Lost & Found In Thailand

9 Days Left

2008-05-23T09:29:00.003+07:00

One of the last weekends for me here. After the 1st of June there still might be some words in me to write under "lost" & "found", however none of it is going to be taking place in Thailand. Back to the place I came from. I wonder what to do about this blog. Change to title to "Lost & Found In Thailand/continued in Denmark"? :) Somehow I have become attached to this silent way of getting rid of thoughts.

Almost done!

2008-05-20T03:02:00.002+07:00

Ehh, what time is it? 3am? Nice. Lovely hour to be awake. Well, everything is silent except few barking dogs and rather noisy bugs. What are they called... cicadas. The "cicada song" is overrated, trust me. More like a high frequency buzzzzz buzzzz.

Anyways, just sitting here, writing and writing my main project - about to get seriously tired of the whole thing :) The more I look at it, the larger the conviction that it all is useless and worthless. Whatever the outcome, Im looking forward to the moment when I call TNT and say - take it away, please :)

Ketchup?!

2008-05-18T19:19:00.002+07:00

Those who know me well might find this slightly hilarious... I'm a food person, if such a "term" exists. I love to cook (when I have the time for it) and generally I make sure that there is something in the fridge to eat besides a piece of cheese from the previous century (no offense to the French! :P). Also, I know what a "food for emergencies" stock means. But as I found out yesterday evening, this time I had outdone myself! I came to a sorrowful conclusion that I had nothing to eat except Heinz ketchup. Even the (nowadays) hated MAMA noodle cup-soups were missing. Oh, thats a lie. I also 'discovered' 4 small tomatoes, but all of them suffered from an unknown disease called "too old".

So, why don't I go and get some groceries, you might ask?

The bright side is that I no longer get lost in Seacon Square mall. The downside is that with every visit I seem to find less and less stuff I feel like eating :) Call me spoiled and call me pathetic, but I do wander around in Tesco looking and looking... what's nice.. what could resemble European food... no sour-cream?!... hmm... milk is good. Canned pork by Tulip - no way! Some funny looking sausages...maybe another time. Cereal for emergencies. Dried squid!? That green stuff.. do I eat it raw?... hmm...No stove, no food. Ready-made? YACK! Overpriced low quality cheese! That will do, if only I could get my hands on decent dark bread. No more rice, please... Frozen pizza, yes! Oh... no oven. And it goes on and on :)

However, the ridiculousness of the whole situation only makes it worse... think Myanmar and me here acting as a 5-year old. And I keep telling myself - c'mon, grow up!

This morning (as on every Sunday) bunch of the small street-carts grilling chicken show up next to the RamaIX park. Got a small chicken breast. Lets hope for no salmonella, but at least I have utilized my ketchup :)

Going Royal

2008-05-14T20:36:00.003+07:00

Not a bad seat to dwell in while enjoying a movie...plus a blanket. I also wonder if Mojito comes with it :) Unfortunately there wasn't any movie I felt like watching, but hopefully something in my taste comes along before I leave.

Seafood!

2008-05-14T20:14:00.006+07:00

My work-mate's Ooy's niece's 13th birthday dinner. The biggest prawns I have ever seen... scary long legs :) And oysters... now, what you do with them is: place one in your spoon, put some dried/fried onions on top, ad that green paste (ground chillies with what?) and place "grass" on top!

The Bus

2008-05-14T20:08:00.006+07:00

I've been mentioning the awesome busses before, but now I finally managed to take a very shaky image - sorry about that, but the vehicle is rattling even at standstill :)

Wood floor and I believe that the white plastic tanks in the left front corner of the bus is The Aid Kit. For the bus, that is :) And what's that "box" in the middle? Gear support unit?! :)

Oh yeah, the ticket's worth 7 THB (1.05 DKK).

Durians

2008-05-09T12:42:00.003+07:00

It had to happen, you know - I have just tried the feared durian-fruit courtesy to my work colleague The Fruit Man. For those who don't know - this fruit stinks. It really does. Most hotels have a sign saying "No Go" (I think I have posted a picture of such from Singapore). Cannot really describe the smell... hmm... something sickeningly sweet...

Anyways, I should be talking about the taste. I got the chance to try two different types of durian. The 'fruit meat' is very sweet (however it's possible to get another type that is less sweet) and has extremely soft & 'creamy' consistence - seriously, it feels like eating large mouthfuls of Philadelphia cream-cheese. The look of it is misleading.

Also, I could almost feel the sugar buzz from super-high levels of carbon-hydrates :)

The taste.. I came up with a theory it reminded me of very sweet pineapple but without the acid-like sharpness to it. However, my suggestion was rejected, so now I'm left without a comparison.

A few pointers: don't eat it right after mealtime. My tummy feels like I've been crunching on stones. Have a chewing-gum or a toothbrush handy. You'll need it, trust me :P

Brown Sugar Jazz club

2008-05-08T11:38:00.003+07:00

Homesick

2008-05-08T08:17:00.003+07:00

It's been a while since my last post. Should I say that I've been extremely busy? Well, partially; but I also haven't been in the mood to write. Have been floating somewhere in between reality and dreamworld. Less than four weeks to go until I leave. Somehow that's the only thing I can think about. Sure, I have a few fun days planned ahead, but that doesn't stop me from gazing upon all the planes flying above my "home" here (living not far from the airport, you see) and wondering why the heck I'm not on one of them :)

Heh, this post is 'crying out' for a title 'Homesick'! Let's just do that then.

I want that PADI

2008-04-27T15:20:00.003+07:00

Inspired by Pat, I have been looking for a place where I could get a PADI Open Water divers license. Approximately 350$ and a whole new world should be opened up for me. I'm already excited! It seems like a perfect plan for my last week here... a 4 day instruction course in Ko Samui - what ya saying, folks? :)

Blown Away by Orange Juice...

2008-04-20T13:28:00.003+07:00

This qualifies as the silliest post of all times - it doesn't take much to leave me gaping. Orange juice... can't me simpler, can it? Except the fact that, on top of choosing between different producers, I was put through another "tough" decision... from what area (also type.. I found out that Si Thong oranges are called "the golden oranges" - because of climate differences the oranges grown here become sweeter and juicier) should the oranges the juice is made out of come from. It has never occurred to me there could ever be a choice like that. The best tasting orange juice.

Singapore In Photographs IV- Little India Bracelets

2008-04-20T12:44:00.005+07:00

Singapore In Photographs III - Sentosa Island & The Underwater World

2008-04-19T22:17:00.003+07:00

Don't ask me what that "thing" above was... some tiny tiny spineless creatures living in the Arctic waters or something. Freaky little buggers :)

Singapore In Photographs III - Sentosa Island

2008-04-19T21:13:00.005+07:00

Singapore In Photographs II - India

2008-04-19T20:54:00.006+07:00

One day I stumbled upon a small show promoting India and the tourism opportunities there. These dancers were amazing - their smiles and energy was contagious.

Singapore In Photographs I - The City

2008-04-19T20:50:00.001+07:00

Being in Singapore is like going back to the Western world ( and Western prices as well) or doing time traveling into the future and having a peak-preview of what other Asian countries might look like in years to come. Full of dynamics - I could almost hear the city hissing "expansion.." in my ears :)

I found it peculiar to hear people of different nations (think Chinatown and Little India) speak their own languages and then, all of a sudden, switch to English, since that's the official language of Singapore and no matter whom you run into, English should do it.

The infamous Orchard Road - this is where the "shopaholics" (S. Kinsella's invention:P) go loose. Who was I not to follow 'the rules' and leave some of my income scattered around da' road.

