Bangkok Trip (Second Day)!

Second Day

We made it in time for breakfast the 2nd day! Nothing fantastic though. However, a feast awaited our eyes in the dining room. A group of very good-looking caucasians were sitting next to our table. Slurps~ Keke!

Look at how happy Xiao Pang was.

Our tour guide, Jaws. She is really good with the map and at leading us around BKK. We decided to walk (again) to Platinum Mall and the wholesale place opposite it.

The crazy girls with our Hotel in the background.

After walking for around 15 minutes, we reached Platinum Mall. It was a shopping paradise!! Much, much better than Chatuchak!

Quickly took some spastic pictures before the shopkeeper spotted us.

Food! The best thing about dining in Thailand is that the food always come so cheap and delicious!

Look at my "rewards" after a hard day's work. =P I need a huge plastic bag to put all my shopping inside.

We went back to our hotel after shopping to get dressed for part 2 of day 2. It was the highlight of our trip.

We dolled ourselves up because the place we were going to has a dress code. But before that, we went to Suam Long Night Bazaar to fill up our stomachs first. At first, I thought that that place is like a market. I was uncomfortable going there with us all dolled up. I did not want to invite unwanted attention. To my surprise, the place Birdie introduced is not like a market at all! It had a live band and a romantic ambience. We love that place.





Of course, we could not resist taking photos.

After a satisfying meal, we decided to make our way to BANYAN TREE HOTEL!! Yes, that was the highlight! You will know why when you see the photos.

On our way to the 59th floor.

Look at the view!! We went to this fine dining restaurant, on top of Banyan Tree Hotel, called Vertigo. It is an outdoor restaurant which means that there is no shelter on top of our heads! On the 60th floor! It really, really took our breath away. We could see lights sparkling and stretching into the darkness, feel the breeze that made me feel weightless for a moment, feel the vastness of the sky above us... It. Just. Took. My. Breath. Away.











No collage of pictures here. The view was just too good to cram into collages.

The service from that place was fantastic. They even took a complimentary photo of us and gave EACH OF US A COPY OF THAT PHOTO!! They were damn generous! The photo really touched us. It really made our day.

Words just cannot describe the feeling I had that night. It was beyond amazed, surprised, touched, grateful, appreciative, happy.....

Let me end Day 2 on this happy note.

Bangkok Trip (First Day)!

First Day

We woke up freezing cold. I underestimated the aircon in our room and set it to 15 Degrees Celsius the night before. =P


Looking out of the windows, the weather was perfect! Warm sunlight flooded our hotel room. It really felt like holiday has finally arrived.



We quickly washed and dressed, wanting to make it in time for the hotel's breakfast. But... Breakfast was over when we reached the lobby! Bleagh.. We thought breakfast ends at 11am but it actually ends at 10am. And so, we turned to A&W for breakfast! Yeah!!



How I have missed A&W's root beer! I just could not get enough of it. =) The funny thing about BKK's A&W is that it was empty most of the time. Turns out that fast food is actually more expensive than the local food and thus, few locals actually prefer fast food. We had the whole place to ourselves that day. I really like that place. It really made me feel like I'm on holiday, watching the vehicles zoomed past the place while we sat happily eating our breakfast.

After breakfast, we set off to Chatuchak, Bangkok's most famous market. There was no photos taken because the place was too crowded. I do not like that place. It was packed, hot and smelly. I just could not stand the food smell. The food smell is forever present in the roadside stalls and hawkers. I do not know how to describe it. I just know that that smell stains the memory of Thailand.

Finally, we could stand it no more and decided to return to our hotel. It was a wise decision as it started to rain when we were in the taxi.

After resting, we decided to hit MBK Shopping Centre next. According to the map, it was a short distance away and thus, we walked there despite the rain. Adventurous sia~ =P

It was a haven for fake goods! We actually wondered whether the Thai actually know that they were buying fakes and whether they actually know that LV, Burberry, Raphl Lauren ,etc, exist with exorbitant prices. The shops actually "anyhow" slapped on the brands onto different items without care. You can see the horse symbols on slippers, LV design on the sole of shoes, etc. Really crazy!




