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Saturday, November 14, 2009
2 more books for me
04:30 - I woke up on my own comfy bed. This is the time I normally awake in camp. 05:30 - I couldn't stay in bed any longer, so I rise, although I was still feeling the tiredness and aching. So much of my biological clock. I prepared breakfast with my mum. I like the feeling of preparing a simple but nice breakfast. Who doesn't like to wake up with a scrumptious-looking breakfast when they walks up to the dining table? But then, who would always have the time and energy to make fanciful breakfasts for their loved ones? People are always so busy. Lack of sleep, rushing for work, troublesome - all these to excuse a warm breakfast at home. I prepared the scrambled eggs, my mum cooked the ham, and we just placed everything in place on the plate, with cereals and breads, together with a cup of Milo. Such a simple breakfast, but to me, it's filled with so much more. I guess I've really learned to cherish the little things now. I feel that I've missed out a lot of time with the people I care about. I used to feel that there's so much time to spare, so much time later on to make up for the things I haven't done. But I was wrong. Time you get to spend with someone you love, in this case my family, is precious. Friends are as important to me too, but if you see the next sentence I'm going to type, I may sound contradicting. My friends asked me out today, but I rejected them. I hope they will understand - I know they will - that my body is just so exhausted, all I want to do is to rest my 2 days at home. One of my bunk mates asked me why I don't want to go out with my friends when I have the chance to, since most of the time we are in camp. Part of me wants to go out really, for I've been feeling like a caveman. But the other part of me just wants to stay at home, to let my body have sufficient rest and all. It's just like needs and wants, in this case, the need is to stay at home and rest well. At times, I envy my bunk mates who still have the energy to go out. Really.  Once again, something to make me smile once I reached home. (: I guess only my family and I will understand what my brother is trying to say here. How fun it is to come home with something new on the whiteboard every week.  My aunt knows that I love to eat Dorayaki and tried her first attempt to make it today. The shape wasn't like the actual Dorayaki, but still it was nicely done, the effort and all. She actually spent hours doing it. I really, really appreciate it a lot. She felt that it wasn't nice at all, that she had failed the attempt. But to me it was a success. I finished eating them all. I crave for more.  Posted by Xie Bin at 9:00 PM
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Goodbye Muddy!
I miss my family. It feels so good to see them again. I came back home with yet another warm welcome, after 5 days of field camp which I hardly believed I could endure at all at the beginning. But now, it's all done and over. I wouldn't say "in a blink of an eye, field camp's finally over!" because it's not an easy 5 days for me and most of my mates.  Family gathering - relatives sitting down together in the living room, cousins gathering at one corner playing, all mingling with one another. Cherishing this moment is all I can do. What a nice day today. I feel so blessed to have family and relatives so concerned about my well-being and were all there with me the moment I was back home.  My brother's masterpiece this time round. (: This is the brother whom I adore so much you see. I didn't realise my left foot is swollen until my mum told me just now. It's amazing that you don't even know you sprain your own foot and it's actually someone else who realise it for you. No wonder I can't walk straight. I thought it was the blisters again initially. But now, I feel the pain. It's getting worse but hopefully the sprain will get better tomorrow when I wake up. I wanted to whine a bit about the field camp I just suffered through, but I'm already dozing off while writing this. I should get some sleep first. Posted by Xie Bin at 11:18 PM
Saturday, October 31, 2009
2 Weeks Later
I'm finally back home again, after 2 weeks. It was raining on my way home yesterday, but it didn't affect my mood one tad bit. When I reached home, I was welcomed with hugs and kisses. I feel blessed. It's as though family love is the only thing that keeps me going. My brother whom I couldn't get to see wrote something on the whiteboard before going for his school camp. Something so simple yet so heartwarming:  It's really the little little things that people do that counts. And I'm really glad that I've met nice people in the army, although the ratio of the nice ones to the not-so-pleasant ones can somewhat be tally. But the good(est) thing is, I'm have great bunk mates. What more can I ask for? (: Life is going to be a lot tougher next week. I guess all of us need to depend on one another's support, both physically and mentally, to finish this "deadly" field camp. And guess what? Even though I was back home yesterday, I slept at around the same time I would sleep every day in camp, and today I woke up at the same time I would wake up too, which was 5am. Not feeling lack of sleep, I wonder why. Feeling healthy you say? You bet! (: On a side note, something to look forward to, although I may not be able to catch it on time: Go Jeanette! :D
