Random Thoughts. Random Places. Random Faces.

Cruising Our Way to Penang & Phuket

Posted on 19 Feb 2023 by OnColouredPens

I first heard of a cruise ship when I was in elementary school, we had one neighbour who was working in a cruise ship. But I never really knew what was a cruise ship back then, until I saw the movie Titanic.

Fast forward to March 2017, we had the chance to onboard a cruise ship. My husbands good friend was working in a cruise ship and it happened that they were in Singapore, he invited us over for a ship tour. That was my first encounter of a huge ship. I was… lost for words. It was so huge that I was scared. Good thing at that time we only toured around, never really “travelled/ cruise”. After the ship tour, I told myself… I am not going to try cruising in that huge ship, it was scary!

Six years later, here I am on-board my first cruise! Together with my husband and our friends, we on-boarded the Royal Caribbean Spectrum of the Seas. It was… an experience on another level. In this vacation, this is the first time that I didn’t really care about taking photos (lots of photos), I still have few to share though. I was there to experience the life in a cruise and I did it!

Day One

We departed Singapore on Feb. 2. First thing we did when we on-boarded was to have lunch, then proceed to tour around. Food photos deserve a separate post. 🙂

Day Two

The ship was scheduled to arrived in Penang, Malaysia at around 2:30pm. While waiting for the ship to dock, we busied ourselves in the different activities that the ship offers. Abby and I went to attend a morning dance exercise then we went for Bingo (which we never won). Right after the Bingo we went straight to lunch and waited for the ship to dock at Penang. We never booked any excursion in Penang, we planned to just walk around the port or took a hop-on-hop-off bus. However, when we were looking for the bus stop, the rain started to pour. 😦 We weren’t able to reach the bus stop for hop-on-hop-off, instead of running back to the ship, we decided to just relax in the nearby hawker centre. The moment the rain stopped, we decided to just go back to the ship and call it a day.

Day Three

Day 3 was the day I am most excited. We reached Phuket Thailand in the morning and I was able to witness the sunrise! We booked an excursion for Phang Nga Bay. It took a 2 hour bus ride to reach the province of Phnag Nga then we need to take a long-tailed boat to see the Phang Nga National Park. It was a very good and fun experience. Our guide pointed the famous James Bond Island, and being me, don’t have a good photo of that island. After the tour we had lunch at a Muslim Fishing Village, then proceed back to the mainland province. Before going back to Phuket, we went to visited a Buddhist Temple, rest for a while then continue with the long bus ride to Phuket. When we reached Phuket, we decided to walk around the famous Pattaya Beach for a while before going back to the ship.

Phuket is one of my dream destination, me being there even for a few hours made my heart full. Will I be going back to Phuket? Definitely! I wanted to experience more of Phuket, someday.

Day Four

Day 4 was cruising day back to Singapore. Everyone was tired but happy. We had a blast of course since it was our last day cruising. We never planned anything on this day, the guys were at the casino while us ladies was just roaming around the ship, eating our hearts out.

Back in Singapore

And just like that, our 4 day cruise is over. My tummy was full. My heart was full. My memory bank was fuller! It was an experience I will truly remember forever. Food and shows will be posted separately. I need to gather my thoughts again, especially for the shows. I don’t know if I can find the right words to describe them.

To my husband, thank you for sponsoring this trip, without your generosity, I won’t be able to experience this. hehehehe… To Neng and Jomz, thank you for being good travel buddies and thank you for taking videos and photos for us! To Ate Ana, Kuya Jimmy and Abby, thank you for encouraging us 4 to experience this cruise ship! It was so worth it! Till our next trip again. Hoping we will be complete by then.

Food, Random Thoughts

First week so far…

Posted on 8 Jan 2023 by OnColouredPens

And just like that, the first week of 2023 has gone by so quick. Sharing with you the food I enjoyed during the first week of this year.

Fickel Feline Cheesecake from Cat & the Fiddle

Random Thoughts

Hello 2023!

Posted on 2 Jan 2023 by OnColouredPens

Just dropping by to say ‘Happy New Year, everyone!’ Photo above was taken few hours before the first day of the year ends.

Random Thoughts

Am I getting old?

