The Madness of Songkran 2014.

SONGKRAN EVE

I think I've never taken such an early flight. 6.45am to be precise =___= zzzz...while the world was sleeping, I got to wake up to head to the airport. But our early rise was left in vain when the attendant at the check-in counter told us the gate was closed and we had to take the next flight!

The queue was super long despite the early hour. We lined up for nearly an hour and when we heard the announcement of our flight taking off soon, we were all shocked. We ran to the counter asking for immediate check-in but was directed to the customer service counter instead for missed flight. I nearly screamed my lung off at the attendant. Apparently they made an announcement of check-in counter change but unfortunately we missed it, probably due to our sleepiness and lack of awareness.

I reasoned with the attendant, the plane was still there and we were still here, why couldn't they let us through. But according to the attendant, even he let us through, we wouldn't make it in time to the plane because we still need to line up for security check and custom check. FML!

AIR ASIA! WHY YOU DON'T MAKE CLEARER ANNOUNCEMENT?! Sometimes the airport can get very noisy and people can miss the announcement from the speakers. Other airline from other countries make sure everyone get the latest update of their flights by putting notice boards at every corner of the airport and even make their staff announcing it verbally at the waiting and check-in area. So efficient! But Air Asia decided to save cost and putting us at risk to miss our flight and make us pay extra for the next flight. I had to pay RM300+ and waited 3 hours for the next flight.

To play safe after the horrifying experience, we waited at the waiting area 2 hours before our flight. After stepping foot onto the plane, I finally felt safe and dozed off to slumberland.

2 hours later, we finally reached Bangkok....

The hotel is awesome! Although it is a boutique hotel, it has parking spaces for guests and a decent swimming pool with lounging area and a bar! I've never seen a boutique hotel with such facilities. The price is pretty decent too, about RM160 per night. BTS station is just a minute away, 7-11 is right opposite the hotel and there are food and snack stalls everywhere. Most of all, the hotel is situated right in between of Siam and Chatuchak. How convenient. I highly recommend this hotel if you are looking for a place to stay but don't want to burst your budget ;)

As soon as we settled our luggage, we headed straight to the Chatuchak weekend market! Missed the market during my last visit, I insisted to go this time in regardless rain or shine.

Finally tried one of the local dessert that I missed previously, Thai coconut ice-cream!

Tasted a bit weird, not to my liking.

Eve of Songkran and people were getting all hyped up already! 

We finally accomplished our mission to Chatuchak, weapon purchase!

Besides the old days back at high school where I used to sit on the school field, technically this was my first time sitting on the grass under the hot sun after so many years. We were so hot and sticky after Chatuchak market, we decided to chill and get our ass grazed with the poky grass like everyone else at the park next to the market.

Oh! Check out the husband's giant water gun! Only RM40! But none of their guns can beat the cuteness of my water weapon!

I have the cutest weapon for Songkran! Priced at RM38!

Waterproof bag to keep your money, phone and necessities dry is compulsory for Songkran. Unless you don't mind having your stuff soaked up with water. Check out my Rilakkuma waterproof bag! Cuteness! Only 400 baht! About RM4 in Malaysia!

After leaving Chatuchak, we were all sticky, icky and sweaty. Once we gone back to the hotel and saw the pool...

We started our own Songkran!!!

Once they found out my phone is waterproof =____=

While everyone was attacking with huge guns, this dude decided to attack with my mini Doraemon handgun LOL.

BOYS....

We were like a bunch of adults nearing 30s who behaved like teens, tsk! tsk! tsk! But it was so fun!

SONGKRAN DAY

On Songkran Day, everyone woke up at 7 something in the morning and got all excited already. When we reached Silom, one of the hot spot for Songkran, I was amazed! The whole stretch of street was filled with people, it was like a parade of people walking at the center of the street while others hoarded both sides of the street selling water, food and powder. Everyone was cheering and shouting, some creating beats of rhythm and singing. Suddenly I felt like everyone from all corners of the world just forgotten all of our differences and unite together for one reason, Songkran. 

No giant water guns can fight the hose from the fire fighter!

Yellow or white skin, we are all the same in Songkran. We just wanted to have fun.

Everyone just laughed and had fun, the goodness of festivals!

