Saturday, July 30, 2005
Bangkok part I
The trip to Bangkok from 25th july (monday) to 29th july (friday) was really good. It's the first time my family and i went to Thailand. Ray didn't wanna go last minute, so we wasted a flight ticket and also 1 hotel room. Darling took care of the house (dogs, hamsters, fish, plants yadar yadar yadar) for the 5 days and did a really good job my whole family was bringing him up to heaven.
Taken at BK at changi airport before checking in, 8.55am flight.
Momma
Chris
Ah ma and me
So the 5 of us went, momma and dad, chris, ah ma and me. Didn't have a good impression on the Thais on the first day coz the way they do things is really slow. R--e-a---l---ly..... They can take 10 minutes to chop each person's passport. Gosh.. Plus we waited for about an hour at the hotel front desk before we can check into our rooms. Can't even cancel the one room we reserved coz it's supposed to be only 2 persons per room.
And on the first day, we kena taken in by the 2 stupid Thais... They convinced us to get into their Tuk Tuks, coz we wanna get to MBK shopping centre. They brought us firstly to this seafood restaurant with a vast variety of live seafood. (GOSH!) So ex somemore.. In the end we had our lunch there. Chris used his credit card to pay.. It cost like 1900++ baht, which is about 80 bucks SGD. The commission the tuk tuk ppl take from the restaurant manager will keep their day free from work!
After which they didn't give in to us, and insisted on bringing us to this diamond gallery cum factory. -.- Didn't get anything of cuz. Finally reached MBK shopping centre and thereby started our shopping euphoria.
Bangkok's letter drop.
First House hotel which we stayed in, the place is really clean and amenities very good included breakfast buffet as well. Cheap too! Only 27 SGD per room per night. =) But need to book online, coz walk in have different rates =)
The bathtub.. Hmmmm enjoy!
The door between our 2 joining rooms.
Chris, momma and i were really addicted to the 7-11 packet food easily prepared by microwave thawing. They have green curry rice, char siew rice, wanton soup, fried rice with salted fish (personal FAV!), fried macaroni with basil and minced pork (FAV!), fried spaghetti with basil and minced meat (FAV!) and lots of others more! haha` They were really cheap and good.
This is wad we found at 7-11... SG cookies -.- er...... dots.....
They have all kinds of different coloured cabs there! Pink, orange, purple, blue, and multicolored ones as the most common. =)
Thailand is a buddhist country, thus the ppl there are very mild tempered, very nice ppl. =) And i thought there were really brought up well, coz even the teenagers were to put their palms together and bow whenever they see a temple or a God statue.
The buddhist statue just outside a big shopping centre. (i think it's the world trade centre or someting.)
My dad and my grandma praying.. AWWW so pious =) See those dancers behind?
We went to alot of places to shop. The siam discovery centre, MBK centre, world trade centre, Suan lam night bazaar, Chinatown, Pantip IT plaza and so on.. Changed only little currency but big profits coz the stuff there are really cheap! Everything is 199 baht (8 SGD), clothes, watches, bags, shoes/slippers, shades yadar yadar yadar..
Even the Ronald Macdonald there put his palms together.. No doubt it's Thailand. lol`
Taken at Suan Lam Night Bazaar
The message service provided in Bangkok was cheap and good. It cost only 250 baht (10 SGD) for either a foot message or a full body message. =) I tried both and preferred the foot one to the full body one, coz the one on foot was really thorough.
Posted by reticent_aura at 7/30/2005 10:59:00 AM
Bangkok part II
Went for a super long boat ride (about 2 hours or more?) to tour the Chao Phraya river. Went to a few temples and also the snake farm.
The dog eating "jiu he" (cuttlefish slices) for breakfast at the jetty -.- So much lor!! Crazy.....
In the boat..
Again.. Now with me inside. =)
Shangri-la Hotel.
Chris, looking really cheerful.
the navy ships.
Kelong.
There were alot of ppl living along the waterline. Imagine something like small terrace houses with staircases leading into the river at their backgates =) Cool huh. I wanna live there too =) Then we also see kids bathing in the river, plus mothers cooking by the river. haha` A typical Indus River example. (Think sec 1 history)
Spot the flamingo?
I love orange color! Er.. not this shade though.
I forgot the name of this temple. Didn't visit it, just passed by =)
Cute dogs!
Tackle the cobras! (at the snake farm)
Cute aye?
My daddy with this really cute monkey. golden fur and black paws plus face.
Temple of Dawn, nice name ^^
My dad and i.
Chris
Nice flower in the temple of dawn.
Nice view.
We tried their roadside stalls and were really fascinated by them all. Some of the more unique ones are like... (BLEAH) small frogs/toads put through the skewer and "peng gang"... And also fried grasshoppers, mealworms and other insects. eeeuuu... Didn't dare to try lol! Their eating culture is quite similar to chinese, braised pigs' trotters, braised duck, chicken rice, wanton noodles... But they're too generous with their seasonings they tend to love all things sweet. So be mindful to tell them to add little sugar and carnation (condensed milk) into ur coffee. Else u'll be frantically searching for water after 2 sips of tt killer coffee.
