Chiang Mai & Chiang Rai - Part 3 cont'd

Day 3 - Karen Long Neck Tribe Village

Before heading back to the Bamboo Nest, we decided to stop at the Karen Long Neck Tribe Village, despite that it is getting dark already (another bad decision we made in terms of time and money). Note that the village actually charged a 300 Baht per person admission fee; definitely not worth it for the short time we spent there.

The village was very quiet, a few long-neck ladies were sitting at the "verandah" weaving or knitting. There was minimal lighting which made it very hard to take good photos; but awkwardness seemed to be a greater a problem, as we were the only tourists there. It felt quite weird to treat these people like an attraction, and to ask them pose for the camera, as if they are animals in the zoo. And the controversial part is, it would probably feel ok to do so, if we are a part of a bigger group and everyone does the same thing.

There were very few men seen in the village, probably not yet back from work. They apparently live a more normal life than the women, as they are more exposed to the outer world, while the women are confined within the village. Interestingly, a long-neck tribe man can choose to marry a non long-neck lady if they fancy; but a long-neck lady has to marry a man of the same tribe (perhaps it is more difficult to find others who would appreciate this sort of beauty?). By the way, the Karen long-neck tribe are actually refugees from Myanmar, and does not have legal status in Thailand. Most of the family still send their children (especially the sons) back to Myanmar to receive education, because it was required for them to maintain their citizenship (according to Noi) - this probably explains the lack of males in the village. Anyhow, you can probably learn more about the Karen long-neck tribe from a wiki page :)

As an "outsider", I cannot help feeling pity for the girls I saw at the village; apart from the electricity and box-set TV they have, it seems they are still living the same way as their ancestors live decades ago. I am sure their interaction with the tourists expose them to some extent of the outside world, I wonder if they ever consider (or are allowed to consider) to live a normal life like other people?

Here is another more serious discussion of the long-neck people on CNNGO.

Chiang Mai & Chiang Rai - Part 3 cont'd

Day 3 - Mae Fah Luang garden

Mae Fah Luang means "Royal Mother from the Sky" in Thai language, and refers to the current Thai King's mother, also known as the Princess Mother. She passed away in 1995. According to Noi, she was nicknamed as such because she always visited the remote areas by a helicopter. 

The garden is located at the north of Chiang Rai city, on top of mount Doi Tung. It was part of a development project initiated by the Princess Mother to help local minority tribes to survive on a more sustainable livelihood (vegetable, fruit and flower farming) rather than planting opium, and sometimes having to sell their daughters to sex trade. At this destination, you can also visit the Royal Villa, which is the winter home of the Princess Mother, and the Hall of Inspiration which exhibits the history of the royal family and the Princess Mother's development project in the area. Click here for more info about the destination.

We arrived at the garden in the afternoon - not exactly the best time to visit as the place closes at 5pm (sharp), and we kind of had to rush through the visit. The preferred time is to arrive in the morning, when the weather is cooler, the sunlight milder, and you could probably take better pictures of the garden too. You can choose to visit the sites separately or together. Off course, the combo ticket that included the garden, the Royal Villa and the Hall of Inspiration was cheaper overall, and these sites are actually quite worth seeing.

I think the garden was quite impressive for Asian's standards. Apparently, they change the flowers every season. I was quite amazed by some of the wild orchids available at the garden, which I never seen before. If only we had more time to explore, I could probably enjoy the place more. Unfortunately, my time there felt like a whirlwind, and I was so kiasu snapping pictures here and there.

Main entrance to the Royal Villa

One of the wild orchid species

The "Tungs" on Doi Tung

Chiang Mai & Chiang Rai - Part 3

I can't believe that it has been more than a month since my trip to Thailand. And October being a busy period at work certainly makes it feel longer. Ok, back to the documentation of my trip before my memory becomes fuzzy.

Day 3 - The White Temple (Chiang Rai)

Early morning, we board a bus to Chiang Rai, which took about three hours. Green Bus was the company recommended by most online travel sites, and the service was very reliable. It cost 288 Baht per person for the VIP bus (24 seat) and included snacks and a bottle of water. We did not book in advance, and could not make it onto the first bus at 8am as it was full. Fortunately, there are many buses that go to Chiang Rai everyday, and we didn't have to wait too long for the next one (bus schedule).

Based on tripadvisor's recommendation, I decided to stay at Bamboo Nest, which was ranked #1 of Chiang Rai B&B and Inns. If you read most of the reviews, you would think "Wow, I must stay at this place!". Indeed, our stay at Bamboo Nest turned out to be quite a highlight of our trip - which definitely requires a separate post to talk about.

