Feel good Friday

I finally sat down and finished working on an inquiry letter for a local orphanage. Sent it out yesterday evening and when Mdm came in to work this morning, I was greeted by a surprise "Thank you" email in my mailbox.

I am touched for being appreciated for a very simple favour on my end and I am glad that I have contributed a wee bit to the local community.

Kitchen updates

Day 3, counter top all done!






Work is wrapping up tomorrow!

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Green monster Day 2

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Our green kitchen

Post Day 1

Nyonya on Thai TV

Caught 5 minutes of Singaporean drama on Thai TV in its original soundtrack!



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Happy May!

P got his car this morning.

His girl:



And a happy man:



And now we are off to get the handover procedures done for the house!

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Stack houses!

When I first saw this I was like: Argh... I want to include Amsterdam in my travel plan!

(something Dutch that is more appealing than magic mushroom and windmills) via AT


and then today, I saw this

by Sou Fujimoto, one of my fav Jap designer! via AT


and yet another stacked houses via AT

The New Vitra Showroom by Herzog + de Meuron, comes with tasteful interior and touches of happy colours

Ah. So... Stack houses are the in thing now?

On a separate note, we are doing THE handover this evening. Wish me luck!

And I thought I was fearless

The whole situation in Bangkok became a total frenzy though things seem to have cool off for the moment. The situation here in Chiangmai is still very much under control (seemingly). Even so, for the first time since the whole Red vs Yellow saga started, our lives were impacted. On Wednesday, we had to take a Soi instead of the main road to get home. The Reds were burning tires at the Mayor's office (approximately 250m from our place) and the government had to close off that area. We stepped out onto the balcony last night to catch a glimpse of the town under curfew. The usual buzz at Warorot market was gone and the town had become quiet. We found some motorbikes/cars on the road at 10pm, not the Reds, probably some locals getting home. And when I was checking out a stray who was looking kinda lost (probably not used to the void of human presence), the wind blew and the door slammed with a loud bang. I freaked and ran into the house almost immediately.

At that split second, I thought it was a gun shot.

When yr ex comes back in your nightmares

Met a friend's friend yesterday who is on a solo backpacking trip around Asia. He has been on this searching-for-the-meaning-of-my-life trip for 10 months now. His separation from his wife got him started on this trip. They dated for 10 years and were married for 1.5 years before calling it quits. Sitting right next to him was our friend, a Thai. He is in the exact same predicament. 10 years dating, 2 years married and then separation. Actually, I could have been in their boat.

At times when events trigger my memory-search function, I try to recall happy memories that I used to share with HY. It is not easy. Hard not because it is painful, hard because there are really not much. And I feel sorry for myself that I have been through that 7.5 years of my life without having much happy memories to reminise on. And you wonder how bad it is? Till this very day, I still have vivid nightmares. Once in a while, I go to sleep dreaming that I am going to marry him/ actually married to him. And in my dreams, I am always feeling horribly depressed. Every time I will try to run away, telling him that I already have somebody else. And when I finally get up, I will heave a mega big sigh of relief to find P by my side.

It is this bad.

Our nest part 2

So the big handover is pushed to next Monday. Arggghhhhhhhhhh.

Here are some photos taken by me while P was busying himself with the contractors.





Second floorAnd the view from the same spot, but to the left
Paranomic view from the master bedroom... needs a bit of imagination to work out this distorted look. Starting from the left most is a corner for walk-in wardrobe, then the loo, the main space, and then a balcony at the right most
Our 99.5% completed loo


Sliding door to a nice little balcony from the loo

Next week is going to be a big week for us!!!

Summer in Thailand - Are you leaving yet?

The heat was so unbearable for the past couple of days that we stayed at home most of our Sunday. It's so hot that our room is turned into an oven even with AC running.

I am glad that finally, the long-awaited rain is here!




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Countdown to home ownership - 5 days!

We would be inspecting our nest next Tuesday and once we nod our heads, the developers would be doing a formal hand over. I am keeping my fingers crossed. Please fix up the loose ends asap!!! The wait is killing me.

Introducing our 99.5% completed nest:

Our living, study and dining areas


Living area and a recessed corner for the study desk


Dining area

Turning right into our open concept kitchen


Our now-still-kinda-bare-looking kitchen


The farthest door leads to the washing area. The front facing door leads to the loo while the left facing door opens into the storage room:

Exploitation of cheap labour in Thailand

We were at our new place last Thursday first thing after work and were looking forward to see the place all done up. So we drove in and were shocked to find plants sparsely planted in the garden.

I fumed. The instruction before we left was loud and clear: Do not plant.

P tried convincing me that it looked okay but seriously, I thought he was just sick of clearing messes. He probably wanted to get everything done up asap. They planted 3 trees in our garden (with a bunch of fugly looking bushes scattered all over senselessly). The trees looked malnourished and one stood right at the spot where shade is required.

So P spoke to the architect, who referred us to the landscape architect who in turn refered us to the gardener. This morning, we collected the trees we bought from the orchard, delivered them to the gardener and instructed him to plant them at locations that we marked. The fugly bushes are to go. I am not sure if it would be hard work for the poor gardeners but there will definitely be a major garden revamp.

Because labour here is so cheap, communication need not be good. And Thais give shit about efficiency.

Thailand, the shopping haven

Mdm was at the mall this evening, saw a top going at half price (800 baht, down from 1600 baht), asked for my size and headed to the fitting room. I was very pleased with the fit. So I went ahead to make payment and was told of the current buy one get one promotion, i.e. I get to pick another apparel and pay 800 baht for 2 pieces instead of 1 (which I would have to fork out 3200 baht for if not for the sale).

You know what, I guess this only happens in Thailand.

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