Rain downpour released all kinds of related "activities" I have never seen anywhere else. I'm not sure if that is a common practice, but at least the shopping mall I happened to be in when the heavy rain (monsoon period) started, provided free umbrellas for people to cross the street with. No kidding! This guy comes out with his little umbrella stand and even tried to convince everyone not to open their own umbrellas bur use "his" instead :) Brilliant so I had to take a picture, hehe, the man even posed for me! :

Also, had never seen special plastic bags to put your wet umbrella in before walking inside a mall. "Magasin", "Bruuns Galleri" and "Salling" managers could learn something from that :)

Tribute to DonG

2008-04-18T17:11:00.000+07:00

Dong, Dong - now that your bloggurs (blog 'bout other blogs) site is up and running, it "hit" me one more time how simple and brilliant that idea of yours really is. The "Next Blog" button sometimes makes me run out of patience... there is a limit how many "daily outfit shows" I bother looking at (no offense... oh well, maybe a microscopic one). But this is enjoyable - direct road to Tried, Tested & Interesting:)

http://www.thebloggurs.blogspot.com/

Me & Busses & The Confusion

2008-04-17T09:59:00.001+07:00

Yesterday and today I have used city busses for my daily trips to work and back when the "school-bus" (read: company car) is not en route. Me being a foreigner does confuse the bus-drivers, hehe, it seems that they simply cannot believe that yeah, I actually am trying to stop the bus! I'm sick of using taxis.. by now it seems like such a "fake" thing to do. Not for real, you know. I mean, who takes a cab to and back from a shopping mall?! Answer: many locals. Never been a taxi person and now, all of a sudden, in and out of green/yellow, blue and pink cabs more often than I can be bothered to count.

Cabs are dirt cheap here and the money saved by using public transportation instead is really of an insignificant amount when converted in DKK, but taking a city bus is an experience in itself - the busses look like they're home made! The ultimate kitchen table technology! :) Like the one from this morning. Believe it or not, the floor was made out of wooden boards, had these huge nails in them - if you'd "remove" everything surrounding it, it would make the perfect pier! Or floor for a summer cottage. There's loads of diverse stuff hanging on the walls - small fans (how did they got attached?! :P), wires of all kinds, flowers etc. The bus never closes the doors & all windows are open. And in between all that - people and me. Wished I had my camera on me. Maybe tomorrow.

Another thing - normally a bus can only be stopped at a designated bus-stop, right? Fair enough. So I wait at a bus-stop. Logically I also assumed that it will stop at one too. Pushed the "stop" button and waited for the vehicle to pull over at the upcoming stop. Oh well, the driver was in a good mood and just pushed on the brake right after the "beep". Taxi-Bus? Bus-Cab??:)

The Hike: Day 2

2008-04-16T22:26:00.000+07:00

Tough morning... it could have been so coz' of sleeping very limited number of hours... :) The 2nd day's plan included passing by two small waterfalls and that meant - aaaahhhh shower! 1.5 hours of more or less downhill walk to the first waterfall/valley village. I recall everyone was exhausted from the heat and you could see "sleeping bodies" all over the place :) It took another 40 minutes to reach the second waterfall. I can't say that they were impressive or anything, but I assume that the reason the path goes by is to give the hikers a chance to have a dip... not the worst idea after all.

On the second day the guide guy (geez, cannot remember the man's name... Joe?!) picked up a dog to come with us (all of a sudden there were 3 dogs instead... where the heck..??). I was told that there can be some water snakes in the stream we were walking by after the 2nd waterfall and that the dog's a master at scaring them away. Well, I only got to see a tiny one, so not much excitement involving wild life creatures.

The night was spent at a Jungle Camp in a valley - identical bamboo huts to the ones from the first night. Beautiful location and the camp was run by one family, so the whole atmosphere was extremely 'homely if I can put it that way. Maybe I should clarify few things here - none of the mountain villages has electricity (I did see one solar panel in a place we passed through, but it seemed to be there for the sole purpose of powering up a huge satellite dish not a water pump :P). Regarding water: mountain stream, water pressure is built up somewhere above the village itself, bunch of plastic pipes and there you go - a tap above you head in a small bamboo shack! Very spartan in a super cool way! :) Well, I guess you have to keep in mind that for the majority of these hill-tribe people accommodation of hikers must be the main source of income.

We got to the camp sometime late afternoon, had dinner around 6pm and for some unknown reason (yeah right!) I decided to lay down and read for a while. Woke up around 2am with my contacts still on. Flashlight, hasty "eye removal" procedure and back to sleep :)

The Hike: Day 1

2008-04-15T20:25:00.012+07:00

I have managed to return from Chiang Mai with all of my bones in an intact condition except a few minor scratches on my legs. No silly falling during the trekking tour and no nasty encounters with stampeding human-buffalo's in Chiang Mai city during the Songkran festival - trust me, I saw quite a few people (including women) with arms and legs covered in elastic bandages and looking like some war veterans. The whole town was going wild...but I will get back to that later. Lets start with the trekking tour while my memories are still fresh.

Day 1

Got picked up from my guesthouse by a man, who turned out to be our guide for the whole 3 days; on the way more people where picked up - I believe we got to be 11 in total for the first night. This is slightly funny - in the previous post I mentioned I figured (as the TravelHub lady told me) the group I'd be joining in on was from Germany and in their early thirties. Well, there was one German student there; basically the folks requesting the hike were exchange students studying in BKK - mainly french, one Canadian, one American and yeah, the infamous German guy. And so not even close to 30! But I was "saved" by additional 2 drop-in's like me :)

Nevertheless, great people and it was entertaining to observe the dynamics of the group and compare their impressions of being stationed in Bangkok. Some love it, some hate it to their guts. The french seemed to seriously suffer from lack of access to proper cheese and wine (oh those spoiled gourmets :P). Understandable, really. I miss that too. I also got to hear a sentence in the lines of "as long as I make 250 thousand by the time I'm 30, I'll be a happy man". Felt like asking for the Recipe Of Happiness.

As I have mentioned before, this is the time of Songkran/Water Festival - the traditional Thai New Year. The main fun attraction (both for tourists and the locals) is throwing water at everyone - people passing by, moving vehicles - you name it. Wherever there are people living, "attack stations" in the shape of huge water barrels OR (for the more sophisticated type) water hoses are set up on the roadsides. There is no escaping getting soaked. Especially when the ride is taken in an open-type truck. Well, our guide was prepared - large plastic bags for keeping our backpacks dry. No human-size sacks for us. Get the drift. Two hour long drive later The Hikers where "unloaded" and got to trek for an hour... uphill, naturally. Lunch.

Elephant ride. Apparently em' beasts in Chiang Mai area has a particular skill - spray their own spit all over themselves and whoever happens to be on top. And if some muddy stream happens to be on the route, why not to do the same thing, huh? Elephant saliva - not cool! Mud flying out through the elephants trunk all over me - not cool either :)

Another three hours. Uphill, naturally. Well, the point of the trip was to go to 2 small mountain villages, so it couldn't have been that much of a surprise that the walk will go upwards, but the human mind has it's own mysterious ways of fooling the beholder. Sore muscles kicked in on the 2nd day.

The village was beautiful - great view even though April is not the optimal month for that. The bamboo huts (just like camping, except that one is freed from setting up a tent), home cooked food, beer and guitars - couldn't think of a better way how to end a tiring day. Guitar playing and singing along until early morning hours... hehe, both of the guitars were so out of tune, that Jedi aka Gad eventually refused to play it - hurting ears, you see :)

Obviously we were sending such good 'vibes' throughout the tiny village that another trekking group joined us - quite a crowd in the end. Great, great night.

