Thailand 2009: Day # 2

I almost forgot about the remaining days that I've yet to write on for my Thailand trip until the recent events where we saw Bangkok city being literally transformed into a mini war zone. I'm an outsider hence I won't go into details on which side is the culprit or victim.

One thing that caught my attention though is how they've renovated the Democracy Monument...


... from this...


... to this.

Day 2 saw Chaiwat joining us on our tour. In fact, he reached our hotel pretty late the night before and bunked in Samarn's room. Since he would only be around until evening, we more or less elected him as our unofficial tour guide of the day.


Our first destination was the Golden Mount, a pagoda on top of a hill.

I guess it must be an auspicious day or something special since there were a large number of tourists - comprised mostly of locals - joining us up there as well.


Rows of bells along the way to the top, each clanks signifying a wish comes true... I think so.


Once on top, I noticed that they were holding a donation campaign where devotees get to scribe down their well wishes on a red cloth which will be draped onto the pagoda.

Apart from the donation drive, there were also Buddhist relics on display in the pagoda which might explain the crowds.


The hill itself wasn't very high, but with the addition of a pagoda on top, it was tall enough to afford a scenic panorama over the city.


A mini-replica of the Golden Mount with the aforementioned red cloth.

Since Chaiwat had a timer ticking down, we wasted no time in getting to our second destination, the Vimanmek Mansion Dusit Palace.


Mansion or palace? Make up your mind!

I'm not sure if it has something to do with the latitude of Bangkok city but the weather here was so much sunnier compared back home. :(


Why has the cloud forsaken us?!


With this kind of temperature, we had no choice but to hop onto an idle tuk-tuk to get here.

There was nothing much to see here as we have to pay in order to enter a certain building. Of course, it was pretty normal to charge tourists entrance fees but to forbid us from bringing in our cameras was totally unacceptable.

As a result, we just strolled around the compound and took a few photos here and there, especially on the ridiculous number of different transports that were on display there.


In one corner, we have the Cinderella-style horse carriage.


If you don't like Cinderella, no problem! There are many more types that you can choose from.


No horse? OK, then how about a purple-coloured tuk-tuk.


Purple again? Are these vehicles sponsored by Cadbury or something?


One of the 2 interesting buildings that we can find here was this large greenhouse across the river with no admittance allowed.

The other interesting building would be the air-conditioned toilet.


In such hot weather, it was definitely heaven on earth!

If you were to ask me, I sincerely think that stopping by this world's largest golden teakwood mansion was a waste of time since there was nothing much to see from the perspective of a tourist. No offense intended.

I'm not sure what actually transpired once we exit the gate but we ended up having to walk a few kilometers just to catch a bus to bring us to our next stop. Bad thing was the hellish heat. Good thing was that along the way, we got to pass by a few interesting landmarks.


The smelly Dusit Zoo.


A post to commemorate the water level this area was under in the past.


The King Rama V Equestrian Statue. Till these days, people still pay homage to this late king even after his demise in 1910.


Compared to the one in Penang, the Bangkok plant-watering vehicle looks so much high-tech. :P

It didn't take me long to realize that I've got my expectation wrong as the bus that came for us was of such an old age that even the flooring was made out of wood.


I suddenly found myself back in the Penang 90s' Yellow Bus. :D

After a short lunch where we had the Bangkok's version of chicken rice, we crossed a few roads and CentralWorld - the largest shopping complex in Thailand - stood majestically in front of us. Now, perhaps this is just culture shock to me, but I can't help being peculiar on how Bangkokians - not sure if this is also applicable to the entire Thailand as well - are able to integrate superstitions into their daily life especially with the erection of 2 Hindu shrines in the least expected location - just right in front of CentralWorld.


Pray to Ganesha for career success...


... and Trimurti to bless you with true love.

If you are a girl reading this, I need you to calm down. Bangkok is a shopping heaven, there is no denying that but unfortunately, we didn't really have much chance and time to do so. :(

I thought I've seen it all when I visited the Langkawi Underwater World but apparently Siam Ocean World decided to prove me wrong. Tucked away in the basement levels of Siam Paragon, the Siam Ocean World is so much bigger and allows you to get much closer to the fishes.


An ocean under a shopping complex? O.o"

I'm not going to show you much fishes here since I can't allow them to have much more screentime than me. This is my blog after all. :P


Aquarium that is even deeper than the tallest of us 3.


OK, this was where my confusion set in. They were trying to tell me this freaking dinosaur is a Jurassic fish?


How to tackle complaints on insufficient variety of fishes on display? Get humans to cosplay gigantic fishes!

In the Siam Ocean World, there were a section where they have aquariums made out of normal everyday appliances. I guess it was an attempt to raise awareness on recycling or something similar to that.


Chevrolet Optra that has been filled to the brim with water and has fishes as passengers.


Fancy having a microwaved goldfish as dinner?

Now, before any of you go yapping about animal abuse, these fishes didn't work here for nothing. One of the few benefits that were documented in their contracts was dental care. Let's take this shark as example:


On its first day of inception into Siam Ocean World; misaligned and protruding teeth.


Now; a much more handsome shark!

Hahaha... good joke eh? No?

-sigh-

Fine, let's move on. The Siam Ocean World also boast Thailand's first 4D theatre, though I would advise you to exclude this feature from the entrance package if possible as it was just so-so.


OK OK, I admit that I don't recommend the 4D theatre because they won't let me keep this funky looking 3D glasses. :P

As we came to the end of the Siam Ocean World tour, Chaiwat was running late to catch his trip home so we had to call it a day. Moreover, Bangkok's sky gets dark pretty early due to the different time zone hence we just jumped onto a taxi and nothing much occurred for the rest of the night.