We ate our dinner at the MBK foodcourt. The meal was good and of course, the price was definitely affordable. After dinner, we decided to go for Pedi and Manicure. And after that, Thai massage. Shiokness!! Especially after shopping for the whole day.

At last, hotel sweet hotel.

Bangkok Trip (First Night)!

All of us are so efficient this time round. All the photos from our Bangkok trip are up! And so... I can blog all about my trip now! Yesh! Erm... This is going to be a long and detailed post so bear with it. I wanna capture everything single moment down in my blog so that I can read about it over and over again and relive those moments over and over again. =)

First Night (Friday Night)

Our flight was on the 7th of November 2008 at 1135pm. I know, the flight was super late! We checked in at around 930pm. Wan Yi, Jiang Hao and Jian Wei were there to send us off. Farewells were said, hugs were exchanged and photos were taken. It looked like we were going away for three years instead of three days. Haha!



Look at our big suitcases! Can you believe those were for a 3-day holiday? Haha! We were thankful for the humongous size of our luggages later on though.

**************************************************

I had only taken an aeroplane once when I was very young. Therefore, I do not remember much about the inside of Changi Airport after checking in. On Friday, I was amazed and mesmerised by the whole place. It was like Christmas!! There were lights decoration, people queueing at the cashiers, people shopping, etc. A festive mood was definitely in the air! I love that place. =)

We shopped around and then decided to take the train to Terminal 3 for more shopping. (We checked in at Terminal 1.)

In the end, we had to run for our flight cause we miscalculated the time. We really sprinted all the way to the gate. We made it with only a few minutes to spare before boarding the plane. Phew...

**************************************************

We took Thai AirAsia and surprisingly, the plane was in quite a good condition.

Our first encounter with a Thai. Look at that joker behind us.

The ride was smooth and uneventful. We arrived in Thailand at around 3am. We decided to take the Airport Taxi as both Jaws and me heard that it was safer that way. The price they quoted was HORRIBLE! 1500 baht per journey!! It was around S$50! Siao! In the end, a very nice man told us to take the meter taxi at counter 10. Told us it was safe and everything. He even wrote us our Hotel Address in Thai. I was very suspicious of his kindness at first, thinking he had some ulterior motive. I was so wrong. That was the introduction to the kind of service we were going to receive throughout our stay.

There was a long queue at counter 10. So... The best form of entertainment we had.

Finally, we reached our hotel, Samran Place at around 4am. The cab driver who drove us there thought that we were Japanese. Haha! He even said "Arigato" and "Sayonnara" to us. A bell boy helped us with our luaggage. Actually, he was more of an uncle than a boy but I never heard of bell uncle before. So for convenience sake, I shall stick to bell boy throughout my entries. He was a funny man! He offered to take a picture of me and Xiao Pang. He said, "One, two, three, ACTION!", laughed at his own joke and took a super blurred photo for us. -_-"....

It didn't escaped the Hotel's attention that we had 4 people and thus, we had to pay for one more person. On the bright side, we each had a bed (Jaws and Birdie shared a King size bed).

Time to sleep!

Back from Bangkok

Hello everyone carp~ I am back from Bangkok. I had a great time there, especially with my girlfriends. They were the ones who made the trip such a enjoyable and fun one. Love them~

My ear is still blocked! It is so uncomfortable. I just came back from the doctor. He told me that my ear couldn't balance the pressure when taking off and landing and that caused a tear in my left ear. It bled and a blood clot was formed which blocks my hearing. Nothing very serious though. At least it won't affect my ear drums, which is a BIG relief to me. Next time, I will have to take more precautions when taking flights.

I will post about my trip after I have sorted out all the photos. Will take some time. Can't wait to blog about my trip!

Bangkok wooh!

