Enter the German

The cute flame haired dorm mate of mine bounced back in. She was a real busy bee with lotsa grooming and personal things to attend to, but today she had something she really wanted to share with me.

Me   " What is it ? "

She  " Look "

She pushed the pictures she'd developed into my hands. Excitement uncontained , she was flushed and glowing.

Crap ! She went skydiving on the Pampas ! Damn, My eyes opened wide , I stared at the picture of her,cheeks flailing strapped to the instructor . She giggled.

Me " Woaaaaa.....you went what ? What's this ? You jumped out of a planeeeee ?

She " uuhhh" ( this is one vivacious bundle of sunshine, I tell you )

Me  " so how much did it cost you "

After conversion, at that time, I'll put it around RM500.

Toyed with the idea but figured time was not on my side. Besides I had to survive till the end of my stay . Thus although I would have been mad enough to jump back then, it was simply out of the question.

Because I was oohhing , aaahing and cooing, the Aussie could not take it anymore and climbed up to our level. Adoi...

On Friday night...

Accidents can happen at anytime.

The attendant was not even inside the booth yet he still got hit and suffered from a broken leg when the car made an S turn, after smashing into the booth.

Just so happens that this area is next to some watering holes nearby

List of Chinese airlines aviation incidents

FOUR hijacking related incidents, SEVEN crashes, ONE bomb hoax, missile attack, pilot strike plus a U.F.O. encounter.....and that's the truth yo.

# TIANJIN AIRLINES

 2012 attempted hijacking of Flight 7554, by 6 Uyghur men. Passengers and crew overpowered hijackers. 11 passengers and crew and 2 hijackers treated for injuries. 

2  hijackers dead 

#CHINA SOUTHERN AIRLINES

1. 1990, hijacked Xiamen Airlines crashed into China Southern Airlines. 

128 dead

2. 1992, Flight 3943 crashed into hill near Guilin, Guangxi, due to engine thrust malfunction. 

141 dead.

3. 1997, Flight 3456, crashed on approach to Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport.  9 injured, 35 dead

4. 2006, Flight 325 , Guangzhou-China-Sydney had to be turned back to Guangzhou. Bomb note found  in toilet. 39-year-old Australian businessman of Hong Kong origin arrested.

5. 2008, hijack and crash attempt Urumqi-Beijing averted. 19-year old woman tried to spill gasoline in toilet. Emergency landing at Lanzhou Airport. 2 arrested

6. 2014, Flight 628 Tokyo-Shenyang . North Korea fired 7 short-ranged missiles. The plane, carrying 220 passengers, passed through a trajectory.

Were they Mossad ?

2001 

A week or so had passed , when rioters burned and looted Chinese shops in the Argentinian capital and the aftermath of that event, was the first time I found myself right smack in Buenos Aires , travelling in on a sponsored air ticket . Knew there was trouble, but was totally ignorant about attacks on the Jewish quarter in the 90s . Only found out about there even being a Jewish quarter in BA, like yearssss later. 

Probably no one targetted me since I didn't look that Chinese to the locals (cos at one of the transit points, an officer mistook me for a Peruvian ) thus I was able to walk everywhere on foot without any threat to my personal safety.
But I did turn heads because not many orientals took this path after such an incident, with nary an ounce of fear in sight . Ho yeah, I was fearless. I still am. I think. 

Hi, nice to meet Jew

Why am I even writing this piece ? 
Well, because I don't believe that all of them are a Jacob Rothschild. 

A whole generation of their young people are leading a nomadic lifestyle travelling around the world, because they don't want to be enlisted in the fight against Palestine by their government. Very kesian you know ?

The story below doesn't reflect this, as I only found out about their predicament later , in another destination. But that's another story for another day.

Still all real life stories need a start , so read on below if you like. 

Captain America Winter Soldier - GSC Keychain boxset

 

 

Ah the Americans, love them or hate them if you will but if there's one thing we can't get enough of  then it is Hollywood.

So this promo started today and while I rushed to get it, I was pleasantly surprised that it came in a beautiful box set
 

 

 

After purchasing a popcorn and drink set, you can use this to piang those stupid drama queen people from China if you like. Tell them I said hello.

