i love to eat, not cook

Living independently, I have come to understand why Mummy always asked what we would like to have for dinner and complained if we failed to indicate any preferences. It is quite a chore to plan the daily dinner menu to cater to everyone’s tastes, but luckily, my entire brood is easy-going. At the same time, I also realise that I am not cut out to be a domestic goddess. I can cope with cooking a meal or two on weekends, but anything more than that, I am probably going to tear my hair out. Right now, whenever I take the initiative to whip up a meal, mr;p still has to show me how to slice meat and vegetables in a better manner or hover around to guide me the steps of cooking a dish. Nonetheless, I am slowly learning how to cook to save myself.

Fried rice with Chinese sausage, my current favourite.

Bag it green

Amazonia Bag 3

Given to my by Piggy and Baoling, the Envirosax bag is one of the best and most useful gifts ever received. It has been a faithful companion in my work bag and comes in very handy whenever I shop for groceries at supermarkets. It’s great to know that my little green acts have rubbed onto those around me. For instance, I’m very heartened to see mum continuing my efforts in sorting domestic waste for recycling and mr;p refusing plastic bags without me prompting him anymore. Thanks Baoling and Piggy once again! I’m thinking of getting a second one.

A Year in Siam

This early July marks my first year anniversary in Thailand. My, isn’t it fast? Before I knew it, I’ve already hit the one year mark here.

Life

Probably due to my familiarity with the country and people, adapting to life here has been quite a breeze. There were occasional bouts of homesickness in the initial months, but the frequency and intensity of such feelings have dwindled to almost nil. The first time that I broke down, mr;p commented, “Silly girl. You Singaporeans live such pampered lives and seldom need to learn how to fend life on your own. Eventually, you will get used to being apart from your family. ” It’s true, I agree with him, and I really enjoyed the subsequent months. This past year has made me more appreciative of Singapore and Thailand at the same time. I miss the convenience, compactness and salaries offered back home, but I heart the messiness, creativity and the opportunities a developing country affords. At the prime of my life now, I relish the feeling of being an adult without much responsibilities yet (err, although payment for that future cosy pad is kicking in this month) – earning my own money, living independently without parents breathing down my neck (actually I do enjoy a lot of freedom back home), spending time with a loved one, flabby but healthy with a zest for exploration. Well, so I better enjoy life here till it’s time to head back home???

Work

Ah, this is an area with mixed feelings. Like any other job, I enjoy some aspects of it while disliking several others. However, I don’t have that much freedom to quit my job anytime I want given the current economic recession and my status as a work permit holder in a foreign country. So, don’t play play. My work appraisal was just over, and well, at least my performance is deemed satisfactory for them to extend my contract for another year. My bosses consider me a native English speaker (that’s quite a joke to me because although I may write better in English, I am at heart a cheena kid who grew up speaking Mandarin!) and I can communicate with them all rather effortlessly. Yet at the same time, I identity more with my fellow Asian colleagues and hobnob with the locals instead of the other expats. At times, I am irritated by the notions of cultural superiority shown by the expatriate bosses. Why am I still complaining when I’m already aware that the company is managed by expats for expats? Asians work differently from the Westerners, but without understanding the cultural differences, Westerners often take the locals’ ’subservience’ as a lack of thinking and confidence. This is even more bewildering and frustrating because some of these guys marry local wives and yet they think they (and their family) are a class above the rest. I am very sensitive to this because I am somewhat sandwiched in between. As a foreigner who received an English-based education, I can comprehend how locals are viewed but at the same time, I am on good terms with the locals. I was reminded that I was on the expat (oh, how I dislike this word) track – a level above the locals and will be given priority for managerial positions in future. My good relationships with the locals might jeopardise my career prospects (who knows?) with this company but I’m not going to pretend to be anyone else but myself.

Food

Food in Thailand definitely deserves a mention. It takes up a predominant part of my life here, as my sporadic Twitter updates can attest to – more than half the updates are spurred by a meal. It’s great that I have no problem with street food, I can imbibe almost everything now. Some of my Thai colleagues are surprised that my palate is pretty much similar to a local’s, if not more accommodating than some picky Thai eaters. Som tom plaa raa, khanom ciin, kaeng som, cim cum, I dig them all to different degrees. Mum likes to say my tolerance for heavy flavours has vastly increased since my love affair with Thailand, for we both like to tuck into simple home-cooked meals with generous dashing of cinchalok and the likes. Once, I used to think that Thai food couldn’t go wrong, but I’m starting to discover a few misses amongst the hits which led mr;p and I to conclude that some vendors simply don’t put their heart into making their food with pride. Anyway, I’m really glad I’m with a guy who’s even less fussy with his food than me and whose eyes light up whenever there’s a mere mention of heading to a particular favourite restaurant or sampling a mouth-watering dish. Heehee. I no longer harbour any hopes of slimming down or trimming my appetite to match a Thai girl’s.

