My Best Friend's Wedding...

Well....it's not like a Julia Robert sort of best friend's wedding or anything. She's actually more like a very very close friend/roommate back in college. I doubt if I should really call her 'best' friend...because if she really is, she wouldn't be getting married yet, would she? hahaha!

Morning ceremony at 7am, still looking grumpy :P

ok..before I start going on and on about why my buddies and I think it's so hard to find the right guys, or whether there are such things as soulmates, or, even if they exist, are they even born yet, etc...let me just stick to the topic here.

I've been to some Thai weddings before but they were all from either friends or acquaintances of my parents. This time, it's actually the first ever wedding that I got invited, with my name on the envelope, and I actually attended. (I did get invitations before from my colleagues and such, don't get me wrong that I don't have a social life or anything, hehe, not that I care though, it's just that I couldn't go)

Nui and Pue looking pretty cheerful :)

Speaking of invitation, that's just another thing about Thai wedding. I don't know how it is with weddings in other countries or religions since I've never been to one either. But the thing that bugs me is...why bother inviting someone you hardly ever know of, just because that they are in the same organization with you, or they are like..working at the same company you dad does, or that they would feel bad if you left them out while inviting some colleagues?

I just wouldn't go if I don't know either the bride or the groom and their families that much. It's not that I'm too stingy to spare some hundreds or a few thousand Bahts in the envelope to give them at the wedding. Which brings me to another point; it seems to me like it's all about 'face' and investment. You throw this huge ass wedding reception when you only know half of the guests (supposed that the other half is the groom's? but in reality you probably know only half of your half because they end up being friends or drinking mates of your dad or mom.) Then the guests show up with money in the envelope..and you hope that it'd cover your wedding expenses.

As for the guests, you put some money in the envelope, just because you have to. And since your name is on the envelope, shit, they are gonna know how much you put in. So if you put too little they'd figure you are stingy or poor, but if you put too much..and the food sucks (which is very likely)...and you have to sit at the same table with ppl you don't know, or don't wanna be with? Goshh..what a dilemma!

So yeah, that's why I don't go to weddings so much, unless it's someone I'm pretty close to. Someone I can really tell them how happy I am for them, someone that I can really congratulate them. Not someone that I wait until they come to the table to take photo with me and give out wedding souvenir with a brief thank you for coming.

What's wrong with a private wedding surrounding by your close and loved ones? I know each person has his/her own preference. I'd probably end up getting married (if it will ever happen) in Vegas..or worst case scenario, just showed up at the district office to sign the damn certificate?

But honestly, if I'm ever gonna have a wedding reception at all, I'd just invite my close friends and close relatives..the the whole bunch of family tree..and definitely not my dad's drinking mates (ok..maybe some daddy issue a bit there..but seriously..why would I want them at my wedding, right? it's supposed to be MY day, right?)

And it's such huge ordeal..for a bride and groom for this typical Thai wedding. Especially now it's so integrated between Thai, western, Chinese traditions...the Thai wedding has become..worse than ever!

I'm gonna skip the shit you have to go through before the wedding day like...photos at the studios, reservation, how many ppl to invite and all that crap and fast forward to the big day.

The bride gets up at 3am for make-up and get ready for this morning traditional wedding part. Usually held at the bride's home. The guests are more limited to closed ones..so yeah mom's colleagues from the other department wouldn't show up yet. But since it's Thai tradition..you have all these elderly in both of your family trees to pay respect to. So yeah, you won't get to eat anything...because it's your big day..you have to look absolute best (not gonna happen with me..I guess) You basically on your knees doing this paying respect thing, getting blessings from the elders...blah blah. Oh and before all that, the groom has to start the parade thing from miles away...with his crowd..coming to the bride's house and pay his way to get in. By paying I mean..giving money. They'd set up couples of girls, sometimes more..in front of the door..if the groom doesn't pay..he is not allowed to go in. (so yeah, the groom would be screwed if he left the wallet at home...the idea is quite familiar somehow...if you look at it in a cynical way, it's kinda like paying a pimp to get a girl, isn't it?)

Part of the Thai traditional morning ceremony...

Then after the guests are gone...you have sometime in the afternoon to get ready for the wedding reception in the evening. Change to another wedding dress...this one is gonna be western style since the one in the morning is Thai style. Then when the reception starts, you have to stand in front to greet everybody...with a smile on your face. While ppl are eating at the table..you have to go up the stage, saying how you met each other, how you fell in love, when did you fall in love. Sometimes, in a modern way, you throw in some presentation..so you won't have to deal with stage fright.

