last day and last post for bkk trip

i finally cleared all translation works and emailed all of them to my customers yesterday. i am so happy, light and relieved! i'd been wrestling with it for 10 days, since coming back from bangkok. so today, i just want to take a break from work.. and write something that i don't think about deadline..

let's go back to my bkk trip.... this was going to be the last post for this trip.. on thursday, i had appointments with 3 friends, OR (eng major), OR (soc-ant major) and TO (eng-major).. they all are old friends from Prince of Songkla University.. but still i was't sure about TO if he was able to come to see me.. it was the day that i was looking forward to..

Or (soc-ant) and i met at the same place we saw one another 7 months ago which was central pinkrao. Or said that it was the only place that she knew well. she lives on the outskirt of bangkok and is not so keen with bkk routes.

as i am not so sure how long it would take for me to get there, i left early, took bts from ekamai to siam and then caught a taxi from there. seeing from the map, it looked nearer than taking a taxi from victory monument.. however, i had checked it out when i came back.. it was the same price taking a taxi from both ways..

Or was there before me but central hadn't opened yet, so we sat and talk outside, catching up. i was very grateful seeing her again. we talked on the phone and via postcards a lot lately.. one of the reason, i wanted to go to bkk was to see her too..

upon seeing her, i was given an Oriental Princess paper bag with 1 bottle of apple shower cream and 1 bottle of apple body lotion.. this was so her! she always sends me gifts on various occasions bought from Oriental Princess. she said she loved its various fragrances, felt good when using it and she wanted me to feel the same.. and this time again, on the occasion of seeing each other, she gave me 2 bottles. actually, she said she bought a full set of it but didn't want me to carry all home, so she would send the rest after me.. how lovely!!

as before, we chose to eat at fuji. she loved that place and said the food was healthy.. then, we walked hand in hand to fuji.. we looked so much alike lovers that hadn't met long time ago!

Or inspired me on being a good person. i could talk Dhamma with her and didn't feel bored. she encouraged me to make merits and be a better person. once she disappeared from my life for a month without telling. i tried calling and sending postcards but didn't get any replies from her. i thought to myself sadly that i might lose her in some ways.. after a month, she called me back saying that she went to the north to vipassana in a cave at a temple for a month and she couldn't contact anyone.. she reads alot of books, mostly about Dhamma and used to send me one... though, she is interested in Dhamma, she takes good care of herself. she is a beauty guru and motivates me to use more beauty products for my aging skin.. (didn't tell you yet that i slipped and fell flat on my bathroom floor yesterday morning bc i was trying to massage my skin with the massage oil another friend named Or gave to me when i was meeting her in bkk.. i did it bc Or (soc-ant) encouraged me to do it.. she said if i massaged my skin twice a week, it would look more sparkling.. -- and now i had to cure my bruised bums!..)

we chatted at fuji for an hour and then left it for a bookstore together. i had time left to stay with her 15 minutes more before hitting the road again to see another Or at the victory monument..

i told her we didn't have a picture together yet, so we got into the toilet and snapped! when it was time to leave, we parted in front of central around 1 pm.. i promised her i would come back to see her again.. it is hard for her to come to see me in the south, even if i offered a free air ticket and food, she still hersitates.. i didn't want to force her, so i told her i would be the one who comes...

next destination was to see Or (eng major) at the victory monument. Or is one of my close friends too but i didn't have chances to talk to her alot previously, due to our lives being pulled away by works and personal lives.. but we tried to catch up from time to time.

at first, she said she couldn't come bc of her hectic schedule at work. i begged and asked her to check with her work again to leave work 2-3 hours earlier.. the day before we met, she called me telling me that she managed to take half day leave. bravo!! it was brilliant..

we agreed to meet at the victory monument around 1.30 pm. so i hailed a taxi from central pinkhao to meet her there. i was there before her, waiting and taking some pictures around the area..

after meeting her and saying hello, i was given a bag of something.. i looked inside.. she gave me a bottle of boots massage oil (the one that i slipped on.), a big fat tube of scrub cream and a box of nepal tea. since morning, i was surprised non-stop by these 2 friends.. how lucky!

we agreed to look for a place to eat something light and chat and catch up.. first we went to mcdonal but the smell was unpleasant, so we moved to swensen's downstairs.. it was quieter. we ordered ice creams for both of us and started to catch up..

before, when i came to bkk, i either stayed with her or pu. each time i stayed for many nights, just to waste away my holiday time.. she loves home decor like i do. her room was green with potted plants, i could stay there all day alone while she was at work.. she was being in love, meeting a new guy at work and seeing him when i met her this time. i am so happy for her. she looked shiny and happy. her face was always filled with smile when she was talking.. that was wonderful!

we talked more than an hour catching up on one another and other old friends. we talked until we nothing to talk. we lingered there for a little while longer. lucky that we didn't need to hurry anywhere, so we just sat there talking and savoring our ice cream..

until it was time to leave, we hugged and parted at mrt station. she went to jj to buy some potted plants and i, still had few hours before meeting my sister, took the train to tk park..

this time i chose to get off the train at siam and found a way to central world. the distance from siam to central world was a wee bit farther. i walked and walked and walked along the long skywalk.. getting to central world, i went straight to tk park and didn't get lost this time..

i picked different corner to sit and read the magazines i didn't read yesterday. i stayed there for 2 hours and left around 5 pm.. coming outside, i saw the sun was setting behind the tall buildings.. people were rushing, leaving for home again.. on the way back, i walked to chidlom bts station. i felt sticky and hot, wanting to take a shower before going out again.. tonight i was going to yaowarat and khaosan road with my sister and her pals.. but before meeting them, i wanted to take a shower first..

