Nov 22, 2015

Coney Island, Singapore




West Entrance of Coney Island
It was a short Sunday getaway at Coney Island (also known as Pulau Serangoon).

As it's located near Punggol, no way we're gonna travel there by public transport, we cabbed there.

Visiting the island has become a trend this few weeks/months (friends visiting too, random people sharing posts/articles about Coney Island recently), owing to the fact that it was officially opened to the public not long ago on 10 October 2015 by the Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure Khaw Boon Wan. It's said that before that, there's a "NO ENTRY" sign at the island entrance.

The island has two entrances, one due west and the other due east. From The Punggol Settlement, we entered the island from the its West Entrance. We only managed to visit approximately 40% of the island, having no bicycle. Therefore I'd recommend that you rent a bicycle from Punggol Point Park and ride into the island for a vaster coverage.

So how did Coney Island get its name? I learnt that the island inherits rich history, after reading a few articles and blog entries, where one of them is from Remember Singapore. It was once owned by the Haw Par Brothers in the 1930s, but sold to Ghulam Mahmood, an Indian businessman in the 1950s. He then named the island after the Coney Island amusement park in Brooklyn, New York, with the intention of transforming the island into a pleasure resort.

According to a news article from The Straits Times, on 4 April 1950, the island 'is to have facilities for swimming, boating, fishing, all kinds of outdoor and indoor sports, a skating rink, and will contain a main building with a restaurant and bar, a dance hall and rooms', alongside with six cottages for honeymoon couples or families. Wow...

West Entrance









Green green...

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

Nov 8, 2015

Ko Samui, Thailand


03 (Tue) - 08 (Sun) Nov 2015

Lodging: Samui Beach Residence Hotel, 155/44 Moo 2, Bophut Sub-District, Chaweng, Ko Samui, Surat Thani 84320, Thailand




No idea why but similar to skydiving, it was never in my bucket list but because my friends wanted to do it, I did it with them and my bucket list for skydiving is instantly added and completed.

Not skydiving, but this time round it's diving, specifically, we're on our way of getting our open water diver license because my friend Mei Ling wanted to fulfill her bucket list of diving.

I travelled with Mei Ling (a friend of mine working as a nurse), her boyfriend Roy and her younger sister Yi Jia (who's also a nurse and librarian wannabe). Only Mei Ling, Yi Jia and I were attending the course as her boyfriend was already a certified open water diver.


Bangkok Airways PG962
Changi Airport Terminal 1
Our flight details
03 Nov 2015 (Tue)
Changi Airport Terminal 1 - Samui Airport
Flight No: PG962
8:10PM - 9:05PM

08 Nov 2015 (Sun)
Samui Airport - Changi Airport Terminal 1
Flight No: PG961
4:30PM - 7:20PM

Average fare per person: S$492.72 (booked through Expedia)

Mei Ling helped to book the accommodation, at S$88.25 per person for 5 nights.


Day 1

It's my first time flying with Bangkok Airways (not to be confused with Thai Airways). Its economy class comes with a free 20kg luggage check-in and a meal during the flight per passenger. Not deliberately wanting to be extravagant, but the only airlines that operate directly between Singapore and Ko Samui are Bangkok Airways and SilkAir.


My in-flight meal, a freeloader like me always asks for red wine. :D

At the airport, we bought their local AIS 3G SIM card at 100฿ (~$4) each, it comes with data and local calls a week. We took a taxi at 500฿ that fetched us from the airport to our hotel. At the exit of the airport, I find the airport a very humble one, it looks more like a villa.

Samui Beach Residence Hotel, the place we stayed, might be as foreign to their local drivers too, especially with the address that Google can't even pin accurately. But thank God we reached safely and we're staying at the highest level (level 3) and check out the room, it's much more spacious than we thought.





Good night~~

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