Monday, July 26, 2004 . 1:33 AM
+ Yeah im back on blogger +
Anyway, Thailand aside, i was resting at home for days..then i recieved a call from IMCB for an interview on tuesday!!! IMCB!!!!!!!!!!!!! *screams* BUT ...since i aldy know the result of the interview i can tell u all tht.................they rejected mi sobz... The interview was so different from the 1st one i had and i was totally thrown out of balance. The 1st one was really formal with 3 DRs interviwing mi...IMCB was soooo informal that i was speechless. I went in, the A/P couldn't shut up, he was talking n talking abt my job responsibilities and y they need a new person etc ..that's it!! NO asking mi of Questions...it's as if they had aldy picked mi that sort of thing. Later i would find out the HR aldy picked mi and this other person actually. So the lab juz wanna choose b/w the 2 of us ...and i'm sorrie to say the other person was betta than mi and he/ she ( somehow i keep assuming it's a he...sexist!) got the job sob!!! IMCB u know!!!! SO SHIT. I was THAT close!!! Someone from the lab was kind enuff to sms mi and tell mi the result and gave mi some advices on how to handle such informal interviews...so nice.....hai.. So that's it lar..back to Square 1 with job finding...
*Takes a deep deep breath* HAHA..yeah ive been missing in action i know. I'm back!! SO now...look forward to an exciting LONG update on what's happening in MY life.
1st of all..the GREAT BANGKOK ADVENTURE!!!
Before i get on with bangkok, i muz say sometimes i think my life is quite exciting haha. The day b4 i flew off to bangkok (flight at 12.25pm) i got a call from the oncology research institute in NUS ( yeah i didn't knwo they existed if ur wondering wat the hell is that..) and scheduled my interview with them on the morning i have to leave..they put it to 9.30am. SO exciting rite?!! Go for interview and then rush off to the airport..can't be more exciting than that. SO there..my 1st interview ever. Screwed it up abit here n there. Was a really formal interview with 3 DRs..phew..till now still no calls from them so i think gone case.
Rushed off to airport. We went for our breakfast at BK and then 4got abt the timing. By the time we went into the immigration thingie it was aldy last call. But funnily, my cousin and her bf still wanted to get liquors at DFS..so in the end we were all rushing and yes RUNNING to the our gate. Picture the HOME ALONE movie scenes...i never knew i would end up like that too. By the time we reached our gate..we were kinda the last ones..then khal (cousin's bf) kanna held back for this item which was considered dangerous to bring onboard..meimei oso kanna something similar...so in the end we were the LAST to board the planes...
BANGKOK
HOT is the word. Bangkok is sooo hot.
Getting around
I'm really happy with the bangkok trip. Glad we took free and easy package, we were going all over bangkok ourselves at our own free time with our friendly served us well MAP of Bangkok. Getting ard was real easy. The metered taxis are comfortable and CHEAP. From our hotel ( classic place hotel) at Petchburi road (next to the Petchburi MRT subway station) to the major shopping centres like MBK it's ard 60 bahts onli ($3?) goodness..so cheap. SO taxi is a really gd way to get ard cos it's so damn cheap!! But some taxi drivers got no idea wat u toking abt...so we had to FLASH out our helpful map and start pointing to this small hotel or flash out the namecard we took from the hotel with the thai words . The last nite we were there, yicai and i got onto this stupid taxi where the driver doesnt' even speak english or rather he fake not knowing how to speak..he was practically trying to cheat our money..bringing us all over the place and yicai even had to tell him the correct direction. He conned us of....10 bahts. 10?!?!?!? can u believe it? 10 bahts oso wanna cheat us..crazy nuts.
ANyway we travelled by the mrt subway and skytrain as well. Not that cheap compared to taxis..but u could avoid the terrrible bangkok traffic jam altogether. The skytrain is modelled after our previous mrt system where u used the translink card? yeah!! haha so fun! got translink card to use!!! Imagine us feeling so at home in bangkok....anyway..we have to change to the skytrain stations from mrt subways cos onli the mrt subway was beside our hotel. The mrt juz opened recently...modelled after our new north east line..got tabcard system like us now. Really man...so at home..de ja vu..and since it's the Queen's bday soon ( and the whole nation is in celebration and how they worship their royal family) any station u travel using the mrt is onli 10 baht...argh so cheap. BUt skytrain is more ex..usually ard 20 bahts..so might as well take the taxi lar sometimes..
