Phuket Upside Down House

My childhood friend (more like a brother from another mother), Stephen, decided to take a weekend off and travel to Phuket for a 2 day vacation. He claims to have been working most of the time and wants to see another country. I helped him with his itinerary as I also was on a rest day when he arrived.

After fetching him from the airport, we caught the Airport Bus to Phuket Town. Apparently, the driver took us directly to the Phuket Town Bus Terminal bypassing our main destination. Therefore, we had to take a tuktuk. This gave him the opportunity to cruise through the old Phuket Town for just a few minutes. We were heading to Phuket's Upside Down House.

Upside Down House in Thai language is "Baan Telanka". It is said to be the first and only upside down house in Thailand. We arrived at the site at around 11:30a.m. and my room mate, Kamille, who was waiting for us already purchased our tickets. The price was 250THB (around 8 USD) each person. The house was completely upside down and fully furnished.

First we were ushered by the staff to the front of the house. The staff taught us how to pose and took our group photo. At first we were having difficulty following the instructions on how to take photos but there were staff inside the house that guided us and made it more enjoyable.

The way to the first floor (or the third floor?) of the house was through a staircase which featured an attic. A few minutes after we started to take some photos, a number of people were already coming up to the house so it was difficult to post solo photos.

We took photos from the bedroom. The furnitures were hanging on the ceiling. But in this photo, it seems we are the ones hanging :)

From the living room.

From the kitchen.

And from the Bathroom (Seriously, Stephen?)

I felt I had to steal the rice cooker, I was already hungry!

I'm not the worst one. Caught you there, Stephen!

Kamille decided she'd like to borrow a laptop and see if there's wifi :)

That's right guys, don't forget your house chores. First wash your clothes.

Then you'll have to press 'em.

Afterwards, refresh yourselves with swimming.

Or, just chill, wine and dine.

If they decided to leave me on a tuktuk (not on a jet plane).

I'll be catching up with this bike.

It was really a unique way to take photos. I am not able to appreciate how I look or how to pose until after a photo was taken. It is amazing that every minute detail was placed accordingly. We had loads of fun taking photos and reviewing them.

P.S. There was also a maze at the back of the house but due to time constraint, we did not try it out. It also had a separate fee.

OneRepublic - I Lived

I have always liked One Republic and their songs. Who would not be drawn to artists/bands with amazing lyrics? They made radio history with their first single, "Apologize", received the largest amount of airplay in history (www.jango.com). Succeeding famous songs included "All the Right Moves", "Secrets" and "Good Life".

Their latest song is entitled I Lived. This song is on repeat everytime I jog. It talks about a person wishing you, the listener,  to go out of your comfort zone and take every opportunity that comes your way.

One line that moved me is:

"Hope that you spend your days
And they all add up
And when that sun goes down
Hope you raise your cup"

Reminds me that sometimes we take a day for granted. We brood over negativities and drown ourselves with anxiety that we fail to seize the moment and appreciate things around us. Spend days wisely so that they add up to a meaningful life. When the twilight of our years come we can say cheers to the life I lived.

For the complete lyrics (thanks to metrolyrics.com), see below:


Hope when you take that jump
You don't feel the fall
Hope when the water rises
You built a wall
Hope when the crowd screams
They're screaming your name
Hope if everybody runs
You choose to stay

Hope that you fall in love
And it hurts so bad
The only way you can know
You gave it all you had
And I hope that you don't suffer
But take the pain
Hope when the moment comes,
You'll say

I, I, I
I did it all
I, I, I
I did it all
I owned every second that this world could give
I saw so many places, the things that I did
Yeah with every broken bone
I swear I lived

Hope that you spend your days
And they all add up
And when that sun goes down
Hope you raise your cup
Oh, oh oh
I wish that I could witness
All your joy
And all your pain
But until my moment comes
I'll say

I, I, I
I did it all
I, I, I
I did it all
I owned every second that this world could give
I saw so many places, the things that I did
Yeah with every broken bone
I swear I lived

Oh whoa oh oh oh oh oh (x4)

With every broken bone
I swear I lived
With every broken bone
I swear I

A Short Visit to Bangkok

I've been living in Thailand for a year now (and unbelievably), I haven't been to Bangkok. The capital city is 12 hours away from us by bus but only an hour by plane. My friends told me that the city is just like Manila: crowded and busy with a lot of high-rise buildings. A far cry from Phuket City which is still a province.

I was given the chance to go to Bangkok because of my friends getting an important document. This was last Chinese New Year's week, so all of the flights were booked. We had to take the overnight bus to Bangkok. It was a 12 hour journey, starting from 7pm. 

