Ants & Grasshoppers

My first blog post of the month, found a very good story to share and something for us to ponder again. No point for me to list what ugly things happening here, it's everywhere on the internet you can read the news. But one point to stress here, check out the moral of the story at the end of this post.

Older Version
An ant worked hard in the sweltering heat all summer, building its nest and laying up supplies for the winter.

A grasshopper thought the ant was stupid not knowing how to enjoy life. It spent its days laughing, singing & dancing thoroughly enjoying the summer.

Came winter, the ant was warm, comfortable and had no shortage of food. The grasshopper had no proper shelter, no stored food, and couldn't find anything to eat from the snow-covered ground. So it died and the story ended.

Moral of the story: Be responsible for yourself!



New Millennium Version

An ant worked hard in the sweltering heat all summer, building its nest and laying up supplies for the winter.

A grasshopper thought the ant was stupid not knowing how to enjoy life. It spent its days laughing, singing & dancing thoroughly enjoying the summer.

Came winter, the shivering grasshopper called a press conference and demanded to know why the ant should be warm and well fed while he was cold and starving.

TV1, TV2 & TV3 showed up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper alongside to a video clip of the ant in his comfortable home with a table full of food.

The majority of the Malaysian Parliamentarians were stunned by the sharp contrast. How could this poor grasshopper be allowed to suffer?

Khairy staged a demonstration in front of the ant's nest.

Nazri went on a hunger strike along with other grasshoppers demanding that they be relocated to warmer climate area during winter.

The Malaysian Government immediately passed a law forbidding all ants from working hard in the summer so as to bring about equality of poverty between ants and grasshoppers.

Hishammudin increased 'More Special Reservations' for grasshoppers in Educational Institutions & Government Services..

The ant was fined for failing to share 30% of his food with the grasshopper. The Prime Minister announced that this was part of the NEP. No ant should question it. (Don't forget, Tax Audits were introduced and targeted at certain individuals who were eventually penalised heavily for not contributing enough to the well-being of the grasshoppers).

Many years later...

Some ants migrated to the US and set up multi-billion dollar companies there.

Hundreds of grasshoppers still died of starvation despite the 'More Special Reservations'.

Losing significant number of hardworking ants and free-loading the grasshoppers, Malaysia remained a developing country, despite its abundant natural resources.
All because the remaining ANTS were still doing their work.

Latest findings showed that almost all the grasshoppers in the political arena and civil service were hoarding corrupt wealth which they refused to share with fellow grasshoppers.

Moral of the story: Be careful of how you vote in 2011.


PS: Had been neglecting blogger for a bit, partly thanks to Twitter, had been microblogging more. So if you haven't sign up for Twitter, get one and follow me at http://twitter.com/mikemmery

What To Look Forward This Week

First & foremost, I am back as corporate slave come this 1st April 2010, took up a managerial position. One of the best interviews I have had so far in my working experience, all done in 1 day including remuneration discussion, benefits, roles & responsibilities.

And I am already looking forward to this weekend F1 race in Melbourne, Australia. Pundits said Schuey shall be back on fire after 3 races. Nevertheless, I want to see the Silver Arrows conquer the track. It had been a good racing weekend in Bahrain, most of the teams were competitive. Ferraris did well with both cars on podium. Both Mercedes scored points too at Bahrain, let's hope they go on podium this time around in Australia.

I am also looking forward to footie matches this week as the EPL is approaching its finale. Later today, bitter rival Chelsea will be facing Portsmouth, let's see if Avram can disappoint the Blues or not. The Devils are currently on top of the table after defeating Liverpool last weekend and leading Gunners by 2 points & Blues by 4 points. We will be meeting Bolton this weekend and there should not be a problem to grab a 3-points there. Glory Glory!

Let's see if all the good things are coming to greet me :)

To Blog or Not To Blog

Close to two months now since my last post. Perhaps my longest break from blogging after so many years. 2010 so far had been a wavy one, I am completing my project in Hong Kong real soon and there are a few personal stuff that is keeping me away from writing. I had also stop being the contributor for another corporate site due to unforeseen circumstances so I shall be able to update as often as possible, keep fingers crossing!

I am going back basic in a lot of things, be it in life or be it in the blogging. My template is back to basic, everything needs to go back to basic. I am starting all over again.

There are a few important individuals that I would like to thank who had been my pillars at this journey - mom, bro, sis, fat one, slim one, the cat & the one who chose to love me for who I am.

Bring it on!

