Friday fiesta...

After three weeks of living in Bangkok, I finally had a proper Friday nightout.

Muchas gracias to the girls Tamara and Kristen for letting me crash their Friday fiesta. Haha!

Today was a good day...

Thank you, Lordy.

Finding a piece of "Japan" in Bankoku...

I have a little bit more time today.

First order of the day was church. Afterwards, I went to Silom to get some stuff done at Starbucks. After that, I walked around trying to look for a salon. Hmm, I decided to be a cheapo and skipped getting a haircut. Hehe! I couldn't get myself to pay $20 for a haircut when I only $12 in Singapore.

I headed back after a quick lunch. The bed was so inviting that I ended up having a nap for about an hour. In the evening, I did a bit of exploring and ended up in Phrom Phong station. Omg, that station felt like I was in Japan. Well, not the station but the mall right outside of the station.

Seriously, it felt Ginza-ish. Hehe!

I think I'll be back next weekend...

Nice cafe near the apartment...

With more free time this weekend, I found time to squeeze in a nice brunch.

There's a brunch cafe place a stone's throw away from my apartment. I'm kicking myself for visiting the cafe just now.

The cafe serves a wonderful breakfast, and most of all, it's pocket-friendly!

Waffles with strawberry preserve, omelette with toast, and a yum latte - total was about $15 only! So shiok!

Gotta love Bangkok!

My very own personal SQ FA...

I got the above comment in my IG yesterday...

Whoopppeeee!

Oh happy day!

Hello again, TWC...

Because I had such a good day, I went for The Wine Connection again. Lol!

While I'm here in Bangkok, I'm going to take advantage of TWC. I'm getting the same quality of food I get in SG for half the price! How awesome is that! :P

Second night this week that I masturDATED. Haha! I think I'm already used to it.

Good food plus a glass of vino.

I'm not complaining.

What a Monday...

What a Monday!

The activity I planned for today didn't go as smoothly as I hoped it would.

Hmm, the team lead of the volunteer team said it was okay. I guess I was just being too hard on myself.

When the day ended, I planned to just head home, get my laundry and have a simple dinner.

On my way to Si Lom MRT, I saw a Wine Connection at Si Lom Complex. I checked out the menu and the price was half the price in Singapore! I decided to have my usual Wine Connection order, which is bolognese. It was just as good as the one I always have in Singapore. I also had a glass of vino, just because.

Sigh, I hope the rest of the week goes better.

Bernice is in town...

Sunday was definitely the highlight of the weekend.

I didn't have much of a weekend at all as I was just cooped up in the apartment working on my activities for next week. Seriously, I didn't think I could spend an entire day working on what I thought was a simple task.

Anyway, the best thing about the weekend was seeing Bernice. She is in town for work.

Unfortunately, we couldn't hang out for long as I had to get back to the apartment. She had to get back to her hotel to prep for work.

We met up at Siam Paragon and had lunch at a Japanese rice curry place. For dessert, I had her try the mango sticky rice at the Siam Paragon Food Court, which she liked.

Nice Sunday.

Dinner with fellow OFW JC...

The highlight of the day was dinner with a fellow OFW, JC.

JC has been living in Bangkok for a few years now. Having been in the city for about 7 days, I was more than happy to see someone I've known for a few years now. Hehe.

He told me to meet him at Terminal 21. It was my first time at the mall. Haha! It was my first time to reach that station.

I've heard of the mall though. Looks okay.

JC took me to a Thai restaurant where we had a superb dinner! He was also kind enough to lend me his wifi for the mall. Yay!

It was a good Friday night.

The activity went well again...

This afternoon, I led my second activity for the group. I thought it was just as okay as the first one. My team mates thought today was better. Our volunteer manager thought there was also progress in how we led our activities today.

Hmm, to be honest, I thought I improved in some areas but I'm sure I still have a lot to improve on.

I was happy with my time management and classroom management. There were also a few magic moments during the activity. By magic moments, I mean some of the things that I planned didn't happen but quick thinking saved my a**. Haha!