Posted by Xie Bin at 8:05 AM
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Rushing against time
 This was the last gathering before I enlisted last week. I don't think I'll have the time to complete this entry, not till 8 more weeks I think. So this has to wait...   I can't believe I'm actually blogging at this time when I should be sleeping already! I have lots to say but time is ticking away and I need my rest. 8 days in army is not easy to go by, but at least, one week's gone for good! And later I'll be gone for a "good" 2 weeks before I can get to sit where I'm sitting now while typing this - home. But before that, it's packing and getting ready to set off again. This time, hopefully, I'll have sufficient time to get everything ready, whatever is necessary that is, like plasters and more clothes hangers. It's all about time management which I suck at. I'm missing my family and friends already, even though I'm still here. Till then! Posted by Xie Bin at 2:52 AM
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Goodbye!
 Will be away for 2 years. Just kidding, 2 weeks. Or less. TAKE CARE and SEE YA!
Posted by Xie Bin at 12:00 AM
Monday, October 05, 2009
Mid-Autumn Festival @ Hua Song Museum with omy.sg!
 This year's Mid-Autumn Festival was a special one! I was invited by omy.sg to celebrate it at Hua Song Museum, together with a few other bloggers!  Hua Song Museum is actually located at Haw Par Villa. It has been ages since my last visit to Haw Par Villa, the last time being more than 10 years ago! I remember liking to visit Haw Par Villa very much with my family, a-ma, a-gong and my cousins! And now, after so many years later, I'm finally back!    One of the things that attracted my attention upon arrival was the calligraphy.  Here's the really amiable calligraphy master writing my name. He seemed to be really enjoying writing calligraphy. I admire his passion for calligraphy very much. He just makes chinese words feel so beautiful.  Many remarkably written names waiting to be dried before we roll it up.  My guest Alba with her Chinese name proudly written!  And mine too!  Helping ourselves with the famous Nyonya Kuihs. It was filling as always.  Many different types of mooncakes for us to enjoy.  This one's actually strawberry-flavoured! It was my first time trying!  Making of mooncakes on the spot. They allowed us to get a little hands-on try on making the mooncakes too! Looking at them handle the mooncakes makes it look so simple. But I guess it's not!   A little lantern-carrying session for the kids outside the museum after the buffet dinner. It just reminds me of my childhood days when everyone's so excited when the sky turns dark because it means it's almost time to bring out our fanciful lanterns! Those were the days indeed!  We spotted this wax figure standing at one end of a long corridor (the corridor is named "The Long Road") and decided to approach him. I think Alba has a little phobia with figures like this, maybe it gives her the creeps. I was amazed at how real his fingers look!  Loosely translated as "away from homeland". How true for me, in a few days' time.   The backside of "Floating Hell". All these interesting namings really depicts its situations well enough. For this case it simply means how these Chinese immigrants endure the rough periods in the sea.  After all the various activities at the different sections of the room, we were provided with a guided tour around the museum whereby we got to know more about our Chinese cultural heritage.   Caught a glimpse of the kids with their parents having some activities too.  We had a really fun time inside En En's Kitchen! We got to play with the various cooking utensils and everything looks so real!  Got to mingle with a few friendly bloggers there for a while and they were hilarious to the max! Seriously! Haha! Should have taken a photo with the 4 of them!  The Grand Food Hall.    Took more photos with the wax figures and stuff before we left...   The Gardener.  They sure spent a lot of effort for these exhibits, they are just so well-done!    The Ma Jie.     Anna May Wong.    I like all these drawings!  The Little Girl for Sale.   It's really interesting to be able to see all these antique stuff. That's the thing about museums, isn't it?  And then it's about time to leave! Of course it wasn't me who wrote that!  See how generous the calligraphy master is! He helped Alba write so many names! We asked him whether or not he was feeling tired with so many requests and he bubbly replied, "Not at all! I love writing calligraphy!" Such enthusiasm. (:  A photo with him before we left. He is really welcoming and nice.  It was a great evening! Once again, thanks omy.sg for this opportunity to visit Hua Song Museum!
