Novotel Vintage - Phuket

Giant sculpture on the lobby wall

The Budha's head

Pool in nite view

Different city means another chance for us to try another Accor hotel. In Phuket, we decided to stay at the newest establishment of Novotel Vintage. Instead of hotel, Novotel adopted the resort type which was much suitable with the holiday atmosphere of Phuket. Located around 10mins of leisure walk to Patong beach (one of the famous beach in Phuket), Novotel was quite eye-catching especially at night. Huge building stretching widely right on T-intersection street bustling with bars, seafood restaurants, hawkers, minimarts, as well as tattoo shops (man - I was trying to restrain myself for not stepping in...but it didn't keep me from peeping LOL).

The big comfy bed

Quarterly shape bathtub

Wall painting in the room...very unique

Giant art work displaying the ancient story (something related to fairy) of Thai welcomed us at the lobby. It was midnight (we used the last flight from Bkk-Phuket) but the lobby was still crowded with guests sitting and chatting around in their short, tanktop, and slippers...not a common view at our previous hotels. While my husband was checking in, I looked around the lobby. A human-size Budha's head stone statue was erected on side, with rows of Thai's statues as separation between the lobby and the sitting lounge. Huge golden chandelier was hang high, glittering on the ceiling. The whole building was shaped in square with big empty space in the middle for the pool. For first-timer, it was kinda confusing to find your way, but you would get used to it after lost your way several times *winking

View from our room

The resort style pool

The whole complex from across the street

With unusual way of room numbering, we were shown to our room. The room was big, with bathroom right in front side, the bedroom and small terrace outside overlooking the pool. Awesome! They even provided a chair and a bar to hang your wet clothes on the balcony. While I was admiring the nite view of the pool, I noticed the rooms on the ground floor were equipped with jacuzzi right in their door step...woah...I was green-eyed. Back to the room, I checked the hard king size bed. They gave 2kinds of pillow, the countour one but felt so hard on my neck and the micro fibre one which was too high as well. Finally I settled myself by pilling up the plush bath towels for my pillow *grinning. As usual, my hubby claimed the big long couch on the side but at night, he sneaked onto the bed due to the cold. Medium sized flat screen tv provided large numbers of channel to choose for your in-room entertainment. Equipped with coffee/tea maker, empty mini bar, sdb, iron and its table, it ensured your stay here was as comfy as home. Especially the quarter-circle-shape tub in the bathroom with strong rain shower. Really perfect... for my girls *grinning

The golden shimmering atmosphere

Did you see the small square pool on the left...yeah those are private ones

The most outstanding facility of Novotel Vintage was the resort-style pool. It was huge, with rain-drop partition, strong fountain-pour to massage your shoulder, whirpool, kids pool, as well as spraying toddler pool. Occupying one of the pool's corner, the coconut's leaves roof wet-pool-bar served various beverages from carbonated drinks to beer, from fresh juices to the house-recommended-coctail. Large number of sundeck were splaying around the pool, for you to put your stuff while taking a dip or simply sun-bathing. Across the pool, there was The Square restaurant for your fill of delicious meals. Several souvenir shops were inside the lobby, enabling you to buy goodies without leaving the hotel. Anyway, who would want to venture outside the hotel when everything that you need was available within your room-door-step? 

Inferno by Dan Brown

This time, Dan Brown (DB) features the famous Harvard symbiologist Robert Langdon (RL) again. However, instead of unwrapping hidden meaning between symbols, RL was supposed to uncover events happened before he lost his memory due to bullet's graze over his head (ehm...reminded me of similar situation of Bourne *winking). Pairing up with genius and prodigy Sienna Brooks (SB), an illegal doctor who saved him, they solved the puzzle on why RL was targetted and how to prevent the threathen deathly plaque. Once again, RL's vast knowledge was being tested and he was torn between the real friends among foes, who should be trusted and who shouldn't. But as predicted from DB, he twisted the plot in an unexpected way on the last few chapters. I was jaw-dropped!

