today i’m going to blog about the best - and also my favourite - place to shop in the whole wide world : the Chatuchak Market in Bangkok :)

no trip to Bangkok is complete without a visit to the huge and famous weekend market that houses a vast labyrinth of shops and stalls selling just about anything a shopper could ask for. some 20,000 shops are tucked away haphazardly in this market, separated into 26 different sections according to their 9 categories of wares - books & collectibles, plants & gardening, home utensils & decor, pets and animals, antiques, clothing and accessories, handicrafts, furniture and miscellaneous; somewhat systematic but still thrillingly chaotic.

not only does Chatuchak have the most mind-boggling variety of products for sale, but everything is also CHEAP like nothing you’ve ever seen before!!! so cheap that every weekend in Bangkok, resellers and business owners from all over the world descend onto Chatuchak to stock up wholesale on super-cheap clothes, furniture, accessories and jewelry to bring back to their shops to re-sell for triple the price. (read: Bangsar and Hartamas boutiques ;) the rest of us holidaying shoppers can also share the joy of finding bargains in every nook and corner of the market. dangly earrings for RM 1 per pair? little wooden stools for RM 3? sundresses and original artist-designed tshirts for RM 15? a whole box of beautiful glass jars for RM 8? only in Chatuchak :)

upon touchdown in Bangkok, eeyang came to ask me : “so where do you wanna go first?” and i instantly screamed “CHATUCHAK!!!!” please, as if he even needed to ask. sigh i seriously believe that my birthplace is actually Chatuchak. there is no other place on earth in which i feel more at home and ALIVE :D and so we spent the first 4 hours of our time in Bangkok trawling Chatuchak and scavenging for the best buys. we emerged happy! very very tired and sweaty but happy.

pictures! :

#1 little bags and clutches going for 59 baht (RM 5.9) and 100 baht (RM 10)

#2 this is a shop selling art materials; there is a whole area in Chatuchak just for handicraft stuff. i go CRAZY buying materials everytime i’m here! sieutheng, ginny and vvens, you guys would love it too. ink pens, marker pens, all kinds of paper, string, ribbon, buttons and all kinds of craft items for super cheap!

#3 bundles of tissue paper for so cheap. i remember how when we were doing that Valentines’ Day roses project back in Form 5, and i was so happy to find tissue for RM 30/bundle at SSF in Jalan TAR. here in Chatuchak it’s RM 10, without bargaining yet. sigh!

#4 adorable puppies for sale :) there was a REALLY cute pure-breed pomeranian that cost only RM 200!!! wtfish! in KL it would probably sell for RM 1,600.

#5 this is my attempt at taking a The Dog picture, hehe. it’s a quasi-milo dog!! :D

#6 handmade postcards that i bought for RM 2 each after bargaining. i was so attracted to them because the postcards featured a lot of teddy bears that i actually have! see that monkey, and that Tigger and Piglet? i have them too! the photos in the postcards were taken by the shopowner’s sister - she’d take all her soft toys along with her and drive around the rural areas of Thailand to do her photoshoots, then make cards out of her photos. so creative! i bought a whole bunch back to use as birthday cards :)

#7 earrings for RM 1 a pair. i bought a dozen :D hello!!! it’s RM 1!!!

#8 this shop color-coded all their earrings. the girl in the photo is Malaysian too, and she kept going, “aiyo die lah how could i have spent so much money buying all those earrings from The Curve when it’s so cheap here!!”. i totally know how she felt because i kept seeing at Chatuchak all these dresses that i bought from Bangsar.. but at one third the price i paid :(

#9 happy mugs!

#10 happy clips!

#11 lots of little shops like these that sell pretty clothes. even though they’re quite cheap, the problem is you cant try the clothes on. unless the shop happens to have a makeshift dressing-room; usually just a pinned up cloth. works, nevertheless! the blue dress i’m wearing in the McDonalds video is from Chatuchak - cost only RM 10! i bought the same dress in pink too.

