Foreigner in a foreign land

belated update

marcustee — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 15:40:51 +0000

18 Oct, Sat and an eventful day. My 60th day in this land and yes, spent quite a fair bit of money on this crazy day @ BKK today. Went to platinium yet again this time spent a good 4 hrs there, lunch was some banana + pork floss creepe and real lunch was at central world’s fuji at around 3pm? Thereafter is heading to the hidden away victory monument’s shops and took a van (paid 110 baht) back to my hostel.

The biggest purchase is a bag and that was after much confirmation from the 2 nice ladies with me before the card is signed, the bag is purchased.

Some pictures for the failing mind … 21 days to yet another year older.

char siew bao to last us till lunch

nah. not just the baos, we have siew mai as well

lovely lee lee and apple

Just love BKK, the giantic billboard everywhere

waiting for our delicious creepe

going banana over the cheap shades

Hi-So representative

trying on the heels.. this is less than 500 baht

caught the new Thai idol in action and plently of crazy fan - he is quite shuai ba

no prize for guessing which is the fairer gender when it comes to supporting him

ma ma white sheep, have you any wool?

Lunch at Fuji, really quite a nice place

open kitchen concept - busy wipping out nice dishes

even at 3pm, the lunch crowd is really strong

first dish - salad (aroi mak mak!)

fried sotong, real crunchy, real shiok!

1200 baht bento set, really full man. though the sashimi is not really that fresh.

chawuamushi - really loving it

this fish is really sweet and nice... cant rem what it is called

creative display in central world (SUPERNOVA - Nokia lastest model)

Victory monument - great shopping place

crazy load of shoes (all below 250 baht - 12 sgd)

got my news feed about CHELSEA leading Boro 1-0. Miss watching soccer really.

changed a room, discovered my new TV set allows me to access MTV - of course with chinese songs.. so thankful!

Tata. update soon again.

spanking fun weekend

marcustee — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 13:38:14 +0000

the past week went by real fast. Bosses were not around, i was busy booking my year end holiday, searching for nice accomodation and just nice saw some cheap hostel in BKK and decided to get my new expat friends to stay overnight in BKK together.

So there it is, the 7 of us, 3 malaysian, 1 mainland chinese, 2 Hongkongners and 1 singaporean = 7 fun souls!

We jet off to BKK by bus around 9.45am in the morning on saturday and i was really the guide as most of them had not been to BKK by bus before. When we reach BKK, we head down to where the hostel is via BTL train and the station we alighted is something Taksin (3 stops away from salandang) – the Chinatown area of BKK.

The place was a good 10min walk from the station but its a nice place nontheless. good place for 132baht per night (around 7 sgd)? SHIOK!

welcome to new road guest house. This hostel is really quite nice.

Lets take a tour around…

open bar? hmm.. lets check inside.

very good woody feel – resort like

up the stairs...

back to the days of doube deck bucks.

look from below: what an old school building

breakfast area

Tv and computer area

After checking out the cheap but good acc, we are off the China town. uhooo…

imagery of chinese culture pops up all over the place

1st time in" Tu tu", 3 is just nice, 4 is a tab squezzing

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

lotsa temples around.

the pollution around bkk street is so bad that i bet i have inhale sufficient monoxide to shorten my life by days

gather gather... lets discuss where to move next

along the way we saw hospital

shops selling sharkfin as well as birdnest

pizza hut delivery man

lots of similar minimart and TCM shops

good food is good for the soul

After thought: There is nothing much to shop for in chinatown, they sell wholesale here but mainly girly stuff. So, nah not for me.

Having discovered our folly, the gang of us head to chatucha mkt and got plently of nice goods and headback to salandang for dinner and a surprise birthday celebration + lotsa beer and wine and fun. We even played truth/dare. How fun!

mastering the surprise birthday celebration at secret recipe. The verdict: mango cake is nice than choc cake

the party girls (from left: emily, lee lee and jasmine)

The dudes, from left (seah jiun, cyrus, jason and urs truly)

nice ambience and music

dance dance - disco ball

the cocktail. real cock drink. haa

red vs blue. Blue is always better!

cheers my friend

yes its fun!

even the buddha glows and wanna have fun. haa

nice one dudes, lets have one soon again

Head back to hostel after our drink and had an eventful sunday. will update soon. till then. take care folks

visting a city in a “state of emergency”

marcustee — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:02:01 +0000

i really envy those of u back in singapore that were able to watch tv feeds about riots in BKK. I see nothing of those sort here! As the news do not quite report, i cant really read the thai newspaper, my only source of formal information came from. www.channelnewsasia.com

Sunday came and i cant stay in my room.. be too torturous, hence HECK THE STATE OF EMERGENCY thingy, i pack my bag and head down to church yesterday (14th sept) and had a jolly good work out by visiting a giantic mall and plenty small shops thereafter. The following is a record:

Quirky building design, againist a nice blue sky. Perfect day!

what a good OOH adv! If u look closer... u can see the brand. if u cant figure out, check with me

doing the geeky thing. totally random

allan wu.. so woooooooooooo. nah, just so erm.. stunt

Arsenal? my a**! whaha

what a pose! this mall have the nicest bum-rest i have seen.

