Journey of A Medie

On the Emerging Drinker

2012-01-28T12:00:00.000+08:00

LMAO. As if you readers haven't know that I drink. LOL. But yea, the family members haven't; especially the cousins. So when Cousin brother served this Australian wine and everyone else in my family declined, I took one and drank my share, to my Mum's shock.

Surprisingly, it was smoother than I thought. Wine has never been my forte. But the wine that cousin brother served was pretty nice. All in all, I gulped Dad's. And had another glass poured while we were sitting in the kitchen.

And one final glass just before we left in one gulp.

Cousin brother: Wow. Good ah, can drink. No need to worry already. Finally become a man.

Sis: He got dimples one... Back in KL always drink.

Cousin brother: Oh really? Want some more? I got Gin and Whisky!

My eyes lighted up. But we were leaving then. Dad was tired already. LOL

On the New Baby

2012-01-27T12:00:00.000+08:00

Cousin Brother added a new member in his family more than half a year back. Today, his son is able to stand independently, but yet to be able to walk unaided.

Cousin: Medie... Got girlfriend already or not?

Me: Ha-ha... Nope...

Cousin: Your dad waiting to carry a baby soon...

Me: Ha-ha... You lend him yours first.

Cousin: Waaah! The older you get the wittier you've become.

On Ang Pow From IJN

2012-01-26T12:00:00.000+08:00

We were at one of the cousin's new house. At the age of 25, I didn't actually expect red packets from all the uncles and aunties and cousins alike anymore. But well... if they do give, I would take for sure. LOL.

So cousin sister came by and gave sis and I a red packet each.

Me: Oooooh thank you thank you!

Cousin: IJN one you know?

Me: Waaaaa... Niceeee....

Showed Mum the packet and she was like, "See! People look so highly of you!"

I was like... *shy*

In case you haven't know, IJN stands for Institut Jantung Negara, the National Heart Institute which serves as the hub for the treatment of medical condition, operable or not, related to the heart.

On the Firecrackers

2012-01-25T12:00:00.000+08:00

Another first! Woot-woot! Never had I thought I would be hanging one of those in our garden.

But Mum said we're launching war against the birds that are building nests on our roof. Nothing seemed to work. And they've always been hitting the zinc roof with poles and all, yet the birds would fly away for a few ours before coming back chirping again. =.=" So yeah... I hope the noise was loud enough to induce noise-induced hearing-loss in those birds, chasing them away. Shoo shoo!

Dad was super excited during reunion dinner. I had to ask the uncles how to tie them firecrackers and safety precautions and what nots.

Thanks Heaven. No one was injured.

Nothing beats the adrenaline rush! Wooots!

On the Fireworks Display!

2012-01-24T12:00:00.002+08:00

On the Bird's Nest Dessert

2012-01-23T12:00:00.006+08:00

Reunion dinner on Chinese New Year Eve this year was special. 4th uncle made it big in the bird's nest industry in his area and well...

He brought a bucket of birds' nest dessert which must've cost more than 2k for the entire family.

And... *clears throat*... I thought I had like, well... about 6 bowls. 4th Uncle was really generous in the amount of birds' nest he put in the dessert. Yummy...

Weee!~

On the Eve of Chinese New Year 2012

2012-01-22T12:00:00.001+08:00

I'm safely back in hometown. Weee!~ Been having Kolo mee like, every single meal. LMAO. And I'm still loving it.

Amazingly I adapted pretty quickly. No missing KL. And boy, was I glad that we left earlier. Saw some images on Facebook about how bad the traffic on the highway was. LOL. Whoever driving back to their hometown these two days, drive safely! XD *hint hint: TZ*

Anyways, last day of the Chinese calendar for the year of Rabbit.

Wishing everyone a good Chinese New Year Eve!

Medielicious doesn't rest! Haha.

