There was an interesting article regarding prominent social commentary bloggers like Mr Wang, Alex Au, Xenoboy and others for not accepting an invitation to get a chance to speak to our ministers.
I kind of only agree half of what she is saying. Especially the part that Mr Wang gave a poor excuse for not going. My personal thoughts is what is the main purpose of accepting this invite? Is it just a chance to be on the TV? Or is it really a chance to meet a minister and hope we can get a straight forward dialogue? If that is so for the latter, why the need to go to the show? We could comment at George Yeo's blog and wait for an answer . Is it in anyway, different from being on a TV, conversing with a minister or giving feedbacks through their blogs? It just another way of communication. Direct face to face is much faster and responsive but I would prefer discussions in forum or blogs to have more time to digest the information and formulate a more researched reply. I think this is MY or many others preference. A person who writes very well may not be very articulate when facing a camera or a real person. Suay suay is Mr Wang is a lawyer (so this excuse cannot apply lor) haha.
Anyway, more and more people are aware of blog as a new medium of information and dialogue. Even our Prime Ministers and ministers are aware about it and understood its potential as a tool to communicate with the people. I do not really see a big deal in appearing on TV and speak to a minister is going to change our country (as what Gayle had mentioned). But still, we need to try and never stop expressing our views (through MSM, blogs/Internet, or meet the MP session) to our MIW. This is what I think I really agree with Gayle on. Don't just complain, get to meet them and talk to them. I think most of them are genuinely nice and will try to work things out.
Fever and bombs.
FEVER
Girl girl was very sick today :( . We took her to a clinic and her temperature was a shocking 40.3 degrees. The doctor immediately asked the nurse to give her an injection and a cold bath. It pains both of us seeing girl girl crying and screaming while the missy applied the cold bath on her. After the bath, her temp dropped till 38. Still high but at least it dropped. The doctor told us to monitor her and if her temperature increases again, she will need to be admitted to a hospital.
Now she is sleeping while I type this and her last reading is a normal 37. Still, we need to be with her and monitor her through the night. Now girl girl very angry with us for ignoring her when she is suffering her cold bath treatment. Can tell the trust between us has temporary broken. She don't allow anyone except mummy to carry her and she cries if mummy tries to adjust her and change her clothes.
BOMBS
Another thing is the bomb scarce here. Seems like the Bangkok blast is making everyone nervous here. There were rumours that there are bombs found at Big C (something like carrefour) in Chiang Rai and the Tesco Lotus shopping mall in Maesai is a target too. There are a lot of uncertainties as till this day, no one is sure who is responsible for the bombs. Still, there were news in the Net and media that witnesses see military personal dropped the bombs at the location. Might be a big conspiracy by the Thai military to use this as an excuse to keep them in power. Still, all these are speculations and hope the matters solves sooner as I will be travelling to Bangkok soon.
Girl girl was very sick today :( . We took her to a clinic and her temperature was a shocking 40.3 degrees. The doctor immediately asked the nurse to give her an injection and a cold bath. It pains both of us seeing girl girl crying and screaming while the missy applied the cold bath on her. After the bath, her temp dropped till 38. Still high but at least it dropped. The doctor told us to monitor her and if her temperature increases again, she will need to be admitted to a hospital.
Now she is sleeping while I type this and her last reading is a normal 37. Still, we need to be with her and monitor her through the night. Now girl girl very angry with us for ignoring her when she is suffering her cold bath treatment. Can tell the trust between us has temporary broken. She don't allow anyone except mummy to carry her and she cries if mummy tries to adjust her and change her clothes.
BOMBS
Another thing is the bomb scarce here. Seems like the Bangkok blast is making everyone nervous here. There were rumours that there are bombs found at Big C (something like carrefour) in Chiang Rai and the Tesco Lotus shopping mall in Maesai is a target too. There are a lot of uncertainties as till this day, no one is sure who is responsible for the bombs. Still, there were news in the Net and media that witnesses see military personal dropped the bombs at the location. Might be a big conspiracy by the Thai military to use this as an excuse to keep them in power. Still, all these are speculations and hope the matters solves sooner as I will be travelling to Bangkok soon.
This is going to be cool...
