passabe.

a documentary on the aftermath of violence. on rebuilding, forgiving, and maybe, forgetting.

a remote village that lies on the border between east and west timor, passabe was home to pro-autonomy militiamen in the lead-up to east timor's vote for independence in august 1999. hundreds of these militiamen went on a rampage, attacking three neighbouring pro-independence villages, burning homes and looting livestock.

74 men died. tied together with rough ropes, hacked and/or shot to death, then buried...three or four in a hole, maybe more. a long stick marking their graves, with bits of rope tied at intervals to indicate how many bodies lie beneath.

through the film, hock and i followed alexio elu, a farmer and former militia member, who claims that he was forced to kill a man in the 1999 passabe massacre. we saw his confession, questioned his motives and joined him in the want for reconciliation amongst the villages in east and west timor.

we sat through the others' non-confessions, laughter that seemed to belittle the victims' experiences, and jokes that lightened up the atmosphere. we squirmed at the squeals made by the piglet when its throat was cut, watched in disbelief as they went through their annual reenactment of the violence (it's their way of remembering the lives lost), and awww-ed at the beauty & fragility of the children.

we took a look at real life, timor style.

the price of peace, the bargain for forgiveness. one buffalo and one strand of prayer beads, in exchange for one lost life. one can of beer and five dollars, in apology for beating him up.

something concrete, i guess, to help dim the pain. something substantial, that will be of use. a buffalo that can work the fields, instead of a murderer locked up in prison.

"he almost killed me 5 years ago. now, we're good friends".

forgive, if not forget. moving on. simple words with such complex meanings. forgiveness, and for things that are of such magnitudes too.

these villagers succeed, where i have so often failed.

that i'm still upset is, i guess, natural. but i'm glad that i've got friends who care, like feng who asked me out so that i didn't have to brood about it alone.

in the company of feng, loon, benny, hock and kris, things seem less foul.

and i learnt that when the going gets tough, i still turn to the one i've been turning to over the past 5 years.

and he's still there for me.

sometimes when my pillar of strength is shaky, and i feel like i can't count on it at all, things happen that regain my confidence in it, and i lean back on it once again. it may be a mistake, and perhaps it is no longer mine and mine alone. perhaps it never was.

but at least our foundation is still strong.
-----
photos from the night, when i sought solace and these beautiful people lightened my heart:

such geeks these boys are that we had trouble pulling them away from their computers. one on a half-lived rampage, the other on a half-living computer. and there you see the nerd lord hock scolding the keyboard that just didn't want to sit on the stool (it fell with a loud clatter. twice.).

my darling minmin and a scrunched-up nerd, before she left for breko's with loon:
i sat in the back of the beetle after i finally managed to drag the geeks away from the computers. this same backseat i'd disappeared into earlier, when hock went to pick his mum up and i tagged along - she didn't realize that i was in the car till hock asked me a question, half way through the journey. =/

we went to join feng, loon and kristina at breko's, where we had shiok brownie and caesar salad that came with mayo instead of caesar dressing. loon navigated his way through his baked potato that came with broccoli.
and so it was another lovely night out, even though i went home with the same jumble of thoughts that had almost driven me insane in the afternoon. and yesterday. and today.

i'm not that kind of girl. and i don't appreciate being treated like one. i don't appreciate the crossing of lines, and the breaking of trust. i don't like this self-loathing, this repulsive feeling.

i choose to not deal with what happened. for now. and perhaps that's wise. or not. i don't know.

i don't know.

i am HIGHLY TRAUMATIZED. and that may be an understatement.

cold and disgusted. loss of respect, totally.

and i don't know what to do.

it's definitely not right, but i don't want it to become a big hoohaa circus act. all the good impression's flown out the window, i see what lies behind this masquerade.

more than meets the eye, indeed. or perhaps, less.

so surprising, so gross, so wrong.

i know i didn't encourage it. yuck. i don't know why it happened. i don't know how to deal with it.

oh my god. help.

just as i was talking about my glorious hours of sleep, i received an email updating me on the arts scene in melbourne, and i saw that
the australian ballet will be performing the classic "the sleeping beauty" at the state theatre from 14th september.