Posted by Xie Bin at 1:30 AM
Saturday, October 03, 2009
3-in-1
"Hurry! No more time to lose!" I said. Thus, I shall combine some of the September happenings together into this one entry. (so that I can then concentrate on the Haw Par Villa entry later on) If I were to say my September was not well-spent, then I'm lying. Because it's indeed quite happening, before I was declared "bankrupt" that is. GEMS Wii-ing @ My House  Alba and HJ (aka Jinn) came over to my house for the first time for a little Wii session. We were missing one player as neither Candy nor SH could make it that day. We had fun nonetheless! :D  Thanks Alba for treating us bubble tea! How sweet!  See that strong and powerful force from Alba!  Jinn even more powerful, used her whole body strength! We were playing Rayman by the way.    And then to Tennis. Jessica Backspin is the winner in the end. The name is already a winner.  Aren't I glad that I didn't sell away my Wii prize at the beginning? Yes I am.  Finally a photo with my then-still-quite-new camera. I haven't thought of a name for it for easy reference. Hmm...  Who say we must always smile for the camera? . . . . . . . . . . . . Our Days KTV Session  After a movie and lunch, we decided to went to the new K Suites @ Iluma since I received a nice flyer from them earlier and they were having this 70% discount promotion going on then. We still felt that it's not cheap even after the 70% discount! Imagine the actual price! So we came to a conclusion it'd be our first and last time there, unless there's a 70% discount or something again perhaps. There's a few cool things about this K Suites. First of all, there's different themes for different rooms! There's even rooms with beds for us to lie down and sing. But we decided to go for the normal room in the end.  Touch-screen menu! Technology nowadays...  Aircon is freaky cold but fear not, blankets and floppy slippers provided for warmth and comfort!  At the side, there's a corner with a computer (with webcam too) and we can surf the net while others are singing. I like this one! No one will be bored!   I used to have phobia for KTVs until earlier this year when I was "forced" to one with my GEMS mates and that was when I overcame my so-called "fear"! How cool is that!  Careless YY dropped her EXPENSIVE Burberry wallet into a gap behind the sofa. Quite a challenge to rescue Burberry up.  Burberry's saved! Snapped! We are her saviours!  And it's back to facebook-ing and gossiping...   What's with the cap?  Eric's camwhore skill: pretty good!  Wassup? I'm not rolling my eyes, really.    Don't know who like me so much keep snapping my pictures.  灵异世界之《七月怪谈》 . . . . . . . . . . . . A Night of 4BIA + PHOBIA 2  I was really looking forward to this movie marathon and finally the day had arrived! I'm so glad Singapore's showing Phobia 2 so early because it's still new in Thailand (09.09.09 for Bangkok while Singapore is 24.09.09 but we got to watch it before its official release date!) WOOTS!  Before that, went over to The Coffee Bean to chill while waiting for Jinn.  I love the Double Chocolate! (in the picture I took the wrong cup!)  发火的alba！啊~~~ Sweet Alba can be fierce if she wants to! Don't MESS with her!  Poor Jinn with Mr Bean instead of The Coffee Bean.  So "nice" of the guy to take this shot while we were posing and I fell down on my butt! Joke of the day! I wanna laugh again looking at this photo! LOL.     I've watched 4BIA like a million times already but not in cinema! So it's totally cool for me to watch it again! It was nice as ever.   Thai Buffet. We arrived sometime after the time stated for the buffet but already the buffet looks empty! How fast!!! :( But actually we still managed to get the food eventually!    My favourite Red Ruby dessert! :D  Inside the theatre, with our popcorn combo.   The new 川贝枇杷膏代言人! Drink like no tomorrow!  It's as though I look so smelly in the photos. Thanks for blocking your noses to activate my low-self esteem. HAHA!  Ok this is much better!  It's 01:55 in the morning when this photo was taken! We finished the movie marathon at around 01:40! OMG you say? Yeah! But it's all worth it I say! PHOBIA 2 was as fantastic too! (I watched the second time this week! I'm crazy.)    Free Golden Village Movie Club bag!  Luckily for us, there's still Night Rider buses for us! And good for me, my bus stopped at my stop! PHEW! We initially thought we would either be stuck there till morning or suffer an expensive taxi ride home. So it was home sweet home in no time! Posted by Xie Bin at 11:56 AM
