good offer

would you book your air tickets 9 months ahead?

yeah, i admit it's kind of crazy... but i was totally tempted by the jetstar sale that i booked the return tickets to bangkok for august next year! it's only $97 inclusive of all fuel surcharges and airport taxes and it's for the national day weekend. with the $6 facilitation fee per ticket, it's $103 to bangkok and back.

it's the cheapest ever that i've seen for jetstar. so how not to be swayed by the bargain prices? absolutely irresistible.

and i got my mum & sis in on the craziness as well. :)

bangkok with mum

this trip was made possible with compliments from thomas and doris. :)

'cos i was dangled the carrot of 2 nights' stay for free at nai lert park swissotel! :) :) :)

actually, i wasn't keen to make the trip since my sis wasn't interested and i knew my mum will surely nag if i went. but just for fun, i asked if she interested in a short trip to bangkok and lo and behold, she expressed interest!

took thai airways this time round since jetstar will cost about $350 for such a late booking. decided to pay $25 more for a full service airline. and since i paid so much for the air ticket, i decided to arrive a day earlier on saturday.

we stayed at ambassador hotel before meeting doris and thomas at nai lert park on sunday. time was spent on thronging the malls, japanese food, massages and donuts in between.

the mochi donuts from dunkin donuts and mister donut were addictive and sadly not available in singapore. doris likes them too.

visited platinum mall for the first time. it's a shopping paradise for ladies and everything's on wholesale prices as long as you buy 3 pieces.

check out the 5-star hotel room and yummy food here.

b26 bintan lagoon

first time i've ever travelled with kids. thankfully cayden and jaden travel well and didn't make a fuss on board the ferry.

except for jaden being a bit frightened by the ferry and cayden puking, the journey was relatively uneventful. actually, i didn't know cayden threw up 'cos i had zoned out by then. :P

i'm in a 'take-it-easy' kind of holiday mood, so i just went with the flow and had a relaxing good time.

tanned by the pool, went for midnight stroll by the beach, laid on the deck chairs looking at the stars while the waves were crashing loudly onto the beach, played sand with the kids on the beach, swam in the pool.

it was great! thought we should do something like this with the jc gang. :)

pulau dayang

it has been almost 1 year since our last dive trip, after much to-ing and fro-ing, we managed to settle on a date which all 4 of us can make it. and much to everyone's surprise, gordon's coming along too!

for this trip, i got my wet suit and marine case for my lumix. had great fun 'trying' to take pictures underwater. boy, it wasn't easy to keep still in the waters. guess my bouyancy control is not quite there yet.

ky helped us to refresh all our diving skills and drills.

as usual, heavy medication saved me from embrassment and feeding the fishes. there weren't many divers this time round. maybe because it's nearing the end of the season? or there was a long weekend just the week before?

to our amazement, gordon said he enjoyed the break on pulau dayang even without all the 5-star luxuries. the guys and doris also enjoyed themselves 'torturing' this small school of baby fishes by the beach. :)

glad we made time to go diving! yeah!

suk 11 @ bangkok

went to bangkok for a short trip. my virgin flight on a budget airline, jetstar asia. the flight was alright and the crew polite. seat space is still bearable for a 2-hour flight. paid s$2 for a can of green tea. was plugged into my zen micro for my in-flight entertainment.

got to save on the accomodation as i was bunking in with my friend who is there for a conference. then from the 5 star luxury hotel, we extended our stay at suk 11, a budget backpacker kind of accomodation. paid only s$20 a night for an air-conditioned room with attached bathroom.

bangkok was hot, hot, hot! did the usual singaporean circuit of thai massage [cheap!], mbk [crowded!] and chatuchat weekend market [cheap, crowded & hot!].

also went to vertigo, at the rooftop [literally] of banyan tree hotel for drinks. my first time there... nice!