MALAYSIANS?

I was thinking about being racist.......and sometimes I'm sad being Chinese. Here's two scenario

Scenario 1

EB is my good friend and also an Indian. He is like my mentor la in the LaSallian movement. Both of us were running a camp this year and were running errands in the town to get supplies for camp. We stopped by a Chinese owned sundry shop to get some of the stuffs. EB wanted to fix his shoes so he asked me to shop first. So I entered the shop first. Now the taukeh so (auntie boss) was so happy to see me and asked what I needed. So I started off with number 1 and so forth. About 5 mins later, EB entered and stood beside me. Then he remembered something which was not in the list. Some simple brown paper which we use to wrip gifts. So he asked the auntie nicely for it. The auntie gave him a stare and said "Don't kacau me, I'm very busy and the brown paper very hard to take" Hmm then I turned to EB and just started talking. When the auntie realise that I was with him. She suddenly said, "You with him?" I said yes and then she turned back and walked a few steps and then walah just took out 1 whole roll of brown paper. Hard to get? hmmm.........oh well......obviously she saw EB differently

Scenario 2

Went shopping with some coursemates. I needed to get a gift so a few of the girls decided to help me. Now my coursemates are a mix. In gang got Chinese and also Malays. We hang out almost all the time. Okay back to my story. We went round the whole shopping complex to find that perfect gift. I stopped at one shop looking at the gift and my other 2 friends went ahead to another shop. One of them actually saw a nice gift and called me. I said ok ok coming. As I approached the shop, the Chinese lady was shocked to see me as the friend. She asked me in Mandarin, "You are with them?". I said yah.......and she gave me a very weird look. Hmm.....

Pretty sad ain't it........

SAWADEE 3

Shopping in Thailand is crazy. Crazily cheap. Everything is super cheap here but of course there are somethings you have to becareful of. For example, fruits here are extremely cheap but they look extremely huge. My lecturer said must be careful cause they might use chemicals to produce such big fruits.

Another place to really go shopping is Sam Peng. It's actually a whole saler's street. So everything is sold in bulk. You can actually get 1 dozens of flip flops for about 450 Baht (RM 45) or 2 dozens of mini handbags for 500 Baht (RM 50). Can say I hit the jackpot when I bought all my soveniurs here. The things are also nice and I think can become a great gift for your friends. Sam Peng is located in Chinatown. You can't miss it. Just ask around and you'll find it.

Chinatown...Sam Peng is near where the pink taxi is haha

All in all the trip to Thailand was great. Although I really believed there was an usual force from keeping me from going there....hahaha........

SAWADEE 2

The next day I woke up late. Supposed to have woken by 7.30 to have breakfast at 8. Because Thailand's electric current is not stable and I made the mistake of letting my phone charge the whole night. My phone died. So it was my friend who woke me up at 8am and I rushed. Wah I thought my jinx will not stop. Oh ya before I forget, my hotel is called Royal Hills and Spa Resort. It's a nice place but haha sometimes brochures can really really bluff you. In their website the place looks like Cameron Highlands with mist etc.....however the temperatuer there is almost the same as any other place but definitely not Cameron Highlands (btw Bangkok City is realy really hot).

Something sweet for breakfast?

Breakfast was great at Royal Hills, real authentic Thai food. One thing about Thai food is that is really really sour. And the desserts are really really sweet. Their curry lagi canggih. It's not ours where the first bite and yikes you feel the heat. Oh no, it doesn't taste spicy at first, but the more you eat you feel yourself sweating and then boom it comes...gradually gradually......and boy was I drenched when I had their version of Tom Yam during dinner.

Lunch was like this

After breakfast, was the real reason why I was there in Thailand, my paper presentation. Overall I think did pretty well could answer the questions they posed. :)

Me at the presentation

After lunch, Dr Lee, me and my friend (Mei Mei) traveled back to Bangkok. Hmm let me just say that travelling in the morning is so much better than at night. It was so different compared to what I experienced the night before. We were dropped at the nearest LRT station and traveled to our new destination...Chinatown where our hotel was....the Grand Ville Hotel. A 3 star hotel which looks like a 4 star. From the concierge to the receptionist, they were extremely friendly. That's another thing about Thais. They are really really friendly. Everywhere you go, they'll say Sawadee. And after buying things, they will definitely say Thank You. I was almost run downed by a motor while walking and the motor stopped infront of me. Haha I thought die..sure kena scolding (imagining the Malaysian scenario) but to my surprise, the gangster looking motorcyclist turned back to apologize....wow never happens in Malaysia (seldom la). Another thing about Bangkok city is that the people dresses up like people in KL so it looked like mini KL only nicer people. People don't rush into buses or the LRTs. However the only thing I can really appreciate about KL is that the traffic there is not as bad compared to Bangkok. There is move or be moved...haha.