3 days anyway

2008-04-10T14:40:00.003+07:00

A while ago my hiking trip was scaled down to 2 days instead of 3 as initially planned - the company mixed up some dates and thus I only could make to the shorter trip (due to Songkran). It was fine with me as well. However, today I got a call from TravelHub and the sweet lady there tells me that she had received a 3 day trip request from a group of 10 people and if I'd like to do the 3 day hike anyway? Great! Im all in! The group is from Germany (or so I understood), people in their early thirties (purrrfect!) and lets hope that it consists of male bachelors only! :P But then again - I have never ever heard of 10 guys going traveling together, hehe, so the chances of no other females are very slim. Looking forwards no matter what the company will turn out to be - there are remedies for making even the most boring person on this planet manageable.t Beer. Cheer's Homer.

Bingo

2008-04-09T17:57:00.002+07:00

Numerous Starbucks coffees later... several shopping 'sprees' later... after being mad at my phone for having such a stupid and useless menu... after getting a new visa without encountering a single problem - I'm back at the airport. Want to get 'home', sleep, be super efficient tomorrow and leave again.

Walkin' & Walkin'

2008-04-07T21:28:00.002+07:00

Back to YMCA - tired of walking for numerous hours around the city. Never got further than Orchard road, but its a long one with shopping malls all over the place. And Starbucks :) Had dinner together with an elderly American man, who happened to be in the lobby of YMCA at the same time as I - asked for directions and we ended up chatting and dining at some restaurant across the street (burgers and spareribs :P)

Walked to Little India - an area nearby that consists of shops and diners owned/run by Indians residing in Singapore. Crammed with people, Indian music and the smell of their delicious food - like walking into another country, really.

Well, now its time to give my tired feet some rest - gotta be at the embassy at 9am, so an early start it is.

Surreal to be here. Got out of the subway this morning and had to ask myself - what was the place I'm at? ;-) Very very different from Thailand.

Have Landed

2008-04-07T09:48:00.002+07:00

Just landed in Singapore - now I dont know how many passengers this airport "gets through" on a yearly basis, but evertything is happening extremely fast here :)

Right, off to No-Line Immigrationc counter and then - lets see what kind of place have I gotten to :)

And Singapore it is

2008-04-04T17:05:00.002+07:00

Yup, got a ticket in me' pocket, a clipboard full of documents and hopefully a booking confirmation from YMCA will arrive soon as well. Sort of set to go. What's missing yet - need to do some research about what to see there... have many hours to spend. It just might happen that endless strolling around without a destination will annoy me :)

Will make it fun.

Visa Nightmare

2008-04-03T19:42:00.002+07:00

How do I fight the insane bureaucracy? Having trouble with extending my visa - lets see what happens tomorrow... worst case scenario I might be forced to squeeze a flight to Singapore and back the following day amidst my next weeks super-tight schedule to get a tourist visa (or if lucky, the embassy there could extend my ED visa...).

Tired of the whole circus. Also little bit worried about how it will turn out. Lets see, lets see.

What's up with The Ears?!

2008-03-30T21:03:00.002+07:00

I assume it's a cow, but the ears? Like a Dumbo version of a cow. Couldn't believe my eyes there for a second :)

Wat Phu Khao Thong

2008-03-30T20:50:00.003+07:00

A small climb and a great view. And I forgot to mention - the temple is nothing but straight - the top part of it is skewed to one side.

What Phra Ram & Wat Phra Mahathat

2008-03-30T20:32:00.004+07:00

Look at this guy!

2008-03-30T20:17:00.002+07:00

I actually regret I couldn't summon up the courage to go and ask the guy if I could get closer... taken from distance its so blurry... hmmm

Temple Bells & And The People There

2008-03-30T20:12:00.001+07:00

Oh yeah... the "burned" arms

2008-03-30T20:08:00.001+07:00

Wat Yai Chai Mongkol & Wat Phanan Choeng

2008-03-30T19:52:00.002+07:00

Trip of the day - Ayutthaya

2008-03-30T19:06:00.002+07:00

Sunday's are for exploring. Got up at 6am, out the door at 7am to be at the central train station at 8am - from there 1.5 h ride (85 km north from Bangkok) to a city called Ayutthaya, which was established around 1350 (was one of the wealthiest cities in Asia around 1600). The city was destroyed by burmese warriors, so all thats left from the glorious days are ruins - still impressive, though. The train ride - this is rather funny - there was a choice between the 2nd (with some sort of air-condition) and 3rd class (open windows and some fans), fair enough. But check out the price difference - 20 BTH for the 3rd and 240 BTH for the 2nd :) Wild, wild, people! Well, the first picture if of the 2nd class (I guess the main thing is that such a ticket comes with a seat number) on the way to the destination and the old lady (she had aged in such a way that it seemed she was constantly smiling... I guess I wouldn't mind getting my old age wrinkles set in such a way...) in the 3rd class on the way back. Stood up for most of the way, since it was crowded, but got to sit down in the end for some 20 minuter or so. Not that it was a good idea - once I got out in Bangkok I looked like I had "peed" in my pants :) Anyway, once there I got a tuk-tuk to drive me around for 3 hours to all the must-see objects.

Wonderful day, all in all. Very very hot here now and I cant avoid wiping sweat beads off my forehead every other 10 minutes. I will let the pictures do the talking.

P.S. And YES, I did forget sun lotion...

...And So They Did

2008-03-29T19:04:00.003+07:00

They will force me, I know they will

2008-03-28T13:25:00.000+07:00

One of the sales guys here has quit and therefore tonight many of 'us' are gathering together for another farewell party. And I'm sure it will be fun. Until they will attempt to force me to sing karaoke... and trust me - they will :)

For the next upcoming 6 hours I will try and summon all the forces out there (hellooo, Universe!) for one wish only - let there be no English songs on the karaoke list! First, I cant sing; second, I always get so embarrassed (one of the few occasions where I can just see myself blush.... aaaaarghhh!) and third - I have no intentions to dedicate the whole day tomorrow for "reflections" - thus No Can Do :)

Wicked Desserts

2008-03-27T20:24:00.003+07:00

There's something about bright colors in this country - from clothing to edible stuff. Loads of Green S (E 142) and Erythrosine (E 127) - research does it :)

Genetically Modified Cactus & Organic Glass Fibre

2008-03-27T20:15:00.004+07:00

A Day of Great Realizations (shoot... sounds like from Winnie The Phoo or somethin')

2008-03-27T17:11:00.000+07:00

It just got to me - in four month time I won't have that relatively costly and limiting consumer loan I had to take close to 3 years ago hanging above my head any longer! Which means 1000 extra every month. Percent-wise it means I will have an income increase of 15% - SU&SU loan makes the number 1000 look more wicked than it actually is :) Yeah, who else can brag about getting 15%, huh? Tell me! :)

From Smog to Green

2008-03-27T13:45:00.000+07:00

Im off to Northern Thailand - Chiang Mai - from the 10th to 15th of April. Have an airplane ticket, a booked 3-day hiking tour. What I don't have is a place to sleep for 3 nights. Looking at some cheap guesthouses - have to hope not all of them are fully booked due to Songkran (thats when all the tourists head there...). If that will be the case anyway, I will improvise once I get there. No matter if I end up sleeping in a room or on a bench somewhere, I still need to buy certain things like mosquito repellant, some shorts and a pair of sturdy sneakers, if possible. And some socks. Maybe a tiny big larger backpack. And maybe a rubber tonfa to beat off all of em' dangerous men up there everyone's been warning me about :)

Looking forwards to get out of this Smog City and up into green mountains.

Cars and other environment friendly gadgets?

2008-03-27T12:01:00.002+07:00

Just got a free ticket to The Environmental Auto Globalization's "The 29th Bangkok International Motor Show". What a title. Never been to a car show before - normally I can live without looking at 4 wheels - I don't have a drivers license :) But this show could be one of those that has loads of those "Out-Of-Space" and futuristic "cars" - hybrids and whatever else. Will make pictures, so you all can have a look at your future car.