On the Spring Cleaning for CNY

2012-01-21T12:00:00.000+08:00

Back to the hometown almost one week before Chinese New Year. And I thought it was too early.

Now that I'm back... I didn't think it was early at all. Spring cleaning this year is... huge and all out.

Me: Oh.Em.Gee! The books! Easily 100kg!

Mum: Now only you know! If not how could you all become what you are now?

Apparently, we had been keeping all our reference books since secondary school, as in my Sis's, mine, my bro's and my mum's... LOL! Too heavy-hearted to throw them away before this. Want to keep as memories somewhat. But now that we are like, more than 5 years after secondary school, it's time to make way for something more useful for now rather than hoarding these books. A bit sad alright, can't help it though.

Good bye my good old friends. I will forever remember how I burnt the midnight oil for that scholarship that I never got.

Meh. Not like it matters to me now anyways. Am even more glad that I didn't get it. La-la-la

On the Chinese New Year Gathering Invitation

2012-01-20T12:00:00.002+08:00

Received a mail the other day. It was actually a Chinese New Year Card. In December! LOL. So when I opened it, to my surprise, Thien Hou Gong actually invited me to their Chinese New Year Gathering. I mean, I know it's the Hainanese Association, but I always associate the place with the temple.

But after a while, it downed to me that, I wouldn't even be here on Chinese New Year! 24th of Jan, I would probably back in the hometown.

Apart from the invitation to the gathering, there was also some forms and a voucher. Forms are for some light offerings and such, that if we want to, we could make a donation by purchasing a light offerings. Coupons are actually for the Vegetarian buffet of the Thanksgiving & Lighting Ceremony on the 1st of January 2012.

And it says, due to the large number of devotees, only devotees with "Invitation voucher" will be served...

Whoa! Flattery!

XD

BKK: Temple of Dawn at Sunset

2012-01-19T12:00:00.001+08:00

We were following the guide on LonelyPlanet, that if we were lucky enough we would be able to catch the sunset along Chao Phraya River with Wat Arun at the foreground. And so we did!

But the sunset wasn't as impressive there. (After having seen much more impressive sunset elsewhere). The sun wasn't exactly setting right behind the temple from where we stood. Perhaps it would be nice if we moved further down the river, perhaps nearer to the Chinatown. But well, it was my first day, I wasn't quite familiar with the city yet.

So what was also known as the Temple of Dawn, became Temple of Dusk to us that day.

Perhaps the next time, we would be there for the Dawn. After all, it wouldn't be called such if it's not magnificent during sunrise 'aye?

And that... sums up my first day in Bangkok. LOL

BKK: Climbing up Wat Arun

2012-01-18T12:00:00.000+08:00

Well... the reason why we didn't actually go for the massage in Wat Po was, well... largely because I intended to cross the river to Wat Arun before the temple is closed. So we were sort of 'rushing', in a way, having seen all similar images of Buddhas in different temples.

So we crossed the river. It was about 5pm or so. And the main entrance into the ubosot (main hall) was already closed. But the prang, or the big chedi seen by the river, was still open to public. Entrance cost us 50 THB per person, but trust me, you'd want to visit this place. Especially when the sun wasn't too bright *ahem* or when it wasn't too hot and burning.

We were told earlier in our guide in Wat Phra Kaew that, the climb to the top of the prang takes a lot of courage. It was a steep climb, he said; and definitely not for the faint hearted.

Climbing up was easy as I didn't turn around to look down. It was steep alright. But it wasn't that all difficult. Tourists were actually 'kissing' each others' butt as they were going up; face at the level of the glutes of the person in front due to the different heights of the stair cases.

And if you were wondering, the colours on the prang was actually ceramic tiles. Some are even the whole of the ceramic, like seen in the photo above...

View from the 3 different levels on the prang was amazing. And the walkway was so narrow that you'd actually skip a beat when you lean over the walls. Or at least I did.

So we hung out at the top for a while before we finally decided we had enough...