It was my first time to ride a double decker overnight bus. The bus fare, 650 THB or 20 USD, included some snacks and a blanket for us to keep warm. I was barely able to sleep because the bus was driven very fast! We arrived in Bangkok at around 7am.

Upon arrival, we immediately went to the closest train station to purchase a one day BTS pass. I think it cost us 120THB. This is cost effective for us as we have to go back and forth for the day. We rode the BTS to Saphan Taksin station and walked our way to the Sathorn Pier. We then rode an orange boat to Tha Tien Pier. The fare for the boat was 15 THB. Afterwards, we had to board a smaller ferry that would take us to the other side where Wat Arun is. The fare this time was 3THB.

We had to find the entrance to the Temple. We found one after passing through this walkway with Chinese lanterns. 

To get up close and even climb the temple, we had to pay for the entrance fee: 50 THB

We had to wait for the people to come up so we can have the stairs photographed on our own. :)

The Thai word for temple is Wat. Wat Arun means Temple of Dawn, named after Aruna, the Indian God of Dawn. This was built on the Thonburi side of the Chao Phraya River. It is an ancient temple built in Krungsri, Ayuthaya period.

The fine details and architecture of the Temple is amazing. It is said that the tower is decorated with sea shells and bits of porcelains. Some articles reported that the entrance was free. Maybe the reason why they are asking for a fee now is that they are repairing it (?). Found this man busy with restoration of the ancient site.

Very steep and narrow steps lead to a balcony high on the central tower. Look how steep it is.

Look at the details!

The views from the top.

The nicest view of the monument can be seen over sunset when the spires and lights of the Temple makes an impressive silhouette. Hopefully, when I come back to Bangkok, I can see this for myself.

After visiting the Temple, as it was a Sunday, we went to a nearby Catholic Church. We chose to go to Sta Cruz Church. According to sources, it is one of the many old Catholic churches in Bangkok and was built in 1770, during the reign of King Taksin. This church is a legacy of Thai-Portuguese relations that date back to the 16th century.

Next on our itinerary was to visit a Pinoy Store. It's very rare for Pinoy products to be sold back in our place. We were happy kids when we finally located the store. The feeling of seeing Pinoy products after quite a long time overwhelmed me :)

For the rest of the afternoon, we went to Chatuchak Weekend Market. It was a huge place filled with diverse collections of merchandise. Just about anything and everything is sold here. Some may not be the best bargain rates but with patience and perseverance to go through the alleys and streets, you may have a chance to find a good one.  

It was a very short stint that we had in Bangkok. I look forward to going back, seeing more sights and spending time with friends living there. Hopefully soon :)

Starting off our Summer: Racha and Coral Island Tour

My roommate has just finished taking an exam for her future endeavor and thought she needed time to get away and relax. She wanted to go to a place we have never been before. Taking advantage of her enthusiasm to see a new place, we decided to have a one day island tour to Racha and Coral Islands.

We searched online for a good deal for these islands day trip. The cheapest one we have seen was worth 1,200THB. A friend of ours suggested a travel company that they usually go to (#suki). The deal was 1,000THB. Perfect for the budget!

It was a Thursday when we had the trip. The sky was somehow cloudy but we fervently prayed it would be sunny in the islands. Again, we asked to be picked up at the hotel near our staff house. The pick up was supposed to be at 8am but the driver came at 9am.

We were dropped off at the travel company's office near Chalong Pier. We had to show our booking voucher to the staff and they provided us with the identification bands.Tour companies use these bands to know the grouping of their clients. Some companies use stickers.

While waiting and because I did not have breakfast, I ate some biscuits in the waiting area. They also have coffee and water ready. For people who know that they are sea sick, they have anti-dizzying medication ready.

A few minutes later we were asked to get a life jacket and walk to the pier.

Chris was our tour guide for the day. He spoke English very well. He called out our names to check our arm bands and let us into the speed boat. While stepping into the speed boat, we were asked to look at a photographer's camera. (They usually print these photos and display them once you are back to the pier in the afternoon. Nice souvenir but I do not feel like buying one.) The speed boat was fairly big. We were about 30-35 people. A lot of Chinese tourists were on board with us.

The trip to Racha or Raya Island was about 30 minutes. It is said to be one of the peaceful islands in Phuket. There were not much people yet as it was around 10am that we arrived. The waters surrounding the island are crystal clear and turquoise in color.

I have read online that less boats and therefore less tourists visit this place. Jet skis or para sailing were banned. Beach chairs can be rented from the hotel in the island but it is fun to just sit down in the fine white sand and soak up the sun.