An update

2008-03-24T16:29:00.002+07:00

One blink of an eye and it's already 3pm - untypically fast Monday. What have I been doing today? Drinking a lot of coffee (grrr - Thailand's no good for me in that aspect.. nor is any other country where coffee is legal :P). And going back in time with "OK Computer" (gosh, was I really 19 back then? I recall watching the "Paranoid Android" cartoon video on MTV quite many times). Adding and removing sentences and whatever statements from The Document. Went downstairs to chat with Ooy (she is the best diversion here that helps me to avoid watering eyes from staring at the computer for too long). Mutual help - Ooy's occasionally bored and I need a friendly distraction. Especially when I get "stuck".

Weekend, weekend - went to Jens's birthday dinner. The restaurant/'boat' was quite far away from where I live, but I estimated that a 30 min taxi ride would do it. And was I wrong or what. First of all, the taxi driver wasn't that sure where to go (and by now I'm used to that happening on frequent basis, so - I always have my map with me... not that it always helps. Em' roads here are "nuts". He also spent around 10 minutes calling someone to find the way, hehe, when we actually were 200 m away from the final destination. I just couldn't convince the guy to drive along the way while I'd be on a look-out for the "Immortal Pub" sign. He had to call :P ); secondly - we got stuck in traffic for a while. All in all, instead of my 30 minutes me' and me' buddy taxi driver were stuck together in da' vehicle for an hour and ten minutes instead. Arrived "decent" 40 minutes late... like a real lady, eh? :P I hate being late. Talk about some German blood somewhere. The restaurant actually was a karaoke-place. Meaning - it's very popular here to rent a small "karaoke house" (depending on the amount of people willing to sing) together with some friends for a whole evening; sit down, have dinner and sing your heart out. I have taken some picture of the small "houses" - will post them once I get home.

The party itself - oh well, nobody "burned the house down" - but it's always nice to wish someone a good "half-a-century", the food was lovely and I got to see two of my work-colleagues together with their families in a different setting.

Yesterday - bed, bed & bed. No alarm. Nothing. Reading. Some ORIO cookies. Water. Bed. TV - the worst movie ever. Something extremely stupid about a guy turning into a dog. Geez.. where did the investors for that film come from?!? Sleeping again. Getting some new music. Bought a beer, but never opened it. Lovely lazy sunday. Wasted time, in a sense, but I've got plenty of it.

Tamarind

2008-03-21T14:39:00.000+07:00

I cant decide if I think it's just too weird to eat or if I could actually learn to like the taste. Funny lookin' fruit, if I may call it that :)

P.S. Googled image

"Izvestia" & History

2008-03-21T13:56:00.001+07:00

Today I decided that every working day I will find an interesting article to read in Russian language - just to train up my reading & understanding skills a bit. So, a while ago I stumbled on a history section of a Russian newspaper "Izvestia", where my attention was caught by another subsection - the newspaper had announced a competition about the best family legends 'in photographs' older than 1957. Anyway, this is what I learned today (the story is told by a photo-corespondent Victor Ahlomov about his own childhood) : during the WWII (namely 1941), when the Germans had neared Moscow, Stalin gave out an order to evacuate all children out of Moscow to some sort of centers. People say that during 'training' air raids, where everybody was obliged to run to shelters and subways, the 'discovered' children were immediately taken away despite them actually being together with their parents. Following the orders of Stalin, you see. Anyway, Victor's family, deliberately ignoring those instructions, stayed in Moscow all throughout the war. He remembers (he was 4 at the time) him being carried in a large bag or a backpack under the disguise of being "valuable items" to the nearest metro station during some air raids. His family lived in a 5-room apartment "community" or as called in Russian "kommunalka" - a large apartment occupied by several families, each having only one room. Time to time their home would be inspected by some true believers of the "system" - Victor was always successfully hidden; mostly on the top of the roof of the 5 story building or with other neighbors. Thus he avoided the "evacuation". Unfortunately the article doesn't say anything more about the "evacuated" youngsters.

Bird Rescue!

2008-03-21T10:42:00.000+07:00

Went downstairs to chat with Oi (the receptionist) - needed some help with locating the restaurant where the tomorrow's event is held. All of a sudden we realized there was a bird inside - you know, one of the small/grey ones that normally steal food from em' slow pigeons. The poor thing was trying to escape... crashing into the glass walls, falling down to the floor... I tried and tried to catch it, but in vain. Finally, an "escape" flight across the whole entrance hall followed by a loud thump - birdie knocked out on the floor. Picked it up, held it in my hand, tried to see if it's a fighter or a goner. Opened beak, cramped little legs, one eye filling up with blood. Didn't look good at all. Started contemplating who would be able to put the birdie out of its misery. I can't do that. Neither could Oi. Another 5 minutes passed with the bird in my palm - and then, all of a sudden - off he flew :) Maybe he will be a bird with only one good eye. Maybe not :)

Thai Songkran Holiday

2008-03-20T09:37:00.006+07:00

The 14-15th of April is the Thai Songkran Holiday - that basically is the Thai New Year and is celebrated as the Water Festival. This means that there is a chance to make something out of the 'extended' weekend - if I can beg to have the friday, the 11th of April off as well, Im on my way to Northern Thailand - more precisely Chiang Mai. Have already looked at flights and tour companies - there is a 3 day trekking tour starting early on the 11th - and I must be there! :) The tour includes rafting as well - that sounds like fun - getting soaked, hehe :) The nice thing is that I can go there alone and then just join a small group (max 8 persons). Geez, what if I get lucky and stumble on some hot backpackers, huh?! :P

Wish me luck to get this down!

Shine, shine and lead the way!

2008-03-19T21:48:00.002+07:00

Now that the "scarecrow" is up there, I can't stop staring at it :) Not sure what's the occasion, but the ornament showed up on the top of the building across the street at week ago or so. Novelty in marketing tactics :P

Thai vs. English

2008-03-18T09:09:00.002+07:00

The usual morning ritual - get up at 7am (well.. 7.15 this morning), crawl to the shower (thats where I start opening my eyes) and spend the next 10 minutes under water "reincarnating". Anyhow, the mornings are very much alike. I must be downstairs at 7.55 on a lookout for The Black Vehicle. Nevertheless, this morning there was a small surprise inside the 'black box'. The driver guy (oops, cannot recall his name) had put one of those "Let's-learn-English" DVD's in the player. First, I nearly banged my head on the 'TV' screen while getting in; second, the minute I realized what was being played, I knew that the "circus" had arrived to town :) The result - I think I can recall how to say "I'm pleased to meet you" in Thai. Oh no, wait a sec... nope, in through one ear, out through the other :) My long term memory is not activated before 9am.

The meaning, though, is for my colleagues to practice English - not that much for me to learn Thai. But they're getting a kick out of listening to my lame attempts to pronounce sentences in Thai, so I guess that's not that bad of a trade-off after all :)

What else is new - the Danish guy Jens that works here is throwing a 50 years birthday party this weekend. Don't know why, but I also got an invitation. Have sent a positive rsvp and now the challenge - what about a gift? Any ideas, let me know. I have no idea how formal or informal the event will be, but will have to adapt; also, one can't put a price on networking possibilities, right? :)

A few more shots

2008-03-15T23:03:00.002+07:00

Tsunami signs, long-tail boats & slipper/bathrobe "mode"

One day trip to Phi Phi Islands

2008-03-15T22:53:00.001+07:00

Friday was dedicated for a speed boat trip to Phi Phi Islands, which are around 30 min 'speedy' boat ride away from Nopparat Thara beach. There is some bliss involved when booking a complete day (from 9am - 4pm) tour - we got picked up at our hotel and driven to the above mentioned beach. There the guides 'color-coded' us - each got a different color sticker depending on the destination :) Yellow group - Phi Phi! We were around 22 persons on "our" boat - a rather peculiar mixture of Thai people, some Americans (one of them seriously reminded me of Ole Henriksen with a dash of Elton John :P), a couple from France and us.

