Something New

Yesterday, KU and I finally went for our first moviemob session together! *beams* I know many people would have most probably been to many moviemob or outdoor movie events, and it's no big deal to them. But this is something which KU and I have thought of doing together since some time back and it just so happened that the previous few moviemob sessions were either at super ulu places or on dates when one of us had something important on. :x

But anyway, FINALLY this moviemob session was at an accessible place (Asian Civilisation Museum) and the movie shown was rather okay (Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark), so we decided very quickly that we were going. :)

And I thought that this came at a really appropriate time cos just on Thursday, when we had our marriage mentoring session with Uncle WM and Aunty Kat, I mentioned that I want to do new things with KU so that I won't feel that our relationship is bland. Anddd.. tadah.. new thing done together on Saturday! :)

One thing which I would do differently the next time we go for an outdoor movie screening together though, I will make our own picnic food. I saw quite a few families bring food and drinks from home and I wished that we had more time to prepare for it. But it's ok - something to look forward to again for the next session. :) Just gotta standby a picnic menu and some recipes for the day!

Krabi Pre-Wedding Shoot

On Sunday, KU and I went down to our bridal salon to go through the layout of our pre-wedding album and got the softcopy of our pictures at the same time! :D I gotta say that, even though I'd loads of complaints about the salon, the pictures turned out really really nice and that we really had good make-up artists and good photographers who cracked jokes to relax us in order for us to pose naturally.We actually had our pictures taken in Krabi this January, and then locally in March. It was my first time to Krabi and I loooovvvveeed the place!



Road leading to Ao Nang Beach





Just for laughs: check out the name of the clinic!



Thailand has no lack of beachy areas and many people usually go to Phuket when they are looking for a beach destination in the Land of Smiles, but Krabi, in my opinion, is more beautiful and raw than Phuket. Even though we were there for a short 3D2N trip, I completely fell in love with Tup Island, which was our first shoot location for the day. It was a pity that we did not extend our stay in Krabi cos I would have loved to explore Phi Phi Island too. But I guess that means that we'll be going back some day to settle some 'unfinished business'! :D

Upon reaching Krabi in the late afternoon, we took a taxi from the airport to our hotel, which was called The Small Hotel. (I remember asking our studio coordinator which hotel we would be staying in and she was like, "Oh, the small hotel." And I thought, "Ok, she doesn't know the name of the hotel so we'll just look out for a small hotel." Then, as though she read my thoughts, our coordinator said, "The hotel is called The Small Hotel, but it's not really that small." And I was like, "OH! That's the name of the hotel!") The Small Hotel is this orange building located along a small junction, only 2 minutes away from Ao Nang Beach. As the taxi turned into the junction, my greedy eyes spotted a pancake stall just outside the hotel! *salivates*



The Small Hotel





The list of hotels along this street



After checking in, we went up to our room and were greeted by a really big and clean room, with an ensuite washroom/shower that was about one-third the size of the room, and really luxurious and clean too! Yes, clean hotel rooms with clean toilets are very very important to me.



Towel swans and rose petals on the bed





Clean washroom/shower!



Mini pantry of sorts



Our cosy balcony which we had no time to utilise. :x





Voyeuring our neighbours across the building :P





1st floor rooms with their own pool right at their balcony



Spacious corridor

 After setting our things down, I insisted on visiting the pancake stall I had spotted earlier. And well, what was sold were not soft fluffy pancakes, but roti prata with all sorts of sweet sauces on it, which I really preferred over pancakes! :D


Pancake menu





Pancake uncle



Our 'pancake' with condensed milk and chocolate sauce

 With our tummies happily filled with chocolate sauced-prata, we decided to explore the area near our hotel and scout for potential dinner places at the same time. Walking in the direction away from Ao Nang Beach, we were led to a street of dilapidated shops which were mostly selling groceries. :( Was disappointed cos I thought I could buy some Thai knickknacks to bring home. So we headed to a beach that was just across the street. 



Tiny translucent crab scurrying across the sand with its prey in its pincer

 We had an early dinner so that we could sleep early cos we had to wake up at 4am the next morning to get our hair and make-up (more like my hair and make-up cos the make-up artist spent less than 30 mins on KU!) done for the photoshoot. Dinner was at this seafood restaurant by the beach that we were at, and the food was -___- to say the least. Ambience was nice though with the strong seabreeze that came in. The service staff was abit weird though, cos we bought a 1-litre bottle of mineral water from the restaurant and she kept topping up our glasses even when they were still about three-quarters full. We asked her not to refill our glasses cos we couldn't finish the water and wanted to bring the remaining back to the hotel with us. And she kept nodding and saying, "OKAY!" really loudly, but she kept doing it anyway, until we resorted to covering our glasses with our hands everytime she was near our table. :S

So while eating, I saw this man walking along the beach with a large plastic bag in one hand and he was waving a large paper lantern in his other hand. After some discussion (yes, it was serious), we bought a paper lantern from him, wrote our wishes on it and sent it into the sky. On hindsight, it was a really environmentally-unfriendly thing to do and KU did highlight it during our 'discussion', but I wanted to do touristy stuff and I promised (I think) that this would be our first and last time. We stood there for a long while, watching our paper lantern fly higher and higher until we couldn't see it anymore. The uncle who sold us the lantern also stood beside us and watched the lantern with us, which I thought was really sweet of him to do so. :)



Writing my wishes



KU writing his wishes



Lantern uncle lights up the solid fuel in the centre of the lantern base



Flip it over carefully



Let go with mouths wide open



Byebye lantern!