the costumes look lovely, right out of a grown-up little girl's fairytale...and this version by aussie choreographer stanton welch looks like it's going to bring a fresh new gasp of air to the fantastical tale.

i wish i'm in melbourne! and i miss dancing...*rummages for my pointe shoes*

sleep is beautiful,
sleep does wonders!

i had a very sleepy sunday yesterday - was unconscious from 7am to 6pm, then from midnight to 7am this morning. it's like i was trying to catch up on all the sleep i missed over the past weeks haha

friday and saturday nights almost killed me, what with pulling all-nighters and getting home blurry-eyed early in the morning.

friday night was a rather homely one with the girlies (loon included). i tu-ed at hock's after work (and went crazy doing data-entry stuffs) and the rest slowly dribbled in till we finally left hock's near midnight, for a raunchy supper at adam road. then to lou's place after for a quiet, slouchy night watching telly on the couch and gazing in awe at the kitties her cat just gave birth to.

ian came down to join us after clubbing, and we headed to west coast (my very first time!) for a rather unsatisfying maccas breakkie. the legendary west coast was quiet and seemed like a pretty nice place to hang out at, but i didn't get to venture past maccas coz ian had to get the car home and i was in a skirt. boo. maybe next time!

i reached home past 7am, just as dad was leaving for the club for his saturday golf. haha

edmund's phonecall woke me up at 10.30am and i tried my best to sound bright and chirpy when i was actually dying inside. the planning of events following our conversation meant that i couldn't get back to sleep and i zombied my day away.

i snapped at my kiddies for being rowdy and not listening and for not doing what they're told to do and for making me repeat instructions. but they're so sweet i couldn't stay angry with them for long (i got back at them by making them swim up and down the big pool). they cutely tweeted "can i give you teachers' day present next week?"and "i am going to draw a swimmer on your teachers' day card"...awww i didn't even know it's nearing teachers' day!

met up with gracie in town after that where we did some shopping (yipee! new clothes!) and had new zealand natural and the taiwan chicken thing, before hock picked us up and we headed to zouk.

wonderful hock had worked his magic and gotten edmund a table at velvet (coz he had KL friends visiting). wonderful hock also charmed the pants off the guy(!) at the door, and everyone got in free (even though he didn't have to, and we shouldn't have let that girl and her boyfriend in). thank you hocky! you are sexy! =)

we then went to join the rest at onyx, where tiara got us in to enjoy the tracks pulser's spinning in the rather empty club. good music (though nowhere near agnelli&nelson, or perhaps it's the atmosphere), but pity there was a people-shortage and scarce excitement.

we were suppose to go to geylang for supper after, but a call came through with 3 girls on the other end who still wanted to dance! so we re-routed and headed home...to zouk! dance we did, for a little while...and after the requisite tu-ing, we finally ended up at geylang for shiok dim sum (that i never knew existed)...yum!

i got home at 6+am (many thanks to kris for sending me back) and began my sleepy day after a nice, comforting bath.

woke up all fresh as a flower this morning...i would have gone on lying in bed if not for work. damn.

sleep is gooooooood!!!

more atas red nail photos! wahaha and also photos with the legendary saipong - feng's & my aa2 classmate - whom we met/collected while crossing the road from liat to get my mango dessert.

saipong aka pongster aka zhiwei is the pioneer of "WEH WEH WEH!", shouting "SEX" complete with crotch action, stomping on a desk then taking a lick off the VERY dusty & dirty desktop (and other horrifyingly hilarious actions), and who's terrified of lizards.

he's also currently in NUS Law school. haha


dinner at marche with the birthday boy:

hmmm...proof that when ernie called me zombie zenn, there's some truth in it:

i seem to have a knack for getting rid of people...even the sexy i-like-to-touch-my-breast robot with my nickname's called:




BEWARE!

