i'm so not used to be called auntie debbie....makes me feel so old!!

i met my little nephew, asher, tonight. quite a bright little boy and so cute!! but he hasn't warmed up to me and i only stayed for fifteen minutes because it was late and my cousin had to work the next morning, not to mention having to put him to bed.

my stay in singapore thus far has been hot, humid and wet. it has rain abouy seventyfive percent of my time here. hopefully, it eases up and gives a nicer weather so i can actually go outside without fear of my shoes getting more wet than they already are.

my time here has been booked up so fast! it is now hard to see everyone without double booking and cancelling and everything else in between.

oh well. one week should be just nice, me thinks.

on the first day of christmas...

...deb was found half dead on the couch in the liaus' watching the incredibles after a scrumptious lasagna lunch with fried chicken and punch as she contemplated a future in career of professional bumming.

my last night in bangkok

i went to see dj dimitri from paris on friday night and it was good! i was in the mood for dancing, anyway. the place it was in was quite small so we could move around where we wanted.

for the first time in my life, i tried the long island ice tea and the particular one that i took a sip out of was so strong! urgh. but i amused myself with a lemon daquiri for the night, which was fine.

the company was great! i went with anna, pia, eirik and ammers (a med student from melbourne who just arrived). dinner was pretty average with everyone (except me) stocking their systems up on beer before heading out to polly bar. we were there half and hour early and were the first ones in the door. we had a good time chatting and even met the owner before the crowd arrived and the volume of the music startred going into the level that hurt my ears.

while i was dancing, my elbow was burnt with a cigarette which hurt like when you burn yourself on the stove! the girl who was smoking immediately put out her cigarette, said her apologies and both her and her friend didn't dance anywhere close to us for the rest of the night. it's a bit itchy at the moment but it's not too bad. probably won't leave a scar (it's pretty small).

it was a pretty cool night. my last day was spent well. it was the only winterlike week in bangkok for their entire year and i experienced it. i only got three hours of sleep and i'm so buggered. i mean really. and my ankle hurts because i stepped into the drain hole thing at the bottom of a step outside the clinic. i think i might have damaged my calcaneaofibular ligament because there's a huge (actually mediumsized) bruise in that area.

it seems that i'm getting injured alot on this trip. each, with increasing severity (sort of). i hope nothing else (injurywise) happens to me in the next two weeks.

of black fingernails and red wine

every girl secretly wants to be physically attractive. why do you think so many of us make a fuss about what we wear, how much make up we wear, whether the shoes matches the dress matches the bag matches the hair matches the lipstick.

do you think it’s worth it? being physically attractive? is attention gained worth it?

it leaves you feeling so hollow and unfulfilled when the object of attraction goes away. you think you like him because he gave you the attention you so fully crave but do you know what damage it has already done to you?

a few days later, you watch him dance with someone else and you feel insanely jealous. you tell yourself that he’s not worth your time but you keep imagining yourself in her place. then you realise how silly it all is. he’s not a great dancer. he’s not even good. the way he moved was so clumsy, and she looked so uncomfortable.

you laugh now but then, the pull was strong when he asked, “so, your place or mine?”. it took all of your will to pretend not to hear what he was saying over the loud music pumping out of the speakers above you.

even now, remnant feelings still linger. it surges every time you hear him talk, see him smile. it always subsides. but never completely. this is what frustrates you and everyday, you wonder how you don’t go insane over every little nuance.

he wonders over your self control but he doesn’t know how much it would take for him to push you over the edge and lose it completely.

that which is lost cannot be regained.

okay, so no more free internet so i won't be blogging as often as i have been. at least for the next week or so, depending on whether i have the time to get online or not. no point paying a month's worth of internet for the next one week, right?

looking forward to blogging from another country soon!

nine more days in bangkok before i fly off to malaysia. the time passes so quickly when you're enjoying yourself, doesn't it? i didn't know what to do, where to go when i got here and now, i have so many things planned and so little time to execute them.

i'm starting to be really good friends with the danish students (eirik, anna & pia) that are on exchange here as well. they keep inviting me to go with them to different places and it's good. but then i wonder how i'm going to get back to my little studio apartment when the night ends.

there is a particular street stall where i eat my dinner quite often. the food is good and spicy. the way i like it. but just a few days ago, i got told/i accidently found out that the building where we so comfortable sit with our full tummies is actually a brothel. no wonder they have darkened windows & black curtains. i thought it was an expensive restaurant or some other place of business that is closed at night (because not many people walk in through the doors).

i have never seen so many lady boys! you'd think at first glance that they are women. if you move your gaze only a few centimetres downwards, you can see that they have adam's apples and no breasts. but they're so feminine! only in thailand, i'd say.

ahh, the joys of travelling alone. i really should do that more often.

