See But No Play in [Bangkok]: Day 6

Dear pipsqueaks,

Of all the meetings, this last one always took the longest. That was probably why I planned absolutely nothing because it will most likely take up the whole day. No surprise, it didn't end till 5pm. Though, on a positive note, the buffet lunch was fantabulously delicious. Okay, maybe I'm being a bit bias towards their spinning ice-cream display and rows of bite-sized chocolate cakes, but seriously, a dessert heaven for someone like me! Plus, I did need the sugar boost to last another 5 hours more...

(I had the urge to say, "One scoop each", but I didn't want to scare the lady. Plan B: come back after I finish the first two scoops :P) 

See But No Play in [Bangkok]: Day 5

Dear pipsqueaks,

Looking at my schedule, today could be the more "free" day for me, with only a 2-hour duty just after lunch. It would have been nice to join the group heading to the Floating Market, but as there was no guarantee when they will return (approximately 1pm or later depending on traffic), there was no way I could go knowing I will most likely be late for work. So, the responsible me said no. On the bright side, I did get to sleep in a little longer, take my time at breakfast, and write a post all before duty.

After checking with my boss that he wouldn't need me post-duty, I decided to squish in a Thai massage between the end of my duty and the dinner cruise departing at 5:30. Hearing about this "Health Land" for the millionth time, it was finally my turn to check it out. Honestly one of the most organised massage places ever. A huge stand-alone building, its services ranged from short foot massages to full on body scrub. As we were pressed for time, a 90-minute full body massage was the most we could do. So, in a rush, we were hurried into our private rooms and the rest of the world was quickly forgotten for the next 1.5 hour...

(Just look at this super pro-looking massage place. Keep in mind, it's a legit massage place...so not where you would go looking for happy endings!)

See But No Play in [Bangkok]: Day 4

Dear pipsqueaks,

Meeting first thing in the morning is probably no one's preferred itinerary of any day, but it wasn't a choice, of course. I remember I'm here for work, and it's nice to feel helpful, if not needed. So, apart from dropping by Terminal 21 for a Chinese lunch with a few CM, I was mostly hotel-based for minute-taking and finalization. It didn't help that I had duty, which confined me to this room full of chit-chatting. Not sure how we're expected to work in these conditions, but with my headphones and constant training of the selective caring, I managed anyway.

Meeting weeks are usually full of events, and let's just say, our hosts never cease to surprise us with their entertainment schedule alongside the meetings. Though not all of us were invited to the Grand Palace for a special presentation to the King of Thailand yesterday, we were invited for the dinner at the Crown Property Bureau tonight.

Of course, even that couldn't go smoothly- we were on a manhunt for one of my coworkers while the rest of the group couldn't be held up any longer without being totally late and left the four of us behind. Supposedly, another mini van was to pick up the leftovers, but it got impossibly lost in the streets of Bangkok, and as we wouldn't wait anymore, we had decided to take the public transit to a less trafficked area and finish there with taxi. That's fine, at least we had two locals. Except, I can't say I enjoyed the challenge of traveling with public transit in my dress. Nonetheless, I survived.

See But No Play in [Bangkok]: Day 3

Dear pipsqueaks,

(A known issue with blogger photo storage problem, I'm officially stopped to add more photos at this point, but will certainly "complete" this post when it's once again available for me to upload!)

(Problem solved...I think!)

For the first time this whole week, I was not slotted for morning duty! Of course, I wasn't about to let it go to waste. Though nothing was set solid, I knew I wanted to head out of this hotel for a bit, even if it were only for a short morning. Possibly to the Grand Palace or the famous Wat Pho as they're both in the same area. I thought to do more planning at breakfast...

Just when I was coming to my senses hearing the alarm jump, I saw a text message from a friend of one of our CM. Apparently, he had arrived the night before and was wondering when I would be heading down for breakfast. Having had to wake up at 6:45am for the past week, I wanted to have just as much time to see a little bit of Bangkok when I could, so I woke up around 7ish too. (For those that know, I LOVE my sleep, so to sacrifice means a lot :P).

Over breakfast, without trying, I had managed to change his mind about having a pool-day today and joining me for an adventure. So the itinerary for today: take the taxi to Grand Palace, lunch, walk over Wat Pho, and then taxi back for my afternoon duty. As simple as that, *laugh*, if only...

See But No Play in [Bangkok]: Day 2

Dear pipsqueaks,

It was another super early wake for me, but it didn't feel as painful because I went to bed at 11pm! That must have been a record as I almost never sleep before midnight, but I knew I would probably die mid-day if I didn't. So it was all good. A delicious and healthy breakfast also helped: salad plate, two chocolate pancakes, three pieces of sushi, the end of a french bread with cold cut stuffing, glass of carrot juice, shot of super juice (I think it was dragon fruit with pineapples?), and tea. If you know me, that was a SUPER breakfast. In a way, it did good both physically and mentally because I was in such a good mood for eating good. It's not secret...it's a cycle!

(Yes, I had only remembered that I should have taken a photo when I was half way into the salad...so no photo today! Maybe tomorrow ;P)

Something that caught my eye at breakfast- a mother attending to a girl of maybe 7 or 8 years old. She had a cute ponytail and a pink baby backpack. All dressed up, the only thing that was totally out of place was her smile. You could tell she was in a grumpy mood as she didn't want anything her mom plated for her and refused to go select a dish herself. There was no pleasing her. Yet, the mother didn't give up, and tried again and again back and forth looking for something to her liking. It crossed my mind that I may had very well been this way when I was younger....what a nightmare!