*thanks deb! =)

was chatting with mimi on msn, and the song title thing that followed his nickname was "take my hand" by dido.

at first glance, i thought it read:

take my hand - dildo.

last night was crew night, so we gamely painted our nails red (thanks elsie!), in the hope that the bouncers will just wave us into clubs if we wriggle our beautiful fingers and dazzle them with our atas red nails.
yah right. as if we even wanted to go clubbing. haha

first coat i painted on at marche, where we (two of us, debra, elsie and loon) had a birthday meal with my mimi! second coat elsie (possible future expert manicurist to all taitais) painted on for me when we sat at paragon's coffee bean chatting the night away...)

i wonder if i'll ever possibly be an SQ/Emirates girl. i doubt i'll make the cut, and i'm not too certain that i'll enjoy the "coffee, tea or me" part of it. but i do want to travel to all those exciting places, and earn the cash and go shopping and sight-seeing, learn about the service industry and the places i fly to and be all worldly (and maybe meet a cute guy in first class...or that dashing pilot *think takuya*) haha

clever feng's very hilarious strip (no she didn't take off her clothes) had me in stitches (no not the type that holds garments together).

don't believe what she says. let me tell you what REALLY happened!

(hmmm they look rather tiny...but i don't know how to make the photos turn out larger. ah well, click on them! =))

written by adrian (who came in to the office when i was stuck in a staff meeting, and who decided that this "create post" place is the best place for leaving me notes):

adrian is sexy!

milan called. also you need to talk to fengmin about plans later. something about deb and gc.

love you! buhbye!

i got snappy (in the photo way) the night my family went out for a jappy dinner...

here are four people with very full tummies (cannot see the tummies):

how come the parents don't show their teeth when they smile? how come the kids look like grinning idiots?

we got into a serious discussion, talking politics and world affairs. everyone was actively participating, but here, you see only daddy being all enthusiastic about the topic on hand:

i may look like a bimbo but i'm not one ok! (this teaches you not to believe everything you see in a collage).

but this much is true: if you eat too much jap food (and keep getting mcdonald's to deliver junk like 11 sundaes to your school), you will look like this:

wahahaha!

i'm not the sort who can just "let it pass".

when i need to know, i need to know, even when you don't think i do.

and for my sake, if you even care, you will tell me.

don't cause me more pain with your lies - they just prolong the bleeding.

even if it will hurt, i want the truth.

or your version of it.

ignorance is bliss?

ignorance makes me want to tear my hair out.

a quiet weekend. finally.

some happy moments, others, rather down. this rollercoaster i'm on is still moving along at its blinding speed.

sometimes i find myself barely clinging on. sometimes, i feel like i've already fallen off.

sometimes i wonder why i even try so hard to stay on.
-----

i'm growing fat - comfort eating? maybe - have been eating so much that my stomach constantly feels bloated. sick.

mummy's green bean soup

mum cooked a pot of green bean soup on saturday, and i finished half of it all by myself. (it's raining! rain = cold = need nice, warm food like green bean soup. plus rain = no coaching = more time to eat)

and this was after i chomped down an entire bah zhang for brunch (haven't eaten bah zhang in such a long time that it tasted so good! but it almost made me puke in the end...tsk, no self-control!)

japanese restaurant

fawn's jap food obsession continues and the family ventured to this jap place at parkway (can't remember the name of the restaurant).

it shares the floor with the heartland k-box so there's no peace, but the food was better than expected.

they had a jap-cum-local food buffet that was going for $26 per person but we figured we shouldn't pay for ee-min and fried rice, and fried bean sprouts in a jap restaurant, so we went a la carte.

the sashimi's shiok *drool*, the chawanmushi so-so. the fried tofu's nice and hot, the first plate of gyoza i had to send back coz it's cold. the sushi's comparable with that of sakae's.

not too bad at all! *burp*

corduroy & finch

i continued my gastronomic adventure at corduroy & finch the next morning - the food was only so-so and they have a very small breakfast menu.

i could've made better scrambled eggs. the sausages were yum though, but the mushrooms in cream were way too salty.

the beef mignon's perfect...mmm...

the ambience was pretty nice - cosy, and the display shelves're colourful & kinda old school...but the food lacked quality control (the moody chef has a very i-can't-care-less attitude, or so the waiter told us)...and at over a 100 buckaroos for 3 people, rather extravagant a breakfast...think having lunch there would be a better choice...

