Singapore-Bangkok-Kanchanaburi-Bangkok-Singapore

Its raining out there and i am waiting for 6.30 to come. What better to do than post about my recent weekend getaway.

Friday, March 24. Finally I met my 2 other travel mates and we boarded the plane. Lucky for us that we managed to get seat near to each other. Thats the drawback of travelling on a budget airline, no seat number. The almost 3 hours journey didn't feel that long due to the great conversation I had with cindy. Reached Bangkok and straightaway we hailed a cab - almost got cheated by one that we decided to join the airport taxi queue heading to our hostel. A clean place though the bed and pillow was hard but we managed to sleep and prepare for the real excitement the following day.

Saturday, March 25. The tour bus picked us up at 7 AM as it's a 2 hours journey to Kanchanaburi. We stopped at dumnernsaduak floating market and had a ride along the canal for around 40 minutes. Did some stopping during the way and its so funny travelling with these 2 caucasian guys as the focus of the locals were turned to them which was quite fun for us to see.
From the market, we did another stop at the wood and carving factory before heading straight to the floating restaurant along the river kwai for lunch. Lunch was good especially with the view of the dead railway. For those who follow history should know about this bridge being bombed during the world war - I only knew about it when I reached this place :D. After lunch we checked in to our hotel where we were given a superior room .. haha so for the backpacking trip ruined by the tour package. Back to the road - we headed down to the Kanchanaburi war cemetery before taking a longtail boat to visit the Kao Poon Cave. The sun was blazing hot and we had to walk quite a journey in and out, up and down the cave that we felt all our lunch were gone just like that. After the cave, we visited the Jeath war museum before taking the longtail boat back to the dead railway and had a walk from one end to another end. From there we went to a local elephant camp for a ride on the elephant along the mountain and river. Our elephant was so naughty that it always strayed from the path and the trainer had to kept on coming back and pull him back to the right path. Once we reached the river, we were asked to prepare ourselves for a bath with the elephant. It was soooo fun, sitting on them then together we went into the river. We were given a brush so we start brushing its head after it was sprayed with soap. Being the naughty elephant, it kept on diving in so we have to pull its rope harder as we too were pulled down. It was fun .. so very fun. It will then use its trunk and sprayed water on us. There were few times that I felt I was going to fall into the water when he dived in and move around. Ended the day with a dinner served on the river bank. Back to the hotel and after having shower and all, the guys knocked on our door asking if we want to join for a walk. So 4 of us then headed to the night bazaar before heading back home and sleep preparing for the fun awaiting us the following day.

Sunday, March 26. After having our breakfast we went to one of Thailand's finest's waterfall - Erawan Waterfall. Wearing a swimsuit underneath we're prepared for another fun day. Apparently there's 7 waterfalls and Erawan is the 7th one, which mean hours of hiking for us. We stopped at each waterfalls but decided to have a swim on our way down. The path was so tough that we know we need a huge lunch to get back all the energy we lost. Once we reached the Erawan waterfall, the guys had a swim while me and cindy decided to swim at waterfall no. 5 as its more tranquil and less crowd. On the way down we stopped at waterfall no. 5. Lucky for us no one was there so we 2 girls decided to swim at one of the lake (can i call it lake?) where we were being bitten by fishes!! so funny that they really bit on us. From there we went to a small area surrounded by stone that it looks like a perfect nature-made jacuzzi and spent quite a time there with the guys sitting on the stone. After having enough of fun we continued our way down where our lunch is waiting for us. From the waterfall, we went to the tiger temple where we can see tigers up close without them being caged or chained. Of course each of us were assigned a trainer that accompanied us walking around them. I was quite afraid when I wanted to take a picture the tiger that I touched moved around and trying to look behind where I was squatting. The trainer pushed its head back and it was quite annoyed of it. After some picture taking we seated awhile before going to the wildlife sanctuary and headed back to the car for a trip back to Bangkok. Back to our backpacking hostel, we had shower and took a cab to lumphini night bazaar for dinner and walked around the night market. Headed down to city and went to a bar recommended by one of cindy's boss. There cindy realised that her camera was gone and so did her mood for fun. Poor cindy, lost her 2nd camera in few month's times. All she could think of was the picture she took and she felt sorry that I too lost all the elephant pictures taken with her camera. Well I got my tiger shots she got her elephant shots .. fair enough right? Spent few hours there before going back to our hostel.

Monday, March 27. Started the day with a breakfast before heading to the city area. Spent most of the time at the shopping centre before heading back to our hostel to get our bag, went to the airport and get back to reality.