See But No Play in [Bangkok]: Day 1

Dear pipsqueaks,

Day one was on a whole new level of dreadfulness in my dictionary: I woke up one hour earlier than I should!! *faint* So how did I manage to do that? I usually use my phone as my alarm clock, so when it sang this morning, I swung my leg around the edge and let gravity force me off the bed. Somehow, this part of mornings like these were all so blur. In the end, I'm dressed, packed, and ready to go. Just when I was putting on my watched, I had noticed the time was one hour earlier. Quickly, I glanced at the clock under the TV- it was only 6:15!? Unless I went back in time, there was no way it could have been 6:15am. Then...it came to me. My phone was in KL time...crap.

Fine. Even my phone was against me. No worries, no biggie, said I while I slipped off my work dress...and slipped back into the warm and comfy bed for another hour! Sweet as~

See But No Play in [Bangkok]: Day 0

Dear pipsqueaks,

With a 12:25pm flight, I didn't think the morning would be so dreadful, but it was anyway. It didn't help that we had such a big steamboat dinner the night before, bed time wasn't until 1:30am. No worries though, it seemed that if the situation calls for it, I will somehow manage to get up and get ready.

Mind you, I didn't pack until the morning of. The idea is that if I were to allow myself lots of time to pack, more likely than not, I'll end up packing stuff I don't really need. So, an 8am wake seemed sufficient. By the time I finished brushing up, it was about 8:20am, and the packing began. Not wanting to repeat my London over-weight, I only packed 3 casual t-shirts, 2 office uniform shirts, 1 pair shorts, 2 sets of gym clothes, 2 one-piece dresses, 1 pair of runners, 1 suit and 2 flats. All of that including my toiletries and charger bag didn't nearly take up 2/3 of my luggage. How about that?! The rest was left loose with a corporate gift that I was asked to bring. When I zipped it all up, I took a step back with a feeling of proudness. Cannot believe I managed to fit everything in AND  still have space!

On top of that, I had about half an hour to troll around and double-check the place. When all was ready, I randomly decided to open the fridge....

Sneaking around in [Taiwan]

Dear pipsqueaks,

As I tried to keep the trip as low of a profile as I could before I left, not many people knew of my visit. It's a good thing- despite being totally hammered when they found out. In a way, it was my break from the world to spend some quality time with le family. We were actually supposed to spend the summer holidays together, but due to family issues, le parents couldn't take leave, so I went with le sister instead. That made a break of eight months since the last time I saw them...and that is a LONG time for a family that had lived together for 17 years, seeing each other every day. Then again, I thought they would have gotten used to not having me around these couple of years...

Thinking back, this was a good time to see them because if I didn't, it would be until Chinese New Year in February! That would have been ten months too long. Not to mention the constant complaint that I travel to all these other places and NOT even spending more than 10 days with them this year. So, in a jiffy, I flew over to deal with the complaints. 

8 days. Usually, it would feel like it isn't enough to do all the things I want. But, I wasn't really suppose to be doing anything anyway. The break was simply to chillax with parents, be it at home or on a day trip somewhere. Though I only had two home-cooked meal, it's nothing to complain about. I don't want to be a trouble for my mom by being home, so I eat when she cooks, and eat out when she doesn't. No biggie. More or less with no particular schedule or planning, it's probably easier just to tell the story with photos...

(testing out my new camera Nikon CoolPix L310 too...)

(Look at our fridge covered with postcards! Although not all of them are from me, I shall attempt to fill the bottom two sections with postcards from all over the world :)) 

At the End of the Day - Part II

Dear pipsqueaks,

Following my previous post, YES, the wedding took place anyway despite all the talks. As a token of appreciation for your readership support, I would like to share the highlights of this special night with a few photos...

(Apparently, there were two other events taking place at KL Convention Center that night- totaling the head count of the entire building to more than 5,000 people! So just in case you get extremely lost, this will either tell you that you have arrived at your destination, or you're crashing the wrong party :P)

A Quickie

Dear pipsqueaks,

I don't believe I've ever felt such a short Saturday, and it's not even noon yet! (Yes, I'm actually in the office, having just cleared a whole bunch of emails- LAME, on a Saturday morning, right?) Tons to do before the "Secret Sneak-off": gym (because I haven't gone in the last two days & I crave that refreshing feeling when I proudly walk out of the gym), pack (as I will be attending a wedding tonight, with a flight at 10am, there won't be any time to pack...unless I don't plan to sleep which is NEVER a good plan so I pack beforehand), and wedding (because apparently there will be live coverage, and not that I care so much about what other people think but I'd like to pay my respect to the newly weds by dressing up for their special day- even though technically speaking, they've already celebrated last night!)

Yes, I know I owe the adventure series the "Cambodia" escape, but that will have to wait until I'm not in such a panic to do everything. It doesn't help that just yesterday night my boss had a slight change of plans due to personal reasons, so now I have to be on stand-by for further instructions even though I'm supposedly on WEEKEND mode and will be on VACAY mode starting Monday. Oh wells, that's the life of a PA!

Hopefully, I'll simmer down into that writing mode on the plane ride. As our Events Director always says when he skips out of the office...

"CHEERIOS!"

At the End of the Day - Part I

Dear pipsqueaks,

A thought was brewing in me this very morning when I laid on my bed pondering about what I had just dreamt. It was one of the rare occasions that I could only remember glimpse of scenes, but I remember that feeling and more importantly, what I was thinking...

For heaven-sake, they can do as they like. Why should they have to answer to anyone?!

I might sound a little crazy without explaining what the heck I'm flaming about. To be exact, I'm rawring about Dato Lee Chong Wei & Datin-to-be Wong Mew Choo's wedding- all of it. From the private exchange of vows earlier on last week, to the family-intimate tea ceremony on the 9th, to the formal dinner celebration with all the high ranks on the 9th, to the less formal dinner celebration with family and friends on the 10th, to all in counting six press conferences prior to the whole row of events, it's fair to say the wedding has become a huge event for the country.