#12 haha this is eeyang eating some chocolate donut thing. he’s wearing my heart necklace -___- he just came into my room, picked it up and threw it around his neck. i didnt even realize he was wearing it until i took this picture. even then, he didnt want to give it back -_____- haih sometimes i worry about him.

#13 REALLY PRETTY FLIP FLOPS FOR ONLY RM 5!!!! it’s not even the strawy/beachy type of flip flops that are so native to Thailand. sigh. i was so smitten i bought 3 pairs. that’s my finger pointing at a pink pair that i bought. i wanted the orange one at the upper left corner but no size :(

#14 eeyang thought i had to have this shirt because i am actually a cat ^___^ i should have bought the piggy one at the back because i am also a pig :| the shirts here are slightly more expensive (RM 20) cos they’re original designs.

#15 handwoven Moccasin-type shoes! so cuuute. but one rainy day and it’ll be all ruined :|

#16 me and the best drink that Thailand has to offer - the orange juice! they use these oranges that are very very much like mandarin oranges, and the drink is just so mind-numbingly good. SIGH. i miss!

#17 we bumped into Jack Sparrow hahahaha

#18 bags! but after trawling all of Chatuchak, i didnt find any that i really really liked :\

#19 this shop looks like it belongs in a mall, doesnt it? Chatuchak has loads of these. very quirkily-designed shops with quality products.

#20 so cool, right? a bag made out of an empty rice sack

#21 pouches and pencil cases for RM 9.90. i bought that colorful one underneath the sign, and also a red faux croc skin case for my make-up. contentment!

#22 gorgeous tribal-design earrings! RM 8 per pair, also original designs. no other shop in Chatuchak had these earrings.

there are soooooooo many more things quaint items in Chatuchak that i didn’t take pictures of, and also that i wish i bought :( eeyang and i went back to Chatuchak again the following day because we felt we just HAD to buy more stuff. haha. my biggest regret was not buying this beautiful oil painting from this artist who had a most unique and dreamlike style. but it cost RM 150, and i didnt have enough cash on me :\ by the time i got more cash, i couldnt find her shop again.

which brings me to …

PINKPAU’S TIPS FOR CHATUCHAK MARKET!

1. if you see something you like, buy it right away. don’t even think of walking around to compare prices and then coming back, because chances are you won’t be able to find the shop again. that’s how big and messy Chatuchak is

2. if you MUST move away from a shop but want to come back, ask them for a business card or the section and soi (street .. or in this case alley) of their shop. most merchants in the market will know how to direct you back to your intended shop just by looking at the section & soi.

3. dont stray too far from your friends!! it can be a REAL pain in the butt to locate each other again, even if you have phones. if you are in a big group and it’s just impossible to shop together, designate a place to meet-up again at a certain time. one good spot to do this is the Clock Tower. there are buggies in the open-air areas that will ferry you around for free, but you must ask them to take you to your intended spot.

4. wear comfortable shoes. i’d suggest something like flip flops, which are comfy but also easy to remove in case you want to try on or shop for shoes

5. dress lightly and appropriately for the hot sticky weather, and also for lots of shoulder-rubbing and body-grazing; the Chatuchak crowd is not to be underestimated :P

6. try not to use the bathrooms if you can help it. the bathrooms are few, overly crowded, dirty and faaaar away.

7. yes you can bargain at most shops!

8. have fun exploring Chatuchak!!! here, only the fittest will survive and emerge victorious :P

oh, chatuchak. oh, cheap shopping. oh, wonderful smorgasbord of hodgepodge and bric-a-brac. my heart longs for you so! hey if anyone wants certain kinds of things from Chatuchak, lemme know :) i may be going back there sometime in June or July, so can help you folks buy.

i’m going to write about my hotel in Bangkok in the next post. oh it is the CUTEST hotel you will ever lay eyes on, and i’m so excited to write about it!! :D

hehehehehhee! come, let me teach you how.