Friday, October 02, 2009
2-Guys Trip to Bangkok [Day 2.5 + Day 3]
Finally the very last entry of my Bangkok trip! I shall continue of the other half of Day 2. Actually I've forgotten that we had a really long day that day, until I look at the photos again. It was taxing, but of course, it's fun and fresh (Initials FF).  We decided not to waste money on taxi anymore but get on a new challenge - taking bus! We were out of the theme park and into the high way, looking high and low for a bus stop, hoping there's one nearby. Finally found one but we weren't sure if that's where the buses would stop. Eric confirmed with a friendly lady who happened to reached the bus stop later than us. When the bus arrived, she even signaled to us that's the bus we'd be taking. How nice.  Our first attempt on taking bus. Had trouble with communicating with the ticketing man. Luckily we had the Dream World directory with the bus and destination printed on it to show. He didn't understand us, good thing a student in front of us translated to him. And we paid less than $1 SGD for the entire ride! What a huge difference huh! When we went there on cab, we paid $20 SGD! Anyway, I like the people there, the ticketing man even signaled to me that we had reached our destination after a really long bus ride. How nice.  Eric with our cheap bus tickets.  Our destination was the Victory Monument!   Then we started walking around before going back to our hotel to get Eric's DSLR plus get ready for dinner. I bought a bottle of coke here.  Heavy traffic again.   One of the alleys.     Finally found a supermaket there. I wonder why it's so hard to find one. Or was it that we didn't look hard enough. Eric wanted to buy some edibles to bring home but couldn't find it there though.  I bought a shirt in this shopping mall.  Another shopping mall. I realise we went to a lot of shopping malls that day, just strolling around.  Nice building huh. I like the reflections.   Ratchathewi station! Our "home" for 3 days!  I like their handle bar a the top. Singapore should design it that way too!  Dinner at Subway.   Lots of angmohs came in after we did. We witnessed a little argument there. One of the angmohs (in pink) lost his patience when they got his orders wrong or something and they still didn't understand what he wanted after him repeating himself several times. He had a really bad temper i should say.  Eric asked me to take shots of the MRT door. On our way to Hua Lamphong again, back to Chinatown.  There's seriously nothing much in Chinatown, but good thing Eric's gotten what he wanted to bring back - some famous local edibles! So we didn't leave the place empty-handed. By then, we had already walked a lot and my legs were suffering in silence.  And then we were back to Siam Square to wait for the rain to stop! Wanted to visit the night makets again. After taking this photo, I realised there's water-vapour-like stuff on my camera lens! And I couldn't wipe it off, thinking it had gone inside the lens. It totally dampened my mood, just thinking of having to bring my camera to repair. But guess what? When I tried to wipe it off again when we were back in the hotel, i succeeded! So it's not on the inside afterall! PHEW! :D  My clean camera taking a shot of me by my bedside.  Mirror in front of our beds.  Eric brought 2 packets of instant noodles, so it's supper for us. Actually I wasn't hungry at all, but no choice had to clear them out of our luggage.   Poor feet of mine after a long day's walk. It was the first time in my life my legs were this tired. Really.  I'm so glad I wore this pair of sport shoes rather than my other footwears! Had a good rest and it was Day 3, last day before we flew back to Singapore!  Didn't really plan to go anywhere since time's limited, so we just went somewhere near our hotel, and we found this shopping mall! The Platinum - Fashion Mall. I kinda like this mall! (: We spotted quite a number of Singaporeans there! So this is where most Singaporeans gather huh?  