Wrapping Up: Reliving Memories

I know I haven't really wrapped up my Phuket experience story. I need to wrap it up now so I can post more about my upcoming travel. To climb Mt. Kinabalu in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, East Malaysia. And so... to make the long story short, I'm gonna make a summary of my recent trip to Phuket with hubby. It was an 8-day trip... which we really enjoyed because we didn't have to rush up in going places and reliving moments.

We took a 10-hour bus ride. The peak season made it 12 hours. We were stuck in the borders because there were a lot of people going out of Malaysia and coming to Thailand. We reached Hatyai only at 10:30 am. We went straight to buy tickets for Phuket. But since we have appointment to have breakfast with friends, we didn't wanna rush our trip to Phuket and so we bought Van tickets instead which cost us 400 Baht per person. By traveling in a van, we cut our trip shorter from 8 hours to 6 hours.

When we reached Phuket, it was already 6 pm. There's no more public jeep (they call it song taew) operating so we took a tuktuk ride that cost us 200 Baht to Ao Chalong. We decided to stay there coz we were planning to go to Racha Island. We stayed in a very cheap inn called Ao Chalong Mansion for 350 Baht, with aircon and bathroom with water heater. Not bad, hey? We also had a romantic dinner by the beach.

The next day, we went to Racha Island by speed boat. Speed boat usually costs 1500 Baht per person but when we tried to look around some more, there was one travel agent that gave us 1000 Baht per person. That would include going there and coming back. So each trip cost us 500 Baht per person.

We stayed at Raya Family Resort because that was the cheapest resort in Raya Island. We got a small bungalow that cost us 1,000Baht per night. The food they served was very good. The only thing is... it's more expensive compared to the food in Phuket. But of course, it's an island.. they have to compensate for the transportation cost as well. One thing that amazed me was that there was a high-speed internet available in the island! I used internet once coz I needed to check for my assignments due date.

One of the highlights of the Raya Island trip was seeing an octopus while snorkeling. It was an awesome (and yet scary) sight! We could actually see beautiful fish within 1 meter of the beach... but hubby and I decided to go deeper. And I was intrigued to see a couple of snorkelers following something. I followed them as well... and I was glad I did. There, among the rocks, was an octopus sliding gracefully on the rocks. It was different seeing an octopus in an aquarium. And when you see it swimming with you in the ocean, it's another story! I think it sensed some people following him... so it hid behind the rocks later. I swam back to the sand and hubby followed me... and we were laughing in awe because we saw an octopus... LIVE! We went back there later to see if we can see it again... but we were disappointed. Sometimes, it helps when yo go the extra mile... go deeper. That's when you get a totally awesome experience. Of course, we didn't have an underwater camera. So we were not able to capture it. But this I'm sure... seeing an octopus gliding among the rocks was captured in our memories and it will stay there for a long long time.

Spent a lot of time reading and doing reflections with hubby. We did one thing that we normally don't do together as a couple. We rose up at 5 am and went to the other side of the island to see the sunrise at the beach. Totally awesome. God is great!

We stayed in Raya Island for 3days/2 nights. After that, we went back to Phuket, met some friends, visited some landmarks like Promthep cape, Kata Hillview where you can see the long stretches of 3 beaches (Patong beach, Kata beach, Karon beach). A friend lent us his Honda Jazz car, barely a year old. It was a totally beautiful vacation. We didn't do a lot of shopping though. Just bought some things for the kids (shirt for the boy and his cousins and a pair of two-piece swimsuit for my girl). But one thing we did that was totally gluttony delicious was to eat the Thai Food that was in our list (Thai Food to eat while in Phuket).

We were in Phuket on the 31st of December... Patong beach is the most happening of all places to be at for New Year. So we went there... stuck in the jam for 1 hour... managed to get to Patong by 12mn. And so... on the New Year's eve of 2009, hubby and I were in Patong beach, watching the grand fireworks that lasted for an hour.

We took a bus to hatyai the next day, on the 1st of January. Stayed in Regency hotel when we reached Hatyai at 4am. We only stayed until 12:00nn. We then went out for lunch and met friends again. Took a night bus to KL on the 2nd of January and reached KL on the 3rd morning.

The kids were not at home then. My parents-in-law sent them in the afternoon and was dismayed to see my girl with a very short hair. Why do we need to pay a price for every nice thing we do?

Nevertheless, I am thankful to God for giving us a good long break. I came back renewed and refreshed, ready to do my tasks again. I found myself to be a better me, a better parent and a better wife.

Now I am ready to climb a mountain. That would be my next episode: A Quest.