Sri Panwa @ Phuket – The Resort

The next morning, we walked to the restaurant to have breakfast instead of calling for a tuk tuk. Our villa was really near the Baba Poolclub anyway.

I have to mention that their tuk tuk service is impeccable. We’d call for a tuk tuk and one would appear on our doorstep a mere few minutes later. Once, one of the staff apologized for making us wait, when we had been waiting for like… 30 seconds? You see how spoilt i got when i was there. I was allowed to be impatient if i wanted! Bad Joyce.

The tuk tuk service even went so far as to fetch us from our doorstep to the doorstep of the bars OUTSIDE the resort that we explored at night. Then when we wanted to come home, the bar owner would call the resort and they’d send a tuk tuk to take us home… back to our own doorstep. So spoilt, i die.

The lane in front of the villa

Baba Poolclub is a 5,000 sq. m. four-story building with Cooking School, Hot Pot, Pool Bar, 25-metre infinity lap pool, the Baba88 disco and seven new pool suites. Not to mention heaps of other facilities surrounding it like the fitness centre, tennis courts, game room, beach pool, private beach, business centre and Cool Spa. It’s just insane.

The Pool Bar

Their concept of pools and water everywhere was gorgeous. I couldn’t get over how much blue i was seeing – the pools, the sea, the sky!

Our view during breakfast.

Breakfast was a lavish affair that offered an extensive selection for both Western and Asian palates. Namely Clem’s and mine. He can’t fathom how i can stomach savoury spicy food first thing in the morning, but hey, i am not sorry for being Asian!

Food, as all my friends know, is of UTMOST importance to my holiday, my life, my BEING. I’m happy to write that everything i ate there was delicious (the only food i recall not being up to par was the one i cooked for myself in their cooking class.) There were so many things i could have for breakfast… that i ended up having a few dishes and feeling like a complete pig after. Also mixed with those guilty emotions were that of ‘yes, i now feel i AM on holiday!’ which is when i eat till my utter contentment.

After a huge breakfast, we took a tour around the resort. Good idea to do so anyway… to walk off all that food!

This is the entrance to Cool Spa

Even the spa looks like a piece of paradise on its own!

That’s me chilling at the spa pool!

Cool Spa offers every exotic body pampering treatment you can imagine, from Tamarind Body Scrubs and Pumpkin Body Cocoons, to Neem Black Clay body treatments. Massage types range from Swedish, Thai and Balinese, to a mixture of all!

After getting all excited about getting a massage later on in our stay, we hopped on the tuk tuk and went to Baba Nest – another huge building of its own.

The place is so pretty you can’t take a bad picture no matter where you turn

Even the view out the window is postcard-worthy!

This is Sunset Lounge – where guests come for evening cocktails and tapas while enjoying what is reputed to be the BEST view in Phuket.

It’s so freaking beautiful! Okay just one more picture of the Sunset Lounge then i’m done, promise!

We also had a look at what the 2-bedroom villas look like, some consisted of 2-stories!

Just when i thought *our* living room was huge…

Next post will be more fun pictures of our stay at Sri Panwa ;)

Sri Panwa @ Phuket – Our Villa

Clem and i stayed at this spectacular villa in Phuket last month… I would have blogged about it earlier if there weren’t SO MANY CRAZY BEAUTIFUL pictures i took! Finally edited them, which will all be up in the next few days.

To get to Sri Panwa, we took a flight to Phuket. Seeing we arrived really late the first night, we stayed in the town before checking in to the resort the next day. It took us about an hour by car to reach Cape Panwa, which is on the South-Eastern tip of Phuket.

We couldn’t see much when we arrived at Sri Panwa. The car drove us in to the check-in lobby, which is really one building by itself. I should know next time that when you don’t see much, it’s because the estate is so huge that the buildings and villas are hidden from view by trees everywhere!