i got a free Big Mac yesterday at the McDonalds outlet in Damansara Uptown! and the day before that at Bangsar Telawi! and today i’m gonna head to whichever McD outlet i see first, for yet another free Big Mac :D omg i can’t stand it, the yummy freebieness of it all!!!

here’s what’s going on : McDonalds is having this promotion where if you can do the ‘Big Mac Chant’ in 4 seconds at their counter, you get a free Big Mac. simple as that.

here’s what’s even better : McDonalds teamed up with Nuffnang to organize a Big Mac Chant competition, where you stand to win RM 10,000 in cash if you take a video of yourself doing the Big Mac Chant as creatively as possible.

so… i did both :P i did the chant at the counter, took a video of myself doing it, and submitted it to the competition. here’s how i unabashedly made a lot of ruckus in McDonalds just for a free burger and a cheap shot at winning RM 10k cash :

(you can hear Martian’s sexy voice in the video. and dont laugh at me!!)

the chant goes :

‘Two all-beef patties
Special sauce, lettuce
Cheese, pickles, onions
On a sesame seed bun!’

to win the free Big Mac, you have to get a coupon that comes with every purchase of a McValue meal (i skipped this part with my wily ways hehe!). then you take this coupon to the newly-set up Big Mac counter at any McDonalds outlet, and do the chant while a staff times you. do it within 4 seconds, and you win a free Big Mac! if you don’t manage, then there’s always tomorrow :P

to take part in the competition, just take a witty and creative video of yourself doing the Big Mac Chant (no time limit; you can do the chant in 20 seconds or 1 minute or however long you want), upload it to YouTube then send the link to the email addy provided at the competition website. start gathering votes, and you’re on your way to winning that RM 10,000.

so, vote for me!!! pleeeeeeease. cos i really want that RM 10,000 :P and dont compete with me lah okay, i already teach you all how to get free burgers :(

here’s one of my favourite Big Mac Chant videos so far : clickety! i still have the giggles from watching it. and here’s another funny one :P so cute right! haih no matter how hard i try, i can’t beat these two videos.. let alone the scores and scores of videos that are going to be pouring in over the next four weeks.

ei actually, don’t vote for me! or at least, dont vote for this video. coz i’m going to brainstorm and come up with another video… the funniest and most creative video to beat them all. hmph. vickyvacko, leekwanlong and kimberlycun’s chin, watch out!!! pinkpau wants that cash prize too :P

urk i’m getting hungry watching all the videos. anyway if any of you guys are going to be taking part, buzz me with your link :) i’ll vote for you!

yum yum :)

today started off a little angry for me. then sad. then angry again. now, i am feeling a little bit sorry - in the guilty sense of the word. yet, there’s this throbbing kernel of blissful contentment somewhere in the pits of my stomach. ever jumped into something big and risky, expecting the worse, but then at the end of it all discovered that there was no need to be afraid or pessimistic in the first place? because everything turned out perfect and more beautiful than you could ever hope for? that’s what i’m going through right now. it’s a good feeling, even if preceded by a little bit of remorse at the recklessness of aforementioned pessimism.

i really wish i could say why i was angry this morning. at least it would get my message across to the relevant people involved. but i think the more i dwell upon them, the angrier i get, and the fact is dwelling on such things doesn’t really improve the situation any. well okay i want to talk briefly about just one thing, because that is the one i am thinking about most. i understand why sometimes it is important to remain neutral, but i cannot help but feel a sense of disappointment, and sometimes disrespect, for people who are privy to both sides of a story but still are unable or refuse to form an opinion. there’s always the same old “aiyah sensitive issue lah i dowan to say anything”, which to me sounds so cowardly and unintelligent. just because things are ’sensitive’, you don’t even want to THINK about the problem at hand? when all the bare facts are laid before you on the table, you can’t even bring yourself to recognize what is right and what is wrong?

