Thursday, March 30, 2006
Chiang Mai Escapade! - 26 Mar 2nd Day
Today is Nancy Chandler day! We decided to junk the free map (since it was so horrendously inaccurate) and buy the Nancy Chandler map of Chiang Mai. Touted to be the most detailed and accurate map of Chiang Mai, it certainly was different. The map looked as if it was roughly drawn and coloured with highlighters! Hard to believe that it was done by a caucasian woman cos it looked more like a kid drew it. It consisted of 4 parts: A huge map of the whole of Chiang mai city, a medium size map of the old Chiang Mai city, a smaller map of the night bazaar area and another small map of areas outside of Chiang Mai city. And it had various symbols to mark places of interest, wats, hospitals, places to eat etc etc. Now this is what I call accurate!
We decided to heed Nancy's suggestion and go to Warorot Open market. Being there, I couldn't help thinking that I was in a market in SG Chinatown. The place was 4 levels. 1st level was all the food stalls; 2nd level was the wet market; and the upper 2 levels sold clothes, shoes etc. Familiar, no? But the best part about this place was: it was frequented by the locals.. which meant that prices were decent!!! Most of the shops had prices on placards and you could bargain even further! But be warned that there were still shops which didn't display the prices and still attempted to rip us off. And the stuff sold here were definitely more fashionable and less touristy than those sold in the Night Market.
DC and I wasted no time in trying to get the necessary stuff for our hiking trip the next day. On the shopping list?
1) Backpack - bought a North Face backpack (probably fake) for 300 Baht (S$12). The stitching was pretty good and the inside was of good material
2) Sandals - the best buy! I swear the sandals were made out of recycled Goodyear tyres or something! The traction was damn hell good. Imagine this: the floor is marble. DC did a traction test by dragging his feet on the floor to see if the sandals will slip. And it didn't! Stuck deadfast! And only 250 Baht (S$10)!!!
3) Shorts (for DC) - 90 Baht (S$4.50) for Berms.. need I say more?
Being a Sunday, the place was packed with locals. And it was interesting to see the daily life there. People buying groceries, sundries etc. Unfortunately, with the huge crowd and the weather being scorching hot, DC and I were desperate for a nice cool place to rest a bit. We decided to seek refuge in another Nancy Chandler recommendation: Siam Celadon, which was nearby.
Siam Celadon is a shop and cafe in one. Once you enter Siam Celadon, you can't help but feel that Nancy Chandler is an architectural geek. The place reeks of old world charm. It reminds me a lot like the Colonial Houses back in SG. The Interior was fashioned like a British tea house: Painted cream walls, heavy metal chairs and tables, carved balconies, wrought cornices, white embrioderied curtains, swinging doors, porcelain tableware etc. You had a choice to sit inside or at the garden but DC and I unanimously plonked ourselves on one of the tables indoors. We ordered iced tea and it was a welcome treat! Extremely refreshing! We decided to have lunch there and ordered sandwiches. The food wasn't anything to shout about though. Looked through the shops wares and nearly choked up my lunch... A quilt cover set costs 6500 Baht!! That's like... almost S$300 (FYI, that's the amount of spending money we collectively changed)... *faint* looks like we can only afford the food.
We walked around the Old City area again and stumbled upon yet another market. Apparently, according to lonely planet, this market is only open on Sundays. They actually block up the roads. Ooh.. lucky us! We continued to walk around. Was looking at some wares when DC suddenly disappeared. Apparently he was captivated by a tree.. and I can see why: The tree was freaking huge!!! Measuring at least 6 stories high, it had a thick trunk and stood ram rod straight. But the tree led us to another gem of a find: Wat Chedi Luang
The funny thing about the Wats in Chiang Mai is the way they are built. Built among the other normal buildings, they have small facades and are easy to dismiss. But when you do take the effort to walk in and look, you will be surprised with the sprawling gardens and the various other buildings connected to it. Wat Chedi Luang is like this. But the highlight of the place was the Chedi (stupa)! It probably is the largest and oldest one in Chiang Mai. Parts of it were crumbling and we could see that it is damaged in certain areas. Not sure if it is due to wear and tear or the war? There were 4 sides to the Chedi and each one housed a Buddha and 2 Huge 5 headed Nagoyas guarding the entrance. Only the front one had stairs leading up (which was blocked of course). The remaining 3 had no stairs but steep slopes. Unfortunately, the one with the stairs was also the one which was badly damaged. Littered around the circumference of the Chedi were bronze bells. You were supposed to hit the bells and they were supposed to bring good luck! Ding Dong!
There were also two smaller "temples" in the compound. But they certainly freaked me out. Both housed the bodies of monks who have died. Initially I was skeptical if they were real bodies. But after taking a closer look, I was convinced: the hair did me in. Even Madam Tussaud's couldn't make it that real!!! The temples also housed the sharira of other monks who have died and cremated... I only knew that i wanted to just get out of the place... fast!
We continued walking and passed by the Sunday Bazaar at Tha Phae gate. Forgot to mention about the Old City. The main city of Chiang Mai is located within the crumbled walls of the old city. Only a few bits of it are left and only the 4 main gates are present: Chang Puak (North), Chiang Mai (South), Tha Phae (East) and Suan Dok (West) . On various maps, the city is marked with a square boundary and long blue dotted lines. The blue dotted lines were actually the moat to the old city. Today, it looks like a very long pond. It's interesting how the existing roads have to go around the moat! And the city is only accessible by these 4 gates. Of the 4 gates, Tha Phae is the one that is most complete. It probably managed to best survive the war? Hence, it is an icon and many events take place here: from the sunday market to the political rallys to festivities.
