Reflections 101.

It's been a really long while i typed something really personal on this blog. The reason why i started this blog was because i wanted a space to type whatever i want, things i feel like ranting about, a space to record down memories but this blog slowly became a "curated" blog whereby i have to be mindful of the things i write and so called "cater to the masses". After a recent event, i wanted to type out something personal and decided that this is the best place to pen it down since this was the very reason why i started this blog. 

To everyone around me, i'm a happy go lucky person, always happy and seldom sad. I would say it's 90% true. I may seem that way on the surface, but actually i'm human too. I do feel stressed, sadness and everything else that people feel. It's just that i don't share my feelings with people around me. To put it bluntly, i suffer on my own. LOL

Let me share a lesson that i learnt in BMT that i hold dearly to my heart.  I was from the PTP batch (which means i enlisted about 2 months(?) earlier than most people as i'm deemed as not physically fit and i had to enlist earlier prep my physical form before the "physically fit" people enlist so that all of us can be on par when the actual BMT training begins. In actual fact, i didn't even bother to take the NAFA test during my poly days because i was too playful. lol) Anyway, physical training in that 2 months was pretty tough and taxing on the body. I hated all the exercises, especially running. It was quite a torture for me but i often try to do well to make sure that i get to book out every weekend. 

There was one particular book-out day whereby one of my commander gathered all of us at the ground floor before we depart for the harbor to take the speed boat back to mainland. We were facing the sea, and right on the opposite was Singapore island. (BMT is on Tekong Island btw) He asked us, "Look across, what do you see? You are here to train to protect your loved ones on the other side. Right at this moment, they might be waiting to pick you up and spend your precious weekend with you. I know training is tough and some of you are "suffering", but do you really want to complain to them and lament how you are so-called "suffering" and let them worry about you? Or instead would you want to reassure them that you are doing fine? Train hard, do well because eventually it's not only for yourself, it's for them."

His words really made an impact on me. Since then, no matter how bad my day went, i felt that there was no need to tell anyone. I kept things to myself and told myself, things would always get better. This way, the people around me would never have to share my burden. After all, what can they do to help? At the most you get consoled. Will it help? Maybe yes to some, maybe no. I felt that there wasn't a need. But i do admit there are times where i wished there was someone to listen to me (i thank my best friends for that), someone for me to bury my face into their shoulders, someone for me to hug for the longest time. I used to have that someone for the past 4 months but it's all now history...

My close friends often say that despite my happy go lucky character, i'm quite a secretive person because i don't share things with them. They slowly learnt that there is no point asking me because based on how well they know me, they probably would get nothing out from asking and i would only share only if i want to. I'm thankful for that because it's true. Probing won't give you answers. My answer when people ask me why or how i feel is always standard - "Nothing lah. Maybe i will share with you next time". Sometimes i really do share, but often than not, i don't.

I decided to write this post because of something that happened yesterday. An event which probably will stay in my heart for the longest time, if not forever. I really feel like penning everything down but regretfully, this is probably not the best space to do it or until i can figure out how i can narrate the story. I know after you reading the above, some of you might think that it's not healthy or it's not good to keep everything to myself, after all i'm human and i have feelings too. There are people that genuinely care about me and want to share my problems. I know, i know. All i can say is, i'm trying. Someone dear once told me, "Don't keep everything to yourself, got anything must share. This way we can both learn for the better." I will try my best, i promise.

Moving on,                                  

Wanderlust: 4D3N Phuket Travelogue - Day 2

I'm finally starting on my Phuket travelogue (again!) The trip happened last December and i only managed to do up the first day post in Jan (Read the post HERE if you haven't) As i mentioned previously, this purpose of this trip is to relax and enjoy so we did not have an itinerary to follow. As for day 2, we wanted to head out to the sea and find a nice beach to relax. Most importantly, we didn't want those regular island hopping tour which require us to travel here and there. When we walked around, one of the local at the booth recommended us to go to "Raya island" and the package includes a short snorkeling session and dropping off at Raya Island for the rest of the day before heading back to mainland in the evening. Sounds not bad and the photos of the place seem pretty nice so we booked a package for 3 :)

Buffet breakfast at the hotel before the tour van came to pick us up. One thing that i really look forward when staying at hotels would be the buffet breakfast. I would totally wake up for it even if i have to have breakfast alone. LOLOLOL

Totally dressed for the beach. Finally got the chance to use my pineapple bag again, HAHA

Took the speedboat out for about an hour before we reach our snorkeling destination. I always liked the feeling of snorkeling, it's like a peaceful feeling when you watch the fishes swim by as you float along. But obviously you must first learn how to breathe with your mouth through the equipment, then you will learn to enjoy. It's not that difficult actually but i have seen people struggling with it. Less the salt water part, everything else about snorkeling is really enjoyable.