Untukmu

This song rather brought a lot of memories. Kian Leong, if you are reading this, I remember we sang this song together during our secondary school days, Form 3 or 4 if I am not mistaken.

And all of sudden, someone I chatted on MSN today triggered me to listen to KRU's songs again. And this particular song's lyrics matched the message that I want to convey to a person far far away.

Enjoy the song...

Reflection

Since my return from Hong Kong, there are massively a lot of things happening. Things that sometimes I myself can't define whether it is good or bad. But as I grow older, I tend to see things in a more positive manner, my family also can see that change in me, even my siblings commented that my temper changed dramatically.

A lot of things inside me, I am glad that I have 2 best buddies to listen to me. They seem to be like my pillars of my life now. And for my family, of late, I managed to handle certain problems wisely which I do not feel comfortable to share it here, but there ain't much concern now because we managed to pull it through.

Secondly, as predicted, I am romantically linked with someone out of the country. Something which I will not deny but I had recently calling it off because it will be better for both parties. Like I mentioned in my earlier post, every decision must be justifiable and must be processed through sanity. Without sanity, every decision will be impulsive and the consequences will be bad (that is at least how I feel). For meantime, we both had decided to chill off a bit, let's see what the future will be. I guess this has much or less answer a lot of questions posted by caring friends who want to know my relationship status :)

Thirdly, I am still working on my project right now and will be back to Hong Kong probably after CNY to conclude it. Then my plan, I might go into employment again depending on offers that are coming. I am glad that there are offers coming in at this point of time, but to me, the right offer & position will be the key factor for me to join into employment again (keeping fingers crossed)

And of late, I have few friends who ended their relationships. One is my schoolmate buddy, another is a close friend who I had been lending my ears to her. I had been thru that stage, it is not easy and trust me, everyone can pull through it. I am always there for you people. Love you!



Ciao for now...

Love is Not Just a Game, It's a Commitment

I want to remind all couples out there, appreciate each other. Love is a funny thing indeed, a wrong decision can mean disaster to one another. Love is a test as well. Test of patience & a test of faith.

Love is a journey that will be filled with hurdles. Love isn't just by a mere uttering of sweet words like "I Love You", it's about the commitment that made those words meaningful.

Do not give up if you all are meant for each other, process every words through sanity.

Have faith in fate peeps, everything happen for a reason, a reason that only God the Almighty knows.

Good luck and I dedicate this song to all loving couples in the world.

Cheers!

2009 Welcoming 2010

So here I am in Hong Kong on my first post of 2010. 2009 as a whole been a colorful one for me. I would not rate it as a fantastic year for me but overall it was a decent one.

Biggest decision in 2009, left my job and took the opportunity for a short project here in Hong Kong. At the time of this post, I am close to my 3 months stay here and in a way or two, it is a good experience. Many were skeptical about my decision to leave my position in a MNC but I also proved to many that life's much better outside here :)

Re-looking back 2009, it was a year where I traveled the most. Started the year with a trip with my primary schoolmates (our very first trip since form 5) to Langkawi. It was hell of a trip and we all felt young once again and how we miss those school days :)

After the Langkawi, I went to Perhentian Island in Terengganu with my college buddies. Enjoyed my time relaxing at the Bubu Island Resort with my 2 best friends forever and never I thought I can be holidaying with one of my ex-gf too. Guess I am too good as a man that none of my ex-es have a chance to get piss with me (praising myself) :p

Now, my first overseas trip was to Bali, Indonesia. I was there for a conference and this trip had been a controversial one as I am the one who decide on the Malaysian delegates there and I do not have to elaborate more on it. But overall it was a good trip because we were all placed in a 6-stars Ayana hotel and Bali is definitely one of my shortlisted countries to bring my the other half for wedding ceremony (so any girl interested? Pls apply within) kekeke...

After the Bali trips, I made few trips to various part of Thailand both on business & leisure. Been to Hat Yai, Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Doi Tung & Mae Sai (The Golden Triangle). 2009 certainly a year where I got closer to Thailand, understanding their lifestyle & culture.

Soon after I am back from my Northern Thailand trip, I came to Hong Kong in the 2nd week of October to present. Celebrated my birthday, Christmas & welcomed 2010 here. Met up with a lot of Malaysian friends who visited here. Made a few nice local friends as well as expats who are here for work. Enjoyed working & had great food here but at times do feel lonely missing my friends back home.