And as usual, DB writes with such descriptive details of places and buildings. However, it was too jaded (imho) and put me yawning all the time (just like the beautiful description on The Swan Thief - the only unfinished book). On some chapters, I was confused whether the info that I read was the real data or something twisted by DB. And honestly, it isn't worth for me to go all the way checking the validity of the info contained here. So I just accepted whatever I read here.

While reading this, I thought the whole idea of this book was based on the single book (geez...a single book could be developed into something great as this). It was some sort of in-depth analysis on the famous (though I just knew it recently) work of Dante, known The Divine Comedy. The Divine Comedy (it was epic poet instead of funny satire) is divided into 3parts, Inferno (the most-read one), Purgatorio, and Paradiso (praise Google yay). It tells the journey of Dante through the hell, going thru purgatory and finally arrives in paradise. In short, it was assumed that to reach the paradise, human being had to go through the hell first. Explanation on Dante's Inferno made me feel like being in the RL's world history class at Harvard. It was beyond imagination, how the life and inheritance of Dante could be transformed into world's crisis with page-turning chasing.

In a way, it was a tough book to read with lotsa difficult words and terms that I kept my mobile close. I had to consult with Google and Wiki since my knowledge of Europe, medieval art and history were limited. Instead of globe trotting like on the previous adventure of RL, the main events this time took place only in Florence (sounds like a very beautiful city - ehm...wondering when I could visit this city along with other European famous cities as well), a little bit of puzzle solving in Venice and finale closing in Turkey.
But again, DB proved himself, that he could write something interesting (well interesting was the understatement) and blend it well with the real fact. This book brought the ordinary (in term of art, history and the major issues of our world for commoner like me) into the extraordinary fiction that left me deep in thinking.

Another well-written fiction!

Siam Paragon, Siam Ocean World, Kidzania - Bangkok

In front of the Canal...inside Siam Paragon

Wifi corner with mobile charger provided...fancy spot

The Madame Tussauds

Siam Paragon was the only mall that we visited often during our stay in Bangkok, beside the 5mins walk Central mall. It was close, 1 BTS station only (B60 for 4 of us but only costed us B40 using tuktuk). It was one of the must-visit-place in Bangkok for shopaholic since the area had lots of big malls standing next to another, like Siam Discovery, Central World, and Siam Square. So if you are using BTS, please prepare yourself for the rush of people in and out the station. It was super duper crowded station!

The bustling foodcourt

Oh...what a lovely dishes   :-)

...mouth watering...

 Anyway, though we were surrounded by malls, we went there not for shopping spree (┐('⌣'┐)...уєαн... (┌'⌣')┌, it hosted numerous branded shops that could make you go thin on the wallet and reaching the upper limit of your credit card...but we just loved the food court. It offered various options for appetizer, main dishes, dessert and snack. You could choose from Thai's food, Asian fast food, Japanese ramen and sushi, Indian curry, and many more. If you fancy some high-end eatery and delicacies, Siam Paragon also had it all. But we just liked the food court since we could try many different kind of dishes affordably. And watching the bustling food court was so much fun than sitting on a quiet corner of a fancy cafe/resto.

My all-time fav for dessert

Bookstore @Siam...a heaven on earth for me

 Another reason why we could spend days here because it has Siam Ocean World (www.siamoceanworld.com) on its basement. Claimed to be the biggest aquarium in South East Asia, it had 5D show, ocean walker, glass bottom boat, fish spa for feet, numerous feeding and live interaction within the aquarium. it had 7 zones of wonder where we could explore the rich and diverse oceanic life. The 5D show of 20k leagues under the sea had too many obvious and predictable scenes. We liked the one at Bandung Transtudio better.