Happy us all ready to enter the water! :D

It's a good thing Jinglong bought his Go-Pro camera before this trip so we can have underwater shots too! Really handy for trips like these, especially when it involve water risks. Sometimes when you see people using go Pro camera, it makes you wanna get one for yourself too but half the time you realized you actually don't really need it. HAHAHHA

The awesome view that was promised on the brochure.

I would highly recommend Raya island to those who just want to relax and spend the day at the beach. It's not overcrowded like the other famous beaches, the water is just as clear and the speed boats are all parked out in the sea.

The speed boat will drop the passengers somewhere at start of this floating bridge and everyone will just alight and walk towards the beach, Our package also include a simple buffet lunch before getting the rest of the day to ourselves.

I think we had about 4 hours to ourselves after lunch so for the last hour, we sat down at this little eatery, ordered some food and fruit smoothies while we enjoy this awesome view right in front of us. I can get used to all these totally. LOL

Reached back mainland in the event (at least 2 shades darker because the weather was so hot!) The mini van sent us back to our resort. Washed up and rest before heading out for our dinner. Wanted to try the famous No. 6 restaurant but the queue was simply too long (and this trip is so not about spending time queuing, lol) so we decided to have our dinner at this Dang restaurant right beside No. 6. It was pretty packed but the waiting time is definitely much shorter.

As you can see, we ordered quite a lot for 3 people, LOL I guess we couldn't decide and wanted to try a bit of everything. The food was not bad and affordable but we still wondered how good the famous No. 6 restaurant can be.

After dinner we headed over to the famous nightlife area - Bangla Street. It's not my first time here so i started warning Jiaqi and Jing long about the things they might encounter while walking through the street, HAHA Like people coming up to them asking if they are interested in Ping Pong show or to take a photo with them (then demanding tips from you) Should be quite an eye opener for both of them, LOL Along the street are all the bars and clubs, there are also sleazy dressed pole dancers to entice people to go in. Once awhile if you are "lucky", they might even reveal themselves. LOL

If you ever go to Phuket, Bangla street is definitely one of the must visit. Must experience, HAHA

Spent the rest of the night shopping along the roads, really a lot of things to see and buy leh. It ranges from electronics to apparels and handmade items. Can put your bargaining skills to work too, Did we go for massage that night? Can't remember, HAHA It also started raining that night so we bought ponchos from 7 eleven so that we can walk back to our resort. I remembered the last time we did exactly the same thing at Krabi the year before! That's all for Day 2! :D

Wanderlust,                                   

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

Stumble upon Roosevelt's.

Was thinking of spending an afternoon at some cafe so Jiaqi and i thought of going to the Outram park area to see which cafe we should go to. After all there are some pretty famous ones over at the area such as Stranger's Reunion. However when we got out of the MRT station, it was raining pretty heavily and we practically couldn't go anywhere so we spotted Roosevelt's. The place was quite empty and the menu did look promising with a few interesting food items which caught our attention so we decided to spend our afternoon at Roosevelt's instead of waiting for the rain to stop. #didnotregret

331 New Bridge Road, #01-02 Dorsett Residences, 088764

The ambiance inside was really nice, probably because it was not crowded. The place was well decorated. Kind of the perfect place to have afternoon brunch. Even though there were only 2 of us, we were feeling quite greedy and wanted to order more than just mains for ourselves! In the end we decided to ordered a side of truffle fries ($11) mains - her's being Truffle Mac & Cheese ($18) and mine - Ham & Triple cheese waffles ($14) How enticing does that sound right!!!

Not only that, we wanted to try the Fish & Chips but was afraid we couldn't finish the adult portion ($18) so we asked the staff if the breaded fish for the kids menu is the same. After clarifying with the kitchen, the staff mentioned that it's the same just that the portion is smaller so we ordered the kids version of Fish & chips ($10)! 2 person eat so much, LOL

Spend a good 3 hours at the cafe chatting and having good food. This is the kind of afternoon that i enjoy the most. Turns out the rain is a blessing in disguise, LOL I'm quite sure the rest of the cafes around the area are pretty packed in the afternoon. After our brunch, we explored the area quite a bit and stumbled upon a few other cafes. That's all for this post! Interested in featuring your cafe/ eatery on this blog? Drop me an email at im.andystorm@gmail.com :)

Checkout my list of cafes that I've visited by clicking on the image above!

Always eating,