ahmay's Xanga

Four more days in Singapore

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 16:10:48 GMT

So I've got 4 more days in Spore, but have been busy with official farewells, unofficial farewells, presentation preparation and all those tedious details that are involved in moving. Fourth time moving already in the last 1.5 yrs.. this is definetely getting so old!

I'm back in HK for a quick 4d stopover before I move to Shanghai and start work on Monday, July 2.

In China I will be Xanga-less, Blog-less and Flickr-less. *sighs*

Adventures with May and Carmen

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 12:23:38 GMT

Bargaining

We are still pathetic at it.

Our strategy is simple: take a wild guess at what the price is supposed to be and 'negotiate'.

My friend just asked me if I took tuk tuk from the hotel to the beach. I answered yes. He said ohh 100 Baht right? ONE HUNDRED? We bargained with the goal of 300 Baht. It happens like this:

Me: How much back to Surin beach?

Tuk tuk driver: 400!

Carmen: 400? What about 300?

Tuk tuk driver: But I have to drive back!

Carmen and me: Ahhhh. *nods in agreement* Okay 300

Then we used the 300 Baht as a benchmark for the rest of the trip and got ripped off alllll the way. Hahahahaa.

Sometimes it goes badly the other way around.

Carmen: How much for the DVDs?

Hawker: 100 Baht

Me: 100 Baht!

Carmen: What about 60?

Hawker: How many are you buying?

Carmen: 2!

Hawker: HA! *turns away*

we confidently march off... to come crawling back the next day

Scuba Diving

We went on a day trip (7 am to 7 pm) to the Phi Phi Islands for scuba diving. The owner of the shop was eyeing us suspiciously throughout, probably convinced we would drown and he'd get sued.

They enthusiastically push us into the water. Me, Carmen, Instructor and a random guy in our group. The Instructor and guy slowly sink into the water.

5 minutes later Carmen and I are still bobbing in the waves at the top. I am pressing the control buttons on my BCP but still floating.

1 minute later the Instructor emerges, takes off his mouthpiece "Deflate, not inflate, May"

"Ah of course" I said.

Sometimes there was nothing to see underwater. The dives are an hour long and sometimes nothing interesting is really happening. I use the time to inspect my manicure which has already been ruined. The instructor sees me, is confused, thinks something is wrong. "Okay??" he hand signals to me

"Okay" I signalled back reassuringly.

Meanwhile Carmen is giving hand signals that nobody besides her understands, cause she forgot them all and made them up. The instructor looks at her confusedly before checking her air meter himself since he had no idea what she was trying to signal.

A turtle swims by. I am excited. The turtle is floating above me. I see him peer down. He changes direction and swims downwards towards me. I remember Adam's story of his turtle biting the other turtle's unmentionables off. TURTLES HAVE SHARP TEETH. I panic and don't want to be the loser attacked by a (smallish) turtle. I swerve to the left. The turtle calmly glides by, probably laughing to himself.

The other guy in our group decides not to do the third dive because of 'back pain'. BACK PAIN? He was sick of waiting at the bottom while the instructor comes near the surface to retrieve either me or Carmen who almost always floats on top when we use up most of our air, since we do not have enough weight nor skill to stay down.

Our 100th dive is supposed to be naked. At this rate, we will be two 65 year olds swimming naked. Anyone want to join us?

PHUKET! RECAP!! (Day 1)

Sun, 10 Jun 2007 13:28:19 GMT

Thursday, we arrive at our hotel Twinpalms Phuket on Surin Beach. We LOVE this hotel! Everyone should go there! Or else Carmen won't be your friend!

Our room had a king size bed, a huge bathroom, and a terrace where we are literally 10 steps away from our pool.

We hung out by beautiful Surin beach:

Those shots actually took multiple attempts, most of them looking pathetic like this

We had dinner at Baan Rim Pa where the waiter teased the shy waiter by announcing that he wants a picture with us. The shy waiter giggled and shook his head and the other guy goes, go go go!

And we took a speeding tuktuk down to Patong.. ghetto ghetto Patong...

And went back to the hotel to chill out

.. cause we had to go scuba diving the next day!

Phuket Day 1

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 15:42:36 GMT

We arrive at Twinpalms resort which is ridiculously beautiful. Go for a walk around the resort and the beach. Go for a swim, a really short massage, then more swimming, lunch by the beach..

carmen tried to get into the hammock for 10 mins and fell off everytime.

in the afternoon we both passed out on the lounge chairs because we slept only 2 hours last night

then we went for jacuzzi, mud wrap, scrub, massage

then we went to have dinner at Baan Rim Pa where the waiter shyly requested a photograph with us and giggled.

then we went to dodgy Patong where a tuktuk driver shouted "I love you!!" at me

Carmen and I are weirdo magnets. We've been trying to count who attracts more weirdos.

