Finally….


How long has it been? I counted… 2 weeks since my internet breakdown and my last update. I missed blogging; it gives me a reason to type, something which is the next best possible form of expression and entertainment for me. For these weeks I’ve resorted to starting a personal journal in my laptop, which isn’t just as enjoyable as this is. Yes, I do get to type down more personal and private stuff (stuff about her, or complains about my bro that I don’t intend for him to hear :p), but don’t get feedback for it, and if you remember I once quoted that writers are writers when what they write are read, so the joy and fun of getting feedback regarding the stuff you write (bad or good) is part of the writer’s bliss.

So here I am now, finally posting one of my many useless, boring, repetitively mundane and dull-inducing posts (sorry my dear readers). Ah, I miss the fact that I can (yes, I can actually miss it) bore the socks outta people (unless you’re barefooted while reading this, or wearing sandals. In that case I bore your nails of your toes. Metaphorically).

2 weeks without the internet. Well… I’ve missed… 2 episodes of Bleach, 3 episodes of Mai-Otome, 3 episodes of Kage-kara Mamoru, 2 for Naruto… countless of info regarding the just-released Kingdom Hearts 2, my friend’s blog entries (Ju Ee, UPDATE. 2 weeks and I still read your goth thing. Lolz :P), Google and Yahoo when I needed them for assignment (I don’t think they’d help, though), the delight of chatting with your pals online and blogging, yes, let’s not forget that… and… yeah, I guess that’s all.

Yesterday morning, very early in the morning, I was struck with the largest revelation I believe I ever had while working on an assignment that robbed me of my sleep, and I went for the long-awaited badminton game between my college coursemates. Michelle, I owe your RM 3 or so, for the court bookings. I’ll make sure the guys pay, too.

Quite recently, I have a tendency to start writing songs (my previous post are songs, really, with LAME notes and LAMER lyrics. Sorry). Mild depression and sadness seems to be the cause (since the theme of these pathetic songs of mine is all the same). They do lift away the pain, mind. They do a whole damn lot of lifting pains.

Alright, gtg hit sack now. Having a translation exam tomorrow and I’m still unsure whether or not the theories are in the paper. I sure hope they don’t. I can’t remember Savory that well, nor do I understand him.
“You had a bad day,
You’re taking one down,
You sing a sad song just to turn it around.”

-Daniel Powder, “Bad Day.”-

She Won't see me.

I sit around the usual place,
At the corner in the train,
Wishing that these things would be,
A little more of what i dream

I just want to se eher smile,
Nothing more is worth that while,
Hug her when she's sad and down,
And joking when i see her frown

but

Why won't she see.....
Why won't she notice me....
Why won't she smile....
Nothing else is worth that while.

Take me away,
Take me away from my mistakes.
All i wish are things would be,
A little more of what i dream

but

Why won't she see.....
Why won't she see me.....

(cause i suck....)

All i want is just to say,
"I miss you every single day."
Hold her hand when we are close,
Cover her when she is cold.

Help her out with college work,
Laugh when she says i'm a jerk,
Stroke her hair when she's asleep,
Hold her gently as we kiss

But

Why won't she see....
Why won't she look at me...
Why won't she smile...
When i'm close around...

Take me away,
Take me away from my mistakes.
i know that we could never be,
At least, God, please notice me

but

Why won't she see....
Why won't she see me...

Day by day,
I look your way
And i hope
That someday
Just someday
You would say

"heys"
and smile....

And here i'm now, off this train,
Walking down this solemn rain
Wishing that these things would be
A little more of what i dream

but

She won't see....
She won't notice me
She won't see
And she will....oh she will (God no)...she will never...

love me....

Take me away,
Take me away from my mistakes.
Hug me when i'm sad and down
Kiss me when i wear a frown

But

She won't see.....
She won't see me.....
Cos she can't see....
Someone, oh someone

Like me......

(written by: Hafutota no JE)
15th March, 2006




I'm there, looking.

