24

(Inspired from the series 24)
The last 24 hours before I caught a flight to Australia. This is one the longest days in my life!

1st hour: 20.00-21.00 Came back outside after buying contact lens and medicine for my friends. Chatted with T-bone on via MSN for a bit

2nd hour: 21.00-22.00 Continued packing (I started in the late afternoon) and I realized my stuff was everywhere in the room. Chatted with Peggy a bit.

3rd hour: 22.00-23.00 Kept packing and throwing stuff away. Getting very stressed that my luggage is too small for my things….I mean important things!

4th hour: 23.00-24.00 Removed some stuff out of my luggage and told mum that she needs to send me some packs after I arrive in Australia :-P

5th hour: 24.00-1.00 I was not getting anywhere. Copied files and pics into my external harddisk drive. Feeling tired after a long long busy day which was finally over!

6th hour: 1.00-2.00 I just realized I needed a larger luggage. I can’t fit my things into the small size of trolley bag. I underestimated myself lol. Anyway, I tried to remove more of my stuff.

7th hour: 2.00-3.00 Packing and rearranging my stuff again. Took more clothes out.

8th hour: 3.00-4.00 Gone to bed

9th hour: 4.00-5.00 Work up because I thought sth could be done better and went to bed again

10th hour: 5.00-6.00 Sleeping

11th hour: 6.00-7.00 Got up and decided to keep my office outfits at home for now. Met T-bone online and he told me to count each thing I need to limit my stuff. Anyway, I need more than 3 t-shirts hey!

12th hour: 7.00-8.00 Got back to bed for half an hour and I got up to pack again because TV sound was very loud so it was very disturbing.

13th hour: 8.00-9.00 Sleeping

14th hour: 9.00-10.00 Slept until 9.30 and pushed myself to take a shower and collected the leftover of my toiletry into my luggage.

15th hour: 10.00-11.00 Went out to buy a new luggage. I was hesitate between size 24” or 28” I wanted 26” but it’s not available in a soft case version.

16th hour: 11.00- 12.00 Came back with 24” by hoping that I could limit the weight of what I’d bring.

17th hour: 12.00-13.00 Put my things into the new luggage and went out again to exchange the last amount of AUD I wanted. Unfortunately it’s 0.10 baht more expensive than yesterday! And the place who gave me yesterday rate didn’t have AUD cash today. How unlucky! P’ Pocky called me for a proper goodbye.

18th hour: 13.00-14.00 Came back home to re-arrange my stuff a bit and that’s it!

19th hour: 14.00-15.00 Having lunch after all. Refresh myself and put make up on a bit. Relaxed and worried the total weight of my luggage. I have 3 kinda big bags and 2 hand-carry bags! Decided to go to the airport early just in case I have to re-pack

20th hour: 15.00-16.00 Mum drove me to the airport. Sin was with me too. Mai went to the airport separately. I was nervous because Mum drove very slowly like 60-80km/hr. Ployed called.

21st hour: 16.00-17.00 Arrived at the airport at 4.30PM and met our relatives, one of the families who came to pick their daughter who works as a flight attendant. Jackpot!!! My luggage is 12 kgs overweight to be precise! I definitely need to remove something out otherwise I have to pay 1,000 baht/kg (AUD40/kg). That is really a penalty fee, not a shipping fee!

22nd hour: 17.00-18.00 Removed a lot of stuff out. Got rid of a backpack. So I had only 2 big bags now with 2 hand-carry bags! Ploy arrived at the airport with her boyfriend. Finally 10 kgs were gone but oh o..the key of the lock has gone. I couldn’t find it but after checking, I think dropped it in my luggage. However, too late! Mai broke the zipper. How Brilliant (silly)! :-P

23rd hour: 18.00-19.00 Tried to weigh my luggage again even I had 2 kgs excess. Anyway, I passed. (YEAH!!) Technically I had 2 kgs over on my hand-carry bags too hush-hush! Got the bracelet gift and a box of custard tart from Ploy J Saying good bye to my family and Ploy.

24th hour: 19.00-20.00 Called my friend Sanjeev who was supposed to show up. He said it was a dayoff for him (May day). Boooo! Got the last call from my aunt Yi. Luckily, she called me today otherwise she would miss it. I didn’t seriously tell her when I was going to leave because I didn’t want to bother her to send me at the airport. Suvanhabhum Airport is very far.
Bought a bottle of drinking water and chilled out at Gate E1 by eating custard tarts. Getting excited and smiled to myself. Stress free for now. Gee! I’ll be in Sydney in 9 hours. I’ll meet Jo at the airport as to our latest plan :-P I felt a mixture of happiness, calmness and excitement after all was set. Ten to eight was the time to get on board on EK418, seat No 46B.

See ya in Australia, mates!