HAIL the Motherland! Tong zhi, zha men yi qi lai!!!

not bad not bad at all. The artist looks better than its art pieces. haa!

sumo momo. This is really a place of discovery!

B2S - a must visit when you come BKK. i have yet to see an audio room for the blind before in other bookstores. have u?

nice music, talented drummer

after a day of working, time for food!

they are real big on jap food!

and so we have to immerse in the local culture..

what a feast! and what satisfied look on her face. grin.

i ought to be on diet.. but juz cant resist these!

what a posh theatre. instantly reminds me of wall street. haa

sawadee krub. What a cute giraffee!

Thats it folks for now. Things has never been better here. will update soon

Waiting in expectancy

marcustee — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 01:18:05 +0000

hello everyone whose reading

Its 8am TH time and i am sitting at my work desk which have been at the 3rd floor for almost 11/2 weeks now. Sitting here is good as i get more stairs to climb, hear more chinese and is pretty much left alone to do what i need to.

I must say that my future impression of citibank would very much depends on if they can deliver what they promise – which is to send me a replacement atm card by tomorrow (thursday 11th Sept 08). I gave them my thai address which is the longest ever address i have ever come across:

187/2 Moo 1, BFC Mansion, Bangna-Trad Km.42 Road, Bangwua, Bangpakong, Chachoengsao 24180, Thailand (room 3-27)

Let me test it out on citibank first before you folks flood me with stuffs. So anyway, waiting in expectancy and i should said i have good vibes that they can deliver what they promise. They are a premium bank after all.

Another side thing . . . a tragedy had happen to my fav wallet – a 3 cm long line (done by a ball point pen) is found on my wallet while i was paying for dinner. My instinctive response? SHIT! i guessed i should have said it like 3 to 4 times.

After my dinner and having reached my room, i tried researching all the good ways recommended online to save my wallet from the imperfection state it is now

1) I tried rubbing off with a good old eraser – DIN WORK

2) I tried spraying alcohol spray on my wallet – DIN WORK

3) I tried to rub it off with colgate – DIN WORK and some color came off – sigh

ADMIT DEFEAT and ready to send in to leather care expert to salvage it.

This is such a mirror to many of our lives – when we are stuck in a mess, we will try with all our might to make it right, only after further damage inflicted then we will be obedient enough to give up and ask for DIVINE help. Well well well . . . i shall open my eyes this coming sunday when i do go to BKK and see who can help me with it.

Hopefully i will not feel too much of a pinch. Oh yes… i shall take a snap shot of the wounded wallet.

hi hi hi

marcustee — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:30:13 +0000

its been awhile since i last write a post and heres why:

1) This is primarily a picture blog and since i am in my new export team, i am pretty occupied with work and hence less chance for me to explore different places for nice food.

2) As the majority around my new department are foreigners like me, hence I am no longer treated as nicely as i used to me, OK… hang on.. they are still nice to me just that its very different to be the only foreigner in a dept vs. being one of the many in one. So yes… you get the idea.

Its a trade off surely, however that also means that i can communicate properly with people around me and feeling important for once about my work on hand. I am responsible of driving the copy center business in 5 countries as of now (taiwan, SG, Msia, HK and Vietnam) and quite possibly in the near future China too.

So when you have time, please do visit one of the 20 copy center in SG and tell me hows their level of service etc. Very much appreciated.

Last week friday i also welcomed my roommate… the catalyst for me to get my act together (start washing my dirty laundry) and also my room in order! The lost of personal space is greeted with familiar conversation in mandrain and also pooled budget that allowed me to acquire a hot water dispenser that allows hot drinks n noodles at night when the pangs of my stomach cant stop growling!

Heres some pics taken over the last weekend with my mates at BKK city – there was no such thing as “state of emergency” The only emergency i ever recalled was the time i was at chatuchak weekend market and was happily shopping when i feel such pain in my stomach that i dashed for the closest loo which is 5min away and nearly shit in my pants. Thats real emergency allright! Anyway, the loo was so filithy i regreted not shitting in my pants instead. yewwwwwwwwwwwww u might say. BUT WAIT TILL U SEE THE LOO!