 The photoshoot took the entire second day and we were sooooo tired after all the adrenaline rush of posing together and seeing beautiful new places in a foreign country. I had a total of 4 outfits, KU had 3, and we went to 4 different places to shoot. Such an awesome experience which made me feel a twinge of sadness when the day ended. :x

A few of my favourite shots:

On Tup Island:

At a rubber plantation:

At the National Park:

Near our hotel:

To end our last night in Krabi on a high note (sort of), we decided to have seafood for dinner. Our make-up artist recommended this place called Aree Baba, which she said was approximately 10 minutes from our hotel by car. Well, we were going by foot, so it took us wayyyyy longer than that. Best of all, she couldn't remember which side of the road the restaurant was on and she said to just keep following the path from the hotel, past Ao Nang Beach, and further down until we see it. 0___0

So we walked, and walked, and walked. Somewhere around the 15 minute mark, I started grumbling. Hehe.. Thank God the route was interesting - there were shops selling sundresses, straw hats, bikinis, string bracelets, diving bags, and restaurants specialising in all sorts of cuisine - and we could people watch - so many Caucasian tourists around. After trudging along for more than 30 minutes, KU spotted the restaurant across the road and I was jumping for joy in my heart (finally, FOOODDDD).

And I gotta say, the food was somewhat worth the long walk there (and back). The fish was super fresh and it was drenched in spicy and tangy sauce that just flooded my tastebuds with bliss. The phad thai was to-die-for, fried slightly wet (as compared to the Thai Express one in SG) and just really really delicious - I don't even know how to describe it - and awesome.

 Aree Ba Ba menu	 Fresh seafood displayed at the shop front 
 Grilled fish with Thai sauce; BBQ-ed king prawns  Phad thai Beautiful Ao Nang Beach	 Fried asparagus with tofu  Last 'pancake' for the trip 

Just a short trip, but it was a really meaningful one. :) Now everytime Mum suggests going to Phuket I cringe and go, "I prefer Krabi. Let's go to Krabi!" Hehe.. But really, we'll be back someday.

Celebrating Nicholas & Rachel's Wedding

Last weekend, I had the pleasure and honour of attending Nicholas and Rachel's holy matrimony and their customary wedding dinner.

I've known Rachel since we were in JC1, and together with Sangeetha, we were the only Arts Fac girls in the Student's Council. :) Those were definitely good, fun times and fast forward 9 years, Sangeetha and I (together with other councillors) were going to attend Rachel's wedding!

It was a really beautiful, heartwarming wedding which I believe left hardly any dry eyes in the church sanctuary. Rachel was absolutely radiant and glowing with happiness as she marched in and though the veil was covering her face, we could still see her wide, joyful smile.

My favourite parts of the wedding were definitely the exchanging of vows, lighting up of the Unity Candle, and thank-you speech. Being a romantic at heart, I love watching couples, especially when one or both of them are my close friends, make promises of neverending love to each other. In my ideal world, couples get married and never lie to each other, never hurt each other, never cheat on each other, never leave each other. Even while watching TV programmes on weddings (My Fair Wedding with David Tutera on Mio TV is my absolute fav!), I tear when I watch the couples exchange their vows!

Lighting of the Unity Candle

Signing the marriage cert

The beautiful and blissful couple

The lighting of the Unity Candle is something which I rarely see, but it is also another very meaningful act. Each party lights up his/her individual candle at the side, takes his/her candle in his/her hand, and then together light up a larger candle in the centre. This symbolises the joining of lives as one. Then each party blows out his/her individual candle to symbolise that they are no longer individuals, but one flesh.

And of course, the thank-you speech comes at the end and while Nicholas was thanking his and Rachel's parents and grandparents, it was heartwarming to see both sets of parents beaming proudly and lovingly at both of them. The grandmothers, too, smiled so happily when bouquets were presented to them - truly a sweet family moment!

Rachel throwing her bouquet while the other girls try to siam. Hahaha..

 

Me and Sangeetha!! *beams* Cupcake tower which I never had the chance to attack! *sad face*	Picture with all the VJC peeps Just cos I <3 the prints on my dress so much!!

Yay to my dress!! :D

The traditional Chinese wedding dinner was held at Mandarin Oriental Hotel. I caught a glimpse of the beautiful bride Rachel before the dinner started and she wasn't kidding when she told me that the food was going to be good! It was abso-fantastic!

Appetiser course which included lobster salad, roast pork, drunken chicken and some sausage roll thingy Braised pork knuckle in apple sauce - very yummy! Star of the night: Chilli crab sauce with mantou! *drools* My pretty friends! :D

Shark's fin soup Baked pork ribs encrusted with oats and cranberry - awesome dish too! Rose cheesecake I guess one thing I always look forward to when attending friends' weddings is the meeting up with old frends and finding out how they are doing! :) It's always nice to see your schoolmates doing well and having cool jobs that they like. Looking forward to attending two more weddings before I become a Mrs myself! O.O Time is passing too fast!