One of the feeding show

Ready to feed some fish on glass bottom boat

Complimentary fish spa

Then it also had Maddame Tussauds' wax museum but we didn't visit it this time. We thought the wax museum was pretty much the same with other cities. But I would like to recommend you to the Kidzania on the 5th floor. It was more pricey compared to Kidzania Jakarta, the ticket for toddler is B300, B650 for kids between 4 to 14 years old, B400 for adult and B350 for senior citizen. Newly opened for 2months, Kidzania Bangkok (www.kidzania.co.th) offered something that we didn't have it here, like sushi making, interior design, vet role playing and many more. Though the staff had language barrier, they welcomed my girls warmly and paid them more attention compared to toward the Thais and my girls enjoy their day there.

Sushi making

Banking with CIMB Siam

Do I need to say for this one too   :-)

 So regardless what your preference, Siam Paragon is one stop entertainment place for the whole family :-) 

Turbo - the movie

There is no dream that is bigger and no dreamer that is small.

Turbo was telling a story of a garden snail called Theo which had desire for speed and excitement in his slow-boring life. In his daily routine, Theo along with other snail garden were working together on tomatoes garden. Once his shift in the garden was over, he rushed back (or nudged forward slowly in the snail term) into the old garage to watch his favourite racing show, with Guy Gagnet (a rising racer) as his idol. His sibling, a chubby Chet often adviced him to forget his passion and embraced his-true-nature. To understand that snail is born to move slowly, live a peaceful life and tuck itself into its shell whenever danger appears.

One day, Theo was almost got run over by a lawn mowner when he tried to 'rescue' a ripe tomato. Chet and his friends managed to save Theo and when the realization fell in, Theo wandered and found himself stucked on the bumper of a racing modified car. Accidentally, he fell and contaminated by chemical used to speed up the racing car. Due to the strange chemical, Theo's body (or DNA) adapted and enabled him to move much faster than the normal snail...even a normal human. One disaster brought another one, Theo and Chet was kick out from the garden and picked up by Tito, a Taco seller who lived in run-down area.

Tito was convinced that Theo was his fallen star, and decided to register Theo (under Turbo name) into Indy 500, the famous racing competition. Tito believe that Theo could help him in attracting visitors to his place. On the other hand, Theo just realized that his idol, Guy wasn't what he was expected to be. Could Theo outspeed Guy on Indy 500 or could Theo, finally realize what was important in snaily-life?

Let Theo and gank show you the snail-way *winking

Pacific Rim - the movie

Image taken from www.imdb.com

Another movie on my watchlist was released last week and without further ado, I quickly went to see it with my hubby. Though I didn't recognize any names on the actor/actress list but Guillermo del Toro (writer and the director) ensured me that this movie was worth to watch.

It started with a quite long prologue telling us the background of the story. It was told that the alien called Kaiju has been entering our world thru a dimension portal deep in the ocean. To defeat Kaiju, the world worked together on Jaeger project, a project to build a giant robot with 2 synchronized pilots. Initially Jaeger was able to beat down Kaiju for the first few years, however the level of the coming Kaiju was getting higher (meaning: more dangerous) and Jaeger started to lose its footing in protecting the world.

Finally, the world committe decided to close down the Jaeger project and start the wall of life project (basically they were building big un-impregnated wall along the Pacific ocean). Too bad, the propagated wall was easily crushed by the coming high level Kaiju and the remaining 4 Jaeger decided to bomb and destroy the portal. could the last 2 jaeger succeed in stopping the world's apocalypse

Though I am not a fan of alien or robotic movie but this movie was totally awesome...full packed with action from the first minutes to the last. My heart couldn't stop going bump-bump-bump (and I had a terrible night afterward wkwkwk silly me but i kept remember the face of Kaiju LOL). Though the actor/actress' expression was so so...but it was compensated with the high technique on the special effect. The sound was loud, the Jaeger were great, the pilots were awesome and the Kaiju looked pretty real. All in one, another thumbs up for the del Toro. Bravo!!!

Despicable Me 2 - the movie

Image taken from www.imdb.com

Papoy!

