Phi Phi Island Hopping

Last Wednesday, December 16, 2014, we went to Phi Phi Islands..the famous tourist destination in the South. The beaches and the bays are popular since movies like James Bond and The Beach had been filmed there back in the 90's.

This is my 2nd time in exploring the islands but the 1st time had been terrible because that time I had diarrhea and every time we docked on the beach I had to find the toilet. Bad, bad experience!

And for my 2nd time, luckily, I did not eat anything unfamiliar with my tummy so I was okay but then a little worried since my son had a sign of asthma...his breathing wasn't normal since he woke up. I couldn't cancel the trip since it's the only day left for us to explore and we already booked and paid for this trip. By the way, we paid, 3,000 baht for the 3 of us..Sean was spared of the ticket price.

We left the hotel at 7:45 am, picked by the van and brought to a seaside lined up with speedboats. 42 tourists including us boarded the speedboat after the briefing and an hour after, we reached the Monkey Island. Some tourists fed the monkeys and after that we went for snorkeling and saw the beautiful fishes swimming with us. It was lovely!

There... the big monkeys and the small monkeys :)

Snorkeling without the mask...

Too scared to be far from the boat :D

After snorkeling, we went to Phi Phi Don for a sumptuous lunch of fried chicken, seaweed soup, stir-fried chicken, stir-friend noodles and rice.  We went out from the restaurant with a full tummy and ready to explore again.

Picture time while waiting for the rest of us to wrap up with their lunch

After lunch, Sean is in full throttle again.

Going back to the speedboat

Then we went to Viking cave, where the swallow make their nests and according to the guide, Thailand imports it to China for a very huge amount per kilogram.

Then to Pileh Lagoon, a very nice lagoon with clear crystal waters.

Reached Maya bay and had a dip with Sean for a while and went to Khai Island for swimming and snack for two hours.

A pose at the Maya Bay where Leonardo di Caprio filmed for the movie 'The Beach'

After that, we went back to Phuket island then back to the hotel.

Very, very tired. It was almost worth it!

Almost...because later that night, Sean had an asthma attack and we brought him to Patong hospital to be nebulized. Poor Sean :( I guess was allergic to the dust he inhaled when we went to Phuket Safari the other day.

Worrying yet Celebrating...

Warning! Another RANT coming...

This morning when I brought my son to school, his teacher complained on how Sean is not cooperating in school by being so active and not engaging in school activities like writing and listening. He also does not like to eat, if ever he eats, he grabs rice with his bare hands and not use spoon and fork.

Playthings are his favorite things!

I'M WORRIED.  As a mom, these simple things are things you don't neglect at all! I am anxious that he will be unhealthy, physically, mentally and socially. 

LORD, help me! I need your strength and guidance in bringing up this boy. I am thinking that too much internet hours is destroying his being a toddler. I have to do something..but I am clueless. So I am asking for Your help and guidance.

On the brighter side...

Today is December 12, our 5th wedding anniversary and birthday of Jerome (my brother-in-law)...so that's a double celebration.

I ordered chocolate cake from my colleague. I will take pictures and post them here later.

We are going on a trip to Phuket this coming Sunday till Wednesday (December 14-17) so we are all getting excited!

Yay!!!

Here's the cake baked by my colleague. Yummy,chocolatey cake!

There's the birthday boy with his girlfriend, Christine.

The Frutta Boutique Patong Phuket Hotel

I L.O.V.E. this hotel! We checked in yesterday and still we are amazed! The price I booked with Expedia was only 850 Baht (25 USD) but the service is like a 4* hotel. The receptionist and the other staffs are very helpful and polite, the room is spacious and very clean, the bed is king size and soft, there's a free banana and other fruits available at the lobby and the breakfast is not bad at all with many choices of fruits, fried rice, noodle, organic vegetable salad, cereals, fruit juices and coffee or tea. Although, read positive reviews, still was really beyond my expectation! Really superb compared to its price. 

Here are pictures we took after our 2 days stay here.. I highly recommend this hotel to those who would like to spend their vacation here in Phuket and on a budget.

