The story of the pencil
That depends on how you look at things. It (the pencil) has five qualities which, if you manage to hang on to them, will make you a person who is always at peace with the world.
First Quality: You are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and He always guides us according to His will.
Second Quality: Now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpener. That makes the pencil suffer a little but afterwards, he’s much sharper. So you, too, must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.
Third Quality: The pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.
Fourth Quality: What really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.
Finally: The pencil’s Fifth Quality, it always leaves a mark. In just the same way, you should know that in everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your action.
- Excerpt from “Like the flowing river” by Paulo Coelho
Talk about office stuffs
I was surprised to see I got a new monitor when I arrived at the office today. I guess it was part of the renovation we’ll be having by the end of the month. I heard we’re going to have a new furniture and office equipments. It feels good when you’re welcomed by a good stuff early in the morning.
At around past 10am, while everyone was busy with their own screens, I had experienced my first black out at the office. Everyone was caught off guard as this does not happen in Hong Kong. A colleague of mine, already 13 years in Crown, could not recall experiencing power outage during working hours. It was funny some of them pointed Hong Kong could not have been that stable after all. *Why so serious?* 
Anyways, after about 10 minutes of chit chatting and being idle, the power resumed. Everyone was disappointed.
Later that afternoon, another colleague of mine wanted me to try some food she brought back from her recent Taiwan trip. It was called iron egg – a preserved egg which initially looks like a smaller version of the century egg. Iron egg is a bit hard and has a chewy texture. That and the pineapple cake she brought the other day were both famous snacks in Taiwan.
As I left the office, storm signal 1 has already been hoisted. Tomorrow, storm signal 8 is expected in the morning and will probably reach 9 by the afternoon. The expected typhoon (international name Nuri) came from the Philippines which had a local name Karen. The typhoon has left 7 fatalities in the country and caused severe floods. It is expected to hit Hong Kong with the same strength and everyone was advised there is 80% chance that there will be no office tomorrow. It’s going to be a long weekend then.
Next and final destination, Bangkok
As much as I enjoyed our Pattaya trip, Bangkok was just an okay experience for me. We headed back to BKK at 9 in the morning and arrived to our hotel at around 11. Our taxi had cost THB 800. We chose Queens Garden River View as it is close to the airport – around 10 minutes drive. Our flight back to Hong Kong will be quite early the next morning so we needed to stay somewhere nearby.
The room was not as big as the one in RS Seaside but the decors were much better. Rooms cost THB 850 per night excluding breakfast. It has a mini bar and furniture was also nicer. Although I don’t use a hair dryer, it was nice they had provided one. Downside: no lifts. The bellboy had to bring our stuffs to our room which was on the third floor. The staffs were all nice though. Thailand is indeed a land of smiles.
As soon as we ate lunch, we took a cab to go to The Grand Palace. We had asked the hotel reception to write our destination in Thai alphabets as we learned some cab drivers could neither speak nor read English. They had advised us to get a hotel cab service costing a thousand Baht for a five-hour service. We knew it was too much since it’s just inside Bangkok area. We took a local cab instead, showed the driver our destination and went on our way.
The drive to The Grand Palace took almost two hours. Our hotel was far from the heart of Bangkok and we needed to take an expressway. Traffic also contributed to our long drive. Our instincts were correct and had only paid around THB 200 plus toll fee for our cab.
When we reached to our destination, we were already kind of stressed out from traveling. The palace was nice but I did not enjoy our trip. It was very sunny, streets were busy and since it was Sunday, a lot of tourists had also come to visit the palace. Just a note: no sleeveless and short pants allowed.
After about an hour, we decided to go the mall as it was really hot. We initially wanted to take a tuk tuk ride, a form of urban transport in Bangkok. It was quite similar to our local version called tricycle, only the passenger’s seats of tuk tuk are on the back. It could have been an additional Thai experience however, the drivers were trying to charge us for too much. We decided to take a taxi instead, half the price and air-conditioned already. Taxis in Thailand, as far as we have experienced, were good. They had a fair meter and took us to our destinations without going around the area just to charge for more.
We initially went to MBK Center, but the mall wasn’t that good. We transferred to Siam Discovery Center, which was connected via a footbridge. The mall was nice but not what we were looking for. Again, we transferred to another mall – this time to Siam Paragon.
Since we were too tired, we decided to just eat at Orangery and watched a movie after. It was our first time in an iMax theater and we watched The Dark Knight. Tickets cost THB 250 per person but they don’t have the 3D show like the ones in PH.
We headed back to our hotel quite late and we were really burned out. I mentioned earlier that I did not enjoy BKK experience that much simply because it was more like Manila. It’s a busy city and there’s traffic. Not a good spot for relaxation.
The next day, we woke up early as we took the hotel airport service at 7am. The service cost THB 150 and the vehicle was a Toyota van where all other hotel guests rode. Had we taken a cab, it might have cost us cheaper and we’ll get a private service. Next time we know better.
End of TH trip.