Boy oh boy, true enough, coming down was... scary. The staircase was narrow to start with, allowing only one person to climb the stairs. And each staircase was of huge height gaps, making stepping down the staircase much more difficult than to go up. With nothing else to hold on to other than the steel rod at the side, it was indeed a difficult coming down.

And we rushed back across the river to catch the silhouette of Wat Arun in the sunset...

Photolog of Wat Arun

BKK: Reclining Buddha

2012-01-17T12:00:00.001+08:00

Like I posted in my blog yesterday, Wat Po was so huge that I got lost inside the front part of the temple where the viharns and ubosot (main hall) is. I got confused with directions, although now that I think back about it, the sun sets in the West. Shadows are very good indicator. -.-"

Another main attraction of Wat Po is the Reclining Buddha.

As I was saying, I got lost and was circling the inner yard too much that, after 4 rounds, I gave up and asked one of the novices there.

But boy, was I glad that we decided not to forgo Wat Po.

The Reclining Buddha was so huge that... I am completely hold speechless.

We walked from the head towards the foot. And we were welcomed with 108 auspicious images carved with Mother of Pearl at the sole of the Reclining Buddha.

As we were walking around the temple towards the exit, we also see numerous alms bowl lining the wall of the hall. I had no idea how many there are, but after some reading, there were a total of 108 alms bowls, representing the 108 auspicious characters...

Interesting... interesting.

Ps: Photolog of Wat Po Reclining Buddha here.

BKK: Massage in Wat Po

2012-01-16T12:57:00.003+08:00

Walk along Patpong Street, and it's common that the Papasan and Mamasan would be coming and grabbing you and asking you... [In Thai slang] "Sir, ma-saage?"

Hee.

And so we were actually walking along the outer wall of the Grand Palace following the map we have in hand, towards Wat Po. It was after all, just 4pm and sunset by the river would be too soon. And besides, since we were already in this area, might as well drop by the most famous massage school.

As we stepped into the temple compound, my first impression was that, it's a quiet temple. Perhaps due to the fact that it was already late in the afternoon. Many would probably be getting ready for dinner or something.

There were numerous chedis lining the outer part of the temple. I had no idea how the layout of the temple is like, so after I came out from one of the viharns, and entered into another, I started to get confused. I should have had a mental mapping of the temple to avoid getting lost. And I almost did.

The temple is actually very huge, being one of the most famous massage school in Thailand, it is also one of the major temples in the metropolis. The main chanting hall in the middle of the temple is surrounded by 4 smaller viharns at the side: North, East, South and West. There are galleries containing numerous Buddha statues connecting all the 4 smaller viharns. If you just walk along the galleries, you would have no idea which direction you are at. And you'd probably give up trying to figure out in your head. LOL.

But alas, after a post mortem, I finally understood the layout of the temple. Halelujah!

Now. Back to the main point in my title for this blog...

I duly regret that we didn't go for the massage in the temple.

*sobs*

Ps: Photolog of Wat Po here.

On Moving to Thailand

2012-01-15T12:00:00.001+08:00

SAWADEEKAP!

Seriously. I'm considering it. Maybe take a year off from work or something, and go hitch-hiking. (Not gonna happen cuz I'm a coward). After this incident happened 2 years back, it happened again. Not once, but many times in Thailand.

For some reason, everybody conversed with me in Thai before I smiled back and said I don't understand.

There was this once when I was in the land of Smiles where I was walking towards the BTS station when this one pretty lady came and talked to me. I smiled back, trying to listen what she was talking about. After all, she was smiling at me from afar already. And she was speaking in Thai. In her hands, there was a file or something. I assume she was selling insurance or credit card or something. I smiled back and said, "Really sorry, I'm not Thai." And she looked surprised, but quickly held back herself and apologized.

