Tour information in Phuket

Dear Readers,

After lots of requests, I found the 3 business cards I picked up last time in Phuket during my AMAZING THAILAND!!! trip of 2008. Here are all the details:

Tour Company in Phuket : Phuket Seaworld & Tina Tour

Address: 34/3 M.5 Thepkhasattri Road.
T. Thepkhassattri Thalang, Phuket 83110 Thailand

Ms. Janjira Krutprapal (Tina)
Managing Director
Mobile: +66 87 3903710, +66 87 2686867
Tel: +66 76-206694, Fax: +66 76-206559 Email: tinatour24@hotmail.com

Review:

I think this is a very reliable company, I have used it 3 times. You can coordinate with Tina via email, she will arrange for pick up at the airport, and then from the airport you will be driven to her office to settle all payments and collect the daily tour tickets. Very friendly service and reliable

Freelance Tour Guide: Mr. Chakrit Somkaew (Chai)
Mr. Chai was my HAPPPY!!! Tourguide, speaks excellent english, very nice man, but a little TOO Friendly with women, so be warned.. (not in a pervy way, more like, innocent love crush?)

Mobile: + 66 81-272 3022
Address: 78/280 M.3 Chao-Far Road, Wichit, Muang Phuket 83000

Taking Taxis in Phuket
Unfortunately, in Phuket there is no systematic taxi system, meaning us tourist have to bargain and pay basically a ransom amount to travel around the city. So here is some advice:

If you think you want to see shops, night life, the whole works – get a hotel in Patong area, because that will save you on the transport.
If you want a secluded getaway, choose a nice beach like Surin Beach and just stay there your entire trip.

BUT if you need to take a taxi, I got a business card from a very nice young man who is a taxi driver there. He drives a simple sedan, speaks fluent English and his whole family grew up in Surin Beach. He was very nice to us 3 girls when we were travelling in Phuket, he told us places to avoid, and at first we only wanted a one way taxi ride, but he was ‘worried’ (hey I believed him) that we wouldnt be safe, so we set a time and place to meet again for him to take us back to the hotel.

If you are staying at the Marriot at Surin Beach, he usually is sitting right outside the hotel. If not, here is his contact info:

Mr. Settapan Changin, (but you can call him. Mr. Bu (pronounced as Boo.))
Mobile: +66 81 370-8718
His business card lists everything he does – transport to and from airport, take you to see Phuket Fantasea and Temples…but please please avoid things like

Cashew nut Factory, Thai Silk Store, Jewelry Factory, because those are HUGE tourist traps, they charge a fortune.

Alright, I hope that helps you all.

Enjoy your time in Phuket!
Stacy

A Lovely November – Day 3 – Family Reunions

Dear Readers,

Ooooooooh shoot, I’m so behind on my blog entries that I am forgetting what to write on my logs!

Day 3…November 5th, it was a thursday…and I think Mom and I went shopping. Had a business meeting.

Oh, I do remember laughing so much when watching KBS – Korean TV, with ENGLISH SUBTITLES!!! I’m so jealous that we don’t get that in Thailand.

Family Reunion

So, at first Uncle James arrived with Aunt Kathleen, and then all the relatives started coming into our room! It is so nice to come from a big family! They came in twos (haha like noah’s ark.) – Uncle James and Aunt Kathleen, Claudia and Aunt Cissy, Aunt Laura and Uncle Ben!

So there we were all 9 of us, in the room, chatting and laughing, and then…time for photos. It really is a math probability question. nCr – combinations. 9 people, 4 cameras, how many permutations and combinations? I think it took us a complete 15 minutes to complete the whole round.

Imagine….

Photo 1: Aunt Laura’s camera, Aunt Laura took the group photo.
Photo 2: Aunt Laura’s camera, Uncle Ben took the group photo.
Photo 3: Claudia’s camera, Aunt Cissy took the group photo.
Photo 4: Claudia’s camera, Claudia took the group photo. 

etc etc.
Not to mention the different combinations of seating arrangements too!

From left to right – Claudia, Dad, Aunt Laura, Aunt Kathleen, Uncle Ben, Uncle James, Mom and Aunt Cissy! phew!

