Brand New New Album

I promise i will blog more often from now on. Off topic, here's a single from Brand New's newest (4th) album, Daisy. It's called "At the Bottom" and i just love the serene feel to it

Alternative studio version here

Bangkok Day 2

On our 2nd day trip to Bangkok, we decided to do some shopping at Platinum Mall. It's something like our very own Sungai Wang plaza, where they sell a variety of clothings, mostly non-branded. Over there, there are 2 sets of prices; retail price and wholesale price. The prices on display are usually retail price and if you want a cheaper price, you ask for a wholesale price, where you have to buy more than one, usually 70-80% cheaper. So it's good to shop in groups.

The guys and the girls split up and planned to meet up in 3 hours time. Looking at the amount of women's shops in the complex, we were not surprised if the girls did not meet the 3 hour dateline. I like the shops in Platinum Mall. They sell really nice T-shirts at a very affordable price of around RM15 per piece (wholesale price). And the designs are not dull, some with very interesting tag lines and logos. And the shops that sell these are endless. Also the shops are very open to bargaining. I guess the only disappointment was that they dont sell much sports wear as in soccer jerseys.

As expected, 3 hours passed and the guys were the first to reach the meeting point. We had our lunch at the foodcourt at the highest level of Platinum Mall. They had a pre-paid card system, where you purchase a card from the counter and top up at any amount that you choose. You then take the card to any of the food stalls, place your order, and swap the card for payment. The good thing is after your meal,if you have extra cash in the card, you can return it at the counter and get your re-fund.

After lunch, the girls decided to continue their shopping spree. Nic accompanied Laura, so it was left with Joe, Chia and I. We left Platinum Mall to have a drink at one of the coffee shops outside. We came upon this really old coffee shop at one of the backlanes and ordered a bottle of Singha Beer. Joe took out a cigarette and started to smoke. Out of nowhere, a lady from the cash counter came to our table and asked Joe not to smoke and showed us a non-smoking sign at a cup on the table. As if our blindness was suddenly cured, we started to realise plenty of non-smoking sign surrounding us; on the walls and on the poles. I guess we were blinded by our Malaysian culture. Thai people are so civic conscious. Not a single person smoking on sight. Total respect.



Cofee Shop. Check out the no-smoking sign

We then headed back to meet up with the rest. It was Friday noon so it was quite hard to get a cab back to the hotel. Joe and the girls managed to get a cab, so it was left with Nic, Chia, Jing and Me to find one. We were thinking of taking the TukTuk back but the guy charged us an exorbitant amount of money, so screw it, we took a few km walk to the MRT station and took the monorail back home.






Back at the hotel, we were planning on our night actvities. Joe managed to catch hold of his friend in Malaysia who recommended a Thai tour guide to bring us around at Pattpong, the redlight district in Bangkok. So by 7, we met up with Toi, a friendly Thai man who was our designated tour guide for the night. He came to our hotel with a van that fit all 9 of us comfortably. It took us a while to get to our dinner place,because it seems Thaksin supporters were having a gathering that night, which caused us to take a detour bypassing town.


In Toi's van

For dinner, we had this very warm meal of pork meat soup served with rice or noodle. As we were eating, we asked for TomYam, in which Toi said it's easy to make TomYam using the ingredients that is already on the table. He mixed some chili powder, sugar, some sauce here and there onto our soup, and voila, we now have tomyam!!. It tasted really like Tomyam (rich in Thai taste) and it was really spicy. We tried to repeat this concoction ourselves but failed horribly. I guess it's a Thai talent.


Dinner

After dinner we headed to Pattpong. With Toi leading us, it seemed safer, and i would also recommend anyone who's interested to visit Pattpong to hire a Thai tour guide to lead you. With Toi, he planned all the shows for us, got rid of street peddlers who tried to harrass us (in other words, tried to coerce us into their bars by constant persuasion), and even got us discounted prices for the shows. While walking in Pattpong, he advised us to be careful of our belongings and not to purchase anything from the market there (expensive). We followed him along the streets and in the end came to this Agogo bar.


Streets of Pattpong

If i were to pronounce correctly, Agogo bar is where you get to see beautiful Thai girls wearing only a bikini and underwear (somtimes a thong), posing on stage, trying to entice you with their eyes, or rather their assets. Let me describe the place first. It's just like any ordinary disco with pop music blaring on the background. Now, imagine the bar in the disco. Replace bar with a stage. Replace an empty stage with a stage full of white bikini clad girls, with full makeup and prominent assets. No, you wont see the same girls on stage. IN fact, every 30 mins or so, a new batch of girls goes up stage. It's endless.