5pm came quickly and we went for our Thai massage. Called Loi Kroh Massage School (cos it is located at Loi Kroh road), an hour of massage costs 200 Baht (about S$8). I was sorely disappointed, especially since i really love Thai massage. The lady couldn't even hit the right pressure points. And there was no trademark stretching like the one i did in Bangkok last year. And to think they are a massage school??? i seriously doubt it.
After a shower, we decided to go to The Riverside, also recommended by Nancy Chandler. It was located in the other direction of the city and was a 15 min walk from our hotel. When we arrived, the place was largely made up of Farangs (ang mohs, gwai lohs), Jap tourists and a few locals. Couldn't help but feel like we were cheated to yet another touristy place, especially when we opened the menu and a steak costs 650 Baht... Dang. But all is not lost! The place turned out to be a great place to chill out! We ordered local thai food:
1) Som Tam - green mango salad: very appetising, with generous amounts of seafood!
2) Pandan chicken - extremely yummy.... finger licking good and better than KFC!
3) Beef green curry - not too thick not too thin, great as a gravy with rice
4) Fried mushrooms with garlic sauce - the best I have tasted. Definitely much better than the one offered at Jerry's in Jalan Kayu. The mushrooms were crispy! CRISPY!!!!
5) Black sesame glutonous rice balls in ginger syrup - in other words, Ah Ball Ling! And this is the best Ah Ball Ling I have ever tasted!!! I was surprised to find out that it was a thai dish!
The whole dinner came to about 650 Baht (cheap! I was expecting 1000 Baht). So for the price of a steak, go for the local food instead which is very yummy. The place was also located at the Mae Ping river and offered dinner cruises too! nice place to chill out. And the band playing was one of the best i have heard. it is not everyday that you get a band singing good English songs. And the female vocals were really good... Would have stayed longer and had some beer if not for the Baileys waiting for me in the fridge back at the hotel. Also we had to return early for the next day... We had to be ready at 8am!!!! GROAN.....
We decided to heed Nancy's suggestion and go to Warorot Open market. Being there, I couldn't help thinking that I was in a market in SG Chinatown. The place was 4 levels. 1st level was all the food stalls; 2nd level was the wet market; and the upper 2 levels sold clothes, shoes etc. Familiar, no? But the best part about this place was: it was frequented by the locals.. which meant that prices were decent!!! Most of the shops had prices on placards and you could bargain even further! But be warned that there were still shops which didn't display the prices and still attempted to rip us off. And the stuff sold here were definitely more fashionable and less touristy than those sold in the Night Market.
DC and I wasted no time in trying to get the necessary stuff for our hiking trip the next day. On the shopping list?
1) Backpack - bought a North Face backpack (probably fake) for 300 Baht (S$12). The stitching was pretty good and the inside was of good material
2) Sandals - the best buy! I swear the sandals were made out of recycled Goodyear tyres or something! The traction was damn hell good. Imagine this: the floor is marble. DC did a traction test by dragging his feet on the floor to see if the sandals will slip. And it didn't! Stuck deadfast! And only 250 Baht (S$10)!!!
3) Shorts (for DC) - 90 Baht (S$4.50) for Berms.. need I say more?
Being a Sunday, the place was packed with locals. And it was interesting to see the daily life there. People buying groceries, sundries etc. Unfortunately, with the huge crowd and the weather being scorching hot, DC and I were desperate for a nice cool place to rest a bit. We decided to seek refuge in another Nancy Chandler recommendation: Siam Celadon, which was nearby.
Siam Celadon is a shop and cafe in one. Once you enter Siam Celadon, you can't help but feel that Nancy Chandler is an architectural geek. The place reeks of old world charm. It reminds me a lot like the Colonial Houses back in SG. The Interior was fashioned like a British tea house: Painted cream walls, heavy metal chairs and tables, carved balconies, wrought cornices, white embrioderied curtains, swinging doors, porcelain tableware etc. You had a choice to sit inside or at the garden but DC and I unanimously plonked ourselves on one of the tables indoors. We ordered iced tea and it was a welcome treat! Extremely refreshing! We decided to have lunch there and ordered sandwiches. The food wasn't anything to shout about though. Looked through the shops wares and nearly choked up my lunch... A quilt cover set costs 6500 Baht!! That's like... almost S$300 (FYI, that's the amount of spending money we collectively changed)... *faint* looks like we can only afford the food.We walked around the Old City area again and stumbled upon yet another market. Apparently, according to lonely planet, this market is only open on Sundays. They actually block up the roads. Ooh.. lucky us! We continued to walk around. Was looking at some wares when DC suddenly disappeared. Apparently he was captivated by a tree.. and I can see why: The tree was freaking huge!!! Measuring at least 6 stories high, it had a thick trunk and stood ram rod straight. But the tree led us to another gem of a find: Wat Chedi Luang
The funny thing about the Wats in Chiang Mai is the way they are built. Built among the other normal buildings, they have small facades and are easy to dismiss. But when you do take the effort to walk in and look, you will be surprised with the sprawling gardens and the various other buildings connected to it. Wat Chedi Luang is like this. But the highlight of the place was the Chedi (stupa)! It probably is the largest and oldest one in Chiang Mai. Parts of it were crumbling and we could see that it is damaged in certain areas. Not sure if it is due to wear and tear or the war? There were 4 sides to the Chedi and each one housed a Buddha and 2 Huge 5 headed Nagoyas guarding the entrance. Only the front one had stairs leading up (which was blocked of course). The remaining 3 had no stairs but steep slopes. Unfortunately, the one with the stairs was also the one which was badly damaged. Littered around the circumference of the Chedi were bronze bells. You were supposed to hit the bells and they were supposed to bring good luck! Ding Dong!