The last photos were using Uncle James cute camera, with a 15s self timer, so we are all sitting there like…ah….cheeese!! wow…this light is long!

haha

Dinner was great, lots of laughter, I think the cutest moment was when we asked Uncle Ben what he wanted to eat, and right away he said, “Goo Lo yuk! *sweet and sour pork!*” Wow I never remember him being so adorable and vocal! And I dont even know how old he is, but he is such an amazing tennis player, and he was talking about his rallying, how he beats his boys anytime, it was so sweet!

 

Dinner was alot of laughter and catch up? And I was sitting there thinking…wow, I really miss this. I would love to grow up and live in Vancouver with all of them, there is a strong sense of family. I also really missed Gucci.

 

 

 What lovely relatives and what a nice warm reunion, I hope it won’t be another 6 years til I see them again!
Stacy

A Lovely November – Day 2 – Morning freeze and Dinner with Rita and Billy!

Dear Readers,

Morning Freeze
I woke up FREEZING. Was it really ‘winter’ in HK so soon? I got dressed for breakfast, wore my jacket, and was freezing in the hotel restaurant during breakfast. 

Which….was quite alright, except for one thing that really boggled me. — They put the bacon in this steamer, no wait..hmm…it’s not an obvious steamer, but it is a tray, that is heated, and has this glass cover thingy and I suppose some steam too, to keep the food warm I guess?     ”It wasn’t the usual food tray covers” would be the best way to describe them. Anyhoo, so bacon, ham, sausages? All soggy! Bargh! In hindsight - it was good thing for me because I avoided eating them all week.

Because I was freezing in the restaurant, I refused to be a victim, and I couldn’t allow myself to catch a cold because I couldn’t get my parents sick, so I wore a longsleeve undershirt, my tank top, my green knit sweater, my jacket and my scarf …and headed outside for lunch. I even put my MSN status as “FREEZING IN HK!”

Once we stepped outside the hotel? I was hit by a gush of warm air. Man…I’m such a loser!

hahaha, this is another example of what happens when I live a sheltered life. (BUBBLE!!!!)  If I didn’t step out of the hotel, I would completely think that it is subdegree temperature outside! What is with hotel airconditioning?!?!?!? Everyone around me was wearing a cotton-tee, and there I was with my pink scarf!

Cantonese Immersion
Anyhoo, Shatin is a really nice part of HK, it is nice and quaint, and interesting. It also brought out my huge cantonese insecurity though. We were buying a SIM Card, and I was asking the lady if I could choose my phone number (because you know, I am so particular when it comes to numbers)  Basically, I have to press all these buttons and choose a number, DAMMNIT the lady did it for me, and I got a crappy number. But anyhoo, she was blasting off in Cantonese, like blahblah *TSK TSK* ho mafaan la la lalalalaa, and I was staring at her blankly, like what the heck did i do? And later Mommy said, “she told you she was frustrated with reading instructions, and you should ask her boss”

My jaw literally dropped like, Wow, how the bleep! did I miss that!

Portions are also ridiculously huge in HK. Random point.

Dancing while walking
Mommy gave me a HK map, and booked me on the shuttle to TST Regal Hotel. And with this trusty map, I found my way to the pier side, and had a nice 20 minute stroll to Ocean Terminal. You know what, I don’t usually use my MP3 player in Bangkok, but it is really fun and handy to have.

While waiting for Rita, I was listening to “Give it Up” by KC and the Sunshine Band – and alright, I was doing a mini-grapevine move in front of the shopping square. I always do this I suppose? How can someone listen to music and not move and dance along to it? 

I guess if I ever lived in HK, I would have to learn to live with just tapping my feet…because this dodgy African man (I’m not racist btw, I’m just describing how he looked like please!) walked up to me smiling like,

Dodgy man: Are you waiting for your friend?
Stacy: Yes, my husband actually! *switches to more sober depressing music*

Reunion with Rita and Billy
Shortly after creepo approached me, I saw Rita and ran into her arms. So that’s right, he was standing right there. Rita was my husband.

We had dinner in a Vietnamese restaurant that had a nice view of the harbour, and Billy joined us too! Dinner was great, but the highlight was catching up with the both of them. I like it the way it is now, seeing Rita once every 6 months, it comforts me And this time, I got the chance to talk to Billy more, and I am so happy for Rita, because Billy is a really nice guy.  Heather, Andrea and Rita! All three of you are attached to such wonderful men!