In total, Sri Panwa has 52 villas on their lush estate of 40 acres. The villas range from 1-bedroom to 5-bedroom ones, all strategically built over 40 metres above sea level. We received a little guide when we checked in – showing us a map of the whole place. I was hoping we wouldn’t have to walk everywhere! Luckily we didn’t… we had shiny red tuk tuks to fetch us at any time from our villa to the restaurants ;)

Besides the little guide, Kun briefed me about a schedule the resort had prepared for Clem and i lest we get bored! We had options to take cooking classes, sightsee around the island, get massages at the spa, etc. Very exciting! Suddenly 3 nights didn’t seem enough!

A few minutes later we were zooming down a lane hugged by greenery to enter our home for the next few days. As Kun showed us around our 1-bedroom villa, i looked at Clem, looked at her, then said, “Tell Kun Clare (whom had arranged our schedule) to cancel everything. We’re not leaving this place.” She laughed. We laughed. However… I was not completely joking!

When i entered the main door of the villa, to the right was the living room, kitchen, verandah, shower and bathroom:

Living Room #1 (there’s another in our bedroom)

View from the Living Room #1, looking at our bedroom

This was our bedroom, and you can see Living Room #1 across the little courtyard

Living Room #2 is in front of the bedroom

In between both little buildings in our villa, are the stairs to the infinity pool which encircles our entire bedroom villa

Main bathroom

Steam room and shower #2

Shower #3 is outside. I love showering outside! Feels so NATURAL. Except it got a bit cold when it was windy!



We chilled in the villa on our first evening, and Clem found his ‘spot’ on the verandah. He loves balconies. Every time we’re in an unfamiliar apartment, the first thing he’d do is check out the balcony.

It was going to storm that evening, and simply marvelous to just sit there. Watch the clouds roll by. Smell the storm coming. Stare at the blues and purples changing.

Clem had a drink while he watched me sketch the rolling sky and sea with pastels i’d brought.

Mummy’s Dinner, Fat Spoon, Templer’s Park, Batu Caves, & La La Chong

Oh man. You have no idea what i had to go through to get this blogpost up! First of all, i had to think whether i wanted to blog tonight, then figured i’d better cos i know my schedule will be crazy for the next few days. Then my iPhoto wouldn’t recognize pictures from my phone. So i thought maybe i should update my phone. And found out i forgot my Apple ID password -_- So i had to go retrieve it. After i reset it, i had to backup all my purchased apps before updating my phone. So i googled how to do that (google saves everything!) and followed some steps then tada ok done. Then when i was READY to update my phone, it said by doing so it would delete all media including pictures which i don’t want to happen cos the PICTURES are what i’m trying to get out of my phone -_- So in the end i transferred them to Clem’s laptop, to my hard disk, to my mac. MAN i spent over an hour doing NADA. And i STILL don’t know why my iPhoto suddenly doesn’t recognize photos in my phone! Will figure that out another day when i have a cup of patience to spare. There. That wasn’t super interesting but you did read it till this sentence HA.

Clem’s mom and stepdad were down in KL to visit him while on their way to Cambodia. They’ve been to KL before so we didn’t have to do the entire hardcore tourist shebang. When they arrived on Friday afternoon, we figured they wouldn’t want to go out after such a long flight so i cooked us all a dinner of sage and onion chicken with Edwards sausages (my butcher was very excited for me to try out their newly imported british sausages). They passed out at 9pm. At 9:30pm i thought it must be midnight cos i was so so tired and was aghast when i saw it wasn’t even 10pm! Managed to stay up till midnight.

Saturday i went to meet Jess & Rudy for brunch (but with Jesselia Savings Losings Time it turned out a late lunch). In the evening i went to help my mom cook, meaning i watched her cook and washed up what i could. She prepared a magnificent feast for Clem’s parents and us!

I giggled inwardly when my mum was saying to Dom, “Just some simple food.”
Dom: Dees is not simple!!!

Such a scene from The Joy Luck Club.