The lady who run the Bamboo Nest (Noi) picked us up the bus station. I signed up for a day tour with her for the sake of convenience, so she can just bring us back to the guesthouse at the end of the day. The day tour included traveling to the White Temple, the Black House and the Mae Fah Luang garden. Due to time constraint, we had to skip the Black House, but manage to visit it the next day.

The White Temple, known as Wat Rong Khun in Thai, was not like any of the temples you expect to see in Thailand. It was pure white all over with very intricate sculpting of religious figures and symbols. Its exterior was covered with fragments of mirror and shines like crazy especially in the afternoon. I went around noon time and almost got blinded (a sunglasses and a hat are a must if you are planning to visit in the afternoon). The White Temple was designed by a local artist named Chalermchai Kositpipat, and some people liken it to Gaudi's Sagrada Familia due to its complexity and the long time required to complete the project. It is currently a work in progress and is expected to be completed in 2070 (according to Wikipedia). Besides the nontraditional exterior appearance, what amazed me more was the interior of the main hall which was decorated with murals with references to modern pop culture such as the Matrix, Spiderman, Doraemon, Ultraman and even Michael Jackson. No camera was allowed inside, so I can only share a photo taken from a book about the temple.

Hands reaching out from hell

The guardian to the gate of heaven

Back of the temple - reserved for the monks to study and pray

The workshop for the craftsmen 

A "bodhi tree" with aluminium leaves, on which people wrote their wishes

The wishing well

The restrooms - the color chosen purposely to symbolize the color of human dung

A mural in the interior of the temple

Our next stop was the Mae Fah Luang garden at Doi Tung, which was the Princess Mother (mother of the current Thai King)'s garden.

*Stay tuned!* 

Chiang Mai & Chiang Rai - Part 2

Day 1 - continued

On our first night at Chiang Mai, we visited the Sunday Walking Street, which was supposed to be a good place to shop for handicrafts. I was quite amazed by the Thai people's creativity and craftsmanship. Although many stores sell similar stuffs, they were still quite unique by Malaysian standard. There was also one alley where many local artists gathered to sell their art pieces. Elephant and Buddhism were two recurring themes in many of the arts and handicrafts.

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I am adding this cute VW van onto my Wish List!

Another thing that Thailand was famous for was off course Thai massage! There were plenty of people offering cheap massage at the Sunday Walking Street. I thought it was quite funny seeing some tourists laying on the floor side by side getting their massage, looking like a bunch of salted fish left for dry. Mom also went for a foot massage which cost only 60 Baht per 30-minute. But, mom was quite unsatisfied with her masseuse, who (according to mom) was simply rubbing oil on her feet without exerting any strength.

Day 2

We joined a local tour through the hotel which would bring us to visit an elephant camp and some home industries. As it was low season, mom and I were the only visitors on the tour. Quite a good deal for us, as we get private tour treatment paying group price.

There are many elephant camps in Chiang Mai, probably because elephants are widely used in the area for logging purpose. The one that we went to was the Maesa Elephant Camp. All I can say is that the elephants there were very well-trained to entertain and make money. And off course, people are willing to pay, happily (including me). Each elephant has a dedicated trainer who controls the elephant using a tool that looks like a sickle, and through kicking and ear-pulling motion (based on my observation).

I had a somewhat scary encounter with one of the elephants. It happened during the elephants' bathing time. All the visitors were trying to make way for the elephants to walk towards the river from their sheds. At that time, I was carrying a bunch of bananas and sugar canes, which we planned to feed the elephants during the show or photo-taking session later. As I walk away from the elephant troop, suddenly, one mischievous elephant attacked from behind, its trunk aiming at the bananas and sugar canes in my hand. Boy, I was shrieking like a girl, shocked by a hairy long thing grabbing me from the back! Actually, I did try to pull back on the bananas and sugar canes, not wanting to waste them all on one greedy elephant. But off course, the elephant won, while I was left embarrassed at the scene ~_~|||

Here are some shots of the elephants in action:

The runaway elephant thief!

The very elephant that stole our bananas and sugar canes 

- luckily we managed to capture a shot as evidence!

