one - friendship comes cheap these days. in today’s world of volatility, the earning of friendship has become a business transaction with steadily weakening currency and even weaker principles. i ask myself, why do people give a shit? the answer i am repeatedly slapped with is - because giving a shit is politically correct, clever and beneficial. while it may make you puke a little bit in your mouth for now, in the big picture it’s all about the long-term gain. and aren’t the people with the long-term gain the ones who laugh last, the ones with more clout and pull, the ones whose risky investments paid off in the highest returns? yes, very clever and all. but you can keep that last laugh and that little bit of puke in your mouth. you can keep your sweaty money. and you can definitely keep all your flotsam friends. no, don’t scorn us - the ones too foolish to grab and manipulate an opportunity ruthlessly when we see one. don’t sneer or look down upon us. because at the end of it all, we are the ones with principles, and we are the ones with real friends for life.
two - mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself. on one side of the coin, this can be viewed as naive ignorance; on the other, it is unrelenting ego. huge egos, i read somewhere, is nature’s compensation for mediocrity. i lend this wise adage my humble agreement. greatness doesn’t need trumpeting, greatness doesn’t require the putting down of other people. it is when one resorts to pitiful tactics like this, it is then that his or her truly unexceptional being is betrayed. what little spark of talent becomes unimpressive in the sharp and unpleasant glare of conceit. our existence is beautifully designed in that everyone recognizes greatness the instance they see it, but the precious potential to become great is sadly diluted by that slice of mediocrity that, with unrelenting ego, knows nothing higher than itself.
three - life sometimes gives us lemonade when we expect lemons. truly, i am the biggest pessimist you will ever find, and my whole life is surrounded by visions of huge lemon trees that threaten to swallow me alive in all their faux yellow splendor. you see, i recently did something and expected to get lots and lots of lemons as a result.. but i was surprisingly greeted by lemonade. tall, icy and sweet. it was the most amazing feeling. explosive. exhilarating. but then i felt bad for my excessively generous pessimism. very very bad. i felt like i didn’t deserve the success, like i’d somehow cheated and won it unfairly. well, to the great big lemon-squeezer in the sky, i want you to know how grateful i am. i have never ever had anything more beautiful than what you gave me. so, thank you. thank you for not giving me lemons.
four - everyone pays a price for their price. i was once let in on a big secret : everyone has a price. it’s true and relevant, and the honesty of that statement climbs and climbs with each passing day. or month. or band. so we have become this nation of commodities, being bought and sold like whores, but happy whores who recognize that this is a mutually beneficial relationship. but are whores ever truly happy? we’re starting to fight and claw at each other. the rookies are quickly sussing out the big guns to play with, in order to climb the brothel ladder a little faster. and quite significantly, the sex just isn’t as good as it used to be. and of course the question remains, are whores ever truly happy?
five - owls dont get any worms even if they are early birds. i used to really like the fact that i could stay up late and study/do work when everyone is asleep and it’s quiet. but now i find that i am a full-fledged insomniac, able to sleep only after staying up for more than 24 hours, and even then it is restless sleep that feels like only 10 minutes. tomorrow i have to go to the doctor for my first ever bottle of sleeping pills. le sigh.
May 17th, 2008
okay, this is the post on the cute hotel i stayed at in Bangkok! i’ve been getting so many emails asking about this hotel after i mentioned it in the Chatuchak post, and now i’m feeling quite regretful that i didn’t take pictures of the hotel properly. haih! but i will try my very best to do justice to the cuteness of this hotel, ok? :P
Reflections is a place that would typically be classified under boutique hotels, but i think a better term for it is ‘art inn’. converted from a few shophouses into one of the coolest travel accommodations i’ve ever stayed in, Reflections resembles an inn more than it does a hotel because of its size, layout, amenities and location. with its lobby doors opening right out onto the streets of Pradiphat, Bangkok, it is distinguishable from its neighbouring pharmacies and grocery stores only by the bright turquoise colors of its walls.
i thought it was a little strange to find such a striking boutique hotel/inn nestled amongst these common and drab shophouses, but i later realized how much it added to the overall charm of the place. your balcony opens up to life in the midst of non-tourist Bangkok, and you cant help but feel extremely welcome and at ease in a place that is so genuine and down-to-earth.