many thanks to tristan for that treat. (i'm hoping i worked it all off during my swim after)

wah lok restaurant

lunch yesterday was at carlton hotel's wah lok restaurant. the dim sum's scrumptious...very fresh prawns in the har-gao (however you spell it) and fu-pi-juan. the yabbi pie's yum (i always thought it's spelt yabby and pronounced "yeh-bee" so when the waitress suggested that we order "yah3-beee1" pie i was abit lost...).

they had this special carrot cake fried in xo sauce which tasted just normal though.

the mango and pomelo dessert with sago's my favourite - juicy pomelo bits, sweetsour mango chunks, bouncy sago bits, creamy mango 'soup' - shiok!

many thanks to my committee member laura for this treat.

new zealand natural

or "new zealand fresh" as feng called it. haha

they serve the best mango passion yoghurty-ice cream thingy. though the 4 scoops i had yesterday night almost made me ill. (ok, 3 scoops...the first 2 scoops were so small - silly malay woman who didn't weigh my ice cream - that they're half the size of the second 2 scoops - good chinese girl who weighed it properly.)

thanying restaurant

located on the 2nd floor of amara hotel, thanying restaurant's a gem.

piping hot green tea, steaming clear tom yam soup, fragrant white rice coupled with creamy green chicken curry, together with crispy fried fish in sweet chilli sauce, sauteed vegetables and an interesting piece of fish cake.

perfect for a cold, sleepy tuesday afternoon.

many thanks to golf committee member mr ng for the treat.


that's all my big lunches cleared for the weak (unless ian and helly decide to go to some posh do tomorrow), so *phew*! detox time...porridge, water, exercise!
-----

all the smoke from the burning of things for 7th month's hurting my eyes...urgh...

i went to carl's jr again that day.

i wanted my guacamole bacon burger, but they were out of guacamole.
so i got a western bacon cheeseburger instead.

i asked for lettuce to be added into my burger, and they gave me my charbroiled beef patty, two strips of bacon, melted american cheese, two crispy onion rings and tangy bbq sauce, all wrapped up in lettuce.

my sesame seed bun was nowhere in sight.

but i got certified low carb, so i guess it's alright (NOT!):
it's a slowslow friday and i'm bored at work.
what's a girl to do but be vain and play with her camera? (photos're taken today, in the office, and yes i've been carrying that little sticker around since wednesday.)

ever felt so empty inside that nothing can fill you up?

no amount of work satisfaction,
no number of material goods,
no matter how much you're thankful for what you've got.

there's always this something missing.
and that something chooses not to come back.

an acute loneliness,
a void filled with longing and memories,
a place where tears and aches reside.

where forgetting is impossible,
and the one you most need to understand, don't.

where questions go unanswered,
and words can't soothe.

where the air freezes over,
and you are naked, vulnerable.

where being open and sharing feelings,
bring silence.

stuck in a cage,
with an unyielding gaoler outside,
and lost keys of hope.

and i won't mind one of these:

i also want one of them:

sheer indulgence, but i want this:



the reviews aren't exactly good - it's a tad heavy, weird buttons, old technology in a new shell, it's freakin' expensive etc - but i'm in love with the design.

if all else fails, at least i can use it as a mirror.

i think it's time for a shopping spree.

sometimes retail therapy can make things seem better.

even if it's just for a little while.

enough is enough.

yet why is it always so much easier said than done?

it's unbelievable how i still hope and wish
and how i try to hide my heart from seeing the things that you do
the things that hurt me the most.

but when they stare at me right in my face
and my heart thumps and falls to the pits of my stomach
i can't deny them, and i can't run away from them.

seeing is believing
and all the words in the world won't soothe
this pain that you so deliberately carve into my soul.

cut after cut
stab after stab
slash after slash.

i wish i can stop bleeding
i wish i can heal these wounds.
i wish i can run away.

clever loon's post on the newly minted moneytree authority of singapore's one peanut note:

damn funny, though kinda freaky (doesn't help that it's 7th month right now!)

from last weekend's event, i realized how much i've missed being busy and rushing about chasing for things to be done. my pace has slowed down alot since the first event i worked on when i was fresh out of college, and it's rather disgusting how i've lost so much of the enthusiasm, good work sense and detailness that i used to have.

i also realized that i'm sorely lacking in the delegating department and i need to work on scheduling and on briefing others.

i've learnt that it is impossible for me to handle everything, much as i wish i can.