Next in our itinerary was snorkeling. We boarded up the speed boat again and was transferred to the back part of the island. Putting on our snorkeling gears, we set out to see the fishes underwater. This is the second time I have snorkeled all my life and I can say, I enjoyed it better this time.

While the other tourists were still snorkeling, we grabbed the chance to see the view and take photos from the front part of the speedboat.

After the activity, we were whisked to Coral Island. This island is only three kilometers from the pier where we started. It has been called Coral Island due to its impressive coral reef when one goes diving.

The island was busy with a lot of tourists coming in and out. We had lunch at Koh Hey Restaurant. Koh Hae or Hey is the island's local name.

There were a lot of sun lounger chairs that dotted the shore. I believe they were all for free. Here's the view from where I ate.

Beach activities of varying types were available. I regret I was not able to bring money to do some.
Options were banana boat, diving, parasailing, sea walking and scuba diving.

We just sat on the beach chairs and relaxed ourselves.

At around 4pm we were asked to board the speed boat back and were then dropped off to our house.

It was an awesome day. I will definitely come back soon and try parasailing :)

The joy of writing

I never really knew how to write when I was a kid. Well, who does? What I mean is, I cannot really put some sense and coherence of the words that I know of to make a harmonious story. I was just envious of my sister who knows how to write articles in a nice and engaging way. She always had this gift of making something out of a pen and a paper, of putting the right words in the right way. She was the Editor in Chief of our school's newspaper. For me, I struggled on how to write.

image from www.aacc.edu

Fortunately I was chosen to be trained during my elementary years to join a writing contest. The category I had was News Writing and Feature Writing. News writing was somehow easy. All you had to remember was 4Ws (what, when, where, why) and 1H (how). It is a very factual and straight to the point kind of writing. Feature Writing was more challenging.

With writing feature articles, you can choose any topic under the sun -whatever comes to mind. All you have to do is to translate your thoughts into right words and stick it into the paper. For some this is easy. For me, uhmm, not quite.

image from www.cse.chalmers.se

Being a wide reader may help in writing. I'm a wide reader but it seems the words would elude me when I try to put my thoughts down. How I wished thoughts could become bubbles, like in the cartoon strips. One can catch them and just paste them on paper. But no, I have to try hard to think of appropriate words, think of how to construct a sentence and a paragraph. For some it may be easy, for some it may not. For me, I learned and am still learning through practice. 

In this day and age where bloggers are sprouting everywhere and people are able to share what is in their mind at any time, anyone can become a writer. What matters is, being able to write from the heart. Being able to write from the unstoppable thoughts on one's head that seem unrested until given a vent. To my readers out there who would love to write about things they want to share to the world, the only difficult thing is beginning. Once you get the hang of it and find your own style, the words will flow. Writing is freeing me from becoming an isolated person as I now can share what I think and what I feel. This is how I found the joy of writing.

A visit to Phuket Trick Eye Museum

I have always loved visiting museums. It showcases a lot of things for learning. I remember when I was a child and we had a tour where we went to Museo Pambata. That was a lot of fun!  Now, different kinds of museums have sprouted. For one there was this Camera Museum in Penang, Malaysia we visited. Another kind is what we call Trick Eye Museum.

I do not know if it can be considered a real museum or its coined as it is but in other cities, trick eye museums have been sprouting. They offer interactive 3D paintings for photo opportunities. I guess, what we can learn from this kind of place is how to act to give justice to the background paintings.

My friends and I decided to go and try this museum for ourselves. Adding to our happiness was the fact that we found discounted tickets to the museum from groupon. The usual price for admission for one adult is around 500THB. We paid only around 200THB each. Sweet!

It was one Sunday afternoon when we went. It was late so we had the place to ourselves. We were asked to leave our shoes in the reception. I did not question why, maybe they do not want their floors dirty? Nevertheless, we were happy to oblige.

These were what we experienced inside.

We were chased by bulls!

Thankfully got out alive from a horror train. 

Held hands to save friends from falling off a bridge.

I can imagine how I'd spent this tremendous amount of money :) #feelingrich

Experienced the feeling of only having half a body.

Shopped 'til we dropped.

 Flew with the wings of an angel.

Knew what it was like to almost fall off a cliff.

Channeling the inner public speaker.

It was a challenge on how to position ourselves and to act so that the photos can be realistic as possible. For our group photos, there was a museum staff who assisted us. She also gave tips on how to have the best photos taken. We had a thousand photos taken and loads of fun. Visit a trick eye museum near your place today. Channel that inner actress/ model in you and have fun!