The next 3 days

I've been blogging for the past 3 hours now, so i'll keep this short.

The next 3 days of sailing included a 4 hour preparation for the er, something Night. Ah dang i can't remember the name of it.

But i spent the 4 hours poking sticks up prawns, opening cans of canned fruits, washing loads of stuff, and i can't remember what.

Anyways, the next 3 days just flew by, and on thursday night around 12 we reached base..

It felt so good to be back.

I'll finish typing the rest of what happened after the trip ... depending on my mood. Hope you all will enjoy the posts below, and please take your time reading it~

Happy New Year everyone!

Third day of Thailand

My third day in Pattaya, Thailand

We mustered at 8 and Shore leave was at 9am.

We had breakfast at delifrance again cause ... nothing was open.
This time i had Pizza bread and a Peach+Orange juice. It was too sweet as usual.
Ah right, i finished using the 188 bucks i converted, so i withdrew 2.8k for the day...

Our group started off big, but me eugene and Chris decided to walk on our own today as the rest wanted to go to a temple, and then for Go-karting.

We didn't feel like spending so much on go-karting, so we went to Royal Garden Plaza and looked around.

The prices were actually pretty steep for Lee Cooper and other stuff, but surprisingly, the Levi's there was cheap. They were having some 20% discount for some jeans at 1.65k so i bought 2... and paid for it with my card. I think i spent close to $120SGD at the shop there...

We had lunch at BKs and i tried the mushroom western burger. They had some ridiculously big burgers here again, and i think the mushroom burger here tastes a bit inferior...

After that we did even more shopping, and eventually i bought an adidas bag and a pair of converse shoes at 650 and 800 respectively.

Went for a massage at Lucy's again, this time for a traditional one.
Whew, this was another eye-opener, they were like doing Yoga on me...

Eugene had himself stepped on, while mine only used her elbows.. I wonder if my bones would crack if she stepped on my back...

After that we walked around some more, and i bought a belt and some liang shi(local food stuffs).

We then decided to walk to a shopping centre where they have Cola for dinner, and when we eventually reached, we found out that it was actually more expensive then SG, since they offer sets and not buffets.

Decided to walk to Carrefour after that. We passed by loads of internet cafes and also restaurants, including stalls by the side selling mango rice. It was really tempting, and we eventually bought one on the way back.

The walk to Carrefour took another 30+ minutes at least, and i was so glad when we eventually reached. We had our dinner at the food court there, which required us to buy a card to use at any of the 15-18 stalls there. I must say, the food there was cheap. A plate of anything costs around 20-35 Baht, which means up to $2 bucks.

We bought some Tom Yam soup, chicken rice, and some local dishes, washed down with Singha Beer which cost around 120 Baht for around 4 glasses. Now that's cheap.

After dinner we walked around Carrefour proper. There was Cash Converter here. Heh, it was pretty amazing, i didn't know they had stuff like that here.

Ah right, i happened to chance upon an arcade the the food court. I think how the arcade system works here in Pattaya is that you pay a certain amount of money for a limited time of playing. Unlimited credits. They even have console playing like winning Eleven and other stuff. That's an alien system in Singapore..

There were loads of stuff to buy at Carrefour. Surprisingly the selection of cup noodles weren't that much. There wer 10 different varieties of chips for Lays though, not to mention different types of thai milk, ice cream, etc.

Eventually bought chips and some drinks, then left to a Lan shop where we spent close to 45 minutes before heading back.

And that's the end of our journey in Thailand...

Second day of Thailand

I'm writing this 2nd day of Thailand for the 2nd time cause i accidentally pressed delete on the keyboard... sigh.

Anyways.

We reached the pickup point, the Big C at 9+. And headed off to Festival Shopping Centre again, cause its near and besides, nothing else is open at this time of the day. This time there were only 6 of us in the group cause a few of them had to do duty today.

We settled for breakfast at Delifrance. I got a set B, which consisted of a Bacon + cheese sandwich and i added 45 to my 95 set for a strawberry frappe, which tasted like medicine.

I must say, breakfast here isn't really that good. Ah right, it was here that Eric told us that Delifrance was founded by a malay in Singapore.. i wonder how true that is..

It was still early, so they decided to play a bit at the game stalls around Festival SC. Stuff like shooting darts into balloons, and using air guns to shoot tiny figurines. They won a couple of prizes, but nothing that fancy.