I am working on a new model and so far, here's the result
The reason for all the excitement is that so far, I have made no mistakes on this project! hehehe. I think I can achieve better results here than in Singapore due to the more relax pace in building. In Singapore, I tend to rush as my room does not have enough space for all my half built models or unfinished paint. Going to be a 3 colour camouflage pattern. So now the base is done. 
For those intrested, the technique I am using is called pre-shading. A Red-Black (brownish) coat is applied as base. Then I spray the desert yellow (lightest colour) of the 3 camouflage as base. Next in line will be green followed by brown the last. Do note that i did not cover the edges so as to make the model more 3D.
The reason for all the excitement is that so far, I have made no mistakes on this project! hehehe. I think I can achieve better results here than in Singapore due to the more relax pace in building. In Singapore, I tend to rush as my room does not have enough space for all my half built models or unfinished paint. Going to be a 3 colour camouflage pattern. So now the base is done. 
For those intrested, the technique I am using is called pre-shading. A Red-Black (brownish) coat is applied as base. Then I spray the desert yellow (lightest colour) of the 3 camouflage as base. Next in line will be green followed by brown the last. Do note that i did not cover the edges so as to make the model more 3D.
Myanmar Trip Log Day 4 and 5
Day 4
We are supposed to return to Thailand today but as its her grandpa's birthday, we decided to spend one more day to celebrate for the old man. My wife wants to buy a cake and look for some scarfs to bring back to Maesai to sell. She convinced me that the scarfs will earn back our taxi fares to Keng Tung. Reluctantly, we and her mum set off on a Tuk tuk to the big market in Keng Tung. Its huge!! Just like Chatuchat in Bangkok. Selling all sorts of stuff in one big area. We tried looking for the scarfs but it seems its all sold out. Think some guy already got the same plan and bought the whole lot. We shopped around and bought the cake and some baby clothes. We then head back home and on the way, stopped at the hotel to pay for my additional night stay.
Reaching home, we celebrated with grandpa. Cutting the cake and ate it. Her younger sister's husband want us to go to his house to have dinner. Since we are out of motorcycles (her mum and stepfather already went out on it). He has to take the bicycle back to his house to grab one. We took his bike while he borrowed another from my wife's aunt. (her aunt's bike has no license plate on it and its actually illegal to ride it) On the way, we found out that her aunt's bike is out of fuel. So we stopped by a plantation and waited for her sister's husband to go buy petrol. Finally reached his place around 3pm. It has a huge pond and her sister-in-laws are catching fish for us to eat. We place a straw mat on the ground just behind their new house (which is still under construction) and relax. The fish they cook has a lot of bones in it but nevertheless, very sweet and the texture is like cotton. The meal consists of rice, fish soup and grilled fish. The soup is nice with ginger and lemon grass as enhancer.
I was already having a bit of stomachache (due to the water we drank). So I only managed a little. After the meal, I feel heady and sick. It seems the water they used for the soup is not very clean as well. I went back home first while wife and baby stayed. Her sis husband dropped me off and I went straight to bed. At night, my condition worsen. I was having diarrhoea and fever. Her sister gave me some local herbal medicine and it seems to help.
Day 5
Woke up and still feel bad. We waited for the taxi to come to our house and said goodbye to all. Her grandpa looks a bit sad as we are leaving so soon. This time, we shared the taxi with 2 ladies and one of them has a 2 month old baby boy. Hehe.
The driver we had is a bit jialat. Not very helpful and dishonest. The two ladies seems to have overstayed by 1 day and he seems reluctant to ferry them back to Thachilek. Anyway, we went to the immigration to get my visa (which is held by them while I am supposed to stay at the hotel). Met 2 foreigners there and they were having problems with their permits. They have entered the country through Yangon but wants to leave at Thachilek into Maesai. The officers there are not very friendly and told them they can't do that as they do not have the proper papers. Anyway, my visa was returned to me without a fuss and we left KengTung.
This time, the 3 checkpoints gave more problems for us due to the 2 ladies on board. They were fined 500 kyats per head for each checkpoints. It took a longer time for us to reach Maesai (around 4.30pm) Wife grabbed a Sam Law (Tri-shaw) and load all the stuff onto it while I went to the immigration to get my passport. Maesai was full of people. Never seen such crowd before, I guess its the new year holidays that many Thais comes here to holiday.
I crossed over and took a motorcycle taxi home. That concludes the Myanmar trip.