Picture time with Sean after checking in.

Second day stay...trying to relax after breakfast.

Forced my husband to do a selcam.

Cute decoration at the stairs of the hotel.

At the lobby of Frutta Boutique Hotel

Free bananas anytime!

Small pool located at the other building.

At The Bloom by TV Pool

The Department headed by Khun Thada went on an overnight seminar in The Bloom by TV Pool resort in Muaklek, Saraburi. The place is nice..to say the least. Relaxing nature around.. flowers, mountain, landscape! The smell of freshness!

I love the place especially that my family was with me during the seminar. Teamwork was the main theme of our training and Khun Thada was the moderator/speaker. I learned many things even though the medium used was Thai language.

Here are some pictures we took during the trip.

On Attitude Shift

Can't seem to start this post...

Confused.

Angry.

Am I getting this mean? 

The other week I was at odds with my uncle in Facebook.

Last night, a not-so close friend got angry because we did not pick up his calls.

What is happening to me?

........

After moments of thinking and meditation, I came to a conclusion of what I had been lacking this past few months...

My relationship with God has gone sour...hating to admit this but it's the truth. I have not knelt in prayer for months now...not even a short conversation with God.

I am beginning to wander away from God and I think this is His way to remind me of what I have been doing in the past...

I need to come back to God...please Lord, help me to be closer to you. Help me to come back to You. Please....

Writing this post has eased some pain from my heart..I know I am not hopeless.

God is a forgiving God and I thank Him for that...

Please guide me back to the right path, oh God.

An Odd Way to Cut The Fingernail

Sean likes to have his fingernails cut once a week.

However, last night as we were in the grocery to buy something, Jerome, my brother-in-law called saying that Sean hurt his finger when a strong wind suddenly closed the door where he placed his finger. I heard him crying over the phone. We arrived home and found Sean had fallen asleep while crying. Poor boy.. we had to dress the wound again while he was asleep.

When we went to Sean's school the next day, his teachers suggested that we bring him to the hospital which we did. 

He cried so loud when the nurses removed his fingernail upon the doctor's instruction. 

Poor Sean :( so heartbreaking to hear him cry..

Luckily, his school has medical insurance so we did not pay a cent. 

Still, God takes care of His children.

Happy Sabbath to all!

In the hospital again!

This is our 3rd day in Vipharam hospital. Since our Macau/Hongkong trip, Sean has an on and off fever. So we finally had him admitted here in the hospital as his fever, colds and cough had been a week already plus the fact that he does not take medicine, does not eat solid food and seldom drinks milk.

Thanks to our Ayudhya Allianz insurance, we will only pay for half the price of the hospital room, so I am calculating around 5,000 baht instead of the total amount that will probably be 40,000 baht.

Our insurance agent, Khun Banphot and Khun Pat have visited Sean and brought a cake. How nice of them!

Right now, we are bored and wish Sean will be discharged tomorrow. Doctor Wicharn also gave him and instructed us of the treatment for Sean's asthma using Seretide. We just hope and pray that it will totally heal his asthma.

Macau Day 2

The second day of our Macau trip was started with a simple breakfast from the inn (cereal, coffee, apple and bread toast). Our friend, Mayden who is working in Sheraton hotel gave us a tour as it was her day off. We went for breakfast at a Filipino resto and brought some Filipino-made goodies. Sean had a blast when he found a toy egg in one of the stores.

We passed by Senado Square once again just to be able to get to the shuttle bus stop that brought us to the City of Dreams. Alighting from the bus, we were met by a big lion, a lion statue that is...and then the usual stuff of picture taking with the mermaids of the city of dreams, entrance to the casino and Soho. We also were able to watched the Bubble show (courtesy of Mayden) that was not really about bubbles but about Dragons.

After the Bubble show, we crossed the road to Sands Cotai and took pictures with the Madagascar cast and the dragon from the movie 'How to Train a Dragon'. Pictures, pictures and more pictures followed. Afterward, some Haagen Dazs ice cream..yey! We had cookies n' cream flavored Haagen Dazs, much to Sean's delight. 

