Street Art becomes you, Penang

As if Penang Island is not crowded enough with steady influx of tourist on daily basis, the state decided to give us one more reason to visit the beautiful island. During the recent annual Georgetown Festival, they unveiled a series of street art around the UNESCO heritage town. The up and coming Lithuanian artist, Ernest Zacharevic spent a couple of weeks in the island, soaking in the culture of the island and probably recce for suitable spots around the heritage town and voila, the island has since been swarmed by people with cameras walking in hot sun with a map to hunt the art pieces down.

So, obviously the arty-farty me cannot be left behind with this. And here it is, my shot of the Street Art of Penang by Ernest Zacharevic. 

Little boy with a dinosaur
Boy with a bike
Location : Ah Quee Street

Broken heart
Location : Love Lane

Children with a boat
Location : Chew Jetty

Little girl in blue
Location : Muntri Street

Reaching up
Location : Cannon Street

The Paddler
Location : Penang Street

This old man
Location : Armenian Street

Little children on a bicycle
Location : Armenian Street

Of course, we then have our own local artist who is trying their hand and joining in the fun and here are a few of them.

Brother & sister on a swing
Location : Chulia Street Ghaut

Children playing basketball
Location : Chulia Street Ghaut

Cheating husband
Location : Love Lane

Five foot way
Location : Steward Lane

Part of the reason why this street art attracted so many people in this country where we're not really art-appreciative-lot is because the art invites people to interpret the art in their own way and of course to also be part of the art itself. So here's me-art!

Don't look at me boy

Buzz off girl, you are spoiling my  photo

Shoot!

I want the toy too

Kids, you are so famous so had no idea

Don't laugh girl, if I stand, the swing will collapse

Broken heart, I am not

Location : Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia

Date of travel : November 2012

A romantic beach wedding

As mentioned in my previous entry on why I'm in Koh Samui; it is to attend a wedding of my very close friend. In Asia, wedding is almost always a family affair. A typical Asian wedding will have nothing less than 100 guests and in fact my wedding involves 400 guests or more. You see, I have my friends and colleagues and school mates and university mates and so is my hubby. And then my mother has her relatives and friends and so is my dad and so is my mother in law and father in law. So when you add the list of 6 people involved, few hundreds guest is pretty normal.

Which brings me to this wedding. There are only 22 guests plus the bride & groom, which brings a total of 2 dozen people in the event. But it bring tears and joy as much as a few hundred guests wedding. In fact, it is actually one of the most romantic wedding I've attended.  

Setting at the beach

White roses everywhere

Champagne glasses ready to toast the happy couple

I do

Roses walkway for the bride & groom

Beautiful fresh flowers adorning the canopy

Table setting

That's my seat and love cookie

Candle light

Bubbly for the occasion

And of course the cake

I also wanted to applaud the entertainment of the night called 'Fire Dance'. At first we weren't that thrilled to walk our way to the beach for the ceremony and then climb up the cliff for the dinner and then being ask to go to the beach again, in the dark. But of course we went and it is one of the most thrilling entertainment fit for hundred of guest but in this case only for the 24 of us.

Isn't this cool, or hot for that matter.

My friend later send me some photos captured by the official photographer arranged by Silavadee, here's some to share how beautiful the scene was.

Mimi and me

Toast to the happy couple

Yes, we enjoy the dinner and wine very much

We were sitting at the beach waiting for the Fire Dance

My favourite picture; with my closest friends and silavadee as the background

Location : Koh Samui, Thailand

Travel date : August 2012

A tropical heaven called Silavadee

3 months ago, I was in a tropical heaven. Along with a party of 2 dozens friends, we head to Koh Samui to attend a wedding. It was one of the most romantic wedding I've attended which I'm gonna talk about in another entry.

As a start, we all board a little plane called Firefly (what an apt name) from Kuala Lumpur to Koh Samui. The flight took about 2 hours or so. For the first time in my life, I throw up in a plane and since I fly quite frequently, like averaging once a month, this is really embarrassing. So lesson learnt, never ever eat before and during the flight if you are about to fly in this Firefly. Saving grace is that I managed to do the stunt in the toilet.

So, I've never been happier when the plane finally landed in the beautiful Koh Samui island.

And since I have throw up my entire brunch including the pathetic cupcake they served in the plane, I was famished when we reached the hotel. Without waiting to be checked in, I immediately head to the poolside and order my fries and lemongrass drink. 

The resort where the wedding is being held and where we're staying is called the Silavadee Pool Spa Resort. It is one of the most luxurious and exclusive resort in Koh Samui. The villa that I'm staying is called the 'Tropical Pool Villa'. It's 140sq metre complete with our own private pool! OK OK, this is the first time I have the chance to stay in a villa with a private pool thanks to my friend who managed to squeeze an upgrade for us.

I shall not share photos of what we did in the pool *wink wink*

Suffice to say, we put up this signage at the front door

Doesn't the room look so cozy and inviting? Ahhh, I already knew I will enjoy the next two days stay here.

A wine cooler in the villa?
For wine lovers like us, it is almost impossible for us not to  immediately gives our thumbs up (in fact toes up too).

This villa also boast one of the largest rest room / shower I've seen (rival that of Venetian Macau). In fact I heard one of my girl friend spend few hours sitting in this bench in the rest room to read her novel.

The bath tub

The shower

Good night!

The next day we woke up to this view, ahhh ... life is beautiful.

Put on my favourite Colbie Caillat and head for a freshen up.

OK, let's check out the resort now shall we.

On our way to have breakfast

The height restaurant is where we're heading

This is the view we have while enjoying our breakfast. I know.

Silavadee actually means 'beautiful rock' in Thai. This resort sits on top of a cliff overlooking the beautiful Gulf of Siam.

The impossibly breathtaking infinity edge pool overlooking the ocean

On our way walking to the beach, I couldn't help but snatch this photo

The private Laem Nam beach accessible only by the resort guests

Wouldn't you agree this is what we envision heaven to be?

Next, A romantic beach wedding