So that was about where I went in 2009. So, how about relationship? No luck still, officially I did go after a girl but the she ain't interested in me though :( , unofficially, hmm...for me to know, for you to find out ;)

And 2009, I had a chance to experience the F1 from the paddock. And being a red devil myself, I went to the Manchester United friendly game here in Malaysia.

2009 - Family wise, I became an uncle to Nicholas Song (my nephew) :)

My youngest brother graduated as a civil engineer. Practically my parents can go for retirement :)

I had a new tattoo as well, a traditional Iban's 'Bunga Terung' on both sides of my shoulders but I have yet to take a good snap shot of it.

Misses a few weddings, birthday parties especially towards the end of 2009. To those who invited me, deeply apologized on that.

2009 overall, I found happiness in whatever I do. Money wise which I have not achieve much, I am happy with the turnout of 2009.

So 2010, what's installed? I will be back to Malaysia very soon. Just got the good news that I will be paid by my Malaysian client by next week and I will be flying off to Land of Smile this coming Thursday. Then after my short break in LOS, I will head back to KL to get some unfinished business done then back to Malacca to arrange some big thing.

See you guys soon!

She's Having My Baby

Good song to ponder...



What will happen next?

新不了情

"Have you ever been blindfolded when you are in love with someone?", a friend asked.

Did a bit of quick thinking and immediately I answered that once upon a time I am but at my age now, I guess I am not. And that simple question inspired me to write a little bit more, and it's a wonder that simple things like this can inspire me to write more.

And the above title, I was asked by someone to listen to that song. Unfortunately I am unable to read Chinese, but when the song was sent to me and I listened to it, I got this weird feeling about love & relationship thingy, all the girls that I am romantically linked with, popped up my mind one by one, pretty weird really.

Now listen to that song and tell me if you are feeling the same way too.

Leadership

Leadership remains one of the most relevant aspects of the organizational context. However, defining leadership has been challenging and definitions can vary depending on the situation. According to Ann Marie E. McSwain, Assistant Professor at Lincoln University, “leadership is about capacity: the capacity of leaders to listen and observe, to use their expertise as a starting point to encourage dialogue between all levels of decision-making, to establish processes and transparency in decision-making, to articulate their own values and visions clearly but not impose them. Leadership is about setting and not just reacting to agendas, identifying problems, and initiating change that makes for substantive improvement rather than managing change.”

The above was an excerpt from wikipedia of what leadership means. Over the past years, very unfortunately I have not met much of leaders, managers or even directors who carry the above traits.

Perhaps before we employ one to work, we should ask them the real definition of leadership instead of getting any Tom, Dick & Harry from competitors.

These are just purely my opinions, it is not in any way related to anyone for that matter.

At the same time too, I hope leaders can stop pointing fingers and stop all these rumor-mongering.

Life's is short so enjoy it then only life's good! So go get a life will you?

In meantime, this song got me emo a bit, enjoy the song. I am missing someone...

Food in Hong Kong

It's 4AM in the morning. I had just concluded my project file and forwarded the invoice to client. Doing web consultancy job can be fun but at the same time it can be seriously draining your mental capability after a long day staring at the monitor. In between these long hours, I do take a break checking on my facebook or go for a quick puff.

So enough of my work, I am not going to write a lot this time around and let the pictures themselves do the talking ;)

Phew, actually there's a lot more to go but my eyes are closing. Will try to share as much as I can. And I do miss the nasi lemak back home ;)

Let's hope this weekend not a working weekend for me and I shall be back with more stuff soon!

Cheers!

A Little Update From HKG

Many might regard working here in Hong Kong is a glam as this country is more developed than what we have back home. For foreigner like me, I am considered lucky that I do not have to pay for my accommodation which might cost me a bomb if I were to go out and rent a place.

A decent apartment or flat here would cost not less than HKD10k per month, that is approximately RM5k. What I enjoy most here for the time being is the weather, though sunny it is not even warm, a perfect day to walk around and sightseeing.

So back to my work, it had complications last week. And I had a chance to participate in a regional meeting and I am currently having a savior to back me up on this project. My target to finish this region would be 3rd week of December if they can approve it fast for me, I just hope there will no longer be any delay further.

If I happen to meet my expected time line and get paid at the same time, the first thing that I want to reward myself is a holiday! Definitely I need a break, I need to see beautiful sea, beaches, do some reading by the beach, drink as much beer as I can. This is how lonely my life is here in Hong Kong. I agree with my friend who stays here as well. This city can be very vibrant but also can make one lonely as well.