At 3 pm, the Dreamworks parade started. The cast of the Dreamworks pictures animation like Shrek, Fiona, Puss n' Boots, Dragon trainers, Madagascar animals paraded back and forth with the music 'I like to move it, move it! Sean had fun watching the parade that he wanted to be in the middle and dance with them... he was greeted and kissed by Fiona instead.

After the parade we bade goodbye to Mayden and to her husband, Andy (who joined us during the parade) and we rode the shuttle bus again to the stop near Senado square. 

Too tired already but we don't have much time now as we will be going to Hongkong the next day, we decided to go to the Ruins of St. Paul where we lost our way. Instead of turning left to the ruins, we walked straight and was able to get to Fortaleza (the highest peak in Macau), took pictures of the cannons and then went down again to finally find the ruins.

Exhausted now, but still we managed to have dinner at the Filipino resto once again. Sean was dead tired, he fell asleep while we were eating.

Back to the inn and slept like there was no tomorrow for the three of us.

Macau Arrival - Day 1

Macau Airport is located in Taipa, walking distance from the famous Venetian hotel (but you don't need to walk, Hotel shuttle buses are available from the airport). However, we have a hotel booking at 5fooyway Inn at Ponte 16 (very near Sofitel hotel) and they don't have shuttle bus as its a 3 star hotel so we had to take the public bus # 26 which took us to Coloane (opposite direction) and another thing, the bus driver seemed rude or probably he just can't converse in English so he totally ignored us. He just signaled that we were supposed to alight in Villa de Cologne as it was his last stop which was clearly not ours.

Luckily, after a few minutes of waiting, another 26 bus came and we showed our hotel map and he signaled us to sit in the bus as Ponte 16 is also one of his stops. So after an hour ride and so many stops, a 3-minute walk to 5footway inn from the bus stop and there we were greeted by the Singaporean receptionist. A smile, thank God! 

The check in time is at 3 pm and we arrived there at 12 noon so we decided to take lunch first. We went to a Halal restaurant which was a little expensive compared to Bangkok standards. We paid 178 MOP (23 US$) for 2 big bowls of Beef noodles, a big plate of fried rice and a bottle of water. (I was too hungry to take pictures of the fried rice, was not able to finish the noodles though)

 After lunch, we went for a walk going to Senado square but was not able to reach the Ruins of St. Paul as we were too tired and because of the humidity as well. So we decided to get back to the hotel, took a rest and shower.

At around 6 pm, our friend Marie who teaches at Samyuk International School in Macau picked us up for a visit to the Venetian Hotel and Galaxy Macau Hotel.

The hall leading to the casino of Venetian Hotel. (Ages 18 up are allowed to enter)

Gondola ride -- little Venice in itself.

Can you spot the casino players?

Venice-inspired hotel

We went home around 10 pm using the shuttle bus of Galaxy Macau bound to San Ma Lo, then too tired to walk, stepped on bus 33 to stop in front of Sofitel hotel. 

All 3 of us knocked down as soon as we hit the bed!

Departure for Macau via Air Asia

Look mommy, it's the Angry Bird plane!

It all started early morning of Sunday, 06 July 2014. Our flight via Air Asia in Don Muang Bangkok Airport was scheduled at 06:30 am bound for Macau. Checked in with the airline, passed Immigration counter, breakfast at McDonald's then waited at the boarding gate with a few other people. We still had ample time to take photos.

Sean woke up at 3 am..a super excited boy to ride the airplane.

Playful at the airport. Yes, still the active boy he is!

Excited to ride the plane.

At around 06:15 our flight was called for boarding. The flight with Air Asia was a breeze, the pilot was excellent in the take-off and landing of the aircraft. My son was a little 'at-home' inside the plane, he was excited of the ride and was awake the whole time, much to the dismay of the half-awake parents.

Trying to put him back to sleep.

Better not sleep, no...parents don't have that luxury.

The Air Asia cabin aisle

Air Asia menu guide