Time to come…

Time is an associate which i can never really tell if its a friend or foe, a companion that one can never shake off but altogether unfeeling and cold… Its like having someone walking with you, but yet this person does not slow down or stop when you take a fall or collapsed. Often we find ourselves chasing after time as soon as  when we gained our consciousness, or regained “sight”

These days, since back from Thailand, i have been bumming around grumpily… Unable to confirm or even plan, left me frustrated. And now here i am, suddenly awaken to find that time is so far ahead of me…

• Room – unpacked… still too much to not throw…
• Flights – booked… 5th for BKK and 8th for Hanoi…
• Hanoi – duration unknown… 1 mth tentative…
• US – Not sure if still going, or if i still wanna go…
• Luggage – unpacked… cos dunno how to pack for a trip that has no duration and destination…

Still… i look forward to God’s plan… what seems impossible for me now, will be his job to bring it to pass. He knows the thing in my heart, and he knows i dun have the heart to do it… too afraid to even mention abt it to anyone at all… My fren, wait with me ok… allow me to bring u good news,  good testimony.

Ps. Still very upset and angry and hurt that my mum STILL thinks that i going Vietnam is for fun… argh! my mum leh! :(  sigh…

Made pack meal for Sis…

Its 4am in the morning, and i had been on the phone for like 2hrs… U dun expect gourmet breakfast from a tired and sleepy person bah!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BIZARRE SATURDAY

Its been a strange start to my weekend… since Friday evening, i had to play host to a foreigner acquaintance. (Really cannot bring myself to call her as fren, simply cos she is not lor… i am just being technically correct that's all!) Anyway, i was told to expect another 2 person, who were suppose to be the staff from Cam Chan Guan, my dad’s restaurant.  But at the airport i was met with the foreigner, 1 male staff – a cook, and guess wat… A MONK! And they address him as SHI FU (MASTER). He was all dress in his monk-ly attire in dark brown. I cant help but have a O.o expression on my face, as non one did any explanation who he was and why he was here in this group that i am suppose to play host to.

The trip barely speaks English, but the acquaintance does manageable phrases for me to understand her; she is the comms personnel of the grp. Now, the obvious objective for this madam is SHOPPING, and the male staff/ the cook is the one who make the trip legitimate… sigh… Then there is the S F guy, he said he was here to visit temples…………… and shopping! He was visibly very excited alright. I wondered long and hard on wat shopping is he into… It din take long for me to figure out.

First things first, went thru the meeting with Mr David Ong and visited their catering kitchen… really interesting and impressed with the details they went into for the services they provided… can clearly see their pride. I’m glad i participated, and i hope some day i would be like them… beaming with pride as i introduce Cam Chan or even my own cafe in the near future. :)

After their kind reception, its to the temples! My first time into a temple actually… First stop, Si Ma Lu Guan Yin Temple… so much smoke really buay tahan! But the sea of worshippers stirred up something within me. Before we stepped in, our dear SF was lured to a stall… he wanted to buy a scripture chanting CD w music. The lady at the stall told us that, if SF wants she can give him discount cos he is a monk. And my acquaintance insisted that she pays for it.

Then after much looking ard in the temple, i scooted out… too much smoke for my liking. They proceeded with shopping… The lady was looking ard at clothes but kept saying not nice, or too expensive compared to States etc… argh… GRRR… Then the SF slips off to the beads section. My sis scooted off looking  at watches, so i had to try to be help with the comms. Bargaining took place, and … GRIN … i had to help the SF to buy 108 beads. The deal closed @ a price which i still think is  a rip off for some plastic, but they insisted it was crystal. And the SF was too attracted to the BLING BLING of the beads to wait for a further slash in price… OMG! SUPER BLING LOR! Question marks and exclamation marks were raining on my head like snow, but i kept to myself… If Christians like to wear nice cross, i guess monks are also entitled to BLING BLING chanting beads bah… :X

Next was the Burmese temple somewhere in/near Balestiar, thanks to the Heritage race that Dadi and gang roped me in, else i wont have a clue man… a nice place with plenty of photo taking for them… But it was a cow and horse sight when the Burmese and Vietnamese tried to communicate… hehehee…

We proceeded to shopping as requested, it was orchard road that we headed for. First Wisma Atrium then Taka; it was a trying time for me when they tested my patriotism but continuous sayings of SG no good, this too expensive think States or even Vietnam better, etc etc etc… Let me explain; 1) pekchek abt her complains abt sg no gd. 2) ask me bring them there then complain nothing here and nothing there. WOW LAU EH! wasted my time and parking lor… and some more kana fine lor…

Best way to calm one down is thru food; we then decided to have dinner. Our good frens say they wanna do food tasting, and told us to bring them to East Coast Long Beach. But seeing that the following day is Father’s Day, my sis and i exchanged looks when she insisted even after we warned her of long waiting time or no crabs/seafood. True to our suspicions, no parking and had to wait long long. Finally @ Long Beach, we were told crabs sold out. They were sorely disappointed, but i was glad… cos they had the same thing on previous nite and i am frightened by the frequent and amount they order lor. All i can say is, Long Beach @ East Coast standard dropped rock bottom. Shake head man… food sucks and price ex… totally not going back there at all. Think Jumbo is better.