Posted on 20 Oct 2022 by OnColouredPens

This post will be written mostly in my native tongue Cebuano and a bit of English and Tagalog.

Dugay na… taud-taud na… yes! Pila na ka buwan nga wala ko maka balik diri, pila na ka buwan nga wala ko mag open-open ani. Pila na ka buwan nga gi neglect nako ni. Pila nasad ka times ni ana ko nga dili ni nako biyaan. Pila na ka times nga ni ana ko mag huna-huna ko ug ma ayo para naa koy’ ma content. Pero unsa? Wala… wala… wala gihapon nako ma fulfill akong mga promises.

There are times mag wonder ko, ngano nga wala pa man ni nako gi deactivate nga account? Unsa may’ purpose nako ani? Para lang ba ma ingon nga naa koy’ wordpress account? Nag suwat-suwat kunohay ko? Looking back, the very reason why I started this journey was… I wanted to document some of my experience, the food, the travels, the random photos I took while walking going back home, the random thoughts I have while having my tea-c kusong. But most of the time, those thoughts are flushed in the drain. I can’t say I don’t have time to sit down to write and edit. I have all the time. Even the time that I was still working, I have time. How much more now that I am currently (and enjoying) jobless.

Today, while writing this, daghan ka ayo ug topic nga nag dagan-dagan sa akong mind. Pero ang ni tatak jud ug ma ayo kay’ “am i getting old”?

Random FB and IG posts: Lately, I always get annoyed with my niece and nephew’s posts in facebook and instagram. Kanang pa cool-kid ka ayo nga mga posts! Maka irita! One time I even message them and told them that what they are posting are not cool. Gi reply-an raman noon ko ug “hahaha”. Ni samot akong ka irita oi! Is this a sign nga im getting old?

Photos: Lately, naka bantay ko nga wala na ka ayo ko mag sige ug take ug photos. Last July I went back home for a month. Surprisingly, wala ka ayo koy’ mga pictures! If this happened 2 or 3 years back, akong gallery mo boto siguro sa ka daghan ug photos stored. Naka feel ko, hasulan na ka ayo ko mo take ug photos. Is this a sign nga im getting old?

Shows/ Songs: Lately, naka bantay ko pili-an na ka ayo ko ug mga shows. Dili na same sa una nga kung unsa ang latest ug trending to-a ni apil sad ko ug tan aw. Basta trending mo apil ko ug tan aw, bisan sa first 10 minutes pa lang na bored na ko, ipa dayun gi hapon na nako ug tan aw. Pero karun? Bisan pa ug dili na trending basta sa first 10 minutes sa show na bored na ko, ako ng gi drop ang show, ma trending man or dli. Drop! When in comes to songs, even before pa I always prefer to listen to 70s, 80s, 90s and early 2000 songs. Pero naa sad noon time nga maminaw ko sa mga latest songs. Sa una ok raman ko sa mga new songs bisan pa ug wala ko maka sabot sa lyrics. Pero karun, mo matter na nako ang lyrics sa song. :p Tiguwang na jud siguro ko!

Wew! That was good! Pinaka random na gyud ni nako nga na sulat. Hinoon dugay na ka ayo ni sa akong mind pero dili lang gyud nako ma dayun ug sulat. Gusto man nakong huna-huna on nga bata pako, pero my mind is screaming im getting old! Hinoon dugay raman na nakong gi dawat, I’m old. Pero lahi ra gyud diay oi kung reality bites na!

Anyaways… till my next post. Hopefully ma sundan dayun ni, sayang akong gi bayad sa subscription fee oi kung dili ni nako gamiton ug ma ayo.

Photo Dump, Random Thoughts

Random Photos: May 2022

Posted on 31 May 2022 by OnColouredPens

I have so many memories when it comes to the month of May. When I was in elementary to high school, I always look forward for May. May is not only summer and school holidays for me. May means unlimited swimming, friends reunion, Flores de Mayo and visiting my other family from my Papa’s side.

When I compare myself now to my younger self, I felt that when I was younger I had so much emotions when May comes. Now that I am older, I felt that I don’t have that much emotions from before. Maybe because I no longer do the things that I used to do when I was younger?