Monday, May 30, 2005

offset day

Happy Birthday Mervin! Since kaarawan ni kuya ngayong araw na ito, magkakaroon ng handaan mamaya sa kwarto nila reysiel at ria. :)

I slept over at Wen's hotel last night and we just made some tsika tsika (last time we did that was October last year before I left for Cebu). It was really great talking to her. She is one of those people na alam kong kahit anong kagaguhan gawin ko, she would never judge me and just listen and give sound advice (and thankfully, I have been blessed with friends like her too. hahaha).

Anyway, on the way home, I tried to get a taxi. But apparently, getting a taxi in tourist-rich Pratunam is expensive. Just for a trip to Petchburi, they charge me 200 baht! Are they friggin' kidding me? So I opted to take the bus instead. And knowing my space out moments most of the time, I took the right bus on the wrong side. So I got to go on a Petchburi tour and had to rely on the mercy of some kind Thai people to get me on the correct bus (which unfortunately turned out to be not air conditioned. Is this an example of the saying that the right way is not always the quickest and most convenient?)

I think I need to go grocery shopping. My fridge is really empty (save for milk and water). But then, I am supposed to be on a diet. So I shouldn't be thinking of food at all. What a dilemma. Maybe I should just have that fridge taken away. hahaha.

I have to get back to my laundry now. Ciao!

PS. I am so excited for my Singapore trip already. Marf sent the itinerary and I can't wait to see Claire also! :)

Sunday, May 29, 2005

couch potato week...

Ria called me a Geek because I was urging her and Reysiel to watch the third installment of the Star wars trilogy. Obviously, they weren't that interested in it. I think she will be more horrified to learn that I actually bought DVDs of 4, 5 and 6th star wars installment and actually spent the whole of Saturday evening watching it.

It's not that I am into the whole spaceships and guns-in-space fighting stuff. Far from it. I detest gun fighting. But maybe I am just a sucker for saga stories. I like watching how people evolve from evil to good, or vice versa. And I like watching epic battle scenes, where people fight from an underdog perspective and overthrow and existing evil Empire. (and so you can already predict that I will be buying the Lord of the Rings DVD soon at Pantip Plaza as well. hehe.) Besides, the young Harrison Ford's cockiness is so appealing in that movie that I just might buy the whole Indiana Jones trilogy as well.

Reysiel and I also just finished watching 'Save the Last Dance For Me'. Grabe. Ang gwapo naman ni Adrian/Francis. He is just so boyishly adorable. Sigh. I'm in love na. I will soon pay Korea a visit to find him. (and Ki-Joo. hahaha. Folks, this is why I can't snag a bf yet because I am already in love with telly heroes. hahaha.).

I got sick this week (the whole week) and unfortunately, it was my turn to do morning shift. I was able to survive Monday to Thursday, but had to absent from work on Friday. My cough and colds are probably due to the non stop going out last weekend (starting Thursday) because it was Andy's last weekend here in Bangkok. Oh and that Saturday, we went to this pub in Kao-san Road, and it was so full of gwapo people. (I think i am RH already. hahaha)

Wen is also here in Bangkok. (yey!). I got to see her last night and Friday night but we didn't get to talk much as she was with her family. Anyway, she will be leaving tomorrow so I definitely have to talk to her tonight to catch up on some good ol' chika from back home.

Reys and I went shopping at Suan Lum last night. And we bought these really cool earrings na hindi pantay. One side is short and the other is kinda long. It looks really funny, but really cute and cool and very chic.

I was supposed to do laundry and all these domestic stuff today, but it is just so freaking hot that I couldn't bear to do it. Oops...Reysiel just called. Got to go back home and review all the stuff she bought from JJ market. :)

(jo, nothing happened when I got drunk. Don't worry. hehe. I just don't like to drink again, that's all). Ciao.

Sunday, May 8, 2005

NOTE TO SELF:

I am not drinking anything with alcohol again.

Back from Chiang Mai...

I just got back from Chiang mai last Monday evening with Eileen. My skin is now several shades darker (due to our state of unpreparedness) but I had a lot of fun in that activity-packed weekend.

Friday night - Reysiel, Eileen, Vicky (with Thomas, Tangkad and a drunk Ralph) went to Code. It was ladies' night, which meant we could drink all the gin sprite we want. Which unfortunately meant all of us became a teeny bit tipsy which contributed to our lively dancing. After Code, Len and the others wanted to go to Mountainbike, but Reysiel and I decided to go to Zantika despite our drunken selves. In Zantika, Reysiel exhibited a spirited rush of willpower, powered her way to the front of the stage, then to backstage to meet our favorite Eminem singer. I swear, I just felt dizzy and disoriented and a bit tipsy. I felt like Reysiel and I were groupies that night. hehe. But it was fun. Second time Reysiel and I went to Zantika (just the two of us). I swear Reys, the third time, we are going to pick up some hot men. hahaha.Then we had to go back home so I can pack for Chiang mai and she can pack for her beach trip. Then we got to watch one episode of OTH season 2 before I decided to go back to my room and wake up my sleeping and obviously drunk chiangmai partner.

So off we went to the airport with Len sleeping in the taxi most of the way. :)When we got to Chiangmai, we decided to sign up for a trekking tour (take note: no breakfast yet, no sleep at all, and a lot of alcohol in our bloodstream).

So our van picked us up and we joined our group (four english, one american, one canadian, one german). We went on a trek up to a hill tribe first and I was surprised and horrified to learn that we were expected to go up a mountain peak on foot! We even had to cross this rickety hanging bridge which looked like it was going to self destruct any second (i even asked our guide if that bridge had ever fallen before and without missing a beat, he answered, 'Yes, once before'. Not entirely reassurring).

After the trek, (and several horrifying life defining moments later), we were on our elephant ride tour. It was really cool, save for some moments when I thought that our elephant would tumble down the cliff. It was too bad that the trainers used hooks which they stuck into the elephant's ear when the latter became out of hand. It made us wince and grimace everytime the trainers did that. :( But on the bright side, while going up and down the hills, the elephants in turn peed and dropped huge pieces of feces all over the place. Very interesting concept of fertilizing the soil).


The group then had lunch at this 'village' which roughly translated to an unfinished housing structure in the middle of nowhere. But the food was really good. (or maybe we were just too hungry after the gruelling activities). Then we went to have some bamboo rafting. This was really cool. We get to sit on a raft made up of 6 bamboo pieces strung together with two people on either end pushing and pulling the raft over rocks in shallow water. I found it unexpectedly fun and a really long trip too. Eileen slipped several times and fell on the water when we were trying to push the raft (at times, we were too heavy for the raft to actually pull through certain areas with us on it).

The next few days, we visited Thailand’s highest peak, the Royal Winter Palace (where the strawberries where yummy and we found a Martha Stewart house there) and beautiful waterfalls.

It is great that this country’s infrastructure is good for tourists in terms of travel etc. Made me wish the Philippines were this ready and prepared to welcome tourists. Our roads for one are barely passable. :(

We failed to find Little Zantika though. Maybe next time I visit Chiang Mai then. Something which I will definitely do in the not so distant future...