I need a bigger bed...

Yes, stuffed animals have colonized my sleeping area:



My brother and his soon-to-be wife gave me the gigantic Doreamon and the 9 carebears for my 26th birthday...

For the longest I can recall, most people I know seem to be giving me stuff which they would usually give 5 year-old children... I wonder what that implies! hehehe...

Obviously, I can't keep them all in my bed, except for Tina-bear who has always been in bed with me, so I had to transfer everyone else elsewhere:



I dumped Doreamon and the technicolor bears on the "bookcase" at the foot of my bed. Thus, the first thing I see when I get out of bed are 10 inanimate objects smiling creepily back at me. Wow...Good morning!

Why parents should not have video cameras...

Note to self: DO NOT get an anesthesia from the dentist.

since we were talking about birthdays...

Grow Old With You
by Adam Sandler

I wanna make you smile whenever you’re sad
Carry you around when your arthritis is bad
All I wanna do is grow old with you

I’ll get your medicine when your tummy aches
Build you a fire if the furnace breaks
Oh it could be so nice, growing old with you

I’ll miss you
I’ll kiss you
Give you my coat when you are cold

I’ll need you
I’ll feed you
Even let ya hold the remote control

So let me do the dishes in our kitchen sink
Put you to bed if you’ve had too much to drink
I could be the girl who grows old with you
I wanna grow old with you

--------------------

lyrics from ourweddingsongs.com

26 and counting...

The moment I was informed that I will extend my stay in Thailand, which meant that I'll be celebrating my birthday there, I was devastated. OK, fine, "devastated" might be too much of a word to describe how I felt. But bottom-line, I wasn't very pleased to be celebrating my birthday alone in a place where I don't have any friends or family, and nearly no one can understand whatever the hell I was saying.

So what's the best way to celebrate a birthday in such a desolate place (again, I exaggerate much...) ?

Buy a choco-chip muffin and punch-in a birthday candle:


And let the best singer you know sing you a birthday song:


I'm alone, but definitely not lonely... Thank you. :)

------------------------------------------

At syempre, sa mga naka-alala, salamat po! :)
You all make the idea of growing old seem better than it should! hahaha...

Sorry...

Understand
by Joss Stone

Chorus:
I hope you'll understand
That I can't always come when you call
Understand everybody has their faults
Please understand not to worry who I'm with or what I do
Cause I understand that I'm in love with you
Do you understand that I'm in love with you

I keep our song on repeat
On my ipod, even when I sleep
And in my dream I'm holding you
Alone on an island just us two

Chorus

The last guy had me so wrong
He kept complaining I was away too long
Don't treat me that way cause in your head
You've got to trust me I won't be led

Chorus

I hope your mind ain't working overtime
I hope your memories are full of good times with me
Don't trip even right now I can't answer the phone
Cause you know that soon I'll be coming home

Chorus

Do you understand
Cause I understand
Do you understand that I'm in love with you 
I'm so in love with you, so in love with you
Cause I understand
Do you?
Do you understand that I'm in love with you
Do you understand I'm in love with you

------------------------

lyrics from sing365

Thailand in a Weekend part 2

DAY 2

Day 2 started with breakfast, again courtesy of the girlfriend.

kakagising lang pero puro pagpapa-cute ang iniisip... :)

After breakfast, we prepared for our trip to Chatuchak Weekend Market. We walked from the serviced apartment to the Thailand Cultural Center MRT station. From there, we took the MRT to Kamphaeng Phet MRT station, and walked to Chatuchak Weekend Market.

Chatuchak is Thailand's version of Divisoria. It's got everything from clothes, souvenirs, handicrafts, pets, and of course, food!

We wanted to taste some of the street foods Thailand has to offer, so we went around the market:

chicken, pork, pork, and oh look! pork!

more street foods, papaya and green mango salad, and mama noodles

local icedrop

the refreshing icedrops (and yes, we were wearing matching shirts... can anything be more spectacularly cheezy?... hehehe)

another local favorite: coconut ice cream

So after buying some souvenirs and stuff, we felt a bit thirsty, so we went off to try the local drinks.