As i stand up on the stage,
I look on down and saw her face
She was there; she stroked her hair, she glanced up but didn't care.

The won't went cold,
I lost my soul
I'm drowning in a sea of coal

I lost my mind,
She wouldn't mind,
She'll never look even if i tried

No words,
No laugh,
Nothing really matters much.
No song,
Nothing's wrong,
Nothing will ever let her know

i'm there,
looking......

Now she went up on the stage,
She looked down, but not my face,
i was there, i couldn't bear, for all my life i spent to care

World went slow,
And then it snowed,
And i'm drowning in her cold.

she made me cry,
i lost my fight,
She'll never look even if i tried

No words,

No laugh,

Nothing really matters much,

No song,

Nothing's wrong,

But nothing would ever ler her know

i'm there,

looking....

kill me
Kill me,
rid me of my fantasies,

kill me
kill me
Just fucking kill me......

no words,
no laugh,
Nothing really matters much
no song,
nothing's wrong
But nothing would ever let me know

i'm there
looking......

(written by: hafutota no JE)
15th March, 2006


"One glance would mean a million bliss,
One smile would mean a million kiss."

Today, i'm nuts. So am i now.


I woke up to the familiar, serene hum of my aged air conditioner, breathing in its artificially cooled air. I sat up blurred and bleary, getting my bearings straight and recalling whatever that was forgotten in my slumber. Things didn’t seem right. I remembered setting my hand phone alarm to ring at 6 a.m., and sunlight was forcing its way through my blinds. My reached for my hand phone to see the time. 10.33 a.m. Cripes. I’m late for college.

Oh Damn, I must’ve turned the alarm off instead of snoozing it when it rang under my sleepy stupor.

I recalled sitting on my bed for a moment, remembering that I was supposed to meet Amanda for breakfast (I didn’t tell her I would, but I intended to) and that I had probably missed my first ever tutorial of the semester (and wasting one of the three days I could spare playing truant). All because I had killed off my alarm and went back to sleep like a freaking lazy-ass. Ah, what the heck. The world hasn’t end, I won’t be expelled from college and I have 6 weeks to ask Amanda for breakfast before semester ends. Plus I have a full day to look forward to. A full day spending time at home. Excellent, if not good.

So begins a usual routine of me watching some anime whilst dressing up, eating an unhealthy lunch while watching a movie with Kak Yun, pumped a good couple of hours on the ps2 and surfing the net mindlessly.

I even made an effort to type down my lecture notes into the laptop. OMG I’m typing my lecture notes into my laptop WILLINGLY. It’s a miracle O.O

My writer’s block remained plagued inside my joke of a mind (thus this meaningless, unnecessary post of random and useless things). I tried Amanda’s way of curing it, pushing away this laptop for a sheet of paper and with my Papermate Kilometrico MED Point ball pen held in my hand. 20 minutes later the sheet is full with whatever crap manga I could draw, the terrible sketches of evil grins and big anime eyes mocking my own stupidity. The sheet of paper found itself torched into ash on my lawn.

I got screwed for burning the paper. And now my dad thinks I’m pyro-psychotic. Great.

Sulking from the scold I stayed a little while on the lawn, staring into a starless sky and placing myself as mosquito fodder. I made a stroll to the dog cages and found it literally surrounded by a small number of slugs. No wonder the bougainvilleas were losing their leaves (maybe it’s another cause, but that moment all I could do was blame the slugs).

The slugs were cute, like snails without shells. Thinking of snails reminded me of Maple Story, and in Maple Story I slaughter snails for measly Mesos and snail shells. Too bad, slugs. You’re pests, and dad doesn’t like pests.

I massacred all the slugs that I could find, turning them into liquid entities of themselves with the fine salt I got off the kitchen (the very same salt I used for my omelet). May you all rest in peace, and reincarnate into something better than sliming invertebrates. Somehow I get the feeling that I will go to hell.