There were also two smaller "temples" in the compound. But they certainly freaked me out. Both housed the bodies of monks who have died. Initially I was skeptical if they were real bodies. But after taking a closer look, I was convinced: the hair did me in. Even Madam Tussaud's couldn't make it that real!!! The temples also housed the sharira of other monks who have died and cremated... I only knew that i wanted to just get out of the place... fast!
We continued walking and passed by the Sunday Bazaar at Tha Phae gate. Forgot to mention about the Old City. The main city of Chiang Mai is located within the crumbled walls of the old city. Only a few bits of it are left and only the 4 main gates are present: Chang Puak (North), Chiang Mai (South), Tha Phae (East) and Suan Dok (West) . On various maps, the city is marked with a square boundary and long blue dotted lines. The blue dotted lines were actually the moat to the old city. Today, it looks like a very long pond. It's interesting how the existing roads have to go around the moat! And the city is only accessible by these 4 gates. Of the 4 gates, Tha Phae is the one that is most complete. It probably managed to best survive the war? Hence, it is an icon and many events take place here: from the sunday market to the political rallys to festivities.
5pm came quickly and we went for our Thai massage. Called Loi Kroh Massage School (cos it is located at Loi Kroh road), an hour of massage costs 200 Baht (about S$8). I was sorely disappointed, especially since i really love Thai massage. The lady couldn't even hit the right pressure points. And there was no trademark stretching like the one i did in Bangkok last year. And to think they are a massage school??? i seriously doubt it.
After a shower, we decided to go to The Riverside, also recommended by Nancy Chandler. It was located in the other direction of the city and was a 15 min walk from our hotel. When we arrived, the place was largely made up of Farangs (ang mohs, gwai lohs), Jap tourists and a few locals. Couldn't help but feel like we were cheated to yet another touristy place, especially when we opened the menu and a steak costs 650 Baht... Dang. But all is not lost! The place turned out to be a great place to chill out! We ordered local thai food:
1) Som Tam - green mango salad: very appetising, with generous amounts of seafood!
2) Pandan chicken - extremely yummy.... finger licking good and better than KFC!
3) Beef green curry - not too thick not too thin, great as a gravy with rice
4) Fried mushrooms with garlic sauce - the best I have tasted. Definitely much better than the one offered at Jerry's in Jalan Kayu. The mushrooms were crispy! CRISPY!!!!
5) Black sesame glutonous rice balls in ginger syrup - in other words, Ah Ball Ling! And this is the best Ah Ball Ling I have ever tasted!!! I was surprised to find out that it was a thai dish!
The whole dinner came to about 650 Baht (cheap! I was expecting 1000 Baht). So for the price of a steak, go for the local food instead which is very yummy. The place was also located at the Mae Ping river and offered dinner cruises too! nice place to chill out. And the band playing was one of the best i have heard. it is not everyday that you get a band singing good English songs. And the female vocals were really good... Would have stayed longer and had some beer if not for the Baileys waiting for me in the fridge back at the hotel. Also we had to return early for the next day... We had to be ready at 8am!!!! GROAN.....
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Chiang Mai Escapade! - 25 Mar 1st Day
Woke up early in order to make it before 10.30am for breakfast. That's when they close the buffet table. Drat... if not I would have slept more. Took A LOT of willpower to crawl out of the hotel bed... the mind was not really willing and the flesh was certainly weak... I literally slipped out of bed like goo...
Breakfast at Royal Princess was decent. While the facade of the hotel has changed, everything in the cafe looked as it was 10 years ago! My goodness! Even the positioning of the buffet table remained unchanged. After eating a hearty breakfast, DC and I decided to plan our route for the day
The day was spent free and easy. With the free map obtained from the airport, we walked around looking for Chaing Mai Adventures so that we can book our elephant riding/biking/white water rafting trip. Unfortunately the free map was extremely inaccurate! At times we thought we were at a certain place but then realise we are not. In other instances, we thought the road we were looking for wasn't till another 300m... only to realize that we passed it 20 mins ago... oh my goodness! And it certainly didn't help that at every corner there were Wats (temples) everywhere. They did not make good landmarks and gauges, especially when the name of the Wats were in Thai. We certainly spent a lot of time walking and soon, when we saw yet another Wat, we just thought "What? Another Wat?" ha ha ha. Ok. Bad joke.
There was one Wat which we stopped by though accidently. It's called Wat Bupparam. Outside it looks like any other Wat: the curved roofs, the red and gold gilded tiles, the Nagoyas as the stair railings etc. But step inside and the interior will blow you away. The intricacies are astounding! Especially the interior of the roof which was totally carved, the gold paintings etc. I certainly was impressed. It kinda reminded me of the churches in Rome. In Rome, all the churches had painted ceilings depicting different saints etc. This definitely was the Buddhist equivelent.
We did however, stop by a small coffeeshop for lunch. It was crowded with locals hence we thought that the food should be pretty good. And it certainly was. I ordered rice with minced pork and basil and garlic while DC ordered rice with pork and peppercorns. It was delicious and we cleaned our plates though it was a tad spicy for me. But the best part was, the whole meal for both of us, with 3 bottles of Fanta Orange was only 70 Baht!!!! That's like S$6.50 for both of us!