Reflections has only 30 rooms, and the reason why i think it should be called an art inn is that each and every one of its 30 rooms has a theme and design unique to itself. no two rooms in Reflections are alike, and they are all conceptualized and designed by different artists. isn’t that so cool! eeyang and i had a lot of fun browsing through their website and picking out which rooms we wanted.
here are pictures of the rooms we stayed in!:
ROOM 409
Price: 1850 baht /night (RM 185)
#1 this is Eeyang’s room - Room 409. the theme here is positive energy-meets-nature. the room is actually not as warmly-lit as the pictures imply, and it can get a bit gloomy in here because the lighting isn’t very powerful, but overall it’s clean, simple and very spacious.
#2 we had a good giggle looking at the shower, because it opens right into the bedroom, and there’s no door to the bathroom/toilet space :P this room was quite uninteresting to us because there really wasn’t much relevance to the theme, and nothing quirky to poke at :( the other rooms, as you shall soon see, are less spartan and have a lot of very interesting touches.
#3 eeyang posing on the bed. isnt that stool with the phone so cute! oh and the notepads in this hotel are pads of multi-coloured post its :D
ROOM 203
Price: 2250 baht /night (RM 225)
#4 this is the door leading into Room 203, which was my room, and located on the ground floor of the block next door (Reflections takes up two blocks of shoplots), and they’re separated by a small walkway compound. we were SO lucky that someone canceled their booking and we could get this room upon check-in, because it was one of our first choices :D
#5 this room is huuuge and very cheerful! after the gloom and barrenness of Room 409, i was glad to come into this homey and cozy room. aptly, this room is themed ‘Wish You Were Here’ and has tones of nostalgia and old charm.
#6 this is the bathroom of Room 203. the wooden part is where the shower area is. i like! bigger bathroom than the previous room, although also separated by curtains and not a lockable door.
#7 the artist of this room really knew how to bring out the theme of nostalgia. lots of interesting old-school toys and dolls to poke around with in this room. i really liked it in here :)
ROOM 202
Price: 2250 baht /night (RM 225)
#8 Room 202 is an EXTREMELY CUTE room!! it’s the room next to mine, and when we came back from breakfast, the housekeeps were in there cleaning up, so we asked if we could go in to take a look. i was so enamoured by the little details of this room that i forgot to take a shot of the whole room :( but you can click here to see what it looks like
#9 this is a sink right in front of the bed, where you can use those paints and brushes and paint onto that mural next to the sink. damn nice right! it was very cool seeing all the arty additions by all the people who’ve stayed in this room before and left behind a little bit of themselves on the mural :)
#10 this is the clothesrack. haha two big birds!
#11 the mirror that’s been painted on, too. check out the lockers behind me that serve as drawers!
#12 this is the sofa-bed. eeyang and i originally wanted this room for the sofa bed because we could have saved on the double room costs :( but oh well. such is thy fate if thy booketh thy hotel room only 4 days before trip!
GENERAL OPINION ON ROOMS:
i really prefer the latter two rooms to the first; the extra RM 40 really makes all the difference. all rooms in Reflections have free wifi access (an extremely strong deciding factor for me when choosing hotel rooms!!!) but the rooms in the second block get stronger connectivity. we couldnt get connectivity in Room 409 at all, which was another reason why i didnt like that room.
note that ALL rooms in Reflections have double beds; there are no single or twin bed rooms. this posed quite a problem on this trip, hence we had to book 2 rooms and spend a lot of money. haih. so this is a hotel best for couples or friends who don’t mind sharing the same bed. there are some rooms with sofa beds though, and i think there is one room that actually has a single bed next to the double bed. OR, you can do what we realized WAY too late we could do, which is purchase one of those extra beds for 500 baht (RM 50) per night and have it wheeled into your room :) *tries not to grumble at amount of money that could have been saved*
besides 202 and 203, our other first choices were Room 303 and Room 402.
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#13 our room keys!
#14 stairs leading up to the rooms in the first block. every wall and corner of the entire hotel has some form of art splashed on it.
#15 the broadband-enabled computers in the lobby. thai broadband is faaaaaaaast. there are also lots of books and bangkok travel guidebooks next to the computers. you can borrow the books :)
#16 this is the hotel cafe, where you have your free ala carte breakfast. like the rest of the hotel, it is extremely cute and happy, and has a lot of quirky artistic touches :)
#17 … like this curtain made out of neckties! eeyang and i were goggling at the creativity of this. though it would look much nicer if there were more neckties on the bar!
