Neyzielle Ronnicque

You can ride a bus to Thailand from Singapore. Here’s How You Do it ~

Published on August 7, 2017August 9, 2017 by Neyzielle Ronnicque1 Comment

I have been so lazy that even writing about my other March YOLO trips came too laborious for me. What happened in March was:

I went to Panay Island (Iloilo and Antique) from March 7-11, went straight home to Ilocos Norte, and went back to Manila on the 15^th to catch my morning flight to Korea until the 21^st, came back in the Philippines for 8 hours, and set off to Singapore on the night of 21^st.

We reached Singapore at 11 PM and stayed in my Tita’s house near Bedok station. Roamed around Singapore in the morning until 4 in the afternoon and took the bus to Hat Yai, Thailand.

Yes, my family actually got worried because I was just in Korea the other day, and I sent them a message a day after without hearing from me because I only got a free internet connection in the outskirts of Malaysia, in a bus, to Thailand.

It was roughly a 13-hr bus ride, which I didn’t mind because it’s almost the same as going home to Ilocos, and it was a night trip. Here’s how I did it:

Tour around Singapore (Walking up early is a must)

7:00 AM Breakfast at Chinatown Complex

8:00 AM tour around Chinatown

9:00 00 AM – 4:00 PM – Sentosa Island (Merlion Park)–> Singapore Cable Car Skypass with Buffet –> Gardens by the Bay –> Marina Bay Sands –> Supertree Grove

How to get to the bus station from Singapore to Malaysia then Hat Yai, Thailand:

Ride the MRT and wherever you are, go to Lavender station then walk to Golden Mile Complex

We bought the bus ticket for 7:00 PM beforehand. I recommend you also take the night bus to have ample time to sleep.

You can buy the tickets for the bus ride to Hatyai Thailand at Easybook or you can also purchase a ticket at the bus station. Just be sure that you checked the availability of bus rides at Easybook, though.

Easybook is the largest land and sea transport booking website in Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia).

NOTE: Always have a separate sling bag for your travel documents because your passport will be stamped five times in a day because of crossing borders. This is what we love, right?

Thailand is not just about Bangkok and Pattaya. Hat Yai is all the same beautiful but Hat Yai is hot yay.

Hat Yai is the largest city in Songkla Province. It is near the Malaysian border so geographically speaking, it is located in the southern part of Thailand.

Everything in there is relatively cheap, because admit it, Philippine Peso and Thailand Baht do not substantially differ.

We stayed in Red Planet Hat Yai, a 900-peso hotel located in downtown Hat Yai. You can ask the bus driver to drop you off in front of the hot because the road in front of the hotel is apparently where the public vehicles pass through. The room we stayed in was so spacious and those kinds of rooms will cost Php 2500 for 12 hours if in the Philippines.

We only stayed in Hat Yai for a day (yes, I was so exhausted, really) and here’s our itinerary:

8:00 AM – Check in Red Planet Hat Yai

10:00 AM Tour around Hatyai Thailand (Free. Walk around! This are near our hotel): Hatyai Municipal Park | Floating Market

12:00 PM – Lunch at D’Hatyai Restaurant (for only 175 Baht = Php 266 for two people)

1:00 PM – set off to Chang Puak Elephant Camp

Expenses: 200 Baht for private car (just ask the receptionist in the hotel); 500 Baht for Elephant ride (I didn’t do this. Only my cousin because I hate animal cruelty); but I bought a basket of bananas for 100 Baht so I fed the elephants instead.

4:00 PM – went to Sleeping Buddha (additional of 100 Baht because it was out of the way back to the Hotel)

6:00 PM – slept a little more | 8:30 PM – rode a tuktuk for 100 Baht to the bus station

9:00 PM – ate spicy chicken with (legit) Thai Milk Tea in the side street for 75 Baht for two people

9:30 PM – Bus ride from Hat Yai Bus Terminal to Phuket Bus Terminal 2 (Phuket Town)

We bought the bus ticket in Easybook beforehand. Travel duration: 8hrs and 50 minutes. Fare: THB 359 or USD 11 per person

In Phuket, Thailand

We arrived in Phuket a little too early that the taxi drivers ripped us off. We rode a taxi to our hotel for 100 baht and we could have just walked to our hotel. The taxi ride was merely 2-minute ride. *chuckles*

We stayed at Hop Inn hotel. I don’t recommend this hotel, though. Book near Patong beach instead. We paid Php 1, 300 for 6-7 hours stay. The staff is never helpful. a very mean lady (probably the manager on duty) knocked so loudly in our room, while we were waiting for our ride to an island-hopping package (at one in the afternnon), interrupting our sleep. She is VERY arrogant. We had no choice but to leave the property at 11:30 AM. Also, we were asking to borrow their phone so we could call the travel agency, but they said they DO NOT HAVE a phone. Imagine a hotel without a phone.

Tour packages in Phuket are expensive but you can book beforehand through online booking sites. We booked ours three hours before the island- hopping adventure and we were lucky that we still got a slot for a half-day tour.

Of course, Philippine islands will always be better.

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We finished our adventure at around five in the afternoon and we had enough time to catch our 8 PM flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is better and more convenient (and a little cheaper) than going back by bus. AirAsia offers cheap flights from Phuket to Malaysia. I bought a two one-way tickets for roughly Php 3, 500.

I am writing another blog for my Kuala Lumpur and Southeast Asia 4-day adventure. I may publish it tomorrow, or any day, or never. I don’t know.

Support Group in Hong Kong | Photo Diary and Itinerary

Published on June 27, 2017December 10, 2020 by Neyzielle RonnicqueLeave a comment

It is always inevitable to be feeling discouraged at work to the point that sometimes, all you want to do is quit. But you are lucky if you find an office core group with amazing people whom you can always ask help from; and those who you can always rant your heart out because why not? I did.

