I'm back from Bangkok, which sums up my last trip for the year *boo*. My colleague mentioned that its very 幸福 to be away for 3 trips just for a year. But then my trips are all short trips!! I love Bangkok and this time round, the trip is purely a shopping trip..but too bad I didn't change enough $$. I thought the amount I changed will be sufficient but to my horror, I actually spent 2,000 Baht helping other people buy their stuff. *sobsob* leaving very little for myself...The weather was bad this time round that I went, forcing ling and myself to make lots of changes to our plans. We didn't manage to pay a visit to Chatuchak and Suan Lum cause it was raining every day and thus...it left us spending all our time @ Platinum for 2 days and MBK for 1 day. My legs almost broke ok? Platinum is so huge that we only manage to cover 2 floors every day..so I was telling ling-> Besides exercising our feet, we are exercising our eyes as well coz have to spot for clothes that we liked. As usual, I went to a few of my favourite shops which i singled out the last time I went and SPOT ON!! I bought from the shops again!!!

So here I will..show some of my 胜利品..woohoo!

 Ling & I decided to stay @ Grand Diamond this time round and I was happy with the hotel. I liked the rooms because it was smaller, carperted and it gave the cosy feeling. The best thing is that it's just next to Platinum (2 mins walk)

 The standing shower which I liked which added to the plus points of the hotel. I hate bath tubs! so standing shower does best!

Our cosy bed for the 3 nights

After a mere 4 hours of sleep the night before and a 2 hour flight + some wash up in our hotel room and breakfast, our adventure begins! Its time to conquer Platinum. However, it was Platinum that conquered us. For the 2 days of shopping and we walked from like 11am - 7pm everyday and only managed to cover 4 storeys.  I wouldn't say I had a fruitful trip this time round coz' I felt I didn't buy enough. :( But I must admit I am satisfied with the loot that I brought back *hee*

 1 of my new discovery this time round. The clothes are nice and reasonably priced. Take a look out for this shop for people who are going Platinum. Location: Room 541, 2nd Fl. Oxford 3. It has an online website as well at http://www.ololodesign.com/

 This dress is bought from the above shop. For 1 piece it cost 490 Baht

and this is the back view

 Ain't a fan of Polka Dot but when I saw this top, it caught my attention. Cost me 390 Baht for non whole sale. I should have gotten the white as well. *brrr* This top is from - The Bouquet. The Platinum Fashion Mall Room No. 599, Oxford 4, 2nd Fl

After 6-7 hours of constant walking, Ling & I were dead tired and our feet felt like it was able to give way. Can you imagine 6-7 hours and you only manage to cover 2 storeys? We wanted to have a good meal @ Chinatown but sad to say due to the horrendous weather, the traffic at Bangkok got even worst. We actually manage to get onto a cab after more than 20 mins of waiting but the cab driver decided not to take us there. Eventually, we proceeded to the Japanese Restaurant located on the 6th floor of Platinum to cure our hungry stomachs.

I was too hungry to take too many pictures. But the meal cost us about 700+ Baht which we didn't felt it was expensive considering that we had alot.

Ling & I were super worn out after the lack of sleep, travelling and our hunting for clothes that after dinner, we proceeded for some foot massage @ 300 Baht (60 mins) and subsequently back to our hotel for our beauty sleep. We didn't even bother to set the alarm and both of us agreed that we will just wake up when our bodies tell us to. So we slept till about 11am the next day. As our accomodation was not inclusive of breakfast, we headed out on our own.

 We actually had waffle for breakfast but i didn't manage to capture a picture of it. How I wish this can be brought back to Singapore

 Nice pinkie dress which costs 160 Baht. Its purchased from 1 of shops which I've kept a lookout since my last trip there. Not only are the dresses cheap, designs nice and the shop owner is very nice. The shop is called fifty's sixty Vintage Luxuary Chic Wear Style. Loation: 1069, Fl 4, Canden 8. Platinum Fashion Mall

 This top is transcluent. The trend in bangkok now is Chiffon type of clothing and this cost me only 190 baht bought from 1 of the shops i singled out as well from my previous trip.

 and this is the shop which I bought the above piece of clothing. Located at 3rd Fl, Room 815, Soi Nathan 9

After a good 7 hours of shopping on Day 2, Ling and I were finally famished. We wanted to give it a shot and see if were can proceed to Chinatown again but I must say we were CHEATED!! We hop onto a cab just outside our hotel and when we got in, the driver seem so nice. He could speak fluent english and we so weren't wary of him. We told him we wanted to head to Chinatown for some Shark's fins and guess what?? He told us, "Oh now is the 斋 festival and it also coincides with the Buddha's birthday. So there will not be any killing of animals so there will not be Shark's fins served in Chinatown. Why not I bring you to another seafood place? The food is "CHEAP" and its nicer than Jumbo and Long Beach."

