Bangkok - First Time

I was so looking forward to getting away from KL, after weeks of being bogged with wedding details. And getting off the plane, made me realise that it has all been worthwhile, tagging my wife along with me on this honeymoon.

Now, this is my first trip to Bangkok and I had no expectations of what it would be like. The air is polluted, the streets are clogged, with cars and people alike. And to make my experience worse, I developed a fever couple of hours after arriving there. Yes, my body finally had time to break down after running around on my wedding day. My poor wife had to take care of me in the hotel room that evening, and I slept through that evening/night without taking her anywhere. And behind our room was a rail line, which the darn drivers can't seem to take their hands off their horns.

Would I return to Bangkok? Yes, if only for the mega malls, namely, Siam Paragon & Central World. The former had to be my favourite of them all. Paragon itself has its own departmental store all on its own and within it, mega brands were aplenty. It was akin to walking around Pavilion in Kuala Lumpur.

And how they deco their display shelves was simply attractive.




And this is only one of many rows of pens, I can't find such varieties in KL

You know, all this while I never tried Auntie Anne's while I was in Malaysia. Fearing I would have nothing else to eat but Tom Yam all the time, I settled for a pretzel while feeling peckish. And I enjoyed it. Very nice indeed. Trust me to go to Bangkok to try this instead of back home.



They even had a Lamborghini Murcielago on display in the mall outlet. How cool is that?



When I recovered the 2nd day, we walked a little bit more and were able to see what goes on at night after seeing all the props and all during the day. They can publicly have beer festivals just outside of the mall. And there were many of them.

The only cute thing I saw there was the restroom doors at Baiyoke Boutique Hotel where we stayed. No time to visit any of the infamous Tiger Shows nor any of the temples, which the latter having no pull factor on me.


Do you know which to go to?

Well, I'm still in Phuket now. Will share my thoughts on it at a later date.

Sealed With A Kiss

There I've finally been 'allowed' to kiss the bride by the 'official' of the day. And now, I shall be leaving on a 10 day long honeymoon *switches phone to silent and screening who calls before answering*

Only a message of 'alien invasion' will get me out of my honeymoon.

Greedy Malaysians

Malaysia, a land of many opportunities. I always believe that if you work hard enough and add some savvy into what you do, there will be money to be made. In any traditional business, there will be times money is made, and times when money is lost. Name me one traditional business where money is never lost? Oh wait, toll concessionaires, they never lose money due to the lopsided contract between the government and their cronies.

How bout petrol dealers? You would think they have been making wads of cash each time the price of petrol went up. They're always claiming the discount is the same. If the petrol price today is RM1.92, they pay RM1.72 from the suppliers.

Now that crude oil price is hovering around USD67 per barrel, the government has reduced petrol price, for the 3rd time now since reaching a whopping RM2.7o. It now stands at RM2.30 per litre. What irks me are the petrol dealers who claims to lose thousands of dollars each time there is a price reduction. And that is true, not taking away any credibility to their claims. Let's have a look at how they lose.

When the price was at RM2.70 per litre, they bought the petrol price at RM2.50 from suppliers. As soon as the government reduce the price to RM2.55, they claim to have lost considerably due to the old stock which they bought at RM2.50. Even with the 5 cents profit, they cannot overcome their overheads. Granted. And it goes on when it drops to RM2.45 and now RM2.30. Everytime it drops, they cry like babies.

Well, what about when the price went up? When they bought it at RM1.72 cents when petrol price was at RM1.92, what happened when the petrol went tp to RM2.70? The 20 cents profit shot up to Rm1.o8 per litre on whatever stock they had left. And this goes on each time there is an increase. Did I ever hear, "Govt, you're not being reasonable. You've increased my profits this month and now I have no choice but to buy a new car to offset it or I have to pay higher tax. Why are you doing this to me?"

There are 2 sides to the coin, petrol dealers are mostly cronies anyway. I said mostly, not all. There are of course genuine ones. But bear in mind you money grubbing operators, this is a business you are running. Be thankful you have a business that has been generating profits for you all this while. And with any traditional business, there is NO GUARANTEE of continued profits. And to the government, stop making decisions at your whim and fancy. Give at least a week's notice of any impending increase or decrease to not only dealers, but to consumers alike. It is obvious, they have not needed to queue up at petrol stations to experience the traffic chaos when everyone rushes to fill up before midnight. Even those who do not want to be part of that rush, are stuck along clogged roads filled with cars waiting by the road side near a petrol station, waiting for their turn.

Stop crying and to the government, stop managing Malaysia like it's just a game.

I'm Taken on Halloween Day

Well, here you have it. I'm married and there's nothing you girls can do about it. You all had your chance, too bad. The best girl won. In retrospective, I won too. And what a day it was. A day to take the vows said, or lack off, seriously, and a day just being plain silly, much to mine and everyone else amusement, including the public.

Waking up at ungodly hours to prepare for the day, eyes barely open when faced to the sun to get the best possible lighting angle for the photographer, the usual sweat dripping as if I just came out of a shower were just amongst the few parts of the day that seems to challenge my gung-ho-ness I had. Was it all worth it? You bet it was.

Well, a sneak preview if you will, these shots are just merely taken by our 'daughters' who were there trudging along with us wherever we went. God bless their hearts. They're not taken by the hired photographer of the day, Robin Ng, which I look forward to seeing the final results when it is ready.




"Wow, he's actually signing it" thought her




This was taken opposite Pavilion, whose management did not allow us to snap any photographs related to wedding, much to my disgust of their snobbish policy.


This picture is taken at Khareyana Spa, courtesy of Puan Azam who allowed us to utilize the location. If only she'd offer free spa treatment for the day too :P

And to my wife (got to get used to it), I love you and here's wishing you a Happy Birthday too. I shall reward you tonight.