Scanning the net for soundtracks I somehow stupidly ignored the advice against visiting this particular site which is rumoured to infect random visitors with Trojan and spyware (should’ve listend to you guys at www.gamefaqs.com). The PC got a major jam/lag/slowdown breakdown, so I shut it down and restarted it only to enter a screen saying that my PC will be deleting virtual memory spaces. I restarted the PC (all the while muttering OMGWTH WAS THAT!!!1) and everything turned out ok after. 5 minutes later I was online looking for any free Adware and Spyware blocking softwares (or rather, brother did, but I looked for some after he slept. Better ones, that is. Found none though).

I cooked omelet for dinner tonight, trying to mimic those telur dadar that you can order from those tom yam stalls/restaurant. I fried some mixed vegetables (diced carrots, corns and peas) with garlic, oyster sauce and some soy sauce (and adding some corn starch later to thicken the broth). Then I fried the egg on dad’s brand new flat pan, making the most perfect omelet (no burns, no holes and not looking like sunflowers battered by raging bulls) I made in a long time on the large wok. Then I attempted to wrap the egg over the mixed vegetables. The end product is 16% similar to the telur dadar in looks, and 35% similar in taste. A good improvement over the -21% similarities my previous omelet did. Dad didn’t eat much of it, though. Or maybe he didn’t any of it at all. I wasn’t looking.

I’m currently mosquito fodder by my dining table as I type this. I guess I’m really worth calling JE. Maybe I’m diabetic; my blood can’t be all that tasty. Perhaps if I’m in a vampire movie, I’m one of those people who die first and most uneventfully. Maybe it’ll go like this:

JE: OMG it’s a giant bat that looks like Brad Pitt in Interview with the VAmpire! Where art thou my garlic? Oh, I ate them in dinner before my Clorects. Damn.

*cheesy horror music. A scream, crashes of furniture. 100 galleon of blood artistically splashed on the wall for a grim effect. The heroin comes in the room to find a lump of fats and skin. She screams. My name appears at the bottom part of the end credits.*

Random Token Black Guy: Man That Sh*t is Whack!

Homer Simpson: Operator! Give me the number for 911! (character and quote copyright of Fox and Matt Groening)

(Forgive my insanity, people. It’s the TV, I swear it’s the TV)

I have no classes tomorrow. And what do you know? Class today was canceled. Luck?

MUAAAHAHAHAHAHHA! MUAHAHAHAHHA! MUAHAH-HAHAH-HAGH! *COUGH* *SNORT* *DEAD*
(Sorry people. It happens when I have writer’s block. It’s the TV, I swear. And the rap music. Blame it on the media, people!)

The 1st day of the third Semester.


Wait, hang on, hang on. I’m still wondering which approach I should use for this post….

What approach should I use?


Maybe……

A cheerful approach?


Today was the first day of the third semester, and WOOOOOOOOT!!!! OMG ROTLMAO I’m finally going back to college! The holidays were BORING and gosh is it great to be finally going back to your friends (ALL YOU GREAT FRIENDS!). I followed mom to work so that I wouldn’t need to drive my car, and I could follow her back after. The weather in the morning was like WOAH, B-E-A-Utiful, excellently excellent, magnificently magnificent, superbly superb and utterly utterly utterly….erk…greatly GREAT. And I was like OMG look at the LOL pretty sun! We were caught in a little jam, which SUCKS! ALL YOU PEOPLE SHOULD TAKE TEH LRT! But what’s a little jam la, it’s Malaysia la HELLO! And we listened to Light and Easy FM and there was like this ‘Who wanna be a million-hair” sorta game, and the girl she had to take so LOOOOooooooonnng…… to figure out A.Conan Doyle. HAPA la. Malu-ation wei.


No, no no….too cheerful…

Perhaps……

Something more…..
Descriptive?

