Before I head towards the trip, I thought I add something else too.
See, before my leave starts on 17/12/14 (I was clearing my leave), there was an email memo to offering Macbook at $600 for a 2010 series - which is a good deal right? So I bid for it and got my buddy to bid for it too. One of my colleague bid for an Asus laptop as well.
Then one fine day, that colleague of mine suddenly said in Whatsapp that he had 'won' the Asus laptop! So I quickly checked my email on my bidding status - unfortunately I did not have that luck.. Maybe it is because a lot of people are bidding on the same item as me. Oh well... I am eyeing a new MacBook.. which I am thinking of getting it when The Sims 4 is launch for Mac OS or I will just get it so that I can easily upload the photos when doing my blog stuffs as well as backing up of my photos. My iPhone 5 is crying out to me everyday to get the load off its back. I had underestimated my usage especially after my first nephew was born. Too many photos and videos of him and I had to resort to upgrading my iCloud storage size which later I became paranoid that my photos will not be fully backup into the cloud. Later, I decided to use my dropbox and tried to load everything in.. which my free upgraded storage trial had ended in November and so I am just stuck with the lack of space in my iPhone 5. I had to delete any photos deem unnecessary as well as delete games that takes up too much space in the phone. So my phone practically is just phone for calls, messages and perhaps to check Facebook when my iPad is not with me. Well, it is good in some ways.. like I will be able to spend time looking out at the scenery - which is impossible for me because the train I take everyday goes underground and never above ground.
Anyway, back to my leave from 17 November - 02 December.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I didn't do much for my leave except to stay at home and played my newly purchased Dragon Age Inquisition. It was really..... I don't know how to put it but I felt like.. I was back in the game, in their world when I revisited Redcliffs and The Deep Roads. I tried to visualise how it was like in Dragon Age 2 and that feeling felt warm. I had been there and I had fought there.
DAI was slightly different this time.
I have to make a disclaimer first. All these are based on my personal opinion and it may not agree with you (if you are playing DAI).
The main character is like.. the leader of the Inquisition and they made the game with options and choices which will affect the story as it progress. You can reply with "I don't know" or with a firm "Yes" or a firm "No". These will affect the people around you. They need answers and they need reassurance which you as the main character can choose to give them or not.. or even to let them feel more confused with "I don't know". There is a sense of responsibility and it is up to you as a leader to give them assurance or not. Initially I picked "I don't know" when they asked whether was I the chosen one or when will it all ends and whether can the hole in the sky be closed. As I played and get deeper into the story, I felt that I have to choose ultimately and it is either I make or I break - I chose not the latter.
The map is bigger with more exploration, a lot of running about to collect stuffs such as the shards, quests to earn experience and perks. Fighting style is quite different - there is not much options for the AI when they are fighting with you. If my memory did not fail me, you used to be able to control how much lyrium potion for the mages and health potions for the warriors. Now you have to switch to the mages in order to consume lyrium. Maybe I have yet to explore further to see if there is such an option.
It is kind of sad to see the mages and templars have all fallen apart and it was even more heartbreaking to see the grey wardens have either died or disperse because there is no need for them anymore - there is no more spawns. I had spent my time playing as a grey warden in DA 1 & 2 and I really feel for them. They are thinning out and a lot had died during the war with the spawns.
Anyway it will take some time for me to complete DAI.. somehow it felt kind of lengthy but I will finish the game eventually. I have Assassin Creed Unity waiting for me and I want to try playing the Multiplayer! As well as I had received an email notification that the stock for Lego Batman Beyond Gotham has arrived! So many games to play.. Oh, why am I not on leave at this time?
I had tried cooking a vegetarian style hokkien mee and it was good but could be better.. Maybe it will taste better with some 三成肉. That, I can only try cooking after January 16 - it's the 100th day.
It was kind of scary how big the portion was when the amount of noodles I grabbed was less than a fistful of it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Trip 21 November - 25 November
It was kind of exciting when we decided to ride on this trip when one of our friends was going there on her business trip and was our first time to actually go on this trip. I mean we had talked about it but we had never fulfil it. Imagine this, we have been friends since secondary school.. friends of 18 years!
