Food Reflection II: Green Dream

Lately I have been accustom to eating more vegetables. Not just the simply white radish soup that was usually the only thing I would eat but I gradually added watercress and *gasp* brocolli to the mix.

I am sure that my younger self would be aghast by this fact if he saw the kind of vegetable I did ate now. I have been eating, not just carrot and cabbage, but brocolli, basil, bamboo shot, and bell pepper.

I still remembered how my mom told me that her younger sister used to not eat a lot of vegetable when she was younger and how she now eat vegetables a lot more. I never thought that that would happen to me. The fact that now it did happen, boggled my mind a fair bit.

It is better for my health I am sure so I am not complaining. I am also sure that I will not began eating salad anytime soon :p

Finalized Price

The price of the mobile phone that I am planning to buy, Nokia 5800 XPreessMusic, finally been released. The initial price will be 13,520 baht.

This should means that it might goes a bit lower at unofficial shops. Hopefully the price will drop a bit more in May, since that's when I planne to buy this phone.

The price came from Nokia's official website so it is the official price release. I cna't open that exact page yet... Perhaps I have to open it from home.

Anyhow, I am happy that it is this price. It is moderately price and I am sure that many people will be happy :)

Slightly Random Rambling

Another weather post, I hope no one is bored with this yet, but then not many people is reading this.

The weather seems to warm up quite a bit. At least when the night is still young. The bad is that it can gets really cold in the morning. Which means I have to be careful to use the quilt and blanket as well as wearing appropriate shirt to make sure I will not get sick.

Chinese New Year is coming up and my family plans another gathering. The venue is still being decided, not sure where yet.

I am quite bad at keeping myself occupied during the weekend... Next week should be better though, since I will have the evening plan (the family gathering) and perhaps also going out on Friday night. Something that I haven't done in a long time. Especially now that I work Saturday morning. Which means that I will use Chinese New Year as my reason for using my leave day on Saturday.

I seems to watch less TV now. I used to be a big SitCom fan but now that many of the SitCom I was a fan of has either finish or cancel. Even the one hours drama show began to finish off... I seems to watch them more on my computer now.

Which seems more the reason to buy new monitor, the 24" one :P The new monitor would not quite fit on my current table though... Include that to the new mobile phone I am planning to buy, the whole thing will be around 25,000 baht. It seems crazy that I am also plan to go to Prague and Amsterdam including all of this. However, it will not be soon that I will buy the 24", at least not until the price drop below 9,000 baht, hopefully.

Well this is quite a long rambling. I guess I will publish it for now.

Not as Cold a Snap I Thought It Was

I finally got my thermometer and what it shows surprise me a great deal.

It was actually just 23-24C in my room!! And of all these time I thought it was like 20C!! Perhaps it was because of the cold iminated from the tile floor of my room that make me feel colder than it was.

This morning though, it was really cold, like 20-21C cold. I did not venture into the bathroom to shower until it was pass 7am.

I wore my undershirt today and seriously considered buying another modal t-shirt with long sleeves this times. But I do not wanna pay full price. Although, they are doing 2 pieces get 15% discount, I would rather buy it at 30% or 50% discount...

Cold Snap

It is still cold in Bangkok, in Thailand even...

As I mention in previous post, I added a piece of my old shreded blanket to bed. I wrapped it around my torso and neck to add another layer of protection as well as to have a sort of scarf for my neck. It seems to work quite well as the sharp pain in my throat was gone when I woke up this morning.

I finally got a thermometer from my mom. It has magnet in the back so I could stick it on my computer case. Or perhaps I will just put it somewhere... Otherwise it might pickup the temperature from the computer case, instead of the environment.

Now I will be able to see how cold it is in my room.

I can't wait for my weekend... I am hardly motivated to get out of bed in such weather...

The Chilly Weather

Even though we are moving into second week, wait... We are already in the second week of January!! The weather still has no return to the warm tropical that is usual of Bangkok. Instead we have a cold front that felt like London, even a bit colder than in London's summer!!

The weather forecast widget that I use in my Yahoo page say that Bangkok is 17C in temperature! My room is rather drafty and with tiled floor it can get quite cold. Last night I wore two t-shirt and turn off the fan. I wore a long sleeves one over the modal one that I have been wearing almost nightly since around Christmas. I seriously thinking about buying a long sleeves modal t-shirt but I think I will wait until it is on sale.

I also considered buying a thermometer so I can see how cold it really is in my room. Right now it just chilly and I do not know exactly how cold it is...