Namrin's 2nd farewell party at I - Karaoke

Finally we organised a dinner & karaoke farewell night with my ex-workmates from the previous company I worked for (Acer Computer and Servex)

It was a great to catch up and meet up old friends we haven't met for many months or some persons is years!!! You've got a baby for instance!! LOL

I've got a new Tee-shirt as a gift which I will bring it to Oz too. My friend who I love like my elder sister told me that since we have a political situation. It's hard to pick a colour for me because yellow and red tops are big no-no around now. LOL So she bought a lovely orange one for me and somehow got one for herself too in the same colour and same size! hehe

We have been through a lot of sad songs. Only 2-3 of them that I felt that my mates sang for my leaving. (How sweet!) The rest are those so-called classic, touching, heartbroken songs. They are nice but maybe too nice for me. I felt a little depressed and wanted to cry at some points. Together with drama music videos, I feel like the world isn't quite cheerful, is it? Oh...life! hahaha

Anyway, according to the age of people in this VIP room I should be able to understand something. I have another 2 farewell parties to go though ;-)

Thank you everyone. With love.

Namrin

The person who gave me an orange tee-shirt is in black top.

My first time in probably 4 years to meet this friend who brought her baby to Karaoke (the one in the middle). I thought it was a bit crazy idea. If you never meet her before, you may think she takes weed because she laughs every 3 minutes LOLOLOL. Actually she's a lovely and joyful woman. Another person in my link that wants to have only one child .... (Nam taking note)

Not the first boss in my life but the very first boss who I've been still in touch with. He bought me a Liverpool scarf. The authentic one from Liverpool :-) Did I tell you that? He was just back from England trip 2 days ago. I can't wait!! He forgot to bring it that night


Girl-Guy-Girl-Guy-Girl! Perfect but P' Frank betrayed us by not crossing his arms! He claimed there was not enough space. I doubt it LOL

Ampawa Floating Market

Ampawa Floating Market is a famous floating located in Samutsongkram province in Central Region, not so far away from Bangkok, about 1.5 hours drive. The highlight of Ampawa is the firefly watch at night. Ampawa is an evening market while the more famous floating market, Damnoen Saduak Floating market is a morning market. However, both places have their own charms. They share some similarities but they are pretty different in my opionion. You've been with me to Damnoen Saduak Floating market twice when Hiro's parents visited and Wakaho and her boyfriend travelled to Thailand.

With Wakaho and Masanobu in 2008
http://namrinbussayadilokskul.blogspot.com/2008/08/namrin-with-her-japanese-friends.html

With Hiroto's parents in 2006
(The story is too old. I haven't re-posted it)

My mum, Sin, my younger brother, Tip, Sin's girlfriend and I went to Ampawa market together. We finally snuck out of chaotic Bangkok during state of emergencey. We first stopped at Kunlin (meaning familiar taste in English) Seafood Restaurant for lunch. It was a cool restaurant. It's next to muddy area where it is worm shell farm. I closely inspected mud and found that there are millions of little crabs out there. I also found my lovely mudskipper! The real mudskipper! I'm so glad to see the live mudskipper with my naked eyes! I have been fond of it for a long time. So cute! :-)

Kunlin Restaurant
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=90542&id=592112018&l=ec7b31cb8f

In the late sunny afternoon, we reached Ampawa. We took a ferry to get into the market which were full of people but the officer said it's not as busy as New Year on 1st Jan. We stopped by Museum of Thai Desserts for the first stop as we expected that's going to be chilled in there (air con) but it's too crowded inside so the air con is not cool. However, I took quite many photos to present you how Thai desserts are like. We may not see everything they presented in the museum nowadays but most of them are available in Thai people's lives. I wish you could test it too!

Museum of Thai Desserts
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=90632&id=592112018&l=24d2dec9ab

Because it was extremely hot my brother and my mother didn't bother walking around. They wanted to find some shades and relax. So we split and we said that we would be back to a certain meeting point to catch a boat to see fireflies.

I walked around on my own and found a lot of nice things for you guys especially for whom are outside Thailand. There's a lot of things to window shop but because it was packed of people, my walking speed was slow. There are 2 sides of the river and I could finish only a side. This means one day I have to come back to this place to check out the other side of the river.

In the late evening, we were in the line waiting for a boat to see fireflies. It's 60 baht/person for 1 hour and 10 mins. It's great! We saw fireflies along the way. Not all the time though. The river is broad so you need to keep on your eyes open and spot on "Lampoo" trees or Sonneratia caseolaris plant (If anyone knows its common name, pls let me know). Fireflies sometimes get together at a few trees/plants and blink as if those plants are decorated with little stars. It was breathtaking how nature creates such a beauituful thing. Unfortunatley I can't take a photo because it's too dark. However, I shot some videos which I doubt whether they worked or not and after checking, 2-3 videos work! So I post it here at the bottom of this blog.

To visit Ampawa, if you have time, you can stay over night a home stay too. The market finishes at about 9PM so you can enjoy your whole afternoon eating, shopping, spotting on exotic stuff until late night. However, we planned for a day trip so we went home after firefly trip.