The day was also spent looking for a travel adaptor. DC had mistaken my question the night before. When I asked him if he brought a 3 pin plug, he said yes. My intention was the travel adaptor. it was pretty late and my dad had turned in so I couldn't get my regular one. So I asked DC had one available. Unfortunately, he really bought a 3 pin plug which is practically useless since u can't even fit it in Thailand's sockets. So we stopped by a couple IT marts until we found the adaptor. It was pretty amusing to see DC try to explain to the locals though!
Also passed by a Tshirt shop which sold some pretty cool Tshirts. Saw some which would have been nice for Hippo, Neko and bro. Unfortunately, the largest size was L and I was pretty certain they couldn't fit. We also stopped by Black Canyon Coffee for a break and had nice coffee and Northen Thai sausages. Lovely! yum yum. The Thais have very extreme tastes. Everything was either too sweet or too salty! The coffees and isotonic drinks were extremely sweet, sending DC into sugar high. We thought the water would be the most neutral. But we were wrong. instead, the water bordered more towards saltiness.
Dinner was at Prems at the Peak. It was a total rip off... lousy Thai food at above average prices. Should've seen the number of Farangs there as an indicator. We walked towards the nearby Anusarn market to look around. And saw these really weird crackers being fried. When the vendor put them on the table, it looked like one whole clump of crumpled intestines intertwined! Not exactly appetising, but when you tasted it, it was crispy and slightly salty at first bite. Yummy. A lot of the locals were buying it by the bags (and I mean BIG bags). And at only 20 Baht for a small pack, it was an ideal snack.
We ended the day going to the nightmarket which was just downstairs from our hotel. Well, it is unfortunate that Chiang Mai is famed for it's night market. This makes it a tourist attraction and hence the prices are jacked up 5 times it's worth. Take for example the fisherman's pants that I really favour. From shop to shop, it had a starting price of on average 250 to 300 Baht! That was pure madness and I certainly wasn't going to pay more than S$10 for it! Finally found a shop that sold it to me at 90 Baht for the long ones and 80 Baht for the short ones. So lesson learnt? Choose a shop that is not within the high traffic areas (at the corners, not near the hotels). And when you haggle, start off with with about 1/3 of the price. Cos they are bound to ask for a higher price. If you are not satisfied, walk away. Usually they will relent :) heh heh heh
Breakfast at Royal Princess was decent. While the facade of the hotel has changed, everything in the cafe looked as it was 10 years ago! My goodness! Even the positioning of the buffet table remained unchanged. After eating a hearty breakfast, DC and I decided to plan our route for the day
The day was spent free and easy. With the free map obtained from the airport, we walked around looking for Chaing Mai Adventures so that we can book our elephant riding/biking/white water rafting trip. Unfortunately the free map was extremely inaccurate! At times we thought we were at a certain place but then realise we are not. In other instances, we thought the road we were looking for wasn't till another 300m... only to realize that we passed it 20 mins ago... oh my goodness! And it certainly didn't help that at every corner there were Wats (temples) everywhere. They did not make good landmarks and gauges, especially when the name of the Wats were in Thai. We certainly spent a lot of time walking and soon, when we saw yet another Wat, we just thought "What? Another Wat?" ha ha ha. Ok. Bad joke.
There was one Wat which we stopped by though accidently. It's called Wat Bupparam. Outside it looks like any other Wat: the curved roofs, the red and gold gilded tiles, the Nagoyas as the stair railings etc. But step inside and the interior will blow you away. The intricacies are astounding! Especially the interior of the roof which was totally carved, the gold paintings etc. I certainly was impressed. It kinda reminded me of the churches in Rome. In Rome, all the churches had painted ceilings depicting different saints etc. This definitely was the Buddhist equivelent.
We did however, stop by a small coffeeshop for lunch. It was crowded with locals hence we thought that the food should be pretty good. And it certainly was. I ordered rice with minced pork and basil and garlic while DC ordered rice with pork and peppercorns. It was delicious and we cleaned our plates though it was a tad spicy for me. But the best part was, the whole meal for both of us, with 3 bottles of Fanta Orange was only 70 Baht!!!! That's like S$6.50 for both of us!
The day was also spent looking for a travel adaptor. DC had mistaken my question the night before. When I asked him if he brought a 3 pin plug, he said yes. My intention was the travel adaptor. it was pretty late and my dad had turned in so I couldn't get my regular one. So I asked DC had one available. Unfortunately, he really bought a 3 pin plug which is practically useless since u can't even fit it in Thailand's sockets. So we stopped by a couple IT marts until we found the adaptor. It was pretty amusing to see DC try to explain to the locals though!
Also passed by a Tshirt shop which sold some pretty cool Tshirts. Saw some which would have been nice for Hippo, Neko and bro. Unfortunately, the largest size was L and I was pretty certain they couldn't fit. We also stopped by Black Canyon Coffee for a break and had nice coffee and Northen Thai sausages. Lovely! yum yum. The Thais have very extreme tastes. Everything was either too sweet or too salty! The coffees and isotonic drinks were extremely sweet, sending DC into sugar high. We thought the water would be the most neutral. But we were wrong. instead, the water bordered more towards saltiness.
Dinner was at Prems at the Peak. It was a total rip off... lousy Thai food at above average prices. Should've seen the number of Farangs there as an indicator. We walked towards the nearby Anusarn market to look around. And saw these really weird crackers being fried. When the vendor put them on the table, it looked like one whole clump of crumpled intestines intertwined! Not exactly appetising, but when you tasted it, it was crispy and slightly salty at first bite. Yummy. A lot of the locals were buying it by the bags (and I mean BIG bags). And at only 20 Baht for a small pack, it was an ideal snack.