All in all it was a great weekend getaway. Really a good time to let go of all the problem we had at work or for some of us in their life. Its a great escape for me as well as I always want to do this kind of trip - those close to nature. Elephant, Waterfall, Tiger - what else can I ask for!!

...WAFF

was chatting on Yahoo!Messenger with my uni friend talking about his status when we suddenly talked about compatibality. I was telling him that a friend of mine said that when you feel that you have find someone you are compatible with - hold on to it.

My Friend (MF): 'so have you ever found someone you feel you're compatible with?'
Me: 'Hmm.. what is compatible?'
MF: 'WAFF'
Me: 'What is WAFF'
MF: 'Warm and Fuzzy Feeling'
Me: 'Hmmm .. but that must be the first thing you feel upon seeing that person, but once you're involved in a conversation or something else that feeling turns into comfortable right?'
MF: 'exactly'

hmmm .. so have you found someone that made you have WAFF??

La Marche de l'empereur
march of the penguins ..

If you think your life is tough - think again, or better still, watch this movie. Life might be tough for us but its much tougher for these little creatures. A well made film - c'est la marche de l'amour, la marche de la chicks, and the march of everything else that I couldn't remember - hey, its in french!

RIP my beloved Valencia ...

switched on my phone on sunday morning to receive a sad news "your cat is dead". I was surprised but not sad - guess it's due to her illness.
I feel bad not shedding a single tear for her when she's been known as my cat. Well my beloved, you are now with your mom and brother Valentin. No more suffering from any coughing and phlegm ya. Have fun playing up there ..

Back to Reality :-

yupe, I'm back from the short getaway - gonna need time to do my short stories on that, knowing me it's going to end up being a long story.
surprisingly, I can't wait to get back to work simply so that I get back to the daily rituals of morning greetings & emails with my friends .. strange isn't it?

au revoir ...

yes finally in 5 hours time I'll be sitting comfortably hopefully next to cindy in a plane for a weekend break. I can't wait to jump in the waterfall, have a bath with elephants, and walk side by side with the tiger. I really hope that I'll bring lots of pictures and great memories back home.

Girl Talk :-

had lunch with my girlfriends today. one topic led to another and then came the 'serious' topic. kinda giving some courage for a friend and truth is we kinda look at ourselves as well. what would we do when this happened to us. hmm .. its always easier to give advice than being the one receiving it. i hope my friend has the courage to do whatever we told her to do. truth is i might not dare do whatever i told her to do as well and i truly admitted this when we're walking together. both of us being asian and all find it hard to follow the advice given by the other friend but sometimes its worth the try - all the best my friend!

Hibernate :- I think I need to take a step back and re-think of everything, all the pros and cons of my thoughts and probably my future actions too. Whether it is worth it or simply being a waste of effort and time. I guess I really need to take a break from all this..

Wonderful Weekend ...
indeed it was ...

Started with me having dinner with my lovely new friends. I know they're having a so-called birthday bash for me but I was so very touched with their kindness and love, especially that we have only known each other for few months. After blowing the candle and eating the cake (tiramisu, my fave) we continued our talk, a very good talk. For the 1st time I felt that I can let my heart known openly. We talked about some personal issues as well - things that I only share with few close friends, but I really really felt comfortable with them that I let all out. Its a great chatting, as apparently some of the girls shared the same feelings and we got feedbacks from the guys as well so we know what the opposite sex thinks. We also did checkout the cute guys and girls there - geez, those guys can be bitchy when comes to commenting as well. Ended the night with a walk to the train station where we parted our way.
Reached home to a gift from my flatmate - a gift that she hung in front of my room. It was a very nice gift and I love it to bits. Chit chatted a while before sleeping as I have to wake up early for our cycling trip. I still couldn't sleep and ended up texting my friends then continue to rewind the day's event until I felt asleep.
Saturday: -
Our ubin cycling trip. A lot of people was surprised that I wanted to do cycling there when I couldn't even balance myself on the bike. Well, I found a victim to ride the tandem bike so I could enjoy this outing. I haven't been out with this group for a while so I thought this is the time to go out with them again. Cycling was great - we discovered the discovery trail, took a lunch break before doing the 2nd trail. I was so very touched that they too celebrated my birthday with birthday cake and candle all. Imagine their effort on buying a cake and bring it to ubin island! This shows how good friends they are. I am so very very very touched.
After cycling we went home 1st as I promised to join some of my friends for the latino & salsa performance at Esplanade. But then I was also going to catch a movie with my flatmate that I texted them and said I bailed out. This old me still need to save some energy for myself. Apparently they're still at the event when we're done with the movie that we stopped by awhile before heading home.
Come sunday, Combat Launch!! :-
Went to the gym - planned to go to orchard as my fave instructor is there but I was too lazy to carry my shoes etc that I ended up going to raffles instead. Combat 27 was okay though the muay thai is more like a street fight - but I love the recovery track, upper block - lower block - palm attack!! Didn't stay for capoeira fitness as I have a wedding to attend in the evening.
A friend called prior to the wedding and she told me everything that I missed the night before. Apparently I was one of the subject in their conversation and I was really really touched to hear their thoughts of me. I told her that this was the best birthday present a person could ever asked for!
The wedding was great - it's those typical indian wedding with bhangra dance etc. Food was sinfully sinful - really love the dessert, especially the ras malai. Stayed awhile and had a great chatting with my dearie cousin. Gosh, they've all grown up that they shared their personal stories with me made me realise I too need to have a personal story to share with them ;)
Its a tiring but definitely a WONDERFUL weekend. Managed to wake up early for pump. I missed the launch on saturday and this is the only time for me to try it - it was okay but tough shoulder track I should say. Going for a kickboxing trial tonight - I hope its a good one...

