Deja vu

Back to Thailand. *Sigh* 10 days should be a rather long break but waking up today makes me feel like I'd never gone back home. It felt like a dream. Here I'm in this room AGAIN, typing in front of the com. Back to 2 eggs, a cup of coffee and my beloved Myvito biscuits.

I tried to recall what we'd done over the last 10 days in S'pore. Aside from my trip to grandma's at Malacca, bulk of the time was still spent in S'pore. Yet, we'd been to Orchard only ONCE, Vivo only ONCE and Westmall only ONCE! And, I failed to walk my dog and engage into long talks with MM. Hell... what had we been doing? I did manage to pop by Jeremy's to have my long awaited hairdo and got some new loots to prepare myself for the mild winter. Aside from that, we hadnt been doing enough and time never seems to be enough.

The product of Jeremy's:



We suffered city withdrawal sypmtoms yesterday and decided to gave ourselves a break (i.e. no work) while spending half the time sighing and missing city life. I always thought it is harder for me than for P cos this is his home and it would be easier for him since his friends and family are here. Maybe I've been too rigid-minded to disregard that having spent 9 years in Sydney, he had gotten used to the cosmopolitan way of life which was in his case, complemented with much freedom, less restriction and zero family intervention. Being in Singapore must have reminded him much of his life in Sydney. When I decided to get married and move here, I was given a choice and I made one. Maybe it was harder for him because he didnt have the chance to do so.

Pics of us back at home:






Shan and the rest popped by my place on sun and baby fox was here too. My folks were happily playing with him when Shan and WM asked if Plan B would have to come early since my folks seems pretty addicted. Few days before I left, my mum actually asked me to get Shan to bring Baby fox to our place when she's free. O..O. Taking this picture convinced me that Plan B really really has to be placed on hold. It's for the sake of the tiny life that's going to be in my hands.



P spent his birthday in Singapore. We had a simple meal and guess what, this Sichuan Hotpot was to him the best food he had ever tasted in Singapore. O..O. After dinner was a typical Chong birthday finale

















And some family day photos:











My parents had been trying to impart their cooking skills, getting me to cook some Chinese food here for both myself and P and my dad had been trying to coerce me to pick up cooking so that I can prepare meals for P. And so mummy packed me a bag of red dates, bak ku teh herbs and some other stuff for me to start poisoning my husband. I had prepared my first dosage yesterday and surprise surprise surprise... it actually tasted quite yummy!!! Haha! Me is proud of meself. I am starting to be a cook. And... we bought home a rebonding kit yesterday and I had my first test to being P's personal hairdresser. To perfect the job, we went hunting for a salon style straightener.




My reluctant customer:


Had been asked quite often about what I have been doing in Chiangmai and my answer is uber PC -- "helping my husband". Full-stop. Short and sweet. I guess to do justice to my life here, I should give a more detailed description of what I'd been doing. Next entry. =)

Being tagged.

I AM: Poo/ Vanessa/ Vaness/ Van/ Yue/ Moon

I WANT: to die in my sleep

I WISH: for world peace

I HATE: lizards, cats

I MISS: everyone at home, especially late night munches with MM

I FEAR: cats and heights =S

I HEAR: myself alot

I WONDER: if...

I REGRET: not having enough courage for lotsa stuff

I AM NOT: sane

I DANCE: when i club.

I SING: like there's no tomorrow

I CRY: alot

I AM NOT ALWAYS: right

I MADE WITH MY HANDS: my own path in life

I WRITE: when I feel like it

I CONFUSE: pple and myself

I NEED: to travel and travel and travel

I SHOULD: think less and do more

I START: to paint

I FINISH: dreaming

I LOVE: being loved

I REMEMBER: things well

Project A

Had attempted Project A using my new toy. We wanted a bag for the Wii machine which would come in handy whenever we had to camp over at my BIL's place (which we conveniently named it "the resort") and would bring it along to keep ourselves entertained.

My domesticated man at work:







I swear it wasnt easy creating this thing. Wasnt proud at all with the end product cos it can hardly stand upright and the stitchwork looked horrible. My mood was quite dampened by the look of it. On my second attempt to produce something simpler (a handphone pouch for MM), I was so disgusted by my own invention that I fed it to the bin. Argghhh.

Met some friends for lunch yesterday followed by coffee at Wawee coffee. Chiangmai is populated with lotsa cottage-style restaurants/ shops with an extensive usage of bricks/ wood and raw looking concrete:





Looks pretty cozy but the style is kindda over-used. Anyhow, the foreigners are infatuated with such styles. Farangs are in love with this city. They can go on and on about how they love this place being slow-paced, laid-back and all. Sometimes I wonder if full scale urbanization had failed to take place within this city or the city had restrained transformation cos of the expectations people have of it. And after coffee and some rest, P and I headed off to our soon-to-be regular Sunday squash.