Waggy tails and tales

Ever since I came over to Thailand, having a pet dog is one of the experiences I would love to have, never mind that simple, brainless pets such as goldfish have died on me before. In the past, I used to be a bit wary whenever street dogs walked past me, but now, I wouldn’t mind adopting an abandoned puppy if I have the chance. I have given names to all the street dogs that littered the 300-m path between the apartment and BTS Station. I even noticed their characteristics and pointed them out to mr;p, for instance, how Gold always sleeps with one leg out while Whitey crosses her paws while resting on the floor. It doesn’t help that the neigbouring house has got some huskies and I hear the yelps of puppies almost every morning, fanning the desire to have a dog of my own.

Yesterday, I witnessed one of the most amazing doggy sights along the streets – a coupling dog pair in a knotting position. Pardon me if I sound ignorant, but having spent most of my life in a HDB flat without a pet (turtles and fishes don’t quite count), I never knew about the finer knowledge of dog breeding. Not until mr;p offered this piece of interesting information about the dog knot to me and I googled about it. Anyway, it was rather hilarious to see with my own eyes the pair, or rather, the threesome. Another male dog kept hovering around the mating duo, I presumed that it was desperately waiting for the knotted male to come out so that it could have a go at the bitch (ouch!). The knotting pair inched slowly along the pavement while cars whizzed by and no passer-bys seemed interested except me.

I doubt I will have a dog soon. My current apartment has a ‘no pets’ policy and I don’t think it’s fair to own a dog with our limited time and space when we move to our new apartment next year. So till I own my house…

departures | okuribito

One of my favourite weekend activities in Bangkok is to watch indie films. Besides the cheaper ticket prices (100B as compared to >120B for the commercial theaters), a trip to any of the art film theaters is a walk down memory lane, particularly if one opts for the Apex cinemas (Lido/Scala/Siam) in Siam Square.

Entering Scala’s premises, one is greeted by a marble stairway that spirals up to the second floor. The cinema still features the old style of booking tickets – bored aunties sitting behind the counters will whip out A3-sized seating plans before scribbling the seat numbers and tearing the tickets from the booklets. The ushers, mostly middle-aged uncles dressed in bright yellow suit coats, will use a torchlight to beam the way to your seats. Lovely retro experience, isn’t it?

Yesterday, mr;p and I had a nice afternoon watching Departures (Okuribito) which finally opened in Thailand at Scala. It is quite a charming film and unlike Tangtang who is obsessed with the male lead playing the cello, I’m more intrigued by the Japanese ‘nokanshi’ ritual of preparing the deceased for their final journey in this world. Watch it if you haven’t.

P.S. Tangtang and piggy brother, I’ve collected the chirashis for you guys too!

viral marketing gone awry

This morning at work, one of the travel trade press releases caught my eye today. Intrigued, I decided to pursue the story. Nowadays, almost every company is caught on the viral marketing wave (including the company of yours truly and I have been tasked to explore this avenue), and everyone is keen to leverage on the marketing opportunities that social networking sites promise. However, if utilised in the wrong way, it can become a dirty big deal. I am simply bewildered at how the PR agency and the CEO can devise and approve such a distasteful marketing campaign in the first place. You don’t need any marketing guru, or anyone, to tell you that poking fun at locals to advance one’s business is a very big no-no. It may be a case accidental Orientalism, but to me it’s more of cultural insensitivity which some expatriates are guilty of despite the years spent in the host society. As they said, one’s man’s meat is another man’s poison, or in this case, one man’s satire is another man’s insult!

Little Nest

When mr;p and I stumbled upon S&S Sukhumvit by chance, we both just went ‘ahhhh’. The apartment layout is much better than the ones in the same league we had viewed so far. Located at Sukhumvit 101/1, it is still within walking distance to the soon-to-be-opened BTS stations and a street away from Udomsuk (Sukhumvit Soi 103), one of my favourite food streets in Bangkok. Most importantly, the price is still within our budget.