My foot!! What Crap! The food wasn't as cheap at all and I highly suspected that the restaurant gives him commission for bringing customers there. Let me give you all a breakdown of how much our meal cost-->

 this bowl of Shark's fin cost us 600 Baht.

 Asparagus with mushroom, puny prawns and carrots - 300 Baht

 chicken with yellow curry and i don't know what's inside - 300 Baht

Pineapple fried rice and prawn, pork floss -300 Baht

That's not it, Ling had a coconut which cost 100 Baht and I had a sweetened, diabetic causing watermelon juice which cost me another 100 Baht. Damage done which included towels, GST & service charge was 2,040 Baht which translates SGD 90.27!!! That's not cheap at all!!!

After being treated like a "carrot" the night before, Ling and I had a simple and satisfying breakfast just before proceeding to MBK for our final day of shopping/relaxation. We had our Wanton Mee & some stewed pork things. Damn! I must admit the Wanton Mee is delicious and more importantly its cheap. Its quite well known that many foreigners know of it as well.

 Delicious Wantan Mee + the serving isn't very big as well so I was able to finish it *yummy*

 some stewed pork stuff

 while I had my manicure & pedicure done, Ling went to catch a movie on her own coz she didn't want to get her nails done. Look people, don't step on my 2 big toe nails coz its arcylic. Nice color combination?

 We had Japanese food at MBK at this Japanese restaurant called "The Ship"

 My favourite- Salmon Sashimi!

Chicken Sukiyaki set which cost 210 Baht

After our meal, we headed straight for foot massage for 3 consecutive days and retired early for the night zzz. Didn't do much shopping on our final day cause our flight was at 1.20pm (Bangkok time). We woke up early to pack our stuff, have our breakfast and pay Platinum a last visit. But sadly, I didn't manage to grab any thing while Ling manage to grab 2 chockers for herself.

While waiting to board the flight. Flight delayed :( and I still seem so happy right? Thank God, I have my iphone to entertain me and of coz, block out all other noises from some of the irritating passengers waiting there as well.

You: OK, upgraded to Windows 7 already.
Girl: Thanks so much! (thinks: the software did everything.)
You: You're welcome.
Girl: Can help me install antivirus?  

with

You: ALL RIGHT 25 KILLSTREAK!
Girl: Huh?
You: Nothing. I just kicked your boyfriend's ass.
Girl: Orh. (stands over shoulder and watches very fast paced game and thinks: aiyah why my boyfriend so lousy.) Can help me install Windows?
You: Sorry not interested, I am aiming for 35 killstreak
Girl: (subconsciously registers lack of punctuation as sexy) Oh. Kill kill kill ... so manly.

As a general rule, the hierarchy is such: first-person shooter, versus fighter, real-time strategy, turn-based strategy and then everything else. MMORPGs occupy a value system of their own, but in general their gentle learning curve reduce street cred. Angry Birds and Bejewelled FTW for now though.

There is nothing else to do in Singapore. Get good at it, you will be spending a lot of time in these places. Don't just chalk your stick - chalk some victories while you're at it. Ah-lians will be watching.

Must-learns: jump-shot, English, doubles.

So that you will look good next to the other doddering dodos. Football obviously occupies top spot, but basketball and water polo work too. Volleyball is for girls.

Girls find it easier to come down to support team sports, because they can rationalize their conduct diffusely: "I'm here for the TEAM." Let them have this. You know what they're thinking when you're ... scoring.

While girls find it harder to support these because you are alone and therefore very bo sei for them to come all the way down, the simple fact that you are involved in some sport somewhere is already very "can make it". Walk around with your lacrosse bag slung over your shoulder or your tennis shoes carelessly dangling from your backpack. When they ask about your sport, just make vague references and knowingly use terms of art.

Girl: Where are you going?
You: Oh, practice.
Girl: What practice?
You: Kallang ... today we're doing slice serves.
Girl: *tingle down spine* Ohhh.

Few other people will be able to challenge your authority, since these are individual, recherche pursuits. Exploit the opportunity.