We are supposed to return to Thailand today but as its her grandpa's birthday, we decided to spend one more day to celebrate for the old man. My wife wants to buy a cake and look for some scarfs to bring back to Maesai to sell. She convinced me that the scarfs will earn back our taxi fares to Keng Tung. Reluctantly, we and her mum set off on a Tuk tuk to the big market in Keng Tung. Its huge!! Just like Chatuchat in Bangkok. Selling all sorts of stuff in one big area. We tried looking for the scarfs but it seems its all sold out. Think some guy already got the same plan and bought the whole lot. We shopped around and bought the cake and some baby clothes. We then head back home and on the way, stopped at the hotel to pay for my additional night stay.
Reaching home, we celebrated with grandpa. Cutting the cake and ate it. Her younger sister's husband want us to go to his house to have dinner. Since we are out of motorcycles (her mum and stepfather already went out on it). He has to take the bicycle back to his house to grab one. We took his bike while he borrowed another from my wife's aunt. (her aunt's bike has no license plate on it and its actually illegal to ride it) On the way, we found out that her aunt's bike is out of fuel. So we stopped by a plantation and waited for her sister's husband to go buy petrol. Finally reached his place around 3pm. It has a huge pond and her sister-in-laws are catching fish for us to eat. We place a straw mat on the ground just behind their new house (which is still under construction) and relax. The fish they cook has a lot of bones in it but nevertheless, very sweet and the texture is like cotton. The meal consists of rice, fish soup and grilled fish. The soup is nice with ginger and lemon grass as enhancer.
I was already having a bit of stomachache (due to the water we drank). So I only managed a little. After the meal, I feel heady and sick. It seems the water they used for the soup is not very clean as well. I went back home first while wife and baby stayed. Her sis husband dropped me off and I went straight to bed. At night, my condition worsen. I was having diarrhoea and fever. Her sister gave me some local herbal medicine and it seems to help.
Day 5
Woke up and still feel bad. We waited for the taxi to come to our house and said goodbye to all. Her grandpa looks a bit sad as we are leaving so soon. This time, we shared the taxi with 2 ladies and one of them has a 2 month old baby boy. Hehe.
The driver we had is a bit jialat. Not very helpful and dishonest. The two ladies seems to have overstayed by 1 day and he seems reluctant to ferry them back to Thachilek. Anyway, we went to the immigration to get my visa (which is held by them while I am supposed to stay at the hotel). Met 2 foreigners there and they were having problems with their permits. They have entered the country through Yangon but wants to leave at Thachilek into Maesai. The officers there are not very friendly and told them they can't do that as they do not have the proper papers. Anyway, my visa was returned to me without a fuss and we left KengTung.
This time, the 3 checkpoints gave more problems for us due to the 2 ladies on board. They were fined 500 kyats per head for each checkpoints. It took a longer time for us to reach Maesai (around 4.30pm) Wife grabbed a Sam Law (Tri-shaw) and load all the stuff onto it while I went to the immigration to get my passport. Maesai was full of people. Never seen such crowd before, I guess its the new year holidays that many Thais comes here to holiday.
I crossed over and took a motorcycle taxi home. That concludes the Myanmar trip.
Some great promising news.
Feel like taking a break from the long Myanmar post. Have it in draft but still need to go through the details. Anyway, there's some good news concerning my visa in Thailand. According to a guy in Thaivisa.com forum. It seems that he is able to return to Thailand using a Tourist visa issued by the embassy in KL, Malaysia. So I think I could just fly back to Singapore and go to the Thai embassy to apply for one.
This is really great news as it means I won't be forced to leave my wife and baby for 3 whole months before I could return. So I look forward to it and plan to return back to Thailand after Chinese New Year.
The soothsayer in Burma said I will have a good year in 2007. Seems like its coming true :)
This is really great news as it means I won't be forced to leave my wife and baby for 3 whole months before I could return. So I look forward to it and plan to return back to Thailand after Chinese New Year.
The soothsayer in Burma said I will have a good year in 2007. Seems like its coming true :)
Myanmar Trip Log - Day 2 and 3
Day 2
We woke up at 530am and washed up. Proceed to check out but the lady in charge is still sleeping! hehe.. no one is around and the gates are locked. I knocked and shouted at the front door of the office until the lady appeared and unlock the gates for us. We took off on the motorcycle.
