Day 15: TechnoMart Flashback, Pesto Pasta and an Empty Ratchaprasong

Woke up at 9:30am today after a little over 6 hours of sleep. Too much drinking from the previous night rendered my brain useless for anything except sleep and the occasional nocturnal sojourns to the bathroom to take a leak.

Lunch was sinigang na spareribs (which I burned my tongue on, durnit). I pigged out, naturally, before spending a little time chatting over YM. Shopping is over and done with (theoretically... is it wishful thinking?) so no plans to go out to Silom tonight. After all, walang pasok so only a few vendors would be out there. So what to do?

Like I said, today's goal was techno-overload. On the itinerary: Pantip Mall.

Popsie, Bradir and I took a cab to the said mall, which was a few meters away from Platinum Mall (tempting, indeed!). Looking at five floors of electronic madness, I was transported to TechoMart in Seoul - circa December 2008. That time, I bought a PSP and a Cowon O2 for Jen. This time, I bought... nothing. Harhar. I was looking for a 500GB external hard drive but Popsie kept insisting on a 1 terabyte drive. "Konti lang kasi ang diperensya ng presyo", he says. But how on Earth do I fill up 1000GB? My pictures, despite how huge a picture-freak I am, will barely take up 10% of that space! So what to do? Postpone the purchase for the trip to what Popsie refers to as I.T. Mall... wherever that is!

Walking back to Big C from Pantip, I noticed something strange: Ratchaprasong (the shopping area/district along Thanon Ratchadamri - you know, all those designer stores and those malls surrounded by hotels) was strangely empty. Like Ayala Ave during Holy Week. Like my brain when I go back to work on the eleventh. Mwehehehehe...

When I got home, it was time to check the AS400's after the shutdown. It was ok, a few missing records but nothing a manual run can't fix. Mom made pesto to smother the spiralli with, while Sissy and I walked along Convent to Silom for some kai thot (fried chicken). At 10 baht for each chicken leg, not a bad deal eh?

I'm still not in blogging mode, as I'm a bit sad that Mom and Bradir are leaving for Manila tomorrow night. Almost makes me wish I booked my flight for January the second instead of the ninth. Almost is the operative word since, truth be told, I'm not ready to go back to the Philippines yet. If it were up to me, I'd stay here for a year. Harhar...

But that's not in my hands... so I'm doing what I can: drinking up this ice-cold 630-ml bottle of Singha beer. It's light and a bit sweet: like San Miguel Light crossed with Cerveza Negra. Cheers to 2010!

P.S. The Weather Pixies look so cute! They all have fireworks in their own skies... Either that or I'm drunk... Hardeeharhar!

Day 14: Sawasdee Pi Mai Kha!

Yesterday, our plan to welcome 2010 over at Central World was thwarted. After going to the grocery at Big C, we saw the stages being set up along Ratchadamri (saw one in front of Central World and another in Siam Paragon. Not sure if there were more within Ratchaprasong) and the crowds that were gathered. It was HUGE, rivaling that of the crowd in front of Galleria during EDSA Dos. Okay, that may be an exaggeration but it was only 7pm!

Mom, Sissy and I were planning to take the jet-jet (Bus number 77) since Dad, Sister and Bradir took a tuk-tuk back home with the groceries. Walking out of the Big C, we saw that most of Ratchadamri was closed to traffic, since the aforementioned stages were up and running. So Mom, Sissy and I just took a few pictures on the street and bought three pairs of those plastic headpieces with horns that light up. No traffic = no buses so we decided to take the BTS. We walked to Ratchadamri station but ended up taking a tuk-tuk to Sala Daeng station, as it was cheaper (50 THB as opposed to 63 THB if we took the BTS) and we wouldn't have to climb three flights of stairs.

