Virgo Cruise 2

We reached Phuket island the next morning. We got down from the big ship for a free-n-easy short excursion. Mummy had to follow us as well coz the casino was forced to shut down as we docked at a foreign shoreline.

We were being transported by motorboats to the jetty and we were greeted by over-enthusiastic locals at Patong beach. Nonetheless, they just wanted to promote their touring packages and earn big time money. Our aim was to shop till we drop around Patong beach coz we only had 5 hours to kill. However we were wooed by a smooth operator who speaks fluent English and WHICH he gave a reasonable pricing for bringing us around in his “newly-bought” van.

End up he wasn’t the one following us around. His wife was and she barely speaks English. DUH…

We didn’t get to ride on Thailand’s famous taxi named tuk-tuk.

She brought us to a recreational park where we can ride elephants, watch monkeys perform and also play shooting. The elephant rides were quite expensive plus we didn’t have much time so we chose to watch the monkey show instead……in monkey school.

At the entrance of the monkey school was a leashed monkey. It was trained to sit on visitor’s lap for photoshooting!


The funny part was when it tried to attack my cousin sister. Hahhaha…


As we entered, a man was carving soaps. So artistic and unique!

He gave us two wings. Hah, just nice for us to wash our hands after touching the monkey.

There were monkeys everywhere and they were well trained for certain performance.

There was a narrator explaining the monkeys’ performance while we watched on. First they showed us how monkeys pick and spin coconuts.

The audience had the chance to hold the monkey while it performed too.


The monkey introduced himself.

Then Deth did some amazing stunts that even some humans couldn’t do it.

Deth can even read numbers, ride a bicycle and calculate money! No wonder they were our cousins…

Then the trainer asked for a watch from the audience and threw it inside the pond. Although monkeys hate water, Deth dived inside the pond and retrieved the drowning watch. He even personally gave it back to the owner.

BRAVO! BRAVO!

I didn’t get the chance to ride on a real elephant so…

We had only 3 hours left so we asked the lady to take us shopping.

Lady: “Yea, yea. Go soppin. Ceep, ceep!”

And we reached at Wang Talang where it is the place for selling Thai’s famous gemstones and overpriced souvenirs. Nothing is cheap there…We were disappointed and we left without buying anything.

The lady got a bit frustrated coz we headed back to the van empty handed. Again we asked her to bring us shopping at cheap places. She said no more, others all expensive! Stupid Thai woman thinks we are stupid like her. So we asked her about cheap Thai massages instead. Again she said, “Yea, we go to ceep ceep thai massack. Ceeep ceep!”

And she brought us to a place where the massage packages were even more expensive than in Malaysia. We then realized we were just another batch of victims that fell for their tricky tour schemes. DARN!

It was raining heavily. Mum and cousin sis decided to stay for an oil massage. I didn’t want to go coz of my rash so honey stayed with me and together we waited for 1 hour.

Later on, to make things worse, the lady had to bring us to this restaurant who served fried rice at 150baht! I can get much much nicer fried rice in M’sia at RM3 dammit!

Our shopping plan failed horribly. We got back to the ship and rushed out for our next touring at Phuket island conducted by star cruise. This time we got a narrator who can speak fluent mandarin and English. We were so glad!

He explained some histories of Phuket island and showed us some of the famous beaches we passed by. We reached a place (forgot the name) where we could see beautiful panoramic view.

Then we went the famous temple Wat Chalong.


Bought tons of tidbits at the cashew nut factory.

Finally the most anticipated programme of the day was…

They are extremely beautiful…

They are exceptionally dashing…

They are unbelievingly talented…

They are remarkable dancing queens…

They are extraordinarily sexy…

They are…

To be continued again…

Virgo Cruise 1

19/11/2007

I couldn’t believe I’d managed to board one of the biggest and most luxurious cruise liners in Southeast Asia with just SD101! Furthermore, Virgo usually departs in Singapore so it’s only once in a blue moon that “She” starts her journey at Port Klang. So tell me, who in the right mind would pass that opportunity I’ll smack their heads till they come to their senses.

