Pat Pong (Bangkok Trip)

Patpong is a night market with a bit of...hmmm raciness? Anyway, too bad i didn't bring my camera cos i really didn't want to have to keep a constant grip on it while looking around for bargains so you'll have to take my word for it on this one.

Lots of stalls there but only really a few tyes of merchandise. Rolexes, branded bags and accessories, wooden arts and crafts, t-shits and flesh flashing.

Sex shows... It's pretty interesting with each bar's sales executive standing outside their respective establishments brandishing scrawls, of women in different positions, into your face. No worries if u're with female company, they "got guys too!". Something for everyone. And if you wanted a bit of both at the same time, no problemo, plenty of men turned women. Oh, and they also like asking you, "ping pong, banana?" Apparently some of the women in there can launch ping pong balls, from certain orifices, into the air. Think i'm exaggerating now (i hope at least).

Of course some of the shows were a little more innocent. A lot of the bars have their doors left open so you can see all the ladies dancing on the centrepiece table inside. They tend to put their best looking ones near the door. Kinda like the zhao pai cai i guess. We saw a couple of awesome chicks. Not like big boobs or something but just plain sexy and pretty. There's just something about seeing a whole bunch of scantily clad, awesome looking chicks wearing matching bikinis gyrating on a giant table. I still vaguely remember that the best one we saw wore a gold bikini in an establishment where all the other girls wore blue with pink lining bikinis.

Of course there were the ugly ones too. We saw a joint with this fat, auntie looking, woaen in a skimpy black bikini dancing! *shudder* errrkks.

Ok, on to more interesting things. Like how when u want to buy something, you should start haggling at around 50% of the price. Or even less. Like when we bought a few vases. Initially, the girl wanted B$650 for each but we just threw in a cheeky retort of B$100 and she actually lowered it to B$250! From there, we eventually settled on B$150. Bet she would have sold it to us for B$100 if we started the bidding lower. Anyway, you can never get the absolute lowest price possible. The way i look at it, i'll reckon how much i'm willing to pay for and item and stick to that amount. This way, i'm satisfied and they get to make a couple of bucks. No point haggling like mad over a difference of cents in Sing dollars.

ok... more tomorrow :)

TukTuk (Go-Kart Racing, Bangkok Style)

After shopping at MBK, i just couldn't resist having a ride on a tuktuk to bring us back to our hotel.

I had the ride of my life! The driver must be some Formula One wannabe and it was amazing how he could race between gaps tighter than a fly's arse! Zipping here and there, once or twice i thought we were going to flip over! Never a dull moment as we shot down main roads, through tight single lane "One Way" roads that had, through the discretion of locals, become two way streets, and two way streets that had become "One Way" cos our wonderful race car driver decided to zip around a whole line of fellow tuktuk drivers. Kinda like when u play Daytona and see a whole big pile up and u swerve around and between them them. The next day, we actually saw a tuktuk rear up ala the Mastercard ad with Pierce Brosnan! Incredible. The plumpish Ang Moh lady in the thing must have gotten the shock of her life!



"We're here Mr Borsnaan"

As exciting as the ride was, there was also an irritating side to it. We were taken for a total ride as in we circled our hotel in a route much like how a spider web is spun. Round and round we went, even though we could already see our hotel no more than 3 blocks away.

Soon, i wasn't making fun remarks in the ride anymore but instead looking out and up to try and find our hotel. That was when the driver decided that he was pushing his luck already and delivered us back to the hotel. It was telling that he didn't want to drop us right at the door, prolly cos he wanted to rip us off and didn't want the concierge to overhear the exchange and rescue us! Anyway, it cost us B$51 to get to the shopping centre from our hotel but this tuktuk fellow wanted to charge us B$100! At first we started bargaining and i told him i was giving him B$40, which he assumed was my starting position to bargain. Well, how wrong he was, "here is 40, take it or leave it."

I'm sure i've alreayd paid over the odds for the ride, but that's what the ride was worth that to me i reckon. Great excitement but with lots of carbon monoxide fumes followed by a bit of haggling. Ok lah!

To save a penny...

Ran around a bit today in prep for my weekend trip to Bangkok.

First errand was to get some Baht... The rate at the money changer in PS was 23.5 baht per S$ but somehow the guy's demeanour just put me off. Felt that i could prolly get a better rate elsewhere. Of course it didn't occur to me at that time that the difference in rate will be so miniscule that even expanding energy to walk to another money changer would make it not worth while.

Nonetheless, i was sure Sim Lim Square (SLS) had money changers so i headed there with smoe degree of optimism. No i didn't make the trip there solely to change money. Had to get a bigger capacity compact flash (cf) card for my camera.

Before i go any further, let me explain my view on cf cards. Like my view on cars, there need be nothing flashy, so long as it works, it's fine with me. For a car, get me from Point A to Point B. For the cf card, fit into my camera and store the pictures fine. I don't care how fast a car can or cannot go. How much time could you save driving a Ferrari instead of a Nissan Micra? Ok, there are other considerations but you get my idea. Same thing with CF cards, i don't need it to read and write at the speed of sound lah.