Initially, we like the 2-bedroom unit very much and was adamant on getting it. With a kind reminder from mr;p’s boss to start small and not to be too ambitious, both of us thought it through and decided to go for the 1-bedroom unit instead. Although we can still afford to pay for the monthly installments for a bigger unit, it means stretching our finances to the limits. To console ourselves, mr;p offered a Thai idiom which literally translates as ‘a small bird should build a nest that fits its size’, so we better opt for something affordable and not live beyond our means for now. Anyway, this is going to become an investment unit in several years’ time and is definitely not our retirement nest. I am still penning for a house with a garden and a dog in future. Heehee.

Developed by TCC Capitaland, S&S Sukhumvit is a Thai-Singapore joint investment (how fitting, haha). According to the development plan outlined, there will be plenty of green spaces for recreation (considered a rarity amongst Bangkok properties) and use of eco-friendly technologies throughout the property. I really hope the developers stay true to their words. The fully-furnished condo is expected to be completed by end 2010. Meanwhile, we have to exercise more prudent spending as we have to start paying the installments while renting a place from next month onward.

Here’s a preview of how our humble abode may look like.

Pictures taken from S&S Sukhumvit website.

Sharing a life

I like the way this article was titled – ‘Sharing a life‘. It reflected on an emerging societal trend without the moralistic undertones.  For people who are quick to judge others who live together as ‘with loose morals’, think again. I dare say most couples have engaged in different degrees of cohabitation in their lives, even spending a night together (I don’t care what happens or didn’t happen behind closed doors) is considered a limited kind of cohabitation, isn’t it? Haha.

In the past, I never thought I would be living with my boyfriend one day. After meeting mr;p and eventually relocating to Thailand, living together became a natural and practical decision. Instead of saying we are ‘testing it out’, it’s more like a final check and confirmation before we proceed to the next step. It made us more prepared for marriage, and in a much more realistic manner. We don’t have the kind of ‘live happily ever after’ expectations for the future; our time together thus far gives us the opportunity to assess and understand each other’s characters, spending habits, needs etc.

In fact, sharing a life with mr;p over the past ten months has been a very enjoyable journey. There’s always someone to discuss the day’s happenings and thoughts with over dinner. Rather than discovering his bad points, I uncover more of his merits (although I’m not sure if the same can be said of me for him). Having left his family for many years to pursue his education and career, I find in him a sense of maturity, sensibility and independence not shown by many Singaporean males.

I asked mr;p if he would allow our children to live together with their partners before marriage. We both agree that we won’t object as long as they have finished their education and are earning their own money.

Ophidiophobia

Just a few weeks back, I read in Bangkok Post that snakes are found throughout the Thai capital, even in the city centre. That got me a bit worried as there are some green patches and canals around my place which seem like potential nesting sites for these ugly creatures (I’m sorry snake-lovers but I simply cannot stand them).

In case you do not know, I have a phobia of snakes, big and small. It was rather bad when I was young, to the extent mummy had to cover up snake images in my books with pieces of paper, even if they were just pictures of cartoon snakes. Now that I am grown up, the phobia seems to have gotten a bit better. Despite feeling squeamish, I can at least tolerate images of snakes on tv and magazines. I think this phobia can be traced back to my kampung days. I remember several ‘encounters’ with snakes: I overheard mummy saying she was worried snakes would crawl into our room; she spotted a snake while I was taking a dump in the wooden shack one day and I saw my male relatives holding a gunny sack with a snake inside. I had never for once seen a real snake in those days, but all these were enough to leave a scary impression on my young mind and a lasting phobia to this day.

Anyway, I digress.

Yesterday, my worst nightmare came true. I spotted a dead snake at the entrance to my soi. A small green one with gaping mouth, probably ran over by a vehicle. I was terrified. It gave me the jitters. Imagine a snake near your residence, never mind it being dead or small. It was enough to scare the daylights out of me. This morning, I skirted around the area, trying very hard to avoid getting close to it. But out of the corner of my mind, I still saw it lying there. Groans. I wished that some stray dog would drag the snake far off, or some pigeon would peck it and finish it off. According to mr;p, the snake was already gone this evening.

I really hope so….

penangnite relatives

Jiu jiu & family. He’s only a year younger than my mum, but looks young for his age. I hope youthful looks run in the family.

Ci En, the second of the three girls. More tomboyish than the other two, she’s a little blur at times.

Mr;p and Ke Ting played with a door that stood in the middle of nowhere in Gurney Plaza.

Ke Ting, the youngest of the lot, is shy but mischievous.

4 cute girls with ice cream cones.