And as we approached my mother’s office a small gloom settled over the skies, but I was unperturbed. We had a small breakfast at a nearby stall; 2 small bowl of noodles, before entering mom’s office. There was something cozy about the warm smiles mom’s colleague tend to throw on me, and I smiled back with every courtesy that I have sense to realize of. Mom was as usual fussy about everything me, saying that I should’ve taken a bottle of water and nagging me for wearing a jacket in such a warm weather. I left the office soon, striding across the busy roads and through a small alley and pass the coffee shops that bore the sweet look of yester years of long. The LRT was thankfully less packed, and I stood in a comfortable place watching the scenery flit pass and observing the subtle shapes the sun’s shadow threw pass the windows. I was considerably too early for the meeting with my friends, so I stopped at KLCC station and sat at the almost empty platform to read the newspaper. A welcoming serenity was present, soothing in way yet too silent in another. Screeches from the LRT trams that roar pass would break the silence, and slowly it pieces back together to a complete image of calmness, before shattering again. I continued my journey 40 minutes later.

Sheesh! Too boring……

Wait….
There must be……
Another approach….

Third Person, perhaps?

The fat boy of Walrus was surprised to meet Diane in the tram, right after they were landing, and they were joined soon by a waiting Ju Ee and a traveling Pei Ling. Walking to the shopping mall he was glad and cheered by his friends’ conversations, something he had missed over the holidays, but nothing warmed his heart more than the fact that his friends were meeting up to celebrate his and Ju Ee’s birthday (which has come to pass), and raking his memories he realized that it has been a while since he actually celebrated his birthday (though with simple elegance) among his friends, and he is utterly grateful. They had a meal at Shakey’s Pizza, though the fat boy of Walrus ate little (he had had breakfast earlier). He was merry, and merrier as his friends entertain, and was smiling more than he had ever did for the past month.


Alright, alright, that was all too clichéd…..

Well….

Something unique, perhaps?
How about…..

Internet style?


T3ach3r wasn’t in for teh 1st klas, so we chtted the hours away. Mich3ll3 ws t3llin abt het trip to Cambodia, n we laugh3d lk MAD Lol.
We w3nt for d 2nd klas, n it ws rath3r bosan tho d new subj3ct is interesting enuff. Ws damn slippy tho, cn’t op3n my eyes. Aprntly I ned to buy 4 dicts, whch’ll cos me lots. D 1 at hom3 is too big, so mebbe I ned to git a nw one too. Darn new subj3cts.


………………………I’m getting a headache @-@.

Ah what the hell

I’ll just go with…..

FRENCH.

je suis désolé pour cette chose boiteuse, et j'espère que je peux offrir un meilleur écris mais maintenant je suis juste stupide plat. je vous souhaite tout le bonne nuit.

Random stuff.

Typing here now I’m almost too sleepy to keep my eyes open. Hitting the sack late last night after watching ‘Seven’ (the 1995 murder thriller starring Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt) and waking early to catch the Academy Awards I’m definitely having lack of sleep. Minami’s Piano Piece of Sena is blaring softly to my ears, soothing and calming. I’ll probably be sleeping soon, but of course not before I type a little something here.

It has grown on me, blogging. And now I have a tendency to sit up and type about whatever things I could think of, and the sensation of typing leisurely with the best of my music lulling the gloom and stress that could ever accumulate in a day is bliss. And then there were the comments, though they come in small sums, were always a delight. To know that your works, your sentences I and your words were somehow being read is a writer’s orgasm (I apologize for the way I put it, currently my mind is too tired to think of another analogy, or metaphor, or whatever).

The trouble is that I have grown to love typing so much I would still type despite having really nothing posting in this small, humble blog. I know, well, at least I was typing and those works do go to my ‘Written Works’ folder in my laptop here, but I’m running out of better things to type (hence this post and its title).

‘Crash,’ won the Oscar for best motion picture of the year. I was surprised; Brokeback Mountain was favoured to win (and the critics said so), but I couldn’t be more delighted that ‘Crash’ won. I had watched the movie and I love it, and it was possibly the best movie of 2005 that I could ever watch. I read in an article somewhere online that ‘Crash’ won due to a late surge of praise, thus winning over Brokeback by a small margin. A Cinderella story, perhaps?

