The man who fell in love

Yes, I'm now making it official. I have fallen in love with Singapore and have yet again extended my stay here. It's so serious that I'm even looking for work over here and will also apply for a 1 year employment pass visa. The lord works in mysterious ways...

Wednesday the 22nd November, I went to Bangkok for a four day trip. It was awesome experiencing Bangkok not like a tourist, but with Thai people who really know what Bangkok is all about.

Actually, I didn't go to many tourist attractions, partly on my request. Among the absolute highlights were Sirocco, a restaurant/bar located on the roof of the 67th floor or something. It was a really really nice place, and very romantic. We had some drinks, sitting under the bare sky, looking at the stars. The view from there was amazing. The photo of me is taken from there.

We also experienced Bangkok traffic jams where people can get stuck for hours. Luckily I had a very skilled driver who knew some pretty innovative shortcuts, so most of the times, we came out OK anyhow. Bangkok is not a good place for people with weak nerves, especially not if the same person is in a hurry. In Thailand things just have to take it's due time. Frustrating sometimes, yes, but overall, an attitude I can both understand and live with. Then again, I'm not doing business in Thailand, but if I were, I suspect my opinion would be different.

Shopping in Bangkok is easily described in one word... insane!

Yours truly shopped til he dropped, visiting a grand bazaar of clothes. Prices were extremely nice, and sure, most were copies of the original brands. But who cares when the clothes are of good quality anyway? :D How about a pair of Diesel jeans for 600 baht? (equivalent to 100 SEK or 7 quid) I also did what every male should do while in Thailand, I had a jacket tailor made for me. Maybe I'll upload a picture of me wearing it... time will tell.

The only real tourist place I DID visit was a huge buddhist temple area combined with a royal palace. It was impressive enough for me to swallow my pride and go along with the other tourists. There were ALOT of temples in a very large area, almost competing against each other who could sport the most splendor and grandeur. The temple I'm posing in front of, is actually totally covered in 24 carat gold mosaic tiles.

By the way, I mentioned I shopped a jacket didn't I? Well, I got good use for it since 2 friends were getting married in Bangkok while we were there. In Thailand the weddings are both a bit similar to weddings in Sweden, but then a lot is very different. For example, 200-500 guests doesn't seem to be extraordinary. Had it been Sweden, I guess 150 guests would have been classified as a very very large wedding.

It's not anything unusual with friends to the bride or groom bringing friends of their own, even if they may not know the couple to be married. It didn't matter, everyone was welcome anyway. So it didn't take long for the awkward feeling of having intruded on something very personal to go away. It just left me with a warm feeling inside when I left the place... a feeling that matched the nice weather we had for the full period of time on the Bangkok visit.

*happy sigh*
/Nymi