Another China Doll story

Sad true story of a local businessman. 

Goes like this. Happened last year or so. 

The guy's successful. Everything's going well. Runs a business. Has bungalows to his name. In Penang, well, that's an achievement.

Then he meets a girl from China. Whether she was a reflexologist, masseur, G.R.O. , escort or a new arrival gone viral amongst local 'enthusiasts' , no one knows. 

Looking for trouble

No I'm not still pissed over missing MH370. Instead, I'm preparing to move on. Travel, hop on a plane that is.    School's out and I have haven't made any affirmative plans yet. Been going through these destinations and contemplating if I should go ahead and take that plunge.

Safety , personal of course, being the utmost priority. But as you can see, once you've gone to the main attractions the world has to offer, the trouble starts when you begin to crave another kind of experience that's vastly different.

So I'm jotting this down and wondering out loud if I should even consider the following. 

A bit of rain to lift the gloom

Have not been posting lately,you can attribute my lack of enthusiasm  over lost flight MH370.

 Does that put a damper on my travel plans ? No. Well, maybe it WILL influence the destinations that I might have on my wish list.China is out of the question currently, too much crazy shit going on there.

Anyway, It just rained in Penang today. The air is much, much cooler. Yes, that's big news. And just after the heavy pounding turned down to a steady drizzle, the sound of Moslem prayers enveloped the neighbourhood.  

There any significance in that ? None to me, because I'm not a Moslem but I just thought some of you might wanna know and can read into the significance of showers before the call for prayer. 

Growing up in Malaysia, it gives me a sense of comforting familiarity  to hear the sound of Moslem prayers especially when I'm on an airplane or overseas.

But while I'm in no way anti-Semitic nor influenced by Islamophobia what I do know is that any destination to China until they can clear up the Uyghur mess, is currently off radar for me.

Chupa Chups - Mega tin

 

 

Been trying so, so hard, to land this for months

 

As a matter of fact, I've been harassing merchandisers, department heads and outlet managers for this.

One finally relented and said I could have it if I bought

RM300 worth of the lollipops !!!

Matta Fair newspaper snippets - deal or no deal ?

 

So I've been looking through the print media but all I see are steep prices on what should be good deals.

GTT's is sky high. Gone with them once, don't particularly like them but they do know how to catch one's attention with new combos.

Bestour & Travel's offer.

When wanderlust strikes again

My feet get itchy when yet another travel fair comes up. Although that means that my pockets will surely bleed , I never wanna cure myself, no, not just yet . And so I pore through the adverts on the net and the print media. Lusting, planning, wondering if I can land myself yet another great bargain like what I got for Istanbul . Travel agents, huh, they can do magic when they want to. Yeah, even during super peak season . It's up to you to find them.

Weird cloud over Georgetown

 

 

See for yourself. It looks like a giant mole coming down to earth from the skies above.

 

 

 

 

Stood there for the longest time looking at it with my mouth wide open. At that time I didn't have my camera with me so I whipped out my tiny handphone.

First time on the Second Penang Bridge - pretty in pink and white !

 

 

At 24km long, the Second Penang Bridge is the longest bridge in Southeast Asia.

The midspan is the same old boring spare for the pink tips and a couple of sweeping twists to prevent drivers from snoozing off.

 

 

 

PLUS NSE exit 2801 - almost like Sydney !

 

 

Well, last night was a historic moment in which tens of thousands of people in the Northern Region, poured towards the newly opened Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah Bridge or the Second Penang Bridge / JK2PP .

While the entire fanfare was focused on the bridge itself, I seriously think that PLUS authorities have come up with a real gem, which I foresee is going to be hugely popular with the locals as it looks just like Sydney Harbour's bridge from afar !

 

 

Oishi Green Tea - Neko cat keychain

 

 

 

Was so excited when I found out that this premium was finally being given out.

All one has to do is purchase 2 green teas from Oishi at participating shops and you can walk home with this cutie.

 

 

Penang hills on fire ! Firefighting plane to the rescue

 

 

There's never been a worse drought than the one we're experiencing this year. And today small spots of fires broke out on one of the hills

 

Seen from Starbucks Tanjong Tokong

 

 

 

 

Mc Donald's D-I-Y Spongebob Squarepants paper fan

 

 

Seen this before ? If you haven't maybe it's time you dragged a toddler along with you to the counter.