Shower time is not fun. It was too cold even for my new warm shower machine. Although I would say that the new shower head helps quite a bit. However, sleeping is quite comfortable though...

The Template Options

Or rather the lack of options that is...

While I like blogger for it's ease of use and that the blogs that I read are also on blogger. The choice of templates are just pitiful. It seems that there were any additional template ever since I join, or simply a few that just add variations to the existing ones.

I have search for the right third party templates, found a few that I like, decided which one I would use (a three columns type). I still have no installing it.

Since, in doing so, I will lost my sidebars. In the old template style I can simply copy the sidebars part in the html code and paste it in the new one. However, in this new template style, everything are in more complex code. I did figured out how to save the sidebars code, even if just to be my references of what I current have.

I also asked a favour of friend who has a web design company to help change the colour of the template that I choose to be more to my liking. He still haven't got back to me on that... I understand that he is busy with his *paying* jobs.

I figured now that it is new year, I will finally install the template. Although now that I am browsing for the template again. I wants to have a 3 columns template with blue and dark colour style.

I still kinda beat after the New Year's Eve plan. I am still have not kick the sore throat yet. I will be working for two days and then it will be my weekends again. I will install it during that time.

Time Fly

Good time do goes by fast... After the post about my long holiday, New Year's Eve is approaching. When did that happen??? It was just a few days ago that I was having a great time *thinking* about my plan for New Year's Eve!!

Good time passed by so fast... However, I am still looking forward to the New Year's Eve. It will be fun for me I am sure :)

Time sure passed you by when you wake up around 11am and get back home around 19:00 I guess...

The weather sure is strange... It is getting a bit warmer tonight. I wondered how it will be tomorrow...

Another Malady Occured

I came down with another inflamed throat due to infection... According to the doctor I had visited this morning.

I started to notice my symptom yesterday. After waking up way too early with the symptom worsen, I decided to go to the hospital. I must say I love my job. Because the health insurance I have through my work can be use at private hospital. I have got another set of those horse pill, Augmentin, again.

I feels a bit better, after two pills, I hope it will clear up before the New Year's Eve time :)

First Day of Freedom

I was enjoying the first day of my Christmas holiday. One of the thing that I really like about this job is the fact that we usually close from Christmas to New Year, adding a few of my own leave days, I gets to have 10 days off this year :D.

I like having time off from work. Although it can be a bit nerve racking because I usually do not have any plans. I do not have a lot of friend to keep me entertained. And I do not have the desire to shop much... I am planning for another expensive trip after all. Besides, I mostly shopped for clothes anyway. I did noticed lately though that I have been checking work shirts a lot more than I used to. I suppose it is because I now have to wear shirt to work. This change of happen made me feels unsettled, I am not sure what to think of this.

I really need a hair cut though... My French friend call me today, saying he just arrive in BKK. No, he did not ask to meet, saying he was tired. I certainly understand that. He will be away to an island in the Andaman side of Thailand in a couple of days. Hopefully we will be able to see each other. I have not seen him for a couple of years now.

"The" Christmas Tree

As promised, here is the photo of the office Christmas Tree that I decorated.


The tree was about 20% full before I had a go at it. The star on the top is already there and I quite like it. The 'theme' that I aimed for was 'Gold and Silver'


Hence, the glitter gold and silver ornaments.

Christmas Decoration

First I must say that I did not realize that I will have to do a fair bit of crafting in my job, since after all I works in an IT position. But there were times when I have to make stuff for real and not just make it happen on computers.

What happen today and yesterday was not directly related to the first paragraph, only slightly. I asked my boss, the office manager, last week that I would like to buy Christmas decorating stuffs for the office. Especially for our Christmas tree. My boss approve of the idea, so I spend Wednesday (our public holiday) shopping for the decors at 2 superstores and one department store. I bought banners, tinsels, ornaments, Christmas lights, streamers, etc. I felt a rush of accomplishment while I shopped for these items. Perhaps knowing that I did well, I gets to shop, and I will claim the expense later :P

I spend the first half of my workday put up all the decorations. I began with the Christmas tree by put up all the ornaments and light strings. I have bought some very beautiful gold and silver glittered wrought ornaments, clapped on holly branches, red and golden Christmas flowers, blue ornaments with gold threads, and another set of golden and silver glittered wrought ornaments. I also braided 3 tinsels together to make them more eye catching to hang in front of the counter.