Please remove me

I'm not sure if this is a trend that only exists within my company or if it's the same elsewhere. Basically, the scenario started when a lost soul forwarded an escalation email to a group mailbox that consists of many unrelated parties. Within a few minutes, all hell broke loose!

Common sense dictates that all you have to do is ignore and delete these unrelated emails since you're aware of the fact that you're not the intended recipient. Easy, right?


Please remove me! Me too! Me three!

But no! This is the very opportunity to make your presence known to all the employees within the company so you MUST reply to all and request that your email address is removed from the list of recipients!

What began as a single email that got itself sent to the wrong mailbox soon became a flurry of spam emails and before you knew it - congratulations - you now have 157 unread emails with the exact same subject line appearing out of nowhere like a virus outbreak.


It doesn't matter what the person below wrote.

Once in a while, a smart alec will take it a step further by replying to all with some small changes to the subject line like Don't reply to all! which ironically does not help the situation even the slightest bit since it's going to get ignored and thanks, that's an extra spam email in my mailbox.

-sigh-


To make this kind of joke when the recipient list includes directors and managers, this guy sure got balls!

*Shift + Delete + Enter*
*Shift + Delete + Enter*
*Shift + Delete + Enter*

3,338 days

Today marks the three thousand three hundred thirty eighth days since we began our relationship...


... and this was the very first flower bouquet she has ever received from me.

Surprised? Call me cheapskate or tasteless but truth to be told, she doesn't like the fact that flowers will eventually wilt and die. Yeah, I am completely aware of the fact that most girls don't mean what they say...


... but what good are 101 roses if they don't end up with a pair of wedding bands?

I think it's pointless to declare on the obstacles that we have to go through in order to reach this point in time since no relationship will survive long without conflicts.


Legally we're married, but custom wise, I guess we're just engaged.

If you noticed from all the ABCDE entries, I'm the type to take things in stages instead of rushing through them once and for all. After all, I need you guys to save up enough before I start distributing wedding invitations, no? :D


It took me almost three minutes trying to slip the ring onto her finger, only to realize that we've both got the wrong hand. *facepalm*

Ahem... if you still don't get it, here's the harsh version: You can save your breath instead of asking me when I'm going to hold the wedding dinner. It's not going to be anytime soon.


It was our big day, so how come we were not the ones to get to sit? :(

As you can see from the photo above, we only extended invitations to closest family members and friend as we have to keep the crowd to minimum.


Once we were done swearing, it's the Assistant Registrar of Marriage's turn to yada yada yada us into donations. :P

By the way - just for your information - the oath is very much longer if you recite them in English. Do opt for the Chinese version if both you and your partner are able to read Chinese. :)


The latecomers.

Seriously, I've been staring at the monitor for few hours now, not sure on what exactly to write. It's pretty awkward, since I always write stuffs that will eventually end up with -sigh- but for this particular entry, I don't think it's appropriate for me to do so. :P


Mr. and - semi - Mrs. Tan. :)

Blacklisted

This evening I managed to get hold of a particular someone who has been ignoring my calls and SMSes for the past few years. Unfortunately, I had to use my office telephone to get her to pick up the call and I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be happy or pissed off right now.

So, I'm sure everyone has their very own good friends or old pals whom you actually look forward to meeting up with after years of being apart. I'm not sure if this only happens to friends of opposite genders but it seemed to be so in my case, so don't put me off as being sexist or anything close to that. I actually got two god-sisters who I was pretty close with during my teenage years; let's just call them Norahs and Eneri.

I knew Norahs from my part-time job at Sunshine Square while I was in Form 3 as we were part of the same group of promoters on the same floor. Everything was pretty smooth and in fact, I was glad to be one of her few friends that got personally invited to her wedding, considering how rushed it was back then. Trust was not really an issue since her parents knew me and I didn't hesitate even the slightest bit when she requested for monetary assistance due to her father's failing business. After all, what does RM2,000 meant to a few years of friendship? After she got herself a son, we still - once in a while - keep in contact through SMS and she did mention about returning me the money a couple of times until around a year ago when I stopped receiving any reply from her end.

Did her husband got jealous of our SMS correspondence and stopped her from texting me anymore?

Did she got into an accident or something of that nature?

Or was she ashamed of not being able to return me the money even though I didn't pressure her into doing so?

-sigh-

Compared to Norahs, I was even much fonder of Eneri since I was able to relate to her life experience as a person who struggled through hard times and ended up being successful. Role model would suit her better instead of being a god-sister, I would say. I introduced her to squash and even lent her my beloved first racquet after she complained about the lack of opportunity for her to release stress while she was in university. I was practically walking her path, toiling and digging my way past Form 6 and finally got accepted into a local university. For the 3 years I slacked myself off in Universiti Utara Malaysia, I tried calling her and sent her numerous SMSes, proclaiming my ecstacy of being able to stand at the same level as she did but I guess all of that fell on deaf ears - or blind eyes.

Did she cut off communication with me to avoid incurring her new boyfriend's jealousy?

Did she got into an accident or something of that nature... nahh, that couldn't be. She did pick up my call just now and even though I muted my microphone, hearing her voice going hello hello actually make me kind of relieved. At least she is still around but why the heaven did she decide to ignore all my attempts to get in touch with her all these years?

Or did she accidentally broke my racquet and was ashamed for not being able to find me an exact model as compensation?

What would you do if you're in my shoe? Do I keep reaching out to them, hoping that one day they'll ping me back or should I just delete them from my life? I sincerely believe that they're not the materialistic type of people but that is exactly the very point that got me confused even further; what could have drove them to the extent of shutting me out of their life?

:(