Milo - soft magnetic whiteboard with marker

Went to google this up yesterday, I mean, just to see if anyone else has this freebie too. Funny that Alibaba.com , a China site has another version listed for sale. 

So I guess interested resellers who dare to take up 1000 pieces onwards, well, I think one can probably make a living out of supplying this stock to flea market and pasar karat traders in the country.

My Kuali Penang White Curry Noodles - nay from the islanders

I think The Ramen Rater should go collect some royalty from the manufacturer cos now, ever since he ranked it as the Top 10 hottest noodles in the world, the hype surrounding this little known brand has yet to die down.

Resellers have been hoarding and pushing the prices up the roof.

As of today, most supermarkets have followed the reseller in Chowrasta and jacked the multipack up to RM7.50

Knorr - ceramic soup bowl ( Thai edition )

 

 

Well, I didn't buy the product because of the bowl below, but heck, since they were giving it away and I was buying their stock cubes, I figured what the heck,
I might as well

 

Moccona Trio tin canister - Thai edition

The Thais have got some really nice freebies in their supermarkets. 

 

 

And the embossed design is what makes this canister stand out. 

Waking up to an Executive breakfast on Level 34

Well, good morning Kuala Lumpur !

Suite living at the DoubleTree

Let's close that door behind us and see what I've checked into here

Warm cookie welcome by DoubleTree

Situated at the spot where the old Crown Princess used to be, the hotel is real easy to spot from afar, yet I still doubted myself upon seeing the word Intermark right where I thought DoubleTree should have been.

  

Silly me. This sign lay right under that of course.

Petronas Gift Card

Gonna use this later in the day.

The card comes perloaded with RM50 inside. Thereafter, RM 10 is all that is needed for a minimal top up.

Kinda like the design. Bright and bold with gold specks throughout. Sometimes I think the designer should be given due credit you know ?

Beef noodle shop - Siam Square

I know some people will be attracted to the fact that there are two Ladyboy waitresses here. They're not in the pic but the more flamboyant one , who likes to wear skimpy shorts and speaks English like a deeesainNah sashays down this runway, past the protestor with a confidence level that is waaayyy beyond me. 

Dragon beard candy stall - Siam Paragon

 

 

Kiddo got all excited when I pointed out this stall. Not because of the dessert, but due to the name itself.

Staffed by this pair, it's made fresh on the spot, making it a must see thing to do here !

 

 

 

 

And then it became my turn to get all excited, as I used to have no idea why it was called that. Until I saw the cuteeeeeee beards all laid out this way.

Awwwww

It's a Royal Copenhagen

 

 

Been a strange year of firsts.

Went through a bit of trouble to retrieve this from the person assigned to personally hand it to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whatever it is, all forgotten, as it's my very first Royal Copenhagen. See the label description also syok sendiri already.

;)

Lois t- shirt

 

 

Q & A sessions...you never know what you might end up with.

Even without speaking a word of Mandarin....

 

 

 

 

...managed to walk away with this tee



Spongebob Periscope - Mc Donald's Happy Meal

 

Ok, I'll admit I already tested this out.

Stood behind the fridge, checked out the corner and yep @@ it works !

Polycarbonate case for my Instax Mini 8

 

 

Thanks to the Valentine's Day effect ( which by the way, saw to it that scores of men crammed around Pandora counters, while the women were placing orders at the florists ) kiddo decided to give me something practical to go with my new toy
 

 

Love in a mini

Fuji Instax polaroid cameras sell like hotcakes every Valentine. Almost every girl around the world wants one, and I'm no different from the roost.

What's a breakfast buffet at Pathumwan Princess like ?

Come, lemme show you

1. Marvellous omelettes with the Day's special, on the other board directly behind it. Nice touch

Green umbrella tomyam stall - Sathorn

You'll find this row of green umbrellas a little way off  after you come out from the Silom underground MRT station .