We ended the day going to the nightmarket which was just downstairs from our hotel. Well, it is unfortunate that Chiang Mai is famed for it's night market. This makes it a tourist attraction and hence the prices are jacked up 5 times it's worth. Take for example the fisherman's pants that I really favour. From shop to shop, it had a starting price of on average 250 to 300 Baht! That was pure madness and I certainly wasn't going to pay more than S$10 for it! Finally found a shop that sold it to me at 90 Baht for the long ones and 80 Baht for the short ones. So lesson learnt? Choose a shop that is not within the high traffic areas (at the corners, not near the hotels). And when you haggle, start off with with about 1/3 of the price. Cos they are bound to ask for a higher price. If you are not satisfied, walk away. Usually they will relent :) heh heh heh
Friday, March 24, 2006
Chiang Mai Escapade! - 24 Mar 1st Night
Just returned from a 4D4N trip from Chaing Mai. The trip was good, unfortunately there were bad parts too! Here's Day 1:
24 Mar (Fri) - Leaving on a Jet plane
The day began with me not even sleeping. Was working till late to finish up work before I went for vacation. By the time I went home and plonked myself on the bed after bathing and packing, it was already close to 4am. Didn't make sense to sleep since I had to rush off to work at daybreak to do more work. And to think that I had initially wanted to ask my boss if it was ok to work from home! Yeah right...
The work I had to do on Fri morning was completely lame ass and could've been avoided in the first place!! Higher authority had to do a presentation in USA and wanted pictures from SG office. But the thing is he wanted out of the box pictures.. funny pictures.. let loose pictures. More specifically, he wanted us, to bring posters to places of interest in SG and take pictures. WTF? My manager and I did it drugingly. We took some ezypull posters, wore our yellow polos and went down to the Esplanade, Merlion and Sir Stamford Raffles Statue to take pics. Worst part? We had to open the Ezypull and take pictures. That certainly drew stares from the tourists (who were probably wondering what we were selling... great opportunity to sell more of our product... check). Even our dressing got attention (especially from the Mediacorp crew who was filming at the cavenagh bridge... with Terence Cao no less). Dressed in yellow polo, blue jeans and white NB shoes, it became sort of a uniform... and carrying the ezypulls made us look even more like production crew. After a while, my manager and I just let loose and monkeyed around.
After a quick lunch, I had to rush to LP to stick up posters. More picture taking was in order. By the time I finished, went back to office and edited and uploaded the pictures, it was already 2.30pm. DC was already in the airport and waiting. Flight was at 1625! Had my goodbye milkshake from my manager and rushed off in a taxi.
While having a nice conversation with the Taxi driver (he kinda reminds me of Joe Augustine), DC called and said that the flight was delayed till 2045!!! OMG! I was already so prepped up to just zone out on the plane. But like I had a choice? Reached the airport and checked in. Then DC and I spent 3 hours touring the inside of the airport. Was a good opportunity though. Of all the times that I have travelled, it was always a rushed affair and I never shopped in the airport. We even went to Harry's and it was a nice place to chill. Open air, you can hear the roar of the planes taking off and see the beautiful sunset amid the cactus garden. Talk about Wild Wild West. But the place was infested with Ang mohs! The only asian ppl around was DC, myself and the service staff! Overall a nice place to chill out. Unfortunately located past immigration.
We had dinner at the food court inside since we had "apology" coupons from tiger airways. The only reason we were eating there was because the meal was subsidized (up to S$7.50/person). But we couldn't help wondering if it was more of a ploy to bring more people to the food court. It was understaffed and the food overpriced and unappetizing! When it was close to boarding time, we went towards the gate. Many others were already there.. and boy.. you really see the Kiasu and kiasee spirit well and alive here. A queue had already started (and this was only to get into the gate that wasn't opened yet). It was even more funny when people started rushing for the doors. The staff had to announce that the plane wasn't ready yet. Even then no one backed down. And when the doors open, it was like the flood gates opened. Lesson learnt, dun fly tiger unless u have children. Children here are finally an asset becos family with children get priority.
We finally touched down in Chiangmai at 11pm local time (Chiang Mai is 1 hr behind SG) with a fairly smooth flight. And the place was quiet as a... pod! There were no taxis and it was pitch dark. Dad had recommended using a metered taxi and after asking around we finally found some. But since it was late, they had started their black market rate. They demanded 180 baht. I just walked away. The mercenaries! The City Limo was only 120 baht! In the end I called the hotel and they sent down their van after waiting 20 mins. FOC! I gladly gave the driver a 60 baht tip.
Took a hot shower and just crashed into bed. Must have been really tired becos I slept soundly throughout. i usually don't becos it is an unfamiliar environment.
24 Mar (Fri) - Leaving on a Jet plane
The day began with me not even sleeping. Was working till late to finish up work before I went for vacation. By the time I went home and plonked myself on the bed after bathing and packing, it was already close to 4am. Didn't make sense to sleep since I had to rush off to work at daybreak to do more work. And to think that I had initially wanted to ask my boss if it was ok to work from home! Yeah right...
The work I had to do on Fri morning was completely lame ass and could've been avoided in the first place!! Higher authority had to do a presentation in USA and wanted pictures from SG office. But the thing is he wanted out of the box pictures.. funny pictures.. let loose pictures. More specifically, he wanted us, to bring posters to places of interest in SG and take pictures. WTF? My manager and I did it drugingly. We took some ezypull posters, wore our yellow polos and went down to the Esplanade, Merlion and Sir Stamford Raffles Statue to take pics. Worst part? We had to open the Ezypull and take pictures. That certainly drew stares from the tourists (who were probably wondering what we were selling... great opportunity to sell more of our product... check). Even our dressing got attention (especially from the Mediacorp crew who was filming at the cavenagh bridge... with Terence Cao no less). Dressed in yellow polo, blue jeans and white NB shoes, it became sort of a uniform... and carrying the ezypulls made us look even more like production crew. After a while, my manager and I just let loose and monkeyed around.