Tomorrow at this time, I will have just arrived at Bangkok's airport. Wooh! Can't believe we're flying off tomorrow! Wish me safe flight and good luck!

Life after work?

I've just read one of my NIE friend's blog. She locked it and I have to ask her to invite me in. Once I saw her latest entry, I knew why she locked her blog. It is to safeguard her blog from prying eyes. It is not because she wrote controversial stuffs in her blog but rather, it is because she is a teacher. And teachers have no personal life.

What I say is true. Putting aside the dreadfully long hours teachers work, teachers have to conduct themselves properly in public areas. We may never know when or where we will bump into colleagues, principals, parents or students. What happens if we are in shorts, tube tops, bikinis or are drunk, laughing madly, crying hysterically, picking our noses when we bump into those group of people mentioned?? There goes the "professional image". The ironic thing is that we are not working at that moment.

Sometimes, I just feel that we are in the same predicament as celebrities. Our personal lives are also put in the limelight and the students and parents are the paparazzi. Ever gossip about bumping into teachers in public areas? I have. I recalled a funny incident. One of my friends, a guy teacher, went swimming at a public swimming pool. He was about to enter the water when suddenly, a child shouted his name across the swimming pool. Turned out that the child was his student. Needless to say, all eyes were on him in his swimming trunks. Poor guy couldn't decide to cover his face or his.........

That is why I always tell people who are choosing teaching as a career that they need to think carefully and don't make hasty decisions. Do not say things like "no university wants me so I'm left with only this choice", "teachers have long holidays", "the pay is good" (dunno where they got that from), etc. The only thing that sustain you through teaching is not money but the passion. It is the only thing that drives us to be better teachers and to sacrifice many things. And passion will start to ebb away after years and years of teaching ungrateful children and nasty parents. When my passion is used up, I will go.

If you do not have the passion, don't even think about going down this road.

Pardon my whining.

Spastism and Cuteness

Spastism

In an act of spastism, we decided to play with the straw hat that was given to me in one of my Social Studies fieldtrips.




My brother and his spastic smile... Which sort of resemble.....











Him! Haha! The character in anime "One Piece".







Me as a Hokkien RnB singer. Haha!


*************************************************
Cuteness


On to something cute. Another picture of Ethel.





I love this picture. I like the rainbow of colours. Brightened up my day. =D

Holiday Cheer!

I am officially on HOLIDAY!!! YIPPEE~!!!

Clearer

Actually, why am I so self-absorbed in my emotions? When _________ was angry and disappointed, suddenly everything became clearer. I was afraid that that's the end of our friendship. The emotions that I was having became very trivial in comparison. Nothing is worth ruining friendships.

Luckily, everything's ok now. *Relief*

Aunt Agony

Let me come in here to whine a little before going back to my projects.

Haiz.. I am feeling so stressed. It is tough working with perfectionists. However, I have worked with some before and I didn't feel as bad as now. To tell the truth, my self-confidence is on a all-time low. There is this voice in my head that keeps putting me down. It seems that whatever I presented are not good enough and needs to be edited by my group mates. Things kept thrown back at me again and again until _____ is satisfied.

Argh... Now, my feelings kept swinging from anger to being discouraged. Can't wait for Wednesday to be over.

Ok, back to my projects.

A Nice Ending

Yesterday was a nice end to my horrible week. I was feeling very moody and tempermental the whole week and some friends have been on the receiving end of it. Sorry guys..

Well, I am glad to say that my friday was good. I had project meeting in the morning at Coffee Bean. The breakfast set was not bad and the meeting had gone well. A lot of loose ends were tied up and the mood was high. Finally, I can see light at the end of the tunnel and I can't tell you how good that feels.

My study table and dressing table have arrived. In fact, I'm on my new study table typing this entry. However, my room is in a big mess now and is very dusty. This morning, it looked as if it snowed last night in my room. Crushed tissue papers were all over the floor. Blame it on the dust, my sinusy nose and poor aiming skills.

I love my bro's new wardrobe! It is damn huge! Makes me jealous. Should have made one for myself. Haiz.. I will take pictures once the mess is cleared.

