Day 2 in Phuket: Being an Interviewer for the First Time (Part 1)

Shall resume blogging about my Phuket trip!

Day 2, we got straight down to work as we had 2 interviews lined up for the day. And both are located in different beaches. (that's how our money depleted so quickly).

Having our complimentary breakfast in the morning:

Surin Bay Inn makes sure that every table has a flower deco on the table. A very sweet gesture and the choice of the flowers used helps to brighten up the day.

.

Us at breakfast

After breakfast, OFF WE GO! in a fiery red tuktuk. apparently the local taxi drivers and tuktuk drivers there have a monopoly. they're called the MAFIA. heard a few cases in the past where they would stop public buses on the road and point guns at the driver in order to stop public transport from snatching their business. luckily we're tourists so obviously even if such things happened, we wont be hurt because hurting us = no business = no money! 

The fiery red tuktuks! Don't we all look like we're some businesswoman.

Our first stop was the Kamala School, a school ran by Phuket Has Been Good To Us Foundation (http://www.phukethasbeengoodtous.org/) to provide quality English education to the local children, especially after the 2004 tsunami. 

We reached the school!

this is the sea view seen from the school gate. awesome right! imagine stepping out of school and having the sea greet you everyday.

the informal commerce food stalls right outside the school gate

the sea of motorbikes. due to the lack of public transport, the locals use private transport (ie. bikes / cars). even young kids have their own scooters or motorbikes to travel around. and its very obvious that they have no licence.

1. the name board of the school

2. the plaque when the school first opened. The school is under the King's Foundation. 

3. the school compound

4. the basketball court, located beside the guys' dorms

5. their classrooms

They were having a celebration for Children's Day then. Children's Day is a very important festival in Thailand because they believe strongly that children are the future and hence, should be treated with importance. For Kamala School, there was a funfair: 

there was even a boxing ring where the 2 kids are blindfolded and then start to box each other, if they managed to hit each other that is. its quite a comical sight. there was performances and all different booths of different games for the kids to play.

we took a picture with the Bunny from Andara Resorts who had a booth at the funfair

After which we heard that there was a temple nearby so we decided to visit and explore abit. 

the main Buddha where we paid our respects

look at the paintings on the wall!

and then we got lucky bracelets from the temple after receiving the monk's blessing. which we wore every single day! and i have to say, the bracelets seem to work. because for the remaining days there, we kept meeting nice people who were very helpful and friendly to us. in addition, some would give us valuable information for our FYP such as telling us who and who to contact etc =) 

lunch! 

the pineapple rice was super big!

one of their specialty

the noodles which i had

our next stop was BangTao Beach Chalet, a small boutique resort that is very nature based and loving. i lost some of the photos taken when we were given a tour of the rooms. what i remembered most clearly was the swans (the size of a laptop) made and folded from towels alone. aahhh, lost the photos =( 

alright, realised 1 day is pretty long. shall continue next time!

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results were out. and i have to say, though my semester gpa has been improving every semester, the degree of improvement is not enough. i expected 1 grade higher than what i got. for all my modules. and considering the fact that my gpa is split into 2 degrees, means that the effect of every sem's gpa on my cgpa is even smaller. IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN BETTER. i don't understand why its not. getting a bit demoralised. at the rate im going, there's no way i can jump an Honours class, especially when there are lesser and lesser modules to clear. 

Went for INSTEP information session yesterday and oh wells, financial constraints is really a big issue. would be looking for jobs these few days i guess.

Farewell to Taurus, but deep down, im still one!

I'm sure many of us have heard about the new horoscopes 2011, where a new horoscope sign was added -

Ophiuchus.

Apparently there is a shift in the Earth's rotational axis caused by the moon's gravitational pull. And this in turn caused a one-month bump in the star's alignment. Meaning, in super darn simple terms, the sky has shifted.

So this is Ophiuchus:

It is also known as Serpentarius, the Serpent Holder. One interesting fact is that unlike the other 12 signs, it is associated with an actual person.

Some traits of this horoscope:

• Many people are envious of this subject as he progresses well throughout life.
• A seeker of wisdom and knowledge
• Many people are jealous of this person
• Tends to go for the more flamboyant in dress sense, favouring bright colours.
• Authority looks upon him well.
• Would make a great architect or builder.
• Number 12 is this persons lucky number.
• This person will have a big family but leave home at an early age.

Read more: Ophiuchus - The 13th Sign of the Zodiac 2011

Can't say that many welcome this move, because we've come to love what or rather, who we are since we were born. Under the old horoscope sign, I'm a Taurus. who is characterised by stubborness and being dull and unwelcoming to change at times. But under the new sign, I'm an Aries, which is characterised by being very varied and always welcome changes. Its not me at all. But I guess no matter which horoscope we belong to, our personality is there and there to stay.

