..:: 709. Bangkok Once Again ::..

"feels like home" was the feeling i got when i touched down bkk. though only for the second time, i found myself easy, breezy-ing through the custom and soon found myself in the hotel. told the driver i knew the route, gave him a flat 500baht (usually cab to my fave hotel would cost 450) and he morphed into a F1 driver. we were travelling like 100-120kmph, weaving through traffic and the taxi had no safety belt.

hit the hotel and saw my friend on her shift, lucky me. got a free fruit basket. love their hospitality. she was quite shocked to see i had clothes ready for laundry. "from phuket" - had to clarify before she thought i brought them from singapore.

brought my sis to the affordable (i was told not to use cheap cos it sounded like an insult to the locals) place - banana leaf. it was where i had my first meal in bkk a month ago. seems like ages already...

brought my sis to mbk for first day of shopping. i only bought dvds. second day went to platinum and conquered the 6-storey building in 4 hours, walking through every alley. woohoo~ bought some pretty awesome tees.

wanted to dine at lebua @ state tower but its fully booked :( maybe i should book it for my april trip. talking about it, met some cool singaporeans who love to travel as well. instantly, i decided to join them in apr cos they will be renting an apartment for the 4-5 days. met them at the weirdest place - club after hearing that distinctive accent. best thing when travelling alone, you have to make friends.

still remember my last trip, got to know a guy who owns a hotel in phuket. i was then thinking "dont think i will go phuket that soon", and you never know... hung out with one of the staff from the hotel i stayed during my last trip and now, i get great discount for the rooms and fruit baskets :P it pays to network.

loving my tan and my new haircut, you know it somehow when people come up to you and say you look cute :X was dancing with this she-male and they are really fun people to hang out with. their persona and all, and i am glad that the culture has been accepting to them. joyful people, and i always enjoyed their performances.

clubs closed way earlier in bkk than phuket. music here was shingz on the first night. today was better. wish andrew chow was here, the crowd would love him.

so fast i have already spent a week in thailand. i dont want 2010 to come.

..:: 708. Maiden trip to Phuket ::..

perhaps i will share some interesting stuff and pointers to note for those first-timers like myself, and for those who went there countless times can advise for my next trip.

wanted to take a meter-taxi which we were told would cost us about 450 baht to reach patong beach. the taxi queue was not what i would expect.

the lady displayed a "no taxi" sign. so unlike singapore where streams of taxis would be waiting. we were told we have to wait for 20-30 mins. seeing that we came out of the airport about 8 plus in the evening with no time to waste, we decided to go for the non-meter taxi which we got a slightly better quote 550 baht compared to the standard rate of 600 baht.

somehow the taxi driver knows the singaporean flavour. we were singing to the songs he played through a cd in his car. we were shocked to hear he even had songs by jay chow. then ky and I started whispering, "shit, did he understand what we have been bitching about in chinese?"

first night, ky's couchsurfing friend brought us around the clubbing area, bangla road. OMG, never seen so many clubs in an area before. totally trashed clarke quay + MS road. top 2 favourite must-go clubs: seduction and hollywood (both R&B)

seduction- music mix is interesting, though the fillers he used can be quite irritating, esp when the dj himself starts speaking into the mic to ra-ra the crowd. first floor R&B, second floor house (yucks). enough space to dance, has podiums/platforms for those who need a little more attention. 100 baht for entrance. didnt drink while i was inside though, busy dancing.

hollywood. free entry. 2 sections. both play similar R&B songs. think for one of the section, they repeated the song playlist cos i remember hearing them the night before. wondered how the dj is being paid. drinks quite cheap, wine 100 baht, beer 120-150 baht. liquor about 120 baht.

the tanning was great. laying on the deck chairs feasting on people is definitely an experience. eyes were kept busy for hot bods. finally we got to try para-sailing. damn awesome. ky went first while i was at the boat taking video and pics for her. it really looked scary from the boat, probably due to the high speed. could see her running and taking off with the parachute and flying so high i could hardly see her. just heard her take-off scream. the exhilarating part would have to be when you dropped in height, the feeling of your heart sinking... priceless. as i was rather light, i was going so much higher and the wind certainly helped.

we went in the morning and got a good bargain. 800 instead of 1000 baht. in the words of the operators, its the "cannot-tell-others" deal.

surprisingly my first trip that i did not buy anything back cos the stuff can almost be found in bkk. oh, i love the seafood. the two of us had 5 dishes (same amount as a family of 5 beside us) and we finished everything! ordered squid, tuna, tom yam soup, vegetables and meat.

when i reached the airport for my flight back to singapore, i had interesting encounters. i saw on the board, tiger airways @ terminal 2. however, i was not sure whether i should go to the main entrance which had tons of tourists today. all the tour buses seemed to alight them at the main entrance and the queue was incredulously long. then there were 2 chinese ladies shouting "please queue up, you have to queue up. it is unfair. unfair to the people behind." this went on for 5 mins, really agonising. all the tourists were looking at them.

they continued on their rampage/part-time law enforcer roles.