Dinner at Satay Club with my enemies. Ah Bun is back from the States. It was a perfect end to an uplifting day. =)

Itchy!

My hives are killing me... My whole body is so itchy!! I have to scratch and scratch and will only stop when I bleed. I am losing blood every single day man.. Every morning when I woke up, there will be blood in my fingernails. My bedsheet, pillow cases and comforter have many little blood spots on them.

It has been 2 months already! I don't believe it's allergy. I have already stopped my alcohol intake and yet it is still spreading. Now, I feel very conscious of my legs and arms when I go to school or out shopping. If someone looks in the direction of my legs, I will automatically back off and try to hide behind something or someone. My legs are so ugly now! Argh!

Going to see another doctor on Friday. Wanna stop this man! I can't stand the itch, the sores and losing my blood anymore!

Prawning ..... again!

I am so into prawning! The lastest prawning trip was with my family and little Ethel. At first, my dad didn't wanna go, complaining that the weather was too hot. In end, we managed to persuade though his version of the story was that we threatened him. =P



My dad was very good to Ethel. Everytime he fished a prawn, he would let Ethel hold the rod and pulled up the prawn herself. To my brother and me, it looked like they were torturing the poor prawn. As Ethel is only 2 years old, she doesn't have the strength to pull up the prawn. So the whole time, the prawn was struggling while Ethel kept "dipping" the rod in the pond. Tsk tsk..

When she finally won the war between the prawn, we would all cheer for her. In the end, she didn't want any of us to hold one of the rods. She hogged the rod the whole time. Hmm.. We are thinking of buying her a toy rod for our next trip to keep her occupied. =P

Now, my dad is hooked too! He asked my mum to dig out his fishing rod which has been missing in action for around 10 years. Yeah! I am soooo excited! Can't wait for our next trip!

What's wrong with me?

Assignment: Maths Heuristics Assignment
Deadline: Tomorrow 4pm
"Free" time to work on it: 6 days

I have only completed question a. The major part of the assignment is still sketchy. Time check - Sunday 7.11pm

This is crazy! What's wrong with me? I hate my study attitude!

******************************************

Time check: 1.40 am Monday

Finally, I completed my work! Yeah! Why must I drag this until now? It didn't take me many hours to complete my work and yet I have dragged this for 6 days! Wah lao! Suffered for 6 days thinking about this assignment. This is really shitty. Why can't I just complete everything within 1 day?? Feel like hitting myself.

Two more assignments to be handed in this week! I MUST NOT PROCRASTINATE ANYMORE!!!

Prawning!

I am so into prawning again!

I went prawning with my NIE clique at the Pasir Ris Fishing Farm and it was fun!

Let me present to you, the prawners!



At first, we caught nothing. Then, a pro came along and we picked up a few tips from him. From that moment onwards, it was action packed. Haha!



I caught our first prawn! Followed by Ling Fang and then Sharon. Sharon was so afraid of the prawn that I had to hold it for her while she took the picture. Haha!

Alas, one of our prawns got away due to my stupidity. I forgot to zip up the net which contained the prawns and the one I caught escaped. Boo hoo..

Luckily, the owner of the prawning farm gave us 8 prawns for FREE! He even helped us bbq the prawns. I am so glad that I am a girl on occasions like this. =P


5 hungry prawners reaping what they sowed. It was damn tasty.

I wanna go prawning again! Who wants to go? Hook up with me!

(I love my new photo collage programme, Photoscape!)

Room Revamp!

Yeah, I am going to get a new study table plus dressing table!! I've been wanting a new one for soooo long. Finally, my parents called in a carpenter today to custom make my tables! The new tables are going to have a lot of storage space. Maybe my room will not be in such a mess for long.