We had a new girl in the group, a Palestinian girl. Yesterday, we had a Palestinian boy. He didn't show up today though.

The highlight of the day though was when one of the Japanese ladies in the group approached me after the activity and told me that she enjoyed the activity and found it interesting.

That made my heart melt. To be honest though, she is an inspiration to me.

She is already in her 70s but she is still actively engaging in the program. She could stay home and live a relaxed life but she chooses to make good use of her time. That's really inspiring!

Meanwhile, it's sweltering in Bangkok. Singapore is hot, but man, Bangkok is turning out to be hotter. There isn't a day that goes by that I am not sweaty even before the day starts. I'm not complaining though.

It's a good week.

The activity went well...

I led my first activity this afternoon and it was generally good! The volunteer manager gave good feedback (both positive and things to improve on, for which I was grateful.)

As I mentioned yesterday, I had a late night. I slept a little past midnight preparing materials for the activity this afternoon.

This morning, I was running in my head the conduct of the activity. After lunch, I was already calm and just waiting for the activity to start.

The group was an interesting one. There were Japanese, Thai, Chinese, and Somali nationals in the group. It was a really small group, which made it easy to manage and run the activity.

What other people said was right! Once you get the first activity over with, it increases your confidence and encourages you to do better with the other activities.

I went home this evening with a happy smile on my face. After having my dinner, I started preparing for a second activity. However, I decided that I will not have a late night tonight.

That will be my reward for doing well this afternoon.

And so it begins...

Today was the first day of the volunteer activity.

For a first day, there were a lot of things that happened, a lot of things to take in.

I met quite a number of people from different countries and backgrounds. There is another Filipino in the group to my pleasant surprise.

By the time the activities today ended, I will admit that I was overwhelmed. Tomorrow, I will be leading the first of eight activities. Each one of us in the team is expected to do the same. I'm nervous because my team mates are all experienced in the field.

However, I had to remind myself again and again that this is not a competition with other members of the team. The only one I'm competing with is myself. Haha! In fact, two of my team mates who are also leading activities tomorrow were helpful in giving suggestions how I can lead the activity.

If I can just get over the first activity tomorrow in one piece, I know the rest of the activities will go well.

Tonight will be a very late night.

Relaxed Sunday...

Today was a relaxed day.

I didn't really have any plans except for two things - I wanted to go to Mass and I wanted to go for a hot flow class.

Last night, I did a bit of research regarding the church that I wanted to visit. Apparently, while there are many churches in Bangkok, not all have an English Mass. I found one church which seemed near to Lumphini station. However, I was sure that it was not within walking distance.

The Mass was at 830. I left the house at 730. I usually arrive at church early because I want to do my other prayers.

As it turns out (and what a nice surprise again!), the church was near! It only cost me 50 baht! And the church is beautiful! I loved how it has traces of Thai architecture references. The altar itself has the feel of a Coronation room.

The service was nice. And I wasn't surprised that the choir was most Filipino. Haha!

After the Mass, I took a cab again. I told the Uncle to bring me to Lumphini MRT. Instead, he took me to Si Lom MRT! Haha! It was great though because 1.) I now know I can jog around Lumphini Park and exit at Si Lom; 2.) I didn't have to take the MRT. I can just walk to Sala Daeng for the BTS.

I had to go back to Siam and Chitlom to check out some stuff. I didn't stay long because it was too damn hot. Hahaha!

So I headed back to the apartment and rested for a bit.

Around 330, I headed out and walked to where the gym was. I figured I'll hang at Starbucks for awhile before heading to the gym. I can do some reading while I'm there.

Class was at 6PM. I was at the gym by 5PM. The gym was spacious. It has a view of the CBD (I think) and Lumphini Park. I went for the Hot Flow class. It was in Thai! Hahaha! I should've told the instructor that I can't understand Thai but I dunno. I didn't want to be a hassle to others I guess. I managed to follow the class although I wasn't as focused because I had to keep looking at my neighbor.