The sky was still dark and its freezing cold! The sun was actually dawning and it gives an eerie overlook on the landscape. Wife and baby is still sleeping but woke up when they hear our bike approaching. Xinhui seems to enjoy the cold weather very much.
We dressed up nicer and walked to the temple. There were many children and there were playing at the front of the temple. I took a few photos while wife talked to her friends. Convoys of truck, bikes and tractors approach the temple at various timings. Often with loud gongs and cymbals (like our yew keng). Its the first day of the 7 day praying session and these people come from different villages around KengTung. They brought along blankets and food to set up their resting place in the temple. We are lucky as the temple is just next door. So we could just walk back to sleep. We spend most of the time looking around and greeting people. Wife is showing off our cute Xinhui to all her friends and distant relatives. There were many makeshift stalls infront of thr temple selling food and toys. We ate our breakfast (eggs and some fried kuay teow) there before heading home to rest a bit.
In the afternoon, the temperature is much more manageable at 28 degrees. Wife and baby headed back to bath while I join the procession to the river. Not much to see actually. Took some pictures and headed back to rest and have lunch. Bloody hell, Nom Jing Bah Tu again. Sianz.
At night, the family were making Kao Put (rice and wheat hammered into a paste). Its an interesting process. Glutinous rice is steamed and put into a pound er, some black colour wheat like seeds are then thrown in and they start to bash the thingie up into a paste. Salt is added to add flavour but the seeds are the one that gives its distinctive taste and smell. (Very fragrant)
We took the finish product and cut then into small thin slices (like pancakes). Then before they eat it, they grilled it on charcoal. Makes it very crispy and taste fantastically good. Especially the salty ones. At night, we went to the temple and sat in front of our makeshift straw tent (which is for the monk to sleep). Grill Kow Put and drink hot tea. Quite enjoyable in the cold weather.
Day 3
Today its a big day as wife will pray today. So we took the offerings and went to the temple and they have these makeshift baskets that you put the offerings in them. Basically most of the offerings are candies and money (small changes). After that, we approached the abbot (i think lah) and donated some money. Then comes the procession. The monks will gather and the devotees will form a line, waiting for the monks to pass by to put money into their bowls. Quite a funny scene actually as people gathered and aggressively tried to reach the monk's bowl before they come in front of them. Just like our aunties here in Singapore, Kia Su..
Lunch time, we ate some food prepared by the temple. Taste really good and got meat leh!! Haha. I thought vegetarian for all but it seems only the monks need to be vegetarian.
In the early evening, we took her stepfather bike to his farm to have dinner. Her stepfather and mum went ahead earlier on bicycles to feed their pigs. They killed a chicken(they caught it by stunning it with a catapult!) and cooked soup with it. Wife and I went down to the market to change more money and on the way, grab some Coke and tidbits. They actually have home made potato chips!! Selling them in small little plastic bags. Cost is 50 Kyats (1.4baht) freaking cheap. We munched on the while we wait for the food to be ready. The chicken was delicious. At night, we went to the temple again and chatted a bit before heading back home to sleep.
We woke up at 530am and washed up. Proceed to check out but the lady in charge is still sleeping! hehe.. no one is around and the gates are locked. I knocked and shouted at the front door of the office until the lady appeared and unlock the gates for us. We took off on the motorcycle.
The sky was still dark and its freezing cold! The sun was actually dawning and it gives an eerie overlook on the landscape. Wife and baby is still sleeping but woke up when they hear our bike approaching. Xinhui seems to enjoy the cold weather very much.
We dressed up nicer and walked to the temple. There were many children and there were playing at the front of the temple. I took a few photos while wife talked to her friends. Convoys of truck, bikes and tractors approach the temple at various timings. Often with loud gongs and cymbals (like our yew keng). Its the first day of the 7 day praying session and these people come from different villages around KengTung. They brought along blankets and food to set up their resting place in the temple. We are lucky as the temple is just next door. So we could just walk back to sleep. We spend most of the time looking around and greeting people. Wife is showing off our cute Xinhui to all her friends and distant relatives. There were many makeshift stalls infront of thr temple selling food and toys. We ate our breakfast (eggs and some fried kuay teow) there before heading home to rest a bit.