That wasn't the only time. There were numerous times. I mean, I did learned some figures in Thai, so at least when you buy street food where the hawkers couldn't even converse in English, you know it means 50 baht when she said "ha-sip". But when they started to blable more... I just look back and smiled. LOL!

Maybe I was tanned from all the hiking in the city under the sun and all. Or maybe somewhere along in my family lineage, there was a Thai. Or maybe, I was adopted?! Gasps! LOL!

BKK: Bangkok City Pillar Shrine

2012-01-13T10:08:00.000+08:00

Lak Mueang (Thai: หลักเมือง) are City pillars found in most cities of Thailand. Usually housed in a shrine which is also believed to house Chao Pho Lak Mueang (เจ้าพ่อหลักเมือง), the city spirit deity; it is held in high esteem by citizens.

It was probably King Rama I, who erected the first city pillar on April 21, 1782, when he moved his capital from Thonburi to Bangkok. The shrine was actually the first building of his new capital, the Palace and other buildings were created later. -wikipedia

So we came out from Grand Palace, and we were walking along the main road outside of the complexes, intended to head to Wat Po, the famous traditional massage school, where all the masseurs you encounter outside would claim they were from. -.-" But that aside, as we were just following the map that we had in hand, we just followed what we had in mind, and all these places that had the slightest importance to the Thais were listed during my research for this travel.

I mean, well, I know it might not be much of an interest to many, but a walking tour to me means stopping by in all the places in our paths.

So. Bangkok City Pillar Shrine. A shrine housing the pillar that marked Bangkok.

The photo above was the closest that I was to the shrine. LMAO!

We had no idea it was like, just there! Across the cross junction! So we continued walking towards the right. But at least I captured some Elephants erected in conjunction with King Bhumibol's birthday. LOL!

ps: Photos of my first day in Bangkok are up on my photolog! Finally! Wee!~ Yup. Just the first day. LMAO!

BKK: Grand Palace

2012-01-12T10:39:00.000+08:00

Post-travel read-up: There are some good and some bad. Good point, you get to recall what you see and it was a total enlightenment! Bad point, you might missed a lot of nooks and crooks that were deemed unimportant but is actually the opposite.

As I was updating my photolog, I did a lot of Google maps and Wikipedia and cross reference with the photos I took. It was indeed an enlightenment!

According to Wikipedia...

The largest and most important court is the Middle Court or or the Khet Phra Racha Than Chan Klang (เขตพระราชฐานชั้นกลาง) is situated in the central part of the Grand Palace, where the most important residential and state buildings are located. The court is considered the main part of the Grand Palace and is fronted by the Amornwithi Road, which cuts right across from east to west. The court is further divided into three groups of 'Throne halls' (Phra Thinang; พระที่นั่ง, literally 'royal seat') and one Siwalai Garden quarter.

Honestly...

I still don't get the whole lay out.

LMAO!

However, I came across something interesting. I'm not sure if it's entirely true. But I'm particularly impressed with this paragraph.

The incongruous make up between the Western lower half and Thai roof has been compared with: a Farang (Western) lady clothed in Victorian costume while wearing a Thai crown. The symbolism of this juxtaposition was the emphasis of the superiority of Thai architecture (as a crown upon the head) over those of the West (the lower half of the body). This stylistic innovation was more than an artistic coincidence, as it was suppose to convey a significant political message of Siamese resistance over Western imperialism, both of sovereignty and style. Another perspective of this combination is the view that the building itself epitomizes the internal political struggle between the ideas of Westernization and modernity (lead by King Rama V) against those of the traditional ruling elites (as lead by some of his early ministers).

Amazing King 'aye?

Photolog Grand Palace

BKK: Wat Phra Kaew วัดพระแก้ว Photoshoot

2012-01-11T12:00:00.000+08:00

It's huge. Honestly. And it's beautiful. Seriously.

But also cluttered. That's for sure. But that is what makes it so special.