Fine.. shall not further spoil your appetite.. lets look at some nice pictures with some yandao face (me me me!) ENjoy!

talk about getting my room in order... INTRODUCING my new bedsheets! Nice right? full set cost me 590baht.

Heres my roomate from MSIA Penang - mr teo seah jun... He looked so lost when i took them out to take bus to BKK city.

Li li another msia posing with mr KFC - was too expensive in comparison with the roadside stalls and hence we opt out

I HOPE U can actually see the menu... its diff from SG, they actually have pork burger and also fish fillet - whats becoming of KFC?

Aroi!!! This stall next to On Nut BTS is a must go... 30baht for roasted duck rice with soup and ice water! How CHeap!

Even their road side coffee stall is so classy - high quality cup and coffee blender

posing while waiting for food.

super duper yummy I finished the veg ok! I dun know why i love this kind.. just boil only leh.

Nat Ho spotted in thai! He looks quite thai actually... advertising for tiger balm

thais are really into Jap culture! Its so evidence with all the obsession with whitening, the japs cosplay

this is how she looks - quite scary. haa

kawaii neh!

so crowded! i must say their marketing is even better than in SG

jap jap all around

so happy! haaa

free sample leh... taste nice!

what a HUGE stage!

all these happened infront of SIAM station

Siam Paragon

HER MASJESTY graced this place before... or something like that

read read for the place's history - yawn

nice color and very spacious place.

yes.. i am in need of caffine fix... and though there was zara and what not here but din get any single thing here

the rates here at UOB is 23.91 even better than back in SG... was 23.6 back then

aint sure if he is Pro but he sounds gd.

MBK... revisted... not too much things here as well. U can tell my roomate is a giant. 1.8 m tall! so envious . . .

Monks are privillege lots here. no doubt about it.

My fav place in BKK so far!

here we eat again . . .

I brought a shirt from her and asked for a pic! oi.. dun anyhow say.. its for memory sake only.. really la

snap shots of our enjoyable shopping trip

checking out the goods placed on the floor.

such cool outfits and music!

yes.. angeline joined us in the later part of the day

Chatucha really sells anything and everything (i am not refering to the drinks la) but seriously.. birds, dogs.. lotsa stuff. home deco, and the list goes on n on n on

black canyon coffee is a local coffee place and its not bad.. real not bad

yum yum

please do not drool so much! till next time our wheat ur appetitie with more adventure of mine. till then. tata.

sign off

on the set, action!

marcustee — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 02:57:42 +0000

my very first assignment in branding team and probably the last one is to be on the set of “Farmer” TVC shoot at the outskirt of bkk. The production house arranged for a vehicle to pick us up at my hostel at 5.30am sharp (local time) and set off for the shooting area which is an hour drive away.

Shoot promptely started at 7.15am sharp and after 12 hours, 4 locations and countless takes, the shoot was completed. I was pampered like king with food, drinks, snacks served to me just like how a big time client should be treated. The budget for this 30sec tvc shoot is around 3million baht and is a rather low budget project in company’s standard but the treatment is still 1st class.

Let the pictures do the talking Enjoy

taken at 5plus am, the sky is still dark and my team mates are still sleeping

jerky ride, shaky shot

i swear i am real impress with this "ninja" van, it has the widest selection of food and drinks in it! soooooo cool!

dig in! the ladies had noodles while i settled for toast and thai style

yes yes. they are real yummy

talent spotted! the transformation starts now

the monitor screen set up for the team to monitor the progress of the shoot

setting up the set, lots of movements

da sound man

here comes the supporting cast

rows and rows of double A farm trees

intently glued to the screen

strong animal! mooooooo

in between takes can be quite boring, luckily we have comfortable chairs to rest on

galore of snacks, compliments of the production house.

cut! time for lunch yet??

transformed! sky blue top and dark blue bottom, corporate color of aA

mobile loo.. its dammed dammed good la. impressed.

such a clean loo

they even have a air cooler inside. the air there is even fresher than the air outside!

the light company - you want light (what a geeky name) haa

yummy lunch.

shoot resumes - Mr DA (a student) and the farmer (a comedian)

the twins (Double A, double Bonus) - how funny

2 shifts within a week

marcustee — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 04:32:45 +0000

well well well

I am not sure if i should say i am hot property or is it just a case of poor planning and communication, i am shifted from my original channel marketing (domestic) to branding dept and now to marketing (international). Such moves are rather disruptive but what to do?

Just when i had a great outing with the branding team at one of out tvc shoot at bangkok outskirt, the very next day i found out that i have to move again. Have to keep my mind positive and just *fight fight* – quoted from my 1st manager here (gift).