There was also a shop selling metal figurines. Metal you ask? These are actually figurines made up of metal chains. Those bicycle chains you see? Yeap. Now that was interesting.

I suggested snooker at Mike's SC, since everything else was still pretty much closed, and i played a match with Eugene before we decided to give up. We're really not cut out for this.

So the 4 of us went around to shop while the chefs were still playing snooker. It was here i bought a shirt for 140 , 2x berms for 800 in total and a lighter. The lighter was a gas lighter, and it lights up green when i open the cover, not to mention the flame is green too. How cool! It costed only 100 Baht.
(P.S: It was the lighter that helped curb my craving for the stun gun. Thanks lighter)

When we came back, they were still playing snooker, so we decided to have lunch at the nearby cafetaria. I spent 100 for a plate of fried rice, and 30 for a glass of green tea?
All the drinks has so much sugar in them here... a bit hard to get used to.

We then walked around until we found a suitable massage parlour. Eventually we settled down on one that Chris went to yesterday called Lucy's. Eugene Chris and me went for the Oil massage for 90 minutes + 30 minutes of head massage for 500 baht. The other 3 went for Spa + oil massage + leg massage for 3 hours at 900 Baht.

The oil massage was a pleasant experience, and the head was so good i think i dozed off there. Ah, the enjoyment..~ If only i could do this once in a week or something.

We had dinner at macs. The only difference from Singapore is that they had a double big mac, which consisted of 4 beef patties =_=. How can anyone finish that?

The prices are slightly less, but a cone costs 10b here while a mcflurry costs around 25.
100 baht = SGD$4.40.

We then walked along walking street, this time to look around. Managed to see a lot... a lot of A-go-go bars. There were also costume theme bars: Students, nurses, office ladies, cheongsames even. Ah right, there was one that stood out, an European dancing one. Phew.

We walked around for a long time, before we decided not to go in as we weren't carrying enough loose Baht. It was a pity, cause i really wanted to see the difference between a normal one as compared to a high class one, but ah well.

The 3 of us then went to Royal Garden Plaza at 10+, the shops were closing though so we just walked around. ah yes, there was a Ripley's believe it or not! here.

The rest of them stopped at the 7-11, and bought some beer to drink which i heard was extremely cheap.

Well, we took a Tuk Tuk back to the Big C where we played a bit of Pool. The rates were 10B for 4 minutes, and you needed to play for at least 30 minutes. You needed to insert coins into the machine, 10B at a time. They were showing an Arsenal match as well on ESPN, which kept minizing to show commercials.

How do they make money like that? =_=
Well at least i don't think they pay $15 every month.

And that ends the 2nd day.

1st day in Thailand

Here we go, my 1st day in Thailand.

We were required to go in at least groups of 2, or join a group who has auto-roaming. Since neither me nor eugene has auto-roaming, we tagged along with the chefs.

Before i begin, i must stress that Eric, the chef i'm attached to, is a really funny and charasmatic person. The trip would not be half as fun without him i'm sure.

For the first day there were 8 people in our group.

Alright, its a saturday, and when we first reached the checkpoint for the bus alight/boarding at around 12pm, we walked to a nearby shopping centre and eventually decided to eat at Oishi ramen. I had an Unagi rice bowl, which comes with a free refill of Green tea at the price of 175Baht. The green tea was ... too sweet. The Unagi didn't taste that good either.

Oh right, the conversion rate is SGD$4.40 to 100 Baht.

After we finished our breakfast, we walked around.. we just walked and walked, until we eventually reached the beach. Phew, i was really sweating by then. But when we reached the beach, that's when i first saw the row of shops... phew.

The shops really stretched a long way. Just one stretch of 100+ metres and we stayed there for more than an hour liao. Just what were they selling? Clothes, berms, wallets, lighters, electronic stuff like mp3 players, dvd players, not to mention pirated dvds, hand made stuff, shock pens(haha, you'll get a kick from using these), binoculars.

And the weapons they were selling... this is the first time i've ever seen a Stun Gun.. and i must say it looks pretty cool! Its a very small thing and it really made me tempted. 700+ bath for one, about 30+ dollars. I was so close to getting one... haha. There were also shurikens, batons, knives, swords(!!), and pepper sprays.

We also walked in Mike's Shopping Centre, which is basically an Isetan with the 4-5 levels of products in a building.