Elephants pooping

Elephants bathing

Elephants very happy, swinging their trunks round and round

Elephants playing soccer

Elephants painting

Elephants playing basket ball

Elephants being friendly for bananas

The tour to the home industries was something that I kind of regretted. Rather than getting to know more about the local industries, it was more of a shopping trip. We were brought to a silk factory, silver factory, gemstone factory, honey factory, and umbrella factory. We bought stuffs at almost all of the outlets, except the silk and umbrella place, and it was a terrible decision, as we quickly run short of cash towards the end of our trip. My advice is to totally skip this tour and just go on a tour to the Doi Suthep temple instead.

Next stop - Chiang Rai!

*to be continued*

Chiang Mai & Chiang Rai - Part 1

The weather turned out to be unexpectedly nice when we were in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. No thunder storms as predicted, but it did drizzled every now and then. For the most part, it was either sunny or slightly cloudy.

Learned a few important lessons from this trip which I will share with you in a moment. First of all, let me run you through our itinerary.

Day 1

On Saturday (15-Sep-2012), we flew from KL to Bangkok, and then catch a train from there to Chiang Mai. Due to time constraint, instead of departing from the main station in the city (Hua Lamphong), we decided to board the train at another station slightly out of town (Don Muang), which is conveniently close to the old airport (Don Mueang airport). There was a free shuttle bus that goes to the old airport every other hour, and the journey was about one-hour (taking into account traffic jam). Everything went according to plan - we got to the station with time to spare for dinner, and we didn't have to wait too long for the train (in SEA standard, this is considered very good).

Schedule of free shuttle bus between Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airport

We got ourselves two lower sleeping berths (second class), which was quite spacious compared to those of the Malaysian trains. In a Malaysian train, the berths are located along the left and right windows with a walkway in the center, and you are separated from other passengers just by the curtain of your berth; this, I feel, makes it easier to interact with other people on the train. In a Thai train,  four berths (two lower and two upper) are located in a "compartment" its own curtain, giving it more privacy.

Traveling on a train is always an interesting experience, although it may not be a good one. Our train ride to Chiang Mai had a not-so-good-ending. We ended up stuck in the train for an additional seven hours, making it a 20-hour train ride instead of the scheduled 13-hour. The train was slow and stopped frequently as it got closer to Chiang Mai (for no apparent reason to us). Whenever we asked the conductor when will we arrive, he just smiled and said "Soon, soon". No point for us to be angry really, because there was really nothing that we could be do about it. We passed by certain parts of the tracks which were allegedly destroyed by mudslides, they were repaired (crudely), but seemed pretty sturdy to me. We managed to see the sunrise, but it was nothing to kill for, and the scenery was just so-so (from a Malaysian's point of view), even though it may be something different for the Ang-Mos. Lesson #1 - don't rely on tripadvisor's review 100% because most of the time they are written by Ang-Mos for Ang-Mos. If you ask me for my suggestion, I will tell to NOT take the train to Chiang Mai, instead, you should either do a stop-over in Bangkok, or just take a direct flight to Chiang Mai. Period. 

Sunrise on the train

The positive outcomes of the train ride, perhaps, were that we got additional sleeping time, I made huge progress on my reading (The Tipping Point) and we acquainted ourselves with the girl on the upper berth. She was originally from HuBei, currently working in NanJing, was traveling solo, lost her hand-phone in Bangkok and spoke English quite well. I thought it was quite unusual to see a backpacker of Chinese nationality, as my impression of (mainland) Chinese tourists is that they always travel in group with a Chinese-speaking guide. But, I think the younger generations are now bolder and more confident to venture outside China due to their stronger English-speaking ability. 

We arrived in Chiang Mai around 5pm (instead of 10am),  just in time for the Sunday walking street. We parted ways with the Chinese girl at the old city gate and headed for our hotel. It took us quite some time to locate our hotel (Chompor Lanna Hotel), despite several phone calls to the hotel asking for directions. Although close to the Sunday walking street, the hotel was not visible from the main street at all. Luckily, the room did not disappoint us. However, I would actually advise one to stay either at Hotel M or Raming Lodge Hotel for the sake of convenience.

*to be continued*

September getaway

Will be leaving for Chiangmai for this weekend for a one week trip. This is a long needed getaway since my last vacation in April.

However, I made the mistake for not doing proper research before booking my tickets. Was "distracted' by cheap fares offered by Air Asia. Should have known that it is too good to be true. Only found out belatedly that September is the wettest month of the year, and it may even flood (it did last year September).

My plan is to fly to Bangkok, then take a night train to Chiangmai. I did get a lot of "whys" for this, but I was simply sold on the idea of doing something different, meeting people on the train and enjoying the scenery (early in the morning) just before arriving Chiangmai [ok, I might have romanticized it a bit in my mind].