Oh man my stomach was rumbling like a tractor while ‘helping’ my mum cook this! Clockwise from middle: fried fish with onions, chili and garlic; curry prawns; sweet & sour chicken; bean paste pork ribs; chinese mushroom / tunku. My dad was away in HK that weekend, so this was all for five people mind you! – Mummy, me, Clem, Dom, Serge!

The mummies

Clem loves this bean paste pork ribs dish so much, my mum gave me the paste for it and taught me how to cook it for him -_-

After dinner my mum served local fruit – mangosteen, duku langsat and oranges (which i don’t think are from here CNY la ok)

+ + +

On Sunday we took them to Fat Spoon

Guns in Peter & Jane were so innocent before Bowling for Columbine

If you go to Fat Spoon you MUST MUST MUST order their cempedak popiah + vanilla ice cream. I almost died of ecstasy eating it.

After a huge lunch (i ate what everyone didn’t finish) we went to PJ to let me run an errand in Digital Mall, before heading for Batu Caves. Even with Google maps i missed ONE bloody road and suddenly we were on Jalan Ipoh highway heading to… Ipoh. Shit. After doing a frantic U-turn, i spotted Templer’s Park and said it would be kinda nice for them to see it if they wanted so we stopped.

I  can’t remember when was the last time i went to Templer’s Park… or if i even did in my life, sometime in primary school..?

As we hiked for 45 minutes looking for a waterfall, i thought to myself ‘wow look at this. Joyce hiking in kl’. The thing is that Clem and i have no qualms with taking long hikes when we’re traveling, but when we’re in KL, we’d rather… bond with our couch on the weekends. We go to great lengths finding waterfalls in the jungles of Indonesia and Sri Lanka, to the extent we accidentally walked to the same one twice; but we don’t bother discovering one in our own backyard. Hopefully that will change soon! (Clem must be shuddering while reading this.)

Dom, Serge and i

After the park, we finally found Batu Caves.

I can’t believe went up and down those stairs three times in one day before -_-

After Batu Caves was Joyce’s feeding time before she turned into an evil pumpkin that ate people up. I suggested La La Chong since we hadn’t had seafood yet.

Serge: We seem to be eating a lot [i don't understand this tho, we only had lunch before dinner!]
Clem: In KL, there’s not much to see, but there’s a lot to eat! 

I noticed that La La Chong uses Taste Me sauce and grabbed it off the table in a squeal. “Taste Me! It’s the Taste Me sauce!”
Clem: What??
Me: It’s THE TASTE ME SAUCE! The one that Tania brought to BBQ and is super spicy! The one i was telling you about!
Clem: *turns to his parents* I’m sorry, she gets like this sometimes. 

I didn’t even get offended cos i was too busy taking pictures of the sauce. It was a like a SIGN reminding me to go buy the sauce, which i did the next day. 3 bottles of it. One for home, one for office, and one for backup.

New Year’s Eve of 2012

I decided 3 months before New Year’s that spending it BBQ-ing and chilling with some friends would be ideal compared to partying amidst hundreds of people in a crowded club. So i booked the top floor of Awanmulan before anyone thought of what they’d do for NYE and paid the full price even though i didn’t confirm who’s going. Was just so certain enough people would see the AWESOMENESS of it and come. In the end we had almost everyone we hoped would join us – Aps & Fai, JP  & Oli, Steph & Nick, Serena & Matt. Olivier asked to come last min and Awanmulan was nice enough to let him.

Nick & Steph on our patio

Are there ANY paparazzi pictures of Clem and i like this?! I need to get a resident photographer in our group besides myself.

Clem, Nick, and Oli & JP being lovey dovey at the back. I have so many pictures of them being smoochy in the background throughout the trip…

Steph, me, Oli

To be fair to all those unattractive pictures of friends i’ve put up, here’s a horrible one of me. Oh and perhaps Nick too. I showed the above pic to Clem: “Look how sexy i am. This is why you love meeeee righttttt”

Steph & Nick were in charge of grilled veggies, mash potatoes, and some pumpkin dish Nick wanted to make. It turned out SO GOOD that i asked him how he made it, later that night. He tipsily told me and i tried remembering it best i could, as did Oli. The next day Oli got Nick to write the recipe down… and thanks to her brill memory, she noticed something missing and said, “Eh, you forgot the sugar?” Clem told me later Nick told him the night before he’d purposely miss out an ingredient so we wouldn’t get it right. Sial wei the fellow! We got it anyway HA! If y’all want this pumpkin recipe i heard his mum (who’s responsible for it) is publishing a cookbook soon.