Lovely running Rita!

The nice waitress lady...everytime she took the photo we saw her hand shake...hahah this was the best shot

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to dig up some old York photos and compare how we looked before as to now. I feel we are women now Rita! It’s hard to describe really. It’s like we look the same, but not at the same time?

November 4th was a fabulous day for me!
Stacy

Bangkok to Hong Kong

Dear Readers,

And with all my frustration, I left Bangkok and moved to HK….

I wish.

Whatever the case, I am here in Hong Kong, and had quite an interesting journey over here! The Bangkok Airport now has really crazy stringent regulations when it comes to security checks. We have to take out EVERYTHING, if you have a laptop in your computer case – take it out, if you have a make up kit – take it out,  I was asked to take off my coat, my watch, my scarf and my shoes too! I felt like I was giving a strip tease! Really ridiculous! And to make it worse, I just had SOOOO many bags, that it was very very overwhelming and I was rushing to the Emirates gate….

I simply love Emirates. Yes, Vick works there so I am biased. But I got to watch GREY’S ANATOMY on board. It must be 3-4 seasons ahead of the ones I’m watching in Bangkok! And there I was, snuggled in my window seat, tearing and dabbing my eyes like crazy for 2 hours! That stuff really gets to you!

And when I got out of the gates, I saw lots of Immigration Officers, and they were only stopping Africans and Middle Eastern people! It was quite embarassing and disgraceful to see such blatant racist discrimmination! I complained about it just now, and my Auntie told me it is because there are so many illegal workers in HK, but still I felt quite crappy about it.

Anyways, I’m glad that I am with my parents now,  and looking forward to an interesting week!
Goodnight!
Stacy

And yet another Bangkok lull.

Dear Readers,

Happy Halloween! I can’t believe it’s been 1 year since my amazing, ridiculous night in Shibuya. And I have to say that this night had some similarities to last year, but overall gave me a huge opportunity for reflection.

So, I didn’t expect to go out today, and was quite happy to just sit at home and watch whatever was on the TV line up, and do some tidy up work, and/or unpack a few things. But meeting Jeab yesterday for MJ’s concert, we were in the whole ‘yeah let’s go out’ mood.

In yesterday’s loud dinner environment, Jeab shouts, “Let’s go to a place called Red docks, its suppose to be nice and lots of expats + english speaking ppl there” Ooooh, sounds nice right?  I asked what type of music they played, “It’s an art gallery, no music”

WAaaaaaaaaah, aw shit. no offense, but I bloody hate those art gallery things. I went to No Space when the exhibition was about the condition of Bus roof tops in Bangkok, and he stood at a bridge and took photos of buses driving by. Granted, Bus roof tops here in Thailand are rusty, ghetto colours, mismatched paint jobs, so I guess it is interesting. But to pin it on a wall, sell it for 3,500 – 18,000 baht? Are you serious?

Anyways back to my story, ugh…Art gallery…art exhibition again a place where I totally speak on different levels with the people there, I wasn’t looking forward to it, but thought, hey, Jeab really wants to go, okay let’s go. Party flyer said – HALLOWEEN! 7pm-12midnight, and listed all the bands that were playing la la la…

So in my true Halloween spirit, I threw on my Kimono , Jeab helped me with my makeup, and went as a Japanese kimono lady (You could say I was a geisha, but I’d prefer if you didn’t.) I even tied a pillow at my back. (Grego will give me the photos to upload later.) And it was nice to go as a Japanese person – in tribute to my fabulous Halloween of 2008!

Anyhoo, what is the whole point of dressing up in Bangkok. At 9:30-ish (it’s always good not go so so so early.) we managed to find Rain Dog – which is this house turned gallery turned live band place situated in this deep dark alleyway along side the highway. And as I am driving…approaching the Rain dog sign…we hear music…but we don’tsee anyone there.

Stacy: Jeab, look at the empty tables…there are EMPTY TABLES
Jeab: Let’s go inside anyways since it is nice to see the art gallery.

So I took off my kimono because i REFUSED To walk in an empty room looking like a fool.

