Today our itinerary starts at 11am after buffet breakfast at the resort. Breakfast was nothing to shout about, the usual sausage, ham, toast, cereals (which thankfully the kids have taken an intense liking to), omelete, fruits and some main courses that even me or my maid could cook better ; P
Our driver arrived slightly before 11am, and we were notified in our room by the receptionist. All packed with extra clothings, water and milk for the whole day out, the kids ran excitedly to the lift with the parents running after them.
Our driver is the husband of Patty, the lady whom we dealt with over email and who picked us up at the airport the day before. However, he doesn't speak much English, so we didn't communicate much with him. We have already planned to go elephant trekking, which is the first on our itinerary.
The weather was cooling, and I was praying it doesn't rain. It drizzled a little though, towards the 2nd half of our 1 hour jungle trekking (cost THB800 for adult, and THB400 for child, William goes free) and we were given umbrellas to hold. Comparing this experience with my first elephant trekking in Phuket last year, I think this was special due to the river crossing, but last year's was more dramatic and "scary" due to the very steep routes.
Crossing the river
Trekking the jungle - with some really muddy parts and squeezing in between bushes and brushing against tree branches.
After the 1 hour trekking, we get to feed the elephants pineapple. All inclusive in the price.
Vic was really scared to feed the elephant. William was more daring, but needed to be guided. As for mummy, she had to be brave for the kids but heart beating fast, no choice.
After the elephant trekking, the driver brought us to this air conditioned restaurant in a shoplot, rather inexpensive if you don't mind the rather small portions. The restaurant was called Ko-Tung, with very clean toilets, and although the food was again, nothing to shout about, the coconut was to die for.
After lunch, we took advantage of the still-good weather and went to the Fish Farm. I wasn't expecting much, having not read anything about this place and only learnt about it from my sister-in-law. On the way there, William fell asleep in the car.
Entrance to the Fish Farm is free for all, but there is a donation box which is on a voluntary basis. We were fortunate to be there at the right time, which we later learnt not all visitors get a "guided tour and show", as a worker was feeding the huge stingray in one pond. Later he showed us and another Thai family how he fed the sea turtle and allowed Vic to shake hands with the turtle!
Then he brought us to yet another pond, where he showed us star fishes, clown fishes (Nemo and his family) and sea cucumbers. For the first time in my life, I touched a star fish! By this time, we decided to wake William up as he will surely love this. Heck the afternoon nap!
The kids also got to touch the star fishes, watch the uncle worker squart water out of the sea cucumber, and then, he led us to another pond where, lo and behold, there were many many of Vic's favourite fish... the "loong tan" (do you call this the dragon garoupa?) We just ate this dish at Unique Seafood for her graduation dinner, and it cost us RM250/kg, and according to the worker, each adult "loong tan" swimming in this pond averages around 200kg! Multiply that with RM250/kg, we are looking at RM50000 on each head! But of course, these fishes are bred not for the kitchen, but to breed baby fishes for sale to local fisherman, who will then sell them to the Hong Kong (not Malaysia) market. : (
Hello, Mr Turtle!
Touching the star fish
Looking out at the "loong tan" pond
Smile for the big Nemo, boy boy!
Evil eyes of the giant sting ray!
Surprisingly Vic didn't find holding the slippery dead little fishes gross or slimey. She used this to feed the "loong tan"
The murray eel. Finally we get to meet, after reading about it in the Little Mermaid.
The giant "loong tan"... oh how I wish I have part of you in my freezer!
It started to rain after the fish farm visit, thus we were unable to do any shopping as planned, except visit their Vogue departmental store, which reminds me of Fajar in Sitiawan, maybe smaller even, then their popular Tesco Lotus. It's not really shopping, it's more like refuge from the rain.
For dinner, we ate at this restaurant called Wang Sai, near our resort along Ao Nang beach. It is big, seems like a popular place filled with many patrons but service was really poor. We ordered the broccoli with shrimps...
... clear soup vegetable with minced pork soup...
Curry blue crab, but I found it too much work for so little flesh. Hubs finished this whole dish.
And I finish this whole dish... the something something prawns. It was average. I was hoping for really big shrimps, though. Looks like have to wait for Sandakan trip next year ; )
And this! We waited for so long for this dish to arrive. Just when this dish arrived, William wanted to deposit his big business profits and I spent almost 15 minutes waiting for him in a smelly toilet. Part 2 of my dinner was nothing to look forward to, except to finish off my dinner, but our shock and horror when we discovered thick newspaper stuck to the bottom of the steam mackerel we ordered, and unfortunately only towards the end of the dish!
Hubs gave a piece of his mind to the staff there, and even though we were finally not charged for this dish, I had an uncomfortable feeling having known that the fish may not have been cleaned prior to cooking at all, and came direct from the fishmonger's newspaper. Yucks and double yucks! Thank God no purging though, but this was the worse dish I eaten for a long time now, and that's not even because of the newspaper. NEVER ORDER STEAM MACKEREL.