Still, it was good!

It was so good that I rewarded myself with a nice dinner of pad thai. Hehe! Well, it was just my second meal for the day so I guess, it's okay. ;)

Sawadeeka, Bangkok...

The plane touched down at Suvarnabhumi Airport 5 minutes before 2PM. It arrived 20 minutes ahead of schedule. However, there were other carriers that landed resulting in a massive queue at immigration.

I finally got out of the airport close to 3PM. To get to the AirBNB place, I took a cab.

The only time I have been to Bangkok was in early 2003. It was a trip with the first ex. Since it was so long ago, I don't remember a lot about Bangkok. I don't even remember which airport we landed at and how we got to the hotel. I only remember certain things. Lol!

Travel time from Suvarnabhumi to the place took almost an hour. There were some parts where we got stuck in a jam for a few minutes.

I checked in and headed out at 5PM. Hmm, the first thing I wanted to do was figure out how to get to the MRT station.

From the map, I know that Lumphini MRT was close. The cab passed through different streets and alleys though so I couldn't follow the way he took. Haha!

The staff at the AirBNB place had very limited English and could only say "Go straight." Hehe! Somehow, I found my way to Lumphini MRT. It wasn't that far at all! It took me about 12 to 15 minutes to walk. Hehe.

My objective for today was just to get MRT and BTS cards and go to Erawan Shrine. Surprisingly, I ended up accomplishing other things that I wanted to do tomorrow.

I figured out how to get to Sala Daeng. I found where Club 21 is. I had seafood green curry. And perhaps, the best of all, I went for a 60-hour foot massage for just.... $10! Friggin $10!!! I'm so happy. Lol!

On the way back to the apartment, I took a different exit from Lumphini. To my pleasant surprise, the FF branch I wanted to visit was at the building just outside of Exit 2 of the station. Wheeee!

So, today was a good day! I have nothing to complain about. Haha!

Tomorrow, I want to take it easy. I just want to go to Mass and go to the gym.

Nice Saturday and first day at BKK.

Where the magic happens...

Let's go and make magic shall we? Lol.

Random blah...

I think I'm going to sleep much earlier than my usual sleeping hours tonight.

Even as I type this post, I am already yawning and my eyes are getting heavy. Haha!

The reason for this is not enough sleep last night. There are two issues that I need to close this week. One is easier because it is an Online Only journal. The other is a bit more tricky because it needs to be published both online and in print.

Since my editors for both journals are in the US, I had to stay up til 1AM so that it will be daytime in the US. I needed to send some files from the typesetter and I needed my approvals immediately. After sending the files close to midnight, I went to sleep.

I set an alarm for 2AM. Yeah, 2AM. I wanted to check if there was any reply from the editors.

Thankfully, the replies were there. The approvals were given and I could go back to sleep. Haha! The thing was I had a difficult time going back to sleep because I was already wide awake. I just lay in bed and thought about things that I needed to do before Saturday.

Today, I decided to stay at home and work from home because I needed some rest time during lunch time. Hehe.

While taking a break, I came across this song on Spotify. Jonathan Graff sang a song entitled Now. It's a breakup song but he sings it so beautifully.

I'm in love. Lol!

But before that, I need to go to sleep...

Some photos from the November wedding...

While looking at my blog posts last November, I saw that I didn't share much about my brother's wedding.

Except for that one photo at the church, there weren't any others.

Recently, my sister-in-law tagged me on some of their wedding photos which were just uploaded on Facebook.

Looking at the photos, I can't help but smile again as I was reminded of the very beautiful occasion.

Sure, I expected that I would be one day walking my brother or brothers down the aisle as they married their girlfriends. I just didn't expect that I would be doing it so soon. And I didn't expect that my youngest brother, who will always be my baby brother, will be the first one to tie the knot.

Being the Kuya and being the kancheong person that I am, I was worrying about a number of things concerning the wedding. On several occasions, I had to remind myself to keep my mouth shut as it is not my wedding. Haha! And I didn't want to add to the stress that my brother was going through.