Then, I waited for one of the teacher who said that she would like shop for the office decor as well to come to the office so we can go buy more stuff. However, after she arrived, she said she had a lot to do so she won't accompany me. Which turns out to be for the best, since the nearby superstore did not have the cheap tinsels that I wants to buy. So I hopped on the motorcycle bike and went to another superstore that has them. This is also good because the second store also have a lot of streamers and banners to choose from.

In total I spent about 1,700 baht to decorate the whole office area. I got some compliments for the rest of the staff :) The boss is also pleased, which is perhaps the most important :P

Nantida and My New Big Purchase

Nantida Kaewbuasai, is one of best voice here in Thailand. She is also one of the few Thai singers that I really like. Instead of liking the usual pop idol, I prefer the adult contemporary sound. The MV below is one my favorite song. The song that, back then, I could not find on the net. So I have to went to a place where you can order songs to make a customize CD and ship to your place.



Too bad that the original version of this MV seems to be long gone. This is the karaoke version, hence the big letters. This is one of the saddest song that you can felt without understanding the language (I think)

About my big purchase, I just spend 4,190 baht on a warm shower machine. For those of you who was wondering what does it do, it just do as the name said. It warm the water for your to shower. Why do I need such machine in tropical country of Thailand? Because it can get rather cold here and my old one did not have enough power to warm the water up. This new one is really great.

I must say I enjoy my shower more than before, because of the warm shower with 5 adjustable levels shower head :)

The Smile in The Sky

On Monday, as I walked to a near by shopping mall to eat, I noticed some people were milling about with their mobile phone taking photograph of something upward. I looked up and saw a smiley face in the sky.

I did not take this photo, I tried with my mobile phone but I don't think it would work :) The news said this is because of Jupiter and Venus are at the right angle, along with the crescent moon. It could only be seen in early evening around 19:00 onward. It was certainly cute :)

The Airport Seige

I am glad that it finally over. The anti-government mob has make the term 'The ends justify the means' a whole new meaning. I must also added that the government did not react swiftly enough as well.

As it turns out, the government also waiting for the outcome of the contitution court regarding the potilical parties disband for forgery. The ruling came out yesterday in favor of disbanding three political parties, including the one that PM belongs to. Therefore, this oust him from the PM post. The anti-government mob is happy, though it seem that they siege the airport for nothing.

This siege damage Thailand on many aspect whether it's the confidents, toursim, shipping, etc. not to mention how many of my friends are due to visit Thailand in December. Hopefully the airport will be operating soon and never ever happen again.

Another Hardware Breakdown

It's not as bad as it sound... Well not as much but still as aggravated as the others... My 'smalltalk' cable is broken, Again!

This is probably the fourth times I have to buy this thing. Nothing is wrong with the headphones itself, but you can't use it for anything else because it was so short. At first I was resigned myself to the prospect of having to spend another 500 baht on a rather necessary accessory for the phone that I am planning to replace in 3-4 months. But a quick search on the net and I found some cheaper options from other shops.

*sigh* I am looking forward to not spending money replacing this darn thing when I switch the phone.

Shopping Dilemma

I am seriously thinking about buying new shoes and mobile phone. The shoes is, of course, a more pressing matter.

The shoes in question, is my work shoes. I current work shoes is of the brand 'Stonesheep'. I first buy it, partly because my younger brother said it is a good brand with good cushion. I tried it and it was nice so I buy it (at sales of course).

Presently, somehow my left foot create a hole in the cushion. The company refuse to replace it, saying that they will have to take them apart to replace it. I was told this after they have the shoes for two and half months for repair. Needless to say I will not be buying this brand anymore.

I am tempted to buy the Hush Puppy brand but it very expensive, even after the sales, which will end on November 23rd. I prefer the shoes with soft cushion, heels, maybe a little decor and most importantly, easy and fast repaired process.

I am tempted to buy Taywin brand again, it was my first dress shoes I ever had, which I got it when I enter university. But even Taywin brand is not that cheap either... The Stonesheep shoes that I bought was about 1,200 baht. The ones that I like from both brands are way more expensive... I should also added that I do not like them That much. Otherwise this decision will be a lot easier...

My cheapest option is to buy another cushion pad to replace the one I am using and already tored it at the same spot... I do not like this option because it make the shoes felt too snug fit for my taste. I still have a few days to decide at least. If not I am sure there will be planty of sales events in December.

Although I am still quite happy with my w810i, I am itching for a newer mobile phone. I am not resigned to the fact that my next phone will not be Sony Ericcson w902, which was panned as overpriced and underperformed. I am still deciding between Motorola ZN5 and Nokia 5800 Xpress Music. ZN5 have better camera and perhaps sounds but 5800 have better designs, has touchscreen, and video record capability.