“Kayo na namang apat,” is normal to us. “Tara kain sa Yabu/ Ginza Bairin/ Crazy Katsu” that even Kwentong Bagnet became our favorite place to distress. We eat a lot together.

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Book of Ecclesiastes | Is there happiness in real life?

Published on May 7, 2017September 25, 2018 by Neyzielle RonnicqueLeave a comment

So today, I decided to publish (some of) my sheet cheats from the time I started speaking in and for our church.

I am starting with my insights about the book of Ecclesiastes which I shared to the youth in our church.

BACKGROUND

Ecclesiastes comes from the Greek word Ekklesiastou; and if translated: “Teacher.” Some books say it’s preacher, but either way, those are mysterious name to indicate the writer’s identity.

In Ecclesiastes Chapter 1 Verse 1, it is said that [in the book of Ecclesiastes, you can find] the words of the Teacher, the Son of David, king of Jerusalem. Arguments persist until this day on who the writer possibly is; and some books hold evidence that King Solomon authored it; being the wisest man ever lived, but still, there is no definite records on who this wise man is.

If you read this book, the author relates his experiences and draws [life] lessons from them.

The book has a collection of wise teachings BUT this teacher is claiming that ALL THINGS IN LIFE IS POINTLESS; IT IS ALL IN VAIN. LIFE IS MEANINGLESS AND ABSURD.

Then, does working hard bring happiness?

The preacher has everything. He is rich and famous. He is even regarded as “greater than anyone who ever lived in Jerusalem.” His wisdom has always been there; and anything his eyes saw and wanted, he gets.

But most of the good things in life that he sees, he always has to say something negative, like: “I decided it was all a waste of time. It was like trying to catch the wind, there is nothing to gain from anything we do in this life.” [2:11]

So at the earlier part of the book, he thought that maybe wisdom is the answer. “Wise people use their minds like eyes to see where they are going, but for fools, it is as if they are walking in the dark. But at the end, he still said that being wise is useless, we all die in the end.

So is there a happiness in life for this preacher?

In Chapter 2:17 – He hated life. It was depressing to think that everything in this life is useless, again LIKE TRYING TO CATCH THE WIND.

He began hating all the things he worked hard for.

2:20 – people can work hard using all their wisdom and knowledge and skill. But they will die and other people will enjoy the things they worked hard for. He said that they do not work but they will get everything. It is also not fair and it’s senseless.

So in Ecclesisates 3, his message is: THERE IS TIME FOR EVERYTHING and everything on earth will happen in the right time.

Time to be born and time to die

Kill, and heal

Destroy and build

Time to cry and time to laugh

Time to be sad and time to dance with joy

Time to throw the weapons down and time to pick them up

Time to hug someone and time to stop holding us so tightly

To be silent and to speak

To love and to hate

For war and time for peace

Then in 3:9, he says:

God controls His World. God gave us the ability to think about his world BUT WE CAN NEVER COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING HE DOES. And yet, he does everything in the right time.

Ecclesiastes gives us the chance to see the world through the eyes of a person, who, though very wise, is trying to find meaning in temporary, human things. Most every form of worldly pleasure is explored by the preacher and none of it gives him meaning.

WHAT WE CAN SEE AND WHAT WE SIMILARLY DO AS HUMANS:

Yearning (Human yearning) – constant unsatisfaction. The preacher always yearns for ambition, fame, wealth, and pleasure. Comparing himself to people “lower” than him”. He craves for wisdom and knowledge and meaning, for justice, and for knowing what the future holds.

TAKEAWAY ON THIS

Even though he sees negative in everything, he agrees that —

1. FAMILY AND FRIENDS GIVE STRENGTH.

4:12– An enemy might be able to defeat one person, but two people can stand back to back to defend each other. And three are even stronger. They are like a rope that has three parts wrapped together — it is very hard to get.

Wealth does not bring happiness – people work and work to feed themselves, but they are never satisfied. IT IS BETTER TO BE HAPPY WITH WHAT YOU HAVE THAN TO ALWAYS WANT MORE AND MORE.
People cannot really be good -God made people good, but they have found many ways to be bad. DO NOT LISTEN TO EVERYTHING PEOPLE SAY.A They might told bad things about you, and you to them.
PEOPLE WILL BE SAFE IF THEY OBEY His COMMAND.
Every job has its dangers: For those woking: DO NOY QUIT YOUR JOB SIMPLY BECAUSE THE BOSS IS ANGRY WITH YOU. IF YOU REMAIN CALM AND HELPFUL, YOU CAN CORRECT EVEN GREAT MISTAKES.
Do good wherever you go and after a while the good you do will come back to you.
There is right time and right way to do everything. You must decide what you should do. Even if it might cause problems, and you are not sure what will happen. No one can tell what happens in the future.
BUT WE CAN NEVER COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING HE DOES. And yet, he does everything in the right time.

WHAT DO WE NEED TO DO

Enjoy life while you can because life isn’t fair. Go and eat and enjoy eat, drink your wine and be happy. Do whatever you want but remember God will judge you for everything you do.

SERVE GOD WHILE YOU ARE YOUNG. Youth shall devote time with Jesus. WE HAVE THE STRENGTH, WISDOM, AND KNOWLEDGE.
Never compare yourself to anyone. YOU ARE UNIQUE.
Life is brief and ultimately worthless without God.. Preacher advises the reader to focus on eternal God instead of temporary pleasure.
Faith in God is the only way to find personal meaning.
Have Faith
- Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING A PERSON CAN DO IS TO RESPECT GOD and obey his commands. Even though most of the time we don’t understand why bad things happen, rest assured it is for our own good.

God knows about everything people do-– even the secret things. He knows about all the good and the bad.