Day 1: Mai Sai Mo
- After biting our nails for a good 15 minutes, Rathnor and I found out that our hardcases were at the other over-sized luggage claim. So much for the imagery of a smashed case spilling out my clothes and gear (yes I packed in my clothes with the keyboard - it's handy like that)
- We were greeted by one of the crew for the event. I felt like a rockstar for a moment, up until the point I had to hoist the damned hardcase into the taxi boot. Must be strong independent woman. Must not take advantage of being only girl in band. Must remember to chuck pride out of the window next time and just ask the boys to help anyway.
- Grand Hi-Tech Tower wasn't very grand, hi-tech, or much of a tower.
- Rode this tuk-tuk-like thingamajig from the hotel out to the main street. Imagine a Proton Arena with the back completely stripped to its frame, and you'll have a general idea. Boon was the last one in and had to sit at the doorless door, scared and amazed that he could touch the walls of the buildings from inside the tuk-tuk.
- Learned how to say 'no pork' and had yummy fried noodles.
- Went back to hotel and fell asleep on the couch waiting for Leslie and Vivian from Observatory. Once they came back, I stumbled into my room, inspected the bed for strange hairs and slept good.
Day 2: Amazing Mango
- When I told my friends about sharing an apartment with Obs: 'omg I'm going to see Leslie Low in his underwear', I meant it as a joke. As luck would have it, I opened the door and first thing I saw was Leslie Low on the couch in his underwear, twiddling with his guitar and pedals. It was too early in the morning for this.
- Walked out to the main street looking for early lunch and maybe a bit of shopping. Found a hole-in-the-wall cafe and had aaamaaaziiing dishes (catfish salad, somtham thai, tom yam, the rest was a haze of deliciousness).
- Had this crazy good sliced boiled corn thing from the stall outside the cafe. So good can die.
- Walked a bit more. Found an interesting CD store / art gallery type place called Playground. Nice selection, crazy prices. 950B for a CD? No thank you. Our gig poster was on their wall though so that felt good. Ehe.
- Walked a bit more. Found an interesting used book store. Bought Fahrenheit 451, Browser's Book For Beginnings and a hardcover Joy Of Cooking for my ma.
- I don't know how this started (I think it was Ron's ice cream flavor) but the boys were repeating 'mamuang namplawan' over and over among themselves and to hot chicks and ok malu.
- Had really lovely grilled chicken sausage. They have barbecue stalls everywhere in Bangkok.
- BANGKOK IS HOT. Like panas. Macam nak pengsan punya panas.
- Sound ch-ch-check. The Thais are a close second to Singaporeans. Sound system was ace, I love.
- Saw a Fairuz look-a-like.
- Is it a bus? Is it a tank? No, it's a mobile toilet!
- Never perform on an empty stomach. Dah la panas. We were thisclose to dropping like flies on stage.
- Saw an Alvelyn look-a-like.
- Their visual art is fucking awesome. We were staring wide-eyed. Different bands had different visuals. One band had a live drawing thing, another had live swimming fish filmed in a tank at the gig.
- Signed CDs. Felt even more rockstarish. We have groupies now! I want a groupie too.
- Sold the last two Furniture CDs to some farang tourists, bought the Desktop Error tee and a Goose CD which had such good packaging that I almost wanted to buy two so I could keep one intact.
- Saw a Pa'an look-a-like, almost said hi.
- Stumbled over rats while wandering around looking for food. Had some more dry fried noodles, this time with shrimp balls. Yum.
- Aziz's feet are toxic beyond compare.
- Went back to the gig to watch the rest of the bands and fell asleep with Rathnor and Aziz while Goose was playing.
Day 3: No Chutuchak?
- Woke up to Boon's phone call. Bathed and packed stuff and trundled downstairs. Waited in lobby for boys to come back and one of the hotel cats camped out on my lap for a bit. The cats are pretty and friendly here in Thai, though interestingly enough I didn't see a single Siamese cat.
- Checked out, and while Ron was in the internet cafe confirming our flight details, I bought yummy yummy barbecued chicken wings for 10B, which would have sold for RM2.50 here easy.
- Flight details confirmed, our flight was not at 8pm but at 5.45pm. Hurrah! Not.
- Ended up pouting because I had looked forward to hunting for bags and shoes.
- Ended up hanging out at the airport for about 4 hours. Had pricey but boleh tahan buffet at the Sky Loft.
- Bought tiny porcelain incense holder in shape of frog for myself because I cannot leave Bangkok without one souvenir at least.
- Slept on plane.
Now I'm home, and the manmaid is washing my jeans with hot water.
p/s : Adrian has photos.