They are going to call in a contractor too. Our rooms will have a fresh coat of paint! After 10 years!! I can't wait! I am going to do a lot of research on what kind of colours I want for my room. I can't decide between chic, mysterious or warm. Hmm... If you are going to paint your room, what do you like? Come, come, give me suggestions! =)

**********************************************

My father bought this product for me last week. The amazing thing is that he volunteer to buy this product for me without me asking. It was so out of character for him, showering so much care for me out of sudden. Haha! Well, I said I wouldn't mind trying it out and so he bought me one!

This product, Breathe Right, supposedly helps people with snoring or sinus problems to breathe properly through the nose when sleeping. It is a miracle product to me, a sinus victim. I have tried it once and it really worked! However, it felt very pinched at the nose. Maybe I will get use to it eventually.



Anyway, I wanna talk about this funny incident. After my dad bought this product, he met some of his friends. The aunties in the group asked him what he bought. Cheekily, he showed them the box without explanation. The aunties yelled at him when they saw the box, exclaiming that he is a pervert. Haha! They thought it was a box of condoms due to the misleading picture and box size! It really cracked us up. Haha!

The Little Frog's Day Out

"Help! Save me!"

Ethel spun around to the croaking, wondering who was making that noise. To her surprise, she saw a little green frog in Big Bird's mouth! She got to save it!

Ethel sang sweetly,

"Sunny Day

Sweepin' the clouds away

On my way to where the air is sweet

Can you tell me how to get,

How to get to Sesame Street?"

When Big Bird opened his mouth and tried to reply, the little green frog took a leap! And he escaped from Big Bird. "Thank you very much, little girl!" The little green frog gasped. He had not recovered from his fright.

"You are welcome. Who are you? What are you doing here?" Ethel was curious.

The little green frog slumped onto the ground and began in a sad tone. "I am a toy frog and I lived in a little house very far from here. Everyday, I will have lots of fun playing with two little boys who live with me. However, one day, I was bored. I want to see the world! So, I sneaked out of the little house. Little did I know what horrors were install for me! Now, I just want to go home!" He burst out crying.

After listening to his story, Ethel thought to herself, "I got to help him." So, she said loudly to the little green frog, "Don't worry! I will help you! Where do you stay?"

"Far, far away." He replied, dolefully.

Since he lived so far away, Ethel decided she could not walk that distance. She did the first thing that came to her mind - they would ride there.

She plonked the little green frog onto her trusty steed, Black Beauty, and rode into the forest. "Giddy up, Black Beauty!" And they galloped, and they galloped, and they galloped... Until Black Beauty could run no more.

"What do we do now?" The frog asked sadly.

"Don't worry, I have an idea." Ethel smiled.

She settled the little green frog on a train. "Isn't this a good idea?" She asked. The little green frog smiled happily at her. And they rambled on, and they rambled on, and they rambled on... Until the train could move no more.

"What do we do now?" The little green frog whined.

Ethel frowned and scratched her head. Suddenly, a car beeped at them! She turned and saw Barney!

"Don't worry, I have an idea." Ethel smiled.

Ethel perched the little green frog in Barney's car.

"I love you,

You love me.

We're a happy family." They sang the song gayly. The little green frog could not believe his good luck.

And they journey on, and they journey on, and they journey on.. Until Barney could drive no more.

"What do we do now?" The little green frog grumbled.

"We need some luck." Ethel thought. And luck arrived!

"Don't worry, I have an idea." Ethel was relieved.

She arranged the little green frog in Alvin's car which happened to be in the area they were in. And they travelled, and they travelled, and they travelled... Until Alvin could not drive anymore.

Faced with a dead end, Ethel cried, "What do we do now?"

The little green frog turned and smiled happily at her, "We do not need to do anything anymore! We are here! I am home!"

A hand lifted the little green frog and placed him back in the cupboard which is his home. "Thank you, little girl! I will never forget you!"

Ethel waved and wandered off, wondering what adventure was waiting for her around the corner.

What do you make?

This video is so inspiring for teachers...

If you don't have the time, here's something similar.

WHAT TEACHERS MAKE

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued, "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?"