Yes, Minions are back and this time, they scored BIG *grinning*. It was due to the frequently-watched youtube trailer of the recently released Despicable Me 2. In most of those trailer, the main star was the Minions. Minions who were given small part within the first movie back in 2010, made a come back on this second movie with bigger...and definitely way cuter part. I loved it!!! Betcha you loved it too *winking
But...what made Minions was such a hit here in Jakarta, because a foodchain resto was packaging their children meals with Minions toys included. There were 9models to choose with 2 in purple-devil-mode ‎​‎​⊙.◎ ‎​‎​w(°ｏ°)w ⊙.◎ My girls was so excited (they have memorized the banana song). We quickly rushed to that foodchain...just for the sake of the toys. We made it as our 'junk food weekend'. We had it for lunch...we had it for dinner...I still could taste the bitter after taste on my tongue long after. But at least, our effort was kind of paid off...we managed to collect 6models before it was sold out in less than a week. The foodchain decided to re-produce the toys back within a week and the parent (with kids tagging along) could be seen lining up behind the counters and drive thru with their lit up face. It was such a smart marketing strategy of the foodchain to package their meals within few weeks before the release of the movie, which in a way also promoting the movie as well.

My girls' collection

And the movie, Despicable Me 2 was a hit as well. Rows of kids mixed with rows of adults in the cinemas. Laughter burst right from the start of the movie when the famous Minions shown. It tells a story of Gru, a former criminal which works a honest work for the sake of his adopted daughters. He was requested to work together with Anti Villain League's agent Lucy in discovering the real culprit who stole the secretly researched dangerous chemical. While investigating the case, Gru was torn between his role as an investigator, his newly assumed role as a single parent, and Gru's childhood phobia in relationship. But all ended well, despite the devil-turned minions and all :-)

My girls throughly enjoy the show with her questions and laughter interrupted my watching. It was truly a great time to spend the school holiday...an awesome movie which can be enjoyed by the whole family. Now, my girls have memorized the Underwear (I Swear) song as well as YMCA with Minions' version "̮˚°◦♡ώκωķ(∩_∩)◦°˚"̮

16hours stucked in togetherness

Did you notice something strange here...yes...she moved suddenly

Last Sunday was the most tiring day in June for me...but in a fun and positive way. It was a spur of the moment decision when I met with 2 friends of mine over simple dinner few weeks ago. We used to live together while we were pursuing our study at Inti College in Kuching, Malaysia (dated back in 1998). After that, we were sorta scattered around here and there. From our brief rendezvous, we decided to have small reunion, and invited another 2 former-housemates as well to join the occasion. As for destination, my friend suggested Carita beach. I didn't know why she was so eager to go to Carita, though we could go to Ancol beach if she would like the similar atmosphere...beach...sand...greenery of coconut trees......sea breeze...lapping shore and blue sky. She insisted Carita and we agreed (perhaps she had this vision bout going to Carita in her dream *grinning). Since some of us had prior appointment, we went there last Sunday (without staying over).

I was up and ready before 7am (my scheduled time to pick my friend who lives nearby). Cold drinks and my green beach-bag loaded with sunblock, aftersun and many more, were ready as well (well-teased as being the most prepared one in the group). My hubby helped me checking the car (it would be my first driving to Anyer on my own). He was pretty anxious and kept reminding me to drive safely (read: slowly - he was so sweet sometimes 【ツ】ƗƗє²² ƗƗє²² ƗƗє²²【ツ】...but only sometime) Though I had a severe headache and lack of sleep the night before, meeting someone whom I haven't seen for a while sure injected some spirit. My drowsiness was slipping away the moment I arrived at the meeting point...seeing the huge smile wore on my friend's face (yes M, you were grinning ear to ear) and it was hard to resist the excitement flowing in to me. We chatted bout trivial matter re to our trip while driving to another meeting point at Puri Indah Mall to pick another 2 friends there. We stopped again at Cilegon to pick the last one who we haven't set eyes for a decade or more. Too bad, she wasn't available and we decided to carry on our trip as planned. Light traffic...funny retold stories during our college time...made the journey felt fast (or was it because I was driving fast?). Anyway, we reached Cilegon in less than an hour however the traffic from Cilegon to Anyer beach was terrible (bumper to bumper with merely inched forward for every 5mins). It wasn't due to the road (the road was smooth) but the number of vehicles going there was just unexpected (or should I say as expected - considering the weekend that fell during school holiday?). Anyway, after stucked for 2hours and hasn't gotten any closer to Anyer, we stopped for lunch at Padang resto that looked pretty clean. The food was quite superb, though we had to swat every now and then (with our hidden kungfu skill)...lots of housefly flying around our dishes.

