Sunday, October 24, 2010

Holidays

Who can deny the fact that holidays could never be enough? I for one can vouch that holidays always end sooner than expected.

Just recently I had to take my compulsory leave; 5 working days altogether. That means all in all, I had exactly one week long break.

With that in mind, I hastily kinda commanded my bf to go to Bangkok(BKK) for a break. He's a regular to BKK for all I know. I believe almost every year, he would make a trip there. As for myself, my last trip to BKK was like 2 years back. So, for me, it's due to repay BKK a visit, hahahaha..

I really have pleasant and fond experiences for all my trips to BKK. I find the Thais have such patience, respects and ever so friendly; and all the Thai cities I have visited so far, I can safely say that Thailand is such a safe place to visit despite whatever riots that had happened past and present.

Our 4D3N trip to BKK was spent visiting places that both of us had never been before. The day of arrival was a casual day. As we arrived way before hotel check-in time, we went around shopping and going to restaurants we love to revisit. We also talked about how we should spend the next 2 days.

For Day 2, we booked a trip to the ruin city of Ayuthea. It was the 2nd (out of the total four) Capital of Thailand and the entire trip took the whole day with several stops to nearby temples and noted places of visits.

I was amazed by the beautiful ruins of the temples. If it had not been destroyed by the Burmese during the war, I believe this UNESCO World Heritage Site should be one of the most magnificent structures one could find, not losing to any Seven Wonders of the World. The Buddha head wrapped by the tree trunk simply took my breath away. I am easily amazed by images of such site. I simply have to acknowledge that wonders do exist in this world.

Another breath-taking site was the reclining Buddha structure. Although it was only a stand alone Buddha with no temple to house it, I was still pleasantly mesmerised by the beauty of it and wondered how one was able to build such temples, Buddhas and architectures in days where no machineries or equipments were available.

After a long and hot day, we took a cruise back to BKK along the Chai Phraya river. As it's the monsoon season, we noticed the banks were filled to the brim and several temples seemed like flooded by the overflowing river.

Day 3 was spent by a half day trip to the infamous floating market. Again, the long tail boat together with the paddle boat rides sent me giggling like a child. I just could not believe my ears when I was told that the locals brushed their teeth as well as washed their clothes using water from this murky river.

This floating market is like any other markets you could find on land. The merchandises range from fruits, drinks, meat to hats, souvenirs and even kitchen ware. All boats paddled swiftly cramping in this narrow river, and I must salute how the boatmen were able to manoeuvre safely in it. The remaining of the day, we went around some shopping malls and ended up the night with a nice 2 hours foot + oil body massage for only 600 Baht. Nothing beats a good massage after a long and tiring day.

After spending 3 nights in BKK, I am still glad to have made this trip. Bangkok is still one of the friendliest city for me. The food, the people, the prices and the places make Thailand one of my top priority whenever I wanna take a short break. Would you agree with me too?

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Lovely Evening

It has been a long time since I managed to find time to hook up with some close friends. I'm a person who's not very good in keeping in touch, but that does not mean I do not cherish the friendships.

Tonight was a really wonderful and fun night as I was looking forward to taking this gym mate of mind for her birthday dinner. She is someone special to me in a sense that she was the first person and till now, the only one whom I had confessed me being gay. Although the entire episode requires another blog to explain, in short, she accepted me for being who I am. And for that, I truly appreciate her friendship.

We had made reservation at a very nice Thai restaurant. My bf also tagged along together with another friend to make it a foursome dinner so that we could order more varieties compared if there were only two of us.

This Thai restaurant which is situated in a secluded residential area is quite popular. So I was told. Judging from the crowd and later on, confirmed by some other friends, I could not object to this notion.

Luckily, we had made a reservation as when the time we arrived, we saw a string of customers seated at the waiting area outside the restaurant already.

We were ushered to a table for four at the end of the room which I think was nice as we could have some privacy not being surrounded by the crowd. We hurriedly ordered as the birthday gal and I were starving arising from not having our lunches.

The appetiser soon arrived and swiftly followed by the rest of the dishes and beverages. We served ourselves with wine and slowly devour the aromatic authentic Thai cuisines. This was the second time I came to this place, and the food still maintained it's quality.

We chatted, ate, laughed, drank, snapped pictures and drank somemore.

Soon it's time for cake-cutting session. The birthday gal was a bit embarrased that we had to sing her a birthday song amidst the crowd. She sheepishly obliged. And followed by more photos taking and laughters.

As tomorrow is a work day, we'd to end the gathering slightly earlier so that everyone could rest early for a brand new week the next day.

Although the gathering was short and brief, it's not short of fun and love.

Who says we must meet every so often to stay connected and build deeper love. It's all in the heart to make it happen!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Expect the Unexpected

Today was a horrible day which if given the chance, I would love to erase it from my life.

As I was driving back after working out at the gym, I met with a car accident. Until now, I still do not have a full recollection of how it all happened.

I was approaching a traffic light which was still shining it's red code. However, when I passes by this yellow boxes, old memories of my car accident 2 years ago flashed across my mind; and I told myself to be careful. As I was checking out if there was any car crossing the yellow boxes, out of a sudden I realised that I was running into a car right in front of me.

I stamped on the brake as hard as I could. I could hear the brake jammed but my car was still lunging forward. I swerved to the left but unfortunately, it was not good enough to avoid the car. As a result, my right corner crashed into it's left backside.

Oh God, I just could not believed that this had happened to me.

We got down to check out the situation. My car was pretty badly dented but his continental car was only 10%  of my condition. However, his back light crushed.

The male driver was fortunately a very nice, soft spoken gentleman. Meanwhile, his wife did not interfere in our discussion. I thank God that nobody was hurt in the process. I knew it was my fault and I admitted upfront. He was nice enough to assure me that it wasn't purposely done and no one would have wanted this to happen. That really helped calming me down.

We exchanged contacts and I promised to bear the costs of his repair. He assured me that he would try his best to get the best quotation. I would not have imagined if I had met a road bully. I have seen enough of road bullies posted over the Youtube and I might not be able to handle such situation.

I hurriedly sent my car to a workshop nearby where I live. After handling over the necessity to the mechanic, I packed all valuable items from the car and the mechanic sent me home.

To our surprise, while approaching my condo, we saw a huge crowd gathering in front of the premise. To our horror, a car turned turtle right in the middle of the small lane leading into the guardhouse. I was wondering how could a car turned turtle in such a small lane? The marvellous thing is, it landed in the middle and none of the cars parked on either side of the lane was affected.

I had no mood to stay any longer trying to figure out what happened. Too much had happened to me in one day already.

Later today, a friend posted something on Facebook pertaining to "Expect the Unexpected", and I told myself, it wouldn't have been more apt seeing this after what had just happened.

I believe, I have to budget about RM2,000- for the costs of repair for both vehicles. I just hope and pray that the quotation for the other car would not give me a heart attack come Monday.

To all of you out there, please drive carefully and Expect the Unexpected. Take care!