I just had a fantastic holiday in Phuket with a couple of mates, David and Nghia. First we stayed at the Thavorn Beach Hotel which was amazing but a little bit too far from the hustle and bustle of Patong beach (namely the Thaweewong and Bangla Road areas) so moved to the Patong Beach Hotel right in the heart of where the action was. Now we were in walking distance of all the restaurants, bars and shops which was heaps better.

Apart from the boozing and partying at night we also did a few tours. Most of our tours were in and around the Phang Nga area. There we road the ATVs (All terrain vehicles), went white water rafting, elephants treking, sea canoing and we even braved the bungy at World Bungy in Patong Beach. Now that was an experience I’ll never forget! Anyways, here are some of the photos from the trip.

I was on my way to Thailand to meet David and Nghia who were already holidaying in Phuket. Since I was flying Singapore Airlines to Bangkok from Melbourne I had the usual stopover in Singapore. Transit in Singapore is something I always enjoy since there is so much to do at Changi Airport plus the city is only ever a short 30 minute taxi or train ride away.

Since it was 6:00am in the morning and I had over 4 hours to kill I decided to leave the airport and head to the Mustafa Centre to do a little shopping. The Mustafa Centre is a 24 hour shopping plaza located on Syed Alwi Road in Singapore’s Little India area about 20 minutes from Changi. The centre is famous for it’s big range of jewellery, travel products, electronics and other general household items often at bargain prices.

Xuan and I headed up to the Yan Yean Reservoir Park in Melbourne’s north today to do a little sight seeing. As we expected the water levels in the reservoir were very low and the ponds around the park had nearly all dried up due to the drought. We walked around a little and then decided to head to the Sugarloaf Reservoir in the Christmas Hills hoping to see more there.

When we got to Sugarloaf the views were spectacular even though the water levels were extremely low (19.8 percent full according to Melbourne Water at time of writing). It was sad to see reservoir so empty but the massive emptiness did make for some amazing views as you can see from the pictures below. The last 3 photos were taken by Xuan.

A group of us headed down to Fairhaven this weekend for a bit of rest and relaxation away from the city. Fairhaven is a small coastal town near Aireys Inlet and Anglesea on Victoria’s Great Ocean Road.

We rented a large house overlooking the beach which was sensational. The place had five bedrooms, two living areas, bar area, pool table, barbeque and a large upstairs deck with spectacular ocean views. We couldn’t have hoped for a nicer place to spend the weekend.

The weather wasn’t great so we didn’t head down to the beach for a swim. We did go and check out the Split Point Lighthouse though which is one of the main attractions along the Great Ocean Road. Some scenes from the Australian children’s television series Round the Twist were also filmed there.

Today Xuan and I headed down to Frankston beach to see the ‘Fairytales & Fables’ sand sculpting exhibition (19 January to 6 April 2008) at the Frankston Waterfront, near the pier and Kananook Creek.

The theme of the exhibition is of favourite childhood fairytales and fables from around the world including Jack and the Beanstalk, the Wizard of Oz, Hansel and Gretel, the Tortoise and the Hare, Puss in Boots and quite a few more.

It’s just so amazing how detailed these sculptures are as you can see by the photos below. I also found out that the sand that the sculptors use isn’t ordinary beach sand as this type of sand doesn’t hold together very well. It’s a heavier sand where as each grain is square, so it sticks together better.