With full stomach and various snack purchased nearby...we continued our drive with rekindled spirit. Under the scorching sun, yet it still took us an hour to reach Anyer beach (the traffic was so horrible). We stopped at Pisita Resort for a break. We managed to strolled around and stole few pics on the shore before continuous thunder started to rumble. I was negotiating the price for my temporary tattoo when the first splatter of rain fell. We rushed back to the car (d*mn...I haven't gotten my tattoo yet and i got a pretty decent price here) quickly. Lucky we were in the car already when suddenly the drizzling rain turned into a heavy downpour. Ow...I hope my friend was Ħªppy to get a 5mins glimpse of the beach and a bit of sea drip (with lotsa sand) on her sandals.

Considering the time and the wheather, we turned our way heading home. Lucky, the rain was ceased after 15mins and we again decided to enter the public beach of Anyer nearby. They asked for IDR50k for entrance ticket...geez we bargained hard with lotsa cute smiles and begging...and only got IDR10k discount (guess we gotta practice our smiling faces). The place was astounding with rocky landscape instead of slopping beach. All the free bungalows were taken and again, since the sun was back shining brightly, we stayed for another 5mins before heading back to the car. This time, we trotted along the way to Cilegon for 3hours ‎​=.=! pheω...‎​⊙﹏⊙

Feeling in need to stretch our body, we had our early dinner at Sari Kuring Indah hotel and restaurant at Cilegon. The place was nice, with lesehan on the pond (seating on the floor style), mini playground and air-con indoor room as well. We ordered our dinner which was pretty delicious (with big portion that dumstrucked me - they serves the fish soup not in a bowl but in a basin "̮˚°◦♡ώκωķ(∩_∩)◦°˚"̮ ). The price was cheap as well (compared to Jkt's price standard). And luckily, our friend who wasn't available earlier, was able to join us shortly after the dinner...even though only for a short drink.

It was great, meeting up after few years (some without news). For few moments, we were still reeling with the amazed feeling for seeing each other again. Every one looked pretty good, not much change but definitely getting wiser and matured (are we?). We talked a lot about silly thing that we did in the past, when we didn't slightly bother bout what the future hold for us. Though we felt slightly dejected upon leaving, realizing that it would be another long drive thru the terrible traffic. But we filled those 5hours drive with my-own-karaoke-singing...heart-to-heart-girls-talk...business-talk...chitchat until we reached home...feeling totally spent out but satisfying.

It was such a long day...I counted 16hours with around 12hours spent on the road. But those 16hours felt insufficient...we quickly snatched the calendar and marked the day for our next get-together уααу!└(^o^)┘ \^o^/ └(^o^)┘уααу! ‎​​​⌣ƭћǟπƙ уσυ ＼(*T▽T*)／ gals for the lovely day. ♡†нαпĸs♡ as well for listening to my off-tune singing (my playlist went around to my first song again and yet we still stucked in the traffic)...for not complaining during my rough driving (I thought I drived better - considering nobody at the backseat buckling up the seatbelt 【ツ】ƗƗє²² ƗƗє²² ƗƗє²²【ツ】)...and for being so considerated stopping so many times to visit various type of restroom "̮ wk°wk (′▽`) wk°wk "̮ YOU gals R rock!

See ya gals...soon!