Eric wanted to have A&W float before we left.  Outside view of our hotel, while in the taxi, heading to the airport. Goodbye, Aisa Hotel! It has been a good 3 days 2 night stay here!  And goodbye, A&W and tuk-tuk!   Outside Suvarnabhumi Airport.   I think we waited for like 1 hour plus to 2 before we could check in. Zzz... Nothing to do!    Burberry! I love Burberry, but I'm too poor for it. Not desperate for it though!  That's my last photo before we flew back to Singapore! I like it! And that marks the end of our 3-days trip to Bangkok! It was a really good experience! I like the people there, they just seem always smiley and nice most of the time, they don't take things too hard and life is simpler there. That's what makes me like Bangkok even more. Land of smiles indeed. And special thanks to Eric too, if not I would be so lost there! Thanks ah, Eric. (: Finally I've fulfilled one of my dreams, which is to travel to Bangkok. Would love to visit there again some day! :D Posted by Xie Bin at 11:56 AM
Thursday, October 01, 2009
2-Guys Trip to Bangkok [Day 2 - Dream World]
Looking at the photos, I realise it's too much to squeeze everything into this entry, so I've changed my mind - it will be split into 2 entries! Once again I broke my personal record of the number of photos uploaded in an entry, this time it has reached 93 photos!!! If i were to squeeze everything into this entry, I think it'll be even more overloaded, because it already is now! Time is running short all of a sudden, that's what I'm feeling now. I don't like this feeling, because I just feel like I have so many things yet to be completed and I'm racing against time. I'm just not ready, yet! But I know I can manage everything within this short period of time remaining! Yes. Anyway, shall start blogging on my second day in Bangkok! We set our alarm to 0600 (or was it 05:30?) and had our breakfast. It has been a long time since I slept in an aircon room. Actually I can't even remember the last time I did. Anyway, it was great because I slept all the way through the night without even waking up once during my sleep there! People's always saying how they can't really sleep well on a different bed or in a different room, but it's not the case for me this time round. Breakfast was marvelous! I kinda regretted not taking any photos during the buffet breakfast, thus no photos of what I've eaten. But that means I could fully enjoy my meal, yeah? Thinking of the bright side!  Time was 0748 when this photo was taken. We were on our way to Bangkok's theme park - Dream World!  Random - asking Eric to pose.  Spotted the hot pink taxi again. It's basically everywhere in Bangkok, but this one's empty!  And take a look at the inside - Burberry-inspired!  Nice graffiti building but it was prohibited. Too bad we couldn't pose with it.  We got into one of the pink taxis and we were on the way to our destination. Morning traffic again though! :( This photo was taken while we stopped outside a school. It was such a normal day for the people there, getting ready for school, rushing for work, but for me, it was a special day - I'm in a foreign country and is living in their world for 3 good days!  Finally, after an expensive taxi ride, we reached! But guess what? We were about half an hour early. So we had got to wait. Phototaking time!     When you spot this grumpy-looking kid, it means toilet is near. They have different versions of the grumpy-looking kid all around the theme park, I remember seeing a Japanese version! :p I wonder do they have a Singapore version? I can be a real-life example.  Eric forced me to take this photo. Think he wants to show off he is taller than 145cm.  Spotted a group of Taiwanese there. It's good to hear a familiar speaking language there! Well, that's the first group we saw. Later on when we were in the theme park, more Taiwanese arrived after us. Indeed a place for tourists!  Around 09:40, we are in! First thing spotted at the entrance. Eric said he looks like me. Erm...  Clock's not working I guess. By the time we left, it's still this time. I was hoping for the prince and princess to come out though. But I guess no chance. You can still see a little tiny bit of them inside. That's all I can capture.  Guess which way we headed? Left or right? If you choose left, then congrats!  