Photoshooting in The Temple of the Emerald Buddha was just plain... difficult. I couldn't get any nice angle to capture the images I've wanted without either 1) Other tourists standing at the spot where I wanted it to be empty. 2) Getting the entire stupa from the base to the tip into my camera frame.

But still, we did went around inside the temple, and I was pretty sure we spent almost more than a couple of hours walking around and around the main structures inside the temple.

After all, we were waiting for time to pass as we wanted to sign up for the free English tour to the temple.

The thing is, what is so amazing about this temple was, personal thought, it was unique. You've got buildings of different architectures assembled in one compound. The Lanna style, the Khmer's and the well, typical Thai. Or somewhat. And there was actually a replica of Angkor Wat (which I didn't take photo of. D'ong). Therefore, even after 3 or 4 rounds around the temple, I still find little amazing details or angles that I had probably missed earlier.

The down side, other than being too cluttered, all the buildings were tall. And somehow, all the photos turned to be like, somehow they were just not straight-looking. Been trying to adjust the photo by the degrees using Photoshop, and cropping away all the edges and so forth, but I still couldn't get them to 'stand straight'!

Look at that! *stomp feet* I've adjusted twice already. The more I rotate it, the more I'd be cropping it and the smaller the photo would become!

I've given up though. Or else I couldn't even proceed further and would still be editing photos from Wat Phra Kaew.

LOL.

BKK: Guardian Demons of Wat Phra Kaew, Bangkok

2012-01-10T10:00:00.002+08:00

See, before I went to Bangkok, I've always seen people taking photo of the huge statue at the Grand Palace. Not knowing what it was then, I thought it was just some decorative statues placed in the temple compound.

Am terribly sorry if I've offended the Thais with the paragraph above.

But when we were finally inside the temple, we finally saw how huge and how beautiful the statues actually were. I thought I went around taking all the 16 different coloured guardian demons who were placed by the entrances of the temple. But I only managed to find like, a few in my folder now though.

Thing is, we signed up the local guide to the temple. What we learned was how to differentiate guardian demons from evil demons; i.e. guardian demons have rings on their fingers. And one piece of information that we picked up, be the most kiasu one if you want to take photo with the guardian demon. Take photo with the Green. Why?

Because he's the KING of all the guardian demons.

And I remembered after that guide, we were so busy going around looking for green colour-ed guardian demons, only to find now that, the photo we camwhored with, were turquoise. -.-"

Clearly, I wasn't kiasu enough. I didn't have one of that! *stomp feet* Hmph!

BKK: Grand Palace Guards-Changing

2012-01-09T11:11:00.000+08:00

OMG. Seriously???
Yes seriously.
After this post right, there's the three posts on Wat Phra Kaew, then the Grand Palace, then the Wat Po, then the ferry ride, then the Chao Phraya River, then the Wat Arun, then the Sunset, then the Condo by the river, then the Shangri-La and Mandarin Oriental, then the street food, then Khao San drinking party, let's not forget the City Pillar shrine okay! And the Giant Swing!

No seriously. I was just kidding.

But yes seriously, I did mention I have no idea where to start blogging. But since I'm Unemployed, I might as well "live" in Bangkok.

We were so smart, one of us were here 5 months before. *ahem* No need to mention his name. So I was warned to bring something long to cover my legs and shoulder. So we were permitted entry without any need for the sarungs.

One minute we were there camwhoring in front of that giant "Grand Invitation" thingy, and the typical postcard photo of Wat Phra Kaew outside the temple gate; and the next moment, we've got guards ushering us to the side.

And troops come marching down the lane.

And so... like what I was mentioning in yesterday's post... SLR +2GB card = Cincai snap. LMAO.

Kinda find it funny that a lot of the guards were actually staring at me! Or at least at my direction.

Was my zipper opened?

By the way, Grand Palace and
Wat Phra Kaew i.e. Temple of the Emerald Buddha
was everything, but also CROWDED!