Man, I had forgotten how much fun it is to be on a speed boat (boat no. 99 in one of the pictures) - the last time I've done that is a few years ago in Florida. The best part, of course, is the moment when the boat hits a larger wave and jumps up in the air :)

Anyway, the tour took us to several of the islands belonging to the Phi Phi group and we got to snorkel in 3 different locations. I had never tried snorkeling before, so that was a whole new experience for me. One of the reefs was in the open sea - absolutely beautiful - now I can understand why so many people get utterly fascinated by the underwater world and keep on re-living that special experience. All the fish in such bright colors (and that includes Dorothy from "Finding Nemo"! :P) - I don't have enough words to describe everything properly. Oh, and sea cucumbers are as disgusting as people say! :)

What I can say, though, is that the water in Andaman Sea is much more salty than in the Baltic Sea - very unpleasant to swallow, but somehow I didn't fully manage to avoid doing that :) Another lesson learned - it IS very easy to get a burned butt while snorkeling :P Used loads of sun lotion (factor 35 even) all over ourselves, but somehow our 'sitting areas' got excluded from the preservation treatment. Outcome - hmm... you can imagine :)

Amazing, amazing day - the beaches on the islands are even nicer than in Krabi; the white sand is so fine that it feels like you're pacing around in vast amounts of coffee creamer instead of sand. Unforgettable.

And where we knackered in the end? Oh yeah.. so much that 1.5 hours airplane delay was about to send as into white rage :) Also, I think Christina's hearing was slightly impaired - during descent to BKK the pilot did the usual bla-bla talk (fluent English but with a very heavy Thai accent). All of a sudden Chri's looks at me and asks if I heard the same thing - did the pilot reeeaaaaally say: "Miss, please be seated properly". Well, what I think he said was "Crew, prepare for landing". This naturally led to some violent giggles (and yup, Im 100% positive we were highly annoying to the other passengers, hehe), but we couldn't help constructing different situations in our minds, where it would be appropriate and justified for the pilot to say that. And why would there be a "Miss" in the cockpit, and what would the "Miss" be doing and how could the "Miss" NOT be seated properly :)

Where did the Targets Go??

2008-03-15T19:51:00.003+07:00

Oh, you know how it goes.. trips to beach areas naturally involves some peeping on the opposite sex - but what has gone wrong with the world?!? :) We only got to use the military system "Target. 3 o'clock" on few occasions. And even then The Target worthy (read - way beyond our league :P) of our attention had some darn female taggin' around. Couldn't come up with a single reason for that to be so. None at all :P

Wind & Sun & Very Salty Water = Dreadlocks Natural

2008-03-15T19:48:00.000+07:00

Wind-blown hair gone stiff from constant 'exposure' to salt water thus making it impossible to comb through (so we kinda gave up on that... heheh), spots of unabsorbed sun-lotion mixed with saltwater, mostly wet clothing and smudged mascara (in the end we also gave up on lets-be-pretty as well... or was that done long before we realized that had happened?) - oh well, not the best appearance to be sporting, but we felt liberated and free - and something of hippy-wanna-be spirt came along as well :) Gone for 3 days and some might have thought we have been backpacking for 4 months...

Railay and the paradox of West and East sides

2008-03-15T19:09:00.001+07:00

Here you can see the path - up and down again on the other side :) The photo with Chris - the bushy area behind her is where the path ends.

About Railay - it is one of the most visited and sought after beaches to live on within the Krabi town area. And I can sure see why - the west side of the peninsula offers a lovely wide sandy beach and beautiful cliffs to gaze upon. The more pricey hotels and bungalows are on this side; the east side is far from being that magnificent - sure, the overall view is all right, but the beach there is too rocky for swimming and not nearly as wide. So, if going budget, get a room on the east side and have that 5 minute walk across the peninsula to the west side instead. Long-tail boats to Nammao Bay (thats where our hotel was) depart from the east side, so we walked across and were we in for a surprise of what?! Imagine walking from a well up-kept beach into a "trash can" - the middle part of the peninsula is covered in litter, there are old trashy sheds (obviously bars that have seen better days), and everything else you can imagine. People living there & tourists residing on the east side walk through that every day. I don't get it. I simply can't understand how can the owners of the hotels be so oblivious to that. Why can't all the businesses there get together and, lets say, arrange a week or two for cleaning that place up? It can't cost that much to employ a dozen of local people (truly, a win-win situation) and get all that trash out of there... it is so disrespectful towards the beautiful nature thats there to be covered up like that. But that partially is the "funny" part about Thailand in general - somehow, and for some reason, dirt and trash all around is not bothering anyone. Or not as much as it should. Unfortunately.

Thursday's trip to the nearest beaches

2008-03-15T18:34:00.000+07:00

The trip around the neighborhood took place on Thursday; the hotel provides a free ride to Ao Nang beach at 1pm every day, thus the first image is from there. Heavily overpopulated with western tourists (or "members" of KFC, depending how you look at it :P); nevertheless, a lovely place to swim (but not nearly as beautiful as some of the beaches/islands we got to see on the following day) and sunbathe, dine out and shop for all kinds of junk. From Ao Nang we took a long-tail boat to West Railay Bay - but for some reason the boat stopped at Ao Ton Sai beach (which is just before Railay) and we, of course, thought that was the end destination. Ton Sai is the third & fourth image. Only after the boat took off with 2 passengers left in it, it dawned on us that - ooops - this is not where we wanted to be. But we got a small adventure out of it anyway. Stayed put for an hour or so - love swimming :)

Went to inquire at the tourist information post how to get to West Railay - it turned out that its possible to walk there - just at the end of the beach there is a path leading across the rock - and at Railay you are! 15 min of hike, or so they said. Well, well - who are we if not super hikers/rock climbers... except the fact that I wore flip-flops... but I was reassured I could do the path barefooted. Off we go, then. The small climb was fun, there even were ropes laid out in certain places; it left as soaking wet and dirty (a picture of the path and Railay Bay on the next post).

The last image is of East Railay Bay. It takes only about 5 minutes to walk across the peninsula.

Some diverse pictures

2008-03-15T15:03:00.001+07:00

The View & Garden

2008-03-15T14:38:00.002+07:00

Breakfast & Dinner with a view - followed by a late night cocktails and a swim - what can 2 girls ask more for, huh? :)

Krabi Tropical Beach Resort

2008-03-15T13:59:00.000+07:00

A small introduction: Krabi is located in southern Thailand, on the west side coast of that long peninsula I don't know the name of (maybe it doesn't have any). It takes around 1.5 hour flight from Bangkok to get there.

Before leaving I spent several hours looking for a hotel; reading reviews on TripAdvisor and I got even more confused by all the conflicting reviews.. :) There are several beaches in the Krabi area - which one do you pick? Also, me and Christina didn't feel like being in a place, where one is constantly surrounded by stampeding crowds; plus, there is the issue how much one is willing to pay. Eventually I settled on a small family run hotel located directly on the beach (which is not for swimming, though - too rocky), with a beautiful view and still close to the other beaches reachable by either long-tail boat or a bus. And what a great choice! I don't think I have ever been in a hotel that lovely and well thought out, with extremely welcoming staff and - oh well, it was exactly what we were looking for - peace and some serenity :) Once we got to our room we actually started sort of "squealing" - all the little 'touches' - see for yourself :)

Krabi!