-----
i've been working in a charitable organization for close to 5 months now, and i've learnt that i can count on some people for help, while others, well let's just say they can be a tad disappointing.

there're volunteers who were approached for assistance, while others who came forth and offered their services.

you get volunteers who're eager to help, and their enthusiasm lifts everyone's spirits on event-day, and some who look like they've been forced to be there.

there're people we approached, who asked if they're going to be paid.

there're people who reluctantly say they will consider/check their schedules/let you know, but you know they will never get back to you about it.

and there're those who flatly refused to help.


personal reasons and all for not helping - but wah, it's damn frustrating looking for assistance sometimes, especially when you know that if there'd been money involved, people'd be queueing to help.

i'm thankful for all the aid that we received - the rest just make us treasure you all the more.
-----

sometimes the things that you least expect to go wrong, will go wrong.

did i disappoint you or let you down
should i be feeling guilty or let the judges frown
.
.
.
it may be over but it won't stop there
i am here for you if you'd only care
you touched my heart you touched my soul
you changed my life and all my goals
and love is blind and that i knew when
my heart was blinded by you
i've kissed your lips and held your head
shared your dreams and shared your bed
i know you well, i know your smell
i've been addicted to you

goodbye my lover
goodbye my friend
you have been the one
you have been the one for me

i am a dreamer but when i wake
you can't break my spirit - it's my dreams you take
and as you move on, remember me
remember us and all we used to be
i've seen you cry, i've seen you smile
i've watched you sleeping for a while
.
.
.
i'd spend a lifetime with you
i know your fears and you know mine
we've had our doubts but now we're fine
and i love you, i swear that's true
i cannot live without you

goodbye my lover
goodbye my friend
you have been the one
you have been the one for me

and i still hold your hand in mine
in mine when i'm asleep
and i will bare my soul in time
when i'm kneeling at your feet

goodbye my lover
goodbye my friend
you have been the one
you have been the one for me
.
.
.

extracted from lyrics of james blunt's "goodbye my lover"

zombie zenn reporting to blogger *salute*

it has been a crazy week preparing for MILK Golf 2005, full of late nights, headeggs, muscle aches and dark eye rings (i have eyebags lor - i NEVER have eyebags! argh).

and i'm still ill *coughcough snifflesniffle*

yesterday was stressful, but also loads of fun. all went well, if i may say so myself. *phew* there were some hiccups along the way, but in the end, what's most important is that the guests had good time, and i think they did.

many thanks to my wonderful colleagues angela and ee ling, to the wonderful ah hock who helped me out so much (even with the bai kah), to my wonderful MILK and MILK Golf committee, and to ang and eng tat who were my wonderful photographers (you all took better photos than the two supposed professionals lor!!!).

i'm so glad it's all over.

and isn't it wonderful that i'm back at work at 9am this morning? ok...i was late...9.30...but STILL?!?!

that's why i'm a zombie, and that's why i only use 'wonderful' coz my brain not working i can't think of alternative ways of describing things.

anyway, long-awaited photos coming up next! think everyone has already seen many of them, but ah well, here's my two cents worth on the friends stuffs that happened before i got all tangled up with the golf!