On Rooms For Rent

2012-01-09T06:00:00.001+08:00

I don't know about you, but I have definitely encountered similar situation before when I desperately needed to look for a room to stay that is. It gets worse when you don't have the luxury of a time. As you'd need to relocate in the shortest time possible, considering the time frame that you have before you needed to settle down for work and study or what nots, sometimes it'd just leave one crying helplessly.

But fret not!

Now that I've came across this website on the net about room renting services, situation gets much easier. You don't have to go through some agent who'd suck half a month rental from you, or even more (Personal experience). And it's none other than iBilik where you have the preference of browsing through numerous of listings in the area of your preference... I'm sure some you've seen it somewhere. Or heard it somewhere. But it just never comes into mind when you really need it.

Come on, it's all over the taxis! LOL. Yes, I never thought about it too, until I was reminded when I Googled for rooms.

So yeah, I too was desperately looking for someone who could help me out in sourcing a room. But more often than not, it boiled down to some agents who would come to you with numerous documents and requirements and before you know it, you just signed the contract without giving in much thought, because you were just too confused. Adding that to the stress of relocating. Situations can be very overwhelming at times.

Therefore, when I came to know about this website, things started to be more calming. Not too much just as yet, I have yet to find a suitable room.

Mum said, It's different now, you have to learn to grow up. Like it or not, relocating is going to be a stress factor. Despite having been to and around the place for vacation and visits, nothing is ever the same like that of moving permanently to the area.

The only drawback is, sometimes, the website doesn't really explain what the condition of the room is all about. Okay, perhaps it was just me. But I'd like it if there's a glossary somewhere. What's common room by the way? Hmph.

And... Why is it that everyone who's looking to rent the rooms are looking for females? Males don't get to rent? Hmph.

But that shall not stop me from searching. Just like how the Mandarin proverb goes, '衣食住行', a place to set foot in is one of the 4 main survival criteria. Without a nice house, how else could we live?

The website is pretty neutral. Some comes in expensive, others are pretty affordable. It'd help if there would be more information, i.e. pictures of the rooms and what nots. But beggars can't be choosers no? Yes yes, speaking right from the heart of a person who is desperately looking for a room.

God bless me. May I find a nice room soon.

PS: Rooms/Units advertised covers Malaysia, Indonesia as well as Singapore!

BKK: Thawon Watthu Building

2012-01-08T10:00:00.000+08:00

OMG I'm so proud I can like, blog events happened in a day by the hours. LOLOLOLOL! Okay. Just kidding.

We came across this place facing Sanam Luang called the Thawon Watthu Building. If you search on Google, you won't find much information of this building on Wikipedia. You would probably come across photologs of some other people who posted the exterior window of this row of restored building, but not much has been explained about it.

Now, here's the perks of having an SLR and 10GB of memory card when you travel. Not forgetting the 16GB of thumb-drive to transfer the photos from the SD memory card when they're full. You get to snap snap snap snap snap and snap photos in high resolution to the extend that you could even read all those tiny words on a pamphlet.

Good right? No wonder now "Everyone can SLR". -.-" (Yes I get annoyed with chicks holding the SLR the other way round and snap photo of themselves. YUCK!)

SO, back to Thawon Watthu Buidling.

The only photo that has a part of the signboard explaining what it is all about for tourist that I have in my 16GB of photos in this trip... was... actually...

Covered. By TZ with his cup of chilled Americano.

*faints*

LOLOLOL!

But 'nyways, here's what I know. It's restored. There used to be 3 corns on top of the middle portion of the building. Like that of Angkor Wat. But it collapsed, and I deduced that the structure couldn't support the 'corns' when they were doing the restoration work.

If you go across one of the door, you'd come to this other HUGE temple called Wat Mahathat (as seen on the satellite map).

And at this moment, I deduced that as this building was built during King Chulalongkorn's reign, the hallway was converted into a King Chulalongkorn Memorial Exhibition.