Eventually we got really tired, so we decided to get a leg massage at the Beach. It felt pretty good, even though the auntie that did our legs wasn't really using that much energy. She also cut our finger and toe nails, and did a .. manicure on them? It was nice i guess, its the first time i ever did something like that on my nails after all.

Its supposed to cost 270 Baht, but they charged us 470, saying that the nails costed 200 more. We were kinda surprised of course, since they didn't tell us that it costed an extra 200, but eventually we settled on 400. Thats close to $18 for an hour+ of service..

At the beach, we were also exposed to walking peddlers, these were people who sold seafood consisting of prawns, sotong among others, and cooked food. They also sold watches, pendants, stun tennis racquets(you should've seen this, it looks just like a tennis racquet, just that when they used a stick to touch it, electricity sparked off it). There were actually people selling clothes too. I don't know how they made money like that though... and also people selling Clock dices, and torchlights...

Eventually we had to go for dinner, so we took a Tuk Tuk and went to the Lobster Pot.

Tuk Tuks are the main mode of transport in Pattaya. Shaped like an open air minibus, these vehicles can seat up to 12, and accomodate maybe 2 standing passengers. The reason why they're called Tuk Tuks are probably because that's the sound they make when they want to get passengers. Each ride costs generally about 10baht (44cents) for short rides and up to 20baht for longer ones. Of course for 8 of us at one go, we usually pay about 100baht for each trip.

Back to Lobster pot. It was at Walking street, which was a street for seafood, and also bars. We'll get back to that soon. Lobster Pot came highly recommanded, which means that its pretty expensive, despite the food being pretty nice.

We paid 800 Baht each, and we got 2x lobsters, 2x prawns(8 in each plate), 2x kangkong, 4x pineapple rice, 3x glass of white wine, 2x Sotong(which reminded me of Coffee), 1x crab legs in a bowl.

Overall it was okay... and after that, we went to the Slim Pattaya, where all the pretty girls hang out!

We took a Tuk Tuk there, and went in. Phew, the place looked really posh. Sort of like MOS that type of Posh. And when we went in, the place actually has a classy look to it. That's when i know i stumbled into a high class nightclub~

We asked for a room, and we opened a bottle of Jack Daniel's Whiskey, and got coke as a mixer. Adding the fruits and the room 'rent', we paid close to 5,500 Baht for it.

Basically we reached at around 8:30, and the dancing starts at 9:30. So in that hour, Eric and Aden asked for some girls to entertain them. Eventually 3 came, 1 by 1, and they settled down with whoever's treating them wine...

I must say, these girls are really pretty. While we were walking to the beach, we saw a lot of bars and sitting outside were ladies wearing all types of clothing. Most of them CMI, and some of them aren't even ladies! So i was well, pleasantly surprised at this turn of events.. haha.

At 9:30 the dances started. Basically the vantage view from our room allowed us to look both left and right. On the left was a stage where 7 dancers made their home. There were arranged in a 2-2-3 formation, which changed to 2-3-2, and then 3-2-2, and after some time, a group of new 7 dancers took over. I believe there were around 3-4 groups in all.. and believe it or not, all of the dancers were stunning~ And all of them had long silky hair, cept for one who had short hair. Their dancing was okay, and mostly it showed off their curves, and i guess slow and sensual dancing? i can't really tell.

For the one on the right it had a stage and 3 dancers who were there the whole night. Theirs were slower and er.. supposed to be sexier? i can't tell.

Oh right, the music was POP/dance. They were playing thai music until 9:30, and i must say it sounded pretty good. Its sort of like Jap music, addictive, but you have no idea what you're listening to~

Halfway through i had to go to the toilet, and i was surprised when someone put a hot towel on my neck and started massaging my neck while i was... using the toilet. They also did some stretching on me, asking me where i'm from etc. Eventually when i left the toilet the 3 of them asked for tips, but i spent so much already i was left with 20 Baht in my wallet, so i just shrugged and left.

We left for our pick up point at around 11:15, and later found out that Eric spent close to 4k Baht total on her lady. I spent close to 2k i think... i just remember buying a pair of puma shoes for 500 baht, and 2x billabong shirts for 150 a piece...

Whew, what a day!

Introduction to Pattaya, Thailand

The night before we landed, we were given a medical brief, as well as a brief of what we'll be expecting in Thailand.