Picture this setting:

 an open air rundown house…with funky furniture…good retro music playing…a ceiling fan swinging,….turn your eyes to the left to see  empty chairs and tables, turn right…again…empty chairs and tables…and look ahead beside the bar…a waiter, sleeping in 1 lounge chair with his mouth open.

FABULOUS. One look at that I just walked straight to my car.

I was still in a good mood, determined to have a good time, and then as events unfolded…it turned out, we had no clue where the Halloween parties were! And I looked to my left, and saw my one friend, and it really hit me like..Wow, look how my life has changed in the past 2 years. I’ve morphed from a social butterfly to a natural born loser?

No wait, I take that back, I know I’m not a loser, more like, I don’t even know where the HALLOWEEN Party is! Geez what is wrong with me! You know what I mean? It is so different. It’s not that clubbing is the best thing in the world, and I can tell you, I’m quite tired of it, but I guess there is a huge social aspect lacking.

Maybe it’s 3 am and I can’t articulate my feelings, but in short. It was damn damn depressing!

Jeab made it up to me by taking me to ZENSE which is such a beautiful lounge place at Central World Plaza. Would recommend it to anyone. But it wasn’t the same. And I’m the ONLY on in the whole lounge wearing a costume ( I basically had my sheer tank top underneath my kimono so I couldn’t take it off.) and I don’t mind sticking out like a sore thumb at all. But I guess, today was just one of those days that I could add to my “Days where Stacy feels she doesn’t belong list.”

And so I guess my conclusion to this Halloween is that, it left me feeling a bit down and about.

Hermitising yet again,
Stacy

 

On the topic of complimenting a lady..

Dear Readers,

So Mom and Dad left on Monday, of course I cried because it was so sad, won’t see them until December..(or so I thought, turns out I have to go to HK first week of Nov now! It’s a long story..)

Now, Greg and I are like the dynamic duo, and on Tuesday, I had so many errands planned, but our driver called in sick! So Greg was my (driver) assistant, and accompanied me to all my meetings.

I don’t know if I can say it enough, that I really really love my baby brother.

In the car, we are listening to his music, and there are two songs which are his current faves, “Sexy B*itch” and ” Baby by Me”

I just can’t help but laugh at the lyrics of “Sexy B*itch”

***

She’s nothing like a girl you’ve ever seen before.
Nothing you can compare to your neighbourhood hoe.
I’m tryna find the words to describe this girl without being disrespectful.
The way that booty movin I can’t take no more.
Have to stop what i’m doin so I can pull up close.
I’m tryna find the words to describe this girl without being disrespectful.

Dam girl.
Dam you’se a sexy bitch.
A sexy bitch.
Dam you’se a sexy bitch.
Dam girl. “

***

Is this guy Akon for real?

Can I write an open letter to Akon?  That there are alot of words to describe a lady without being disrespectful?
Gosh, his lack of vocabulary is really frightening. Ahaha. And when Andrea and I were speaking about it over the phone,

Andrea says, “You know what I want to know, I want to know how he knows the neighbourhood hoe.”

haha! Hilarious. The standard of RnB hiphop lyrics these days. Then in the car Grego played another song, again by Akon, and the song went something like, shake your jiggle tiddies? I forget what exactly, but I remember rolling my eyes and just sighing.

Oh wait i just asked greg, it’s a song called Hynotised and the lyrics are “Booty keeps bumpin’, titties just bouncin’ up and down..” *thumbs up*

Oh and the cutest episode was 50 cent’s newest song Baby by Me,

Me: Aren’t these lyrics really ghetto, like have my baby and be a millionaire?
Greg: No Stace, it’s a sweet song, it’s like…have a baby..girlfriend by my side, and feel like a millionaire…
Me: Really? why does he use the word baby, not shawty (sp?) or not babe?

Okay basically Greg was really patient like, no Stace, it’s a sweet romantic song, then okay made me feel a BIT better because I gotta admit, the song sounds good (argh!!!). Then when we got home, we called Doug (our hiphop expert) and Doug said, “No it means, have my baby and be a millionaire”.

Hahaha, Greg is so sweet! To think it means girl by my side. Wah, I know he isn’t so innocent, so that interpretation was so off in terms of his standards.

