每次去阿德萊德，感覺它都像一個假的城市。
藍天白雲，綠草如茵，但了無人煙。

 

我漫無目的在街上走啊走，見到一對在超市買完日用品的韓國留學生，一人一邊一起提著重重的購物袋。

突然很羨慕有機會到外國留學的人。有些經驗，永遠都在特定的年歲做才有某種效果。正如中學生談戀愛，當時沒有就永遠找不回來了。

 

去外國的Milonga，其中一個最好玩的部分是尋找舉行的地點。

在網上查了星加坡當晚的Milonga，跟著指示坐地鐵，然後亂走一通。誤闖星加坡有名的公共房屋區，怎麼都找不到舞會地點。放棄走路，改坐的士。到達地址，空無一人，連音樂聲也沒有。

抱著必勝的決心，跳上另外一部的士，開往另外一個舞會地址。這次有運，找到了！

Milonga at Up studio!

小小的房間內，大家都在努力地用身體溝通，這就是探戈。

令我最印象深刻的是，星加坡男生跳完每首歌之後，總會很有意識地慢慢把我從一只腳的重心放回中間的重心。

就是這小小的習慣，讓我非常有被照顧的感覺。

謝謝你們，總是把我放回去我最舒適的地方。

 

生命中會遇到一些好人，一些壞人。
被壞人嚇壞了，昏睡了幾天，想起來就想吐。遇到壞人後卻會見到你身邊的好人是多麼的窩心。
姐姐的憤怒，小旋的緊張，阿陞的陪伴。
從北角零晨三點飛的回天水圍的路上，我好像長大了一點。

長大是一個可怕的過程。

我一直都不捨得死貓結婚，就是覺得結婚不是太配合她的性格。當然最後，還是開開心心的去她的婚禮。超愛她Vintage的主題，The Pawn的古舊建築加上死貓的復古婚紗，真是非常“死貓”。賓客都盡力配合Vintage的主題，現在已經很難找到這樣好玩的婚禮。雖然死貓爛了聲，還是讓陳生伴奏唱了一首“我的心裡只有你沒有他”。不知為何，她的爛聲讓我聽了特別感動。

難得再見到以前CP的同事們，好像是很久以前的事了。

當然，我又充當了接花球的角色，在場沒幾個單身的吧！

 

 

 

 

The toughest part of Auckland flight is the jet lag. 5 hours ahead of Hong Kong meaning that you could not sleep at night as it is too early for you in your clock. Instead you will be sleeping in the morning until afternoon. However, our pick up time is always in the morning. When you are ready to sleep, you are called for the flight.

If you do not drive, you cannot really get anywhere except walking in the city. I believe New Zealand will be a destination which I will go when I am much older. No rush, I am just resting here and do whatever I can.

By staying at the hotel underneath the sky tower and knowing that it is free for crew to go up, there is no reason for me not to go there for a view. 

View of Auckland from Sky Tower

There are things we feel so familiar with, but it is very different when you look at it from different angles.

Not sure how many people know that I have very serious problem with height. Putting my feet on top on this transparency glass took me a long time. However, once I look down through my camera, my fear was gone. Kam used to tell me that he felt the same when he was holding his camera and shooting at the top of Tsing Ma Bridge. Now, I understand it finally.

I do not usually think there are things that I will never do in my life, except this- jumping off from a building, a bridge or a plane.
Unless one day I would like to commit suicide,however, I am quite sure I would be fainted before I jump off.

I checked that there will be a Milonga held at a restaurant along the seaside which was within my walking distance. So, I headed there around 9pm. 

On the way to Cafe Limon, I crossed a road with this advertisement on.
Sometimes, we have to talk to ourselves this way, isn’t it?

 

Cafe Limon Milonga on Wed night

So excited to find the place and confirm that there will be Milonga later on that night. I sat down and had something to eat. Waiting for the tango dancers to come.

It was a cozy and small cafe in front of the sea. The sea breeze was great and people were very nice.
I was very impressed with the manner of those men in Auckland. After dancing with the first man and he found that I was a visitor from Hong Kong, he then introduced me to all the men in the Milonga. So, people said hi and we started to chat. They all invited me to dance one by one. It is not only about dancing that make me happy, it is more about being welcomed by the community.

I had a great night dancing with all of you. Thank you!!!

It was a very tough flight, doing a 5 days pattern Hong Kong-Bangkok-Karachi-Bangkok-Hong Kong. However, flying with my lovely classmate Don made my life much easier. I was packed with activities in Bangkok either with him or by myself. It was a nice stay.

26th Nov

After operating Bangkok flight more than 10 times, I finally got a Sunday morning in Bangkok and got a chance for Chautuchak weekend market. It was a huge market with tons of items. I was not very impressed with the market as I was always lost inside. Most items in the shops are very similar, not so fun to shop there. However, I still prefer this market than the boring shopping mall.

After walking in Chatuchak, I headed back to hotel and took a nap. The flight from Bangkok to Karachi on that night was really crazy. Passengers fought for overhead locker during boarding. So, they are offloaded.  Not the baggage, I mean the passengers.

