View from Baiyoke Sky Hotel, Bangkok

We stayed here for about 5 days; exploring bangkok (and yes, not the usual fast-paced business meetings!).
What can we say about Baiyoke Sky Hotel ?

We wanted to be near the Pratunam wholesale shopping area and be on a level high enough to se the whole city of Bangkok — then this is the place that we have chosen (it rises up to 84 floors and also the tallest building in Thailand).

the journey back home…

The feeling of being back at home in less than two weeks are slowly overtaking our daily thoughts; we should just grab a cab and run away all the way back home, with our widest grins ever!

We haven’t been back to kampung for quite a while now — and will make a point to share some of the photos we would be taking. We certainly expect a few changes in Tambunan — well, there should be. We dont know what, but we expect something. The last time I was in Toboh, I found out that almost every household has one or more less people; some had passed on and most of the younger ones are drawn to bigger towns.

.. and we are not sure if these three doggies are still accompanying my mom to the paddy fields.

.. what would it be like this time around?

EDIT: We went back on the 20th June instead.
My mom’s only brother passed away. He was the favorite uncle and he probably would have said this:

You can shed tears that I’ve gone or you can smile because I’ve lived.
You can close your eyes and pray that I’ll come back
or you can open your eyes and see all I’ve left.

Your heart can be empty because you can’t see me
or you can be full of the love we shared.
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday
or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.

You can remember me and only that I’ve gone
or you can cherish my memory and let it live on.
You can cry and close your mind, be empty and turn your back or you can do what I’d want: smile, open your eyes, love and go on.

yes, we’ve made one!

Sunday 2:30pm — at cyberjaya, slightly drizzling outside; cool weather.

2:34pm: an idea to make our own lighbox popped out! So here we go.

• one Antonius frame ~ RM20, we bought this about 2 months back from IKEA Damansara (with the bag) Oppss.. that was Sarah’s laundry bag that became the victim. Only needed the frame, so the bag has to go.
• 4 pieces of white flourescent bulbs (we use 4 because each is only 8Watts, we need to have at least 15Watts on each sidelightings) ~ 4 x RM12/each = RM48.
• 4 pieces of white strawboard panel ~ RM6.50/each, from Tesco Puchong
• cable ties (you can buy one bag from Tesco outlets, maybe about RM0.10/pc but Tesco actually sells this in a big packet eventhough you’ll only be needing about 40 pieces to tie the strawboards on the antonius frame)
• Total cost ~ RM150.00

Sarah’s antonius laundry bag was the victim!	The frame was just perfect at W38xD35, H67cm dimension
8Watts white flourescent lightbulbs. The white background is the strawboard.

You’ll just need to affix all the strawboards onto the 5 sides of the box frame: you’ll need cable tie for this. Fix two flourescent lights on each sides of the box. Once all is fixed, you can then use a white paper as the background. And here is the final product.

And muffin too.

Total time taken: slightly over 1 hour.

Results? You’ll be the judge.

LOOK AT SOME OF THE PHOTOS WE HAVE TAKEN FROM THIS SUPER ZENOED LIGHTBOX HOME STUDIO!

Runny NOSE

Half empty or half full?

A slap from Dave Blazek — Loose Parts.

We learned today that living life in extrovert is more meaningful. We may be bias, but enjoying people around us can be more gratifying. No matter what your views of life are, the good thing is that: that can be changed for the better.

So how to change a negative habit?

Knowing that you have the power to change, and knowing that the more you give and get from others, the more positives our life experiences be; and be on top of things (which is satisfying). Be positive!

Travelling to Hanoi, Nov 2010

A place that we have never been to before: so it is rightful that we are extremely excited just to think about how we would spend a weekend in Hanoi and exploring the caves around Halong Bay!

As usual, we will just fly there and arrange everything on our own — cant find this freedom from agents.

Travelphotos will be posted are in Travelphotos.

Above: an early morning @Halong Bay.

Beijing Olympic 2008

Yes — we will be in Beijing for Olympic 2008. This is certainly going to be an exciting trip and be part of the Olympic Games.

We’ll be meeting with Fuwa, the official Beijing Olympic mascots, with the five friendly characters carrying the message of friendship and peace. So, say hello to Beibei (fish), Jingjing (panda), Huanhuan (olympic flame), Yingying (tibetian antelope) and Nini (swallow).

You can read more about Fuwa here: http://en.beijing2008.cn/spirit/beijing2008/graphic/n214068254.shtml

We’ve just got the tickets and hotel confirmation; and getting ready to apply for visa.
We certainly will share the Olympic 2008 travelphotos here.. soon.

Cheers.

muffinpod

muffin is having an early nap on her new pod.

Its INCOME TAX time in the city!

I’ll resort to fast food, the money was just drained out even faster!

Yes — it’s time to pay your taxes. The closing date of April 30th is drawing closer. So if you have not submitted your tax form (Borang BE) or have yet to do it online at IRB website, do it :-)

Boredworkers did some extended articles on how to be good citizen and pay your taxes.

Cat pedestal: a special one for muffin!

We bought her a new cat pedestal today!

It looks like a stool, which is really a scratching post and bed all in one place. The pedestal has a carpeted base and cat bed, and about 2-ft scratching pole. It also has a softball attached to the bottom of the cat bed area for Muffin to play with.

The top of the living room sofa was her earlier favorite — but now this has completely changed.

Muffin loves this cat bed so much, we are now getting worried that she may become lazier; being so comfortable sleeping on the cat bed.

it’s her proud moment

It's mine!

Today was a special day. At 7:36pm, muffin came back home with a proud posture! She was wiggling the lifeless bird and somehow “presented” it to us.She was meowing so loud which we understood later that she was trying to get our attention to go see her inside the study room.
We finally did and there she was — showing her skill around the lifeless bird and perhaps was telling us:

look, look, look!! — here is my hard-won bounty, I got it with my own bare hands, I climbed many steep mounds and lots of tall grass, and I walked along many broken tree branches — just to capture this!”.

She is certainly behaving so proud — and she should be: this is her first REAL catch as the house lizards wont count.

Instead of throwing the carcass away and hurting muffin’s feeling, we graciously and very proudly accepted her present.. and by hugging her, to acknowledge that she is now a real headhunter (oppss.. bird hunter?) and is now welcomed as part of the family (ps: we kadazans were once headhunters and we were not the evil ones, hahaha).

To peak up the moment of her proudness, Sarah assumed the role of defeathering and roasting the tweetie-alike: a special dinner for muffin – on a ceramic plate!

We are so proud of her!

Just to make if clear to all animal lovers just like us: we certainly will try our best to revive any injured animals, including birds, and try to get the injured animal immediate medical attention.  It is always a difficult moment to see any animal die especially in the jaws of pets… this was one particular time when the bird was already dead.

on wireless road

Views from room 1702, Athenee Place, Bangkok.

A great stay that comes with a high price tag. Of course, the room is very comfortable, peaceful and large! The hotel is just a block from the Pleonchit MRT station (seen in the 2nd photo above, called skytrain station??) and about 4 mins walk from shopping malls (Central & Siam Paragon & MBK, including All Seasons Place, Tops) and 10mins to Bangkok’s famous Suan Lum night bazaar !

The food? I tried a steamed garoupa fish — hard and not really tasty.

So, other than the room service food which was below expectation, the hotel is a great place to stay.