Another kindof taxi are the tuktuks...hsiaolin and khal took it once..but i didn't take it. Yicai took it b4 last time. ALL 6 of us attempted to take once..at the King Rama ( 5th or watever...they got so many kings..) train station to chinatown cos was so hot but the drivers wanna con us..wanna bring us to some shops to buy stuffs so we rejected them and walked all the way to chinatown ourselves..almost died..which i would tok abt later.
WHERE??
wah..everyday we wake up at 7am + and then the whole damn would b jam packed with shoppings and walking ard till 10+pm at nite. ONli stop to rest for meals and when we were tired(duh)..was so physically drained tat by the time i came back to s'pore, i had to rest at home for days to regain my strength hahaa. Went to those popular places ...like MBK centre at national stadium station. Huge place..could spend days walking finish that centre but the prices aren't that nice. Hard to bargain too. I got like 2 bags there...199 bahts each..don need to bargain cos u can't anyway haha cos it's cheap enuff..BUT not the cheapest bags i've got. Hsiaolin and khal actually had quite nasty experiences from MBK..hostile treatments from the shop pple when they wanted to bargain..so shit.From MBK yicai and i went exploring ard as well...went to world trade centre etc..walked like 2 stations down..i repeat WALKED..almost died..but we found gd things!! Ard Chit Lom station there were road side stalls set up everywhere and the stuffs are gd! ANd cheap and bargainable. I Got belts..and a bag at 155 ( see...told u 199 is not the cheapest) the stuffs get cheaper and cheaper as we walked down that road..shoick.
Pratunam centre...doris told mi it's a wholosale centre but i could have been to the wrong place. Nevertheless the stuffs are pretty cheap there...could bargain too. Shd have gotten some shoes there but didn't argh regret~!!! Explored the pratunam market but found it to b quite sucky ..and then it was hot and stuffy so headed back to the aircon centre instead. MY cousin and khal walked down the other way towards amari hotel and they found other betta deals..too bad we didnt' have a chance to check it out the next few days. She also braided her hair..the whole head, like Alicia Keys! Very nice..but the place to do it, it's at the other end of bangkok, Kreong San or something. U wouldn't believe how she knows abt the place. SHe asked this tourist who she met in the toilet abt her braided hair and the tourist told her oh it's at kreong san. She actually took the taxi all the way down with her bf from MBK and did it..Kreong san is like really far ..it's like the north weastern part of bangkok. The next day we all went down there to shop as well cos they told us of the great shoppings we could do there...kreong san is like a backpacker's heaven, esp for chao ang mohs. It's like another HV, with pubs and bars..and then lots of road side stalls selling very gd stuffs..not veryvery cheap but affordable and can bargain but can't cut down alot cos the chao angmohs aldy spoil market. The earrings there wah...damn cheap!!! one for 20 bahts!!! i got 3 of them. Got a belt for 130? And then on another day i saw chatuchat selling the exact same one for onli 30 baht. MAN!!! Chatuchat is the place to go lar...anyway back to the braiding hair thing. The thais juz set up "stalls", not even a stall...it was more like a few stools there and they start braiding hair for u. Cool..
ANd Last min shoppings at Chatuchat the weekend market on sat b4 we left bangkok. Can really get very cheap stuffs..like i said. But the place is damn hot...damn stuffy...really cannot make it. Never knew i could sweat like this.. What is hot man...bangkok is hot. NOt s'pore. Glad to b back haha..Something to mention is the pet section in chatuchat. Most of the shops sell dogs..and some of them believe it or not are not airconed...in such hot weather?! Yesh..really ..it's such a torture to the dogs lor. They juz put all the pups there without water (yesh without!!)..some pple had more conscience..they had 2 miserable fans blowing at the pups..ok betta than nothing. Once in a while u see them bringing a bowl of water to the pups and pushing all the pups to the bowl to havea sip...U can touch and cuddle the pups anytime, which i think really baffles all understanding...when u all go pet shops in s'pore they won't allow u to touch the pets lor...fearing that the watever bacteria on ur hands would make them sick...and since they are onli pups they shd b very vulnerable..but no leh..they still let u touch etc. There were of cos the betta shops with airconed and they spray anti-bacterial watever on ur hand b4 u can touch the dogs. The dogs are really cheap man!! ANd the huskies!!! so cute my goodness!!!!!!! argh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was told if i pay 500 bahts for a health certificate that certify that the dog aldy had 3 vaccinations and 1 rabies jab i could bring it to singapore...with mi..BUt i doubt singapore would allow u to bring a dog in so easily..sure kanna detained one. Anyway..another interesting thing..we passed by a shop that was selling baby squirrels..BUT the living condition was really bad for the squirrels...they tied the squirrels by their neck using this thing that looked like ur shoe string to a wired thing that was placed horizontally to prevent them frmo moving...and in fact the squirrels looked almost dead cos they were motionless most of the time!!! It's pure animal torture man..some animal conservatist shd see this...