However, I'm not so sure if it's a permanent exhibition.

Ps: Okay, my mistake, there is actually a webpage explaining about Thawon Watthu Building. LOL It says, this building was actually built to commemorate the death of the King's crown price, and was later to be donated to the monks of the temple for studying purposes. But the construction was only completed in the next King's reign, who turned the building into a city library.

BKK: Walked 'Till Drop... (Prt1)

2012-01-07T10:00:00.000+08:00

... Literally.

Okay. Pardon me. But I shall have this travel dissected by HOUR. LOLOLOLOL!

Day 1. Woke up at 7am local time when none of the shops were opened yet. Must be my biological clock still set at Malaysian time. But even the better, early bird catches the worms 'aye? We walked along some main road towards the river when we first came across this fort seen on the left lower corner on the satellite picture above called Phrasumane Fort; what's left of the wall that used to surround the old Bangkok. Didn't stay long as the fort wasn't opened to public.

Spent some time in the Santichai Prakan Public Park just adjacent to the fort where there were also a Royal Pavilion. Can't really remember the Thai name though.

But I don't really think I'd go into the details just as yet, because if I do that, by the time I got to the Grand Palace, you whoever decided to read would just give up. LMAO! That was how slow we went along the road. By foot that was.

Water level of the river were still quite high. Sandbags could still be seen in some places, especially the palaces which were converted into some other buildings for the police for instance.

Walked the whole stretch of the road and time was passing reaaaallly slow. Honestly! We thought we had spent like, almost half a day at the park, but by the time we were at the Sanam Luang, i.e. the field outside the Grand Palace, it was merely 10am!

Coincidentally, the weekend that we were there, it was the King's Birthday. Stage were set up. Decorations put up. Chairs and all. And the main road where Silpakorn University and Wat Mahathat was, was sort of like, lined with food stalls and such for the public and tourists alike.

Friend said we arrived at the ULTIMATE attraction of Bangkok, i.e. The Grand Palace. And I was like, "Oh so soon? Nehmind, we walk around outside first."

Stopped by at a stall selling local coffee and bought some latte when we heard cannonballs and a while later... Balloons in the sky...

"Damn! We should've gone into Sanam Luang!"

Satellite screen shot of the Sanam Luang (i.e. the field), Grand Palace and the Emerald Buddha Temple.
We stayed in (Red Pin A)

BKK: Chicken Duck Talk

2012-01-06T09:17:00.000+08:00

When we first arrived in Bangkok on our first day of this 2 weeks traveling, we took a taxi to our first night stay in Sakul House located in Khao San Rd., famous amongst the backpackers. The taxi driver stopped us outside Soi Rambuttri, and us, not knowing where exactly is the place walked to the other end of the road before turning around to find that we were stopped just right outside the junction leading to our hotel. Naturally we saw lots of cafes and massage place crowded with all the ang-mohs and such. Perhaps we were the only Asians walking around with luggage that night. (Yea, we arrived near midnight).

When we checked in, we asked if the travel agency left any packages for us. (We made purchase of a train ticket for a later travel that would be dropped off at a hotel where we would check-in in Bangkok.) I read about the receptionist being poor in English, and communication might be difficult. But honestly, until you encounter it yourself, you wouldn't understand what anyone mean at all. LOL! Culture shock #1! LOLOLOL.

Us: Is there any train ticket for us?

Receptionist: Train? Yes yes.

And she look at us. Smiling.

Us: Yes. Train ticket. Travel agency? Come? Ticket in envelope. For me. Bong. Me.

I started to use my hands. And cut all my sentences into single word.

Receptionist: Train? Where? No no no. Tomorrow.

I started to panic. Couldn't be the next day, as the travel agency we contacted informed us that the train ticket had been left at the front desk counter.

Us: No no. Today. Train ticket. For us. We go Chiang Mai. Ticket bought online internet.