6th august 2005

on this day, we celebrated gracie's birthday with an atas picnic at the botanic gardens. i was the ahmad and, after picking feng up, the three of us went grocery shopping at carrefour, where we ended up with $150 worth of grocs - ham, bread, wine (atas ok!), drinks, bangers&mash etc......

and 120 eggs. (ah sometimes i amaze myself with my clever auntie ways. haha if you haven't heard of the tale of how we ended up with 120 eggs, just ask heh)

we eventually got to the botanic gardens at around 4.30pm (1 and a half hours past the scheduled time - but it wasn't coz we tu ok! haha)...it was sunny, it was green, there were lotsa food, and it was such a nice change from the usual shopping-centre-restaurant-foodcourt routine.




gracie and daniel went to pak tor just as we wanted to cut cake...we waited and waited and waited before they returned......

can take their time hold hand saunter saunter kiss kiss somemore...we waited damn long ok! haha

we got the cake cut (the design abit ugly coz the people at da paolo did a shoddy job piping the words, but the cake was yum). so yum that gracie didn't want to share and slowly savoured hers while poor feng, deb and bernz looked on...

nah...gracie's not so evil...she's the care & share queen! oh and must note the atas flower serviette that the cake is wrapped in ok!

we left after it turned dark and all the hot and sticky people went home to shower and change before we headed to cine k-box for some singing. helly and bernz had lots of fun with the kids, and the kids had a field day playing around and peeping out from everywhere:

after 4 hours in that little room, we headed to zouk for a heart-thumping workout with agnelli and nelson!!!!!! they are absolute GODS and we danced danced danced the night away. it was impossible to leave early coz they played track after track of heavenly music.

with achey bodies and blurry eyes, we ended up at spize for a quick supper...was so super duper stoned......



8th august 2005

actual birthday of gracie and bennybenben! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

we bravely went forth with bennybenben's wish to have dinner in JB - 5 cars, 18 people, we set off 2 hours late, and there was 1 big jam at the causeway.

but all's good. the matricons had thumping music, 4 giggly girls and one ian driving. plus ah hock the prostitute trying to sell himself from the window...

the restaurant had cheap, yummy food - just what the doctor ordered for hungry singaporeans! and in true photowhore fashion, we hung around outside the restaurant standing in circles and taking photos - some things never change, no matter which country you are in.

loon had a lightbulb moment that none of us girls could reach, and aiyo, doesn't ian look all hunky and "i have four girls nehnehnibooboo"!

then the kings of the photowhores took over my camera:
and thereafter terrorized gracie and me...

as if that's not traumatic enough, the thing appeared at the causeway on our way back, and almost ate up our passports!!!


9th august 2005

"count on me singapore, count on me siiiiinggaaaaapooooorrreeeee" *wave flag*

i went into office to clear abit of work before xiang came by to pick me up and we spent a quiet late afternoon at the club with tristan.

thereafter, tristan dropped me off at swissotel the stamford, where i met up with the rest of the guys at new asia bar for a redred national day celebration!

i missed watching the flypast from up there, but saw the planes when i was in the car. the fireworks weren't as spectacular as they should have been, coz of the angle we were at, but it's still worthy of our ooohs and aaahhs.

shot glasses in hand, we all sang a rousing "happy birthday singapore" before drinking a nice, red shot of pain killer (thanks ang!) each *slurp*

i then got even redder after i drank some beer with ah chuan, but i think benny had it worse - the poor boy turned so red i thought he was going to explode.

we closed the eventful national day holiday with a yummy bah chor mee meal at the food place beside allson hotel, then headed home for a much-needed rest.

-----
i wish i can head home for a rest RIGHT NOW!!! rah......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

p.s. i took 3 hours to piece the photos and write this entry haha guess that's my morning at work done! shhh don't tell!

i've been wanting to get a shot of this ever since someone showed it to me when we drove past.

now i don't even need to attempt, coz the newpaper has published quite the perfect photo - showing both balls and the dick, er, i mean, both durians and the tower, very strategically placed. teeheehee i wonder if it's the architects' warped sense of humour.

who says singapore's prudish?! HAH!

this void i have learnt to fill
with tears in darkness
and broken dreams.

some things are long drawn-out, slowly simmering, till they dry up and harden.

other things, they move on so rapidly, that they spiral into nothingness long before their expiry dates.

fast forward, stop. rewind, play.
stop.

as promised, here comes the bangkok photos!

turns out there aren't alot of them, and we didn't manage to get a group shot of everyone (perhaps can try to take one in singapore then superimpose onto a tuktuk or something)...


early saturday morning

fresh from our plane ride, we went round suan-lum to hunt for food and ended up at this cafe place called "relax" where i had shiok green curry chicken fried rice and ah hock almost died from his fiery basil leaves chicken. relax also sold "cock tails".


as you can see from the bottom left of the collage above, where we were didn't change the fact that we will always somehow end up standing around (usually in a circle) trying to decide where to go next, and chitchatting like where we are is the best place for chitchats - even if it may be in the middle of a dusty road..


saturday, after we woke up...