I can't wait to eat my nasi lemak and hokkien mee. There's so much I miss back home now.

Pray for me, I shall be back soon!

:)

Dear Dad

This post is specially dedicated to my dad.

Happy birthday dude and may you have a blast back home!

It is always known that your son is not doing a very good verbal communication with you as we do share a lot in common especially our temper. The world knows me as a person who can express myself better through writing and in fact, I was motivated a week ago to post up something here but I hold it to today as it coincides with your big day today!

Something from the heart, at times I felt dreaded as well for not being the model son you expect me to be. Well, in valuing success, perhaps we have different definition for that. For you, success means face value in terms of materials gain, wealth, dollars & cents and I do apologized for not being able to achieve the level you are expecting from me.

But, I do have a dream and I do share my dream with my siblings and all I need is support from family members. I hope you can feel my sincerity in this.

On rumors & sayings, I cannot control what those managers had spoken to you. It is unique that we were once colleague and to be frank I am having tough time confronting this. But of recent, I believe I have again prove to you that those rumors and sayings are baseless accusations. If I am not good, I would not have been associated with them for 8 years. There is anger in me to write unpleasant 1001 things about them, but why do I need to do that? The word manager & management came from the word "manage", leaders who cannot manage its people, then leaders should be deemed to be a failure. If people is the failure, leaders should remove them indefinitely as it would make matter worst for the organization, but I do not see that happening.

And dad, do not pressure yourself too much, your age, you should be laid back. As a son, I support you to quit your job! Quit the job and time for you to travel, to Hong Kong to visit me or sis or perhaps next year visit me in Thailand when I am confirm to be posted there. I do not want to pollute this post with stains of the organization you and me know who are them.

So let's make this post not a heavy one, what I try to let you know is that I have plans in mind, but I do not share because it has not been a reality as yet, I do not share does not mean I am not doing anything at all. Trust me dad, trust me...

Again, happy birthday to you!

Love you always,
Michael

Happy Birthday To Me!

This post is specially made to thank all wishes I received via Facebook & MSN. This is the first time I am out of Malaysia on my birthday. And it is those wishes I received kept me warm while I am at foreign soil.

Received a call from Thailand as well and it did somehow brightened up a bit of my day although I know I got to wake up 7AM later to attend a meeting with client. And thanks to a dear friend who sang me a birthday song all the way from Malaysia, my dear, believe in yourself and let's look at the happier and brighter side ya!

I am indeed really happy now... Guess I am gonna have a sweet sweet dream, and pray for me people, cross fingers that the client will give me a big YES during the meeting on my birthday!

Once again, thanks people!

Welcoming Winter

Hi people!

For the first time, I can see the sign of winter approaching here in Hong Kong. Weather still as sunny over the day but as night approaches, the day ended pretty early, as early as 5PM, we can see darkness here already. And today, the wind blow is strong, I got a feeling that I will experience some typhoon alert here like the one I experienced here last year.

For friends who are coming over, do remember your wind breaker ya, pretty chilly here as the night approaches. As for myself, I am busy with my work here, doing the final mapping and design for approval, let's say once I concluded the design for the Hong Kong HQ, I will be back to Malaysia, targeting December 2009. If not I guess I will be celebrating my Christmas & New Year here.

It's November and for November boys & girls, happy birthday peeps! There are far too many to list out all here, you know who you are!

And some Malaysian friends updated me that the weather there is pretty wet now, it rains almost everyday I heard, so people be extra careful with everything. And of late, heard many back to back incident in Kampar, 6 people were drowned in less than a week. Just take precaution in whatever you do peeps. Kampar indeed is a very nice little town and I pray that there will be no further incident happening here.

A simple text updates here, not much pictures I can upload as of now. Will do a more picturesque posting later this week as I am joining 15 other medias from Malaysia for the latest LG mobile phone launching here in Hong Kong. I will be covering the event for LG Blog as well. In meantime, LG Blog has some 50 pairs tickets to the Da Vinci The Genius exhibition to be given away. Check out the blog post now! Unfortunately I am unable to attend the exclusive exhibition back home but hopefully I can get my project done here soonest possible and pay a little visit to see Da Vinci's exhibits!

Until then people, Happy Winter!

Updates From Hong Kong

I had been receiving the same question again and again but I do see the logic behind this question. Being away from home for a long period, it makes sense for friends back home to ask this.

People, I am here in Hong Kong not entirely for leisure, that is for sure. Hong Kong is not a country like Thailand where you can survive with minimal spending. The pace and living standard in Hong Kong is high, it is only logical for you to earn and spend here. So i will update a bit on what I am doing, why I made this move and when all this will be over.