Us at the Agogo bar. Spot our new friend

And the patrons of the bar, as i look around consists of mostly older men. And right beside them, you see one of the Thai girls whispering in their ears and holding hands. We got our seats and drinks, and good seats indeed, as we got a good view of all the girls on stage. Whenever you look up, you see them trying to get an eye contact with you, giving you an inviting smile. And seems like my friend had an eye contact too long, and soon a Thai girl came down and hugged my friend from behind. Alas! My friend is trapped with a white bikini clad girl who wouldnt budge until you get her a drink and play drinking games with her. Of course, a thousand questions must be travelling across his mind. And one of them without a doubt has to be "Is this a guy or a gal hugging me from behind?" Nevertheless, im sure my friend had a great time


One before we leave

And soon, after a while, we decided we have seen enough of Agogo girls, and now it's time for some action. And what awaits us will never see light on the streets of Malaysia. It is Thailand's very own Ping Pong Show. I dont want to go into too much details on this show, but it involves naked Thai ladies performing acts of supreme skills with their body parts down south, that just by watching it, would leave girls cringing in pain and guys speechless and clueless, with mouths wide open. As Toi said, dont mess with Thai girls. They can kill you with their private parts.


The market at Pattpong


Group pic at the streets of Pattpong

But what awaits us next has to be the mother of all Pattpong shows. A show that you will only see once in your lifetime, but a lifetime to wash away the after effects of the show. That show my friend is Fishboy. In plain simple language, FishBoy is a show where you get to see a guy swimming naked in an aquarium. Did i also mention that you also get to see guys caressing themselves and smothering each other with shower foam while taking a bath on stage? Also did i also mention that one of them took off their underwear, and with a hardened p*nis slided to the front of the stage with it hanging few inches from our seats? No i guess not, but it did happened!!!


Looks interesting


Classic Boys Club

I don't know about you girls, who might be enjoying the whole thing but guys are not comfortable seeing naked guys caressing each other and displaying their dolphins few inch from our face. But the grand finale was what made us run out from the show. Yes, we raced out from the show like scared rats. We thought everything had ended, until two guys started humping each other on stage with that Slumdog Millionaire song playing on the background. Ok, the guys were on maximum tolerance on this guy to guy thing but it doesnt end there. The 2 guys humping each other got down from the stage, crawled to our seats like a wheelbarrow, and started talking to us, with the humping action all still going on. So what did we do? We gave them tips and ran out like scared rats. And not to forget, Toi was laughing all the way.

I had this sudden urge to vomit, which means good news. I am straight.


Ants


Bugs anyone?

We were laughing at ourselves after exiting the bar. What an experience it was. With our minds still partially disturbed, Toi decided to open up our minds to try something more positively stimulating to the brain, and that is supper. We came to his place, which i forgot the name, where Toi recommended us to stay in the future. There are quite a lot of hotels there and it was livelier at night with lots of food stalls opened. We had chicken rice for supper. Toi shared many stories with us about Thailand that night. It was really a one hell of a night for us.

Bangkok Day 1

Last July, Lan Sin and i joined my hometown friends for a trip to Bangkok. There were Joe, Ker Li, Nic, Laura, Chia, Jing and Bee Sim. In the midst of the Swine Flu epidemic. we took neccesary precautions to wear the mask on our flight to Bangkok.

Upon arrival, we split into 2 groups and took a cab to our hotel, Sawasdee Sukhumvit. The driver quoted us a price of 700Baht to get there. Thanks to Jing's bargaining skills, it only costs us 35o Baht. (take note, by right, it should only be around 300Baht per cab).


Potrait at the Bangkok Airport


Sawasdee Sukhumvit is a nice little lodging place situated quite far off from the city central. Usually when the traffic is congested, it does take a while to get to town by cab. However, it looks comfortable and it's only a 5 mins walk to the nearest monorail station.



Our hotel entrance

We got to our rooms at the 5th floor (no lift btw). After unpacking our luggage, we then headed out to Platinum Mall for lunch by cab. One thing Lan Sin and I learned on our first cab ride in Bangkok is to always ask for metre before entering the cab. We made a mistake of not asking for it, and in the end, the cab driver wanted to charge us a fixed fee when we arrived. We insisted on following the metre and in the end, the cab driver gave in.