Will upload the fabulous pics from my tvc shoot outing in abit, for now, let me just slack and “mourn” over my move. Branding is really quite fun, get to work with various agency (ogilvy, TBWA just to name a few) and taking care of singapore and shanghai market. I guess it will be awhile before i can fit into my new place, fingers crossed, can only HOPE for the best.

One day in BKK city

marcustee — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 02:04:32 +0000

Control is the word of the day. Have never imagine i could be so controlled in terms of spending. My trip to Chatucha ended with a 150baht Tshirt and the next big ticket item was actually my Queen size bedsheet set that cost me 590 baht. All in all, am pleased with my progress of “rehab”, maybe soon i will actually be a saver and not spender

i set out at around 9am local time and this shot was taken on the bridge overlooking my company

instead of highway, they called it the motorway

you can still get around in bkk by looking at the english signboards

what a colorful bus - my bus trip to the nearest train station cost me 60baht (i was told i am overcharged! locals get it at max 40 baht)

the local bts (train) and the nearest stop to my place is On nut which is an hour away

Tesco is quite a hit around here.

creative advertising here

the screen in train are even bigger than that of sg! The advers are so funny

Siam paragon, really the pride of bangkok - did not visit this time round. nxt time perhaps

chatucha- its very much a suana around here

look out for these landmarks and u wont get lost

what a cool shirt! too cool for me. I bet the vega out there would love this

a cool shot taken at Noodi - a noodle shop in bkk by a nice gentleman who comes from aussie (he claims to come from ao da li ya - long form for ao zhou)

highly recommended place by angeline's sis - MK in bkk. The food was soso but the ambience is great as well as the service.

we had dim sum as well at this place and after the meal, i was only 3/4 full

so little meet. too little infact - our meal adds up to be just under 200 baht

the church is near sala daeng. nice place

this guy is everywhere in thai adver - a poll with 3 female colleagues, 2 said he is their "type"

Nuskin in Thai! spotted this shop while walking around - this is for u dad shall check out if the prices is cheaper here.

God is good all the time AND all the time God is good

marcustee — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 02:07:41 +0000

My first visit at the thailand church – Christ Church in Bkk city. Its such a beautiful place that i was in awe, maybe i should plan to get married here. Haa.

God has blessed me immersely during my 2 hours or so there, while worshipping in the midst of fellow bros and sis (locals), one thing that struck me is this: “Every knew shall bow, every tougue confess that He is God!”

God is really real and He really loves His children as evident in the church here in Thailand. Praise and honor be to Him forever

Heres some pics:

This is indeed an oasis in the midst of the bustling bkk city

very saint andrew's cathedral looks

church was built on permission granted by the 3rd king of thailand

those who came before us

Peace be still, please be still

such great ambience!

they have a full band, electric guit, drums, keyboard etc. Very hip and happening. The beautiful lady at the keyboard is gail and shes such a great translator! She is with the children ministry and have been living in thailand for 8 years and very fluent in thai

Do click on the link below to a very familiar worship song sang in thai
Listen to sound clips like thai worship at Entertonement.com

jolly good time

marcustee — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 01:43:34 +0000

exploring my surrounding is always what i most look forward to after work, maximum entertainment and enjoyment at min cost. Thats the best thing in living around here. But of course, a car is very essential around here where the public transport is not quite develop. Heres some pics for u folks out there!

Street bustling with activities

really spoilt for choices around

sushi! Thailand roadside hawker style. Pretty presentable i must say

very puny! i could fit 3 of those in my mouth at one go

u never seen before style

i was so hungry that i did not bother dipping the sushi in sauce/ wasabi and just ate them up as it is

me and my mates decided to go to club 99 - no worries, its not a club's club per say

the interior of this open air club, drinks are all at 99 batt, hence the name 99 club

night out with my mates - clockwise direction (jeff, ying and gift)

me and ying enjoying the music and ambience

we are real posers!

cocktail - super duper nice color

try glurp them down in one shot - u've get brain freeze. Similar to sg's 7-11 mr freezer + alcohol

after the blue here comes the green!

those drinks sure come handy in the wake of such delicious but spicy monstor - yum!

duck rice with not much meat but plently of greens - haa

gift is such a dog lover that she will touch almost everyone that comes her way - she has 5 dogs back home.

cute dog but just so dirty.

another dog spotted near where i stay. had such an urge to bring it home!

*gd nite and sweet dream in thai" width="225" height="300" />

i guess its better off for the dog to be around his mates, hence i am alone back in my room and abit tipsy and just tt bit of red on my face. fangdi* world => *gd nite and sweet dream in thai