2008-03-12T21:39:00.002+07:00

Yo, people! We have happily arrived in Krabi, have spent our first day chilling by the pool and having cocktails. And now the breakthrough thought - yes, we are spoiling ourselves :)
Pictures will be posted once back in BKK.

Drain Fun

2008-03-11T16:40:00.000+07:00

I don't think this image requires to be commented upon, but I must admit I experienced a certain dosage of curiosity when it became clear that Christina had latex gloves with her from back home.. :P

Hard Rock Cafe

2008-03-11T14:42:00.000+07:00

For some reason (yeah, right!:P) Christina "fell in love" with the thought of having a big, fat and juicy burger...plus something about dining there the last time she was in Bangkok... blah blah down the memory lane :) Right, off we go to the Hard Rock Cafe. That must be The Place in Bangkok that reminds one of home and pubs/restaurants in Europe. Full of foreigners, naturally. Prices are like for foreigners too, hehe :) But, but - the burgers were huge, juicy and, as expected, the stage of "I-ate-too-much" was reached rather early throughout the dining process :) Oh, forgot to mention - on our way out the waitress came with two small gift bags and what's inside - an original Hard Rock Cafe glass! Sweet :)

The Tiger Temple

2008-03-11T14:08:00.000+07:00

A very famous attraction in the area - a monastery where for some years the residing monks have been preserving tigers (and also eventually breeding them); the tigers are born there thus not feeling threatened by humans and therefore are acting sort of pet-like. I did some reading about the place - some people claim that the tigers are drugged, sedated and so on. Other's say the complete opposite, so, as always with subjects that are easy victims for conspiracy theories, there is nothing to do than go there yourself and make your own opinion. Now after having been there, I would say the tigers are just fine and acting as any night animal would during the top heat hours of the day. Also, it's not such a bad idea that the tigers were relaxed and dozing off now and then :) The 'tigers-are-sedated theory' - I got the impression thats just bunch of crap. The people working there - I doubt any of them could live with themselves if that really would be true; not the right vibe there for mistreatment to be taking place. Also, sedating would require perfect timing since I saw all the tigers walking back to their cages... plus, the incurred cost? No, no - I don't think thats happening.

Not a scary experience (though you had to sign a liability disclaimer before entering, hehe), I'd say. Kinda cool, since this probably was the first and last time I will ever touch a tiger.

Elephant Bath continued...

2008-03-11T13:42:00.000+07:00

I think I need to explain the surprise element in the whole elephant ordeal, if I may call it like that. After the arrival at the elephant camp (riding in on of those open type taxi vans for 40 min - will post a picture of that later - makes the best blow-dried-hair-look ever; beats Vidal Sassoon any time), we did not expect the trip up on a small hill to only be the preliminary event. Together with some other 10 elephants we descended to the river located in the area (you kinda walked through the water fro about 15 meters by the coast line and then back up), got slightly wet cause our elephant was "naughty" and then our elephant was led to a side and we were told to get off. Well, we wondered why our tour seemed to be finished while others continued, but, well - maybe that was what we had paid for. Anyway, your elephant 'rider' tells us to go to the riverside again, where we find our driver giving each a bath towel and pointing his finger towards the river again. We had no intention whatsoever to go swimming in the river.. why in the world would we do that? So we sort of protested, though the driver kept on saying: "Change" (meaning get into bikinis or something'). Anyway, we probably looked like two tourist idiots until the moment we saw 2 elephants coming over... now thats when we realized that this is gonna be the culmination of the whole trip :)

The guys were sweet enough to take pictures of the bathing - unfortunately many of them aren't very sharp, bet better this than nothing. After the 'water-fun' we had a quick wash under the two shower-heads located on the bank of the river; funny, since we didn't have our bikinis underneath, we were forced to stand there in our undies and the 2 guys didn't turn around or anything. Well, later we saw that the one taking pictures actually dared to take 2 shots while we were showering - what a daredevil, hehe :P

The Elephant Ride & Bath

2008-03-11T11:29:00.000+07:00

This is what made us screaming - meant in the best way possible :)

Pool Chicks

2008-03-11T10:52:00.000+07:00

Some beers and pool - pure heaven. Our next door room-mate was a woman from Netherlands, so we ended up spending the evening together.

The Bridge over Kwai

2008-03-11T10:25:00.000+07:00

The first evening all we did was to look at the bridge over river Kwai, which is a part of the known Burma railway, also called the Death Railway (build during the WW2 by Japan using forced labor - Asian laborers and POW's). But, you all know how to use Google, if in need of more information :)

Anyway, the bridge is there and the Death Railway is still used for passenger trains until a place called Nam Tok (like 130 km all in all). The bridge is not, how can we put it, 'designed' for crossing, really - between the rails there is a "path" from steal plates, but that's pretty much it. Oh well, walking on the small wood planks on the outer sides of the rails was not something I felt very comfortable with. It was kinda freaky to cross it and the feeling that the bridge has all of a sudden become longer on the way back couldn't be avoided either :)

The hotel

2008-03-11T08:46:00.003+07:00

Mission

2008-03-10T15:13:00.000+07:00

Mission Participants: Laura & Christina

Problem: what to do?

Limitations: 2 days only

Action description: Saturday morning. Out of bed too late (naturally). Close to 40 min long trip in a taxi to the other side of Bangkok. Southern Buss Terminal (Sai Tai Mai) and a bus ride direction northwest lasting slightly more than 2 hours. Destination Kanchanaburi with no reservations of any kind.

We arrived in Kanchanaburi town without knowing where we will stay over the night - that was the adventure part not to plan too much. Right decision. Advertising is rather aggressive here - purchased buss tickets come along with several brochures of guesthouses & hotels, so all you have to do is to 'give in'. The town plus the surrounding area is a serious tourist magnet due to the history of the province (WW2), the nature and many activities to spend time on. Therefore do expect to be swarmed by questions "Where do you want to go?" from numerous taxi, tuk-tuk, scooter-taxi or rickshaw drivers :)

I think this was one of those weekends where Mr. Murphy had finally decided to bugger off (yo, dude! Do me a favor.. keep it that way) - nothing went wrong and we had the magic touch :) The guesthouse we picked was brilliant - cheap and the small room was tidy (with a shower/WC!) and check out the ultimate bonus - a pool! :) The whole place was just lovely to at; also staff spoke rather good English and were very sweet and helpful.

Kanchanaburi and everything that follows

2008-03-10T11:58:00.001+07:00

Right, people! Everybody tends to exaggerate when using sentences in the lines of "the best ever" or "unbelievable" (mind you, imagine the last 'e' being dragged out indefinitely, so it turns into a squeal instead), BUT - here comes the undeniable 'but' - it was the best ever! No cheating, kidding or any other misleading behavior here - I can't recall the last time I've been laughing out loud (on the verge of hysteria, actually) like an uninhibited child; sure, I have a decent guffaw every week (blaaaaaahhh...), but, as for most of us, the 'spark' that kick-starts a regular chuckle normally is not the kind that makes one think - is this really happening?? :) And after the regular laughs you feel time passing along just as it always does, whereas after one of them is-this-for-real events everything converts into fast-forward mode. The memory of an event taking place no more than 6-8 hours ago all of a sudden is located on the deeper far-away "shelves" of ones memory and thus appears to have happened weeks ago instead. It seems that the price that has to be paid for keeping a vivid memory for as long as you live is to let go of the feeling you actually were "in it" :)

Geez, what am I writing about? Clearly, there is nobody that can get me off the initial track better than myself! Lets "land" and talk some real stuff that actually matters and makes some sort of sense :)