AHh and we also went Chinatown. Yicai and i found the shopping area while the others made their way down to kreong san bcos they couldn't stand the pollution and the hot weather anymore..we almost gave up trying to find the shopping areas...turned out it's not along the main roads..muz go into the alleys.. and a whole new world awaits u..road side stalls and airconed shops..stuffs are pretty nice but since we were going to kreong san later on and definetely prices would b betta there than at chinatown we didn't get anything. But a real gd experience. Get down to the real thai street life. Their so called market... and the chaotic traffic situation. The place is so narrow that cars shdn't b inside but these thais really...they can't b bothered..the cars still went in and jammed up the whole place. It's quite cool...ok i know ..it's not exactly the NICE things u would expect rite? Cool in the sense that u won't get this in s'pore...not even this chaotic in m'sia..haha..muz experience mah..
Anywhere else except shopping?
Yaps! The 1st nite, 4 of us excluding cousin and bf, went to watch cabaret show. YEAH!! Very ex siah..cos we booked thru our agent so it was onli 600 bahts(20+) when it cost 1000 baht originally. Really enjoyed the show. How can all these beautiful sexy ladies be guys?!! EEk..halfway thru the show i gez most of us aldy forgotten they are indeed guys...
2nd day we had a half day tour (included in our package) to the chao praya river..to see the floating market which was almost non-existent...unfortunately had to listen to the nonsense of this superstitious thai chinese tour guide. " INfront of the temples the fishes are fed by the monks..." and most of the pple onboard the boat proceeded to feed the fishes with bread they bought on the boat. " If u happen to see a white fish, THAT is the king of fishes. IF it eats ur bread u WOULD have gd fortunes.." What the hell...it's juz albino. A rare mutation haloo?????
Then we went to this temple...very beautiful. Also worth talking abt is the the stupid ripped off we had by the 'snake' pple..each of us paid 100 bahts for 3 pics taken with the poor snake..hai.
3rd day, 4 of us excluding cousin n bf again..joined another tour to go to the Grand Palace where the royal family used to stay. Very very very very beautiful place. The buildings are covered with gold and precious jewels. Very very nice. Definetely enjoyed myself there.
4th day morning 4 of us booked thru the agent a 2hr session of whole body thai massage. shoick!! 400 ahts($17) for 2 hrs including transportation to the place and transportation to whereever we wan later. Apparently yicai even fell asleep during the massage...and he snored. TSk tsk haha!
MEALS
The last thing we expected was to eat in foodcourts that almost seemed as if we were back in s'pore but we did end up eating in foodcourts..for 2 nites. Other days..i rem going to the black canyon cafe. Wah food was damn gd..and damn cheap. 1 dish and a drink was onli $4. Where to find?!!!! And once ..had lunch at this pizza place called pizza connection i think. Each of us onli paid $4 i think..for 2 large pizzas and a jug of coke. MAN!!!
Overall..it was really fun going off ourselves and experiencing the local food. Although we didn't get down to eating the street food but at least we tried the cafes...hahaa..
ANd i cannot fail to mention the last min rush at the bangkok's airport . We had our early dinner at black canyon coffee at the airport..and 4got abt the timing again. So it was LAST CALL AGAIN..and the bloody gate was at the bloody other end of the building. This time we ran harder than the 1st time at changi. Ran and ran..like mad pigs. Luckily we weren't very late. There was still a Q at the scanning area..BUT Khal kanna detain for soemthing again..can't rem wat..haha..so we end up the last few boarding the plane. WAH..i never EVER was so late for any of my flights b4...and this had to happen twice on our trip...
SHIT! My PC hang on mi again when i was publishing this post. I almost kicked the pc (again) thinking that i have to rewrite my whole thailand trip -_- ..