You Tiao!!! Very good for breakfast, very crispy as well and also finger sized! Good! haha` They even have soya bean drink and nice croissants to go along with.
Baskin Robbins strawberry cheesecake flavor!!! I luv the pink spoon, still have it with me now! I miss the green tea blizzard frm Dairy Queen too. haha` =)
Gross KFC's chilli sauce, it's really orange in color, as in the sauce lol!
Soya beans in the pod, for only 40 cents per big bag. Already steamed so eat it like u would with edamame! =)
Bought lotsa stuff!!! Felt like a princess there. hahah` Bought lotsa stuff for my frens, board shorts, tees, accessories, food, bags, watches, caps, belts. I've bought 3 belts for myself, bikini, tees, shades, earrings, necklace, bangles, 2 pairs of slippers (1 pair is fake birkenstocks!! Muahaha), watch, anklet, and others i can't remember!! haha`
Gotten a pair of board shorts warcraft 3 and expansion pack and a leather belt for hammie, plus 2 boxes of muscle cream for his parents, 2 bracelets for his 2 sistas and foodstuff for the whole family... Missed him so much... He fetched me at my place's void deck at 11+ pm last night and then hear our stories. After which i bathed and settled then we went for supper till 3 am. =)
Bought lotsa alcohol at the airport. Gotten 2 baileys irish cream, absolute raspberry, 2 fa guo liang jiu (for my mum's buddy) and also 2 red wines and 3 cans of beer.
The 3 belts.
slippers.
Accessories
Foodstuff
Alcohol.
The food stuff and clothes accessories blah blah we bought were so much we needed to get 2 more big bags for them. So it's a total of 3 bags for stuff we bought. hehe` Luckily we didn't have excess baggage.
All in all it was a great experience. I'll miss the food there, and also will try to go golden mile to hunt down the food next time! haha =) This trip bonded our whole family together. With all the names calling and all during the trip, who wun have fun! ^^
On a note, er.. my hp bill will bust this month. coz of the smses i keep sending out to ppl in sg... Gosh.. 70-80 cents per sms. Autoroaming, i hate u but i love u =(
Posted by reticent_aura at 7/30/2005 10:30:00 AM
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Tired and Sleepy
My legs are aching and im dying to get into bed now. But first, i shall blog my last post till the coming weekend.Woke up at 6+ this morning -.- all thanks to chris and momma who were having a discussion in my room. *dots..* (I'm a light sleeper.) Then i got engaged in the discussion as well. After which mum went to do her stuff and Chris asked me to go have breakfast with him.. I feigned ignorance and went back to slumberland.
Chris then came back into my room at 7+, and beseech me to have breakfast with him either at downstairs coffeeshop or market.. No choice but to go with him or else i'd get pestered till i faint.
Came home, did tonnes of housework. Rested and played computer games, Gunbound, House of the Dead II, u name what i played what. Darling woke up at 11+, spent some time chatting and playing games with him. Then we went out at 1+ to meet winnie at her place to pass her my lit review.
Met up with tsuyoshi imai (god brother cum ex-neighbour and childhood pal) in sun plaza's mac, ate some stuff then headed to his crib. Got a shock when i saw him just now coz he's really much thinner now! Like really. He reduced his waist size from 36 to 31.. Just imagine, lol, i'm so envious. hahaha` The last time i met him was like 2 or 3 yrs ago. Darling and i had a good time chatting with him. Stayed at his place till 6, went home after tt.
Finally finished packing a while ago. Spent only 15 minutes.. haha`
Man... it's soo crazy. lol` It seems like an LV family we have at our place. Hard LV suitcase and hand carry luggage, all fake. hahah` =)
I'm so excited about tml. Coz it's the first time i'm going to Thailand! haha` And also quite looking forward to it as i simply love the taking off part of the flight. Soooooo 45 degrees. I like!!! Muahaha` keke. I've written up a shopping list for everyone so that i wouldn't forget to bring back anything. I'll definitely shop till i drop! hee`
Ciaoz. Gonna sleep in now coz we need to reach by 7am... =) With love.
Posted by reticent_aura at 7/24/2005 10:47:00 PM
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Yawn.
My eyes gonna boing out of the hollow sockets real soon. Finally finished the literature review. I was literary struggling with it. Found some more recent papers today morning. Chris packed breakfast for me coz he knocked off at 9am. Had a nice grapefruit for lunch, loved it so much! (pssst: there's still 2 more in the fridge =P)I feel really bad about leaving winnie to do headstart into FYP next week. I don't worry about anything else except the project management assignment. Hoping that the deadline is postpone coz i wouldn't be able to discuss anything with CYC after i come back next friday and the deadline is supposed to be on monday. Really, i'm sorry =(
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Thursday
Went to st. marg's at 12 noon with sandy and yi xian. Had cheap and super nice lunch in the canteen before we did our rounds in search for familiar faces ^^ Chatted with a couple of teachers, mrs low, mrs raj, mother pillai, ms ho, mrs chong. Too bad some of them left already, like ah lim and ms chan. Sad. But it's ok! Coz we have their email addy! Muahaha`
Slacked in coro, drank our usual mocha and choc cookies and cream ice blended. Our taste in tt store will never change. haha` Chatted and stoned before san and i sent yx to take her bus opposite and us back to outside coro, me, to take bus to sch for lecture, and san, headed home.
