is called “Contessa”. And guess what… when I ordered 2 shots of Absolut vodka, the bartender just opened the sealed bottle! Hmm.. that explains they only serve the local vodka here! And.. of course I had to pay more from drinking a not-regular-vodka brand ;).

When the night comes, you will see a lot of tourists walking around carrying a bucket on their hands. Yep… that’s the most popular drink here. One can choose between vodka, rum, etc and as the mixer: tonic, soft drinks, etc. People love to drink from a bucket because it’s cheaper (starting from 180 to 340 Baht/bucket). While Contessa is the local brand of vodka, Samsong is the local brand for rum and that’s what you’ll get when ordering a bucket, most likely. Be prepared… it’s evil!!!
After two shots of vodka and two glasses of vodka soda, I was successfully tipsy that night. Hahaha.. Fortunately, I still could find the way back to the resort, even though those small alleys looked all the same when one’s tipsy! Hahaha…

That’s how I ended my first day in a paradise island on earth… with the house music beat still stuck in my head! :D

Sleazy Phuket

Thailand: (January 3rd - 5th, 2009)

Staying in Phuket for 3 days was more than enough for me. I wasn’t too impressed with the island, most probably because I stayed at the busiest and most touristy area, which is called Patong.

In my eyes, Patong is overcrowded with tourists. Old foreigners men walking with young Thai girls everywhere. The area reminds me of Pattaya, even though the one in Pattaya is worse. It’s sleazy. That’s my impression of this place.


The main entertainment road in Phuket is called Bangla or Song Soi. There are plenty of bars on each side of the street with local girls sitting around the bar, greeting the potential customers with their big smile. Most of the bars display pictures of the tourists on the wall, as if it was a wall of fame.
I walked down the street, observing my surrounding. It was four o’clock in the afternoon, yet, those girls on the bar were all ready to start their expedition of the day: accompanying the guests. And later in the evening, the bars got even more crowded. Prostitutes could be found in each corner of the place. Ugh. Luckily I was together with my diving group, otherwise, I wouldn’t feel safe walking there alone!

On Saturday night, we decided to go to the Ago Go Girl Bar. The bar has two floors. On the first floor, there’s a stage with some pole dancers dancing sexily on their undies, while on the second floor, there are two pool tables. My diving group decided to sit on the second floor and played pool here. I sat on the mezzanine, overlooking the pole dancers. Three girls were dancing flirtatiously, sometimes the bar staff slipped in some Thai Baht in their bra or undies while pointed at one or two tourists who sat on the sofa nearby the stage. The girl threw a smile before stepping down the stage and finally sat with the appointed tourist. As soon as a girl stepped down, there will be a new girl dancing on the stage. Aha.. that’s how it works!

Apart from experiencing the night life in the sleezy Phuket, I managed to visit a temple called the Golden Buddha Image. What makes this temple special? Unlike other temples in the country, this temple has a half-burried Buddha statue in the center of the temple. Story has it that years ago, there was a boy walking in the field with his buffalo. He tight the buffalo on a golden shrine which popped out of the field, then he went home. The next day, the boy died without any good explanation. His parents were all wondering. Then they went to the field and found that his buffalo was dead, too. Looking at the buffalo closely, they found the golden shrine and dig it to find out what was it. Then they realized that it was actually the shrine of a golden Buddha statue. A lot of people had been trying to dig the earth, so that they could see the whole statue, but some of them got sick or either died. They leave it as it is until today.

Birds chipping and the sound of the trees there reminded me that I should stay grounded. Quiet and peaceful. That’s how I remember the place. It’s totally different with Patong area, 30 minutes away by car from this peaceful temple. It’s nice to be away from the hustle and bustle of the city sometimes… and I think it’s good for the soul, too ;).

I packed my stuff and ready to leave the sleazy Phuket to go to one of the most beautiful islands in Thailand… guess where? ;)

Live Aboard Dive Trip in Similan Islands, Thailand

(December 30th, 2008 - January 3rd, 2009)

Imagine.... celebrating New Year's eve in the middle of the Andaman sea.. laying on the deck, looking up to the sky with beautiful fireworks above you... with nobody else around, apart from your dive buddies on that boat... mmm... it was definitely one of the most memorable new year's eves in my life.. :)

It was actually the beginning of my four-weeks Thailand trip and Similan Islands was definitely a good place to start the trip, to end the year of 2008 and to welcome 2009 :).