"if you dont queue up, i am going to call the police. hey you, queue up. people, dont let them cut queue, they should queue behind us, it's unfair"

damn. should have recorded it as my ring tone/alarm, sure wake up. strangely i have to say, the accent really sounded like they were from hong kong. poor ladies. they literally ran to the place where the ang-mos tried to cut queue. in the end, they had to rebutt "we are just standing here, not going anywhere". i stood there, cant help being embarrassed, especially i am the only asian at that area besides them.

after the ordeal, i went to terminal 2 and saw that i could actually entered from there -_- just had to walk down the slope.

then met a group of chinese students from NTU at the queue to collect our boarding passes. recognised them cos one of the girls was holding to a library book from NTU. When it was their turn to check in, one of the girls had a stack of money inside her passport -_-. the staff had to pass her back the money. eh, how blur can one get?

then on board the plane, one of the couple was sitting beside me. he loaded everything up the cabin and then he just have to realise to reach on top to get his water bottle. after a few minutes, reached up again to take his earpieces. so much for lack of forward planning. should have taken them out in the first place. was trying to sleep and when he tried to reach for the cabin, i was hit by his ass.

growls.

anyway hope bkk trip would be more fun!

..:: 707. Going Gaga ::..

Going gaga over my trip! so excited that i shared with the cab driver what i am going to do in phuket. all he did was to remind me to have a h1n1 jab and bring diarrhoea pills. 6 more hours!

finally my lady gaga earphones are recognised! was walking out of the gate where one of the staff stopped and asked me, "eh, heard from my fren that you are using lady gaga earphones, can i take a look?"

i froze. cos i thought no one knew about the earphones except me and my poor friends (whom i made it a point to show them). and finally someone agreed that paying 239 for it is not crazy.

..:: 706. Time of the Year ::..

yes i have finally waited for the time of the year. xmas and counting down to the new year.

even more excited about my upcoming phuket trip. cant imagine i decided to go for it over a couple of drinks. my theory still stands: nearby places are for old age. especially since i am young, i should be travelling far. nothing beats sharing my experience in india. today over breakfast, i shared with my colleagues my india experience. they are amazed by how i can last 1.5 mths with 1.5K. some things you cant buy for experience. like staying over at a local's place and eating home-cooked food. priceless.

after phuket, i am heading to bangkok! 2 times within a month. seriously? my 2nd time there and will be showing my sis around. cant wait to leave her in the hotel room while i club at night. maybe i will bring her to lebua hotel at state tower, overlooking the city from 65 storeys. pls dont tell me you got fear of height...

one of my colleagues was so sweet... she knew i was going to bkk and printed a page from the magazine introducing bkk. now my whole office knows i love travelling and everytime they strike a conversation, they would ask me where i will be going next.

new year, new blog skin! that is taken from manali. one of my favorite places in india and i miss the bakery. feels so serene everytime i look at that pic.

time for new year resolution! shall think over it during my trip.

..:: 705. Hearing Problem ::..

incident 1:

a couple of weeks ago, we had a year-end function where the organisers decided to play "Dont forget the lyrics". Our group unfortunately had to choose between "Dont Cha" or "Umbrella".

We went with "Dont Cha" as a few of us being clubbers heard the song quite often.

Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?
Don't cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me?
Don't cha?
Don't cha?
Don't cha wish your girlfriend was ____ like me?

we locked in the word "raw" but was told we were incorrect. correct word was "wrong".

Don't cha wish your girlfriend was wrong like me?

mmm. re-played the song and it still sounded more like raw. after we showed them we found "raw" on the net, they claimed that they found "wrong" on the net as well, hence we were not allowed to continue.

incident 2:

rushed down to meet my personal trainer (a Filipino) and he was surprised to see me.

"I thought you not coming already (distinctive filipino accent for this word)..."

"No. I told you I end work at six, will come down after my work"

"Oh, I heard you said you were sick"

*started flashback, to see if my pronunciation was that bad. i recalled he asked whether 6pm was ok and i clearly remembered being very pissed that I have a real job and it ends at 6. of course i only told him that "i end work at six"

the thought of how he mistaken my "six" as "sick" just made my blood boil. numerous words came into my mind but neither of them sounded decent.

i remained speechless and forced a smile.

"its ok then, i got a direct bus back home."

then he went on telling me that he thought i was sick (just have to bring this up again, low EQ or what) and he was going to meet his friend for movie (confirm low EQ).

somehow he just made my decision easier - not to engage him once my sessions end.

..:: 704. December woes ::..

still missing bkk. songs like celebration, hush hush, 3, i gotta feeling... just brought back memories... miss the shopping and my wonderful suite.

went to watch mulan with my sis. so different from the disney animation. the main leads were great. they are so good at having tears welling in their eyes. seems like their tears could drop by command.

the theme song done by stephanie sun was great. sat through the whole song. sad that they did not play the full song :(

bkk... should i?

..:: 703. Bangkok :..



excited about my first trip. taking SQ is definitely a different experience.

hotel was right smack in the busy street. there was no touts for hotels. greatness. but touts to buy "dvds".

visited the palace which was the must-go kind of place and also the reclining buddha.

stayed just beside a club and there were food stalls just outside the clubs. never felt so easy to have supper and go straight up to the hotel and sleep.

food was ok though i didnt go ga-ga over them. talking about that, drag shows were kinda fun! saw a couple of we-men and one of them was lady ga-ga! never failed to crack me up.

bought so much stuff. went there with one luggage and came back with 3 bags.

and i have an inking i will be going back in jan and apr :P