there's so much to write that I don't know how to begin with - all i can said for now is that I had a WONDERFUL birthday and weekend this time around. Well, knowing me i know i'll end up writing this out of order, simply writing what i felt at the moment i'm typing. I'm gonna spend my lunch time writing it down later, now - i'll simply get back to work, rewinds what happened over the past 3 days and play it on my mind..

lovely day

came in the morning with a b'day greetings from my work mates. though my b'day is not here yet they believe in celebrating earlier than later. surprisingly i got more than a gift! even the dept's gift was over budget that the difference was paid by my other colleague, so i should said i received 4 gifts!! - from my workmates (with someone topping up the difference), and from 2 of my other workmates & so cute that everything are in blue.

jun accidentally spelt the beans by sending email with 're: birthday bash' as the subject. haha .. never mind, i'll just see what's coming up tonight ...

and now i received an e-card from the whole dept in SPANISH!! they used the online translation to compose the message so the translation is soo funny but the meaning is there and most importantly - the thought that counts...

what else can i ask for to end my week

Yeah ..

1. My aunt just had a surgery. Dad and mum went to visit her in her hometown. We 3 sisters decided to send her a bouquet of flower wishing her a speedy recovery and give her some token of sympathy. Her comment was 'these 3 girls are so united'. Hell yeah! though we argue a lot we're still sisters. Nothing can ever break the bond we have .. not now and I truly hope not ever.

2. I truly realised that my earlier posting was only due to me feeling down at that time. You know the feeling you have when something had just happened and you don't have enough time to digest everything thoroughly. Now, no I don't think I am that down - I'll just enjoy the view and that's it. We'll see how it goes when it's put to test.

3. Office had problem with the IDD hence we had to cancel our conference call when there's so many things need to be discussed if we want to get back on track. But we managed to solve few stuffs through online meeting and looks like we're back on track. If only I could push myself hard to complete creating the test data I could really end this day with a big smile on my face.

4. I've made up my mind and decided to go cycling. Wakeboarding wise, I'll decide tomorrow as the organiser hasn't send any email again so still not sure if its still on or not. Anyway its gonna be there another day but missing combat launch means missing the fun.

An Affair ...

I feel like Im having an affair, cheating from my truly companion for the past few years - gym. Never in my life will I miss any launch but now I'm thinking of just missing it! Last year, I postponed my trip back home due to the launch, I cursed and swore when I knew that I'd be in US during launch that once I'm back I straightaway attend every classes just to cover what I had missed.
This time around, tomorrow is balance launch and I don't mind missing this, especially that I suspect the dinner organised tomorrow is for me and I do smell something fishy there but I'll just play along with it. Saturday is pump launch and I think I don't mind missing it either 'cos I'm not suppose to do weight training on saturday if I do my lower body tomorrow. I'm still contemplating though between learning to cycle or attending pump launch. I really really need to learn cycling if I want to go for whatever race/event that requires cycling in the future.
Sunday - this is where I feel I'm cheating BIG - is combat launch. I've already planned to attend 2 launches at 2 different branches and kinda guess where my fave instructor will be. And then come the announcement of a wakeboarding session. Aaargghhh .. I want both!! Wakeboarding will only take a few hours but I'm sure with the location being far from city I'd definitely going to miss the launch if I attend it. So how - which one must I choose? I have to make up my mind soon.