Similan Islands, literally means the Nine Islands is one of the best dive spots in Thailand. There are 9 islands in the area in which Thai people call them by numbers. Island No.1, 2 and 3 are forbidden for divers as the Thai government wants to protect the sea turtles who lay their eggs there. The Similan Islands is easy to access from Phuket and Khao Lak, however, if one wants to maximise his/her dive trip, it is recommendable to do a live aboard trip from Phuket or Khao Lak. As for me, I did a 4-days-live aboard trip with 14 dives in total. It was so much fun and the food... mmm... don't ask! Delicious. Full stop.

The first day on the "Wicked Witch" boat, all of us got seasick! Hahaha... seriously. I think, everyone threw up that night, including me, of course. We all slept quite early that night, hoping that we'd feel much better in the morning. It worked. The next few days, we were fine. There were 12 of us on that boat, exclude the crew from the "Sea King Divers" and we dove from one dive spot to another...

On my travel journal, I wrote:
"First day in 2009... and first dive of 2009... it was such a beautiful dive! Lots of big fish - sweetlips, jackfish, groupers, etc. I've never seen such big fish like those before. The trevally was close to 2 meters. Wow! And... I saw the biggest moray eel ever! It was as big as my thigh! I was so scared that it might bite me when I swam and took a picture above him :p"

Yes. The fish are HUGE there. And one could find oriental sweetlips, potato grouper, humphead parrotfish (1 meter long!), giant groupers, leopard sharks, manta rays, black tip sharks, etc etc. Apart from them, there are a lot of critters, too. I personally love nudibranchs. Here, I enjoyed taking pictures of different species of nudibranchs... omigod... they're soooo cute!!! My dive master, Sing, a local guy who has been diving for 15 years and log more than 15,000 dives (he claimed) was definitely the best dive master I've ever had. He knows his stuff. He could point out the smallest fish, nudi, shrimp, crab, etc.. you name it! Seriously. Diving with him was a whole new experience! Our group was so lucky to have him as the DM. Yeaaahhh!!!

We dove at Anita’s Reef (Island # 5-6), East of Eden – Koh Payu (Island #7), West of Eden – Koh Payu, Grandmother Bay (Island #9), Koh Bon, South Reef (Island #9), Turtle Rock (Island #8), Elephant Head Rock, Honeymoon Bay (Island #4), Shark Fin Reef and Boonsung Wreck.

Each dive was different and interesting. I personally love the giant sea fans in which could be found in almost every dive site. They’re lovely. In one of the spots, hard corals were scattered like a paddy field in the village. As far as one could see, hard corals stretched for miles away and hundreds of fish swimming above them. What an amazing view…

My favorite dive site is Shark Fin Reef. When we were there, the visibility was around 25 meters and there was no other diver, which was perfect. We saw a pregnant leopard shark laid comfortably on the sand. Leopard sharks are very common to be seen in Similan Islands. These friendly-looking sharks can be seen on the sandy bottom. Lazy sharks, they are ☺.

At the Boonsung Wreck, the visibility was poor, around 5 – 7 meters, but there were thousands of fish! Wonderful. Schools of yellow-tail barracudas swimming around me. It was such an amazing feeling to swim in between them! So cool! We also found an ornate ghost pipefish hiding in between corals. It’s so damn cute! I was so happy to see it. Yayyyy!!! Peter, a Thai diver, was the one who found it. I thanked him for having such good eyes as the ghost pipefish was less than 5cm!

In most of the dives, the water was choppy, so most of the time, we had to descend as soon as we jumped to the water. The hardest one was to go up to the boat. With such choppy water, omigod… it was damn difficult! I felt sorry for Sing, the dive master, for working hard to help us to get on the boat… and that includes taking off our fins in such big waves (that’s because we had such difficulties in taking off our fins, so he took the liberty to help us!)! Oh dear… Not to mention he has to make sure that all of us were safe and having a good dive. Hmm.. who says being a dive master is an easy job? It’s not.

During those four days in the Andaman Sea, we had a lot of “visitors”. A lot of fish came to say “hi” to us every time our boat stopped the engine. Even turtles played with us… as well as… baby sharks! I remember on one sunny day, there were 3 baby sharks playing around not far from our boat. Then, another boat came and stopped about 10 meters from our boat. A bunch of snorkelers jumped to the water, while we’re watching those baby sharks! Those snorkelers had no idea that there were baby sharks nearby! Hahaha… It’s either they’re happy to bump into those sharks or freak out and run into the boat right away! Haha..:D.