College is restarting tomorrow; my third semester. Once more I’m a little nervous. How’re things going to be? How’re my friends, my coursemates? How much can someone change in a semester break? It’s silly, really. Sometimes my own idiocy amazes me. Perhaps, though, the fear of getting worse in every sense available is still instilled within me. I thought my new surge of confidence and self-esteem would’ve drowned these preposterous idiocies, yet somehow the doubts and uncertainties lingered.

But I know once I’m back in college all these stupid thoughts will go away, because my friends are forever great.

I’ve been sighing a lot these days, mostly at myself, sometimes at things that concerns me, and sometimes when things are seemingly going awry. I sighed when I had once more managed to “piss my brother off” for the 113 time, I sighed when I heard something the newspapers had probably covered up, I sighed when Howl’s Moving Castle lost to Wallace and Gromit in the Oscars (contending for best animated feature) and I sighed when it seemed like she hasn’t been reading my blogs lately.

Somehow, at the end of the semester break, my holidays seemed so short and uneventful. My trip to Bangkok made it seemed a little longer (yes, if you’ve noticed, the Bangkok trip is rather uneventful save the 3rd day). I wished the break would’ve been a little longer, another week perhaps (and it’ll give the college AMPLE TIME to revise my time-table, which stinks by the way and in my opinion of course).

Okay we’ve come to a point where I say that I’ve nothing to type about anymore, and subsequently I’ll be typing out my apologies and probably claim that the post above is lame. But I’m lazy and tired today from basketball and sleepiness, so I’m just gonna do this…..

No idea, me lame, sorry, goodnight people.

Sweet dreams to all (I’m feeling generous…)

An unnecessary movie review:

The Heirloom.


Alright guys, I’m bored and I ran out of ideas to post in order to sustain the life of this mediocre blog, so I’ve resorted to cheap and pathetic movie reviews in order to give this little site a spice (a bitter and tasteless spice, that is).

Well, this review is sorta based on my opinions (as most reviews do, and normally bad ones) and how much I manage to perceive out of a movie (I’ve no education and knowledge about movies and the art of it), so if I happen to type down something that you didn’t feel right or fair, just drop in a comment, ok? And please try not to flame me, not that I can’t blame you for it (and its good comment for me, considerate flaming) but avoid insulting me or my cows or anyone related to me by friendship, blood or ownership while you’re at it.

Before I indulge you with total nonsense do note that I rate my movie rather similarly to the format Yahoo! Movie does, and it goes like this:

A+ ~ Miss this movie and you DIE!
A ~ It OWNS, baby, it OWNS.
A- ~ Closest you can get to ^^
B+ ~ Memorably Memorable.
B ~ Good, worth your money and attention
B- ~ Fair, but still worth your watch
C+ ~ Ouch! But it has its moments….
C ~ C for Crap.
C- ~ Slightly worse than crap.
D+ ~ Dreadful, as Simon Cowell may put it.
D ~ You DIE watching this….seriously
D- ~ Someone murder director/producers/actors/anyone in it.
F ~OMFG HOLYSH*T@#$%&*^#@$!!!!!!!!!11

*ahem*, now to the actual review….

The Heirloom.


Language: Mandarin
Classification: U
Running Time: 1 Hour 36 Minutes
Director: Leste Chen
Cast: Terri Kwan, Jason Chang, Chang Yu-Chen, Tender Huang.
Official Site: www.heirloom-movie.com
Trailer: www.heirloom-movie.com

Asian horror, the new topping on the horror movie genre that’s now so thick and cheesy sometimes you wonder if anyone should really make another one. But hey, why not? I mean, the Americans are at it now, and even Singapore had a poke at it (with the surprisingly well made ‘The Maid,’ but that’s another review). So now Taipei is having a stab-shot at it, with the release of The Heirloom.