It was a good hot day with a few complaints from my brother and my mother that they didn't want to travel during Songkran again LOL. I didn't want to but my time is running out so I want to see more of my own country.

Sixteen more nights to sleep in Thailand in 2009


Ampawa Floating Market
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=90635&id=592112018&l=2e9a866cea

Firefly Video

Happy Thai New Year!

Today is Songkran. We started a day with State of Emergencey!!!

Can I skip this topic?

For this occasion, I also set my own New Year's resolution but within 24 hours, I broke my self-promise! He's back! Gosh! I can't help myself to say hi quietly. Is he meant to be my New Year's gift or what?

Let's overlook that topic

I am planning about the accommodation and activites with Josephine who will travel with me from Sydney to Brisbane. I realise things aren't cheap in Australia and now the exchange rate of Australian dollar is getting stronger against Thai baht. Must be because of the first topic above LOL! Why now ?!?! Damn it!

Surin Islands trip

About 6 O' Clock in the morning, my friend called me, "I and my brother and sister couldn't join Surin Islands trip, do you still want to go?
I gasped and asked "Oww. Why?"
"My brother is just passed away", my friend replied.
That's the 2nd shock. "How would that happen? He's ill?" I asked.
"No, accident. Well, but Moo is going so you two can go to this trip", my friend gave me a clearer idea.
"Oh, if she's going, I'll go then. I'm sorry about your loss" I told her
"Thank you, Nam. I gotta go. My phone is running out of battery."
"I'll talk to you more later then. Take care." I finished the conversation

During the day time, our friend, P' Moo called me she decided to not travel because of a few reasons she gave me. I understand and think I still want to make it but on one hand, I'm little scared of doing any activity related to water alone. I have bad history about it and it is also in my death prediction.

I got a chance to speak about this to a friend and instead of being encouraged to go, it was the opposite way. I thought hard for about a few hours at work. And think, maybe it is not reasonable to say but this could be a sign. I even tossed a coin!! I shouldn't go. If I go and something wrong happened to me, I wouldn't trade it with my great trip to Australia. Later in the same day, I went to a funeral of my friend's brother.

I have to say this is hard because I didn't expect this trip would be called off. I'm afraid it will be postponed to the time I leave Thailand so I miss it now meaning that I miss it for at least 1 year. On the bright side, I save some money from not joining this trip :-) I hope someday I will come back and go to Surin Islands with someone as a minimum requirement haha

I bought air tickets

Finally, the time has come and I managed to buy the 1-year valid air tickets to Sydney, Australia. I'll travel on 1st May and might be back on 30th April. Hopefully I'll fly back home to get more clothes & stuff or have a short break there LOL

I don't really know and my expectation has changed a bit from time to time.

I have got 2 babies

Hello! This must be good news! I have 2 babies delivered. One is a boy and one is a girl. The boy was born yesterday at 171 cms and 80 kgs. The girl is born today at 165 cms and 48 kgs. How skinny is that?? Now please do not tell me that I'm skinny because I'm not! And my baby girl is obviously skinnier! LOL

I will feed my babies by myself for 6 days and then I'll have to leave them in Bangkok because I'm going to Australia. I may never see them again but they should be fine. L'Oreal will take care of them.

And now when I leave, they've got 2 new comers! Hmm!!

Happy Birthday Pansin!

Today is my younger brother's birthday! Happy Birthday Sin! I know you love the wallet :-)

Your lovely sister

We had a great dinner last night at Baan Naam Kieng Din













Actually I'm the one who breaks the wing (right wing). Then, my mother wonders how can they crave the whole swan. So Sin found out that the wing is inserted into the body of the swan. Very nice dish decoration that we destroy LOL! (So the restaurant can't reuse, hehe)

Eventhough it's just a game, it is not a game!

It's another game I missed but Liverpool made me proud as they have reached the top of Premier League table! I'm so glad for their performance. It's just 0-1 from away game against Fulham at Craven Cottage but it means sth when it leads us to be No.1! Maybe this will be only a night before Man Utd takes No.1 position back but I would like to spend at least 24 hours to celebrate this moment!

Hopefully we will make it this season. It's hard but we are nearly getting there! Come on, Liverpool!! Com' on lads!

Zouk

Zouk is a Brazilian dance. It's not the first time I've heard of it. This guy, Trevor, introduced it into my brainwave. However, I can't dance Zouk but just caught a bit of how it is different from Salsa, Bachata and Merenge LOL

There are 3 performances
I'll show you only the first 2 then because I think the 3rd performance is similar to the first one.




The 2nd performance is not Zouk. It is called Axe' pronounced as ax-say or ax-chay. (Very new to me so I'm not sure LOL)

Here is the link. I hope it works. If not, pls kindly let me know.


And now, it's go refresh my Salsa skill after 2 months!