Frankly speaking.. I was quite skeptical when it comes to booking air tickets.. I took a budget airline once and I had actually told myself NEVER to sit on it again. Not because I am being proud but the experience I had was enough to make me think thrice or maybe if possible, to avoid it totally. This time, we took another budget airline... and I was telling myself.. since the incident had happened so long ago, it shouldn't bother me by now... which I was WRONG! One of them was on a budget so we had to get the cheapest air ticket.
The plane was the smaller one with just one aisle. I could feel the slightest pressure on the plane and especially when I was sleeping! As we were approaching Bangkok, the plane took a dip where you can just imagine my body turning green starting from my feet all the way to my head. I was so scared that I will vomit that I standby with a paper bag. The change of altitude was there and the landing... omg. My stomach flipped too many times that I had lost count. I was just glad to be out of the plane. However, I must say, the service provided by the crew was superb and far better than SIA. I still remember the service provided - they don't smile. Seriously. Budget airline crew fare better. They smile a lot and one of them (I think is a senior crew) participated in a joke we made when we were boarding the plane. It just made me felt at ease then.
The paper bag I had in standby.
I won't go much into details of where I went because I believe most of the places would have been visited by tourists who had visited BKK at least once. I'm sure Platinum, Pratunum, Siam Paragon, etc all sounded familiar to you right?
Photos are all courtesy of JW, our official photographer.
CX had a friend who recommended this place called "KarmaKamet" near the Emporium.
Nice place and the building looked like a combination of a greenhouse and a warehouse. Just beside the dining area was the scents - selling scented hand/body lotions, diffuser, etc. Basically aromatic oils.
The Dining Area - Indoor
I don't remember this area.. but it should be somewhere behind which I did not fully explored.
One of the fruit bowl that came with the meal.
The Big Breakfast that I had my eye on but couldn't have because it is all meat. I had some waffles instead which tasted too.... thick that I couldn't finish.
One of them drank coffee.
Out of the 4 desserts we ordered, only 1 did not have the cotton candy on it.. Initially it looked fun to have the cotton candy there but the novelty died down when the second and fourth dessert arrived with cotton candy on it. It was almost like an overkill on the cotton candy.. perhaps they should try something different with each desserts so that people would want to try almost everything to see what was it like? Something like a surprise?
We ended up placing the candies by the side and ignored it totally.
Me attempting to rape the first cotton candy.
"I'M GOING TO EAT YOU UP!"
"NOM NOM NOM!" *Happy* I have not eaten a cotton candy for so long that I had lost touch of the last time I ate it.. So I was quite excited to see such colourful candy sitting on top of my dessert.
If I am not wrong, this is the lavender flavoured ice cream and fillings inside the puffs. Overkilled and I kind of dislike the taste of the lavender. Too overpowering for me although it was special.
Much liked fruit stall at Chatuchak after walking around for so long. I did not spend much because it was the 3rd day and I had already overspent my $$. Plus I was scared to drink water (not because I was scare of their water or what) because I was scared that I need to pee and it was quite troublesome to find a toilet - it was usually full and you'll have to queue.. and usually there is no toilet paper inside. I don't mind visiting a toilet if I am a guy because I can just stand and pee and leave once I am done.
Our first time taking a bus ride. That was the bus ticket. JW said it cost $1 but from the looks of it.. it seemed to cost $8.. in THB of course!
We took a boat over to this place to walk around.. it turned dark quite early there and it was already nightfall by the time we were almost done walking. There was a lot of Japanese restaurant and I was really craving for a ramen! Boohoo... I cannot eat.
My journey back was quite bad too.. but still better than when I was travelling to BKK. At least there was no dip in altitude. When the captain announced that we were 30 mins to landing in SG, I felt so happy. For the first time ever, I do not dare to look out of the window (that was one of my favourite thing to do when flying). I kept asking myself when are we landing? My hands were clammy. Now I know how those people who are scare of flying felt especially so when they were forced on board. I almost felt claustrophobic when I looked at insides of the plane. It was so small and I felt so insecure and that I need to get out.
Anyway, before I end this post... I just want to share that I dreamt of deep fried chicken wings (oooooh... so crunchy), satays, chicken burgers, etc. Yum yum! I dreamt of all these when I was trying to sleep some nights back.
Good night!