 

27 Nov

It was a midnight turnaround from Bangkok to Karachi back to Bangkok. I was terribly tired. Got some sleep at the hotel, then met Don and his friends for dinner. Powat and M are Don’s close Thai friends and they are both very funny to talk to. I learned so much about some specific aspects from them and get to know some Thai culture too. What a pity it cannot be shared here.

Powat

M and Don

 

28 Nov

My adventure day alone again! Got a whole day in Bangkok, so I decided to explore the Grand Palace and the area around it. I have read some information about this old district in the past, so I had my targets and most of them were completed on that day. I had a long walking and sweating day, but I was happy to see some old neighborhood in Bangkok.

One thing quite special is that Bangkok was still in the flood at that time. So, I could see people doing business and hanging out in the park on the water. Of course it was sad to see that and it indicated how hard is the life during natural disaster.

My big surprise from this trip is to find Phra Athit Road and my favorite spot in Bangkok- Phra Sumen Fort. DO NOT MISS IT when you come to Bangkok. It is not a famous fort but definitely a nice one with a little park at the back and nice cafe in the front. Most importantly, I love this fort, it is just beautiful.  

My first stop is an old restaurant with 57 years history of its Hainan chicken rice. The owner’s grandfather was a worker from Hainan to Thailand. He then opened this restaurant selling almost exclusively Hainan chicken rice.
I did not think it was amazingly delicious, however I really love the old charm of the restaurant. The very plain and simple design of the restaurant make me feel like eating a home cook meal.

Mongkol Chai
314 Samsen Road, Phranakorn, Banglamphu, Bangkok
Opening hours: 7am-1:30pm

After finishing my breakfast, I told the owner that I would like to go to the Grand Palace. He instructed me to take a bus there. So, I had my first bus experience in Bangkok. It was exciting. The only problem was that I did not know how to pay and no one seemed to pay for the bus.
I asked a young girl where to get off and she showed me the way with very clear instructions.

I got off from the bus and slowly walked to Grand Palace. It was very hot, but I got a beautiful sunny sky.

Grand Palace
Opening hours: 10:30am-4:30pm
Dress code: You have to cover your legs and upper arm with your clothing, no sandals

Grand Palace is no doubt a very impressive complex of building in different styles, including Thai, Western, Indian, etc. It was home of Thai King for 150 years. Although the Thai King no longer live here, it is still the symbol of the King’s family. The Grand Palace also included the Wat Phra Kaew, which is one of the most important temple in Thailand.

I joined a free English tour which operated at 10am, 10:30am, 1:30pm and 2:00pm everyday. It gave a great introduction of the history and stories on the wall in the Palace. Highly recommend this tour as a start of the visit.

Can you imagine how many tourists were there?

The wall painting all carries stories of this monkey which protect the Queen.

Wat Phra Kaew

I love this one most

What a fun group

The expensive entrance fee is for maintenance like this, I hope

It is the time to explore the old neighborhood after visiting the Grand Palace. This part of Bangkok has no BTS (their Metro), so it was not developed as fast as other parts. I got to see a lot of interesting stores and local life there.

 

The flood was still there when I visited, so I saw people like them doing business in the water.

I was following the map and tried to get to Phra Sumen Fort. In the mid-way, I passed a university and even talked to some university students in the campus.

Phra Athit Road and Phra Sumen Fort

Along Phra Athit Road, there are many Prince Palaces and Noblemen Houses. I tried to get in some of these houses or Palaces, but they are all for private use now. UNICEF is set up here too. 

I like it this way, no reason

At the end of Phra Athit Road, it is the Phra Sumen Fort.

Phra Sumen Fort

It was one of 14 forts that was constructed in the reign of King Rama I and 12 of them were demolished. When Bangkok was established as the new capital, forts were built to cover the Chao Phraya River. The defensive rings of canals protected the old city to the east. The fort has two levels of battlements where cannons are deployed and an observation tower. It covers the bend of the Chao Phraya River at the northern end of Rattanakosin Island. The old cannons are still in place.

I really like the old black dirt on the white fort. It told the age and the long history of it.

The grey bird is well hidden here

The Santichaiprakarn Park lies between the old fort and the river. It is a place for the locals to relax.
A large part of the park was covered by the flood water as it was right at the river bank. People were somehow still enjoying it in their own ways.

Interesting how these 2 kids were sitting on the bench like no flood was there.

I have heard that there are a lot of nice music pub and bar in front of the fort. I was there too early, so I instead picked a very nice cafe for a coffee and cake.
The Gingerbread House got a perfect view of the fort and it got a nice atmosphere for a lazy afternoon.

The Gingerbread House

 

Phra Athit Road is just 2 streets away from the most famous street in Bangkok- Khao San Road. So I quickly walked there before taking the ferry back.

The shop was building this to stop the flood water getting in the shop

Khao San Road
Full of hostels, internet cafes, stores, everything you can name basically- A backpacker paradise. Kind of messy and annoying though.

Then I walked to the ferry pier of Chaophraya Express Boat to get to the BTS station. I waited for a long time but the sunset was amazingly beautiful.

It was a much better experience to take the boat than the taxi in Bangkok. At least, no traffic jam.

I took the boat to Marine Dept stop and walked to Hua Lamphong Metro station. From there, I took the metro back to my hotel.

A perfect day in Bangkok. Good night!