Excuse my naked face. I was soaking wet but having a blast!

Me and the husband.

You dare to shoot me? Look at the size of my bodyguard!

We walked back and forth the whole stretch of Silom Road for 4 hours! Our skin was pruned from too much water and our foot were nearly flatten out for walking too long. I don't even know why we walked so much =___= we could have just stay at one place. Like that we might be able to play for the whole day. Instead, we decided to call it a day after 4 hours and went back for a good foot massage.

Ahhhh......what a bliss. 

What's more rewarding than having both your foot scrubbed and rubbed after a tiring day. Oh yeah, good food after a good massage.

Lesson learnt, never take tuk tuk during Songkran if you don't plan to get wet, especially after a shower =__= Don't make me start.

LAST DAY

I was supposed to meet up with Kelle during this Songkran trip. But she was too "atas" to stay in boutique hotel, she stayed at Renaissance Hotel instead with her colleagues. And the hotel is too "atas" to have Wi-fi too. It was such a trouble to contact her since she didn't have Wi-fi. We ended up Songkran-ing separately and only managed to meet up the day I had to fly back =____=

I made a vow during my previous trip I would come back to Central World for Mrs. Field cookies, mission accomplished.

At the airport, all our water weapons were confiscated by the custom saying Malaysian government has given a notice that no water guns were allowed into the country. Another WTF moment.

This Doraemon gun which was once useless during the Songkran festival, proven itself to be a fighter afterall because it is the sole survivor of the ridiculous confiscation.

This RM9 Doraemon water handgun survived into Malaysia.

The only thing I have left of the cute Brown water gun was a picture of it T____T

It was an honor serving with you, Brown gun!

Check out the video below for our Songkran experience.

Click here for a bigger view. Video and edit by the husband.

Till we see again, Songkran 2015!!!

Our Happy Time.

I didn't know what attracted me to this book, probably because it's an English novel with a Korean author. It's my first time reading a translated book. The book was originally penned in Korean, and translated to English. I picked up the book and read it's synopsis, decided to buy it without knowing if it's a good book.

And I thanked God I did.

Here is the synopsis:

Yujeong has now attempted her third suicide attempt. Her disdain for her mother and indifference to the rest of the world, isolates her from any chance for happiness. Her aunt, Sister Monica often goes to prison to meet with death row inmates. Sister Monica asks Yujeong if she would counsel this death row inmate and Yujeong reluctantly agrees to do so. Yujeong and the death row inmate do not open up to each other immediately. Yujeong comes from a family of wealth but she has never known happiness since the age of 15. The inmate that she meets, named Yunsu has had an even more traumatic childhood experience. Eventually Yunsu ends up involved in the criminal world and gets convicted for murder. With their disparate backgrounds, Yujeongg and Yunsu are still able to connect with each other, because both people know grief like few others could possibly know. As they both regain the will to live through their weekly meetings, they must now deal with their feelings for each other and come to grips with the short amount of time they have together.

I finally found a contender for my favorite book "Me Before You" by Jojo Moyes. This book provoked my thoughts and emotion so greatly. The book includes a series of "blue notes", a diary of the death row inmate, Yunsu reflecting on his traumatic childhood. I think I shed tears at every blue note I read.

I must thank Gong Ji Young for penning this book because she made me understand that even murderers are human beings with feeling, just like us. Because afterall we are all sinners, aren't we? It also somehow gave me a vague picture of why criminal commit crimes because...

"Behind every person who's committed an unimaginable crime is an adult who committed unimaginable violence against them as a child. All of them, as if it was plotted that way. Violence begets violence, and that violence begets even more violence."

While I was Googling this book for this post, I found out that there is actually a movie adaptation of this novel! It's called Maundy Thursday. I haven't watch it yet. Because many times the movies just jinx the original story of the book. The feeling is still fresh in my head after reading the book, so I prefer it to stay that way for a while.

If you haven't watch the movie yet, I suggest you to read the book first. Because movies are just the tip of an iceberg, the rest of the hidden iceberg under the ocean are all  the feelings you create and images you imagine yourself from reading the book =)

P/S: Tissues are mandatory, you will need them. A lot of them.

Here's my verdict: