Showing posts with label travelling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travelling. Show all posts

Monday, 18 March 2013

Thailand - Koh Phangan and Koh Samui

Day 5
We headed on a plane over to Koh Samui and then a boat to Koh Phangang were our little bungalows were literally on the beach.

Leela Beach was beautiful and deserted and we instantly felt relaxed at this place.. we will definitely be returning back there.
 

 

Night 5
Probably one of the craziest parties I have ever been to.... definitely the best pool party ever!!!
It was raining all night, but we didn't care - we were swimming all night anyways! Many buckets were consumed, I ended up in a not so attractive state and my girl had to go the hospital after she stood on half of a glass bottle, she had to get stitches and was a bit bummed... but she didn't let it ruin her holiday.
 
 
Who's had too much to drink? hehe
 
Day and Night 6
NOONE is in a state to do anything. On this day our biggest achievement was making it to the beach in front of our bungalow and eating. Both we did well though. :)
 
Puppy living at our Bungalows

Day 7
Elephant Trekking!!!
 
 

Night 7
Full Moon Party! THE. BEST. PARTY. EVER.

I'll let the photos do the talking....
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Day 8
We caught the boat back to Koh Samui and while we were all extremely hungover, we knew our time was almost up so we still made the most of the day and went exploring. At night time there was a beach party at our resort, but none of us had the strength to do anything more than one cocktail.
 
 
Pool/Beach party
 

 
No makeup shot

 
 Day 9- Final Day
This resort (The Secret Cliff) was absolutely amazing! I wish I had another week here just to relax and get back my strength/energy...
 
 
Final breakfast
 
 
Last supper and Last cocktail :(

 

Friday, 15 March 2013

Thailand- Phuket

Ahhhh Thailand... the land of smiles, and there is no doubt in my wind as to why.. the beautiful beaches, the daily massages, foot scrubs, facials and anything else nice you can do for your body, the shopping, the drinking by the bucket load and of course the partying!

As much as I love Dat Girl, it was good to have some time where I couldn't actually do anything as well! Some family members were holding the fort for me and instructed me that I must try not to think about it... I have to admit, it felt nice.
 
We went away with 9 of our closest friends, so to say we came back a lot more exhausted than when we left would be an understatement. Although I can honestly say that we made the most of EVERY moment. The most time that was spent in any of our hotel rooms was when we were sleeping... one of our resorts didn't even have TV's in the rooms, which was even better as it forced (even though it was voluntary) to spend more time on our private beach.
 
I have many many photos, but for the sake of your finger on the scroll bar, I will try to limit to a few per day....I'm going to split it into two as well 
 
 
Night 1 
 
 the first buckets for some in our group, and my first ever public pole performance, which was encouraged by my fiance, who when seeing a girl rub up against a pole said "Come on Sarah... you can do better than that". Ey, if the fiancee approves, all is okay :)
 


 
 
Day 2
 
The day was spent having fish eat our feet, shopping, drinking cocktails and getting massages.
 
 



 
 
 
 Night 2
 
Dinner at a Mexican restaurant, lanterns, an infamous Thailand type of show and then a night where the terrible threesome consumed waay too many drinks
 
 
 
 
 
Day  and Night 3
 
Struggled to get up on this day, let me tell you! Once I hauled A and my girl Alana out of bed, we met the others to check out the shopping centre.... go bowling, get facials, go on a 4D ride, visit a few more markets, get a pedicure and then finish it all off with a family dinner on the beach and our own fireworks.
 
 
 
Day 4
 
It was an early start on day 4, as we headed out on a snorkeling tour, but it was wayyyy worth it..... The initial 40min  boat ride was rough and unfortunately our idea to sit at the front of the boat was not a good one. We were airborne for a good amount of the trip.
 
 
 
 
Night 4
 
Phuket Town night markets... lots more shopping! Wooohoo!
 
The boys also got into the crickets, worms, frogs etc... I was happy to watch their faces and not take a taste test.
 
The next day we flew to Koh Samui.....
 



Tuesday, 19 February 2013

A Tad Excited

Tomorrow I will be on my way to here...
 
 
 
I am going to Thailand for 9 nights with 10 friends.
 
I will try to take photos and post about it when I return.
 
xx

Sunday, 5 August 2012

How much does your handbag weigh?

WARNING: MAJOR RANT!

Last week when I went to Melbourne, I decided to fly Tiger Air. They are the cheapest that fly to Tullamarine and with the amount of times I plan to go down.. that's what I was after. PLUS, we had flown to Melbourne with them before and everything was fine...

On the Thursday night, I caught the train to the airport nice and early and lined up to check in.

As soon as I was checking in, I saw this cranky lady telling people to move around the line, that they missed their check in time and so on. All of us looked at each other in the line and laughed, a few even smirked "I hope I don't get her".

Me, being the poor bum that I am, pouring every-single-cent into Dat Girl at the moment, decided carry on luggage would be fine for my small trip.

Unfortunately, I got THAT lady!

In my hands I had my small carry on suitcase, my handbag and a clear plastic folder with some Dat Girl invoices for me to look at on the plane. My suitcase was 1kg over the 10kg luggage, she said I could try and take stuff out, but I would have to line up again (arrrghhh).