Then after that...you go to each and every single table, with a big smile on your face, thank them for being there..take photos that you'll soon put in a huge album and one day looking back you wonder, who the fuck is this?

So at the end of the wedding day, I guess both the bride and groom are probably too exhausted to make love that night, hahah. But I suppose that's no biggie...you are in the marriage now anyway, you can have sex with each other as much as you like until you are sick of it!

Am I weird to think that the wedding day is supposed to be YOUR day?? Things should be the way you (and the other half, of course) want it to be without any hassle or energy and emotionally drainage?

I'm not saying all this because I have anything against my friend's wedding though. I'm happy if she's happy. I had quite a good time to be with my good friends, though, I also had a boring time to try making conversation with other acquaintances (hmm, I'm not very socializing, am I? But I'm sincere though!!)

My best buddies, Yarh, Kate, and Pue...who's gonna be next??!

I guess at the end of the days, all that matters is that you have each other in the marriage, for better or worse..not the wedding, big or small...not the crowd that came to pay you to have dinner at your wedding reception.

But, hey, what do I know? I'm not the one with a ring on my finger!

My Great Experience at the Great Wall!!

Not so long ago, I just had a chance to be on a Boeing 747 of flight TG 614 bound for Beijing, originating from Bangkok. After a 4 hour something flight, here I am at the new Beijing Capital International Airport. And it's HUGE indeed!!

If my memory serves me correctly, the taxi-in to the new terminal felt like forever!! I don't wanna be partial or anything, but after arriving at the terminal, even though it was quite a walk until you get to the immigration...at least it was bright and nice in the terminal. I just couldn't help feeling a little excited...especially after numerous hideous, tedious, gloomy times I usually have whenever I have to be at the airport in Bangkok!

The immigration line was quite long but it moved very quickly. The immigration officers seemed like they know what they were doing and I didn't feel any attitude, bullshit, or smirky at all..unlike the ones in Thailand. I'm not sure if this has just been improved due to the coming Olympic Games, but it's doing pretty good for sure. What I also like about it is that they have this little thing in front of the immigration counter while you wait for the stamp to get in, it's the thing that has the immigration officer's ID number, and you can give feedback how he/she does her job with the smiley faces for content, and pouty faces for discontent, etc. regarding the wait time and such.

In front of the terminal, taken from departure level though!

Inside the terminal, again, departures..not arrival :P

The view of check-in counters :)

The section of the Great Wall of China that I went to is Mutianyu, which is located in Huairou district, northeast of Beijing. According to the historic record (and the back of my entrance ticket), this part of the Great Wall was built up by the General Xuda who served the Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang in early Ming Dynasty on the ruins of the Great Wall in North-Qi Dynasty. The Mutianyu Scenic Spot is hugged by mountains with beautiful natural sceneries.

The entrance ticket for Mutianyu Great Wall is CNY40. I am not sure if that includes the cable car ride up to the Great Wall (I think it does, though) because I got the ticket for Toboggan ride on the way down for CNY50, which that ticket could be for just the toboggan ride only, or it's for both the toboggan and the cable car? (Sorry for not being so accurate on the information, having ZERO knowledge in Chinese language really contributes to that factor!)

The cable car up to the Wall, I felt a bit like I was at the amusement park :)

The view of the cable car from the top after I got off...(couldn't take photo much while riding on it, my hands were freezing...from the wind..and from the height, hehe)

The photo I managed to take while riding the cable car...looking down below...

The GORGEOUS greenery view of the Great Wall....isn't it beautiful?!?!??!

Walking along the Wall, you can just keep on walking....it's such a longggg way!

Climbing up the watchtower ;)

The toboggan ride, or speed chute...my first time EVER...at first it looked kinda scary because I was concerned about the safety aspects of it. But after I got on, OMG!! I LOVE IT!! SO MUCH FUN!!! But I tried not to go too fast because you might slip out of the rail which I heard someone did that before!! Also, they won't let you ride alone unsupervised. Whenever someone decides to do toboggan ride for going back down instead of cable car, there will be a staff riding either in front of behind you, to make sure that you arrive safely.

The picture of the Wall (top), the toboggan rail (left), and the cable car (right).

Shopping for some souvenirs before leaving...me and a Russian hat. Ok..I don't know why "Russian Hat" is so abundant around here in "China". My silly guess is it has something to do with the relationship between the two countries, communism, or whatever. Or it could be just the fact that it's so comfy and warm..which would suit the cold weather:)

So that was my first visit ever to mainland China. Too bad it rained after that, so I didn't get to go see the Forbidden City, or any other attractions around Beijing. I really look forward to going back there again one day!! Zai jian!!