He reminded the other dinner guests what they say about teachers: "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." To stress his point he said to another guest, "You're a teacher, Taylor. Be honest. What do you make?"

Taylor, who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, "You want to know what I make? (He paused for a second, then began...)

"Well, I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.

I make a C+ feel like the Congressional Medal of Honor.

I make kids sit through 40 minutes of class time when their parents can't make them sit for 5 without an I Pod, Game Cube or movie rental.

You want to know what I make?" (He paused again and looked at each and every person at the table.)

'I make kids wonder.

I make them question.

I make them apologize and mean it.

I make them have respect and take responsibility for their actions.

I teach them to write and then I make them write. Keyboarding isn't everything.

I make them read, read, read.

I make them show all their work in math. They use their God given brain,not the man-made calculator.

I make my students from other countries learn everything they need to know in English while preserving their unique cultural identity.

I make my classroom a place where all my students feel safe.

I make my students stand, placing their hand over their heart to say the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, One Nation Under God, because we live in the United States of America.

Finally, I make them understand that if they use the gifts they were given,work hard, and follow their hearts, they can succeed in life." (Taylor paused one last time and then continued.)

"Then, when people try to judge me by what I make, with me knowing money isn't everything, I can hold my head up high and pay no attention because they are ignorant...

You want to know what I make?
I MAKE A DIFFERENCE . What do you make Mr. CEO?"
His jaw dropped, he went silent.


You wanna know what teachers make?

A difference.

A Drawing of Me

"Ethel is going to draw Ah Yee (Me)."


"Okay, draw me with a smiling face."

Tell me how not to love this little girl.. =)

(P.S. I hope you don't find any resemblance between me and the picture.. I look better, trust me~ =P)

Jia Yu's Birthday and Pubbing!

This is a rather late post. Jia yu's birthday was in August and now it is September already. Bleagh, sorry girl. =P

We had Ichiban Boshi at Esplanade for dinner. It was a happy reunion because Xiao Pang is back from the States and Huli finally decided to show up. So it was all 6 of us minus Ah Bun who is in the states. (Heard that she is coming back soon.)

Birthday girl and the cake


Enemies minus 1

It was a really good meal. Conversations flowed smoothly, the dishes are nice, lots of laughter.. Hmm.. I like =)

************************************************************

Pubbing with the 03S3 guys on friday! It was quite weird because I never quite like two of them. We even had some conflict before. Luckily, we were too high on friday to care about the nitty-gritty things. =P


Fighting with Jia Yu over my drink. She wanna help me with my forfeit but she had a brush with the hospital not long ago. Don't want to send her in again.


All of us minus Jasper, who was the cameraman. I love his SLR!! All the pictures taken are soooo nice..


High, high, high~

Really enjoyed myself that night too. Haven't had the "near drunk" feeling for sooo long. 8 of us polished away 2 bottles of chivas! (Though the guys drank more.) Keke! Let's do it again!

Coffee Prince

I have just completed watching the Korean drama "Coffee Prince" and I like it sooo much. I think I am a sucker for romance dramas with a twist. In "Coffee Prince", a girl had to pretend to be a guy so that she would be able to work in a cafe called "Coffee Prince" which only hired males or "princes". In the end, the boss of the cafe fell in love with her despite knowing her as a guy. So, it was rather funny to watch him deal with his "sexuality".

I do not know why but when I watched such dramas, I seemed to pour my true emotions into it. When the characters were going through heart breaks, my heart really, literally, ached. I was really afraid that I might suffer from some heart disease. My heart just contracted everytime the touching moments appeared.

I think that I was really in too deep into the drama. Now, I am suffering from slight withdrawal sypmtomes. I just cannot stop reruning the whole drama in my head. "Love" is such a beautiful in the dramas. It just makes me really sad after watching because I know such "love" do not exist in real life. That is why people love watching such shows.

Sorry, when it comes to relationships, I am a real skeptic. Maybe that explains why there is this hollow feeling in me right now. Grrr... Maybe I should refrain from watching such shows again.