After a quick lunch, I had to rush to LP to stick up posters. More picture taking was in order. By the time I finished, went back to office and edited and uploaded the pictures, it was already 2.30pm. DC was already in the airport and waiting. Flight was at 1625! Had my goodbye milkshake from my manager and rushed off in a taxi.
While having a nice conversation with the Taxi driver (he kinda reminds me of Joe Augustine), DC called and said that the flight was delayed till 2045!!! OMG! I was already so prepped up to just zone out on the plane. But like I had a choice? Reached the airport and checked in. Then DC and I spent 3 hours touring the inside of the airport. Was a good opportunity though. Of all the times that I have travelled, it was always a rushed affair and I never shopped in the airport. We even went to Harry's and it was a nice place to chill. Open air, you can hear the roar of the planes taking off and see the beautiful sunset amid the cactus garden. Talk about Wild Wild West. But the place was infested with Ang mohs! The only asian ppl around was DC, myself and the service staff! Overall a nice place to chill out. Unfortunately located past immigration.
We had dinner at the food court inside since we had "apology" coupons from tiger airways. The only reason we were eating there was because the meal was subsidized (up to S$7.50/person). But we couldn't help wondering if it was more of a ploy to bring more people to the food court. It was understaffed and the food overpriced and unappetizing! When it was close to boarding time, we went towards the gate. Many others were already there.. and boy.. you really see the Kiasu and kiasee spirit well and alive here. A queue had already started (and this was only to get into the gate that wasn't opened yet). It was even more funny when people started rushing for the doors. The staff had to announce that the plane wasn't ready yet. Even then no one backed down. And when the doors open, it was like the flood gates opened. Lesson learnt, dun fly tiger unless u have children. Children here are finally an asset becos family with children get priority.
We finally touched down in Chiangmai at 11pm local time (Chiang Mai is 1 hr behind SG) with a fairly smooth flight. And the place was quiet as a... pod! There were no taxis and it was pitch dark. Dad had recommended using a metered taxi and after asking around we finally found some. But since it was late, they had started their black market rate. They demanded 180 baht. I just walked away. The mercenaries! The City Limo was only 120 baht! In the end I called the hotel and they sent down their van after waiting 20 mins. FOC! I gladly gave the driver a 60 baht tip.
Took a hot shower and just crashed into bed. Must have been really tired becos I slept soundly throughout. i usually don't becos it is an unfamiliar environment.
Monday, March 20, 2006
Wedding Bell(e)s
I just suddenly realized that it has been 5 years since I graduated from poly. And reality came a-knocking yesterday. It was my poly mate's wedding. So together with Kame, I attended the wedding at rustic Rasa Sayang Sentosa resort. The bride and the groom have known each other for the whole of 7 years (ever since poly year 1)! Wow... in today's context, that's freakin long! But nonetheless, I congratulate them that they finally have this day.
The wedding was also a good time to catch up with a lot of old Poly mates, majority whom I have lost contact with ever since I graduated. 5 years causes a lot of people to change. The biggest shocker was one female poly mate. We all didn't expect her to be expecting (pardon the pun), lest being married so soon! My other poly mates were now working. The guys have completed their NS and were working and studying at the same time. The females were now more mature and mellowed down. It was a fantastic catching up session where half of my year 1 poly class turned up.
As for the bride and the groom, I wish them happiness. They have come a long way. From other case studies, most couples from poly do not last due to drastic changes once they graduate.
1) couples in poly get to meet EVERY day. But things change once they graduate. The females find jobs, the guys go to NS. Couples who manage to get used to the time apart survive. Others just go splitsville.
2) females who are working realize that there are better fish out there and hence tend to stray. Doesn't help that bf is in NS knows zilch about working life and can't be there for them when things go wrong in the office. And that's when the male office colleague comes to the rescue
3) Females who are working become more demanding. Other elements come into play: females earns more than male now. Can the alphamale take it? Can the female accept the NS bf is earning less?
4) Seems that the above few examples are swayed towards females being at fault. Of course there are times that the guy is at fault too. In NS, they learn unsavoury habits, namely smoking and swearing. Some females can't take that change
Yup. In addition to that, the bride's parents are divorced. I usually have 2 opposing theories to how the offspring view marriage. On one end, the offspring are so affected by it that they do not even view marriage as important. Their negativity causes them to think that marriages are never happy. Hence, they can't be bothered with marriage or they are scared to get committed to a relationship, thinking that their own relationship will also be going down the same destructive path. On the opposing end, there are offspring who really work really hard to make sure that the marriage works. These perfectionists do everything within their power to make sure that their marriage doesn't go down the drain like how it did with their parents. Kinda like Bree in Desperate Housewive. But sometimes it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy and the marriage just breaks down. And the blow will be just too much...
Ok, too many negative comments for a happy occasion. I will just shut up now.
The wedding was also a good time to catch up with a lot of old Poly mates, majority whom I have lost contact with ever since I graduated. 5 years causes a lot of people to change. The biggest shocker was one female poly mate. We all didn't expect her to be expecting (pardon the pun), lest being married so soon! My other poly mates were now working. The guys have completed their NS and were working and studying at the same time. The females were now more mature and mellowed down. It was a fantastic catching up session where half of my year 1 poly class turned up.