In the afternoon, the temperature is much more manageable at 28 degrees. Wife and baby headed back to bath while I join the procession to the river. Not much to see actually. Took some pictures and headed back to rest and have lunch. Bloody hell, Nom Jing Bah Tu again. Sianz.
At night, the family were making Kao Put (rice and wheat hammered into a paste). Its an interesting process. Glutinous rice is steamed and put into a pound er, some black colour wheat like seeds are then thrown in and they start to bash the thingie up into a paste. Salt is added to add flavour but the seeds are the one that gives its distinctive taste and smell. (Very fragrant)
We took the finish product and cut then into small thin slices (like pancakes). Then before they eat it, they grilled it on charcoal. Makes it very crispy and taste fantastically good. Especially the salty ones. At night, we went to the temple and sat in front of our makeshift straw tent (which is for the monk to sleep). Grill Kow Put and drink hot tea. Quite enjoyable in the cold weather.
Day 3
Today its a big day as wife will pray today. So we took the offerings and went to the temple and they have these makeshift baskets that you put the offerings in them. Basically most of the offerings are candies and money (small changes). After that, we approached the abbot (i think lah) and donated some money. Then comes the procession. The monks will gather and the devotees will form a line, waiting for the monks to pass by to put money into their bowls. Quite a funny scene actually as people gathered and aggressively tried to reach the monk's bowl before they come in front of them. Just like our aunties here in Singapore, Kia Su..
Lunch time, we ate some food prepared by the temple. Taste really good and got meat leh!! Haha. I thought vegetarian for all but it seems only the monks need to be vegetarian.
In the early evening, we took her stepfather bike to his farm to have dinner. Her stepfather and mum went ahead earlier on bicycles to feed their pigs. They killed a chicken(they caught it by stunning it with a catapult!) and cooked soup with it. Wife and I went down to the market to change more money and on the way, grab some Coke and tidbits. They actually have home made potato chips!! Selling them in small little plastic bags. Cost is 50 Kyats (1.4baht) freaking cheap. We munched on the while we wait for the food to be ready. The chicken was delicious. At night, we went to the temple again and chatted a bit before heading back home to sleep.
Myanmar Trip Log - Day 1
As promised, it will be a long essay on Myanmar Keng Tung. You may wish to view part of the photos I taken on my wife's old Panasonic FX-1. I took 3 rolls of film on my SLR and its still at the labs. I will try to post them later once I convert them to digital.
Day 1
We left the house early at 830am on the Tuk tuk to the border. Both of us have to get out of the vehicle and crossed the immigration by foot. No problems on the Thailand side. Crossed the bridge and approached the immigration of Myanmar. Need 3 photos and 500baht for the trip (lucky I always have a bunch in my wallet) . It took some time as there were a lot of foreigners (French) trekkers trying to go in at the same time. I was waiting at the immigration for my car number before they could release me. So my wife and the Tuk tuk went to grab the car and driver and come back to the immigration to fetch me.
Finally, the car came and we are ready to go. We stop at the market to buy some fruits and change some money while the driver went to photocopy the documents we have. We drove out of town before we hit the first checkpoint. The thing about Myanmar is that they are control freaks. Due to the nature of military junta in control. Leaving a town in Myanmar, you need to report to the town immigration department before you could proceed. The driver told me and my wife that we should temporary not related to each other if the immigration people asked as they will create lots of problem for us(since she's a thai yai and I am a foreigner) First check point was smooth. Quite scary as the soldiers stationing there are carrying rifles and guns.
The road to KengTung from Maesai is about 300km (same as Chiang Mai) . The driver we took is actually someone my wife knew. He's from the same village as my wife. Another guy is with us. He's a young chap who is trying to grab a flight from Keng Tung to Yangoon. He is sitting in the front seat while wify, baby and I are at the back. Usually, the driver will only leave if there are 4 passengers but the young chap needs to rush, so he paid the extra head.
There were 3 checkpoints altogether. None of them gave us trouble and the journey was quite smooth. The driver drop off the young chap at the airport before we proceed to a hotel to checkin.
