42nd entry - Stories from Travels

On 29 Dec 2007, S and I had an enjoyable weekend getaway at Copthorne King's Hotel. S booked a executive club room which was the most spacious in the hotel aside from the suites. Soon after I arrived at the lobby, I was ushered to the Club Lounge for a welcome drink and snacks. When I reached our room, S surprised me by bringing our lovable giant-size Winnie the Pooh bear and his 4 little new "Poohlets" dressed up in different costumes, and displayed them all on our bed! We then explored the hotel's facilities and exercised a bit at the gym before going for our evening cocktail. We had a hearty buffet breakfast next morning and went back to the room to watch Surf's Up DVD (S brought it to the hotel as I fell asleep before completing the show the last time when we watched it togther at home) before showering and checking out.




I was so touched by S's surprise! I felt that S put in a lot of effort to make the weekend special for us. Although S seems quite practical and cool in our relationship, I could sense that S can be quite romantic and passionate as well. At the Phuket trip that S and I went together on 12 Jun 2008, we rekindled this precious love and passion for each other. Thanks to S's hard work finding the cheapest airfare and cheapest 4-star hotel online, we enjoyed a romantic holiday for 2 with fabulous savings!

Well, our trip didnt start out romantically at first. In fact, we very nearly couldnt make it alive to the hotel after landing at the Phuket airport. To say that our taxi driver was reckless is a gross understatement - he was more like a Daredevil racecar stuntman who wasnt afraid to die. S got into the cab first, as I loaded our luggage into the boot. When I finished and opened the rear door of the car to get in, the car moved off. I was so stunned that I had left my left foot in the car while hopping on the other foot and trying to get the driver's attention. Our cab then sped off and barely reached the main road outside the airport when it hit the rear bumper of another car. Unfazed, the driver simply got out, spoke a few seconds of rapid Thai to the driver of the other car who was examining the damage, and "settled" the matter before driving off again. The cab then drove at an average speed of 120km/h, overtaking almost every vehicle in front of us (even when it seemed impossible, not to mention illegal, to do so). At one stage the car nearly bumped off a couple of customers patronising a watermelon stall hawking by the roadside - the roads were without any kerb and our cab simply swerved onto the grass patch when there was an opportunity to overtake another car in front of us, even at the risk of hitting innocent pedestrians. All this time, our driver was smoking a cigarette with one hand and talking on his mobile phone on the other, even when his car was going at top speed.

I cant remember exactly, but I at one point I turned to S and said "If we were to die right now, I want you to know that I love you..."

We reached the Deevana resort hotel at Patong in 20 minutes - a modest Phuket record. On the day we departed from Phuket, we had booked the airport transfer from the hotel concierge. The safe and scenic route by the hotel's driver took us to the airport in 45 minutes.




What I liked about Patong in Phuket was not the white sandy beach (we didnt see any nice beaches as we didnt go island hopping); instead, I liked the relaxed atmosphere and conveniences - shopping, beach activities, nightlife and food were all within walking distance. We went to JungCeylon, the largest shopping center in Patong. A full facial at one of the many beauty parlours there only cost 300 BHT per pax (SGD12+). A big salad buffet spread cost only 99 BHT (SGD4+) per pax. At one roadside seafood hawker center, one plate of crab and one plate of 4 large prawns costed me only 310 BHT in total. Its amazingly cheap!!!

The beach was quite disappointing - its comparable to Desaru's, which we visited on 2 Dec 2007. There were some parasailing, F1 boat rides and deck chairs for visitors but we didnt go for them. In the end we spent quite a bit of time relaxing in the resort hotel, exploring the 2 swimming pools and playing pool and table tennis. S fell ill on the last night of our trip, which dampened our spirits a little. Overall, I felt that it was quite a good trip.