After returning from Ho Chi Minh City, I departed on another trip the very same week - all thanks to the public holidays we have in Singapore. So over the Vesak Day weekend, me and my atas friends (that's what my other friends have decided to affectionately call this group of friends) are going to Koh Samui! We met at 6.30pm at Changi Airport Terminal 1 for dinner at Ruyi before departing.
Buying liquor for our pre-planned hangover party in Samui. Sadly each one of us could only bring in 1 bottle of liquor into Thailand due to the restrictions.
After settling the liquor it's shopping time! Over the years Singapore's Changi Airport has become a shopping paradise. I always look forward to checking in early so I have ample time to walk around the boutiques or rest my feet at the cafes. Without fail Hermes is a must-stop destination.
So here I am with the Kelly dog extreme $1,453. Nope I did not buy as it looks too bulky on me.
But 1 of my friends tried on the Kelly dog as well as the Kelly double tour. And another one bit the dust.
This is her first and surely it will not be her last. =)
Finally we are departing to Koh Samui!
On Bangkok Airways. Bangkok Airways is not a budget airline but a "boutique" airline. To me it feels quite budget but Louise kept correcting me. Well, since it's only a 1hr and 25 minutes flight to Samui, whether it's budget or boutique, it didn't really matter.
Karen, Me & Pik Ling
WE ARE HERE!
At customs.
We Singaporeans need DATA.
When we arrived at Louise's sister's apartment it was already pitch dark, and all we could capture were the lights.
There were 2 rooms for 6 of us. And since the 4 of us always share a room, this became the sleeping arrangement for the next 3 nights.
Day 2: Bright and sunny. I could not believe that Koh Samui is so beautiful. Which is probably the reason for the expensive air ticket and villas. At USD500K you can own a decent villa that oversees the sea.
The pickup by Tamarind Spa from the apartment.
The menu.
Filling up particulars.
At 8.20am still bright and cheery.
Yummy ginger tea before the spa.
Tamarind Spa brings you back to nature to relax your mind and soul. Therefore they insist that all handphones are locked in the safe boxes so that us city folks will not be tempted to check our phones every 10 seconds.
After 3 hours, Adeline's hair got braided while she was sleeping, and it was so beautifully done that we all did not allow her to remove till night time. Haha.
After the spa we went back to the apartment to wash up and get changed before driving to W Retreat for lunch. Our driver, Maggie Kok and the car, Fortuna which we rented at 1,800 baht a day.
Look at the beach! I could seriously laze here all day and not do anything.
Lunch at the bar area. Everything and everyone was so chill and relax.
It was as if time was put on pause mode.
Maggie, Lynette (Louise's sister) & Louise
Let me start with something refreshing and non-alcholic, Angry Dragon. It comprises of apple juice and something else, but whats really special was the frozen dragon fruit ball.
It was so yummy and refreshing for the hot weather.
And now the food spread. Chicken sandwich with salad on the side.
Oh this is Robert (Lynette's husband) and Louise. Btw, Robert works in W Retreat Koh Samui.
Beef cheek sandwich.
My Whiskey Sour.
This was made with love, from Robert to Lynette. But we all ended up chomping it down. Hahaha!
My prawn skewers with corn cob on the side. And we suspected the half lobster tail on the bottom left belonged to Adeline. Haha! It was so small that it did not deserve a plate on its own.
Karen is a happy girl with her chicken sandwich.
Beef Quesadilla.
Lynette, Karen, Adeline, Pik Ling & Maggie
Karen & Sam (she is a female dog).
A shot from Maggie and I cymera it.
Ashley & Maggie
Me camhoring
Karen camhoring
I told Pik Ling, this is by far THE BEST shot of her ever. Photographer: Ashley Issabelle Cheang
Photographer: Ashley Issabelle Cheang
Groceries shopping after lazing at W Retreat.
Humsup auntie & cute boy at Boots Tesco.
Women shop wherever we go!
And YES, we can shop for anything!
Pik Ling was very happy with her Knorr PORK cubes.
Local beers.
The imported beers in Tesco, but we were not allowed to buy them before 5pm "-_-"
So we moved on to wine cellar.
And Sam is allowed here! After the groceries we went back to the apartment to wash up and then moved on to dinner @ The Cliff bar & Grill.
Here is a display of the numerous awards that they've won.
View from our table
We ate from the day till night so I am gonna skip the food photos as it was really dark.
Full moon
Our great hosts, Lynette & Robert. Maggie says Robert is a friendly giant. He looks fierce but is in fact very gentle. But initially Pik Ling & I felt intimited by the botak head and the tattoos on the body. So everytime Robert asked: How is the food? How is it going? What do you guys wanna do? We would quickly reply IT'S DELICIOUS! Everything's GOOD and we would quickly eat up.
After dinner we headed the to fisherman village for some shopping and more food! Karen had been craving for banana pancake since the morning & finally she got it. 1 nutella banana pancake cost 45 baht.
There was a full moon party going on at Koh Phangan and the girls here were waiting for the boat to pick them up.
The streets of fisherman village.
Pik Ling always insists that she is taller than me (by a lot) but looking at this photo, we seem to be of same height.
This photo is so funny, I asked everyone to turn around and say the pancake is good but what Louise was trying to say was: BUT I ALSO HAVEN'T EAT YET. hahaaa!
Cute ice cream guy spotted and I had the perfect view.
Pik Ling and her ya mum sen (made of clear noodles, fish sauce, lime, lotsa Thai chillies, tomato ect).