Thanks to my years of networking in the cyberworld, be it blogging, facebooking, twittering, etc, I was requested by a company here in Hong Kong to assist on their website revamping. This is an international company with networks across 18 cities around the world. Unfortunately, their business had grown rapidly that they ignored entirely the importance of web marketing.

So I was given a task to do a total makeover on their website and at the same time advice them on activities to run online. For the past 2 weeks, I had meetings with the owner of the business and was requested to understand fully on their business before they award me the whole project. So in a way, I am sort like a web marketing consultant if you need to give a position to it.

In terms of knowledge on internet, I would say Malaysians are doing better than the people here in Hong Kong. The people here are more practical and more revenue centric kind of thinking and to invest a substantial money onto web, I need to have a certain level of convincing power towards my client. The few days I had checked in their office and I was given a work desk by them. Though in terms of knowledge we Malaysians have the human resource in this area but unfortunately in Malaysia we are enjoying crap internet connection. The infrastructure here is amazing, in terms of bandwidth that makes surfing a pleasure here not to mention downloading & uploading files.

Client's office is in the Hong Kong International Airport (I will talk about in depth of their businesses in another day). I was given a chance to tour the whole airport both Terminal 1 & 2 and Arrival Hall. This airport is massively huge and a lot of walking around, a simple tour can last about 3 hours per session. I had done 3 tours so far and now is in the final stage of getting all the collective data and findings for my analysis to client.

I am supported by designers in Malaysia and dear if you are reading this, thanks for the great support, we can do great things together and my apology for pushing and giving you info on the very last minute each and every time. As for me, I will be doing the copy writing for them. So I am sort like a medium to coordinate and communicate client's needs and requirements to my designers.

In terms of my own revenue, I would say the amount is not what many would assume it is, in short, OK lah, if not I wouldn't have travel so far for this. That amount was pretty similar to what I made during my employment days in XX company.

Then why do I make this move? Firstly, it is the exposure. Not many would have a chance to work and experience how is it like working in Hong Kong. I had a chance to join the sales & marketing meeting recently and I got to say it is totally a fresh experience for me even though I had been working with Koreans for about 8 years. Secondly, this short project of mine if successfully implemented will do good for my resume definitely. And really, it does make an impact. People with overseas experiences most of the time will have its plus points compare to those with local experiences.

So friends out there, you guys know what I had been doing. And of course, during these period here, I do try my best to meet up friends who make their visit here in Hong Kong. With AirAsia, more and more Malaysians will frequent Hong Kong. Next week will be meeting ex-colleagues who will be here for a launching and I will be attending it. The week after, another 3 female friends will be coming for a shopping trip and the following week 2 other friends are coming. So I manage to squeeze my time to juggle between work and leisure here.

My mom and my youngest brother had just gone home today. So it's home alone most of the time for me here and yes I do miss friends back home. I do not miss Malaysia to be frank but I miss my friends who are able to listen to me, to cheer me up when I need to, I miss them a lot! And I do hope I can conclude my project here and meet up with them for a short time in December, fingers crossed! Brothers, pray for me ya!

And for the next year's plan, I will share when the time is right. At the moment, I just want to focus on this project and I cannot afford to flop at this point of time. Ending this long winded post with a photo taken in Elements in Kowloon.

Until then, work aside, I will update more about my life here soon! Love you!

Greetings From Hong Kong

Arrived here this morning. Weather been favorable, cloudy & windy but a little bit too dry to my preference. Caught a flu and bleeding from the nose, it gonna take a bit for me to adjust to the weather here.

Got my prepaid SIM and my HKG number, I already updated my Facebook profile, you guys can get my number there.

No intense update today as my flu kills off my mood to blog, gotta take a good rest as I am heading Wan Chai Exhibition tomorrow to catch up with some Malaysian friends.

Adios for now! Hope to get well and enjoy my days in HKG ;)

Day 2 - Northen Thailand

Continuing from my earlier 2 post, this trip to Doi Tung had been an eye opener for me in a lot of ways.

On the 2nd October 2009, I reached the Doi Tung point at around 8PM where my host came & picked me up to her house. The place that I stayed is very comfortable, cooling & peaceful. Dinner was prepared and since it had been a long long traveling day for me, I opted for a good rest instead of going anywhere.