Current Weirdo Ratio: Carmen 1.5: May 4.5

Tomorrow we go diving at Koh Phi Phi!!

Goodnight.

sawadeeka!

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 09:11:35 GMT

Phuket is GORGEOUS!!

WE <2 Phuket!

N/A

Thu, 31 May 2007 14:46:56 GMT

Note to self: Trust takes forever to build and one second to destroy. Remember that May!

Question: am I good at what I do?

Second question: What do I actually do?

Hmm.

One week till Phuket! Yes!

I am NOT going back to Hong Kong

Tue, 29 May 2007 11:26:02 GMT

Yesterday I learned that I am not going to be heading back to HK after all. Instead I will be going somewhere else...

Could it be.... this place? (you will have to see this pic)

Since I had originally thought I was returning to HK, I started wondering what I should do now or where I should go, in terms of location, company and industry. Guess I'll push those thoughts out of my head for awhile now and enjoy what will probably be my last 6 months with The Bank.

TODAY I am dead meat

Boss' boss was in town today and toured around the office. Boss introduces me to Boss' Boss.

Boss: May has been learning a lot here. Have you been learning a lot, May?

Me: Umm. Definetely. (I nodded). S has been teaching me about the products and loads of other stuff like (I gesture casually to my screen.... WHICH I FORGOT WAS DISPLAYING MY GCHAT WITH CARMEN!! GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!) .... (I gesture casually again) .. and other things too

Boss' Boss: Uh huh.

Boss: Yeah. Okay.

Me: (i am dead meat)

---

Great Singapore Sale

My friend D from Jakarta came to Singapore for a little more than a day for Great Singapore Sale and lots of good food.

"I play video games for a living"

Sun, 27 May 2007 12:58:50 GMT

I come across this forum on the internet where this 25 year old guy goes, my parents are loaded, so I play video games all day. The other forum members lecture him on being worthless.

So then the debate goes, if you are indeed rich enough to have to work for money, then what is wrong with bumming and playing video games everyday? How is that more meaningful and being a 'productive' member of society compared to a sitting in a cubicle plugging in 1002292020 numbers for giant corporations?

Everyday I plug in a million numbers into profitability models.

Need to do something else! Cannot tolerate this job.

A Tragic Tale

Thu, 24 May 2007 12:59:09 GMT

It's been painfully long since my last vacation. Maybe it was because my trips were much, much more frequent last year. My N long weekends to Singapore, for example. Work has thus started feeling physically painful and there is certainly a heavy feeling of dread when I open my eyes and realize it's a weekday. My travel buddy Cxxxxn (you know who you are, Carmen), has disappeared under company profiles and excel spreadsheets.

I wander, travel-buddyless into the empty streets where the tragic violin music is playing.

Work is either extremely intense or strangely idle. Either way, it's numbing. I really have to decide what to do next, career-wise.

Meanwhile, I will numb myself with some nice retail therapy - Great Singapore Sale starts tomorrow.

TA DA!!! It is ... My Singapore Life

Sun, 20 May 2007 13:31:53 GMT

The entries I write here are for myself as much as for you (or rather for you as much as for myself since I re-read it more often than everyone else combined). Anyhow since I now I have my camera*, let's see some photos depicting my time in Singapore which will soon end**.

This is the view I am confronted with once I open my front door. This is Arab Street, home to quirky little cafes and unairconditioned restaurants. It's a beautiful area and I have just decided as I am writing this, to go one afternoon and take more pictures - just like the tourist I am trying hard not to be, in fact.

Curiously, the view from my windows show a giant ferris wheel, the Singapore Flyer, which when completed in Mar 2008 will be as high as a 42 storey building. When I first arrived in Singapore, the 'wheel' of the ferris wheel was still being constructed. I'd like to think of the ferris wheel as a symbol of time passing - or something deep like that. *snickers*

Rest assured, family & friends, that you are still in my heart and on my mind while I'm away. Also the tag from the race - my first and my last.

And... Phuket in early June and Shanghai (vacay, not forever-and-ever-and-ever as discussed the entry below) in late August.

I spent the first few months in Singapore feeling too sorry for myself to go anywhere. When I've got some time, I've got to make a list of must-dos before I leave!

*I've been without any photos for awhile since my camera mysteriously disappeared - and mysteriously reappeared several months later. It was in my laptop bag, of all places! I even tried looking in obvious places like the kitchen, the bathroom and behind the TV.

** Late June/Early July