the kaladkarin couple: Dive

August 08, 2008

They became an official 'couple' when the Beijing Olympics was opened (hence, the name of the site :P). As itchy as their soles could ever be, they decided that every year, they will have a "quality time" trip together (domestic or international) to celebrate their hatching days and their anniversary. Their first plan for an anniversary trip was a backpacking trip to Bicol.

August 08, 2009

...and the backpacking trip did not materialize... It didn't work out because he had to go to Singapore for a work trip.
But when the universe conspires, there will be a way. A week before their anniversary, she booked her ticket to Singapore for two reasons, and one of them is to celebrate their first year anniversary together.

August 04, 2010

Thailand Itinerary

Our much awaited trip has finally arrived! After months and months of saving, planning, and 3 sets of itinerary, we were ready to hit Thailand. We created a tracker to ensure that the things we planned to do will be within our "budget". This is how our IT looked like (we purposely removed the amount :)) --->

As we were packing our stuff, the room was a COMPLETE disaster :P We were putting stuff out of the closet here and there and all the clothes and other things are everywhere! By 3am and without any place to sleep, here was our checklist:

Dive Equipments - R
Swim wear (bathers and board shorts) - R
5-day summer clothes - R
Passports and passes - R
Toiletries and sunblock - R
Pocket money - R

After "cleaning up" the room, we hit the sack and put our restless souls to rest even for a few hours.

August 05, 2010

Our flight bound to Phuket, Thailand was scheduled to depart at 1315. We headed to the airport at 1000 so we will have ample time to roam around Changi. Before we checked in our luggage, we had our giant equipment duffel bag wrapped by SecureBag for additional safety. After wrapping, it looked like a giant green blob :P

After checking in, we bought coffee from Starbucks and had our brunch outside our boarding gate (coffee + blueberry strudel is **love**).

Upon arriving in Phuket International Airport, a local telco provider (true move) booth was giving away free sim cards! We got 2 for both of us, topped up one of them with SG$4.00 and we went our way out to meet our driver who will take us to Club Andaman in Phuket :)

Phuket Accommodation

We stayed in Phuket for a night for one sole purpose... to BUNGY JUMP! We didn't even had the opportunity to take advantage of the hotel amenities neither swim in the infamous Patong Beach. After checking in the hotel, we changed our clothes and headed off to Jungle Bungy Jump. We originally planned to walk from the Hotel to the jump off area because we thought it was only a kilometre away from where we were staying. It's a good thing we decided to ride the "modernized" tuk tuk because apparently, it was 20mins away by tuktuk!

Upon arriving in Khatu, she was actually undecided whether to jump or not from a platform attached to a 50m crane (pre-jumping jitters). See the following photos to know what happened next :)

3...2...1...BUNGYYY..waaaahhh!!!

3...2...1...Bungy...SPLASH!

After jumping and receiving our CERTIFICATE OF COURAGE, we headed for Thai dinner @ Patong Beach while we waited for the sunset. :) No shopping was done at this point because this was just the appetizer of our entire trip. We will be transferring to Phi Phi Island the following day :)

August 06-08, 2010

We woke up a tad early so we can still do some photoshoot around the area after breakfast. One particular thing that caught our attention were the Tsunami Evacuation signage. We did some jumpshots and took some photos of the hotel before heading back to the concierge to wait for our transportation to Ao Po Grand Marina pier where the Phi Phi Island Resort boat will take us to our next destination, Phi Phi Island! :D

Phi Phi Island Resort & Spa offers a 5-star service! We were treated like spoiled royalties (from the pickup from the hotel to the pier to the resort's private speedboat to the resort itself!) Winner na winner! Here are some snapshots of how SMOOOTTTHHH the trip went :)

Phi Phi Island Resort & Spa is a secluded resort located in Phi Phi Island itself. That means, no shops, limited restaurant options, quiant, and quiet. The resort is about 30 minutes from Ton Sai Bay by Long Tail Boat.

Long Tail Boat

We stayed at Phi Phi for 3 days. Talk about major major relaxation :) We had buffet by the beach on the first night and Italian buffet on the second (with live band). The infinity pool is awesome. It was paradise!
On our 2nd day, we went diving with the resort's inhouse dive centre. We wanted to dive at Shark

Shore of Phi Phi Island Resort

Point and King Cruiser Wreck but unfortunately, the sea condition was rough on the northern part of Phi Phi. They brought us in Phi Ley wall and Bida Nok instead, which by the way wasn't a disappointment. We saw 2 sharks despite the strong strong current cradling us left and right! :) The Phi Ley wall initially had a low visibility and a strong current but the condition got better in the middle of our dive session. Free drinks, free lunch and free fruits!
Maya Bay, a.k.a The Beach is also located in Phi Phi. We weren't lucky enough to make a trip to this area because of the rough sea condition. Hopefully we'll come back soon and make a trip to this beautiful lagoon :)

Later in the afternoon, we booked for a 1.5hr Siamese massage spa session. It was relaxation at its best.

He was a bit ticklish though ;)) Here are some of the island's photos that we took during our stay.

August 08 - 09, 2010

August 08 2010... we turned two years!! :) This is the last part of our Thailand vacation. Our last stop: Krabi, Thailand! At 1300, we were sent to Ton Sai Bay where we rode the boat to Railay Bay. The transfer was not as smooth as what we had from Phuket to Phi Phi Island but it was okay nonetheless. We were just too pampered during our previous transfers ;))

The main boat stopped in front of Railay bay, a few hundred metres from the bay itself. We took a long tail boat to drop us off nearer the bay, however, we had to walk a few more metres, carrying our luggages on top of our heads to reach the resort because it was low tide. It was a bit of a hassle but once we saw our room, all the ranting was gone :D It was huge and beautiful!

We stayed at Railay Bay Resort & Spa and stayed in their suite. It was near the pool and overlooking the sea and the limestones :). However, just like in Phuket, we weren't able to take advantage of the resort's amenities because we were only staying for a night.

Krabi is every rock climber's paradise. True enough, the limestones are just gorgeous. You can see guys and girls alike climbing each and every rock available. We actually wanted to try rock climbing as well in Krabi but we didn't have time to do so since we arrived later than what we have planned.

We did some shopping in Krabi. On our way to Krabi International Airport, our driver was nice enough to drop us off in the Outlet Shop first to do some shopping :D We were able to buy some bags and shorts :D