A night before the event, my brother to his Kuyas and Mom to the venue of the reception. Of course, it wasn't all dressed up yet. I thought to myself, "Okay, things are looking okay."

The following day, when we reached the reception venue, my jaws dropped after seeing the transformation. It looked beautiful, it looked elegant. I was very proud of how my baby brother and his wife planned the whole thing.

After the event, I was a little bit more reassured that he knew what he was getting himself into. Hehe!

I'm also super happy that my best friend and my own best man! (Lol!), Tey, was able to join our family in the celebration. It really meant a lot to me.

Awww, weddings are so nice.

A new lease on life... in SG...

No day but today... coming soon.

My work pass was renewed for another two years. Thanks be to God! My health screening results came out positive... that I'm negative. Another hallelujah!

It's a good start of the year. It's about to get even better. *gulp*

Kilig and Starbucks..

After my museum duties yesterday, I felt a slight craving for porkchop fried rice at Din Tai Fung. Although I'm certain that I can finish one order, I decided to check with Jon if he was up for some DTF.

As it turns out, we were meant to meet up for a very late lunch and some chika time. When I messaged him, he told me that he was at the office doing some work. He also added that he has not eaten his lunch yet. Perfect.

We agreed to meet up at 4PM. That was good because it allowed me to buy some stuff that I needed. By stuff, I mean new pairs of socks and new hankies. Robinsons is on sale. I was able to get a good deal on the socks but not on the hankies. I can't believe hankies are $20 for just three pieces. Lol!

Anyway, by the time I was done with the cashier, Jon messaged that he was about to reach the mall. I made my way to DTF at the basement and waited for him before we got a table.

It was an enjoyable lunch, of course. Wish Tipz were with us though to enjoy the porkchop fried rice, hot and sour soup, some salad, and xiao long bao.

I checked with Jon if he was up for dessert. He told me that his next appointment was a late movie with his housemates. In short, he had time for dessert.

We just went to the Starbucks just outside City Hall MRT. Thankfully, we managed to get a table.

As usual, our convo turned towards the dating department. In a way, Jon and I are in the same boat. Hmm, I guess he just puts himself more out there while I am usually preoccupied with other things. Hehe!

Over our convo, I told him how it's been a long time since I last felt that "kilig" feeling. I told him I sometimes wonder how it feels like. Haha!

A specific example I gave was that time when PG Boy and I were just getting to know each other. We would Whatsapp and I remember smiling like a fool whenever I received a message from him. Lol! I miss that feeling and I'm wondering when I'll feel that again.

Another thing I shared with Jon was that I think one of the many problems with me is that I'm still clinging on to a romcom fantasy of meeting someone and that I'm longing for a period that seems to be slowly disappearing. The romcom fantasy - sometimes, I play out this fantasy in my head that the one (or the next one) and I will meet while I'm at the museum or at the library or at a bookstore. Is there really a difference if I met the other person on some phone app? Hehe! As for the second part of my statement, I'm clinging on to a past when people wrote long letters. I still have some handwritten letters from my highschool best friend and some really long emails from Hunski. Sometimes I read those and I can't help but lament how I wished people still knew how to write letters rather than go for "Hey. Wru? Whatchadoin?" Haha!

It turns out Jon has somewhat similar thoughts. I find it a bit strange because our age gap is almost a decade.

Lol, I wonder what this year holds for me in the dating dept.

Second day of 2016 went well...

Today felt like a Sunday even though it's only Saturday.

The day turned out to be quite fruitful and I'm happy about it.

In the morning, I went to the gym to attend Vinyasa class. The teacher for the class I attended is one of my favorites. Since I have not been practicing, it was a challenge. I could do certain poses but I definitely still have a long way to go. It was a good workout though since I sweat it out. The left knee survived although it doesn't feel as strong as my right leg. For the meantime, I think I will be doing less Pump and more yoga classes, Body Balance. On the side, I'll do the weights. On off days, I'm thinking I can do short, light jogs.