Very popular with the local ladies, you'll get to see a broad spectrum of them eating here, from nurses, to schoolgirls and even resident tarts from Patpong 

Sleeping beauties at the Pathumwan Princess

Even with Bangkok Shutdown going full swing just a few steps away, we slept sound as contented little babies. 

Really remarkable seeing how we both have different sleeping requirements. He prefers a hard mattress, while I love the soft sink in type.

Oh yeah

Come to mamah

Test tubes as a welcome drink

 

 

Pathumwan Princess proved to be our safe and cosy refuge for the duration of our stay in Bangkok.

During this time of the year, as it's near imposssible to get a room here. But thanks to tent city outside, which spooked off a lot of tourists, we were able to wrestle a crazy deal out of the agent.
 

 

 

When you check in....

SF Cinema City - MBK Plaza

As it turns out , we caught the movie I,Frankenstein, in SF Cinema City
 

Which happens to look like a futuristic cathedral

Fuji Japanese Restaurant - MBK Plaza

Fuji Japanese Restaurant is reputed to have over 70 branches scattered throughout the Siamese kingdom.
Yeah, it's indeed that popular.

No idea if the decor changes with the season, but there's a very eyecatching tower of plastic Sakuras somewhere in the middle

After You - Shibuya Honey and Nutella toast

After You is yet another restaurant in Bangkok where you have to queue with a pre issued number in hand. 

Bangkok street rally - tourist 101

Since there will be more in the pipeline, this is what you should expect to come across during a street rally
 
1. Barricade cum checkpoint.

The people manning it will request that you open up your bag for inspection. 

What the State of Emergency in Bangkok looked like

With a State of Emergency declared, you'd expect everyone to be cowering indoors right ? Not . Not in Bangkok.

Streets became one big outdoor street fair

Street performers, tall, four legged and cute

 

 

Where you get street vendors, most times you get street performers as well.

 

These 3 boys who had a signboard stating that contributions were for Mom's cancer,earned megabahts as they were really quite good. 

 

 

 

 

 

The pooches below showed off their sleeping beauty ritual and managed to raise quite a bit for the animal cause

Tri colour Bangkok Shutdown accessories and souvenirs

Thai people are so enterprising. Even during times such as these, there were busy hands at work on the streets churning out handmade accessories right before your eyes.

Bangkok Shutdown t-shirts

     

For protest tourists like me, it was a must have souvenir.

Ranging between 80 baht to 150 baht per piece and upwards for more exclusive designs, there seemed to be newer designs with each passing day hawked by different vendors.

There were Sutheps...

More bang for your baht - Bangkok Shutdown

Trust the Thais to come up with a novel way to dispose of unwanted leaders.  
For 20 baht, they even had a game booth stall set up to knock the leaders off their pedestal.

Weapons of choice in which to inflict maximum damage....tennis balls.Yes, tennis balls.

Bangkok Shutdown - downright shocking posters alright

 

 

I know I wasn't alone when my jaw dropped upon seeing these shocking posters.

In some, the intended receipient had her eyes gouged and burnt out with jossticks.

Check out the protestors tents behind that. Yep, pedestrian walkway from MBK to Siam Square was effectively blocked .

 

 

 

Shadow puppet, perched above a poster of her travelling to Dubai etc etc.

Bangkok Protest Tourist - post #1

Boy what a way to kick off CNY. Flying straight into the eye of the storm not knowing what to expect.

Exciting and stupid maybe, but well, the lure was too much. 

While others changed their destination to Phuket, Chiangmai, Hua Hin even, I dug my heels in. 

Although location wise, some might consider the hotel which I stayed in, to be in the heart of the protests, but it was perfect for me. Easy access to complexes that closed early.
Certainly helped that I needed no guide, as this is not my maiden trip. And the location, which is one I'm familiar with,
allows me access to alternative neighbourhoods in case of "what ifs " As well as sleep safe.

Decided decision

 

 

Few days from now, I'm about to do what could possibly turn out to be one of the craziest things I've ever decided to do in my entire life. Had wanted to opt out but wth.... Hopefully I don't end up feeling like this. Confined , marooned and well...dumbfounded.

 

 

 

Since I'm also dragging some prey with muah.

We're all in the same boat together.Kah kah kah. No way to turn back now