At Sala Daeng, we bought pesto from Tops. Then we got 200THB worth of fried chicken legs (that's twenty pieces!) from a vendor at Liberty Square on Thanon Silom, a couple of blocks from home. The plan was to cook some spiralli, smother it with pesto and serve it with fried chicken. EPIC FAIL! The maids of the condo invited us for dinner and drinks on the courtyard. Of course it was impolite to say no... so off we went.

The food came in varying degrees of wicked spiciness: the kai (chicken) was not spicy, the moo larb (ground/chopped pork - sauteed with lemongrass, cilantro and I dunno what else) was a bit spicy, and the kikiam with tomatoes and onion was wickedly spicy! It made good pulutan for the Isan wine (a kind of fermented rice wine from Northern Thailand - it was sweet and potent. Reminded me of basi) and the wine coolers. After drinking myself to a mild buzz and dancing like heck, we headed upstairs at around 10:30pm. An hour and a half, a quick shower and a few drinks later, we ran to the condo's rooftop to watch the fireworks from all around the city! Another perk of living in the middle of the CBD: we are surrounded by hotels and our rooftop offers a 360-degree view of the fireworks. It's World Pyrolympics - for free!

After the fireworks, we went back to our unit and started drinking. We didn't last long (rather - I didn't. I was reduced to being the bartender) and we decided to catch some Z's.

Today, our AS400's are on shutdown mode so I'll need to be online at around 3pm my time to do some testing - hopefully. Sucks to be without SameTime. Thank goodness for YM and Skype!

So, here's 2010! I hope it will be better than 2009 because last year was a freaking PAIN in the rear end, I kid you not! My 2010 forecast isn't very encouraging. To be quite honest, I kinda saw this coming but to actually read it in black and white (and seeing the past year flash before my eyes while watching the trailer of 2010) was a little too much for me... had to have a drink afterwards. Oh, what the heck! Cheers! Thank you to everyone who was a part of my 2009. Here's to OUR 2010!

Day 9, Day 10 and Day 11 - No Internet, No Life!

My internet has been on downtime since Christmas Day. Am now at Starbucks (it's more expensive here... just like in Seoul. A bid to lure the peeps to buy local? Maybe!) taking advantage of the Wi-Fi, which is peng mak (very expensive) at 150 THB for an hour. WTF?!? But what the hey, beggars can't be choosy... on second thought, I chose to pay for this so I should stop complaining and start blogging, yes? Yes. On to the post...

Anyway, Day 9 found my family in Thana City in Bang Na (near the Suvarnabhumi Airport) for CFC Central Bangkok's get together. It's theoretically a post-Christmas party but it's really just an excuse to get together, have a potluck lunch/dinner of delicious Filipino food and sing karaoke the way only Pinoys can.

Momsie and Popsie camped out in the living room until early morning to finish cooking pork spareribs adobo and my Mom's special kare-kare (to the uninitiated, it's pork hock in peanut sauce and eaten with shrimp paste). Mom and the Three Little Pigs made the nata de coco delight on Christmas Eve.

Thana City is like Eastwood City - a veritable garden of condominiums and golf courses. Of course I exaggerate. There was just one golf course. I stick by my claim of a garden of condos, thought. At the Prestige Condo, there were two swimming pools. TWO, darnit! While in our condo at Silom, we had a shower. No tub. Where's the justice in that? Oh... we're just a few minutes by bus, train or cab from the nearest malls. Bang Na takes half an hour by cab on the highway. There's the trade-off. Ok, I rest my case.

Being the picture-fiends that we were, we had several sets of 10-second timed ten shots in the playground (yes, there was a playground) and the gazebo. My family is a crazy lot, as you all probably already know. Pics are on Facebook, just in case you're curious. Friends-only, though, so don't say I didn't warn you.

As I've said, Bang Na is near the airport so every now and then a plane roars through the sky, making us look up. I have the habit of trying to identify the airline by the markings on the tail fin and body, so I kept chanting "Thai Airways, Air France, Cebu Pacific, AeroFLot... wait, is that PAL?" with every new take-off. Bro and Wifey cringed at each one, though, as they were due to leave in a couple of days. Boohoohoo...