i hope no one misinterprets or jumps to conclusions about what i’m saying, because i’m aware that what i said can apply to many situations, but i’m referring to some very specific events. haih. i’m just so sick of people who can’t seem to employ just a little bit of judgment and integrity when it comes to situations that require them to, because as a result of that, nothing is ever done about the injustices that are allowed to fester. and when talk comes to do, they all step back and let the more outspoken ones take the heat. and when the battle is won, they all come out to celebrate together-gether. it’s damn unfair. no this is not about elections. this is something personal. it’s about friends, it’s about right and wrong, it’s about a certain person with no principles whom i believe i’m never speaking to again.

haih.

on another note, i finally sent in my acceptance notification to the one college of my choice. so this fall, i will be attending Columbia University :) and i also already sent out the decline forms for all my other schools. it was so hard putting the check mark next to ‘No, I Will Not Be Attending…’ in those forms, particularly the ones for Penn and Chicago. when i think about all the effort and determination and prayers and hope i put into my applications for these schools only a few months ago, i can’t help but feel so extremely ungrateful for declining all their offers. yes i know it’s very silly to feel like this because i’m SUPPOSED to choose only one school and decline the rest, but hey. i dont know lah. remember how i wasnt even expecting to gain entrance into any of my schools. and now here i am just signing the decline cards as if they dont mean anything to me. i felt a little bit nauseous as i was signing the Penn card. during application season, Penn was the first application that i worked on because it was the school i wanted to get into most - and i slogged through it like a dog because i really needed it to be perfect. i remember exactly how i felt when i was writing my Why Penn essay. and now.. i’m not even going there. it feels strange.

i want to say thank you to everybody who helped me get this far. first of all, thank you to all of you who voted in my poll and left me comments on my Columbia / Penn decision :) and thank you to everyone who sent me long emails about their opinions. thank you Yau, i’m so glad you took that first step all those months back; i couldn’t have done it without you. thank you Matteus, Andrew, Chen Chow for all your ever-encouraging comments and opinions. thank you Lotus for constantly giving me that swift kick in the butt to get me going - you are the reason why i’m even attending an Ivy League institution in 4 months’ time. thank you Christine for that great interview; it must have been why i was accepted into Penn in the first place. thank you Nick and Amanda for all the insight into Columbia. thank you Emily, Timtam, Booha, Eeyang and Dad for being there during the last few minutes of my decision-making. lastly, thank you to all my friends and relatives who cared enough to share their thoughts with me about both colleges and for hounding me ever so often about my decision :) you have all been very kind to me.

i really regret that i cannot attend Penn. but the more i think about it, the more i feel i made the right choice when i sent in my Columbia confirmation. so here’s to plunging into New York City headfirst and not looking back!

oh and i went to watch Iron Man today :) i wasnt expecting it, but it was OMG SO GOOD. exciting, engaging and jaw-droppingly awesome from start till end. deep sigh! when i grow up i want to be like Iron Man!! *___* either that or marry someone like him!!

okay i have nothing else to say, and i really should be going back to bed. obviously my newly-recalibrated body clock is now cacat again. and for the people who are only here for the pictures, and i know there’s some of you out there!!!, i leave you now with one picture from Bangkok :

me trying to decide which shirt is more ME!, at Khao San Road - my 2nd favourite place in Bangkok after Chatuchak :)

it is a good time for the internet junkie! guess who just got a free Sony Ericsson k660i to go online with to all her heart’s content? yesssss, lucky me :D actually no lah, i don’t get to keep the phone forever; i only get it for a brief period so that i can learn the ropes of this phone to write this short review about it.

after discovering the wonderful world of 3G and getting myself one of those unlimited data browsing plans, all i really care about now is surfing the internet on my mobile phone :P so this phone came JUST at the right time, because apparently the k660i’s focus is all about its internet browsing charm. score!!!!! there is nothing an internet addict loves more than a phone made just for internet addicts :D

two reasons why i like the k660i : the HSDPA-enhanced browsing and the desktop feed ticker.