To avoid: ping-pong, badminton (everyone thinks they can play these)

GUITAR for individual, DRUMS in a band. Girls are quite dumb one and they like to see action jackson. You bang bang the drum, they happy. You stand around and pluck a few strings, nobody knows what you're doing. Of course, if you are going to do the serenading thing, it will be guitar without question.

Tip: When serenading, pretend to be practising (when you actually practice sui sui at home already). Always choose a current song, so people will bite. If you play More Than Words for the 238645823648243234th time, people confirm lose interest one. And don't look at anybody when singing, otherwise they will feel that you are "invading" them. Don't "invade" anybody. Just let them listen to your ostensibly unassuming music. Confirm plus guarantee plus chop will have results.

A guy who cannot do maths is like an eunuch. He is not a man. In Singapore especially, even our girls are damn good at maths. So you better be super damn good, so you can explain to her how to divide her parts.

One better: PHYSICS. For some reason, applied stuff is harder for girls. So take physics and ace it. Then later on, toss in puns about how you two have such great chemistry, you want to explore the geography of her biography in a physical way. "Your body is a wonderland," you will coo. "Do you want to read my literature or should we just start making history?" Just don't show her your mother tongue.

A guy who has no sense of direction is a girl. The end.

DRIVE. And for fuck's sake, practice that parallel parking thing. Girls always tell themselves that they are not lousier drivers, just more careful/cautious/whatever. But despite that ALL OF THEM STILL CANNOT FREAKING PARALLEL PARK. Become tok kong at this, heighten the gender difference, enhance the sexual tension. Ooh yeah baby.

By the way, European marques please. The Singaporean lady does not want to be seen rolling in a Hyundai.

Ya. It helps. Srsly.

Singaporean girls think they are really interesting, and maybe they are. Who knows? We aren't really listening. But you don't really have to - just nod every 10 seconds. And then say, "Really ah." I just did this today. It is fricking awesome. You can abidicate responsbility for having a brain.

The bottom line is that by keeping silent, you allow her to project her preferred self-image onto you. She is interesting, so therefore you must be interesting, since you are absorbing her everything. How cool is that? I love lady logic.

"I hammered her and her friend last night, we had a good screw. Talk about nailing two in one night! Of course I bolted the next day, but I will always be ready when their pipes need further unclogging."

Euphemisms aside, you must know DIY because other penises will try to undermine you with their own DIY knowledge. Especially contractors who overcharge. If you are fleeced in any DIY-related matter, you are not a man.

This is also perhaps the origin of the phrase "cannot make it" - a man who "can make it" can make ... things. With hands and tools. He probabaly also knows how to instruct the girl on how to rectify a swollen ball-cock.

My biggest regret, I cannot speak dialect. In lup-sup KTVs and Warrant Officer messes, I am the lowest of the low. With contractors, I am a freaking pony with "Kan Me" on my forehead. Why is dialect so important for the Singaporean male? Primarily, it establishes street cred. Denizens from below must look up to you before any female will find you worth apprising. Importantly, also, dialect is crass; crassness establishes contrast, and in contrast we find admiration.

Or at least finish normal BMT like everyone else. Nobody really knows whether OCS or SISPEC is tougher, so you can elide that easily.

If you had a buay gan army life, try not to talk about it at all. Girls know one. They all have "a friend" who was a commando-officer-parakeet. They will compare you like they compare their Prada bag with the other girl's Miu Miu. Don't become an object!

If you were a star in the army, also don't talk too much about it. Girls just want to know that you were good, and that you were not a jellyfish. The rest is still for you to prove - funny, rich, smart etc. Prove it.

Most Singaporean girls have a vague notion that their man should be "successful" or aim for success of some sort. For themselves, they have less concrete ambitions. Use this to your advantage. However, only hint (not talk) about your plans. For instance:

Girl: So, what's next for you?
You: I've had several offers ... well, we'll just see where it goes. I have a pretty clear idea of what I want though.
Girl: What's that?
You: Haha, it will bore you. Let's not talk about me. Do you like baby blue or pink?

Once they know you have "plans", they will stick with you, regardless of what those "plans" are. Make sure you always have "an idea" of what you are going to do. When in doubt, obfuscate and pass off a successful person's life as your own.