First shop i went into, no joy, he had a few makes of 1 GB cf cards. He had a BMW and Honda Civic version which cost $229 and $180 respectievly. Knew from some prior research courtesy of Sharon and Roy that a 1 GB cf card could be gotten for as little as $150. Second shop i went into, there was this old beng who tried to tell me that cf cards cannot get for so cheap one lah, "if got, i also go and buy ah!". Well, the 3rd shop i went to was right next to his and that is where i got my 1 GB cf card for an initial price of $155. After a casual "Can cheaper or not?", he reduced it to $152 on condition that i pay cash. Ok, some of you in the know will say that i could prolly have gotten it for $145 or something like that but see, the person was helpful, unlike the first two shops. So i didn't feel like i had to go into full confrontational mode and haggle for a couple of dollars more off. Which brings me back to money changing.

Right off the bat, i saw a money changer that quoted 23.7 Baht per S$ on his electronic sign board. Better than PS already! Anyway, we all know that the quotes on the boards leave some room for wobble. So i asked what rate he could give me if i changed $xyz with him. This is the part i don't understand. He faces the calculator away from me and starts tapping out a whole series of numbers then shows me the magic figure of... 23.7! WTF, why bother with all the tapping? Anyway, i left him and his tappy fingers to go look for better.

Found another with a quoted rate of 23.75! By then i had had about enough running around to save a few cents so i just rocked up to his window and said my piece. ALAMAK! He had no more Baht. Sheesh.... *swallow* my pride and head back to the 23.7 tapper lor!

Think the God of Bargains, if there were one, must have taken pity on me cos when i asked the same guy what rate he can give me, he quoted me 23.8. What the hell is happening?? This was the guy i asked no more than 10 minutes earlier! And this time he didn't even tap on his calculator!

Tapping aside, i also don't understand the thing where they tape one cent coins to the calculator. HUH?! Can someone in the know explain it to me?

Exercise Walk Turned Pasar Malam Raid

From Sunday....

J and i were supposed to do some exercise in the arvo with tennis but it was so darn hot, we decided to swim... or at least i swam while she conveniently plonked herself on a pool side chair to read.

The i managed to persuade her to take a walk with me to Bukit Batok Nature Park. So off we went. Until i told her about a pasar malam along the way and silly me volunteered info that i brought money in case we got tired and wanted to take a bus or cab home.

"You brought money?", she asked, then, "Let's go to the pasar malam!"

"ohh okay... hope it is still there", i sighed.

Thankfully it was still there. Not so thankfully, my diet flew out the window. Between the two of us, we had:
3 goreng pisang
2 sweet potato slices
2 Taiwanese sausies
1 ice lemon tea
1 bottle of bandung
1 Ramly burger

When J saw a muslim stall with a hot frying pan she excitedly said, "Eh! Ramly burgers!?"

i looked high and low for a sign with "Ramly Burgers" but there was none. Upon closer inspection, the sign had been taped over with some generic burger sticker. Turns out the meat is not exactly sanctioned by the health authorities here.

Anyway, i've never had a Ramly burger before but this won't be the last tmie i'm having it, even if i have to spill my guts out the next day. It's kinda like a nasi goreng pataya beef patty. What u have is a beef patty, half slice of cheese and black pepper sauce all wrapped up in an egg ommy. They also hot press (there must be a right way of saying it) the buns so the burger is hot all around and not just the patty like in maccas. Absolutely delicious!

Turns out J is damn yim chim about the goreng pisang she likes and thankfully the ones we got were the right type. She gobbled 2 while i had just 1 :) Oh, i had both sweet potato slices too.

Thing i hate about pasar malams is that the food they sell is ALWAYS freaking unhealthy. It's like a nightmare for someone trying to watch his weight. Just couldn't help myself and grabbed a couple of taiwanese sausies on the way out. J only had half of hers so i ended up having one and a half. Felt totally bloated later and i just know what i ate will take at least 5000km of jogging to work off. At which after 500m, i'll prolly come across another pasar malam and go into more arrears.

So much for exercise.

Supper Trooper...

My favourite food place since coming back, all hail Al Ameen!

This place has it all! Tomyum soup that is too hot to drink, mutton chop that swims in oil and overflowing with peas (SICK SICK SICK), prata that is a little stale and nasi goreng pataya that is greasier than a slick haired old beng in a singlet. Love it or hate it, i just have to go there once every couple of days. hmmm... must be cos its 2 minutes walk from my place. Oh, also cos i'm too darn lazy to open the tin of milo i have at home to make milo peng. Have to go there and order milo dinosaur.