Gym sessions had come to a halt since coming to Chiangmai. The closest thing to that is our Sunday squash. And my meal intake has almost doubled since I am here. I no longer skip lunch and I am taking rice, chocolate, ice-cream, carbonated drinks and occassional suppers!!! Needless to say, I've put on weight. Argghh. I am toying with the idea of getting a treadmill!!!

Was on MSN with dad few days ago when he casually asked about Plan B. Hmm... Plan B is not on the cards yet. Neither P's nor mine. We are enjoying each other's company and intrusion by a wailing baby would have to come much later. Used to advocate baby production and had told Shan that I would have no qualms about having kids right after marriage. Guess there's a change in mindset now. Shan's blog is now plastered with pics of baby fox, tales of motherhood and such... seeing these reinforced that I'm really not prepared for Plan B yet. I am not ready to share my time and P's time with a third person. Moreover, my Thai sucks. Unless the kid is a natural linguist, he would really have a hard time juggling with the many languages that he had to equip himself with in order to converse with the various VIPs of his life. And if you are curious and intend to question us when we're back, you can save it. Ask me two years later, of course unless accidents happen. *Touchwood*

Underdog

Had started my Thai level 2 on Monday. From this week on, I will be attending classes thrice a week. Again. Somehow, I seem to be less enthusiastic about attending classes. It even crossed my mind this morning to skip today's class cos I was feeling tired and had a really strong urge to just laze for the entire day. I'm the only soul from my Thai level 1 class who had decided to advance and because of this, I've to join another class. It starts to irk me that I've to meet new people so frequently, introducing myself and all. Suddenly, I miss the ability to just sink into my comfort zone. Right now, I've to search for my comfort zone all over again.

Going to be home next week. ^^. Can't describe how much I've missed home. I know it's just 2 months, but the thought of going home and leaving again, going home to a place where i'm so familiar with but perhaps in future may start to appear foreign just makes me miss it more and more and more. Cant think of what i want to eat and do back in Singapore (aside from visiting Jeremy). Eating is not my top priority and food in Sg is not that yummy for me to place it in my agenda to begin with. Just wanna spend time with people I'm missing, and I promise I'll walk my dog.

Domesticated goddess

Presenting my bday present!!! Tadahhh





Had been looking around for quite some time in search of the ideal sewing machine. Amazingly, sewing machines are not as widely used here and our option is narrowed to a couple of shops that carry them. This is a non-electronic one, rather suit my standard as an amateur seamstress. Happy happy ^^. Although the electronic ones are seemingly cooler but they cost 20,000 baht up. I am more than satisfied with my bday pressie that cost less than half of that. Me gonna sew bean bags, dolls, clothes etc. Yuppie~

Series of misfortunate events

After spending 2 nights in BKK, we were back home on Sunday night. No pho at all. Arggghhh. All thanks to the stupid immigration and tour agency. In the whole drama mama twist of events, we had to get the airport personnels to retrieve our luggages that were already checked-in. And the most frustrating thing of all was that we had done double, triple, quadruple checks with the immigration department and tour agency prior to our departure from Chiangmai.

Our passports were held by the tour agency in BKK and we had to wait till getting to BKK before we could apply for the re-entry permit. Even so, no one could give us an absolute answer as to whether a re-entry permit is required for my non-immigration visa to remain valid if I am to leave Thailand. The screwed up agency assured that we could get the permit granted within 10 mins and this could be done in the airport. All we need were 1000 baht and the application form filled up. So, the smart ass did a group check in and asked us to get to the immigration counter. Only then we realised that the minimum waiting time was 30 mins and I need a passport size photo to be submitted. And... there is no photo machine in the airport!!! The stupid immigration officer knew nuts about the re-entry permit and couldnt confirm if I would still be able to get a new non-immigration visa if my existing one cease to be valid. WTH. We could have gambled but it didnt seem worthwhile.

I kinda miss the system we have in Singapore where everything's super transparent and info is readily available online. Here, info online is crappy and people give varied answers. You'll have to judge their credibility. Truly amazing Thailand.

So... yupz, we ended up in BKK. Again. Didnt really enjoy ourselves cos we were drowned in disappointment. Not sure when our next trip would be, but I'll ensure that things will not be as screwed up. I'll get my parang ready. Argh.