Pattaya Experience Continued
Third and final day in Pattaya was full of activities. We had breakfast at the beach, bought some food at a 7-Eleven store and a noodle from a street vendor. As usual, the noodle was prepared with the vendor’s bare hands.
At around 8:30am, a taxi service arrived and took us to Nong Nooch Village. We watched some Thai cultural and elephant shows which both were entertaining. Only, it was surprising that their cultural show involves the Philippine’s national dance, Tinikling. I am not sure what they call it, but it sure did look like our folk dance Tinikling. It was just sad that Thailand does better in tourism than the Philippines; and with this kind of show, people would assume it’s of Thai origin, not the Philippines.
Sayaw ng Maglalatik was also part of their show. I am not sure if it’s of Philippine origin, too, but I just felt like it was also our own. See, I had always been part of my school’s cultural shows since elementary and Sayaw ng Maglalatik was one of the dances we get to perform. Watching these Philippine folk dances performed by a different nation on their own land, it just felt like taking away a part of our identity. 
So anyway, after the shows, we took the elephant tour which costs THD 800 per person for 30 minutes. It was a fun experience and we got to tour a little of the village. The master of the elephant offered to take some photos of us. Later, he had asked for his tip for taking those photos. We really planned to give him some tip, we’re just surprised he had asked for it first. 
After our Nong Nooch experience, we headed back to the hotel and had our lunch at a local shop called Choke-D. Once again, we ordered the Phad Thai – only this time, it was really good, not to mention cheaper.
We decided to head to the beach since the weather was better – it was already sunny. However, there were still strong waves and the beach was not so clean. We did not really get to swim. We rented a Jet Ski instead which was also quite cheaper compared to the Philippines. The initial price was THB 800 but we managed to bargain it down to THB 600 for a 30-minute ride. After the Jet Ski experience, we continued our swimming at the hotel’s pool. Then we prepared for the night’s activity.
We did not really plan to watch a cabaret show. It was our taxi driver earlier at the Nong Nooch Village who had recommended it. She had arranged the tickets and had picked us up at the hotel that evening. She was a really nice lady.
She had recommended for us to watch at Tiffany’s since it’s the oldest and most original of all. Performers were mostly gay – or all gay, I was not certain. But they sure looked like girls - with boobies and hourly figures.
The show costs THB 800 for each person. It’s a VIP seat and the show lasted for an hour and a half. It was an entertaining show, I must say – reminded me of the movie Moulin Rouge. The performers lip synch the songs matched with some dance numbers. Costumes and stage were both extravagant. There were lights all over, movements everywhere and colors were all vibrant. As for the performance itself, call me bias but Filipino gays are much better performers.
After the show, our taxi driver dropped us off to the Royal Garden Plaza. We had our dinner at The Pizza Company where we met an Australian stranger who was also a tourist. Our tables were close to each other and our orders got mixed up so that started the conversation. He had been staying in Pattaya for a month already. He mentioned our orders got mixed up since Thais are not as good in English as Filipinos do. He had been to the Philippines long time ago. Too bad we did not get the chance to exchange contacts or take photos with one another.
That was the end of our Pattaya spree. Next stop, Bangkok!
The Proposal
Earlier in the afternoon of August 8, 2008, my honey was asking me where I wanted to have our dinner date. He said it’s better for us to know early so we can just go directly in the evening and not waste time. I suggested we go somewhere close, inside the Jomtien area. We then decided to go to the Palm Terrace, a restaurant just in front of the Jomtien Palm Beach Resort where we had our spa and bowling game earlier.
We arrived at around 10pm with our rented scooter. Some people were looking at us as we were dressed formally – my honey having his tie and me wearing a nice dress. When we got to the place, we ordered some food and I immediately got occupied taking photos. The place was nice. It was an outdoor restaurant and we had candlelight dinner. Just across the street, the beach was overlooking. The place was really romantic. It was perfect.
When they served the food, I was busy viewing the photos I took out of my camera. I did not realize right away that the last meal served in front of me was a plate of an engagement ring! When I did notice, my honey took the ring and said his speech. I was really caught off guard, I was shocked. I did not hear a word he was saying, it was like everything was on mute. The only words that really struck me was the last line “…will you marry me?” Perhaps it was the line I was waiting for as it was my cue for saying my part. Still, I was in complete shock. I got nervous and did not respond right away. When I came back to my senses, I said “Yes! Of course I will!” with “Yes” in a different tone, my honey implied. It was so obvious I was nervous. He was teary eyed and I was still in shock. When the proposal was finished, I asked him to repeat what he said earlier since I had not heard any of it except for the last line. It was so funny and embarrassing. 
He later revealed that he wanted to know where I wanted to eat for dinner so he can arrange everything. The original plan was to stuff the ring inside a cake, but there was no enough time. The proposal was a cliché, the ones you usually watch in movies. But it felt so special when you experience it personally. I cannot believe it. He had chosen the perfect place and the perfect moment. He made 08-08-08 an unforgettable date, indeed! I earned myself a fiancé and I fell in love all over again.
djong here. thanks for stopping by i gotta go! and happy anniversary! enjoy your bangkok trip!