Next morning, woke up at around 9AM, went to my host's sister house. Had my breakfast which is similar to our Malaysian laksa, just that it is spicier served with minced pork & pig's blood cubes. It is really yummy!

Then we went visiting around the village, I am really touch with the warm reception of these villagers. Each & every house we went, there were food & drinks. It is like a whole day long feasting session. And not to mention plenty of beers. Beers are dirt cheap. A dozen of big bottles of "Leo" beers cost me about 500baht.

Practically my second day, I eat, eat & eat... drink, drink & drink... in short, I am drunk.

My 3rd day in Doi Tung, this is somehow the most important day for the people here. Then only I realized that they actually considered mid-autumn as their new year celebration. There are plenty of new years in this part of Thailand actually. In October they celebrated the mid-autumn in a big way, then in November, they celebrate "Loy Kae Thong" which to welcome the winter, then the Thai too celebrate the common new year celebrated worldwide on every 31st December and somewhere in April they will celebrate Songkran.

I shall continue the 3rd day on a separate day, gotta take an early rest because I am heading to Hong Kong early tomorrow, my flight will be 7AM.

While I am away, the best medium to keep touch with me

songm@hotmail.com (Facebook & MSN)
mikemmery (Twitter & Skype)

Do add me ya!

Here I Am

I am supposed to update on my mid-autumn celebration in nothern Thailand. However, I am browsing & surfing aimlessly. There seems like a blockage on my mind, the laziness to touch up the photos got over me.

I will be leaving in about 2 days time, all of a sudden I am missing that someone dearly and reading one of the latest post of my dear friend on how a song had touched her, somehow I also touched by this particular song as well at the same time. It sounded beautiful and it is indeed a great song, I miss you!

Here I Am - Air Supply



Here I am playing with those memories again
Just when I thought time has set me free
Those thoughts of you keep taunting you

Holding you
A feeling I never outgrew
Though each & every part of me has tried
Only you can fill that space inside
So there's no sense pretending
My heart is not mending

Just when I thought I was over you
Just when I thought I could stand on my own
Oh baby, those memories come crashing through
And I just can't go on without you

On my own
I try to make the best of it alone
I'd done everything I can to ease the pain
But only you can stop the rain
I just can't live without you
I miss everything about you

Just when I thought I was over you
Just when I thought I could stand on my own
Oh baby, those memories come crashing through
And I just can't go on without
Go on without
It's just no good without you...

Backpacking Travelogy to Northern Thailand

I had just got back from my trip to the few part of northern Thailand. Will try to share my experience with those interested to visit the place. In fact, it was my second trip there. The very first time was part of the incentive trip with some dealers. Back then, it was pure tour guided trip and visited some major tourist attractions.

This time around, I am doing a backpacking. My destination is actually Doi Tung under the Mae Fah Luang province, about 20km from Mae Sai. The most ideal way to get to the place is of course flying to Chiang Rai which means you either fly direct to Bangkok from KL before taking domestic flight from Bangkok to Chiang Rai.

However, due to budget constraint, I took the direct flight from KL to Chiang Mai instead. Thanks to AirAsia, my one-way ticket to Chiang Mai was about RM150. Getting to LCCT had always been a headache but thanks to the new service by the KLIA transit, I took the option of traveling with KLIA transit train from KL Sentral to Salak Tinggi then commute the free bus ride to LCCT, all in total only cost me about RM12.50 per trip.

Reached Chiang Mai @ noon, 1PM to be exact. From the international airport, I opted for a taxi ride to the Chiang Mai Arcade Bus Station. The fixed rate for my ride to the bus station cost me only about 150Baht. Upon reaching the Arcade Bus Station, I felt like a total stranger as it was crowded only with local, many gave a strange stare but very fortunately I manage to find someone who can speak an "OK" English. She guided me to counter No. 5, I bought the ticket for Chiang Mai en route to Maesai. The ticket cost me 212Baht. To make it easier for me, the ticket teller remarked on my ticket that I will stop at a place called Doi Tung. Since my bus will only be taking off at 3PM, I managed to bump into an internet cafe that serves some really bad food. After that particular session with the cyberworld, I am totally lost touch with it for about a week and I realized I am ok to be apart from Internet actually :)

The bus trip is good though long. It took me 3 hours to reach Doi Tung. Upon reaching there, it was already about 8PM. My host came and pick me up.

I will share more about the rest of my trip tomorrow :)

Stay tune!

PS: Today I also want to wish my very special brother a very happy birthday! Hey Ah Rim, Happy Birthday to you ya!