'tis the day of long walks...we took the train and ventured to chatuchak (where feng got robbed). headed back to the hotel to put down our stuffs and catch our breaths, before we charged out to hunt for our massage parlour. ok. that sounds dodgy. change that to our massage club - health land. the 2-hour hunt saw us clueless tourists walking around in the rain, desperately trying to find the ever-eluding health land.


bottom half of that collage (l-r) shows groggy me when i just got up from a nap, and us at suan-lum where we had a massive seafood dinner. feng looks so cute with the chopsticks (in that photo with ang) that i can't resist putting it up heh.


sunday

morning massage - i don't have any photos of that...but here're some of us at steamboat place at siam square having lunch...

bottom left photo: if you look really closely, you'll notice that hock's there behind ian and me...unfortunately, we weren't able to block out his cap and forehead...

thereafter, we did abit of shopping before heading to the airport for our flight back. wanted to take a group shot at the airport, but we were too busy with our chicken strips and eyeing the girls at the bar... -_-


last note on bangkok: beware the flowery yellow ghost:

there's a girl putting on her face on the mrt this morning.

i got in at bedok and the girl was sitting right in front of me, dabbing concealer on some rather nasty-looking pimples on her cheek. she smoothed out the creamy blotches rather roughly, then proceeded to take out her compact to powder her face.

by the time we reached kallang, she'd moved on to her eyeshadow, which she applied carefully but to absolutely no effect. i think she had on beige eyeshadow or something - might as well don't put.

then she took out some lipgloss and smeared it on her lips. thank goodness she didn't attempt the mascara.

by the time she reached city hall, she's all ready to face the world. 'cept that we'd all seen the unglamourous process she took to doll herself up.

i wouldn't say that she's pretty/ugly, with or without make-up. a normal-looking girl. but she certainly ugly-fied herself by so publicly putting on her stuffs.

the angmoh beside me was staring at her with a midly amused/disgusted look on his face, while i tried not to look at her in disbelieve.

the mrt is no powder room and some things are just not meant to be done in the open, especially during rush hour!

i'm back from my whirlwind trip to bangkok!

feng, ian, hock, ang, loon, kristina, samantha and i turned bangcockians over the weekend and immersed ourselves in all things thai.

friday
i took leave from work (woohoo!) but still had to begin the day early, picking xiang up and going off to collect prizes for my golf event, before going wakeboarding!!! ahhh...it left me sun-tanned and achy and my head was wonging badly for a long while after i took a horrid spill.

headeggy, drowsy from all that sun and having a hacking cough, i headed to din tai fung (yumyum) for a late lunch with xiang and tristan before i accompanied xiang to a fitting at newurbanmale. oh man, the trunks and tight tight singlet they made him wear was HOU GAY WOR!!!!!!

i got reacquainted with my cute num guy, jason (he's straight! i think...haha) hehhehheh


reached the airport at 7.10pm and we had our last singapore meal at popeye (long queue, dry chicken strips, funny muntou).

we started our bangkok escapade feeling really special, after an airasia ground crew looked down her long nose at us and greeted us with a "you are the last passengers" at the boarding gate (not our fault the bloody gate so far away ok!). and being the special last passengers, we had to search for individual pockets in the rather full plane to sit our asses on. none of us got to sit with each other, which means i had no one's hands to hold when the rattly airasia plane made a loud, swervy touch down.

