Phuket Teambuilding Retreat

Hello readers! This would be my first post for this year! 

I just came back from my Phuket trip that was on 8th-9th Jan, but was on mc for 2 days as i was feeling nauseous and having the runs after i came back.

This was the first time that i visit Phuket as it was a team building retreat that were fully sponsored by the company. Yay! I was fine during the trip but was unwell after we returned. For me, i think my stomach is quite sensitive whenever i visit any country for the first time.

It could be that the food i ate during our short stay over there. After i came back from the trip, i get to know that several of my colleagues also faced the same issue and it happened we was the same group that was hanging out together so there could be a possibility due to the food we had together during our free & easy time . I was feeling nauseous for the whole day and i couldn't eat anything at all. I think it lasted me a whole day before i finally able to vomit something out and feel much betetr after that.

For this trip, initially i was feeling awkward because i do not know anyone as i was still very new in the company. I don't even know who to find as my roommate but i guess i was lucky because one of my colleague approached me later if i want to share the room with her as her original roommate couldn't go for the trip. We took the morning flight, so we had to reach the airport by 7am. Thank god for bf for sending me to the airport!

Our plane preparing to take off!

We reached there around 10plus, as we do not have any check in luggage, it was easier and faster to get everyone to clear the immigration, group photo taking before we was waiting for our driver to send us to the hotel. It took about 45min-1hour for us to reach the hotel. We was on a teambuilding retreat and i think i was very lucky to join this retreat as i get to know more colleagues that we rarely work together and i wouldn't know if not for this retreat.

We reached Patong and the hotel that we check in was called Baumanburi which i won't visit this hotel again if i am travelling to Phuket next time. They claim that to be a 4 star hotel, but in my opinion, it should be a 3 star rating only.

Welcome drink was served for everyone upon arrival at the hotel, follow by lunch at the restaurant. 

The food were quite disappointing, nothing much to rave about as their food are just not appealing at all. But well, i do still appreciate since its fully sponsored and i don't have to fork out a single cent. Just that, if its for my own personal travel, i would expect myself to live in a better hotel. Haha.

As this hotel is located just directly opposite the hard rock cafe, you could hear the live band music at night and the room is not soundproof, so basically you could hear other people opening the door, and you would thought someone is entering your room, the sound of water running and the kettle boiling when you are sleeping. 

I was sharing a queen size bed with my room mate even though the others wanted to change room when they realised its a double bed as majority are not comfortable with sharing a bed with their roommate, but both of us were pretty ok so it save us the hassle of moving our stuffs and changing to another room.

Some of the rooms were not ready so they give the ladies the priority of checking in some of the rooms first.

this hotel don't used key card okay, they use key. Lao Kor Kor hotel room. haha

Each room only have one key and probably a card just for you to slot in for the aircon electricity etc. When i first entered,there was a strong musky smell in this room.

There were this two chair in this room which i rarely sit on it because the cushion is too hard.

Moving on to the bathroom. nothing fancy. silicon has turned black around the shower area that really need to touch up. and its weird how they design the bathroom. You could easily slip because of the steps!
I got a shock when i turn on the basin sink tap and there was a loud sound before the water could flow out smoothly,  i thought something exploded, this makes me super awake the next morning.

It was a good thing we stay for only 1 night. They allow us to extend our stay, i was not sure if i would like this place as my initial plan was to extend and bf could join me at Phuket, but when i google the reviews and photos of this hotel, i was not that impressed thus we decided to go together next time instead of him joining me halfway at Phuket.

After we placed our stuffs in the room, we gathered at the hotel function rooms for our teambuilding activities. It was really an easy one and it was quite fun. We ended the activities around 3pm, so all of us went back to the room to rest, get changed before its our free & easy time!

I did not went to the beach because the weather was really hot. We was just walking around the market, saw lots of souvenir items,fake branded items for tourists etc. Most of the times i was waiting for the others to shop as we went out as a group.

We went to Big C, and that's when majority of my expenses was incurred from this supermarket! 

Bought lots of snacks back because it was cheap!

I bought some tea, bath salt, some dried mango etc

and decided that one of my hot pink cabin bag was not enough and i ended up buying another hand carry with wheel bag which my roommate and i went out after our breakfast the next day to buy just before checking out.

I got it for $40, was selling for 1200 baht, but the person was only willing to sell it lowest at 1000 baht, so in the end i got it!

i love this kind of hand carry bag because its unique and its rare that you ever get the same bag as others, and able to differentiate your bag from others!

my bag was all so striking such as this one below that when i check in, it was very easy to distinguish mine from others.

Got this bag from carousell at $25.

This was the bag that i bought in phuket at $40!

We went back to the hotel for our dinner after our free & easy time is over.

Buffet dinner at night.

Everyone choose the table they would like to sit, and during the lucky draw time, the table that i was seated had all the top 3 prize winners including me!

Previously they mentioned the previous batch top 3 winner was sitting the same table as us, so it was too much a coincidence this batch has the same top 3 winner sitting the same table.