We saw one small stall offering our version of "samalamig". We bought one which looked like buko-pandan juice. After giving our money, manang tindera takes it, and gets a plastic cup with some pre-made buko-pandan juice. After that, she uses her BARE HANDS to grab a hand-full of crushed ice and unceremoniously puts it inside the cup. Yum Yum! Buko-pandan juice with a dash of manang tindera's sweaty palm extracts with a light hint of water-based bacteria and quite possibly Hepa A!

can you just see my utter excitement over drinking this buko-pandan juice?!

So obviously, drinking it was not an option. (although I sipped a little just to know how it tastes like... infairness, masarap! hahahaha...) The best and safest option at this point was to buy canned drinks:

I've never been so happy to see a hygienically processed canned drink! Pero si girlfriend, picture pa din ang nasa isip! Hehehe...

After that refreshing drink, we proceeded to walk back to the MRT station to head back home.

While waiting for the train, we decided to sit for awhile since our feet were aching!

sakit ng paa namin e!

Once back at the Thailand Cultural Center MRT station, we walked to the Esplanade Mall to have dinner at Paula Pop Thai Restaurant.

yup, let's end the day with the beautiful food model... :)

After dinner, we walked back home to watch a DVD of Pursuit of Happiness.

By 9pm we started preparing to go to the airport for her trip back to the Philippines.

We arrived early in the airport so we spent a few minutes just standing near the entrance of the immigration counters. A lot of people were there too, some were couples emotionally hugging each other goodbye. Haaay, sadness...

Another sad goodbye. (is there such a thing as a happy goodbye?)

Thus ends Day 2 of the happiest weekend of my Thailand exile.

Thailand in a Weekend part 1

As I've mentioned previously, my dear company has decided to send me alone as sacrificial lamb to Thailand.

Being alone in a foreign land is only good when you're there for a short period of time. But if you're going to stay for more than a few days, it's gonna drive you insane! (not that there's much sanity left in me to drive-out!)

Thank goodness, on my third week, the girlfriend decided to visit me over the weekend. Wooohooo!!! :-D

Given the limited time we had, we only went to the places which were near the serviced apartment.

DAY 1

Day 1 started with a hearty breakfast courtesy of the girlfriend. Toasted bread, ham, eggs, bacon, and sausage. I finally had a chance to drink the coffee that the girlfriend promised to make me when we first met. And the verdict: Yup, it's as good as she said it was, probably even better! If only all mornings started this way, I wouldn't mind waking up early! (yes, I will stop the cheeziness here...)

After breakfast, we cleaned-up and prepared the stuff we need to bring. And as usual, the girlfriend took some shots before leaving... Adik sa pictures...

It's poses like this that make me doubt the year of birth they put on my birth certificate

We walked to the Thailand Cultural Center MRT station and took the MRT to Sukhumvit Station. From there, we then took a Skytrain to MBK shopping mall. From MBK, for experience's sake, we rode a Tuktuk to the Grand Palace. A tutuk is Thailand's version of our tricycle.

The Tuktuk we took (say 10x, just for kicks) to the Grand Palace

The ride reminded me of the Philippines, the traffic, the heat, the pollution... Pinas na pinas ang dating!

After a couple of minutes, we were already in the Grand Palace compound.

The monks outside the compound

One of the scary statues that guard the temple entrance

The wall paintings in the compound near the Temple of the Emerald Buddha

The girlfriend and me... ay mali...

...ito pla...

The "macho" girlfriend and the Grand Palace

More pictures of the Grand Palace grounds in a separate blog post. :)

Anyway, after going around and taking pictures, we decided to go back to MBK Shopping mall to have lunch and to buy some pasalubong.

We had our lunch at MK Restaurant located at the 2nd floor of MBK Shopping mall. MK Restaurant specializes in hot-pot dishes, which apparently is one of the girlfriend's favorites! Ang galing ko talaga manghula! :)

Ang pagbabalik ng dakilang food model...

After lunch, we walked around and bought a couple of stuff for our friends back home. After a good walk around the mall, we decided to have some coffee at Starbucks and of course, we bought one of those huge-ass city mugs. After coffee, we decided to go back home to prepare for dinner.

The girlfriend promised to cook her "famous" carbonara, and some shrimp (my favorite!!!) So the moment we got back to the serviced apartment, we started to prepare the things we needed. We cooked dinner (and by that, I mean I cut some of the stuff and made some mess, and she did everything else!).

A few minutes later, dinner was ready!

Hmmmnn.... Sarap ng dinner! :)

Thus ends Day 1