Pumpkin is such a wonder to cook and eat if only it wasn’t such a BITCH to chop!

Steph forgot to bring her commendable collection of shot glasses and sorrowfully prepped paper cups in replacement of them. Wasn’t a big deal la (that she forgot). Erm just that she made it like a big deal so we didn’t stop her from writing names on everyone’s cups to avoid wastage. She even measured and poured shots into each of them before food was ready heh. Good job Stephy!!

Orange + cinnamon + tequila

Fai’s chicken wings and my lamb.
The chicken was so awesome i’m inspired to try marinating that next…

Fai takes his BBQ very seriously and didn’t let anyone else handle it cos he didn’t trust them. Not like the other guys cared… think they were very happy to let him do all the work. Look at Nick pretending to help but padahal doesn’t want to be near smoke.  :D

JP & Oli made some crazy pork burgers. I’m so impressed by how EVERYONE’S food turned out fantastic! Every single leftover pork burger was whacked the next morning by being made into sandwiches.

Steph and her hotdog.
The ones who were cooking ended up eating earlier than the rest – hard to resist food while prepping!

‘Twas hard to see the BBQ on the patio when it got dark… and Matt proudly emerged with a headlamp in hand. Super dot dot dot… who would think of bringing a headlamp? Hahaha

Matt. Always prepared for the elements of nature.

Steph and i were prepared in other ways. We constructed a moat made of tinfoil so the ants couldn’t get to our leftovers that sat waiting for people who wanted seconds.

Clem took to doing the dishes since he didn’t cook.
Me *standing there and staring* : You’re so so sexy baby…
Him: While i’m doing the dishes? Great… just great.

Nick got Maurice my mouse to take his first step! “It’s all in the dynamics,” he said.

Having a shot at midnight

There was so much love there that night! Everyone was hugging and kissing. I even saw Fai giving Clem a big smack on the cheek, super bromance can die. Tried convincing him to do it again so i could take a picture but he didn’t. I guess it was a special moment that i thankfully happened to see :D

Steph, Nick, half of Matt’s face, Clem

me and CC. Her tea ceremony is coming up and i almost booked tickets to Acheh for that same weekend. Happened to get her message while looking at flights and immediately thought, “THERE’S NO WAY I’M MISSING OUT TORTURING ALL THE FRENCH GUYS HAHAHAAAAA” (by the way, for girls who think you’ve got a BRILLIANT torture please email me joycethefairy@gmail.com! the more ideas the eviler mwahahahahah)

I & Fai

New Year’s @ Awanmulan

Erhhh phooo there’s SO many pix i took over last weekend i don’t know where to start! Thought i’d go by day cos it made more sense but i haven’t shifted the hundreds of pix i took from my Pen3, let alone edit them. So daunting. Just gonna start with the instagrams i took then tackle the other photos later slash tomorrow afternoon.

Oli on the huge patio upstairs where we stayed on NYE (the next night Clem and i shifted downstairs)

Fai was super manly and took care of the BBQ all evening

This was on New Year’s Day when the rest headed back to KL, and Clem and i snacked all day on BBQ chicken sandwiches, chips, cheese, salmon, foie gras, sparkling, beers and whatnot. We know how to hit it in the forest.

Some Eckhart Tolle to kick off my reading for 2012. It’s not light reading. And i only got to page 16 throughout the whole weekend.

Zee’s dad/Uncle Awanmulan/Uncle Teng told us how the former owner used to sit in this very bathtub perched on that hill and drink his beer while watching the sun set. I was quite jealous to be honest. I wish i could do that too!