This is by far the MOST IMPORTANT ITEM on the list. Singaporean girls like a guy who has "standards". Secretly, the standard for every girl is HERSELF. This is not a cardinal scale, there is no relativity. Instead, on this mystery scale there is THE GIRL IN QUESTION, and then EVERY OTHER FEMALE ON EARTH. She will make cursory concessions for Angelina Jolie and Megan Fox (the latter usually grudgingly), of course, but DO NOT BE FOOLED. She just wants you to think that SHE is the prettiest and THAT IS IT!!!

If, however, you are unable to lie barefacedly, you might want to go with a less extreme approach. You must say that girls SHE LIKES AS PEOPLE are pretty. NEVER SAY THAT PRETTY GIRLS ARE PRETTY! Girls are unable to divorce looks from personality. It would be unwise to do so, therefore, in their presence. A good sample discussion would run as follows:

Girl: Do you think Girl X (ugly but liked) is pretty?
You: Yes, she has a certain je ne sais quoi that I find charming.
Girl: (pleased) Really ah? I think so too! Not like that Girl Y (pretty but disliked).
You: Oh, Girl Y. Cannot make it lah. Act cute buay cute.
Girl: (ready to give you blowjob liao) I ALSO SAY!

Have you ever noticed that girls thought pretty by other girls are really not pretty at all? And hot, sexy girls are almost always labelled "sluts", as if that were a bad thing? Important hint: Do not address the girl on these points. She does not want to confront her inner evolutionary demons.

Well, that's the list. A tall order? Yes, but a worthwhile endeavour, if we are not to lose all our women to the cast of The Last Airbender. We can make it one.

Sunday is drawing to an end and here comes the most dreadful day of the week - Monday *boo*. Not that I don't thank God for every day but like most working adults, I am a sufferer of the Mondy Blue syndrome and to think of it..most of my clothes that I wear on Monday are blue as well.

As I thought about the week that is about to pass. The most talked about topic for the week have been - "The late Mdm Kwa Geok Choo" also known as "Mrs Lee Kuan Yew". Everyday, as I flipped through the papers from Monday-Thursday, there are at least 4-5 pages focusing on her. The love between herself and MM Lee, the love for her children and how supportive she was as a wife to MM Lee. She really is the 进得了厨房，出得了厅堂 kind of women. Seriously, in these days, how many women can actually be like her? As i read all the eulogies, some thoughts stuck me:

1) Approximately 2 years back, I was having a conversation with this guy friend of mine and I asked him "David, for a guy like you, so eligible, what kind of girl do you want as your wife?" The reply he gave me was this "As a man, I have to work hard outside to bring the bread home to support the family. The last thing I want this a wife that is over reliant on me and also I want someone who can cook. You know how it feels that everytime if you have to work late and get home being so tired and yet still have to think of what to eat and not have a satisfying meal?" I guess from his reply i concluded that -> yes, guys still go for looks (i mean must 看的顺眼) but at the end of the day, thats not what matters most. Unless the guy is super shallow. But my advice is - if girls ever meet a guy who's super shallow, DROP HIM LIKE A HOT POTATO!!!

2) Another thing that struck me was this question, when I pass on, what sort of legacy do I want to leave behind? Legacy does not equivalate to riches. But what will people whom I have cross paths with say when I pass on? Or what do I want them to say?

3) Lastly, another thing that struck me was "remember the image whereby MM Lee brought his hands to his lips and planted a kiss onto the forehead of his wife's body lying in the casket - not once, but twice". As we all know, his persona and achievements are larger than life and it was easy for anyone of us to see him as Mr Lee Kuan Yew -the icon, our Minister Mentor as well as the architect of Modern Singapore. But this week, with that image, I once again saw him as a person, just like anyone of us. A human being made of flesh and wired up with emotions.

On the lighter side of this post, I am counting down to Bangkok in 4 days times..woohoo!! Someone was asking me whether it was a holiday and I replied " I am going to boost BKK's GDP!"..hiaks hiaks. But I think the best part of the week is this -> besides this upcoming trip , I'm also going off to Bali next Feb for 3 other gfs and the even better part is -> my air ticket is FREE!

Oh well..4 more days to BKK but just yesterday on the way for my gym, I passed by Charles & Keith and decided to give them a chance and put my foot into the shop. (for those who know, I hardly ever buy Charles & Keith shoes)...As a result of this "wanting to give a chance", this was the resulting damage-->

a new pair of shoes! It was love at first sight! The front part is not the pointed type, its made of BLING BLING and the heel ain't very high as well!