Blogskin done by 16thday with image from Taringa .

I went on a vacation to Phuket, Thailand and I had quite a blast.

The first day, when we reached our hotel, we were disappointed. And that was even before we stepped into our hotel room. The hotel was sandwiched between two massage parlor and everyday we'll see the women in their colour-coded sarongs sitting outside the parlor persuading passers-by to get a massage. The lobby was small. But it wasn't the smallest lobby I've stepped into before.

And then we get to our room. My jaw dropped and we started laughing in disbelief. It was SO not what we thought it would be like. In the pictures, the room looked big. It was a suite afterall. But when we opened the door, it was quite cramped. The balcony was so tiny, there weren't a thought of hanging out there. Oh, by the way, did I mention that to get to our room, we had to take the stairs? Yea. The lift only serviced the other side of the building. So up and down two flights of winding stairs we had to encounter at least 4 times a day. But we got used to it, and came to accept our room. It was passable.

Over the 4 days and nights, we did activities and sightseeing. We did most of our shopping in the night markets where it's relatively cheap and bargaining for a cheaper price is possible.

One of my friends and I did bungee jumping! I still can't believe I did that. I keep thinking back on the experience. The staff wrapping our calves really tight together with long rubber bands until I swore when they removed it, I could feel the warm flow of blood filling up the cappillaries in my toes, turning them from purple to pink. The long minutes as they bring us up 50m up above a lagoon surrounded by lush tropical green. We couldn't believe how fast it was, from the moment we reached the place by van and ending up standing hugging each other over the edge of the tower, seconds from our plunge. I was petrified. I took sometime to let go of the railings so that the staff can push us off the edge. And when finally my fingers released the railing and clutched my other hand desperately wrapped for dear life around my friend, the staff held us and rocked us gently back and forth, counting 3-2-1 and pushed us off! I screamed in sheer terror all the way till the end. It was definitely thrilling. I only opened my eyes after we were bouncing up and down. Very terrifying. As they led us back to the ground, I had tears in my eyes and my hair was in a mess and my legs seemed incapable of holding my weight as I stood upright. Oh my God. That was the most expensive thing I spent in my entire trip. We got a certificate of courage. Haha.

Besides that, we went to a shooting range where if they hadn't given us the ear muffs, I would have gone deaf. The pistol was surpisingly heavy. Very different from the toys I used to have when I was little. Well, it was very cool.

The third day of our trip we spent half the day island hopping. We went to this island and that island in a luxury boat, stopping for a dip in the sea, or for snorkeling while feeding the fishes. There was the Maya Beach, Phi Phi Island, Viking cave, etc. The views were fantastic. The food provided was good. And the co-captain (or at least one of the leaders of the tour group) knows my name. Haha.

On the forth day, we spent the day going around Phuket to the viewpoints. We had the best driver named Tossapon, whom we call Pon. Not only does he drive well, he's funny and adorable and takes good pictures. He's very helpful, from helping us 'climb' up and down a rocky mountain at Promthep Cape, to taking our pictures a million times, to showing us the best souvenir shop. Though he's on the shy and quiet side, he hardly hesitates to take plenty of pictures together with us, just him with us girls. He's young, about 24, younger than my three friends, older than me, so they all kind of treat him like a little brother. He seemed innocent enough, with no girlfriends in mind, having the goal to get a house and make some money first before getting one. So anyway, the viewpoints were awesome!! The view of the islands and the sea from the top of a cliff was breathtaking. The sunset was amazing. I was in such awe. I especially love the viewpoint at Promthep Cape. Not only was the journey to the cliffside challenging, with me slipping on the rocks and pebbles many times, but the view there was picture perfect, fit for a postcard. It was a lucky thing that the weather was good on that day. It was humid but the sun didn't beat us down with it's relentless rays like it did while we island hop the day before. We could have suffered from heatstroke and dehydration from climbing up and down the mountain if it was a cloudless, sunny day. We were exhausted when we got back to the main road. But we had so much fun.

That night, we explored a stretch of road full of club houses and pubs. There were pole dancing, women (he-she) clad it little tight dresses dancing on a podium, those sort of thing. It kind of freaked me out a little. That road was busy and crowded and it was only 9pm. After that, we had a late dinner with Pon at a seafood restaurant. Yummy! Yea, we invited Pon along cuz we really liked him.

Pon picked us up from the hotel in the morning to drive us to the airport. He remembered that we wanted to buy some Thai tidbits and made a stopover at one of the shops on the way to the airport. I was utterly and deeply touched when he gave each of us a gift before saying goodbye at the airport. It was so sweet of him and I really didn't expect it. Sigh...

Each time I leave a place where I spent my vacation, there are sure things and moments that would make my heart so heavy before I get on the flight back home.

And now it's back to reality and back to work. How horrible is my life?
In my own world,
2:57 PM

Too many guys simply rolled over these days, thinking that being nice was all that mattered. And it did matter, but not if the guy equated being nice with being a doormat. I liked the fact that a guy would take me fishing, for example, even though I wouldn't be enthusiastic about it. It's his way of telling me, "This is who I am, and this is what I enjoy, and of all the people I know right now, I want to enjoy this experience with you." Too often, when a guy asked me out, he picked me up without the slightest idea of what to do or where to go, eventually forcing me to come up with the plan. There was something so wishy-washy and clueless about that. He was anything but wishy-washy, and I couldn't help liking him for that.

I was struck by the thought that this was the man with whom I'd like to face the future. I know I'm too young for such thoughts and am under no illusion that I was even considering marriage, but somehow I felt that if I had met him ten years from now, he might be the one. When I meet a guy, the first question I ask myself is not whether he was good for a few dates; it was whether he was the kind of man I could imagine spending time with over the long haul.

There are guys who grow up thinking they'll settle down some distant time in the future, and there are guys who are ready for marriage as soon as they meet the right person. The former bore me, mainly because they're pathetic; and the latter, quite frankly, are hard to find. But it's the serious ones I'm interested in, and it takes time to find a guy like that whom I'm equally interested in. I mean, if the relationship can't survive the long term, why on eath would it be worth my time and energy for the short term?
In my own world,
7:10 PM