A Bright Hot Sunny Day in Napa!

Wow....it's been 3 months since I last updated my post!! I would probably forget how to log in if I hadn't saved the password on my computer? heheh.

I guess I have been VERY VERY busy for the past 3 months...with..hmm...stuff, hehe :)

Recently, I just got a chance to visit San Francisco (again!) for a few days, quite unexpected actually. Since last time I already did the major tourist stuff; Golden Gate, Alcatraz, and such...so this time it should be something different! Napa Valley!!!

Sunrise from San Francisco horizon...taken from inside the plane...

The drive from SFO city to Napa wasn't too bad or taking too long, if you don't end up stopping by at the stores, or getting lost like we did, hahaha.

Heading to Napa Valley via Bay Bridge :)

After stopping by at Target to get some snacks, sunglasses, and stuff...we finally made it to Napa!
The vineyards are so neat and green..very pretty to look at! I just somehow felt so peaceful by looking at it!!

Luna Vineyard, the first stop!

Me in front of the vineyard, unfortunately, some ppl thought I was in a corn field..BLAH!!!!

Ok, let me be clear first...I'm not a wine expert or anything. I just drink it occasionally. So I don't know much about which wine is good or whatever. It's just a matter of...do I like the way it taste or not! hehe. So, since I'm not a wine snob..any white wine with fruity or sweet taste would do!!

Me with a Pinot Grigio...I am diggin' it!

I'm not usually nature crazy person...but somehow...I just love the 'greenness' of it!

Me and a glass of Merlot, I think! Not typically a fan of Red, but this one is pretty good!!

Nothing special about this photo, I just like the way it look :P

Too bad the wine tasting generally ends at 4-5pm, so if you don't start early...you might not get to cover many vineyards..and there are SOOOO MANY!! But then again, I don't know if it's a good idea to try to cover as many as possible anyway, I mean..my tongue will probably get tired from tasting the wine..and would probably get confused with the taste, hehe.

Saw a premium outlets sign on the way back!! Gotta check it out!!

Heading back to the city now :)

Sunset from, once again, San Francisco horizon :)

Bad Shopping Day...

I went to Esplanade the other day to watch a movie because it's the cinema that's close to where I live. I don't go there very often but almost everytime I go, I happen to do some shopping. And Kyra is the one that I usually go buy something. Kyra is a shop that sells lingerie, just like Victoria's Secret. Not just the category of business that is alike..even the shopping bag is almost the same! Well, I don't know if Kyra brand has anything connected with VS..so if anyone can enlighten me, please do so. Because let me tell you...the shopping bags are just wayyyyyy too much alike.

Am I exaggerating?? Don't think so..

Anyway, if I'm not mistaken, Kyra is a Thai owned company partnered up with some foreign investor..well that's pretty much I gather from their website, www.kyramode.com, Kyra has its own lingerie and also distribute Playboy lingerie in Thailand as well. (Actually, what I usually end up buying from them is Playboy's..only this one time it's Kyra's)

So this particular Kyra at Esplanade always has 2 good looking staffs looking after the place. Sometimes I'm not sure if they are just 'staffs' because some of them act like they are the owner or owner's daughter..from the way they deal with customers. But I don't know, most of the customers are female, since it's female lingerie...so I think we women prefer nice staffs, not just the pretty face. Unless, the business strategy here is to lure male customers to buy underwears for their girls.

So this time I went in there with my friend, Pue (as usual, we hang out together so much now it's almost like a lesbian couple!), I just wanted to have a look if they had any new collection and they sure did. So I bought just one set of underwear this time because other styles just...not that appealing. To be honest, I like VS better and the push-ups from VS is soooooo much better and it really works!

These are the one I just got from Kyra

So I tried on a couple but ended up buying just one, but I still bought it, right? Gosh, I hate it sometimes when you tried on something and felt like you were obligated to buy it eventhough you didn't like it as much. By the way, just for extra information, during that time I was in the shop, there were only me, my friend, and other 2 girls looking around in the shop. By the time I went to pay, the other 2 girls actually left and there were only me and Pue in there. So it's not like the staffs were busy or anything.