The medical brief was interesting, it told us not to buy food and drinks from the street(which we later found out why), not to eat shelled seafood(for obvious reasons, sometimes when they didn't cook the seafood enough its enough to cause a stomachache in the least, food poisoning at the worse), and then the STD section began.

Whew, that was really educational. I've seen pictures that i don't want to see in real life. Ever. Also learnt that a double condom is actually worse than a single one, because the rubber contact with rubber makes tearing much easier. Bet you didn't know that~

Turns out Pattaya is a resort island, and beach activities seem to be the front of all the activities. However, there were also other fun places to check out, examples include MiniSiam(where there are many minatures of buildings from the oprah sydney house to the white house), Tiffany's where men and women cross dress and put on a really wonderful show(i'm told)below Tiffany's was a shooting range that i really wanted to check out, and there's also a gay street bar, and a gay beach. The coxswain asked us to check it out, see what its really like.

I wanted to check out all of the above, but ended up i didn't. My group didn't go to all these places.. pity..~

On to the first day..~

The trip To Pattaya

I was tasked to be on duty for the first day, so i woke up at 5:30, woke the other chef up, and we prepared breakfast. I made coffee, he cooked some eggs, and some other stuff. I don't remember much.

But what i do remember is that i washed a lot a lot of crockery and utensils... i've never washed so much in my life as compared to that single day.

On one of the days i helped made some prata, and i made tea too.

It doesn't sound like a lot, but i don't really want to go into every detail..

In my spare time i finished 1 1/2 books, finished watching the movies/animes i brought in my PSP, and played a lot of games, not to mention reading Men's health, and some late night shows that Eugene brought.

I watched "The Girl Next Door" on one of the nights at the Gym, and also quite a lot of episodes of "Whose line is it anyways?" where i was first exposed to. I must say, i've never laughed so much in my life... in fact, i laughed so much my head hurt. beh.

And that sums up the 4 days of sailing to Pattaya. I mean really.

Next, to the 3 days of holidaying at Pattaya, Thailand~

I'm back!

I must say, its been a really long time, and i'm glad to be back~ (Not back in Sg, more like back to the blogging scene.. haha.)

Okay, for everyone or anyone who didn't know, i sailed to Pattaya from the 6th of Feb to the 16th... and it was a really eventful trip. okay, for a close-up on the sailing trip, here we go..~

For the first day, the 6th, me and eugene, the medics for the trip, basically just helped out with the loading of ammo, weapons(just a few) into the ship, then i used the crane and helped load the food stores.

Somehow, the chefs decided to enlist us into their company since they were a bit shorthanded, and hence we became assistant chefs~ Basically we just partner with the other ns-men chef and take one of the 3 days to sail there, so work 1 day, 2 off days.. sorta.

We still had some time before we actually sail off at night, so we had our lunch at the canteen, and actually played a bit of pool at the specialist mess. I must say, i've never been inside, and it looks pretty good, but its too empty. And other than a pool table and some newspapers there's nothing. Sheesh. Not like i'll be going there much but still.. *shrugs*

okay, for a laydown of the ship, we're travelling in the MV Avatar, a merchant vessel, and its a really big ship. 7 Levels in all, Eugene and i share a room on the 3rd level, which is just beside the Gym, which happens to be beside the medical centre.

The room is relatively big, compared to the other ships i have sailed on. About the size of 6 toilet cubicles? haha, and there's an inbuilt toilet as well. The room had 4 beds, and there was supposed to be an Ns-men bunking with us, but somehow i guess he deferred, so its 2 of us to 4 beds. Woohoo!

The crew mess where we have our meals is on the 4th floor, same as the chefs' bunks. The officers bunk on the 5th floor, and the 'control' room is on the 7th floor, the deck.

For this ship, the Avatar crew itself consists of maybe around 14 russians including engineers, chefs, etc. They also have a 'washing' service. Every Tues, Thurs and Sat from 1900 onwards, we put our dirty clothes (minus underwear and socks) on the basket and they'll wash it. The next day when we wake up in the morning our clothes will be clean and folded neatly on the basket.

For us, our primary job is to provide medical cover when they're doing anything hazardous or when they want to report sick, so we do get a lot of free time. But since we're attached to the kitchen, our free time just decreased by more than 40%, but still its quite an experience.