At the Elephant Rock, the other group saw a manta ray, but not my group. Oh well… we’re not lucky enough ☹. However, I really enjoyed the swim through in between the rocks. It was sensational. I felt like I was in a movie…. So cool! It was a nice dive site. People call it as an Elephant Rock coz the rock formations look like an elephant. I was too busy taking pictures of nudibranchs to notice the shape of the rocks. Maybe they’re right… ☺

I had such a great time diving at the Similan Islands with the Sea King Divers. The boat crews were all nice. Captain Pu, is an old friend of Sing, the dive master.. and he’s a diver, too! Sometimes he joined us diving. What a cool captain, he is! And the cook… you wouldn’t believe he’s a cook if you met him… he has a pirate-looking face with a headband on his head, just like a pirate. Scary-looking, but when he walks, his butt is sticking up and he’ll smile at you, gently. And once you taste his food… mmmhhh… am sure you’ll get addicted to it! Mr Wat, that’s his name. We all love him… and his tasty Thai dishes!!! Yuummmmm!!!

I will definitely come back to Similan Islands and will try to dive at the Richillieu Rock next time. This time our boat couldn’t make it due to the bad weather. That would be another reason to come back and dive here, right? ;)

Here are some of the pictures that I took in Similan Islands. More stories will be uploaded soon once I put them in writing. Too many good memories of the islands… the dives, the beautiful islands, the people, everything!
As I said, it was a good place to start 2009. And with such a good start, I hope this would be an amazing year and my days ahead would be full of adventures!
Have a good year, my dear friends! Kisses! xxx

Singapore Tourism Board's Wacky Weekend

vIt was such a sunny Saturday in Singapore when the colorful mini bus with “Uniquely Singapore” print on it picked me up in front of my apartment. That day I had a chance to accompany the winner of Singapore Tourism Board Wacky Weekend Contest 2009 to go around the city. The winner was allowed to bring 4 friends on this trip. Oh, how lucky to be her friends!

And guess what… the winner was actually my ex-colleague when I worked at a reputable PR firm in Jakarta! Hanny brought Nia, Dimas, Chika and Agung. Two of them (Nia and Dimas) were also my ex-colleagues at that firm. Agung, I knew him coz he’s a journalist, while I met Chika on the Pesta Blogger 2008 where I was invited as one of the guest speakers on how to promote tourism through blog. What a small world!

Our first destination was Arab Street. My favorite area in Singapore! I love Arab Street as it has such a unique vibe. Every time I go there, it feels like I’m in one of Middle Eastern cities. The place is far from the image of Singapore: skyscrapers, modern buildings, big shopping malls, etc. None of these things could be found in Arab Street. Instead, one will walk on small alleys with two-storey of old colonial houses on each side. Very nice .

Our first stop was to Istana Kampong Glam. It’s a former Malay palace in Singapore and now it has been converted into the Malay Heritage Center to show the history and culture of Singapore’s Malay community. Not far from the Istana Kampong Glam is Sultan Mosque, which located at Bussorah Street. Every time I go to Arab Street and meet up with friends, this mosque has always been the meet up point, because it’s so easy to find due to the size and its strategic location. There’s no way one will miss the mosque’s massive golden dome. Sultan Mosque is the largest mosque in Singapore.

Hanny and friends seemed to enjoy strolling down the street in front of the Sultan Mosque. A number of jewelry, clothing, souvenir and handicraft shops can be found there. And before I knew it, some of them had successfully carried shopping bags from the shops around! Wow! You girls were fast!!!

We went to Jalan Haji Lane, one of my favorite shopping areas in the city. Not a lot of people know about this street. Most of the people who come to Singapore always spend hours to shop in Orchard Road.. but actually, there are other places in the city to shop! One of them is this small alley. There are a lot of nice boutiques who sell vintage stuff, including accessories, cool designed t-shirts, summer dresses, sunglasses, etc. It’s highly recommended for youngsters who are into fashion and love funky stuff. Not only that, this street offers stylish furniture and home decorations, too! I can spend hours here, hopping from one boutique to another! Love it!

Bugis Village is another area in Singapore where young people spend their pennies to buy funky clothing and accessories. Everyone in the group got panicked here! They bought a lot of stuff for themselves and souvenirs for friends, such as bags, t-shirts, earrings, pins, etc. We spent two hours there and by the time we left the place, everyone carried a lot of shopping bags! Good job, guys! Dimas said with a big smile, “I didn’t expect we could bargain the price here!”