#18 .. and this super cool chair with little toys glued all over it :) it’s so creative and comfy that i wanted to bring it back home with me T____T
#19 funny drawings like this one are placed where the overhead menu boards usually are
#20 sofas in the cafe for you to read or just chill
#21 eeyang and i with the big teddy bear in the very small hotel lobby. on our last day, both the couch and the bear were gone, because they are apparently the props for the newest room redesign
#22 the extensive DVD library in the lobby!!! you can take any of them back to the room because each room has a DVD player!!! did you know that i found Singing In The Rain and The Seven Year Itch in their collection!!! oh my god!!! but we ended up getting Romeo + Juliet but fell asleep watching it :(
#23 adjacent to the hotel lobby is a space where the hotel owners sell original-design bags and notebooks and clothes and stationery and lots of other stuff. i never managed to ask the hotel staff who designed these things, nor did i get to buy anything :(
#24 CDs at the shop space
#25 clothes and art for sale
#26 very cute notebooks that i wanted to buy back as souvenirs!!! but our ride to the airport came so early :(
#27 funky bags for sale. see the luggage bags behind, in the display window? I WANTED ONE SO BADLY. why did the cab have to come so soon!
okay no more pictures. lemme just give a quick summary of the main facets of a hotel stay :
Rooms: absolutely creative and so much fun to stay in, very clean and comfortable, wifi-enabled, double beds only (but you can purchase additional beds), bathrooms have no door, good beds and pillows, nice towels and bathrobes. room in the first block can be gloomy. book early because there are so little rooms in this place! Rating : 4/5.
Service: top notch. it is a small establishment run by a small handful of people, and each and every one of them were very kind, polite and hospitable. eeyang found a smoke buddy in one of them :P they are extremely helpful, especially with directions, and they don’t hesitate at all to go out and hail a cab with you to tell your cabbie where to go (many cabbies cant speak English). 5/5.
Price & Booking: all rooms go by 4 rates - A) 1850 baht, B) 2250 baht, C) 2950 baht, D) 3450 baht. these prices are just right for boutique hotels. but of course this is Bangkok, and you can find cheaper hotels anywhere in the city, but none as unique, comfy and cool as Reflections :) bookings can only be made via their website and phoning in.
Amenities: no pool or gym, though this was no problem for me as i never use either when traveling. there is a hotel cafe with ala carte breakfast, open 24 hours with room service delivery. hotel shop selling those bags and stuff. hotel is wifi-enabled (though some rooms have very weak connectivity; check with concierge prior to booking). two broadband-enabled desktops at lobby. dvd library and a dvd player + tv in every room. air conditioner and hot water in all rooms.
Location: Reflections is located in Pradiphat, which is a 10-15 minute taxi ride to the city center (Sukhumvit, Silom and all) if traffic is good, and that costs about 50 - 70 baht (RM 5 - 7). it’s a 10 baht (RM 1) tuk-tuk ride or a 8-minute walk to the nearest Skytrain station, which is the Saphan Khwai station. in Bangkok, any hotel that’s near the Skytrain = GOOD; very convenient to get around. Reflections is also extremely near the Chatuchak Weekend Market (hehe!) and it costs about 30 baht to get there via tuk-tuk. it is very easy to get taxis from the hotel, and the hotel staff will help you with this. ALSO, there are lots of money changers here - on the same road as Reflections - that give very good rates. change your money here, trust me :D
thus ends my happy review of Reflections Rooms in Bangkok :) it is a lovely, kitsch, quaint place that i’m so glad to have discovered. yes, i would definitely recommend this hotel, and it is definitely where i will stay from now on whenever i go to Bangkok.
feel free to ask me questions if you have any :) charge you i will not, obviously, but if you would like to offer me a Clarinase pill, it would be very welcome. the last of my Clarinase stock was confiscated at the Freedom rave :( runny-nosed and feverish i am now. sigh!
May 13th, 2008
Event Update: there’s going to be a fundraising event happening on the 9th May (Friday. today!) at The Curve, called ‘Rock Up!’ that aims to use music to make a change in the lives of others, featuring performances by talented local artistes like Chelsia Ng, Liang, Furniture, Diplomats of Drum and many more. there’s also going to be a sketch by some prominent local comedians like Harith, Nell Ng and Na’a Murad, as well as a fashion auction. it’s going to be hugeee, and it sounds like a totally happening event! i wish i could go, but i’ll be at PD :( anyone who’s going, let me know how it went ok? especially the sketch! click here for the lineup and more details!.
