Lesson

I felt very lonely during my week-long trip in Bangkok. There were a few moments when I missed my family like crazy, but thankfully there's Skype. We had a couple of Skype video call sessions, and I got to see how Hanna was trying to get to Bangkok through the computer screen. I definitely wasn't helping as she got to see how I jumped like a monkey on the bed in front of the computer! Err.. that's what we always do at hotel rooms!


I bid farewell to Room 2012 today. I was about to close the door, and the last thing I saw was the desk area. I couldn't help but feel a tinge of sadness. I mean, I spent on average about five hours a day at the desk, preparing for my course. The black chair and and the glass desk suddenly looked pretty lonely without me. But here's a good thing about being a desk, a chair, or any other objects for that matter. They are so Zen; they live in the moment, and they are very accepting of any situations.

My flight to KL is now delayed due to some navigation problems. People started to get restless. I am suddenly thinking about the rows of chairs at this waiting area. They are not offended if we don't sit on them, or abandon them. They dont' even care if we fart on them! Ha. Ha. Ha.

So as human beings, why do we get angry at events that happen around us? We, my friends, have a lot to learn from a chair!

Frugal

The first time I walked into the Starbucks by my office in Bangkok, I thought it was closed because it was empty. I don't think I have ever been to an empty Starbucks in Malaysia; even in Klang Parade where they never made your cuppa the way it's supposed to be. Look at the picture below, ohh the nice chairs, waiting for people, waiting for me!


Anyways, so you know how I have been raving about how cheap my lunch meal has been? Suddenly it's becoming an obsession! Akephop and I tried again to find some cheap lunch today; I had bamboo shoot curry, egg and rice for 30 baht. Plenty of money left to spend on some corn (10 baht) and of course, another mango for 10 baht. Another lunch for only 5 ringgit, or 1.50 dollars!!!


This is a picture of my favorite fruit seller. I'm so going to miss him! [Jeremy jangan marah!]


From what I have seen and heard, I think Thai people are very frugal. There is this lady who works at the barber shop at the hotel, she told me she'd saved enough money to move to Malaysia to open a restaurant if she could find a business partner. I was shocked! I mean, wow, I make a lot of money, but I really love spending it too! Hah! This is such an eye opener.

So I made a conclusion that the Starbucks cafes here are empty (I saw another empty one inside Italia building) because people here really value their money. They would go to the hawkers on the road who sell food and drinks for really cheap. Ok ok, it's not like I'm going to stop going to Starbucks right away, but I have to really start putting more value on my hard-earned moolah. A whole lonely week in Bangkok is definitely NOT easy.

Do you think I will be able to start being frugal? [Suze Orman will be happy to know!]

Food

I'm glad I'm in Thailand because I absolutely love Thai food, especially pad thai. In fact, that was the first meal I had as soon I checked into the hotel. This particular pad thai is extra special, because it's wrapped with some kind of plain egg omelette, served with crushed peanut and crushed chilli on the side. There's also a bowl of tofu soup that comes with it. Simply delicious! I really don't mind having this combo meal every day!

While I'm at work though, my student Akephop and I will just wonder into the basement of our training building, and try the food there. Yesterday I had rice with plenty of vegetables and some kind of chicken for THB50 (RM 5). Today I had some noodles that looked and tasted pretty much like Vietnamese pho for THB30 (RM3). After lunch, we'll go the road side and get some cut-up mangoes for THB10 (RM1)!!! I think the price is really cheap!


If you are wondering why I haven't said anything about Starbucks, I purposely chose to save it for last. ;-) While looking for a hotel to stay in for this trip, I used google earth to calculate the exact distance from the hotel to the nearest Starbucks, and that's why I chose Amari Atrium. When I got to the training place though, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the Starbucks is actually right next to it.

I also discovered that you could actually get a Starbucks card, you fill up the value using your debit card. Isn't that convenient? ;-p

Solo

When I went back to the States for my final year at CSU 9 years ago, I never thought that would be my final solo trip for a long while. So when I was asked if I would go to Bangkok to conduct a training class, I got very excited and quickly said yes! That was 2 weeks ago.

Last night, it finally hit me that I will be missing my kids like crazy. I will especially miss their scent; Azam smells like hot-dog buns, Hanna's curly hair smells sweet-sour, and Zaira of course, smells like a baby. My God, how am I going to survive for one week without them? I had picked the first flight out of KL so I could leave the house without their teary farewell of "Mommy I want to come with you". But as it turned out, leaving them when they were asleep was just as hard!

What if my plane crashed like the Air France flight?
What if I contracted H1N1 and died?
What if...? What if...?
I will never see them again!

I quickly brushed all bad thoughts aside and said good bye to my parents who'd come yesterday to help Jeremy out with the kids. My Dad sent me off to the driveway. I felt 23 years old again, a feeling of deja-vu from 12 years ago when he sent me off to the old Subang Airport for my first year at CSU. My father, my Abah, my hero who did so much for me. Suddenly it was getting harder for me to leave.

Jeremy took the KLIA Express with me to the airport. I stopped by at the book store to get a magazine and that's where I learned about Yasmin Ahmad's death. She had a stroke when she was presenting a business proposal to our local TV station, lost consciousness, went into a comma and died in a matter of 3 days! It's a big loss to our filming industry, I loved all her movies especially Talentime. Anyways, funny as it sounds, I take comfort in knowing that when your time is up, it's up, and there's no point worrying about a plane crash or a swine flu!

So I hugged Jeremy, breathed 3 conscious breaths, and hurried to my boarding gate. I might have something in my eyes, but my heart suddenly feels very light.