Friday
Had a very long day, all the way from morning 6 to 12 at night. Had talks, lectures and practical all in one day till 6 pm. Took cab down to st. marg's for the 163rd speech day. Sat in the upstairs gallery with san and yx, had a good view of course. Got damn high after singing school song. Damn i should have came earlier for school hymn!!! Grrrr. Anyhow, i hate the sch's new principal, found her too submissive and slack. I miss the late Mrs Caroline Lee, strict yet well respected and liked by all.
After the light refreshment, the 3 of us walked to coro to take bus down to AMK's Kbox. Spent 25+ bucks for only 2 hours... Sadded. In the end they decided not to stay over at my place since it's still early, and can make it home. So yep. Had a really great time singing all the fast beat FIR songs, especially my favourite - Ci Niao.
Shall go slack and watch some teevee now before going to hammie's place for dinner later! *poof*
Oh, and anyone needs me to add stuff into my shopping list for bangkok? Gimme a call ya.
Posted by reticent_aura at 7/23/2005 02:58:00 PM
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Hmph.
So many assignments, so little time. I know nuts about wad im supposed to do for the Intergrated lab wksheet, need to complete it asap. Found some papers for lit review, hoping to finish it asap as well. And also alot of other stuff to settle.Winnie and i talked to CYC, our project supervisor yesterday after lecture. He told us all the things we were supposed to do and also briefed us on the project. Cool, we're actually going to St. John's Island one of these days in December to use the flow cytometry there. =) Muahahaha` So excited. ^^ Hmmm we're dealing the genomic dna of these 2 specific genus of orchids. But too bad we're only extracting the dna from the already present plants, ppl have already done the growing of the plants. =(
I think it's gonna be quite easy as ppl have already done the project before us, wad we're doing is to further empasize on their results and to also add another interesting part in it, plus to better the results of their AFLP. Winnie and i gonna make it! =)
===
Yesterday after the bioinformatics briefing ended, winnie and i went to bugis junction from 12.30 to 3 pm to change the batt for the antique watch they bought me. ^^ Now i can wear it! hahaha` Loved it so much, thanks to JJ and nick as well =)
I'm broke =( 230 bucks gone to a fren of mine. Am i too soft hearted and dumb? Haiz... Sadded. Now i can only bring so little money to bangkok. Need to get some liquour from the airport as well. Hmmm.
Going back to st. marg's later to visit teachers and also to have good lunch there =) I miss the grill fish!! haha` Shall go read a paper before i go out.
Posted by reticent_aura at 7/21/2005 09:40:00 AM
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Muahahahah`
I'm so happy for Diana, my good fren from hong kong. She's been offered a placing in HK university, medicine course! omgomgomg. So cool, Really happy for her! hahah` Now she doesn't have to worry having to study in UK's university. Hee` She can stay in HK with her family! Wahahha`And.. lol.. she still misses durian ice kachang alot... WAHAHAH~ but too bad HK doesn't have tt kinda stuff. ^^ ARgh!! And she's going to phuket on thursday.. and im going to Bangkok on monday!! ARrrr.... =( Sadded. So near yet so far rofl.
Posted by reticent_aura at 7/19/2005 10:54:00 PM
Packed nice lunch home for mum and myself. But mum only came back at 3+, didn't eat the lunch i packed for her. But Chris have it coz he just woke up from his sleep after the long 12 hours shift last night till this morning.
Slacked at home, played games, watch travel and living channel, and of course sleep. Woke up to watch The Phantom of the Opera. ^^ Been having alot of movies in my lappy but didn't fork out the time to watch. Gosh the music of the film is so good my soul almost got lifted out of my body. I feel so rejuvenated and relaxed after watching the film.
Met up with hammie darlin at yishun after he knocked off. He wanted to go Esplanade so much but in the end, we went to Causeway point coz it's been a long time since we last went there, plus he's having a bad flu and i want him to go home early to rest. We had dinner in the food court at our 'lao di fang', the table and seat we always dine at. =)
Ordered lotsa food like the seafood platter, zhu za tang, xiao long bao, tom yam ban mian. Wahahah` oh, and also our all time favourite Lavazza coffee. This time we took the frozen flamingo and choc milkshake ^^
Had a super full dinner then went ahead to jalan jalan. I bought Rain's album coz find him really not bad, especially from the "Shangdu" show. Bought earrings and lotsa titbits like dried apricots, taro chips and all. Brought home dutch adam cheese as well this time from cold storage.
Went home at about 9+ and only permitted darlin to send me till YCK station and not to my crib, since he's already quite sick. Spent a really great time with hammie lovely, even though it's a mere 4 hours. He's not very good with words yet he said "I'm really happy with u today!" haha` Quite touched as well. Anyhow.....
Happy 57th mth anniversary, the man of my life!
Here are some pics taken in Biopolis, the bulk of it on the last day.