There is this chicken rice shop near Platinum Mall, where the workers speak Cantonese fluently. Due to limited space, the guys and the gals sat on separate tables. We ordered 1 chicken per table and some pig's organs. The meat was really good and succulent and the pig's intestine soup taste very homely. Over in Bangkok, they dont serve Coke / Pepsi in cans. The bottle packaging is still very famous over there. And if we want ice, they dont bring plastic cups in ice. Instead, they provided us a medium size stainless stell mug with ice in it and a mini straw. Very interesting indeed.


Jing and Lan Sin at the chicken rice stall


Wat a meal!!


Market


TukTuk

After lunch, we decided to visit the King's Palace, a must visit for tourist to Bangkok. When we arrived, we saw a big sign informing tourist that we must be properly attired within the grounds of the palace, which means no short pants for guys and girls. We were wearing like we were going to the beach, so we had to queue up at this building at the entrance to rent long pants and sarongs (for ladies).


Guards outside the King's Palace checking on our attire


We love them pants


Busy Body Laura

The Siamese arhictecture at the palace was a sight to behold. The motifs and carvings of the palace buildings were extremely detailed and the grandeur of the place were magnified by the usage of gold plated tiles to cover the building walls. One corner after another, the whole place was blooming with Siamese artistic themes.








Monkey see, monkey do


Group photo




Artist at work

One of the temples, houses the reverred Jade Buddha which was placed in the temple on a tall pyramid pedestal. The Jade Buddhla is almost as small as the size of man's forearms but is treated with extreme holliness. We were not allowed to take any pictures within the temple. We had to sit on the floor and were to whisper at all times. There were also a couple of guards monitoring the people seated in the temple.








Blessings from the holy water




A picture too good to miss..






After the King's palace, we headed back to our hotel, took a bath, and got ready for dinner. Without any guide, we took a walk along the streets for something to eat.


Oyster Omellete


Seafood Omellette

After dinner, we decided to try some Thai Massage. Jing recommended this place called Health Land Spa and Massage. It looks pretty posh, not dodgy at all. The guys and gals were led to separate rooms. We were required to strip to our undies and were given a robe and a baggy pants to wear. 4 of us guys laid on a mattress on the floor and 4 burly women came in. Now, this is the first time i'm trying a Thai Massage and you know, they do this thing where they press of the femoral atery on the upper legs for a long period of time until we can feel the beating of the veins from the wrist of the masseur. That to me is the most painful part of the massage. Other than that, they do a lot of twisting of the legs and twisting of the upper body. My favourite is the face massage and that is the only time i almost fell asleep. Ocasionally, i could hear one of the guys snoring or sounds of bones cracking.


Health Spa






The masseurs await us

After the massage, the night was still young, so we decided to experience the night life in Bangkok. We told the cab driver to bring us to Hollywood. The cab says the place is too far and suggested a disco called Boss instead, which according to him, opens all the way to 6am. So again, we split into 2 cabs. Nic, Jing, Chia and I were in one cab, while Joe and the rest of the gals were in the other.

When my cab driver reached the disco Boss, i felt disappiointed by the look of it. It was situated at a back lane, with cabs waiting outside and abandoned shops along the road. It looked extremely dodgy. When our cab stopped at the front of the disco, a Thai man in black suit opened the cab's door,welcomed us and hastily invited us to go in. We told him we wanted to wait outside for our friends from the other cab.

Minutes passed on and Joe and the gals were not to be seen. We gave Joe a call and turns out, that their cab driver brought them to another club called Bossy. The Thai guy with us took our phone to speak to Joe's cab driver at the other end. After some exhange of heated Thai language, Joe's cab appeared and we were re-united again.

I asked Lan Sin if Bossy looked better than Boss. Turns out that they were almost the same, but Boss was slightly better (more people it seems). Outside Boss, we could hear loud music playing inside, actually more of loud repetivive bass playing in an infinite loop. Cover Charge was 300baht with a free drink. Just as i anticipated, the club inside was quite empty with a DJ playing to an empty dance floor. Beside us was a couple of Thai boys dancing like Mica and some of them looked like they were pole dancing with a q-stick at the pool table. Thankfully. we begin to see people coming into the club, some foreigners, who were dancing happily away.