Here's to check if your horoscope has changed:

Capricorn: Jan. 20 – Feb. 16
Aquarius: Feb. 16 – March 11
Pisces: March 11- April 18
Aries: April 18- May 13
Taurus: May 13- June 21
Gemini: June 21- July 20
Cancer: July 20- Aug. 10
Leo: Aug. 10- Sept. 16
Virgo: Sept. 16- Oct. 30
Libra: Oct. 30- Nov. 23
Scorpio: Nov. 23- Nov. 29
Ophiuchus: Nov. 29- Dec. 17
Sagittarius: Dec. 17- Jan. 20

Smartie Pants Evonne

Oh my my my!

After 5 years of having a blog on Blogger, i finally know how to change my template! =)
though i have to admit its not because i'm zai or i finally figured out how to do the html thingy,
but its because i made use of Blogger's new function Template Designer!
its soooo idiot-proof that a NOOB like me knows how to use,
and can have so much fun playing with it! =)

YAYYY!

Leaving for Phuket! Day 1

As some of you may know, I went to Phuket recently to do my dear FYP. Although it sounds nice and damn cool, it turned out to be like a business trip and well, we didn't have much time for R&R. though we did covered many beaches (and spent a bomb on transport) and went to many places. anyone needs info for Phuket? come find us! we'll damn good at it now. LOL.

shall update with pictures!

us being 50% excited and 50% sian when leaving Changi Airport! 

 this is the meal i had while waiting for our flight. 

a small Udon set that costs SGD $7! 

but i have to say, the Udon tastes rather nice and its e first time that i eat Udon without getting sick of the taste!  

all that is needed for the flight! 

Jetstar 3K537

Apparently Jetsta's Jetsaver Light allows a maximum of 10 kg for hand carry luggage instead of the usual and norm of 7kg! Relieve for us because our laptops took up like almost half of that weight. 

AND OFF WE GO!!

paying our respects accordingly at Phuket International Airport! 

Because we stayed 6 nights instead of the usual 2 nights at the hotel (called Surin Bay Inn), free airport transfer to and from the airport was given! so when we walked out of the airport, there was a man holding the sign 'TEOH MINGWEI' waiting to receive us. we felt like celebrities! 

oh and this thing about Phuket is, the cars there (even those used for taxis and for chauffering guests around) are rather big and luxurious. Honda, Toyato, Lexus even! 0.o we felt so pampered like we're some mega rich people being chauffered around haha! 

and here's our accommodation: SURIN BAY INN 
(http://www.surinbayinn.com/)
Surin Bay Inn
106/11 Surin Beach,Thalang, Phuket 83110,Thailand
Tel.: + 66 76 271601, + 66 76 621626
Fax: + 66 76 271599, + 66 76 621627

Its opened by a couple, an angmoh and his Thai wife. It emits those kind of small, cosy, family feel kinda inn because you get to interact with the owners, the staff, and even some of the other guests they have there. and these people sort of became friends after 2 days. An additional plus point is that they are REALLY REALLY friendly and helpful! =)





Soooo, due to certain restrictions, we only booked a Deluxe Twin Double Room, though we had 3 people.
So when checking in, the receptionist realised there's 3 of us and they're fully booked for the entire period of our stay, so its not possible for us to change room type. Luckily the owner of the inn, Bill, was there and he was really nice and helpful. I think we looked pretty desperate as we said we don't mind squeezing into that room, and he just asked us to take a look first before we make any decisions.

 This was how the twin deluxe room is supposed to be.

and i think because we were staying for 6 nights, which is pretty long, Bill actually got the staff to help us shift the furniture of the room around. ON TOP OF THAT, they even sweep the floor and cleared all the dust that is visible at the corners of the room because of the shift on furniture. Mega touched, and that's our first night in Phuket! we experienced the warm hospitality of the people. One of the staff even dirtied her black pants while helping us (half the length of the pants became white from the dust)! And yet they're ever so friendly and told us its okay when we kept apologising.

and TADAH! this is how it looked like. 

they shifted the 2 beds together for us. 

other amenities in the room

I have to say the toilet is rather big, and the shower head is strong. 

SHIOK! 

and the closet is damn cute! 

the light lights up when you open the door, and shuts off when you close the closet door TIGHT.

so after settling down into our house for the next 6 days, we walked out to visit 7-Eleven and did some stocking up of the necessities:

 

 this is how their 7-Eleven looks like. 

small, but well-stocked.

and definitely our favourite, cause its so familiar! 

we've never had so much fun shopping at 7-11 before. LOL. 

and this is our loot for the night! 

(Note the cup noodles, unhealthy snacks, and the iSPY wine) 

we didn't finish up the mineral water and coffee in the end though. 

and we gave the staff 1 of the iSPY wine. 

and so after settling down everything, we started to get to work!

the mess during our project discussion / meeting. 

oh yea i forgot to mention, the inn even provide guests with travel adaptor!

we got 2 from them =) 

us happily in our room!

and that's our first day (or rather, night, in Phuket!)