HSDPA, or also known as 3.5G, is an evolution of 3G that greatly increases data download speeds. it’s broadband-like speed right from your mobile phone :) it’s great. streaming American Idol straight from Youtube has never been better or smoother. i’ve also been happily showing everyone within reach all my favourite Jeon Ji Hyun commercials from my profile in Youtube, because all the videos load so quickly with HSDPA, and Jeon Ji Hyun is only like the cutest and hottest creation of God, EVER. watch the Giordano and KFC ads that i have on my profile and you’ll see what i mean! and while you’re at it, do watch the other ads i’ve got there because they’re all really good… hahaha especially the one titled ‘Best commercial ever’ :D hehehe le giggle.

the k660i also has this really awesome ticker function that brings your news feeds automatically to your phone’s desktop. yup, breaking news headlines from your favourite news sites straight to your desktop without you having to search for ‘em, complete with thumbnails of accompanying photos. and after some tinkering around i found that i could get automatic update flashes of blogs from this feed widget too :D see, i’ve got a masak-masak.blogspot.com update on my desktop.

my brother tells me that the k660i is the cheapest HSDPA-enabled phone on the market, and it retails at around rm890. quite cheap right? my brother’s friend actually wanted to buy the k660i off me to give to his girlfriend. sooooo nice :\ why nowadays all the school kids so loaded wan, can buy mobile phones for girlfriend :\ chow eeyang why last time you never buy mobile phone for me!!!

thus ends my very n00b review of the Sony Ericsson k660i. thank you timothy for arranging this for me :)

this blogger supports the writing of truthful and sincere reviews/advertorials :)

——————

i had a really good time in Bangkok (and rushed like crazy from the airport to the Malaysian Dreamgirl finale!) over the weekend. i’m back home now, and suddenly there seems like a lot of things to do in too short a timespan, but i look forward to the upcoming preoccupation. it will be good to soak myself in BOTH happy and exciting things, before i commit myself fully to only one or the other in time to come. the truth is, i want to be happy; it was very obvious from the way i chose to flip my coin at Suvarnabhumi today. but then ‘exciting’ sounds too good to pass up. and maybe excitement will breed a different brand of happy.. who knows.

oh and for the curious, Cindy won Malaysian Dreamgirl. Adeline was the first runner-up. Hanis was the second runner-up who looked visibly shocked that her name was called first, and who also had her own fanclub posse all decked out in red ‘Vote Hanis!’ tshirts and cheering for her incessantly at the finale. no, i didn’t manage to take a picture with Cindy’s dad :\ but i did manage to take many funny pictures with many funny people, mostly involving the recent loss of my epidermal perfection. under my nose, to be exact. hahaha. kawan kawan sekalian, please send me all the pictures, ok!!! i want to put them up :P

here’s the lowdown on my status : tired, hella sleepy from the recent (successful!) recalibration of my body clock, voice sore from screaming back and forth in a noisy club, knee scraped from a lousy fall when i tripped over my own feet, hungry because i forgot to have dinner!!, but most importantly - bags unpacked :(

i’m leaving in the morning for a long overdue holiday somewhere not so far away :) it is a sort of runaway-getaway, clear-my-head kinda thing. only, the original plan was to go alone, but it has since been hijacked by an incorrigible idiot who insisted i set my holiday back two weeks so that he could come along after his exams. haih. bencinya T____T

anyway yes lah i haven’t packed and i’m so tired, but i’m sitting here blogging because there’s a few things i want to blog about!

1. COLLEGE
the first and most crucial is my college decision, because this one involves a deadline. i have to send in my replies to all my schools by Monday, but until now i still haven’t decided on a school. i’ve narrowed it down to two - University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Columbia University in Manhattan, New York City.

okay i seriously need help in making a decision here :( please help, ok? if you know anything about UPenn, Philly, Columbia and New York City, pleaseeeee leave me a comment with all you have to say. i would muchly appreciate it. here are the attractions of both schools to me, and put side-by-side is precisely why i am so undecided :

Penn : big Malaysian community, has my intended major of Philosophy-Politics-Economics aka PPE, close to my aunt who lives in Pennsylvania (this means board during spring/winter break! and of course seeing my lovely aunt whom i love), the presence of Wharton (arguably the best business school in the world) where i may consider doing a dual degree in finance, Chenchow’s opinion that a Penn degree is more recognized in our part of the world (i’m not sure about this!), a warm, friendly and sociable student body that i know i will fit into and love.