We realised it's a really good place to pose for photos!!! We were saying how much fun it would have been if all of Our Days people are here! I think we would have a really fun time posing these photos!  Eric the next superman. So muscular.  Eric said he loves to ride on a Hippo.  007? But this reminds me of Mr & Mrs Smith's movie poster. So, do I look better in a tuxedo or a dress?   I'm one peeping tom who peeps openly. Wooow...  Welcome to Eric's home sweet home.  This is to prove that I'm muscular too.  The vampire who's not afraid of sunlight.  My wife.  Not very comfortable to ride on this horse.  This is the first ride we had. It was so fast! But it wasn't scary at all! Great ride.  The first day we spotted YY, now we spotted QH.  Eric looks so happy here.  You jump, I jump, remember?  Stoned Eric.  Spiritual training.   It's time to guess the wonders of the world. No prize for correct guesses though!           Not bad huh? Go Bangkok can see so many other international landmarks!   I like this photo!  Are you afraid of clowns? Fear not! This one's not scary!  Elephants sure look so nice and harmless!  And then we headed to the Giant's house. Yet another place to pose and take photos! (:  Everything's huge.  My smile says: Eat me if you dare.  Is this a papaya slide?  Eric's wearing the giant's bedroom slippers!  I like this photo too. I had a hard time squeezing into the shoe!   There! The giant's sleeping! Shhh... Don't wake him up, if not he's gonna eat us up!  Is Eric lying the eggs or is he hatched from one of them?  Big broom.   I wish my legs were this long.   And then we were here at Uncle Tom's Farm!  Initially I thought all I was going to see would be fake goats and cows. But I was wrong! They were all real!  This goat saw me try to take its photo, and it actually gently and gracefully let its head out to pose for my camera! A really sweet and gentle goat!  I can't help but love this goat!   Look at the ground.  So sweet and gentle. Makes me feel so calm.  A group of tourists waiting to be splashed when the ride came down. Guess they were thinking: Since we are already wet, why not get wetter? Eric kept forcing me to play the ride but I kept refusing. I just don't want to get all wet since we still had a long day to go and travel around. I win! We didn't get on the ride in the end. Sorry Eric!  Our lunch was KFC, again! We only found this at the theme park. Plus I didn't mind eating again!  After lunch, we wondered into this ride. I had no idea why I agree to go on this ride, because we just go one really short round, finish. Hahaha! Feels a bit dumb come to think of it now.  Eric the "driver".  This was our last ride of the day at Dream World. Their pirate ship is so thrilling! It goes all the way high up! OMG, FUN! And the girls sitting behind us were screaming like hell all the way throughout the ride. They already started screaming when the ship just started moving! Hilarious but that made the ride even more fun!    I think this photo is nice, with the flowers and all.  A lizard-like living thing spotted! Do you like lizards? I don't.  A visit to the restroom before we leave.  Auntie Lucy was there too?!  How colourful their urinals are! Just looking at this photo makes me want to pee again.  I already told you I'm a peeping tom who peeps openly.  I had already finished peeing and was just posing. No need for fancy imagination.  Nice uniform. Don't know why this attire reminds me of Donald Duck.  Their shuttle bus looks adorable!  This dog's really shy. A cute one though! I don't mind having him (or her) as my pet.  What a long road. Thank you for visiting Dream World.  There's only the 2 of us in the shuttle bus. I felt like a VIP then. Just kidding!  Guys who camwhore. It had been a long time since I took photos like this with a friend.  I didn't have the chance to take this when we first reached because we were inside the taxi. So I could only take this before we left. Welcome and goodbye.  Eric and his new trumpet friend.  We spotted a couple taking their wedding photos at the theme park! (: Sweet.  Pink bridge. And there we went, out of the theme park and into the high way. And I shall continue soon on the next entry. I realise it has been a really long second day for us!