As soon as we finished our drinks, we quickly departed. We took the cabs back to our hotel. Still feeling a bit hungry, we took a supper meal of tomyam and rice at one of the stalls outside our hotel. It was one hell of a first day in Bangkok. More to come...


Supper

Kinabalu - Day 7

We had no specific plans on our final day in KK. In the morning, we had our breakfast at a tradtitionl coffee shop across our hostel. Since it was a working day, the shop was quite pack and we had to share a table with two beautiful ladies in office attire. Both were speaking fluently in English. As they were about to leave, they asked for the bill. An old man presumably the owner of the coffee shop informed them that a gentleman across the table had paid for them. I looked across and i see two good looking guys also in office attire giving a subtle wave at the two ladies at our table. The ladies gave a smile and a silent thank you and left. That, my friends is how Sabahans pick up chicks, anytime, anywhere, and it involves any opportunity available (to be specific, 2 loafs of steam bread an a half boil egg)


Bus Trip


At the Museum Sabah

Devoid of any personal transportation, we decided to take a bus to the Sabah Museum. Actually to come to think of it, i wonder why in the world did we not try their Sabah Massage but instead, chose to be all intellectual in this Sabah trip. Anyhow, we arrived at the museum through their back door. IN the museum, we were led through a very informative trip from the origins of the Sabahan people to the World War era and finally to the unification of Sabah into Malaysia.


Vintage Cars


Mini-me

There were many interesting displays of the Sabah culture and history, notably stories about the aborigines and various tribes and not to forget, their religious beliefs. One that amused me was how a certain tribe believes that the plants that they harvest are actually parts of a beautiful fairy tale princess. There were also stories about the Kinabalu Mountain legend, how 2 brothers from China were summoned by their King to search for a huge pearl hidden at Kinabalu Mountain, whom locals believed that a mythical dragon was sworn to protect. One of the brothers cunningly diverted the dragons attention and successfully stole the pearl. However, as all legends, there has to be a villian. The other unsuccesful brother got jealous, tried to steal the pearl from under the other guy's nose and somehow, choas ensued, and then...well, i got bored of reading and left the story as it is.



Then, there was an interesting section at the museum about how a German became the first man to para-glide from the tip of Mount KK and survived the whole ordeal to live as a hero forever. There was also a short documentary video about his story.



We then exited the museum and headed to the outdoors. There was a couple of long houses outside. One of the long house had this trampoline thing that bounces. It's suppose to be some sort of dance floors for the natives. I can imagine them "jogeting" away when their paddy fields are ready for harvest. These are really amazing structures.


Outside one of the long houses






You got to move it,move it (at the Trampoline thing inside the long house)


Shall we dance?





And finally, there was another building in the museum that displayed the technological advancements in Sabah. And it showcased Sabah's greatest natural resouces, petroleum. They had mini models of the offshore drill and visual and audio information on the items displayed.




Sing Huat the RTM newscaster


This is the platform structure which we used to get down to Sungai Padas for our white water rafting

We were at the museum the whole morning and not knowingly, it was already 3pm when we finished the whole museum. We continued our relaxing final day tour at the Filipino Market to get some souvenirs and snacks home. I got some kuih cincin, some Sabah Tea and some Tenom Coffee Packets. The Tenom Coffee Packets are highly recommended and if you are going there, make sure you bring MANY of them back home.

At night, we had dinner together at the WaterFront. I was hesitant to leave this group of newly found friends but all good things come to an end. One week in Kota Kinablu, truly a unique place to be and the best part of it, it's still within the boundaries of Malaysia. And right now, i am looking forward to another trip with these guys.




Cheers to KK

On a sour note, the next morning when we were to leave for the airport, the lights went out at our hostel. It was around 5-6am, so it was still dark and i couldnt wear my contact lense. Hense, i was partially blind at the airport. So i couldnt really say a proper good bye to my new found friends. Nevertheless, thank God for Facebook!!

Balik Pulau's Hokkien Mee

When we speak of Balik Pulau, durians and mangosteens come to mind.






Did you know Balik Pulau is also home to one of the best Hokkien Mee in Penang. In order to get to this place, one must travel deep into the villages of Balik Pulau. It's not a shop and it's not a street peddler. It's a house!!









Upon reaching our destination, it felt like i was visiting someone's house for Chinese New Year. At first glance at the tables outside, i thought someone was playing a round of mahjong. If only they had bananas and some packet drinks on the table, i could have sworn that i was attending someone's wedding.