We had beer and foie gras with Uncle Teng, Zee and his gf while watching the sunset on New Year’s Day.

That night Jess + Tania + Aaron + Johnny arrived. Tania built some props to shade my giraffe without me asking her to. This is one reason i like Tania.

LEAF BUGGGG!!!
I LOVE leaf bugs ever since i saw them on Horton Hears A Who.
LEAF BUGGGGGGGGGG!
This was the biggest leaf bug i EVER saw! About 2 inches long!

Was waiting for Clem to take a shower and too lazy to move from bed (cos i’d already washed my feet) so i took hipstamatics of the mosquito net… before sneaking pictures of him bathing.

Used some comic app to play with the pix i took. I bought the app MONTHS ago and never used it… till now! App-shopping is so danger -_-

Sun was scorching and gorgeous on Monday the 2nd. Clem and i rushed to catch some sun around 11am. Tania came a bit later and caught me crawling on the ground with my head to it and was like, “Joyce, what are you DOING.”
“There’s an awesome praying mantis here. And i bet you’ll be doing what i’m doing too.”
Sure enough, after i was done taking pictures, Tania was kissing the ground doing the same.

This mantis is a fighter! He kept on rushing and jumping at the camera. Vid *here* if you really wanna see it.

It really made me think of those aliens in Falling Skies.

Tania and Jess tryna be wild things but tak jadi

Related post:
Myra’s Hen’s Night @ Awanmulan

My 1st Night in Tokyo : Roppongi & Shibuya

At the end of our first day in Hakone, we arrived in Tokyo after dinner to check into our hotel at 8pm. I had a much-needed shower (we were out and about all day upon landing in the morn!) and quickly made up before shooting out the door to meet Jesh in Shibuya.

A few days prior, Jesh (who has just moved to Tokyo from Singapore) begged me on gchat to bring him nasi lemak & sambal. I thought it weird at first cos how can anyone get sick of Japanese food!? But i totally understand how he feels cos after a few days in Japan, i too was craving savoury spice that one can only get from sambal or curry laksa. We are so spoilt for food cravings in Malaysia/Singapore/Bangkok you have no idea!

I wasn’t sure how nasi lemak could keep and asked on Twitter for some expert food smuggling advice. Sure enough, some replied saying to freeze it before checking it in, which i did. Luckily i also spotted some jars of nasi lemak sambal in the super so i got him a couple of those too.

So there i was, carrying a plastic bag of half-frozen nasi lemak and jars of sambal, trying to find my way in the train station. Everything was in Japanese and i had a flashback of pathetically trying to read Chinese characters in the station in Shanghai. Luckily the two people i asked for help could speak English, and i took the brown line to Shibuya. Don’t even ask me what the line was called…

Shibuya was pretty packed for a Thursday night (or how would i know… maybe it’s packed all the time!)

Jesh introduced me to his friend Alessio, who’s been living in Tokyo for years and speaks fluent Japanese. He insisted i had to visit this shop and dragged us into a 4-storey complex.

Jesh

The shop sold everything from toys, funny costumes, make up, house appliances and men’s underwear; to colourful socks and vibrators larger than my arm.

Jesh stopped some female strangers to ‘innocently’ ask what the vibrators were. Some stared at him strange before backing away, whereas this girl smiled politely, before also running away.

My friend hath no shame -_-

A chicken costume for a dog! I was SO tempted to get it… till i realised i don’t HAVE a small dog. Regretted it when i came home to KL cos i took a look at my bear soft toy and figured it would have looked so funny on it!

I did buy this…. though i have no occasion or reason to have it… i’m sure one will come up in time and i’ll go I WAS SO SMART TO BUY THIS CARTOON HAT.

After pottering about Shibuya a bit, Jesh said we’d go to Roppongi to have some drinks. He was to take the train whereas Alessio had his bike. “You want to follow me on the train, or Alessio on his bike?” asked Jesh. Since i’d already been on the train, i JUMPED at the chance to get on Alessio’s bike, thinking it was urm a bicycle. (Don’t know! Somehow i was thinking Copenhagen or something!)