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i got something really cool in my email the other day :) the writer of this letter asked if i could post his writing here on my blog, and i said i would. it’s pasted below.
there are a lot of mean people in my life, guys and girls alike. they pick fights with me for no reason, disagree with everything i say, tease me, jokingly sing praises about people i cant stand, call me evil names, scare me, say hurtful things, and seem to not care about my feelings at all. the person who wrote this letter is one of them.
when i first met him, we were colleagues for a few months. he didnt bother talking to me at all during the first few days of my job, and whenever i tried to make small talk he would just grunt at me in response. i remember thinking to myself, what a jerk!, especially when he said something like “your name is so hard to remember. can i just call you oi?”, to which i retorted, “for the millionth time, my name is Su Ann!”. then he just went out onto the balcony for a smoke.
but here we are now, months later, and he’s just emailed me something that he originally wrote for his own blog. but i hijacked it and now i get to put it up on MY blog! hehe. here it is.
Singapore, August 9th, 2007.
There was this place where most people came to purchase a little happiness. Some, with their banknotes. Some, with their redeemed tickets. Some, don’t bother to pay at all.
It was in this building with many floors when i first met her eyes, when i first shook her hand, when i first knew her name. Su Ann. I thought it was a beautiful name. She thought i was with a better company. Her boyfriend thought otherwise.
“Hi, im Firdauz, i used to work for the other blog advertising network,” I liked to mention this a lot, kinda a bad habit i had. “Hi, im Su Ann, you’ve done the right thing Firdauz, ahh.. no worries, you’re with a better company now,” She liked to give a warm quilt to a frozen fella like me. It was comforting and i liked it. “Now why would you say something like that, you didn’t know if it was for true!” Her boyfriend liked intellectual arguments backed up with solid facts and valid evidence, to destroy the fairy tales of 2 and 2 can make to 5. But of course they were adorable.
We didn’t talk that much that time, although i wanted to. Perhaps because in real life, i wasn’t much of a chatterbox. Lacking in humor, in love with ipod, loved the people but failed to prove. My life was a tragedy, a comedy to others. Su Ann’s life was all sunshine and she shared it with others, with all the people who needed some laughter to bend their mundane, linear yellow-lined lives. She did it with her writings, she did it with her hands, she did it with her heart, with her soul, with her eyes, with her sweet little smile. She did it to everyone. She did it to anyone.
I was a thief who stole one of God’s best creations. Secretly admiring her passion to make this world a better place. I had never given her roses, had never given her flowers or any plant. She had never failed to pick up my calls, had never failed to reply my texts. Even if they were sent at odd hours, 5am in the morning, she replied them right away, half-awake, full heartedly.
Of course i loved her, of course she loved me, it was mutual, but it wasn’t sexual neither it was romantic. I wasn’t her best friend, she had her own. She wasn’t my best friend, although i had none. Good friends were what we were. Sharing stories during lunches, gossips over the phone, fake tears mostly mine, genuine laughter mostly hers.
Su Ann’s sincerity wasn’t a lie, her honesty wasn’t fabricated when she made those 400 lips smiling and happily cheering in an event which she organized. My intention was questioned by many, i didn’t come to her party. I never came to any party she invited me to. I lived in my own world, she lived in a world which had more purposes than mine, shared, socialized, gallons of happy drinks and a number of sunny cupcakes.
“Ahhh.. the joy of being a jerk,” To deny and to pretend, was what i really good at. I called her “frog”, she never laughed. I called her a name she didn’t like, she never rebuked. She called me Firdy, i never said it was cute. “Ahhh.. the joy of being a jerk,” I told her that her favorite Bisou’s cupcakes were not delicious at all. I made a sour face, told her their chocolate cakes were better. She never listened, never agreed, never pitied that sour face i made.
That evening, in the city of lion, August 9th, i was one of those people who purchased myself that little happiness and didn’t bother to pay at all. It was in that building with many floors, i found a little thing called substance, which later made my 2+2=5.
Firdy is one of those special people in my life whom i’ve been lucky enough to cross paths with :) he may be very very mean, but he’s such a great guy and a good friend, and i am thankful for that day in Vivo City, Singapore, where we met and shook hands for the first time.
May 9th, 2008