The Heirloom starts off with a description of something called a ‘Ghost Child,’ spirits denied reincarnation forcefully by humans who wish to master over it and gain fortune by its power, and to obtain a ‘Ghost Child’ one needs to extract a human fetus and feed its angry spirit with human blood. Sounds familiar? Well people this is instruction 101 in obtaining your very own Toyol, so copy and paste the instructions above if you wish to have a demonic baby go and steal your stingy aunt’s money (serves her right for the 50cent ang pow…) or anyone’s else if it matters.

Fast forward the description and you’re treated with a tale of an entire wealthy family hung to death, at the same time, in their very own mansion O.O. 20 years later, James, a descendant of the unfortunate family inherits the mansion. Being an architect he admired its olden architecture and decided to keep it, despite the fact that the government cultural ministry would love to get a hand on it. So he moves in with his fiancé, a professional dance performer and celebrate the move-in with their 2 best friends in the mansion. As you predicted it, strange things happen and pretty soon things got ghastly.

All the necessity of a typical Asian horror film is present here; a creepy house, a dark back-story, nerve-wrecking ambience and those darn creaking sounds. The mansion and its ambience are well made and it set the mood pretty well. But sadly, if I can point the good things in this movie, this is the only stuff you’ll probably find worth your time.

The Heirloom suffers from a confusing plotline with enough unfilled plotholes to get yelling a, “HUH??!!” O.O as the end-credits appears. You’ll be treated with dozens of things doesn’t make sense and are left unexplained. The characters too, sadly, are not developed. It’s hard to actually care for the main characters when so little of them is unexplored, even the love between James and his fiancé is somewhat 2D and their friends felt like characters thrown in for the sake of showing that our main characters are not nerdy anti-socials.

The actors did their job, at least, though not to say the best offered around. It’s disappointing to see that the good premise of the story; the hangings of the family, were dragged down by a poor execution and a weak plot. If you’re looking for a good scare, at least, and ignore a flimsy plot, you’re better off watching a tale of a pair of red shoes. At least you get some cheap scares. This movie offers nothing more than a good, fresher premise and some pretty good ambience.

Rating: C (mediocre)

Pros: An interesting premise; good ambience; some creepy moments; instructions to Make-your-own Toyol!

Con: Weak and torn plot; undeveloped characters; what, no scares?; downright confusing; been there done that asian horror.

aujourd'hui est beau



Today is a beautiful day. The weather was cloudless, the winds soothing and sun a warm comfort (a little too warm, perhaps, but the morning was fine). I was unusually spirited, cast away from the typical morbid, stale mornings some days may offer. So spirited was I, the heavy feeling that clouded my head was left ignored. Today is a beautiful day, because today is today as it is; just today.

Sometimes I wonder if I should, really, share today’s joy with everyone. But to share means that I’ll be proclaiming today to every friend and every family member, and for most occasions I prefer today to be quiet and simple (most unlike several other people). Still to share a joy brings forth larger joy to yourself, so I can’t help but feel a little (a very tiny little) disappointed that today is just as simple and quiet as I wish it to be.

I knew I had to be content with the path I chose to live today, but then the magic waned. Somehow the brightness and cheer of today died quickly under the raging sun. The heavy feeling on my head settled throughout the day, a hamper to my thoughts and the little happiness I wish to procure. I had stood under the sun awaiting my car to be fixed (or upgraded, more like). Though I enjoyed the foreman’s company, the heat and the turmoil boiling in my head was overwhelming, so at times I felt drifted off and blanked. Getting a new game (Shin Onimusha: Dawn of Dreams) didn’t help either, and a pathetically preposterous Chinese comedy couldn’t light up the cheer that was.

The day was fading into the dull and boring routine I always go through, and I chose it to be like this,

We live through our days the way we make it, whether cheer or gloom, but things never really do go the way you wish it to be. At times like this we embrace it with strength and love, bearing the pain its spike may cause. But today is a beautiful day, because it is today as it is today, shouldn’t things turn out better at least?