There are still time to decide on this, obviously it will be next year before I made the purchase. Hopefully the price will drop some more or newer models will be released.

London in Retrospect

This post is looooooong overdue. Mostly due to my procrastination, the fact that the photos from my new camera is almost 2 MB each, which took quite sometime to upload. But now here it is.

What trigger this trip based solely on my current employment situation. The very fact that, British Council is my employer. Which entitled me to have many leave days, the office is close by that I have no transportation cost, and that I now have a bonus (for the first times in my life), allowed me to even start thinking about traveling.

My initial thoughts was that I should start in London, since Grace and CA was there, in addition to the fact that my employment should help with the visa application (which it seems to do the trick). I also think that with UK visa, which is said to be difficult to get, it should help with my future trip as well, as far as visa application goes.

I finally made the trip and my thought had changed from nonchalant attitude "I just wanna go there just to have UK visa stamp in my passport" to "I think I will go back there one day". I did had a nice time during my stay and I felt like I would do better next times. Like go out more, see more places and meet new people. I did not do much in the last part...

While I was in London, it felt like I could actually live there. Of course that was just an illusion, since I am not sure how I can cope with the winter. I already wore thick t-shirt and jeans in their summer! Not to mention the lack of washing hose in the toilet. I still do not understand why it is not popular. They can do it in Doha, with warm water even!!

The real kick in the nuts, however, is the currency rate. The pound has became so weak that today it is about 55 baht per pound, 11 baht cheaper than when I made the trip :~(. I am still unable to sell my pound yet with this rate :(.

I must say again that I am very happy with choice of lodging. You can find the place at this link http://www.gaytoz.com/oval/oval.asp. He was a gracious and generous host and I will be using his place again, if I still have not find someone whom I can stay with for free :p

Day Nine (Sort of) - Sunday: Heading Back Home

Woke up early to catch my flight. Take a shower, brush my teeth, and then finish the last packing.

Then, I went down to the kitchen, take out the box of Grace's spaghetti bolognese and heat it in the microwave. I tried to finish it as quick as possible, it would take me one and half hour to get to the airport.

The B&B owner woke up while I was eating in the living room and eventually see me off at the door. He is a kind, entertaining, and gracious host. I would definitely stay there when I went to London again.

The trip to the airport was uneventful, which was nice. Then I return the oyster card, the officer manning the booth recognise from the info on the card that I purchase the card from that very booth :) While I was in the queue, I noticed a family behind me thinking about buying a london map from the vending machine. So I open my backpack and offer them my London guide that I took from the office. I think they appreciate my gesture :)

The line was quite long for Qatar air, but the it move smoothly. The counter staff seems to initially mess up my ticket somehow and it took her a while to correct it. I think I waited there for like 20 minutes before she finish. By that time, she said I have to went into the terminal right away.

I went up the escalator, empty my water bottle, refilled it a bit with cold water from the water station, to ready myself for the security check. I misjudge the queue and it might have took me 15 minutes before I was cleared. I almost ran out of time to get to my gate and only have a bit of time to quickly browse through the crowded duty free shopping/waiting area. Unluckily my gate is at a far end of the terminal. I have to walk quickly and dash to the the gate. I only arrived at the gate for not more than 15 minutes before they open it for us to board the plane.

The plane had to wait like 30 minutes for it's turn to take off. Other than that it was a uneventful flight. Too bad that the movies in the flight entertainment system was the same as my previous flight. The food were still ok but not as good, since it was more of a snack meal.

When we arrived at Qatar airport, it was another 15 minutes for the security check. By the time I came through, there was literally no time to do anything else but went to the gate. I did not have to wait long for the shuttle bus to come and take us to the plane.

Once on the plane, a woman had asked me to move to swap seat so her brother can sit with her. It was another aisle seat but at the rim, so I did not mind. It was the decision that I would rather regret.

The flight was, again, uneventful. Except when it was time for the morning meal. They ran out of chicken pasta set so I have to settle for the beef musamun (a Thai food) instead. Had I not accept to change my seat, which was more toward the middle of the plane, I would have had the pasta... This is what I got for being nice to strangers :(.

The landing and the entry went smoothly. The taxi ride home was smooth, but I was horrified by the fare. It was about 300s baht excluding the 50 baht charge.

I arrived home safely in the morning, unpack, shower, and get back to my own routine.

Retrospect post will come later.