Grand Ville Hotel

more to come.........

SAWADEE

Hey folks, just came back from a two weeks Raya break (yes I needed it). Before that actually went to Bangkok, Thailand to attend a conference. Boy was it an experiential trip. Actually the accompanying lecturer (Dr Lee) said I was jinx hahaha...I think so too but sometimes God is very very funny. Here's what happened. I was about to board into Air Asia with my friend when suddenly the Air Asia check in counter girl (from now know as Ms Bi.....yes you know what I mean) didn't allow me to check in. She 'claimed' that my passport is expiring and unable to fly. I told her that the immigration office allowed me, and she said she needed proof. So she asked me to go to immigration office to ask again. Now the immigration office is like the other end of the airport. So I ran all the way to the immigration office to ask. Now the immigration office is like a no entry zone unless you have a boarding pass so the officer at the gate said sorry I can't go in because I don't have a boarding pass but asked me to ask Air Asia aka Ms Bi to come to let me in. Fine I said...so off again I ran back to the counter to ask nicely Ms Bi to follow me. You know what? She refused and called me stupid. I'm like WTF? Who are you to call me that? Air Asia if you are reading this, I must say that you have really really bad staff..............................................I begged and begged and she insist that she is right and denied me from going in. Not long after that I had to say goodbye to my friend who travelled alone to Bangkok. Haih it was such a bad time. I was tired and angry. Thank God got dear who calmed me down and took me for a nice dinner. I bought my ticket to Bangkok again for the next day but had to make sure I renewed my passport.

The next day I got Yew Kong to pick me to the immigration office to renew it. It just took 2 hours and then was able to fly that evening. But again God is indeed a great God. If Yew Kong didn't pick me, then we wouldn't have time to have a bonding session and also got to know each other better. Maybe it was God's way of saying hey you two, better start talking hahaha.......and talked we did. Hey yewks if you are reading, already consider you my bro man......

Okay back to Bangkok.........I finally made it pass through the check in counter and was ready to fly to Bangkok. Haha Kelly and Pei Ching decided to see me off and was glad to see some familiar faces before I left. When all things looked like it was going well, there was an annoucement, "Paging to all Air Asia passengers to Bangkok, your flight has been delayed"..........really -_- Oh well more time to waste at the airport. But got on safely also la....

My flight number!

Before entering immigration

My plane

After a tiring plane trip I arrived in Bangkok at 6.30 pm (7.30pm Malaysian time). Suvarnabumi Airport looks great. It's super cool looking and the people at the airport are so damn nice and friendly. Was asked for taxi from like baggage claims until the main entrance. Now I was trying hard to save my money so I decided to get to my destination the cheapest way. Nakorn Nayok (where the conference is) is about 1 1/2 hours away from Bangkok city and Dr Lee actually said it costs about 800 - 900 Baht to get there. At first there were some Limo Taxi which wanted to charge me 1800 Baht to pick me. Too expensive I said......before I said no again, the lady said 1300 Baht I still said no, something I'm about to regret. I went out from the airport and found a local taxi. The taxi stand said the fare is 1500 Baht. I thought okay la...take la. Haih I was stuck with a taxi driver who knows minute English and I didn't speak a single word of Thai except Sawadee karp. The journey from Bangkok to Nakorn Nayok was excruitating. There was a traffic jam on the highway (that's when I'm grateful for our roads), there was total silence all the way cause I couldn't speak to the driver and the roads are super super dark. No street lamps at all. Of course at that time I was hungry, dirty and thirsty. But with the adrenaline of wanting to be in the hotel quick kept all these in check. 2 hours later I was still not at the hotel. My driver got lost. That time was really scary. I kept smsing Dr Lee and asking him about how to get there. My taxi driver was really great though. He never gave up and continued to find the hotel and even insisted in driving me into the hotel (from the hotel front gate to the lobby is about 6km). I was so touched that I paid the guy 2000 Baht cause he is going back to the airport again. Sigh should have stuck to the 1300 Baht more pro taxi........oh well........I arrived at the hotel at about 9.30 plus and was super hungry but the canteens were all closed so I had to eat mee maggi only. Hmm....oh well it was a great experience and I thought my jinx was up.

My hotel room....for a 3 star hotel, the room is great

Tune in tomorrow for Sawadee part 2..............