Luck or fate, chance or choice, I can’t change the day as it turned out to be. So I had to embrace it and bear its pain, but I just can’t help but feel unfair (in a small scale) and disappointed.

I hope that a couple of panadols can clear off this slight fever by tomorrow, because tomorrow I commemorate today with a lunch with my family.

Irony can be painful at times.

But just before I thought it would end bad, just before I thought today would become of those times you look back and wonder its irony, mom came home with a cake.

And they sang Happy Birthday above a small little cake of hope and love.

Thanks, everyone. Today couldn’t have been more beautiful.

But I’d like to wish it myself, as I always do every year. Happy Birthday, J-E.

Back from Bangkok.

Ah, well, finally I get to go somewhere in Thailand which is not the boring and staling streets of Hadyai (I hope I got the spelling right). The trip there was quite an unplanned one (for me, that is); I only got invited along 4 days before the departure, so I had to renew my passport in 2 days and cancel a movie with Amanda (I’m still so sorry, hope I can make it up).

My 4th and 5th aunts, their husbands, my grandparents and my cousins went, and I have to thank the fact that my cousins were there or not I would’ve silently rot in my hotel room reeking of boredom. The sad, unfortunate thing about this trip was that it was basically a shopping trip (DAMN!), so the sight-seeing is kept at a bare minimum. But well, the trip was worth it, and it had some great moments. I just hope that next time I get to go I get to see more than just the modernized culture of the city folk, but also the beautiful and fascinating traditional cultures (of which I only get a glimpse of).

We flew there last Friday (Air Asia, budget is tight :P) and was back on Monday. I had spent a sleepless night at my 4th aunt’s house (the air-cond there, in my cousin’s room, can be ruthlessly cold) and we took a 7 something flight there (I was too sleepy to tell the time). The flight was… cramped (I know it’s a budget airline, but they could make the seats slightly wider apart), and I was kinda separated from my cousins, sitting in between my 4th aunt (who looked deranged from the lack of sleep O.O, no offense) and a stranger uncle who stole my armrest (so I had to steal my aunt’s instead, sorry).

We arrived there at 9 something (once again, was too sleepy), and we rented a mini-bus to get us to the hotel. And that was when we get our sight of Bangkok city.

Arrived at our hotel after a while (which was aptly named Asian Hotel), unpacked and head of for our first meal at there, which was chicken rice (I was crooning silently, we get better chicken rice here T-T). And just soon after, the shopping began.

We went to Ma Bu Keong (or something like that, I dunno how to spell it but I know it’s MBK, so I’ll refer to it as that from now on), which I was told is the KLCC shopping centre for Bangkok. I was surprised, I admit. It was not the traditional, more cultural Thailand I expected (and hoped) to find. The mall is impressively large (not Mid Valley large but large enough), and full to the brim from regular shopping stuff to souvenir shops that amounts to the dozens. Most of us quickly head off to their shopping. I was more interested with the things and people that I find there.

Shopping lasted LONG. Hours, I lost touch, and we couldn’t really be separated because not everyone got to use the cell phone there. Anyway I had a great bite at a satay looking food which is good, authentically excellent (I ate to a total of 12 or more stakes, the price is not quite low). We had dinner at a small restaurant near the hotel, and the food was OK but disappointing. Not to worry though, we had a great supper of soup noodles and fried oysters (which I learnt is call Hoi Tord there) and steamed peanuts. End of day 1.
Day 2 was, well, more hours spent shopping (some of my relatives should know that there are more fascinating things than 99 baht t-shirts). We did go to another shopping centre (I dunno the name, but it is close to MBK) but only for a while. At least this time we got more freedom, me and my cousin Aaron, and we explored the higher parts of MBK. We even got to have a game of Counter-Strike with the Thais (they’re good, but all playing the same style of De-eagle and AWP snipers), and went to the arcades for a while, and not to forget the goofy pics we took at the picture parlour.