Day Eight - Saturday: Tower of London Redux, Seeing German Friend & Grace

Last night after we parted, CA send me a text to set a date to meet him for drink at a gay bar in Trafalgar square area. I was excited about this, since it will be another chance for me to cruise him :P

So today's plan was to visit St. Paul Cathedral, Tower of London, meet my German friend and dinner at Grace's. St. Paul was added to the trip after I was told by CA how gorgeous the view from the top dome was. I had checked the website and found that there will be almost 11 pounds entrance fees. I asked the B&B owner about this and he said it probably just the for top dome.

I finally arrive at the near by tube station. The surrounding area was nice, the public toilets was quite nice too :P

Needless to say I was appalled when I enter the cathedral that the entrance fee was for the whole deal. So I just glance around from the entrances for a little while before heading off to my next destination, the Tower of London.

I called Grace earlier asking where I can buy some English toffee, as my choice of souvenir for the office colleagues. She recommended Tower of London's souvenir shop for it. But when I actually saw the items, I was not happy. They were rather small paper packages with the pattern of London's 2 decks bus. So I decided to call B&B owner, asking him to buy some English toffee for me.

Then I went to the ticket booth, pay for my ticket, and went to the entrance. I was lucky that I was just in time for the Yeoman Warder tour.

The tour was both informative and very entertaining laced with the self-depreciated comedy that the British are known for. I am highly recommended the tour if you planned to visit the Tower.

The tour was not long, only about 30 minutes, it was free after all. It ended in the small chapel which hundred of bodies were buried underneath. I went on to take a look inside the white tower, the crown jewels, and the souvenir shop (of course :P).

I even went for the food in the canteen area. I made a horrible mistake of chosen salmon dish, without realizing it was a cold dish. I still have to try to finish it all, it was almost 10 pounds... Then I made up for that with a piece of chocolate cake. Which helps a bit.

My German friend then text me wanted to know when I could meet him. I gave him the time, about 1 hour so have a bit more time to see more of the tower. I finally ended up in the royal bedroom before it was time for me to leave.

I went to wait for my friend at Tower tube station. During that time I text B&B owner asking him how much the toffee was. His reply? It's free, a gift from him and his boyfriend :) I wait for about 20 minutes before my friend text me again which said that he had arrive near the Tower souvenir shop. I hurried back to the souvenir shop and found my friend waiting by his bike.

After chatting a bit, I told him that I have another appointment at my friend's house. He asked where that is, I told him, he said it would be near by on the bike, and off we went.

It was a nice change of pace to see London on a motorbike. We went to a park, it has a small park with toilet building near by. My friend informed me that it used to be very busy cruising spot until it was shutdown. We then proceed to the park, sitting on the bench and talk. I did not, however, commented on how his black shirt got cat hairs all over.

We catching up on things, talk about life and so on. It has been a really long times since we last saw each other. We talked for more than an hour and yet we kept on talking. Until it was almost time to meet Grace.

When the time came we walked back to the bike and he took me to the meeting spot, Shadwell tube station. It took her a since she arrived on foot which gave me some more time to talk with my German friend.

Grace finally arrive and I bid farewell to my friend. She lived not far away from the station. She live on the first floor of an apartment building. It has a large garden as well, which I think it's actually bigger than the apartment itself. I catch up with Grace a bit as well as her hubby. She then retreat to the kitchen to cook me dinner and sent me and the hubby to the garden table.

The meal was bolognese spaghetti with meatballs, broccoli, and mushroom. It was good, she even pack some as my breakfast :) It was almost 21:00 before we finish the meal. Soon after, Grace's hubby walked me back to the tube station to go back to the B&B.

Back at the B&B it was after 21:00, so I hurriedly take a shower, get dress in my best shirt, spray some cologne. Then I came downstairs and talk to the B&B a bit, thanking him about the gift and paid my fee since I will leave early in the morning.

Then CA text me to say that he won't be able to make it because his plan did not turn out the way he thought. That left me kinda bump, but with some thinking on my feet, I decided to offer for him to come visit me at the B&B instead. So I text him with that message, he did not reply. I wait for about 10 minutes before I decided to call him. He said he was in a far part of the city which would still took him quite a long time to reach me. He added that he did not wants to be out too late and forced to use taxi because they are very expensive.

To make it short, he did not come, and I lost my interest in going out by then. So I just hang out in the living room with the B&B owner and his boyfriend. The owner teased me that I whine and moan about not getting laid and yet I spend my last night in London, Saturday night no less, not going out.

In the end I hang out with them until around midnight then go back to my room, pack most of my stuff, take a shower and go to bed.