You bewitched me body and soul. I love, I love, I love you. And I can't imagine living another day without you by my side - Mr. Darcy, Pride&Prejudice

hmmmmm ...

It's monday but somehow i hope that weekend is just around the corner. Guess its due to me working on saturday and sunday. well, can't complain though - c'est ma vie. Weekend was okay though plan to learn blading was cancelled due to the rain. But I guess it's just nice to chill out & I haven't been laughing like this for so long that I really really enjoyed the day. We even went for a 'crap' movie for the sake of cheering a friend who was feeling down but she didn't join the movie that we ended up cheering ourselves up. Went to the IT show again on sunday since jun had decided to get the toshiba notebook. Was totally exhausted as I had insomnia and didn't sleep well the night before that I went straight to bed once I'm home.

stupid silly me :- the 1st time you met a person you simply want to avoid him just because of some stupid things you had in mind. the 2nd time you saw him you just couldn't remember the 1st time as you're taken away right at that moment and realised that he is not that bad looking. then you looked forward to meeting him again. when you saw him again you realised that he is much more handsome than you remembered from the 1st meeting. then he started to open his mouth and you again realised that there is a lot in that brain cell of his and it makes you admire him more. after parting ways, you said to yourself that all these are just some silly stuff because you haven't found someone to admire for so long that you'll just jump right to the 1st available person. then it's over until you meet him again where you said to yourself 'gosh, never remembered him to be this handsome before'. then you started to be involved in a conversation with him and realised that you had few things in common with him. you just simply enjoyed listening to his story which mostly came from experience and he did the same too - listening to whatever that came out from your mouth. you parted ways again and said to yourself that you are being silly for thinking of something simply unreachable. you are also annoyed when you realised that an additional stuff will break the ritual from the last meeting onwards. but then again you simply can't wait to meet this person again.
God - not sure when will this be over or even if its worth the trouble ...

it's a nice saturday .. i can see the sun shines brightly outside from my office space. yeah, i'm working this saturday but i'm not complaining. in fact, i'm quite happy with whats coming my way today - from going to the IT show to learning new activity to i dunno what's coming up later. i'm just feel blessed being here today. well then again probably this is due to the morning run i did this morning - adrenalin rush is the best way to start a day .. always..

Racing against time :-

God I'm so tired, just feel like going home and straightaway go under the cover and sleep. My eyes are so tired from staring at numbers the whole day, my whole body is aching from not getting enough rest and yet I still have to prepare for tomorrow's meeting. The sweetness of life ...

The One and Only :-

A friend of mine said that we might need to kiss a lot of frogs before meeting the prince. Well, its easy for him to say that. My answer was - "where is the frog?". Naah, I want to kiss a frog that turns out to be a prince - Just one!

a well-deserved break :-

finally after being slaved for the past few weeks, broke down in tears twice, i decided i have to stand up for myself & deserved at least 1 day of leave during these tormenting weeks. Last Friday was the turning point for me, I have to start learning to say 'NO' and today I went to apply for 1 day leave. She looked at me and I guess she can see how stressful I am with my hair tied in a bun and stuff & said that 1 day shouldn't be a big issue if I complete whatever need to be done on that day earlier. 1st time in my life I did a jumping joy in front of my boss and emailed my friend saying its approved..

ps. i know i promised a friend to post something like she posted on her blog - give me more time ya, probably during my lunch break on wed if not tomorrow

death sentence no more :-

just finished a conference call with oz and boy it was such a relieve for me. seems like all the burden on my shoulder has just been lifted. everyday before i sleep and the moment i wake up the application is the first thing on my mind. today we found out that they themselves actually got a contract programmer to build it for months. boy am i so relieved, even my colleague told me that i can sleep peacefully tonight. really really feel like im floating now. what i have now is just a stiff shoulder from the 3 hrs call which is much much welcome than the previous burden ;)

::Don't judge a book by its cover::

a friend was quite surprised when i told him that my life and weekend is pretty boring, mostly watch movies. he said that he had the impression that i was a very outgoing person. this made me think of another friend who was surprised to know that a girl we know who looks very quiet all the time actually dare to go on a trip with someone she hardly knew. so i guess there is no better way to know a person then to know the person as a whole, not just based on the vibe that person gives..

on another topic, i watched (again) the re-run of friends last night, the final episode actually and just noticed the bag used by rachel - awesome bag & wonder if anyone knows what is the model of that bag .. lemme know!