When i first found out from my sister that this place opened, i was overjoyed and couldn't wait to cmoe back from NY to give them their year end bonuses. Then my sister told me that they weren't doing too well and looked like closing down soon. *fear* gripped my heart and a giant boulder of a stone hit the pit of my stomach. Cue the above again when on the first day i got back, the shutters were closed on what was supposed to be a 24 hour prata place! Horror! And i feared the worst cos no restaurant in that row has ever survived for too long. Cooks and chefs alike who thought they could hack it here have come and gone over the years.

Fast forward to present day...

My enterprise of the year nominee...

As sleepy as it looks now, it does a roaring trade at night. To the extent that they're a victim of their own success. See the people eating prata are so noisy that the residents have complained and the shop has to be closed between the hours of 0030 and 0630. What inconsiderate gits! And i mean the residents! hehe

Can't blame them really, cos there seems to be an inordinate number of girls who insist on eating there even though they are terrified of cats. Not just you Amy :P Once, this girl jumped back off her chair when a cat ( i assume) walked under her chair and brushed her leg with its tail. The shriek was... earth shattering, it certainly drowned out the sound of the chair she sent flying several feet. Her scream was promptly reinforced by the screams of her 3 similarly faint hearted companions.

The last night there was this 50 something guy wearing a NUS shirt thing. Must be some Alumni thing. Anyway, he came and announced to the Indian shareholders (more about this later) that he needed tables for 15 odd people. Like some big event that he was organizing for the benefit of the shop. *roll eyes* Couldn't make up his mind where he wanted to sit, inside, outside, inside, combine this table with that, that table with this, make the mahmahs move tables all over the place. Hemust have owned a furniture shop sometime before.

Anyway, i couldn't wait to get out of there before the group of oldies started reminiscing about how they had prata at this place and that last time. *shudder*, can't imagine myself doing the same 60 years down the road and having some young runt sneer at me.

3am last night, Mr Ang Yanen messaged me to go out for supper cos he didn;t wanna eat alone. Crazy bugger actually drove all the way to my place from MacRitchie area. How to refuse like that? Ended up at the Al Ameen along Bukit Timah Road. As for Indian shareholders of that place, seems like a family business. Saw one of the waiters (for lack of a better word) that looked a striking resemblence to another at the Chu Lin Rd branch. Turns out they are cousins.

Last time i'll dirnk Tom Yum soup absentmindedly man. Bit into one of those green chilli things and the whole left side of my mouth burnt. It only got better after i doused it with 3 teh pengs. *Sugar Overload*.... Diabetes coming right up! Anyway, we talked the usual stuff about the usual suspects. Did u see this person or that recently? Did Jass call you?!! She took my number then never called once when she came back (Yes Jass, YOU!)... haha... You're gonna have to give lots of dinners to sooth friends u didn't call.

Piang, word overrun already. That's all for now.

Tennis!

Been a while since i had so much fun at tennis :)

Every Tuesday, my uncle invites me over to his condo for tennis where i get to play heaps. Opponents are mostly people that i could call "Uncle X" and "Auntie X". But they all play a mean game. What they lack in speed and power, they make up for in placing and court positioning. I'm ALWAYS scurrying for balls....front...back...left...right... Have to say they are a lot lot nicer when off the court :P

Last week, we had a Mooncake Festival potluck thing on the court. Ooops, i didn't bring anything though, was just told to "come hungry" hehe... most popular for me was a box of cut fruits, particularly the jackfruit. There was also bee hoon, chicken wings, mua chi, ice cream mooncake (became milkshake mooncake), homemade mooncake, wine (what the?! Resulting in more shots than usual going awry :P)... the list goes on. It was a feast. But i had to work my lard ass off for it. haha, near the end, two "jie jie"s, as the younger aunties want to be called, wanted to hit somemore and i was fine to knock some shots back to them. What was supposed to be a relaxed hit about ended up with me being pushed all over the court. Surrender man, next day i couldn't walk up and down stairs properly!

Back to today. Had a swim before tennis and man, did it make a difference. Shoulders were loose, muscles were well warmed up. Shiok man, serves were going in, even decent 2nd serve ones...

Until i double faulted 2 in a row...thankfully, on the 4th bad serve, the ball found its way through an open door, out of the court and down some stairs... Away from me.

Wonder if i can keep this level up... Think i'll swim just before tennis again next week. Oh, and maybe get some Elliman's in case i get shuttled around the court by meanie aunties :P hehe

Time Out

Sorry for the break in service guys. Just haven't been doing too much that I wanna broadcast to the world. Let alone have others help me broadcast it further. Well having people broadcast it further isn't quite as bad as having people speculate about things they don't know then pass them off as quasi fact. Soon Martians will be asking me questions about my plan to enslave their planet! (WTF am i on about anyway?! Hehe, feel free to speculate)


It's a jungle out there!

Those who wanna know what what's been happening in my space, just drop me a message on icq or catch me on MSN, if u can.

Later for now... (huh?!)