Posted by Xie Bin at 12:27 AM
Friday, September 25, 2009
2-Guys Trip to Bangkok [Day 1]
 One of my dreams has finally been fulfilled early this September - GOING TO BANGKOK!!! I have always wanted to visit Thailand ever since I fell in love with Thai movies, and going there physically was really, I don't know how to put it in words. I was so looking forward to it! Somemore I was going with just a friend! Yah Eric that's you. Freedom you say? Yes! How cool is that?! I am not embarrassed to tell you, it's only my second time flying, my last being about 10 years ago!  I reached the airport just after midnight as we got to check in at 04:30. We decided to I was too excited to sleep anyway. Eric reached a while after me, so that makes 2 of us. Yah we were taking Tiger Airways so it's Budget Terminal for us. It was then that I realised Budget Terminal is a totally different terminal altogether. It's so weird that I always see this signboard that says: Bus to Budget Terminal and I didn't actually notice the word "bus".  I don't know why, but the Budget Terminal doesn't really give me a Changi Airport feel. I think that's why it's separated from the other terminals. Anyway, I don't really care because I still get to reach Bangkok!  My second time in the plane! I just couldn't wait for the plane to take flight! Why do my teeth look so yellowish in the photo? I swear my teeth look ok in the mirror! Haha! Like I say, unglam moments all in one photo.  Around 06:30 before flight. I like the Singapore in the early morning before sun rise.  When we were about to reach Bangkok. Thailand clouds. I doze off during the flight. Not the best place to sleep, but still, I did. And finally we reached Suvarnabhumi Airport safely! We took a cab to our hotel and the journey took quite a while because it was morning jam you see. And that's when I realised I couldn't call using my handphone there. Didn't sign up for the whatever roaming thingy. So basically my handphone was totally useless there.  Asia Hotel! I'm so glad Eric mentioned this hotel before we book. It's like the best hotel! I like its location, its breakfast, its drinking water, its everything! I'd recommend you to go for this hotel if you go to Bangkok!  Corridor to our room.  Our room - 747. Luckily it's not 748 (去死吧). Haha!!! Eric reminded me to always knock on the door before entering. So for the 3 days whenever we were about to enter our room, we knocked first. Knock knock, here I come!  We settled for a while and proceeded with our itinerary. We changed our minds and didn't go as planned in our itinerary. We just wondered around sort of aimlessly, but kinda cool!  Hua Lamphong railway station. At first when I saw the building I thought it was some kind of museum. Not bad huh, we actually walked all the way from our hotel which is at Ratchathewi station! And look at that hot pink taxi! Reminded me of Alba when I saw it. I was telling her she should own a car that colour in the future but that tourists may mistaken it for a cab.  And a look at Bangkok's green bus!  And its well-known tuk-tuk! We didn't get the chance to ride on one though.  As there wasn't much in Chinatown in the morning, plus we were kinda lost already, we decided to give up and move on to another place, via Bangkok's MRT! Once we arrived at Hua Lamphong station, everything changed - we weren't feeling lost! We felt home! It's just so Singapore there!  Their easy-to-use ticket machine.  Helpful Eric planning where is best to go first.  And here's how the ticket looks like! How special!   Seriously, does every MRT station in the world looks alike? Because even the clock's the same as Singapore's.  Interior shot of the train. Feels home.  Constipated look. Hmm... I forgot which station we alighted. Hey wait, I think it's Sala Daeng station. And that's where we saw our long-lost friend:  A&W Great Root Bear!  How I miss the childhood days when I visited A&W just beside Bedok library. Well, A&W is extinct in Singapore for a long time. But not the root beer of course. We still get to buy it in supermarkets and whatnot.  Excited Eric with his beloved root beer.  I'm not really a fan of root beer but I'm totally alright with it!   Curly fries! Do you miss it?  Silom Complex's A&W.  And this is my first meal at Bangkok! Fast food is easier to settle. Please agree with me. The waiter behind me broke a glass or 2 just before we left. Felt really sorry for him because it was loud as the root beer glasses were really heavy! Part and parcel of life...   