Columbia : small Malaysian community (can be a good thing), the fact that i was accepted as a Scholar (more on this later), it’s in the extremely exciting and thriving New York City, nicer dorms than Penn, dorms are RM 3200/year cheaper, a school known for exciting events and its artistic (but potentially snobby) culture, and FREE TICKETS TO BROADWAY!!

i only just found out a few days ago that i was named a Scholar by Columbia upon admission, because i’d completely overlooked the letter when it came in my admissions packet. the perks for me as a Scholar are - arranged meetings and discussions with world renowned speakers, academic enhancement programs, first dibs when choosing courses, a conferred special title upon graduation, cool internships with program partners like the NYC Mayor’s Office and … JP Morgan Chase, muahahahaha (sorry, inside joke :P), better research and study opportunities, and free Broadway tickets!! yes you can tell the last part excites me the most :) in a nutshell, it’s a kinda ‘elite’ student program where the participating students get all these added benefits and probably more that i dont know about.

i only have 2 days left to decide :( please help me reason this out. do you guys think the perks offered by the Scholar’s Program and the excitement of NYC is worth giving up Penn? after all, if i went to Penn, NYC is only two hours away… sigh. so emoe. do leave me your comments ok? and i even modified my Nuffnang poll to have my college options instead. haha. *points to right side* please answer my poll! thank youuu :)

2. AMERICAN IDOL

okay first of all. CARLY DID NOT DESERVE TO GET VOTED OUT. /stomps around

i didnt know this week was Andrew Lloyd Webber week, and when i found out at the start of the show, all i could do was jump up and down, screaming PHANTOM OF THE OPERA!!!!! and i am so happy because David Archuleta sang my favourite Phantom song - Think of Me, and he did it beautifully. this performance of his, as well as Imagine from Lennon-McCartney week, proves that this 17 year old kid deserves to win American Idol 2008. yes, any Phantom fan would know that he botched up the words to one part of Think Of Me, but the clever thing to do was make up new words that sat nicely to correct timing - which David Archuleta did, AND which Brooke did not, and deserved to be voted out for.

and my favourite Idol contestant of all, David Cook, sang Music of the Night from Phantom. now i dont usually like this song, because the love that the Phantom has for Christine was just never communicated rightly to me through the song. in fact i always found the song kind of scary, in a perverse way. but when David sang that song this week, it all just became so clear. oh the tenderness! the emotion! the love. there is no doubt about it - David Cook owns my heart and soul. *dramatic*

i’m hoping to see a Battle of the Davids in the finals. and before this i wanted Carly as number 3, but now i guess that’s not possible. Jason Cook is good and i like him, but he’s shown that a lack of versatility is his problem. his rendition of Memory from Cats was just awful :(

3. Return of the TV shows!
yesssssss Gossip Girl is back, and it seems the trends of stockings and ribboned headbands are here to stay :\ it’s a delicious new episode, this one, and the next one is going to be even more explosive! new character introduced!

and guess what else is back?? GREY’S ANATOMY, that’s what!!! yes it was too long a hiatus, but i’m just glad that it’s back at all - i jumped out of bed instantly to IMDB it when Jay texted me in the morning that Grey’s was back and showing in America in a few hours. hehe it’s torrenting now as i write this. oh how i have missed my McDreamy! and the delicious and scandalous lives of the cast of surgeons :D Scotty, try not to puke okay hehe. you know you love McDreamy too!

4. i remember having a fourth thing to blog about but sleepiness is really getting the best of my memory. le sigh. i’m going to pack at turbo speed now and then sleep :) goodnight all.