The four lucky passengers were…



Cousin sis didn’t miss out the chance of a lifetime too!

We were so excited when we saw the enormous ship looming ahead of us. It’s like 10 times bigger than the ship in front of it ok!

While we were busy snapping photos at the jetty, honey couldn’t wait to board the ship.

Predictably, some of the cruise staffs greeted us in their giant penguin suits whilst grabbing us for photo shooting sessions.


Before boarding the ship, our passports were “confiscated” in exchange with this. This is not just a card ok, it serves as our identification card, access card, deposit card and most importantly credit card. It’s THE CARD.

You want to eat, show the Card;
You want to play, present the Card;
You want to buy souvenirs; use the Card;
You want to join the tours, book with the Card;
You forgot where your cabin is, look at the Card!
You can leave all the cash, credit cards and cheque books behind but definitely not THE CARD.

Virgo has 13 decks and 980 cabins with a passenger capacity of 1,960 passengers. This 77,000 tons megaship showcases the best of classical and Mediterranean design. The interiors consist of striking multi-hue marble and elegant rich wood finishing. Guests have a wide choice of suites and staterooms that have modern amenities and a luxurious ambience.

Our cabin was a quad-sharing one. Besides the four cozy single beds, it is equipped with a closet, a dressing table and a toilet + shower.

We were starving by the time we checked in therefore in just a few minutes time we were already at the Mediterranean Buffet checking out our international buffet.


You can never go hungry on the ship coz there are 6 freaking meals per day: breakfast, snack, lunch, teatime, dinner and supper! Can u imagine if I stay on the ship for 1 more week, I’ll come back looking like...

Sorry, mum, didn’t mean u…

Besides the international buffet, there are over a dozen other restaurants and bars in Virgo which offer world-class services and delicious cuisines. There’s even an ice-cream parlor for goodness sake! Though not all are included in the package, the selected ones already left us spoilt with choice. It’s really a gourmet paradise on the ship indeed!

Sightseeing time! We explored the ship deck by deck and look at this! Wah lau…it’s a children’s pool tat looks like a mini Sunway lagoon. There’s a children Jacuzzi also by the side. Nowadays the children are so lucky…darn…I’m jealous.



We saw this gigantic checkers board on one of the decks so I decided to challenge my cousin sister.



I won! Hah!

On the other side is the chess board where two cute Caucasian gals were playing.

We went up to the top deck where there is a chopper landing area;

a basketball court;

golf driving range;

a tread wall;

miniature golf;

and most of all the adult swimming pool complete with FOUR Jacuzzis at each corner.

I was so damn sad I couldn’t jump inside coz of my stupid rash…

Pictures, pictures and pictures…





We can call to all cabins by using the public phone in every corner of the ship. They are all antique phones!

Both mum and sis were missing in action so we went back to the cabin. Mum had to recharge her tiger-eye crystal’s energy and also hers.

The ship has ongoing programmes of variety choices for families and kids. There were few fun and games booths and also a tarot card reading booth but tat one was not FOC. We saw a FREE body painting booth so we got ourselves a flowery tattoo! Mine was cool…

We attended the seminar where the staff briefed us about the tour packages that they would provide for us to Phuket and Langkawi island.

Moments later, the ship started cruising.

More pretty pictures…






Lunchtime! We chose to dine in a Chinese restaurant which was also FOC.

The assam fish was superb.
The lunch was totally out of our belly’s proximity so we took initiative to go for exercise whereas mummy and sister decided to check out their wealth lucks.

It was very windy on the top deck. We rented golf clubs and some golf balls to play at the driving range and mini golf. I won the mini golf tournament! Hehe…



Then we went for the tread wall. Honey beat me at that though.


We found an indoor Jacuzzi for the “balcony class” and a gym but too bad I didn’t bring any sports shoes.


Mummy’s luck was quite good that day and we went for a splendid western dinner at Bella Vista. FOC also…

Muacks…

To be continued…