Erm… forgot to mention, some credit for the SF, he was having vegan all the while. Poor fella sees all the nice and fanciful stuffs but he cant touch. But he does have a appetite though, the usual is 1 vegan fried rice, 1 vegan veggie dish, 1 vegan tofu dish and 1 vegan horfun. But i still dun think this amount of food justify his build, his build looks more like meat base build ley… hmm……

Anyway, i am just glad the bizarre sat went pass without getting too ugly. Dear God, thanks for showing me that i cannot be tour guide. From the bottom of my heart, i totally agree w you… no tour guiding for me!

*time to peng shan*

Hi… my name is dumb dumb, you can call me dumb numero 1.

Of scum and scams, was perhaps too strong to be used on the recent unpleasant experience my fren and I had encountered recently. But it was pretty amusing to see that THE LAND OF THOUSAND SMILES to be actually THE LAND OF THOUSAND SCAMS.

This recent vacation of mine was very different from the typical holiday in Thailand. Up north we headed for Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai… up into the hills/mountain of akha land; where we experience simple rural life of bugs, murky water in the sink, single daily transport to the city, power failure etc… Other than these, we enjoyed the visit to a village school, and were more aware of our good fortunes at home. We truly enjoyed our time up in akha hills… and who knows, we might be going back there again.

The service apartment we had in Bangkok was great, it was like re-living my days working overseas. I left my grief and anger there, and the breeze took them, the swimming pool took them… I have always tried to make the best out of situations and this time should not be any different.

As for the scams thing, I rest it in God’s hand. I just do what I can do, and leave the rest to the pro to handle it… God will handle it for me. It’s sad that time after time I am reminded that there is no trust in ppl, between strangers… between fellow countrymen, between associates and colleagues, between friends, and even between family members… This is a crappy world that malfunctions big time, I guess it needs Yahwah all the more…

“The Land of Thousand Scams”.

Dear Sir,

We would like to seek your kind assistance in obtaining refunds for gem purchases made in Bangkok, as we believe we are victims of a gem scam.

It happened on 4th June 2009. We had just arrived in Bangkok, waiting for the night train to travel up to Chiang Mai. Our plans were to visit the National Museum, the "Sitting Buddha" statues, and other tourist attractions in Bangkok.

When we arrived at the National Museum, we found notices put up at the entrance. A kind Thai man told us that the Royal family had come to visit, and therefore the place was closed. We were then directed to a gem selling place by him, and there was supposed to be a one day only gem export promotion.

The name of the gem company is Erawan Lapidary, and the salesman who greeted us was named Roy. We were told that all their gems were genuine quality products, and came with certifications of authenticity. My friend and I each bought a sapphire gem set, which consisted of a pair of sapphire ear rings, a ring and a pendant, all in gold setting. The price of these items was 52,000 baht per set.

Upon returning home, we happily presented these gifts to our mothers only to disappoint them when someone pointed out that the gems were of very inferior quality. We had them checked at the local jewellery shop, and they confirmed our fears. These gem sets we have now are not genuine quality products which was promised to us.

Subsequently, we did some research on the internet and found out that many had fallen to similar scams over the last 5-10 years. Sadly, none of them was publicised to educate and warn the public. It would sadden many to learn that “The Land of Thousand Smiles” is actually more like “The Land of Thousand Scams”.

We are dismayed to know that many people are involved in this scam, and they are doing it openly in public. Thus, we have decided to relate our unpleasant experience to the general public through the media. We hope to create an awareness of such scams, so as to prevent more people from falling into them, and stop these scammers from flourishing at the expense of the ignorant public.

We would like to seek your help to get a full refund for our purchases. I can make a personal trip down to Bangkok to bring the gems back for refund and log a report with the Thai tourist police if necessary.

I deeply appreciate if you can get back to me on the next course of action.

Benjamin's letter

For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it.

And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.

End of one, beginning of another...

One of my greatest joy, was the excitement i had @ the end of 2008, and the beginning of 2009; where much anticipation of good change...

Another overwhelming joy was from my best friend, who ended their 12yrs long of relationship in matrimony... where now, she takes it her first priority to marry me off as well... forming the awsome trio "tai tai" grp... (argh)

Within 2 weeks, was the demise of my grandma... it was a news which i dreaded, since the day i had left to work overseas. I blamed myself for many things, but none of it changed anything. This is one blow that had me sprawling on the ground still... The disappointments that came after, only left anger in me... and all my family can see in me, is anger.

After 3 brief weeks, i left my company... a job which i had loved and gave all for the past 8yrs and 5 mths. The sad truth for leaving was, i couldnt stand the job any longer... Each morning was a dread for the last 2 yrs... Its time something is to be done.

Its scary; to step out of something so familiar, where you think yr capabilities are... Especially when the recent events had not been a smooth passage. I hadnt had a change to think, rather... i refused to start thinking... i have this plan, but i dun seems to like this plan... but its the only plan i have...

God will lead... rite?