after everyone was ready, we finally left for yaowarat with 2 taxis at 7.30 pm with empty and crying tummies.

we walked on the street looking for food shops to sit and eat.. along the way, we stopped to buy something to eat at chinese food stalls and ate them as h'orderves... i guess we had too many h'orderves that night and not sure which one was the main course.. we bought just one pack of each kind of foods and shared them together.. we wanted to try as many as possible..

after the tummies were full, our faces turned smiley. then we catched 2 taxis and headed to khaosan road.. it was 9 pm, still early for khaosan night.. while walking along the stree, suddenly, it was a surprised pouring. we didn't expect that it would rain that hard. so we had to run and looked for a shelter along the roadside.. not long, the rain surrendered.. we left the shelter and ventured the street.. street vendors started to place their goods along the road after the rains disappeared..

we were going to meet with Lin at molly bar and had no idea where it was.. so we kept walking and looking for it.. i walked and looked for used bookstores and saw a few. went inside to check the price. it wasn't as cheap as expected.. most of them were new books with old dusty plastic bag wrapping around.. so i just took a look and walked away..

seeing thais walking into the store, the shopkeeper gave me a stern look guessing that i wouldn't buy his books.. .. he told me he was closing his shop and asked bluntly what i was looking for.. i looked at the books and checked the prices. . they were not much different from the new ones sold at imporium.. so i walked out..

after walking around and turned many wrong sois, we finally found 'molly'.. we walked inside and looked for a table.. we saw many foreigners sitting sipping beer outside and thought that they were mostly foreigners inside too.. getting inside, we saw only thai teenages wearing shorts, skirts and mini-tops hanging around all over the place.. it was dark, decorated with fake spider webs to welcome halloween night which was reaching in 2 nights. .. the music was blaring from every corner. we, aunties, couldn't stand inside too long... p'tang, my sis and i excuesed the rest of the group, telling them that we wanted to walk around looking for bookstores and we would came back later..

leaving molly, p'tang, my sis and i walked slowly watching the night life of khaosan road. we looked for a quieter place to sit and watch people. seeing starbucks inside a narrow, dark soi, we walked towards it..

we ordered drinks as we liked and a piece of brownie to taste.. i ordered a cup of tea that i had never drank before (but couldn't remember what it was..)

joon and p'tang sat talking.. while i, seeing an arrow pointing upstairs saying 'art gallery', walked and followed the sign..

reaching the second floor, i saw that there were not many of painted pictures and nobody was there.. i looked around taking pictures and came downstairs.. it was kind of spooky up there!!

inside starbucks

not long after we left, p'prasit called us to get our asses back to molly and promised that we would leave at midnight.. off we went, leaving for molly..

..and this time live music was showing. teenagers were dancing and packed inside like canned sardines.. meeting with the group again, we started drinking and ordered more drinks.. we drank and danced until midnight.. it was much more fun than expected after building our moods with alcohol..

..at mid-night we left molly and walked slowly outside to catch 2 taxis..

..i took one more chance to look around and snap khaosan road.. and then left for boss mension..

next morning, my last morning in bkk, i slept in and woke up again after my sis left for work.. our flight was 7.30 pm, so i still had full day to roam bkk. first destination was sampeng. i needed to go there again to buy some papers for my shop. first time i went there, they were sold out, so i wanted to check it out again. with luck, i got them! still had time left, after leaving the papers at my sis's office, i headed to jj market.. i wanted to buy some cheap used books.. i took mrt to there.. it turned out the prices were higher than the ones in samui or pukhet, so i bought the ones i really wanted..

heading back to akamai, i met my sister at boss mension.. we got ready go leave for the airport and a friend of her was driving us to there.. i slept along the way since getting on the car!.. reaching the airport, TO called me saying that he could get off work early and could meet me there. how lucky!! after graduating from uni in 1997, i haven't met him since! we talked on the phone occasionally.. mostly i called him bc he sounded like the businest guy alive!

upon arriving the airport, he walked looking for me.. he has changed in size which didn't surprise me much, as i saw his photo from hi5 not long time ago... must admit that the first time seeing his picture, it really surprised me..

we went to s & p to have early dinner and then talked.. it was so good to catch up with him in person. mostly, i gave him a ring when i went shopping at tesco. going to tesco makes me think of him and it was my only time getting away from my shop during the day.. he worked for tesco since leaving uni and was climbing up the executive ladders to be a big boss.. i am really pleased for him.. but couldn't help snapped at him from time to time for being workaholic.. he is better now, though.

TO saw me off after having our photo taken together. then, my sis and i walked through security checks into the waiting room..

we finally reached home with sleepy eyes at 10 pm.. phun and mom were sleeping soundly when we got home..

the trip had happily and joyfully ended with most of the purposes filled. one thing i regreted that did not happen was seeing dave. my city friend was too busy to meet me. he was either busy with work, social life or playing football. it would be more fulfilled if we had a chance to meet.. however, he is coming down this weekend to have some of his business settled.. hope we finally meet and catch up.. i always believe friends are family we choose.. and they all are my family..

coming back to my shop, i felt my battery was fully and overly charged.. i was ready to get back to work with full spirit (and empty purse).. i am having another dream to pursue again.. working, saving for england trip next october!! ;] .. this is my wee life..