I got this fitbit charge item

After the lucky draw ended, we had more free time to ourselves again.

We were just walking around the street and we went to the famous bangla street to see ah gua. It's really hard to differentiate if they are really char bor or ah gua.

The next morning we went to chill around, we had some free and easy shopping time before we had our lunch and prepare to board the plane back home!

le bf came and pick me up from the airport as i was buying 3 bottles of moscato.

Before that, everyone was saying that we cannot purchase liquor as we did not left the country forr more than 48hrs, and when i told them to try, all were very stubborn to insist, no, cannot buy la. they ask to check passport one la.

But i decided to try and ask, i mean how worse can it get if they really don't allow me to buy?

so once we landed in singapore, everyone were dispersed, so i went to buy my laneige products at the usual store, before i went to the DFS shop.

Even when my colleague say "we just try", but there is one or two that stubbornly insist it cannot be purchased and i just kept quiet because i find it no point arguing unless i try it myself and that its true to what they claimed to be.

I think none of them actually went ahead while i went to try eventually and bought back 3 bottles of moscato as i love moscato. Nobody stopped me, in fact the staff were telling me how i can actually buy more than 1 when i initially wanted to buy 1 bottle only.

This was me back home when i start unpacking all the snacks that i bought in Phuket!

Overall i do enjoyed myself even though it was a short trip, i get to mingle and bond with everyone who went for this team building retreat.

till then!

Merry Xmas and Happy New Year!

Hello readers! Here's wishing everyone a merry xmas and happy new year!

I was playing with duffy as i ordered the artificial flower decor from taobao by wrapping it around her and she didn't dare to move afterthat.

super super cute! and its time for me to buy her cny clothes soon after the new year!

Anyway, similar to the previous years, i didn't really plan for any xmas or new year celebrations, it was always a impromptu decision to wants to organise one but everyone is not free because it was a last minute thing.
but exchanging xmas present with le gf has never been a impromptu one, haha, it has become like our tradition to exchg present for each other every year,and this year we increased the budget for the xmas present exchange to $200 because i am working right now so we are able to get something that is useful,practical and something that we know both of us will like the present with some worth value.

of cos budget is one thing, but the process of getting something special to someone, means you putting the extra effort to walk around and shop around trying to find a suitable present is the most tedious process.
And in this case for hers, i get her a customised beauty box which i have to go to more than one store to get the different item to be packed into the beauty box.

i am a practical person to some extent so i believe the gift that i give should be practical and useful to someone especially to my close friends if we are going to do xmas exchange.
Christmas is supposed to be an annual festival in commemorating the birth of jesus christ but i guess the customs of celebrating christmas that used to apply only for christinas has shifted to a wider audience, it has become one of the major occasions that we celebrated even if we are not christians.

I know the history of Christmas is very long and i am not going to digress further into it. But what i am trying to say is that it has become a marketed special occasion from retailers that encourage you to experience the joy of giving by having alot of sales during this festive period, nicely packaged gift sets etc, they make profits and you get the experience. fair enough.

i was only planning to exchange xmas gift with Michelle because i am lazy. heh
and i got my first daniel wellington watch!




and i think both of us actually exceeded our budget of $200, because this watch is selling more than $200 and le gf don't mind paying extra more when she knows i like a DW watch!
we have exchange so many presents to each other already that sometimes we don't even know what to get for each other.

and this is the beauty box that i have specially went to select the box, its gold colour so i name it the royal beauty box. it include Orbis product, the cleanser, toner, diet supplement, the diet supplement actually cost more than the clinic slimming pills, later on when she almost finish the tablets, she told me its doesn't realy work.
so orbis diet supplement is not really that effective, so for anyone who is interested to, don't bother. because i think it cost like $70-80 plus for this one packet.
and i got her the Dr young cc cushion, which was my day because they happen to have a self collection day before the xmas day which i specially headed down to town instead of east side to collect this product, and the other small items include the biore jelly makeup remover, blusher, innisfree loose powder etc.

We actually meet two days before xmas to exchange our yearly exchg present at holland village,

the dinner we had was quite horrible and i strongly advise anyone to visit the cafe.

firstly, the food was served quite slow, even though there was not much people. no crowds, and even after we left the cafe, we finally know why.

the food simply sucks.

michelle didn't even finish her food.

she was quite horrific when her hamburger bun was made of mushrooms. two super big piece of mushrooms, and i tried and i must say the taste is just eew.

I ordered some fried chicken stuff. not appealing, i still thought if we had ordered mexican cuisine is definitely going to taste so much better than this cafe.

and i forgot the name of this cafe located at holland village

but just remember the stretch of different restaurants, mexican cuisine etc, just spot the cafe that don't have crowds, should be coming from this cafe!

 After a horrible dinner, we needed ice-cream!

okay i remember, this cafe is located just directly opposite haagan daaz.

so don't say i have not warn beforehand!

so we went to haagan daaz and ordered this seventh heaven! which we greedily ordered 7 different flavours of ice-cream based on our preference!