a sleepy taxi ride later, we walked into the newly-furbished, brightly-lit reno hotel which was to be our home for the weekend. located along a rather dodgy alleyway called soi kasem son (don't know if that's the right spelling but it sounds like "soy sauce, car, sam and son"), reno hotel surprised me with their nice new lobby, seeing that we're only paying SGD38 for 2 nights' stay. the rooms upstairs were quite old school and dormitory-like, but the sheets were clean, the aircon worked and i didn't encounter any ghostly visions.

there wasn't a telly in the room, but at least we had a bbc programme guide to keep us in the loop of what's going on in the satellite world.

we ventured to suan-lum night bazaar in the dead of the night (it was already around 0030hrs) to find everything closed. but we had a yummy, albeit very spicy, meal at relax - an upstairs cafe place that stayed open later just so we wouldn't die of hunger (thanks to ian's er...charms).

i think the staff took revenge by making our food extra spicy though - hock almost died.

saturday
the next morning saw us having our complimentary breakfast at reno cafe. breakfast set b, which consists of fried egg with sausage, 2 slices of toast, fruit and coffee/tea looked partly like this:

that sausage's about the size of my index finger. i don't know why they need such a big plate. 'tis gourmet indeed!

we took a train to chatuchak, where we all got lost in the massive maze of shops. we haggled and bought, walked and shopped, and got all sweaty and dirty.

a syndicate of screwed-up ugly old men pick-pocketed minmin as we were making our way back to the meeting point to gather with the rest of the gang. my poor darling got her baht and phone stolen and, when she realized it, she cried out "i've been robbed" in a very surreal, dramamama moment. it was like the sea of people parted and left her standing in the middle of a circle of sandy ground.

fucking thai syndicates!!! but nevermind kz babe, you bought loads and now you get to buy nice new phone (that you will hopefully be more fated with).

we traipsed through the city of (dusty) angels in the late afternoon, and spent 2 hours (and what must have been 5km on foot) searching for healthland (spa place!). very adventure, very tiring.

we definitely earned the foot massages we got when we finally found the place.

all nice and relaxed, we cramped into a tuktuk (4 per trip) and risked our lives to get to suan-lum for a huge seafood dinner. the bangkok traffic is scary - drivers cutting lanes without checking blind-spot, lanes that make it seem like you're driving into incoming traffic, drivers that boh hue the directional signs at all, etc. like hock said, the signs (and red lights) are just suggestions... =/

i managed to get more of my fisherman pants and did some shopping at the night bazaar before we headed back to the hotel for a well-deserved rest.

sunday
as usual, the girls (and ang) were the first to be ready for the day's activities. after another broken-heart-cucumber breakfast at reno cafe, we headed back to healthland for our 10.30am massage sessions!!!

ang, loon and i changed into fisherman pants and funny hospital-like tops with 5 ribbons for our traditional thai massage, while the rest went for their aromatherapy massage. (piggy ian stayed in the hotel and slept the morning away).

the thai massage made me drowsy, and wasn't really as strenuous as i'd thought it would be. the masseuse didn't exactly bend me or sit on me alot, but it was just what i needed after friday's wakeboarding.

lunch was at mk steamboat (where they had the most diluted green tea i've ever drank). thereafter, we split up and feng, ang, hock and i went shopping around siam square. more bargaining (though not as shiok as at chatuchak) and more spending before we went back to the hotel to begin our journey home.

the kind reno hotel staff left a lasting impression and ensured themselvs of our return when they helped us get a van and we had a hassle-free ride to the airport. of all things, our last meal at bangkok was burger king. but i guess singapore bk doesn't have chicken strips so that's ok. (chicken strips, again, i see a pattern here. chicken strips is THE food to eat before you get on a plane).

the tiger air flight back was so much more pleasant (even though there was more turbulence). we had a nice, new plane and an atas angmoh pilot. one complain though: the seat - the headrest bit should never curve and make me have to lean my head forward all the time. it's super uncomfortable.

all in all, a great weekend getaway. i am damn tired now, especially since i came into the office at 9am this morning to prep for a big 10.30am meeting. can die. i need to shui jiao!

photos are mostly with loon and hock so i'll put them up later. (and no, the photo of the food is not the only photo i took on the trip). heh.