Tuesday Night

2008-03-06T11:05:00.001+07:00

Hippy Bar & Jojo while talking about what can a remote control be used for :-) Overall, great night - from lovely dinner (guess who had 'spicy mushrooms Thai style') to a funny taxi ride home (the guy was kinda/sort of "dancing" around in his seat while driving.. oh well, could have been worse, I guess). The day after was for reflecting ;-)

Can't come up with a decent title

2008-03-01T21:37:00.001+07:00

Just had a "trip" to the small convenience store next door, and when I say 'next door' I really mean it.. the place is maybe 100 meters away. Anyway, this building has a night guard - a sweet older man, who always comes running when I come back with a taxi from Seacon Square mall - he always insists on taking some of my shopping bags out of my hands... I gave him a small chocolate once just to somehow express my gratitude. It was a little tricky to decipher if his immediate reaction was positive or not - he kinda waved and walked off; I got paranoid if I had unintentionally crossed some lines with that, but nope - the next day it was all smiles as usual :)

The point Im even mentioning this is - now, that I was on my way to the store, he comes up and says: "madam, go where?" I reply I'm just going around the corner and walk, when I realize that he's coming with me. Thought to myself.. what, maybe he misunderstood me or something? Maybe he wants to help me to get a taxi? When I got to the corner, he stops, points at the store and says, while pointing at himself: "wait for 5 minutes". My heart almost jumped out through my mouth. Thought... you gotta be kidding me... you gotta be kidding... he walked me through the dark street and waited.. and then carried one of the shopping bags... if this would have been one of my bad and feeling-very-lonely-days, I probably would have tried to hug this unbelievably amazing elderly man.

Office Snoopy Show 2008

2008-02-28T15:47:00.000+07:00

Lunch of The Day

2008-02-28T14:43:00.000+07:00

First choice: The soup-look-a-like contains a vegetable (the big chunks) I don't know the name off and nobody seems capable of finding the English name for it anyway, so let's just pretend it's not there. But underneath all the "garniture" is a large piece of unidentifiable fish. Spicy.

Second alternative: Egg pancake. Mild and, naturally, tastes of an omelet. If not into spicy, this is the obvious (and the only) choice.

Third option: Chicken and yes, the tiny longish chopped-up something is pure ginger! Fantastic! Used a lot here; also - maybe that explains the growing population, hehe, since ginger is said to have a testosterone-like effects - guys, start eating! :)

Wendy's Goodbye Dinner continued

2008-02-28T13:03:00.001+07:00

Wendy's Goodbye Dinner

2008-02-28T12:30:00.000+07:00

A few pictures from last nights dinner party in the honor of Wendy's (work colleague) return back to China. There was so much food, you know - and it just kept on coming. Plus, there also was a guy playing Thai music on an acoustic guitar; I thought that to be rather wonderful. The local restaurant is on my way home from work, probably 10-15 minutes walk away from home. Unfortunately, I didn't know we would have the party, so no camera of my own - that sort of bugs me, since I saw a few moments I would have liked to capture.. but, next time Im there I will take some shots of static items/corners I found interesting - such as a wooden sink in the bathroom :)

Transcript

2008-02-26T11:54:00.003+07:00

"There is something blue blinking..."

Me: "Where?"

"On the little edge"

"Just ignore it; doesn't matter..."

"But how do I close this? Should I close all the windows? What about that Firefox? (pronounced Fireeeeefuksssss) I don't see any little cross anywhere... what will happen to the blue blinking thing then? The Skipers (meaning Skype)"

"What does downloading means?"

"Eeerrmm... well, it' like you're downloading a picture or something.. a file, you know"

"What is a file?"

"Eerrmmm...file is a...hmmm... I give up"

"What's an e-mail?"

"Like post, you know. Letters."

"Oh, so you don't have to be there to get the letters?"

"Nope, I don't need to be online to get them, nope"

Computer talk with my mom and dad. Haven't laughed that hard for a long time :) Very funny, really - as long as one can keep annoyance out of it, which I can proudly say, I did! :)

Service level

2008-02-24T12:48:00.001+07:00

The level of attentiveness from the side of staff of many shops is extraordinary; sometimes it goes to such "extremes" that I'm not sure if my boundaries are crossed or not :) Like yesterday, got myself (another) pair of flip-flops and browsed (again) through other shoe shops (my only shopping weakness, really - Pat, shut it! :P); tried on a few pairs and trust me, it is a very very weird feeling to have a young guy kneeling down on his knees and trying/offering to close the shoe strap for you :) My immediate thoughts - shoot, new coat of nail polish required or...errrmm.. I can so do this myself... or what do I do, what do I do?! :) And no, it's got nothing to do with any form of fetishism (for those of you who already started smirking)! :) Just unbelievably helpful attitude - but if that makes one uncomfortable, a 'thank you' and a smile followed by closing your shoe strap yourself is a graceful way out :)

P.S. Today's achievement - got out of bed before noon :P

Why would you want to walk??

2008-02-23T12:58:00.000+07:00

Yesterday I walked home from work - it still was light, I wore flip-flops instead of some high-heel torture tools and my bag wasn't that heavy. Delightful. Half an hour of indicating to all the taxi drivers that no, I actually can walk despite being a westerner :P But first I had to carefully decline a work-mates offer to give me a lift on a scooter - there is no way Im getting on one of those without a helmet! :)

The best discovery from the walk - there is a local bar here! Chris, we gotta investigate the place! Well, I don't know what facilities are required to use the actual term 'bar', but it was kinda cute. Next to the road, relatively nice wooden tables amidst plants, palms and bushes. The only reason I even noticed the place was because of the music and a few lines of colored light bulbs :P But the place is just around the corner, which means that if disappointment sets in, we can always run home :)

OK, it's time for me to chill on my balcony and get some tan on me - book and a bottle of water in hand :)

Small world

2008-02-23T12:44:00.001+07:00

For some unpredictable reason, whenever I get traveling, a confirmation that the world isn't that big comes my way. A typical day, a regular taxi, the attempt to explain where to go and even more predictable question about where I come from... but this time after mentioning that Im a student in Denmark (have sort of given up explaining my split-identity issue :P; everyone seems to know Denmark though - probably because of the caricature crisis), instead of "OK" I hear "Hvordan gaar det?". It turns out that his sister lives in Aalborg and has a Danish husband. After that the unavoidable used-all-over-the-word comment about the cold versus warm weather, Danish milk products and for how long I've been there. A nice change from the standard situation, where I remain silent, smiling or trying to figure the correct moments when to laugh while the taxi driver rambles on in Thai :)

?

2008-02-21T00:11:00.002+07:00

Chri's, come and save me! Im turning into a maniac! Can you ID OCD cases?! :)

Kinda funny and not funny at the same time.

Crap, crap, crap!

2008-02-18T16:36:00.002+07:00

Why, why and one more huge WHY does the biggest computer related cliche - closing an important document without saving it an extra time and loosing the part that took the longest to write (and which also happens to be the section you think you did well with) - always happens at the most inappropriate moment?!? Couldn't care less (right now; that will go over) about my image and whatever remaining reputation and said "S**T" out loud. Murphy, you're a dead man. Could say it even louder one more time, but I can already see the ridiculous aspect of it all ... Geez, woman.. what, were you really born yesterday? (those of you who are of that opinion, remain silent for the day :P)

Flowers & Scent

2008-02-17T21:47:00.000+07:00

Temptations

2008-02-17T21:24:00.001+07:00

Today I have given in to two of them - the first one being the purchase of 4 books (though harmoniously compiled - 50/50 fun & serious) and maybe the "worst" of the two... cheese. Yes, I have finally bought myself a small pack of cheese. Couldn't stand it anymore.. walking around the small selection at Tesco, drooling, calculating the price versus pleasure ratio :P Oh well, it WAS heaven; plus, I have to take care of my own spoiling.