When it came with the dried ice! yummeh ice-cream. but way too sinful to eat it daily.

While eating our ice-cream, MTLW listened to my story of sadness.

all the rants. one story per day so i won't 中内伤.

but she got pretty used to having a complain queen gf.

hearing to me complaining about every single thing that i don't see eye with.

there was a few times i got so used to describing her as sadness that i almost blurted out calling her sadness! HAHAHA.

i can really write a storybook just on how she can irritate me so much in a span of 3 months.
Anyway, i ordered this tart from littletartbaker, you can view more photos on their instagram by searching littletartbaker.
this was the second time that i have tried their tarts, and i love it, it was quite good!
ordered it on xmas eve and share it with boyf when he is back from duty on xmas eve.
you guys might want to try it, just whatsapp her to order or fb-msg her to place your orders.

 

Duffy with the tart!

On christmas day, as most of us does not have to work, and olm has bought a life vest for duffy as we are bringing her to the beach to play water.
so we tried her life vest at home before we headed to east coast park!
and she is so adorable that she does not dare to move a inch after we help her wear the life vest on her.
so she was keeping the same position, and we tried to make her chase after us etc but she refused to budge.
just staying still at that same spot that i just have to take some photos of her!

a video of her refusing to move at all.

initially i thought it was going to be crowded at east coast park, but surprisingly it was quite okay, i guess everyone was probably still sleeping at home after the late night out on the xmas eve.
nowsdays i found it pointless when you stay out so late on christmas eve if you are planning to spend half a day sleeping on christmas day.
what is the difference if you just sleep according to your daily bedtime and celebrate or go out with your friends the next day?
At least your body clock is not too screwed.
we managed to find a spot when we reach the park and i bought a mat and we quickly settled ourselves, bf came to join us from his house and mummy prepared some sandwiches, nuggets beforehand.
the only thing that i really hate is the sun.
it was a scorching hot day.
a video of duffy getting into the water and how she is so afraid of getting back into the water because of the splashing waves and its was pretty high tide on that day.

this was her before she become so funny after soaking in the salty water in the sea.

me taking a photo of olm and duffy before she go for her first splash!

simple makeup on that day!

i think i need to get this kind of sungglasses so that i won't look like mosquito when i wear sunglasses

photo with mummy!

and photo with the kiddy bf!

i was actually mad on that day because after we decided to leave the park, we need to at least bath duffy because her fur is all stucked with all those dirty particles in the sea, so initially she bring duffy to bath, and when we went to rinse our feet, i was looking for them because they was taking quite long but they was nowhere in sight.
and i saw a small signage on the tap where they allow to rinse their feets using the tap or to top up water and they indicate no bathing of pets.
so i was guessing that is probably why i couldn't find duffy and olm.
it was later on when i saw them coming back and she still did not managed to bath duffy because she saw the signage and she didn't bring duffy to rinse her body.
sorry but not sorry, rules are meant to be broken,
the signage only indicate the tap outside the shower area, which mean there was no signage on the open rinsing area to rinse before going to the shower cubicle, which i bring duffy to go in, i went to the male side because usually girl area are more crowded and there was barely anyone in the rinsing area.
but then olm's bf or jeremy told me to bring her to that tap area, which i brought her out since there wasn't alot of people using the guys side to rinse her la, cos she has so many stucked particles in her fur and if we don't clear it before we give her a proper bath at home, its gonna be difficult to remove later on.
i was already rinsing halfway when a muslim man came and was criticising us like,
"you guys never see the signage? no bathing of pets, be considerate!"
which got me fuming mad the moment someone got the cheek to come and criticise us.
i actually ignored and continue bathing duffy, because if you want me to be considerate, please slap your own mouth first when you are not being considerate in the first place.
if you want someone to be considerate, can you be considerate to know that we have to rinse our dog? and we are not actually bathing our pet.
we did not use shampoo, conditioner etc, its rinsing. not bathing.
its damm irritating if you encountered such human beings, because if i want to be spiteful, i can just bring duffy back to the big rinsing area for human size to rinse in the open area, because there is no signage, so you will also be L L right?
if this is the fact just because she is a dog.
you should just go to hell. no sense of compassion towards an animal who merely just need a quick rinsing and you just have to shoot your bloody mouth off.

i did show my face and attitude when he was looking at us.
olm and her bf was keeping quiet, but i don't think we are in the wrong.
only people who are selfish woud make such senseless comments.
and they better don't visit taiwan, since there are dogs everywhere and i see how you want to stop dogs from going areas that you have walked since they are literally everywhere.

in the end i went back home to give duffy a bath. nice cosy bath and she turned out fluffy again!

the morning shot before we went to east coash park, duffy sitting beside the xmas present that i got for mummy and for my work colleagues！

throwback to some tze char dishes that my family had on that same weekend!

and i shall end this last post of the year with more adorable photo of my duffy teddy bear!

till then!