Dec 29, 2010

Hat Yai, Thailand


27 (Mon) - 29 (Wed) Dec 2010
Lodging: B.P. Grand Suite Hotel



Day 1

We departed from Greenlane McD on a van in the morning, with two other ladies whom we don't know, and reached the entrance of the B.P. Grand Suite Hotel at 9am (Thailand's timezone).

We're so unfortunate that the total number of us (5) were noticed and we're asked by no other choice to get another extra room, meaning that we're gonna pay more. The lobby gave me my first impression of the hotel, under construction, dusty, poor English pronunctiation and grammar by the receptionist, my goodness, why this kind of place? However, after entering our rooms, tadang!!


Aiyaya, it was totally out of my expectation. Hehe...


Samurai Pork Burger from McDonald’s at Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel
(I don't mind if Malaysia’s not having one as it doesn't taste any better or more special)


One of their famous markets - Kim Yong Market


I just don't understand why sometimes things have to be so spicy to the extent that I couldn’t even taste the original taste of them.


It’s around 200฿, I wonder if you can find any cheaper one.


Day 2


My first time taking Tuk-tuk, which fare is super cheap.


The big market of Hat Yai, a paradise for my cheapskate female friends, while for a guy like me, "Can I just stay inside the hotel room?"


Being dolls, not so bad at all, at least there's free trip without having them owning a passport.

Although we didn't manage to visit those touristy places of Hat Yai, at least we've been to the Hat Yai Lantern Festival which is quite seasonal, featuring 11 amazing (quite awesome) lanterns.





Day 3

The last cheap stuff we had on our last day - Hachiban Ramen (a Japanese restaurant) at Lee Gardens Plaza Hotel.

Due to the traffic congestion near the customs, we're only able to reach Prangin Mall, Penang late at around 10pm.


For more photos, please check out my photo album "Hat Yai Trip" on Facebook.

Javin Tham A master's degree graduate in engineering, a musician at heart, loves playing with soft toys.

Aug 4, 2010

DALK Surgery


I was diagnosed in Pantai Hospital, Penang to have keratoconus on both eyes and that's why my vision is so unclear to the extent that degrees cannot be tested by optimist, i.e. spectacles are useless for this kind of sickness.

Doctor Ho from Pantai Hospital has recommended me to Prof. Donald Tan from Singapore National Eye Cente (SNEC) for further solution as Malaysia doesn't have (I guess) any advance solution for this and if corneal transplant surgery is to be done, it's of course more technological advance in Singapore.

After consultation, I have decided to undergo DALK Surgery which costs around S$16,000. As you all know, consultation in Singapore, phew... is so costly if you're not a Singapore citizen or PR. Each consultation is around S$100 and the time you're spending on consultation is just a few minutes, my goodness....

In an early morning, that was my first time wearing like this (with disposable underwear some more, tsk tsk tsk...).

I will undergo the surgery under general anesthesia, which means I will be in a state of unconsciousness. Oh yeah, if not, I can't imagine what am I going to see.

The surgery took 1.5 hours, and I don't even know what was happening during the process.
 
After surgery, my right eye was covered with a patch, thank God it went smoothly and thank my friends who paid me a visit. General anesthesia really made me feel so drowsy and tired.


After a few months, my right eyesight improved while my left eyesight regressed until it almost can't be used to identify an object clearly. So actually, I'm quite blessed that I had undergone this surgery before anything was too late and if I didn't, HOW WAS I GOING TO GO FOR EXAMS?! Haha...

Javin Tham A master's degree graduate in engineering, a musician at heart, loves playing with soft toys.

Jul 1, 2010

Redang Trip


29 Jun (Tue) - 01 Jul (Thu) 2010
Lodging: Redang Pelangi Resort



I'd feel sorry to myself if I'm not travelling anywhere during this 3-month-vacation. Fortunately near to the end of it, I got to travel to Redang Island with Chan Wei, Xin Ying and my girlfriend, Joling.

We took a night bus from Komtar, Penang and reached Kuala Terengganu in the next morning.


The 1st day


While waiting for the boat, we brushed our teeth, Facebooked and ate sushis, prepared by Joling.

And camwhoring...

After boarding the boat, together with a few groups of tourists whom we're not acquainted with, we reached Redang Island in about, hmmm... 5 minutes?
When it's driving ashore, I can see that the seawater is truely almost blue-ish clear!!

OH MY GOODNESS, I thought I can only see this on TV or magazine, now I'm here!!
Although it's not somewhere famous like San Diego, the scenery excited me.


Our room was unexpectedly spacious.


Breakfast, lunch and dinner are all in buffet style.


Before venturing out, remember to apply sunblock before you turn into a roasted turkey...


This is one of the must-visit-places when you travel to Redang - More More Tea Inn, the place where scenes in 《夏日麽麽茶》 were filmed.




The bridge to Redang Reef Resort


This was spectacular and it's my first time seeing a full moon with it's reflection on the sea from the horizon.
It was seriously so awesomely wonderful, despite taking lousy photos because we didn't bring a tripod...


The 2nd day


We managed to rent a waterproof camera from the resort, in order to take photos in the sea while snorkeling.



Remember not to bring someone who doesn't know how to swim with you. Despite having a life vest and snorkel, Joling was grabbing me so tight all the time like she's gonna be drowning anytime, haha...
Anyway, if you want to have a really pleasant experience of snorkeling, then stay away from your friends who don't know how to swim. Ok, I'm just kidding...




Clean water from the mountain?


And the place we're snorkeling at is Marine Park Center



We're then back to the main island, and it's another camwhoring session...




Jumping shots





Snorkeling again, and this time with more bread pieces...

You have to be careful while snorkeling because my leg was cut by the coral rocks for a few times.

Sometimes the fish can be quite tickling...
 



Ah yeah, got some shots with bikini babes. Muahaha...
(Remember to wipe the lens of the waterproof camera before shooting)


Back to camwhoring again...






Stone skipping


Laguna Redang Resort

We somehow ended up here again - More More Tea Inn... Haha...



Ok, what're we doing?
We heard that there's blue sand at the beach in front of Redang Reef Resort. We don't know the correct way to make them appear, but we just dragged the sands with our slippers.
And by chance, miraculously we saw some blue glowing spots tiny little which fade off after about a second. Wasn't that amazing?
After doing some researches, I found out that those are some kind of microscopic crustaceans called Bioluminescent Ostracods, or just simply Sea Fireflies, and their glows are due to the luminescent chemicals produced.





The 3rd day

Not many photos to take about, as we're leaving Redang Island.

It's an awesome trip, wonderful beach and gorgeous bikini babes... Opps... Haha...
Even if it's so sunny and hot outside, you will spend your time playing and running around beneath the huge sun (ok, maybe just for the purpose of taking pictures).
It's a nice holiday for me and each of them as well and our expenditure was RM400 if I'm not mistaken.


For more photos, please check out my photo album "Redang Trip" on Facebook.

Javin Tham A master's degree graduate in engineering, a musician at heart, loves playing with soft toys.