After gym, I passed by the kopitiam for a quick brunch. Then, I headed back home to change my clothes.

The afternoon agenda was a guided tour at the National Gallery. Today was the second time I led a group around the Singapore Gallery. And I must say that I did a lot better today than my maiden tour last week. I felt I was more confident today. I felt I knew the gallery better. I adjusted my tour - I dropped some of the artworks that I talked about previously and I added some of the other art works that are closer to my heart. Of course, what also made the tour more enjoyable and twice as fun was the group itself. I led a group of 20 people - Singaporeans, Americans, Japanese. Several members of the group were responsive to my questions and many were willing to share their thoughts about the painting.

I was smiling on the inside when I saw several heads nodding in agreement, when there were smiles on some of the faces, and of course, when they applauded at the end of the tour. The other proof I have that the tour went well was that I took almost an hour and a half to finish the tour. Last week, I completed the tour in under an hour. Today, it was much better. I should however learn to stick to the 60 minute or so tour time since another group will need the headsets that we used. Oh, there was also one guy who walked up to me after the tour and told me that he had also previously attended my guided tour at the National Museum. I really appreciated the kind words he and a number of other guests gave.

Anyway, I was happy with how the tour went today. Round 2 of tours tomorrow. ;)

I left the gallery and walked to nearby Funan where I grabbed a late lunch at Subway. Thinking that it was part of the $5 meal, I ordered the Italian BMT. Ugh! It turned out that it wasn't and I paid more than what I wanted. Haha!

The last stop was the National Library. It wasn't as crowded and I easily found a study space. Spent a few hours at the library before packing up my stuff and heading back home.

Now, I'm just taking a break and then I'll study again for an hour before calling it a day... a long day.

Day 1 of 2016...

The first day of 2016 was well spent, I think.

After welcoming 2016 at Mon and Richie's place, I got back a little after 1AM. Thankfully, the MRT service was extended last night. I didn't have to shell out for cab fare. Yay! As soon as I got home, I took a rest for a few minutes before taking a shower and then hitting the sack.

Though I slept really late, I still got up at 7AM. Haha! That was fine because I managed to do my laundry. While the clothes were in the washing machine, I stepped out for a bit to grab a light breakfast. As expected, not many people were up yet. I managed to have a quiet breakfast.

Since the clothes were not done yet, I turned on my computer first and started working on an online course I signed up for. I thought I'll keep myself even more productive but taking up some online course related to languages. It's not as easy as I thought. Haha, I've been spending an hour or two everyday on the course. This is because I want to complete it by next week.

Done with my study time and done with hanging the clothes, I took a short nap again before heading out. Mon and Richie invited to lunch today since Tita was preparing pancit and meatballs. On the way, I picked up some flowers for Tita and for Mon and Richie's house. I keep on asking them what I can bring. They keep on saying I don't need to bring anything. Lol. So, flowers it is.

The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing at home. After lunch and some chitchat, I said buhbye to Tita, Mon and Richie as I'm sure they also want to rest.

To end the day, I went out for a short light run. It was more of a jog. My left knee is making me paranoid. I had an X-Ray last week but the results came out normal. However, I still feel a certain sensation when I do lunges. Other than that, it is fine. I feel no pain whatsoever. I wonder if I should go for an MRI. Ugh! I'll continue to monitor it. In the meantime, I have not been doing Body Pump, which I terribly miss. I am, however, back to yoga. Last week, I attended a vinyasa class and man, it was tough! I was sweating during the class and it was not even a Hot Flow class. To end my run today, I did some post-run yoga poses and ended with a guided meditation for savasana. Thank goodness for Youtube. Haha.

The last thing I am doing for today is to study for my National Gallery tour tomorrow and for Sunday. Tomorrow and Sunday have to be a lot better than my first one last week. Haha!

So it was a day well spent! How was your 1 January 2016?