After a stroll at Silom Complex, we decided go to the famous Siam Square. We passed by the BTS (Bangkok Mass Transit System), the skytrain station that is. Isn't this totally similar as Singapore? That's why I ask if every MRT station in the world looks alike. Anyway, we thought of walking there instead since it's only 2 stations away. What a wrong choice made! You will see why.  Bad traffic. It was 13:42 then. Good memory huh? I wish. My photo got the time stated. 14:42, meaning Bangkok time 13:42. Imagine we are in one of the pink cabs. OH NO... Luckily not!  BTS train.  I had something I wanted to throw away but I just couldn't find any rubbish bin anywhere. I realised we really do have a lot (really a lot) of rubbish bins around in Singapore! Good thing finally I spotted one and couldn't help but took a shot of it after I threw what I wanted to throw away. A sense of achievement!  Finally we reached!!! I mentioned we made a wrong choice right? Yes, we got lost before reaching Siam Square. We actually walked the opposite direction of our destination. We ended up in Surasak. Don't know how we manage to walk all the way there. And so we gave up (again) and decided to just take the train instead. It rained a while when we were there. Good thing it stopped after sometime! (:  Inside Siam Paragon we rested. Comfy seats. Our feet were basically aching after half a day's walk. We really walked a lot that day.  Nice view of the fish tank while dining. Not bad. I should put one tank in front of my dining table too in the future. Ok, forget it. It'd be too difficult to maintain.  After visiting a few of the shopping malls there, we came to a conclusion that we needed to rest before we go for dinner. So it's back to the hotel. We took the BTS back and that's when I first knew about the shortcut to our hotel from the station! I love the linkage!!! It's so convenient! There you go, Eric posing at the linkage.  The only photo I took of the hotel's After we had a good rest at the hotel, it's dinner time. Guess what we eat this time? . . . . . . . . . . . .  KFC! Fast food again! If only I know how to speak Thai then I could eat better food there. But KFC is not bad too ok! It's my childhood dream to have fast food every day! Anyway, their KFC is kind of different from Singapore's KFC. Not sure where is it different though, I just can't seem to figure it out. But I love their chilli sauce! Better than Singapore's! It's great that the cashier who took our order is able to speak English!   And it's night market shopping time after dinner! We saw this same bag which YY bought earlier in Singapore and were laughing away. Quickly snapped a shot of it. Didn't know YY was there in Bangkok with us too! :D  After a little shopping, we walked around a bit and I took a picture of this street we were heading into. I didn't know this was where the nighttime activities (sex shows my friend says) until my friend commented on this photo. He asked me why I was there. Haha!!! I went to check on Wikipedia and it mentions that it is a popular gay area too. Haha!!! Wow, didn't realise we passed through such an amazing place.  After passing through the amazing street, we were back at the station. I kind of love this station's name - Sala Daeng, so I asked Eric to take a photo of me with it. Took 3 shots by the way, and the first shot looks the best actually.  Walked around for a bit more. Spotted this guy with this thing on his head and I was amazed. He was really steady and stabling it on his head and walking was like a breeze for him!!! Can't recall what's those stuff on his head though. Bravo bravo!!!  Then we decided to head  A japanese (or korean) couple actually asked us for directions while we were waiting for the train! How funny! We were already having difficulties trying to find our way and there were people seeking help from us. Do we look like the locals? Unfortunately by the time we figured out where they were heading, they had already asked another person. But they thanked us anyway. So that marks the end of day 1 of our Bangkok trip! I love Bangkok! Think I shall leave my short reflection of what I think of Bangkok in the next entry, to give a perfect ending to my Bangkok trip entries. And maybe I shall write day 2 and day 3 together in one entry since we didn't really do much during the last day. Ok, that shall be it. Posted by Xie Bin at 12:10 AM
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  Xie Bin is the name. This is him with his favourite present. • Contact Him    
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