There were 2 of them, one was helping me out when I tried them on and handling the purchase, in other words, dealing with me. The other one had the braces on and looked prettier (in a modern-Thai-but-chinese-looking plus bitchy sort of way, the way that Thai guys would die for.) So when it was time to pay, I decided to use my credit card. After the receipt was printed out, the first girl said, "Could you fill this form out also, so you would get to be a member and get discount when you purchase?" And then I realized that I ALREADY had the membership card which was like in my wallet the whole time. So before I signed the credit card receipt, I told them that actually I already had the card and actually said sorry that I forgot (which it's their job to ask for membership card before you pay anyway but they didn't!!) So I asked them if I could get a discount for this one, plus I haven't even signed the receipt yet (which even though I did, they could just make a refund on it anyway. I didn't many times when I worked on duty free sales inflight.)

Guess what, the bitchy girl with braces gave another staff such a nasty look which you could tell it would say something like, "why did you mention about the discount now??" Both of them were silent for a few seconds, then the bitchy girl said, "you can get the points with this one."

She totally ignored my question about discount!! So I asked, "Can't I just get the discount, though? And what would the points do anyway? What will I get from the points?"

Again, she totally ignored the question and simply said, "You can get the points, there are two options, discount and collect points."

Hmm...is it so hard to just give me the fucking discount??

Let me tell you right here...it's absolutely has nothing to do with trying to save a hundred Baht matter...it is all about customer service!!

I don't even know about their membership policy, maybe you could get either one, or you could get both from the same purchase! But what I know that time is that she was refusing to give me the discount.

So I go, "Why is it so hard to just give me the discount now? I haven't even signed the receipt yet and it's just printed like a few minutes ago. You can just make a refund and then swipe the card again. It would just take only a couple more minutes, wouldn't it? There's no other customers here even!"

And you know what she said???

She said, "We are handling big order right now," with an arrogant expression on her face. She acted like we were wasting her time. So buying only one set of lingerie worth nothing? Kyra only wants BIG ORDER? Then why bother opening up retail shops???

I was completely stunned by her behavior and got speechless for awhile. I wanted to say something..but decided to wait until she finished doing the refund for me. I was a bit afraid to piss her off again because she might not do a refund for me, you know? how ridiculous is that!

Another part of me just wanna tell her to forget this damn thing. Since my purchase doesn't worth anything, then why bother buying it, right?

It seemed like the other staff was surprised by the bitch's behavior as well. She actually said sorry to me. At the moment I felt like I was asking their favor or something, from looking at the bitch's expression on her face. She looked irritated....and I started to wonder if she really worked there or she was the owner?? And if she was someone big from Kyra, is that how you treat your customer???

After the refund process was done and I got a new receipt, I looked at the bitch and said, "You know got a VERY VERY bad attitude. I can't believe how could you treat customers like this!" I was so angry and my voice was kinda raised. So I turned to the other girl and told her, "But you, you are fine, I'm sorry that I put you in this awkward situation. But your colleague is very, very bad and because of her, I won't be coming back here again ever."

So I looked at the bitch with braces again, she finally said, "Sorry." but the look she had on her face wasn't sorry at all. It was still stuck up and arrogant. So I said, "Don't bother, you don't mean it anyway."

And then I left with furious...and disbelief ...I've never ever had such bad customer service experience like this before. Well, I'm just a small purchasing power customer who buys only one or two at a time...so if Kyra can't be bothered...then why should I?

Seriously, I will not buy any product from this brand anymore. And I'm sure they wouldn't give a shit anyway. It's not even my favorite brand!

A Super Quick Trip to San Francisco...

If you are going to San Francisco...
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair
If you are going to San Francisco...
You're gonna meet some gentle people there

This song is one of my favorite (especially the remixed one by Global Deejays, hehe)

Not so long ago, I just got a chance to visit San Francisco for the time. It is a beautiful city indeed! Unfortunately, I was only there for a few days so I didn't get to see all of it..yet.

Gold Gate Bridge...far far away..

Palace of Fine Arts...

A bit tired from the flight ;)

Lombard Street, the Crooked Street of San Francisco...

From the Bottom...

The Famous Cable Car!!

On the Golden Gate bridge :)

From the hill...

It sure was pretty windy and cold!!

What a nice shot!! For an amateur like me!

Alcatraz tour..pretty crowded!

Welcome to the Rock!

I'm not arrested here, am I? :)

Me and the cells...

HELP!!! I'm locked up!!

A view of San Francisco from the Alcatraz. It gave me a lonely feeling somehow..

Waiting for my visitor :)

That's it, my quick trip to San Francisco...
Sorry for the lack of writing and info on this one..I'm kinda just updating for the sake of my blog :P