Turns out he has a Ducati. Even better. 

Tokyo Tower at the end of the street. According to A, lots of black men try to pimp women to expats on this road.

Glass karoake rooms are piled atop each other for the world to see. So cool.

Life-sized sculptures on side of building.

Because Jesh would take longer with the train, Alessio took me around neighbourhoods and pointed out museums and landmarks i should visit when i have the time. We stopped by his favourite sushi place but they were closing.

Went to Roppongi where Jesh met us outside his apartment.

Thanks for a lovely intro to Tokyo!

“Welcome to my shoebox,” says Jesh

Compared to his huge house in Singapore, this 280 square ft. apartment is tiny! If i remember correctly he pays about RM4,500/month for this.

We had drinks and chatted, with both guys (hmm or more like Jesh) making me stalk people on Facebook. Think it was about 1am when Alessio decided to call it a night cos he had work the next day. He was planning to drop me off at my hotel, but seeing i was still up for more adventures, he left, and Jesh and i went to this club that (according to Alessio is commercial) but every femes person who drops by Tokyo steps into. Jesh said he met Kevin Spacey there a week prior. Kevin Spacey is fawsome. If he went there, i’d like to check it out!

Being the Jesh i know… has only been in Tokyo for a few weeks but knows all the club people. He introduced me to the bouncer who gave us some drink tokens. Upon entering the club there’s a lonnnnngggg wall of fame or sumthink like that with pictures of celebrities who’ve been in the club like Jean Paul Gaultier, No Doubt, the late Aaliyah, R.E.M., Rage Against the Machine, Elizabeth Taylor, and heaps more.

Took some up-close pictures of some great ones.

Mick Jagger and Japanese dudes? Come on! Picture for keeps!

There was a good mix of Japanese and expat people, mostly Japanese tho i’d say.

Japenese girls are so cute! Jesh and i were talking to the one in glasses while getting drinks, and met her friends after that. I asked whether i could take a picture and BANG they posed like this in ONE SECOND FLAT.

Later on, a girl saw my wrist tattoo peeking out of my long gold sleeve and asked whether she could see it. I said SURE and  pulled my sleeve down. She read it and squealed before showing me what SHE had on HER wrist… in almost the same font too!

We be beatles sistas.

This is her. She said she’s French but i thought she was American. She introduced herself as Maru (i’m guessing the expats who live there take on Jap names).

I wasn’t very experimental with my drinks orders till i watched the bartender making some interesting concoction for a Japanese couple. So i merely pointed at their white drink and asked for the same one. Hey… if Japanese people order it, it’s gotta be good right!

 More random girls we met. Yay me for not pulling a Julia Roberts.

These two girls were complimenting me on my small face 

Think Jesh and i had enough around 3am… and i had to wake up at 8am the next morn so i was ready to leave. I remember taking more pictures with people… and some very pretty and drunk Japanese girl tried to make out with me while her friend tried to take a picture with me. Urm i did have the consciousness to turn away and smile at the camera!

I caught a taxi cos all the trains were shut, and swear i had some serious palpitations as i saw the taxi metre jump to atrocious figures. I mean, i HEARD that taxi rides in Tokyo are expensive, but BY GOD they are the MOST EXPENSIVE TAXIS i’ve taken in my LIFE! I took a 10 to 15-minute ride for… 4,500 Yen/RM180.

I didn’t mind that much cos i didn’t pay for any club entry nor drinks, plus i had AN AWESOME FIRST NIGHT in TOKYO. The kind that money can’t buy.    I took the train by myself, got to buy sex toy souveniers for guy friends, had a woohoooo bike ride, chilled in apartment, went clubbing and had a Japanese girl make out with my neck? COME ON!

Drunkardly took a picture of my hotel lobby as i reflected on how lucky i was to do so much in one day!