Though I do not really love it, I did do some shopping. I got myself a pair of shoes for 400 baht (I think it’s a good bargain), got 2 t-shirts (99 baht each, that’s like RM9.90), got some souvenirs and treated myself to a jacket I fell in love with (I’m not really prone to loving clothes on sale, this is a rarity) which cost me 1300 baht and money chipped of my ang pow savings.

Oh, I’ll like to note that the Cineplex in MBK ROCKS! There are no qualms about controversy and cencorship there, and they were having movies like Brokeback Mountain being screened. I can live there, seriously, just for that.

Dinner at day 2 was unique; me and my 2 cousins (Aaron and Vince) ate at the Brazilian cuisine restaurant at the hotel (my 4th uncle asks that I accompany them while he and the rest ate somewhere else). It was a buffet, in which the waiters have to (I pity them) carry cooked meat on swords to us upon request. By God I was stuffed like mad, but I’d actually rather eat authentic Thai food. Still, I get to eat this expensive stuff, so no complains JE, be content.

Day 3 was the GRANDADDY of trip. I, Aaron and my 5th aunt and uncle went to the floating markets of Chao Phraya River. We followed a small tour there, and sat in a van with Japanese tourists for 2 hours or so. We got to one part of a river, and took a motor boat to the market. It’s smaller than I thought it is, but interesting and fascinatingly beautiful all the same. They have rows of shops built on the river there, with several people rowing around on boats selling fruits and food. We paid a personal to row us about the market, bought a few stuff (it was pricy there, but we can actually bargain the price to half of it) and even ate noodles on board.

By the time we got back to the quay the market was horrendously crowded with boats, and we were stuck at many points in which we had to pull away from other boats and dodge tight situations. It was exhilarating, really, and I was all hyped up and snapped pictures till my camera battery died (despite fully charged).

The tour later took us to a cobra show performance thing, and we paid 200 each baht to get in. I was expecting a regular, snake exhibition cum cheap performance, but the show was good. The performers work with venomous, piss-off snakes that lunged at them and the performers dodge in intense and exciting methods. Sad for the snakes though, they had to work like this for a long long time. And someone needed to tell the commentator that he’s stuffed-crust pizza cheesy.

We skipped an elephant trekking side-tour and headed back for the city, stopping at MBK. There the usual shopping ensued and I was wondering amount aimlessly and stopped by the arcades for a moment (imagine that, I went all the way to Bangkok and spent half my time playing Daytona USA).

We didn’t return to the hotel until after dinner, which was at a street side hawker stall eating a rather good pot Tom Yam, teriyaki meat and fish. All in all, BEST DINNER THERE. We went for a little loiter around the streets eating some snacks and bought some food back to the hotel for a little get-together (which was short). I went for a hearty dip into the bathtub of warm water before sleeping :P

Day 4, departure day, I woke early to accompany my cousin sis to MBK (she wanted a last minute purchase of a wallet) but me and Aaron got sidetracked to a noodle stall with the best noodles around (and only costing 10 baht, which is RM1, per bowl). Had a short go around MBK for some final souvenirs, and we left for the airport around noon.

Trip back was at least better, though we had to hoist a ridiculously large amount of baggage and items (all of them not even mine, and you should’ve seen the amount of baggage increased after the trip). We got separated, and I fell asleep half the journey home.

The trip ended with me returning home after a small dinner at my 4th aunt’s before brother fetching me back. I got unpacked, took a rest, and slept till the afternoon the next day.

Not the best of all vacations, but certainly something memorable enough (thanks to day 3). Next time I go, it had better not be a shopping trip, and I want to see river Kwai (and the other stuff).

Sorry for the poor account of my trip, but I wanted to keep it short (it’s severely shortened, this one) and brisk. Anyhow, thanks for reading.

Goodnight :P.