As for the bride and the groom, I wish them happiness. They have come a long way. From other case studies, most couples from poly do not last due to drastic changes once they graduate.
1) couples in poly get to meet EVERY day. But things change once they graduate. The females find jobs, the guys go to NS. Couples who manage to get used to the time apart survive. Others just go splitsville.
2) females who are working realize that there are better fish out there and hence tend to stray. Doesn't help that bf is in NS knows zilch about working life and can't be there for them when things go wrong in the office. And that's when the male office colleague comes to the rescue
3) Females who are working become more demanding. Other elements come into play: females earns more than male now. Can the alphamale take it? Can the female accept the NS bf is earning less?
4) Seems that the above few examples are swayed towards females being at fault. Of course there are times that the guy is at fault too. In NS, they learn unsavoury habits, namely smoking and swearing. Some females can't take that change
Yup. In addition to that, the bride's parents are divorced. I usually have 2 opposing theories to how the offspring view marriage. On one end, the offspring are so affected by it that they do not even view marriage as important. Their negativity causes them to think that marriages are never happy. Hence, they can't be bothered with marriage or they are scared to get committed to a relationship, thinking that their own relationship will also be going down the same destructive path. On the opposing end, there are offspring who really work really hard to make sure that the marriage works. These perfectionists do everything within their power to make sure that their marriage doesn't go down the drain like how it did with their parents. Kinda like Bree in Desperate Housewive. But sometimes it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy and the marriage just breaks down. And the blow will be just too much...
Ok, too many negative comments for a happy occasion. I will just shut up now.
Thursday, March 09, 2006
yet another week gone
A take on what has happened the last week
Survivor Pulau!
Yeah, you read correctly. It's Pulau, not Palau. Pulau as in Pulau Ubin. Went on Sun with the gang for a photography trip (actually, more like a cycling trip for me. Make that perfect-excuse-for-exercise trip). It has been 11 years since I last went to Ubin and boy... has it changed a lot!! In the past, it was a rickety old jetty where u board the bum boats. Now, you have a mini terminal which has arrival and departure halls (ok ok, make it seating areas). No more dirt roads but tarmac (makes riding much easier, thought aching butts are still expected). What used to be a smattering of bicycle rental shops is now a full street a haggling with best deals for bikes. There were only a handful of seafood restaurants and now u have a whole cluster of them (with huge signs at the beach front too!). People there have become more enterprising by offering van rides for those who are too lazy to ride bicycles. And the best part? There's Ubin Resort! Chalet like place with the flying fox tower.... Wow...
But one thing that hasn't changed is the terrain of the island. It still remains torturous and trecherous especially the off road terrains and the slopes... God... I have never peddled so hard.. and only to reach the top at snail's pace. Note to self: Get your lazy butt to work(out)!!!
But if there is one place that is worth visiting there again: the quarry. Words cannot describe how tranquil and picturesque it is. Only regret not bringing swimsuit or I would have jumped in! Though I could never understand why the water had white sediments. I guess it's from the rock formations themselves.
Battle For Middle Earth 2 (BFME2)
The gang has a new game to play. Yeah.. it's time to fight for the one ring!! The game play is interesting and it is much easier to play than warcraft. And the powers you have are pretty cool! Each race has their own unique abilities and powers. But the interesting aspect of the game is to find gollum. Not easy when the map is huge and he's always running around in stealth mode. You can only sense him when he is near as you troops will shout "the evil gollum is nearby". Objective is to kill him and get the one ring back to your fortress. Once u do so, then u can choose to recruit either Sauron or Galadriel (depending on ur race). But u really have to wait cos these 2 heroes are 10k a pop and take helluva long time to come. If the enemy gets it... good luck to u
But the more interesting thing about the game is the censorship! When u chat, there are certain things which they will censor and replace with *. Here's a list of some of them:
General Swearing:
- fuc*, damn, hell, retard, shit, asshole, arse (arsehole is ok)
Religion (anything to do with religion is banned)
- God, jesus, judah, buddha (FYI Taoist is not banned, ha ha), allah, Christian, catholic, Satan, Devil (Demon is ok though... weird)
Sexual Connotations
- sex, anal, oral, gay, lesbian, dyke
This censorship is worse than the censorship in Singapore!!!! Ha ha... the gang has been constantly thinking of new words just to see if they are banned. Will add on to the list if something new pops up
Survivor Pulau!
Yeah, you read correctly. It's Pulau, not Palau. Pulau as in Pulau Ubin. Went on Sun with the gang for a photography trip (actually, more like a cycling trip for me. Make that perfect-excuse-for-exercise trip). It has been 11 years since I last went to Ubin and boy... has it changed a lot!! In the past, it was a rickety old jetty where u board the bum boats. Now, you have a mini terminal which has arrival and departure halls (ok ok, make it seating areas). No more dirt roads but tarmac (makes riding much easier, thought aching butts are still expected). What used to be a smattering of bicycle rental shops is now a full street a haggling with best deals for bikes. There were only a handful of seafood restaurants and now u have a whole cluster of them (with huge signs at the beach front too!). People there have become more enterprising by offering van rides for those who are too lazy to ride bicycles. And the best part? There's Ubin Resort! Chalet like place with the flying fox tower.... Wow...
But one thing that hasn't changed is the terrain of the island. It still remains torturous and trecherous especially the off road terrains and the slopes... God... I have never peddled so hard.. and only to reach the top at snail's pace. Note to self: Get your lazy butt to work(out)!!!
