Honeymoon Part 1.1: On stranger, sun-drenched tides.

What wouldn't I give to be back in Phi Phi or Hong Kong, on my honeymoon, with no care in the world except "What shall I eat for dinner?" or "Should I take a nap out by the beach in the hammock or in my bed in case it rains in the afternoon?"

It truly was good for the soul, being so away from everything with my love for sole company and nothing else to distract me except the big wide world and everything it held.

Walking on the beach hand-in-hand, tasting the salty sea breeze on my tongue and brushing off the crystallized salt on my arms from sea spray, hearing the howling sea wind rip through the coconut trees at night, the waves lapping up against the top steps at high tide and feeling just that tiny bit deliciously scared of the awesomeness of nature and how powerless I really am, taking those private boat rides out across the choppy sea to snorkel among the curious fishies, eating some simple but delicious noodles at night accopanied by my favourite chili sauce (sugared fish sauce with sliced red chili).... The four days I spent on Phi Phi made me know what it's like for people who keep going from beautiful beach to beautiful beach, all in search of their version of paradise. Because really, everyone's paradise will be different.  

Recounting all that makes my heart literally ache with yearning to be free to travel once more, with the husband alongside, no less.

I'm really looking forward to our next getaway, whenever it is.

I wonder if other people feel it too - this constant wanderlust that seems to grow in its appetite with each trip I take.

So, part 1.1 of my honeymoon in pictures which I don't think do justice to the entire experience of Phi Phi island, which was like a little slice of paradise for me - but it's all I have to look back and remember, and know that it was real.

Really hot and sunny that morning when we set off from Krabi to our little spot on Phi Phi island.

Loved my hot pink bikini :D

The water was such a pretty shade of blue-green, I had a lot of trouble capturing it on film. This is the closest I could reach, but it's really a hundred times more beautiful in real life.

And the rocks that tower over the lagoons and beaches are absolutely majestic and so lush!

  

Washing my feet before entering our villa and after traipsing around on the sand was really nice.

  

We hired one of these private long tail boats for our island-hopping instead of going with the hotel's. It was nice cos we got to choose which islands in particular we could visit and it was probably about half the price of the hotel's boat tours for the same amount of time spent and islands visited. :)

Really good Thai massage in the main town centre on Phi Phi that we went back to two days in a row!

 We would not have survived our 4 nights on Phi Phi if it were not for Jasmin Restaurant, which served up some decent, simple Thai food for reasonable prices. The Holiday Inn Resort restaurants were really disappointing in terms of food quality.

My staple noodle dish almost every night, with no carrots :P

And the really breathtaking sunsets. Gorgeous dusk colours in the sky as we sipped on our drinks.

"Not all those who wander are lost."

J. R. R. Tolkein

"I have spread my dreams beneath your feet...

... Tread softly because you tread on my dreams."
W.B. Yeats




The weekend was a fulfilling one, wedding-wise.

Thought through more decor to be done and tested out some ideas, went to choose and confirm my flowers for the church arrangements and my bouquet, got Clem's shoes and ties, collected the studio album, sat down with my programme ICs to hammer out the details of the wedding day programme...

Up next: settling the decor for the lunch hall, finalizing the dinner seating arrangements, finalize dinner decor.

WOOHOO! Things are getting settled one by one.

The list though, is never-ending.

Quick peek of what my bouquet is slated to look like:



Flowers make me happy.
If I were to consider an alternative career, I think I'd be a florist.
In my opinion, flowers are everything "pretty" should be. Delicate and vivacious at the same time, in all the colours the world can hold.

4 more weekends to the day, and I already am looking beyond that.

"But ultimately, there comes a moment when a decision must be made. Ultimately, two people who love each other must ask themselves how much they hope for as their love grows and deepens, and how much risk they are willing to take. It is indeed a fearful gamble. Because it is the nature of love to create, a marriage itself is something which has to be created, so that, together, we become a new creature.

To marry is the biggest risk in human relations that a person can take. If we commit outselves to one person for life, this is not, as many people think, a rejection of freedom; rather, it demands the courage to move into all the risks of freedom, and the risk of love which is permanent; into that love which is not possession, but participation. It takes a lifetime to learn another person. When love is not possession, but participation, then it is part of that co-creation which is our human calling, and which implies such risk that it is often rejected."

Madeleine L'Engle