I have travelled on a budget many many a times, so I went out of the line, chucked on an extra jumper and scarf and then joined the que again with just enough time.

While I was in that line again the lady just seemed to get crankier, I swear she was a dictator or an army general in another life. Ordering people where to stand in the line, to the left or to the right.

Lucky me.. I went got the same lady again... ARGHHH!

She weighed my suitcase and YIPPEE it was 10kgs. I was all smiles and ready to board until she told me I had to weigh my other bag, I looked at her confused and told her all I had was this paperwork and not all of it was necessary... she pointed to my handbag.

This was me - "WHATTT you want me to weigh my handbag? I have never had my SMALL handbag weighed ever!!!No one does that!".

She told me how they weigh everything. I argued that no one else's handbag had been weighed, but it didn't matter... whatever my handbag weighed it was going to put me over the 10kg mark and she knew it.

said bag. not large at all.

It turns out my handbag, with my makeup, wallet, keys etc weighed like 2.5kgs. If I had of known it was going to be weighed I would have taken sh%t out!!

"You will have to check your bag in now.. that will be $70" she said with a smug look on her face.

I was peeved. Angry and annoyed that the normal $17 to check your bags in had escalated to $70 and all because of my freaking handbag. That was $70 that would no longer be for shopping.

"Oh you're paying with EFTPOS? That will be an extra $7"

insert profanities HERE.

I didn't have enough time to go to an ATM and line up again and check in.

I went from being excited to a ranting, raging crazy person who was yelling at an airport.

Then the plane was delayed as well. Ohh lovely.

On the way back, I left half of my stuff at A's apartment to see that Melbourne's Tiger staff care a lot less.. barely weighed my carry on, didn't even blink at my handbag and the plane was early into Sydney. That really was lovely.

Have you ever had your handbag weighed?

Do you think it is ridiculous or am I just being tight?



Thursday, 5 April 2012

Manila Shopping

The shopping in Manila is FABULOUS!! If like many others, you have been to Bangkok and loved the shopping, you will DIE when you shop in Manila.


off to shopping we go!!

Filipinos are so friendly and helpful, the malls have everything you could imagine and the shopping is soo cheap, you will think Thailand is expensive!


Also, if you are like myself and don't speak another language and usually get by, by learning "hello", "goodbye", "thank you" and "how much".... you will find it very easy to get by in Manila, as the majority of the people speak English use formal English. Every morning we were greeted with, "good morning sir, good morning mam" (as I'm typing this I am saying it with a Filipino accent).

I bought this little piglet on our last day in Manila, it is really freaky because it is actually 3D..
your nose pops out and is hard and all! hahaha

While we were shopping, none of us carried handbags, we kept all our valuables in our travel wallets or our bras (mum styles lol), but in saying that, we did feel incredibly safe in the shopping malls. Upon entering each mall everyone is greeted by security guards who check your bags and give you a lite little frisk. You continue to see the guards throughout the mall and with the weapons that they are carrying, you get the feeling stealing $5 from someones pocket would not be worth the risk.



A LOT and by a lot, I mean way more than in Australia, of American chain stores can be found in Manila malls, from Forever 21 to American Apparel. They also have stores like Top Shop and Zara, so again, unlike some other countries, the fashion is similar to ours and you will not struggle to find something you like.

We found a few somethings on our first trip.


Necklace from Zara

 
Apart from the malls in Manila, the 7 elevens and convenience stores are also dabomb.com. Yes, that's right I said convenience stores! Convenience stores in any new country are always fun, but when they sell bottles of STRAWBERRY FLAVOURED vodka for $1.25AUD and chicken skin flavoured chips, they are even better.

Our first night in Manila, we didn't arrive until about 11pm, so we just headed to the local 7 eleven..

 

This was our haul for only $13AUD




and when you drink a lot of that... this is what happens!

In between our shopping adventures, we also sampled, okay DEMOLISHED a truck load of food...


soooo many choices!


Jollibee is a chain fast food restaurant that we spent waay too much time at.
It was delicious and of course cheap!
Yum with cheese please :)


There may have been a few sneaky cocktails at malls too!
Note: arm is not actually THIS huge lol.

Another great thing about shopping in Manila is that in addition to the masses of shops, restaurants and cocktail stops, the malls usually have other fun activities you can do and of course... they are cheap too!


Fair at Mall of Asia


Zip lining...
that is actually us about to take off, for the low low price of $3.




A busker, who challenged my friend to a dance off.
I don't think he has seen a booty shake like that before!haha

  
YES THAT'S RIGHT- they even have mechanical bull riding!!


and after one too many jugs of long island iced tea (in the mall) this is how you end up!! :P


After riding a bull, if you are still a little tipsy and in a mall, you can always head to the game zone!

Sing a little and play a little...


After playing all the games we ended up with TONNES of tickets and no use for them, so we gave them to some school children, who I think thought we were strange, but they loved the tickets anyways!




On a serious note..

This post comes with a WARNING... be careful not to shop TOOOO much in Manila, because if you do, you will end up with thousands of pairs of shoes and they will have to open a shoe museum for you - just like Imelda Marcos :)