Ya mun sen Ya mun sen Ya mun sen. Everyday also must Ya mum sen.
The decor of the restaurants at Fisherman village was so elaborate and pretty.
Day 3: Waking up to the same sea but somehow it felt and looked different everyday.
Pool time! I bought the floats from wayfair.com and I had to use it at least once to make it worth while. So I dragged Maggie to pump up the floats with me as I only bought a cigrette lighter charger. And after some struggle, it was finally up. We named this the mother boat with 4 detachable mini boats.
Pool at the apartment. Robert and Lynette live on the 3rd floor and the pool is located on the 1st floor. It was convenient for Robert to throw the beer cans into the pool directly from their home. Beer + Pool + Float + Friends + A little bit of sun = I don't wanna go home.
Us with Mother boat
Advert for Asahi: DRINK ASAHI & YOU WILL BE FAIR LIKE ME --- Pik Ling
Stoning
I forced the other 3 of them to raise their hands for the shot. It turned out pretty nice, right?
Our designated driver for all the trips.
And again it's lunch time!
I was busy taking photos and left Robert, Lynette and Maggie to order the food.
Ladies in sunglasses.
Karen & guava smoothie.
After lunch, Maggie, Louise, Karen, Lynette & Robert decided to go for massage while Adeline, Pik Ling & Me decided to go back to the apartment to nua somemore.
Back to the sea again!
I opened the balcony door to take a breather and look who was with me, peering her head out too.
And she happily went out to suntan.
Then Sam saw us chilling in the living room and came over, laid down on my lap and yawned!
Then she fell asleep!!!! Even the dog is feeling lazy in Samui.
After everyone is back and washed up, we went to W Retreat again but this time it was for dinner at this restaurant call Namu (one of Thailand's best restaurant).
Karen with the signature W logo. I really think that W stands for We Wow Whenever Wherever.
Pik Ling
Maggie
Adeline
Us
View of the Lotus pond
The whole view should look like this (Photo taken from W website).
Photo credit: Louise Long
Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest and tannest of them all?
Robert & Lynette - Thanks guys for putting us up at your beautiful home and bringing us all around the island, and pre-booking all the spas and making reservations for all the restaurants so that we could have a very relaxed trip. We indeed truly enjoying every bit of this trip. Thanks much and I can't wait for you guys to be posted to somewhere else again! Hehehe!
Artistic pieces hung on the wall of W.
Group photo!
Doing the Singaporen thingy, snap snap snap. but it was really too pretty not too take photos. This form of relaxation.... mind going blank and just hanging out with gal pals, drinking, eating is simply indescribable. You have to come yourself to experience everything and I highly recommend everyone to visit Koh Samui.
Maggie rocking in her long dress.
Photo credit: Maggie Kok
Photo credit: Maggie Kok
The sea, always so beautiful.
Photo credit: Pik Ling
Paparazzi Ashley caught Paparazzi Louise taking photo for Maggie, Adeline & Karen.
Drinks before dinner at the Lotus Pond.
The table changes light!
Cheers everyone!
Enjoying like a Queen.
Everyone can enjoy like a Queen here.
You are a Queen too!
Namu
Samsung's camera phone seriously needs to improve on the camera's night scene mode.
Pictures always end up so smoky for some reason.
Seated and we got the best view of the Chef Choi at work.
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Chef Choi - Head chef for Namu, Korean period.
He took part in IRON CHEF BKK. Photo taken from W Retreat facebook.
Robert & Chef Choi at IRON CHEF. Photo taken from W Retreat facebook.
I am not a sake fan so I ordered a sake cocktail.
While the other 5 shared a bottle of 1.8 litre of sake!
Pik Ling so touched.
And she teared.
Sashimi
Sushi
Grilled prawns and asparagus and mushroom.
Cuttlefish foie gras
Eggplant
Garlic rice
Beef cheek with scallop
Greentea cake with yuzu ice cream and Molten cake (the best I ever had).
And after the dinner we heard fireworks! So all of us ran out to the beach to a spectacular display of fireworks.
Beach + Nightscene + Sea + Fireworks = Romantic
Last picture of myself while waiting for the buggy to drive us back to the hotel lobby.
More photos at the hotel lobby
IRON CHEF pose
Day 4: Going back Singapore today. Mood is as blue as the sky.
Photo credit: Maggie Kok
Photo title: Sam & I, side by side
Last round of swimming and photo taking.
The very shy Adeline requested me to help her take a photo.
Last lunch in Samui - Poppies. Poppies is a restaurant cum cottage.
So next time if you wanna visit Koh Samui, Poppies would be a pretty good choice.
Sorry Sam, you have to stay in the car.
Walking through the staircase and bridge to the lunch area.
Adeline totally blended in to the surroundings.
Door to the cottage.
Lynette had to fly to Bangkok to run some errands so Robert purposely took a day off to lunch with us and send us to the airport.
Maggie Kok
We all don't wanna leave!
Stopping @ Max Murphy's for another drink before taking off.
Beer + Koh Samui paradise
As Pik Ling is the riches among all after the trip so she bought each of us a drink. Thanks Pik Ling!
Time to say bye bye.
All tired and sad.
And this marks the end of another trip. If I had to rate this trip, it would be a 4.8/5.
Everyone just enjoyed ourselves very much. A very good relaxing trip indeed!
Next on travelogue : Hong Kong again 28.06.2013
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