We had a late lunch due to the heavy shopping. Since all of us felt like having Indian food, we went to Pot Pourri restaurant for an excellent Indian taste. A set menu from appetizer and dessert made our stomach happily full! “Omigod… the naan is very tasty!”, Hanny commented. We all agreed. Not only the naan, we all were satisfied with our lunch meal today. Yuummm… and the dessert… omigod, the dessert… hmmm… it was one of the best chocolate mousse dessert I’ve ever had! The chocolate was very rich, yet soft in texture. Mmmmm…

As people say, “Visiting Singapore won’t be complete without shopping in Orchard Road”, all of us followed the “tradition”. Takashimaya was one of the shopping malls that we visited apart from Wheelock Place, where my favorite bookstore, Borders, is located. All of us continued our shopping frenzy. I think “shop til you drop” was our motto that afternoon.

When the sun has disappeared, we started to feel hungry. Secret Garden was the chosen restaurant to spoil our stomach that evening. Starting from salad and spring rolls as the appetizer, we continued to enjoy a different set of meals until dessert. Woah! I think we ate so much today. Seriously. I might have to swim for 2 hours to get all the calories burnt afterwards! Ha!

I personally enjoyed taking pictures of the huge windows and colorful door of the restaurant. As for the ambience, I think it’s perfect to go there with a partner as the place itself has a romantic vibe ;).

Saturday night in Singapore, where to go when one feels like dancing? I would say, Supperclub! It’s the newest club in town and it has become a place for the party-goers in town to “see and to be seen”. The club has two floors with long sofas and big white cushions here and there… making it a comfortable place to chill! It was the perfect spot to end the wacky weekend in Singapore… indeed! While Hanny and friends left the club earlier, I stayed there and continued dancing with my other friends… all night long! Wooohooo... it's party time!!!

A Traveler Thought

After spending 4 weeks (end of December - end of January 2009) traveling around the beaches in the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand, there's one thing that keeps tickling my mind.

I met a lot of interesting people during my trip. Some of them are tourists on a short trip, some of them are on a two months holiday, some of them are on a year holiday (!!!) and.. some of them are... the residents of the islands (meaning: they were on holiday, but they loved the island too much then decided to stay!)

I envy those travelers who are on a year holiday. Isn't it amazing to be able to travel for a whole year? Just traveling. Going from one island to another islands, one country to another countries. Countries hopping for a full year round. How cool is that? I want one, too!!!

And... I also envy those who decided to stay on the island in the middle of their trip. Some of them were planning to stay only for a few months, but ended up staying there already for a year, two years or even 5 years! That's a very brave decision, I must say.

Some of my friends say that I'm a free spirit person. But I think, am nothing compared to these people! Talking to them, I could tell how free their spirits are... and also their way of thinking. I find it interesting how someone can just decide to stay in one place in the middle of going somewhere, for forever??
At first, I thought, there must be only young people who do this kinda thing as they have all the time in the world. They don't really have to think of the career (as they're still young anyway!), family (come on.. if you're in your early twenties, would you think of settling down?), investing money (ok... forget about investment), etc.
But then I was wrong. Some of them aren't young anymore. Some of them are actually in their mid thirties, late 30s or even 40s. Hmm.. that make me feel better, to be honest! That makes me think that maybe I shouldn't really worry too much of all kinds of things. Investment? Who cares of investment. The investment industry isn't doing so well anyway this year. So, might as well use the money for something else. Something more fun. Like... ehmm... living in an island, perhaps? ;)
Family? I personally believe that everyone has to be responsible for their own lives. I have the tendency to worry too much of my family (read: mum and brothers). But I think, all of them are grown-up people and all warriors have their own war to fight for. Right? So, I also have my own and shouldn't worry too much of the others.

And now... the thought of living in an island always running around my head these days. Taking up the dive master course, then living in an island, somewhere, for a year... must be nice, huh? There's nothing wrong for taking a 1 year break, I keep on telling myself as I've never done it. In my country, there are not many people taking a loooong break only for traveling. Being one of the citizens who live in the capital of the 5th most populated country in the world, one could become so competitive, in which "spending" a few months for doing "nothing" would be considered as a "waste" of time by the society!
But I have a different way of thinking. It's definitely not a waste of time. In fact, a person can learn a lot from traveling. Learn from other people, other culture, the nature. That's why I love to travel so much. Can't get enough of it!

Hmm... so.. shall I take a year break and live in my chosen island? ... *tempted... tempted*!
(ps: i already know which island I want to live in for my break... can u guess?) ;)