crocs. and lots of it. oh and elephants too. i went to see them yesterday at samphran elephant ground & zoo. i had fun with a baby elephant, watched some crocs, fed some crocs and fed fish twice! i have never seen so many catfish fight over bread! some were gigantic!

it was really nice of the students to take me around and be pay for most things (especially meals...which is still cheap to me). the thing is, i kind of feel bad because they're going out of they to do almost everything with me. and i get the feeling that they don't want to impose and tell me to pay for stuff. it is hard trying to keep up with everything they pay for. and i kind of feel bad if i want to do something and they have something else planned.

less than two weeks in bangkok and i have to make the most of my shopping experience.

oh, and enjoy the video. might scare some of you scaredycat types.

i'm talking to my brother and i think i just realised how much i miss talking to him. i know he'll probably read this but that's okay. i really do like talking to my brother about practically nothing and everything under the sun.

i can't wait to meet up with him and have our normal bickerings.

okay. i'm officially homesick. i didn't realise it until now. i went to watch déjà vu with some thai students and i guess when the movie finished, i really did expect to stand up, look around and see ange or anita or tuan or someone i usually go to the movies with. i really miss not trying to modify the way i talk so everyone will understand me and trying to make out what they are saying.

but other than that, i'm having a good time. i met three students from denmark (one of them is actually from norway, he's just studying in denmark). it was nice talking to them and hearing their stories. and when i was with them, i had the worst thai food. not elaborating, so don't ask.

yesterday was the thailand's version of father's (not fathers') day. it seems that they thai people view their king as the father of the nation so everything was about him. his signature colour was yellow as blue was his wife's. monday was designated 'yellow shirt day' and friday was 'blue shirt day'. well, gift (a thai student, pronounced gip in the thai accent) told me that wherever the king goes, the people will follow. she means literarily. you wouldn't believe how many people were there to see the king at the parade! i mean like swarms and swarms of people...like if u2 were to do a parade in melbourne, i magine how many people will turn out just to get a glimpse of them.

we did a lot of walking yesterday. i walked around thamasaat university (another major tertiary centre besides mahidol uni). i was abit iffy about going into a temple but i did and it was really quite pretty. didn't like the buddha statues tho. then we explored three shopping malls, all placed next to each other. and they were HUGE!! my feet still aches.

about the transports in bangkok, i did ride a 'ferry' a few times. scary things, really. there's a lack of protection between the seats and the water. oh, and a tuktuk. even scarrier. here's a video to prove it. it's actually not as scary watching it compared to sitting in one.

bangkok: second day

twas a hot winter's day when i got driven for an hour and a half to the floating market in (this place is harder to spell than to pronounce). hot winter = 30 odd degree day. yells were heard as thai vendors tried to sell their wares. they all look pretty much the same to me. i ran into a japanese tv presenter quietly making her speech while someone held a ruffly umbrella over her head.

the boat i was in was stuck in a boatjam for roughly 5-10 minutes. once we got out of that, however, the waterway was relatively free. then i ran into her again.

frankly speaking, i was quite hot and tired so i can't tell you much about what i saw. except for teaspoons made out of coconut shells. they were cool. i'm at my sudio apartment right at this moment and the airconditioning isn't cooling me. it's set at 16 degrees and i'm still sweating like a pig.

bangkok: first day

the flight from melbourne to kl was so amazingly bad that i threw up in the last five minutes before landing. i haven’t done that in five years. i didn’t feel so well & I ended up having a cherry ripe for breakkie, a stick of 6 small porkballs & a spoonful of sweet glutinous rice with three pieces of mango for lunch and a huge hotpot of food for dinner.

i stressed all the way from melbourne to bangkok because the people i have been communicating with thought i landed on the 3rd when I specifically told them it was the 2nd. true enough, the weren’t there BUT i really thank God for his divine intervention because i met siree, esther’s friend from trinity college, her brother ? and her friend tang who went out of their way to make sure I was alright!

the drivers here are scary. i sat in a taxi which drove 500 metres in the middle of two lanes, cut in and out of traffic without once signalling and tailgating practically ever single car that drove in front of him. i kept my eyes on the address i was heading to the whole time, only looking up when he stopped to ask for directions (?!). taxi colours range from blue/red to fluro orange. and some taxis were hotpink! esther would have loved it if she wasn’t all pinked out.

after spending all morning stressing, i went to get a thai massage. it went for two hours. oooohhh…i've been waiting for that for a long time. and it was the first time i heard my back go crack in three different places all at once! however, i was told that they weren’t really professionals. kind of figured it out when they were giving me a face/head massage and a part of my face went a bit numbingly funny.

i’m meeting with my someone tomorrow. apparently there was a miscommunication somewhere and my accommodation was not booked. hmm…inefficiency, indeed. but before that, off to the floating market at 7am! whoopdeedoodah.