By the way, I found it slightly amusing that the majority of the cheese packaging had the text "Great Source Of Calcium" on it. Milk products aren't top sellers here, which means that people are not getting enough calcium (both empirical and purely medical researches claim the lacking calcium to be the reason for people here being so small).

One more comment about food: if staying here for a longer time, one might as well start working on enjoying egg fruits and other representatives from the same family, because em' things are in everything! :) Don't get me wrong, there is nothing, absolutely nothing wrong with the taste of small green "whatever's" ; it's the feeling in my mouth while chewing... in the beginning I found it ... errm, how can I put it.. geez, all the potential explanations that have just zoomed through my mind sound a bit "dirty", so can't post that.. :P

Sorry :)

Busy & less busy streets

2008-02-17T20:59:00.000+07:00

The first shot is taken from underneath the BTS line (Chit Lom station) - high up, high up :)

Palm trees and naughty birds

2008-02-17T20:43:00.002+07:00

Lumpini Park

2008-02-17T20:40:00.001+07:00

I was slightly disappointed; for no logical reason I had imagined the place will be something special (maybe the word Lumpini gives me associations of something peculiar :P), but, as you all can see, it's a nice place, but sure doesn't leave one in awe. Doesn't stand close to the one next door, but I guess it still is a good refuge place for the people living in the area.

Took BTS to the nearest station and had planned to just walk to the park... which I still did, except that I hadn't expected to get soaked nor to get the worlds muddiest feet (felt like a walking sandman afterwards - leaving a trail after me :P. Had the thought of photographing my own feet, but got too grossed out myself :P)

Fish and alike

2008-02-17T20:21:00.002+07:00

Here comes a few painstakingly (how cool is it to photograph dead fish - made a complete joke out of myself) taken pictures from TescoLotus. Whatever it is... edible, thats all I can tell about it.

The Others

2008-02-16T23:58:00.000+07:00

Hmm.. just spent some time clicking the magic "Next Blog" button (again). Would you believe me when I say that there actually is a blog called ABBA?! :) There's no pattern there - from attempts to be highly intellectual to plain vanity - take your pick. But most of them do offer some sort of explanation why the blog was created in the first place (Im also guilty as charged)... as if blog "owners" need to justify their reasons for being here in the first place. Funny, on one of the blogs there was a post about how silly it is to start a new post with the words "sorry for not writing so long" or "my goldfish died, so I've been mourning" etc. - like if the absence of new posts would keep someone away from continuing to lead their real lives :)

After a while it becomes clear that Im doing this for my own sake :P

Chilling

2008-02-16T22:48:00.001+07:00

A silent night - didn't go out anyway. The girls are broke (I guess the budget for this weekend was "blown" away on Thursday :P), me' two Canadian "kids" (shoot, hope they never stumble on the blog) are off to some sort of an island, so StarMovies channel, music and a beer it is. Nothing to complain about, really - got to see "Little Miss Sunshine" again, which makes one feel that being weird is absolutely OK :P

Initially I had this plan to check out another park located in the center of Bangkok called Lumpini park, but since I woke up only at noon... but I guess I needed the 12 hours of sleep :P

Maybe tomorrow.

Survival Breakfast

2008-02-15T22:16:00.001+07:00

Well, this probably is the best morning-after pick-you-up breakfast.. noodle soup (MAMA is a large Thai noodle and who knows what else producer; Im supportive of the local brand and will remain so despite the fact that the price will be increased by 1 THB due to rising price of palm oil - "quote" local English newspaper :P) AND something that looks like fish oil (or whatever substance containing omega bla bla bla), but actually is the local version of RedBull and, just as RedBull, tastes disgusting, but (placebo or no placebo effect) makes you alive again for the coming 5 minutes. I never expect the buzz to last more than 5 minutes anyway, so nothing to get disappointed about :) Geez, thats one long sentence. Excuse me. Too lazy to edit it, though, so no help from my side.

The party last night was fine; the usual suspects at the usual venue. I was fortunate enough to have Jojo as my find-a-taxi guy :) The third attempt brought results - though I must say that, once we ended up in Prawet (area where I live), there was a slight confusion about which direction to go. Im not of much help, but Im getting there... soon most of the possible routes will be travelled, so there is hope that some day, some day.. :)

I am a very Tall Person

2008-02-13T20:07:00.004+07:00

Tall, tall tall - in my ears 1.67 is just about to be above the children's size section (actually, size 14-16 in H&M is just fine for me :P)

But on the contrary - when 1.40-1.50 is the average, to be a short one in Europe becomes catwalk hight here :) Nice to tower above everyone else, but it's not so smart (or flattering) to be photographed.

Good sleeping methods, anybody??

2008-02-12T00:32:00.000+07:00

Here it comes again.. half past midnight on a regular Monday/Tuesday night and I cannot think myself into a good dream. The usual method of having music in the background seems to create the opposite effect - instead of no thoughts, they just keep showing up. Can't "count sheep" since that is just way too stupid.

Annoying, really.

Graduation

2008-02-10T19:46:00.000+07:00

I was on my way home, when a work-mate of mine came running after me :) She graduated from college around 8 month ago, but today all her family had gathered together to have pictures taken (or this is what I understood the occasion to be :P).

The old lady is her grandmother - what a face! :) The artificial flowers are home made and take a guess out of what - nylon stockings. I'm not a big fan of flowers made of plastic or any other artificial material, but I must admit that this is something special.

...

2008-02-10T19:38:00.000+07:00

And again.. sorry, run out of title ideas :)

2008-02-10T19:30:00.000+07:00

... keepin' on

2008-02-10T19:20:00.001+07:00

Rama IX continued...

2008-02-10T18:46:00.001+07:00

Rama IX park pictures - finally :)

2008-02-10T18:46:00.000+07:00

This then is the amazing park right across my street; in one of the pictures a white building can be seen in the far background - thats where I live. The pictures I took today are only of a small part of the park; I spent my time finding a good spot to settle down in and read a book - and for some reason I didn't notice my arms staring to get too sunburned.. :)

Chinese New Year

2008-02-09T23:59:00.000+07:00

Despite the fact that Chinese New Year is not an official holiday in Thailand, it still is possible to see it being celebrated or at least paid attention to. Today, at BTS Siam stop, the square next to a shopping mall was beautifully decorated and a man was playing some sort of a Chinese music instrument. I have never seen such before, quite naturally, but the music was wonderful - very oriental, of course, but with a modern twist. I made a small video, I can try and upload it, but it is like 140 MB - I will give it a try at a later point - until that a few grainy pictures will have to do :)

Anyway, it was lovely to sit in that square for a half an hour and listen to the music while reading my book. Just a lazy Saturday evening; I have gotten a new TV channel called StarMovies, which means now I can entertain myself by watching something else besides CNN (until now, CNN has been the only channel in English :P).

Plan for tomorrow - go to the Rama IX park and take loads of pictures, so I can finally make it visible to all what an impressive place it is.

BTS

2008-02-09T23:45:00.000+07:00

The nicest way to get around must be the Sky Train or in an abbreviated form BTS. Sure gives some good views - not sure how many meters high up the rails are, but high enough to make one wish the train isn't gonna all of a sudden change its mind and jump off :)

Now there are two lines, but the BTS system is continuously undergoing expansion - more stops are being built, so in some years time it might be possible to get all the way through Bangkok with this extremely comfortable mean of transportation.

Trying real hard, but nothing is happening

2008-02-08T14:04:00.000+07:00

Friday... :)

Funny, I can't really work very efficiently unless I'm under some serious time pressure/deadline. It is like a requirement for me to reach the high gear; stress helps :P