Receptionist: Chiang Mai yes. North. Train yes, can go.

*faint*

But yeah. The dramatic hands flew all over the place trying to get her to understand that the travel agency should've left the package on the front desk and we could collect it upon our checking in. We were panicking yes, but we weren't really angry. Now that I blogged about it, it's pretty funny.

But yeah, we finally did managed to get her to understand and she took out all her letters. And we saw the enveloped addressed to me. Finally headed to bed.

The train ticket had never felt so precious. LMAO!

Sakul House, Soi Rambuttri, Bangkok

On the Heading Back Home

2012-01-05T12:00:00.000+08:00

Mum was asking of me to head home earlier before Chinese New Year and stay there till the 15th so that I could 1. help out with the house cleaning; 2. Visit all my relatives before I start work; 3. spend more time at home because it's a dog's life once I work.

No objection about the later 2 reasons. But... but... I don't want to clean the house! I can help out clearing out my stuff. After all, I've had great experiences and enjoyed myself throwing away heaps of books and old notes and, well, some old clothes. Or maybe some collectibles (God knows why I keep all the junks like price tags or cards). LOL. The thing is, my hometown isn't really as developed as in the Klang valley. I doubt there was any recycling for charity. I mean, I'm not sure. But according to my mum, she ransacked the entire city for a place that could take in old TV and found none.

PLUS, if I were ever to be posted to all the rural areas in the future, I want to make use of all the remaining time I have in the city, no?

Where else can we get super huge-arse mall in *ahem* say, Sibu? Sanyan Mall is a mall? I want The Curve! and Pavillion! And Mid Valley!

Or joining a commercialized chain gym that offers Les Mills cardio classes that is packed to the brim in the evening? NO, I'm not actually keen in joining Kenny Sia's gym.

Or even for all the little list that I planned to do during my post-exam-cum-pre-work holiday i.e. skydiving, learning Korean, scuba dive e.t.c.?

But Mum being Mum... 5 years away and only short 1-week break in between every year... She misses my presence at that old house. I suppose I could make use of a breakaway sometimes, but life in KL/PJ for the past half a decade really has brain-washed me. BOOO!

So yeah, you know it's going to be quite a heavy heart when I move back. *sobs*

But alas, I had to follow Sis to fly back like, 1 week before the Chinese New Year, and keep the returning date open still. But as far as I'm concerned, I don't even feel like celebrating Chinese New Year this year. Despite it might be the last time I might ever spent as long a time back in my hometown, I still like to be in KL.

Expect packing on at least 5kg of weight! T_T

On Traveling Thailand Preludes

2012-01-04T12:00:00.005+08:00

So anyways, traveling in Thailand wasn't just limited to Bangkok as how I portrayed it to be in the short 3 days Bangkok-related posts prior to Christmas. Like I mentioned in my 2011 roundup post, end of 2011 was actually near to a whole month of traveling (somewhat). And I totally loved it.

I was in Thailand for 16 days. Back in December 2011.

Some would actually wonder what the heck could we do with such a long period of time in Bangkok. I assure you, LOTS. MANY! GAZILLION! I am totally in love with the country. But of course, coming from KL, I think I prefer Bangkok over Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai or Mai Sai or Mae Hong Son. Pai is nice for a breakaway. But Sukhothai is indeed, a great heritage.

And that isn't even including some of the initial itinerary which we took out because of time constrain, i.e. Ayuthaya, Kanchanaburi and Pattaya... Or the route that we leave for next time i.e. Isan on the Northeast...

And then there're too many things to share! The food, all the "Firsts", the people, the nightlife *blush*, the train system, the tuk-tuks... and the flood!!!!

I didn't actually know where to start. I have too many photos. 16 days. 2 regions. 5 provinces. 1 metropolis. And numerous Baan.

And I'm missing my days on the road already now. T_T

So yeah, I hate to think about work. My heart skipped a beat whenever I was reminded about it.