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Ohm Nom Nom

20 Apr

We were ravenous and devoured the food like we were starved for days, when in fact we snacked on Somtam, bought from a street vendor after the massage, only a couple of hours ago.

Thailand, at the end of the day, is all about the food. And the friends we go with. Don’t forget the golf courses! When the trip has the right mix of people of the same wave length, coupled with the activities, the amount of fun and camaraderie that we have is just priceless. 

Yes, we love Thailand. Tomorrow after we play Banyan Golf Club, we leave with good memories and head into Bangkok for the second leg of the trip.

And for the record, I have been wearing my MiFit band and today’s walking far exceeded my target with these staggering numbers: 22,023 steps, 13.34km and 665kcal burnt. Just about like my Paris museum adventure a few years back.

After dinner, we walked the night street market, hence such numbers. It’s been quite a day. Better rest to be fresh and ready for tomorrow.

  

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Bliss

20 Apr

When in Thailand, one must always go for a foot massage. And if you walked 17,500 steps (equivalent to 10.5km) like us today, covering 18 holes at Black Mountain Golf Club, a foot massage is bliss. 

A befitting end for Day 2’s agenda. While we still have dinner and a bottle of whiskey waiting for us, I think ending a grueling day  with a soothing reflexology is always nice.

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So Far So Good

20 Apr

After our golf game at Black Mountain, we visited the Hua Hin Hills Vineyard. A hot day is deserving with some good wine and a combination platter!

   

 

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Guess What?

20 Apr

We decided to take a break from life and are now in Hua Hin, Thailand for some golfing fun with our regular buddies. Yesterday we departed from KLIA. Playing two rounds in Hua Hin and then back to Bangkok for one round, this has been a much anticipated trip. Thanks (again) to cuegolf.com for their services in providing us excellent golf experiences.

M2 had been prepped prior to our trip and she is fine. The maid will take care of her. And with WhatsApp and Skype, we are reachable. In fact, M1 said she will Skype her to keep her company despite the different time zones that they are both in.

It was a long day of travel with delays at takeoff, touch down, followed by baggage coming out and traffic on a Sunday evening. Ahh… Well, we are not in a hurry, after all we are on holiday. 

Dinner was at a leisurely pace before we arrived and checked in at midnight.

Black Mountain Golf Club awaits us for our first game today. Looking forward to it despite only four hours of sleep.

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Anxiety and Relief

23 Mar

It’s hard to drive when one has blurry puffy eyes. Thank goodness hubby was much stronger and did not shed freely at the farewell like me and M2. After we hugged M1 for the last time and said our goodbyes, there was much anxiety that followed the heavy heart. Until we hear from her only the anxiety went away and relief set in.

My neighbor saw us when we got home on Saturday night and called me. She insisted I should go over and have some wine, which turned out to be a good thing. Looking at my miserable state, she consoled me. At the same time, she welcomed me to this phase of life when the children would leave home for their tertiary education, gently reminding me she experienced this twice with her children and totally understands my emotions.

The wine helped dull the heavy ache and provided a good buzz to sleep. But I managed only four hours of uncomfortable rest. Anxiety.

By Sunday morning, we managed to Skype her when she was in transit at Incheon and again, at Narita; it was good to hear her voice. But we had to wait longer before we heard from her again when she did the final leg of the journey.

Her journey was approximately 24 hours of flying with the two transit stop-overs but not counting the time to clear immigrations and customs, followed by a 90-minute bus ride to campus. By the time she arrived at campus and checked into the dorm, it would be another good six hours added on to the journey. How tiring!

Last night, I tracked her aircraft on flightaware.com and was able to monitor the flight path and ETA. Amazing what technology can do these days. Thankful that she arrived safely and on schedule, and with both immigrations and customs cleared without a hitch, hubby and I can breathe easier. Relief.

M1’s life as a freshman at university officially has begun!

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I Shouldn’t Worry

19 Mar

There were several occasions M1 tells me she is, at times, worried about the impending journey and new life ahead. I would simply raise my eyebrow at her and share with her, my journey to college to make her feel better, and reiterated that I don’t think history would repeat itself. I mean, what are the chances of what I experienced recurring again, this time with my child? This aside, I am proud that she is following my footsteps in her journey towards higher education in the USA.