Wife already chose one for me that is near the village. Its called Harry's Trek House and its own by a former Burmese English teacher. The thing is, foreigners are NOT allowed to stay in any resident's house. They could only lodge in hotels as these hotels are taxed by the gahment. So normally, for foreigner who wish to stay at the locals, they pay the room and leave it empty for the night. (so long got money to the gahment lah). The lady at the hotel insist I stay for a night at the hotel on my first night, mainly for my safety and hers (they could get huge fines or license revoked if they found out). Its cost 400baht for the first night and 200baht for subsequent nights. I obliged the agreement and paid a deposit before we took off to her house.
Her village is known as Kad Tow. And from the Trek house to her place, its another 13km. Along the way, its all rice padi and farms. Quite scenic. We finally reached her place at 2pm plus. We washed up a bit and ate some food. They were cooking Kow Lam. We walked to the temple (just beside her house) and look around. She greeted some friends and neighbours.
In the evening, her mum made Kuay Teow or Kow Soi(Thai Yai) and we slurp up the noodles before I head out with her younger brother to the hotel. The night was chilling. I think got 10 degrees. Vapours are coming out from our mouth or nose when we breadth or speak. Much much colder than Maesai.
At 7pm, we reached the hotel. The room is quite cosy and has all the necessities. There is even hot water and TV! We watched a bit before we sleep at 9 plus. Need to wake up early tomorrow as they are tons if things to do.
Day 1
We left the house early at 830am on the Tuk tuk to the border. Both of us have to get out of the vehicle and crossed the immigration by foot. No problems on the Thailand side. Crossed the bridge and approached the immigration of Myanmar. Need 3 photos and 500baht for the trip (lucky I always have a bunch in my wallet) . It took some time as there were a lot of foreigners (French) trekkers trying to go in at the same time. I was waiting at the immigration for my car number before they could release me. So my wife and the Tuk tuk went to grab the car and driver and come back to the immigration to fetch me.
Finally, the car came and we are ready to go. We stop at the market to buy some fruits and change some money while the driver went to photocopy the documents we have. We drove out of town before we hit the first checkpoint. The thing about Myanmar is that they are control freaks. Due to the nature of military junta in control. Leaving a town in Myanmar, you need to report to the town immigration department before you could proceed. The driver told me and my wife that we should temporary not related to each other if the immigration people asked as they will create lots of problem for us(since she's a thai yai and I am a foreigner) First check point was smooth. Quite scary as the soldiers stationing there are carrying rifles and guns.
The road to KengTung from Maesai is about 300km (same as Chiang Mai) . The driver we took is actually someone my wife knew. He's from the same village as my wife. Another guy is with us. He's a young chap who is trying to grab a flight from Keng Tung to Yangoon. He is sitting in the front seat while wify, baby and I are at the back. Usually, the driver will only leave if there are 4 passengers but the young chap needs to rush, so he paid the extra head.
There were 3 checkpoints altogether. None of them gave us trouble and the journey was quite smooth. The driver drop off the young chap at the airport before we proceed to a hotel to checkin.
Wife already chose one for me that is near the village. Its called Harry's Trek House and its own by a former Burmese English teacher. The thing is, foreigners are NOT allowed to stay in any resident's house. They could only lodge in hotels as these hotels are taxed by the gahment. So normally, for foreigner who wish to stay at the locals, they pay the room and leave it empty for the night. (so long got money to the gahment lah). The lady at the hotel insist I stay for a night at the hotel on my first night, mainly for my safety and hers (they could get huge fines or license revoked if they found out). Its cost 400baht for the first night and 200baht for subsequent nights. I obliged the agreement and paid a deposit before we took off to her house.
Her village is known as Kad Tow. And from the Trek house to her place, its another 13km. Along the way, its all rice padi and farms. Quite scenic. We finally reached her place at 2pm plus. We washed up a bit and ate some food. They were cooking Kow Lam. We walked to the temple (just beside her house) and look around. She greeted some friends and neighbours.
In the evening, her mum made Kuay Teow or Kow Soi(Thai Yai) and we slurp up the noodles before I head out with her younger brother to the hotel. The night was chilling. I think got 10 degrees. Vapours are coming out from our mouth or nose when we breadth or speak. Much much colder than Maesai.
At 7pm, we reached the hotel. The room is quite cosy and has all the necessities. There is even hot water and TV! We watched a bit before we sleep at 9 plus. Need to wake up early tomorrow as they are tons if things to do.
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