This is all alot of laughs and chuckles for me, but when I come to think about it, I have to say … (let me see if I get this right..) “Damyumn! That’s Ghetto son!”

I mean, seriously, every body is liking this Sexy Bitch song, I can’t imagine going to the clubs and dancing to it, like people pointing and singing “You’se a sexy bitch!”

If someone ever did that to me, I would say, Thanks, So I’ve heard…and I’m hotter than your neighbood hooker apparently!

It is really scary if this the linguistic trend. Whatever happened to, “I think you are lovely.”, or ” You have a great smile” ….. maybe I have to just keep my radio tuned to my golden oldies, retro, and soft music I suppose!

Right now, ” I love you for sentimental reasons” – Nat  King Cole, such a nice gentle song!
Alright, I’m off to fix dinner, thanks for stopping by!
Stacy

Rest In Peace Stephen Gately

Dea Readers,

I was so shocked when I saw on BBC that Stephen Gately died. I screamed, “Noooooo!” Oh my goodness, so so so so sad.  I haven’t had time to read what really happened to him until today.

And here I am sitting in my room, getting all emotional and teary eyed reading about it. He passed away becase of an inherited heart condition.

www.stephengately.co.uk

I really love Boyzone and all their happy songs. They all are wonderful people and I am so sad and sorry that Stephen died! It is really heartbreaking. He was the first Boyband member to come out in the open and say he is Gay, really helped pave the way for Mark from Westlife to come out too, because I guess at the end of the day, we fans, we don’t care about whether they are gay or straight, we love them for their music, the joy they bring into our lives and the wonderful people they are.

Boyzone is always on my playlist, when the songs come on it is instant sing-a-long time! One song I used to play over and over was ” Love me for a reason, ” and I love the part when Stephen sings “Kisses and caresses are only minor tests  babe, of  love turned to stresses between a woman and a man..”

To donate to Stephen’s cause: http://www.justgiving.com/StephenGately/

Rest in Peace Stephen Gately, and thank you for the wonderful songs and memories.
Stacy

A trip to the cinema

Dearest  Readers,

So I am not a fan of the cinema. I love movies, but  I prefer watching them in the comfort of my own home. (Because I laugh outloud, and I gasp, and scream and make several exclamations during most movies)

 So, maybe I watch less than 5 movies each year in the theatre, all the rest is via my cable subscription and through DVDs. 

Today, I went to Empourium to watch THE UGLY TRUTH, with Jeab. And I have to say, it was firstly, quite a disappointing movie, but secondly, it was a huge eye opener for me. Eye-opener in the sense where, I am sitting in a room filled with people, and when I exclaim, or laugh, it’s all silent, but when the whole crowd laughs I’m like *smile* or “….???”

It is so odd that the laughter is mismatched or delayed. And I remember talking to Marcus about this once, is it because of the subtitles maybe? Or they don’t get the American-cultural references?

Today I found the whole crowd laughing at Katherine Heigl’s expressions – a true sign of a good actress, that she doesn’t need words to express emotion. (I really like her, watched her since ROSWELL!!!)  Or they would laugh at overtly obvious XXX jokes (not my type of humour)

At any rate, now, whenever I go to see a movie in Thailand, I really feel like, “wow…I don’t belong here.” and I wonder, so if I was back in Canada, would I be laughing with the group, or … also be out of sync?

When you go to see a movie, do you laugh at all the appropriate cues?

After the movie, we went to have dinner at this small Kebab place opposite Capitol Club, it was nice and homey, and the restaurant owner (Iranian) was so welcoming, and shared Persian Tea, Shishia (sp?) and homemade cookies with us after dinner! very friendly, and the food was authentic too.

At Jeab’s place, we watched this movie called Feast of Love (with Greg Kinnear…i LOVE HIM.) and instead of Thai subtitles, we selected Chinese subtitles.  And I gotta say, man oh man, are the chinese subtitles super off or what. There was this part of the movies, where the couple just finished s*x and

the lady asked: “So where is the ladies room” (as in where is the bathroom)  Chinese subtitles wrote “`你的女朋友在不在’（is your girlfriend here?)

Wah…

Really lost in translation. Frankly, I’m super impressed with my chinese subtitle reading ability (60%) but it is really funny how it is so off! So maybe the thai subtitles are bonkers.