We got home late to Bang Rak... like 10pm? The sisters and Bradir stayed up till the wee hours of the morning. I hit the sack at midnight. The next day was shopping day, so I needed my energy to be UP UP UP!

Day 10 - Jatujak, here I come! We left for Jatujak at 11am. We took the BTS to the Mo Chit station then walked. And walked. And walked. Then we shopped. And shopped. And shopped. Oh, yeah...we shopped too. Then we got sunburned. But who cares about sunburn when I was able to buy my pasalubong for my whole team plus my officemates... and a few other items for special peeps in my life? *wink wink*

After Jatujak, we took the MRT back to Sala Daeng Station. After a close encounter with the not-so-dead/not-so-living, we walked on to Burger King. After a heavy snack (no lunch... we opted to stay hungry and keep shopping - not a bad idea, on hindsight), we decided not to go on to MBK and Panthip that day. So Bro and Wifey went on to MBK with Popsie to buy more pasalubong while the Three Little Pigs plus Mom and Bradir went on home.

I had a bum stomach that night but I still went out with my sibs and Mom to feed Bradir some kwai chap. We also proceeded to get drunk... on soy milk (I prefer the one with sesame seeds - not too sweet). We also went walking along Silom in search of a few things to buy (shopping, of course, is first and foremost on everyone's mind). But my tummy allowed me to walk just one block when it beckoned me home for "call of duty". There's still tomorrow, anyway.

Day 11 - Bro and Wifey are flying back to Manila at 11pm tonight. I also finished re-reading The Time Traveller's Wife... and cried again, like I did the first time. FInally, Jen and I can discuss the novel (again) without me forgetting the little details (I need Memo Plus Gold - Kuya Kim had something going there!) and muttering "I need to read it again". I also made a BIG decision today: something that will change the course of three lives, one of them mine. What that is and why I made that decision is for me to know (and for you to find out, dear reader. Unless you're one of those whose lives will change) so don't ask. I won't tell. Let's not waste each other's time.

Cooking is a sure-fire stress reliever for me so I defrosted and peeled a kilo and a half of shrimps. Then I cut up five heads of broccoli, minced a head of garlic, a large onion and diced four tomatoes. I made garlic-buttered broccoli and gambas. Both dishes were wiped out at dinner.

So now, it is the beginning of Day 12 and my internet is still dead as Ninoy and Cory. But free internet is out there...somewhere. It takes patience to find it and not have to exchange a new dress for an hour online. Unfortunately, patience is not my virtue...

Oh Emme Gee!

Hindi ko kinaya!

I just read this on Pepper Lunch's Philippines site. One location closer to work and soon, another location close to home. Lovette! YG's, you know where we'll be eating on my birthday! (Fish and Co is reserved for Jen's bash so it's not Fish and Co, Dada!)

Temperature in Seoul today is 19C... Autumn is coming! I wish I was in Seoul right about now...

On other OMG-worthy news... I posted the Laiya pics on Facebook. Just check it out. It's friends-only though. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Happy Hearts Day!

I'm not very fond of flowers... It's a known fact (quite an obvious one looking at my curves - too much of them in one place!) that I would rather get chocolates. No, it's not because of the line "Ang babae ay parang bulaklak. Huwag mong pipitasin kung sisirain mo lang" from A Love Story (though I believe it makes sense). I also do not celebrate V-day. In my mind, it is a shallow commercially-driven waste of resources. But I am still a girl and I still get lovestruck sometimes. Who can resist coming home after a long stressful Friday the 13th in the office to find a boquet of roses on top of the fridge? (A digression, my current apartment is so tiny that my bedroom doors opens up to the fridge) Never mind that I am not fond or roses. Never mind that roses (in my narrow-minded, selfish opinion) are my least favorite cliche...errrr, flowers. It's the thought that counts! The color isn't so bad too. At least they're not red!