I traveled alone halfway across the globe to pursue my degree in Graphic Design. And when I arrived at the little airport in Flagstaff, Arizona, after clocking in more than 24 hours of travel, nobody from the university came to meet and greet me! Can you imagine the horror and fear I went through?

But I guess I was tired and numbed beyond belief from the long journey and did the most unthinkable thing ever, and it is something I tell my child constantly NOT to do.

I hitched a ride with two strangers and their dog in their pickup to town. Hold your wild imaginations, nothing bad happened! They were very nice to drop me off in a motel across campus and went on with their journey.

But do that now in this era, the consequences may turn out differently. Thank goodness, there is someone definitely meeting her. With the internet, repeated correspondence via email, she will be met at the airport, shown the way to board the bus and journey on to campus where someone else will greet her and settle her into life as a freshman at university. So no, I shouldn’t worry.

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Humphrey

10 Mar

What or who is Humphrey, you may ask? Well, when I first got it, I thought it was a hippo, hence the name Humphrey the Hippo. But after years of being associated as a hippo, I came to realize Humphrey is actually a cow. It came as a free gift with the purchase of a carton of milk from the supermarket, and it makes more sense for milk companies to give away cows rather than hippos with their milk products, no?

Humphrey has traveled the world much. It has been to Australia, college and the Big Apple with me. It also came along with us when we did our Great Adventure Roadtrip to the US back in 2012. A rather amusing moment when we were getting ready for inspection prior to boarding at HKIA. He was stashed in M1’s backpack and during security inspection, the officer dutifully unzipped the bag only to be taken aback when unexpectedly, a pair of huge unblinking eyes stared right back at him. Unable to hide his amusement, he grinned back at Humphrey’s big innocent eyes and cleared us.

We all love Humphrey, the confidante, the friend and equally a member of the family. Humphrey will accompany M1 to college.



Can you spot the purple Humphrey? Pic was during my college days.



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Blundstone Reborn

13 Feb

I decided to resole my busted Blundstone to give it a new lease of life before the Lunar New Year. Not quite the same in terms of the sole pattern and thickness, I should at least be happy that the boots can be salvaged. After all, the top portion of it is still good and can be used. It’s just the bottom that experienced hydrolysis and disintegrated.

Anyway, with the repair cost only one fifth of the original cost of the boots, I shouldn’t complain. Also I had a brand new replacement pair delivered and with this pair repaired, I now have two pairs of Blundstone.

This is how it looks with the new sole.

A new sole

A new sole


A comparison of the old (top) and the new (bottom).

A comparison of the old (top) and the new (bottom).

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My Collection

12 Feb

Whenever I travel, I am always on the lookout for animal figurines to add to my collection besides pieces of paintings.

For example, whenever I visit Thailand, elephants are in my mind and I will be on the lookout for them. My last two trips to Thailand (Krabi in October and Bangkok in December), I found a mama and baby elephant pillow from the island and two clay elephants from the Chatuchak market to add to my collection.

Besides elephants, I also have—from all over the world—a few pigs, hippos, chickens, mandarin ducks and a wombat. But I find I cannot expand their family anymore because they are not so popular and easily available especially in the ASEAN countries that I often visit. So I started a new line: owls.

Now owls are more universal and boy, do they come in all shapes and sizes. My recent trip to Penang, amazingly yielded these newbies to my collection.

Mostly from the Owl Shop on Cannon Street with a few from a little booth at Straits Quay, these owls are really beautiful and adorable.

I like.

I foresee the owl collection growing by leaps and bounds to rival the elephants!

Do you have to stare?

Do you have to stare?

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Snail Mail is Dead

10 Feb

Last week we received a postcard from my sibling and wife when they visited New Zealand… in December!

My goodness. It was mid-December when they left for their vacation. The pretty postcard was postmarked 15 December, two days into their time there. And we received the postcard on 6 February! Wow.

Snail mail is indeed dead if it takes this long to arrive at its destination.
Postcard

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