But if there is one place that is worth visiting there again: the quarry. Words cannot describe how tranquil and picturesque it is. Only regret not bringing swimsuit or I would have jumped in! Though I could never understand why the water had white sediments. I guess it's from the rock formations themselves.
Battle For Middle Earth 2 (BFME2)
The gang has a new game to play. Yeah.. it's time to fight for the one ring!! The game play is interesting and it is much easier to play than warcraft. And the powers you have are pretty cool! Each race has their own unique abilities and powers. But the interesting aspect of the game is to find gollum. Not easy when the map is huge and he's always running around in stealth mode. You can only sense him when he is near as you troops will shout "the evil gollum is nearby". Objective is to kill him and get the one ring back to your fortress. Once u do so, then u can choose to recruit either Sauron or Galadriel (depending on ur race). But u really have to wait cos these 2 heroes are 10k a pop and take helluva long time to come. If the enemy gets it... good luck to u
But the more interesting thing about the game is the censorship! When u chat, there are certain things which they will censor and replace with *. Here's a list of some of them:
General Swearing:
- fuc*, damn, hell, retard, shit, asshole, arse (arsehole is ok)
Religion (anything to do with religion is banned)
- God, jesus, judah, buddha (FYI Taoist is not banned, ha ha), allah, Christian, catholic, Satan, Devil (Demon is ok though... weird)
Sexual Connotations
- sex, anal, oral, gay, lesbian, dyke
This censorship is worse than the censorship in Singapore!!!! Ha ha... the gang has been constantly thinking of new words just to see if they are banned. Will add on to the list if something new pops up
Friday, March 03, 2006
Ponder ponder ponder
Just realized how fast time flies. The ang moh new year came and went... the Cheena new year also came and went.. and here we are.. it's March! Woah. fast. Very soon the Thai New Year will come as well (Song Krang, water splashing fest is in April)!
Here's just some of the things I have been pondering over the past week/s:
thoughts on my face:
The Chinese believe that your fortune is told from your face. Hence, they deduce your wealth & beauty from moles, you temperament from your eyebrows etc. So... if your fortune is told from your face, does changing my jaw with my impending operation mean that my fortune will change as well?
In addition, teeth tend to shift even after you have done ur braces... so if the jaw op is permanent, will I still ultimately land up with crooked teeth?
Will I have a speech impediment after (God.. the thought of learning how to speak all over again is.... tiresome)?
Movies
1) Walk the Line - interesting that you can be with other people and then find your soul mate. What then? The man in black gave up his family just so that he can be with his soul mate (and proposed 40 times too!). So lesson learnt... wait for the opportunity and if u see it, grab it with no regrets.
2) Brokeback Mountain - must your soul mate be of the opposite sex? What happens if your soul mate is of your species? Is it wrong? Hmm... thought that the movie wasn't so bad. Although i would have preferred that they dwelve more into how they felt about each other and became closer... and not just make out in a tent suddenly
At the clinic
How does taking chemicals make you get well?? Especially chemicals aren't good to begin with? In my stoned state of mind, I was looking at the tablets being issued before me and the question hit me. Looks like it's time to find alternative forms of natural medication.
While waiting for the medication, the clinic has this poster at the counter promoting various health packages (scans etc). There was one that caught my eye: Premarital package $128. consists of HIV check, STD check etc. That was kind of disturbing. Thought that ran through my mind include:
- where's the trust these days? If my would be husband asked me to go for such a package, I will have second thoughts about marrying him
- there's something wrong with the relationship. If you are the one intending on going for such a package then you haven't come clean about your past relationships with your current squeeze. I personally feel that a relationship that doesn't come with a clean slate will come back to haunt you sooner or later.
Yup.. as you can see... haven't really thought much.. ha ha.. work work work
Here's just some of the things I have been pondering over the past week/s:
thoughts on my face:
The Chinese believe that your fortune is told from your face. Hence, they deduce your wealth & beauty from moles, you temperament from your eyebrows etc. So... if your fortune is told from your face, does changing my jaw with my impending operation mean that my fortune will change as well?
In addition, teeth tend to shift even after you have done ur braces... so if the jaw op is permanent, will I still ultimately land up with crooked teeth?
Will I have a speech impediment after (God.. the thought of learning how to speak all over again is.... tiresome)?
Movies
1) Walk the Line - interesting that you can be with other people and then find your soul mate. What then? The man in black gave up his family just so that he can be with his soul mate (and proposed 40 times too!). So lesson learnt... wait for the opportunity and if u see it, grab it with no regrets.
2) Brokeback Mountain - must your soul mate be of the opposite sex? What happens if your soul mate is of your species? Is it wrong? Hmm... thought that the movie wasn't so bad. Although i would have preferred that they dwelve more into how they felt about each other and became closer... and not just make out in a tent suddenly
At the clinic
How does taking chemicals make you get well?? Especially chemicals aren't good to begin with? In my stoned state of mind, I was looking at the tablets being issued before me and the question hit me. Looks like it's time to find alternative forms of natural medication.
While waiting for the medication, the clinic has this poster at the counter promoting various health packages (scans etc). There was one that caught my eye: Premarital package $128. consists of HIV check, STD check etc. That was kind of disturbing. Thought that ran through my mind include:
- where's the trust these days? If my would be husband asked me to go for such a package, I will have second thoughts about marrying him
- there's something wrong with the relationship. If you are the one intending on going for such a package then you haven't come clean about your past relationships with your current squeeze. I personally feel that a relationship that doesn't come with a clean slate will come back to haunt you sooner or later.
Yup.. as you can see... haven't really thought much.. ha ha.. work work work