You know, Michael Jackson’s THIS IS IT concert is coming up, the tickets aren’t expensive, just 160baht. But I’m thinking…is it worth going to see? Because what if the whole cinema is just really quiet and deadbeat. I’m really not looking forward to that. I rather wait for the DVD to come out, and have a dance party at my house, sing-a-long, you know the whole works.

Wow it’d be so nice to dance and sing along in the cinema though. I wonder if I’d be thrown out….
Stacy

The downside of positivity

Dear Readers,

Did I ever tell you that it is one of my life dreams to be a show host. One of my favourite channels is – Travel & Living, and everytime I watch their shows, I think – That’s so me! I like the cooking travel shows the best, like Kylie Kwong (not her cooking, but I like the concept of the show, travelling through China and discovering dishes) and I love Anthony Bourdain!

Anyways, recently an opportunity came up – Host for History Asia – and I submitted my audition reel.

Jayme did this! Isn’t she a superstar? She filmed and edited it, I think with the right proper materials/equipment she could really go far. This was filmed using our Sony T200.

My mom was the director too, helping with the shoot. We filmed at the national park nearby, it was super sunny!

Anyways there is a downside of positivity. My parents, my whole family were super positive, they loved the audition reel and they thought I would TOTALLY BE SHORTLISTED. I even got a new passport so that I could travel to the audition city! And all my darling friends were super supportive as well,  and we naively thought that at least I would be short listed!

Sigh…

I guess I’ll achieve my dream another day.

Too bad it’s not today though,
Stacy

BK Magazine – Gretchen Worth writes a disappointing reply

Dear Readers,

Today I received an email from the CEO of Asia City Media Group (not sure for Thailand or the whole group)  Here it is:

— On Wed, 9/30/09, Gretchen Worth <gretchen@asia-city.co.th> wrote:

From: Gretchen Worth <gretchen@asia-city.co.th>
Subject: RE: Mooncake Lab – distasteful article owes an apology.
To: “Stacy Ho” <skmkh2002@yahoo.com>
Cc: “Gregoire Glachant” <Greg@asia-city.co.th>
Date: Wednesday, September 30, 2009, 6:56 AM

Dear Ms. Ho:

Thank you for your emails.

Our editor has answered your email personally, and BK Magazine has published Lawrence C.K. Ho’s email in the Letters section of the issue dated September 25, 2009.

We consider this matter closed.

Sincerely,
Gretchen Worth

***********

To which I replied:

Dear Gretchen,
Thank you for your email.   I have never received a personal response from Mr. Gregoire Glachant. I know that he responded to ONE complaint of many. His email did not contain any apology. Please find it below.  

 Publishing Lawrence C.K Ho’s letter is not adequate. This action does not absolve your offensive article.   Your editor clearly offended people. Since he spoke on behalf of BK Magazine “We at BK Magazine do not like Mooncakes” an apology should be printed. This would be a great gesture from BK Magazine.

I am very disappointed about how all of you have handled this matter. Even in your email, there is no sense of remorse, and your “We consider this matter closed” is very cold and unapologetic.  

As a part of Asia City Media Group, how could an article like this be published? HK Magazine, IS Magazine, S-H Magazine would never publish an article like this because they know it would backfire. I am including them in this email so they can see how their Asia City affiliate so poorly deals with readers and so poorly handles public relations.   

Please print a public apology.  

 Best wishes,
Stacy
*                          *                             *                        *                      *                          *                                    *                           *                    *

I guess the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree!  Gretchen Worth’s email is so cold and unapologetic. I am not asking for them to be the friendliest people on the block,  but still. Why are they not apologising? Do they think just by publishing ONE opinion letter in their “Letter” section this can absolve their misjudgement? 
 
I am shocked and appalled about how unprofessional they are. I hope that they will change their minds and print an apology. My friend told me that if this happened in the US, or Canada, these people would be in big trouble!  Come on people!! I don’t believe and I won’t beleive that just because this happened in Thailand we can also shrug our shoulders and let them say whatever they want??

BK MAGAZINE PLEASE PRINT AN APOLOGY!

Shocked appalled and frustrated with BK MAGAZINE,
Stacy