However, i love Hokkien Mee. The best Penang food ever. After finishing my meal, i almost went into the house to thank the auntie and inform her that we were leaving, u know the usual chinese manners. I had to remind myself it's a hokkien mee shop for goodness sake

Night out

Just last weekend, Lan Sin and I decided to have a fine dining experience, and what a better place to do that than the Ferringhi Grill at Rasa Sayang Hotel. I made reservations for two at 7pm on a Sunday night. We arrived early, got our car parked, and as we entered the Rasa Sayang hotel, we were greeted by the cheerfulness of the Rasa Sayang staff. It was quite a long walk along the beach from the hotel entrance to the restaurant which was a separate building by itself from the hotel.

The Ferringhi Grill was highly recommended and i could see why. The place oozes with class and elegance. It was very well decorated (not too pretentious), and lit with dim lights which created a romantic ambience for diners. Being an ordinary Joe, fine dining is not something i do everyday, what with all the rules of proper use of the cutlery, table manners and etc. But the staff at Ferringhi Grill made us feel very comfortable, that i begin to rest my back against the chair and just enjoy the evening throughout.



View from our table


One before our dinner


Appetizer. Baked salmon with a tinge of salad


A variety of bread as starters. The red sauce on the right is actually ketchup mixed with a bit of spice.


Soup samplers: Tomato soup, Coconut soup with scallops and pumpkin soup


Lemon sorbet to neutralize our taste before we begin our main course


Lan Sin had cod fish. The fish was creamy and succulent which melts in the mouth.


While i had lamb with ribs.


A complimentary cake as part of our anniversary. One of the managers came out to wish us, which was very thoughful.


Chocolates to finish off a perfect evening.

Kinabalu Day 6

As we were still at Kundasang town, ( a few hours drive from KK town), we stayed one night at a lodge in Kundasang. It's a nice place and we got ample rest from our climb the day before. Some of the guys went for foot massage in the night, but i was so tired that i went to bed early.










The next morning, we had our breakfast there and packed our belongings, ready to go back to KK town. But before we left, we decided to visit the local milk factory. Sean has proclaimed that it's a beautiful place, with a landscape like New Zealand. So UP we went to this hill passing through narrow winding roads and finally reaching a large field with large black-white cows grazing in herds. And in the middle of the fields, was a building, which was the Desa Milk factory.








We were too early for the cow milking demo. It only starts at 3pm. Anyhow, we took a walk around the factory and there was cow dung everywhere, like land mines. We came to this barn with cows and some goats inside and the workers were spraying cow dung into the drain at the barn entrance. We skipped over the dung and got in. The cows seemed a bit shocked by the unwelcomed guest. BUt it was too good a photo moment to miss, so we snapped away.












After getting up close and personal with the cows, we got into the factory. There was a glass window which separates us and a big room where the packaging of the milk is being done. Everything was automated but the QA of the final product was done by human. An operator stood at the end of the conveyor belt, held up 3 milk boxes and tilt it to check for leakage. If it's ok, the operator would then pack the milk boxes into a box ready for delivery.




We were then eager to try the milk, so we bought a few from the factory office. Well, milk almost taste the same to me.









After the factory visit, we headed back home. ON the way, Samuel dropped us at a market to get some souvenirs. Always, always bargain for the lowest prices.




After lunch, Samuel dropped us in the middle of the road. He told us to cross the bridge over the river and he will meet us with his van on the other side of the river. The bridge is called the Tamparuli bridge and it is the oldest bridge in Sabah. It's an old wooden suspension bridge and shaky.






It's been a pretty relaxing day so far. More of sight seeing and chit chatting in the van. Just before we reach KK town, Samuel decided to bring us for some coconut water. Now the special thing about this coconut water is that the cocounts are baked using firewood. So it sorts of dilute some of the santan aroma into the water. The only problem is that the drink is hot. It sorts of removes the cooling effect of coconuts.





Besides hot coconut, they also serve puddings in a coconut. That's my favourite. We also order some baked clams, which was served with a lot of MSG.

When we reached KK town, we had to change rooms in Hanim Lodge. We rested for a while before it was time for dinner.

For dinner, we headed to the waterfront, where there was a night market. There were many stalls serving ikan bakar. We had some that night, and we met up with a local there. He told us that he used to study in Subang and he missed that place. NOw, he's working as a technical engineer in Tawau airport. He too agreed that the ikan bakar that night was not that good.