Current weather forecast for Chiangmai looks like this:

And all my travel photos could possibly turn out like this:

Source: http://nyc4321.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/page/7/

 or this:

How I wish I can do the "rain rain go away, come a again another day, in Chiangmai I want to play" thingy, and voila, sunny days for seven days straight! But I am a realistic person. I will be very happy as long as the rain is short, and there is no flood. 

Apparently, the Northern line to Chiangmai was shut down a few days ago because part of the rail tracks was damaged due to a mudslide somewhere along the route. Fortunately, State Railway of Thailand just stated that the line is re-opened as of today. Finger-crossed that it will stay strong until after I get my ass to Chiangmai.

Random post

After an unexpected nap around 10pm, I worked up slightly pass midnight, and realized I haven't shower. It seems a mind exhausted from nothingness did caused some damages to my ability to cope with daily routine.

Then I sat down to finish up the calculation for last month's utilities bills and sent friendly reminder emails to my housemate asking for money. My bank account definitely needs some replenishment after over-spending last month on so-called birthday treats for myself.

Time is close to 2am, and the image of myself stuck in a traffic jam flashed through my mind, again. I have been reminding myself every night to sleep early so I can wake up the next day early and avoid the traffic jam. Yet, every day I fail, and curse myself while my car crawls all the way to work and back. I don't think tomorrow will be any different.

A few project ideas have been playing in my mind. I am hoping to start one of them in the near future, before busy season at work peaks in October. And no surprise, it has something to do with writing.

September marks the beginning of the year-end wedding marathon. More shopping, more spending, more fun (and probably some stress, for good reasons) with family and friends. Really looking forward to living it up before 2012 ends!

diu

今天被人讲我 micro-manage，要自我检讨了。

七月狗屎多

七月是公司里的高峰时期，在忙不开交的这个时候，我的上司竟然临时请了两个星期的长假出国去了。虽然不是为了个人的玩乐，而是为了照顾生病的朋友（这是一个同事之间都很好奇的事情），但还是造成我们工作上的困扰，因为有些事情没有交待清楚，而且也不好联络上她。最近，接了两单新的项目，偏偏客户的要求比较挑剔，需要特别定制；可是，让我头疼的不是客户的要求，而是我向内部的同事咨询时所遇到的种种阻碍；这就是在企业工作的缺点，尽管管理层时常强调要运作要透明化，但事实上，各个部门之间还是存有隔阂，而且反应时间也相当缓慢；甚至一个星期前寄出去的咨询，至今还没有收到答复，真是急得我跳墙！

往好的方面想，这确实是一个非常宝贵的学习经验。这样东捱西问，还真学了不少东西，当然青春痘也多了不少。总之，世界上没有什么事情/工作是可以绝对顺心顺意，不管你怎么努力、怎么厉害、怎么做好事前准备，狗屎的事情会发生的还是会发生。这种情况之下，也只能见步行步了。

A year for change or not?

First half of 2012 passed by peacefully.

Grandpa is recovering well from the amputation of his foot which happened shortly after last year's Chinese New Year. This is something that we are all thankful for. Although he has been kind of preparing for his "departure" ever since the amputation, it is always good to see the old man in good spirit hanging out with the family, and that his mind is still sharp when it comes to playing poker.

This year's Chinese New Year, we got a new addition to the family - my cousin's hubby, KK, who officially joined the Heng's family after tying the knot with my cousin KT last year. We were missing a few other cousins who moved overseas, but KK definitely brings new fun to the family with his happy-go-lucky personality.

Things at work are progressing slowly but surely. The merger between AMM and MB was probably the most exciting that ever happened during the first half of the year. Apart from the anxiety of having to adjust to new colleagues and new office, everything works out quite well. Integration between the two companies is still going on at the management level, so there wasn't not too much impact yet at the operation end. Sometimes, I tend to feel unchallenged at work, but when I hear about other people working OTs or stressing out because of work, I decided that I should count my blessings.

Around mid-March, I traveled to Korea with my sister. We even took Korean language lessons to prepare ourselves for the trip, as it was going to be a non-guided one. It was a great trip overall except for the weather, which was cold and rainy, quite typical of winter transitioning to spring. I was so super envious of friends who went in early April when I saw their pictures with blooming cherry blossoms (I think I may return to Korea next year to compensate the regrets of this trip). Our mastering of the Korean language, although only at a beginner's level, served us well throughout the trip. We managed to somewhat carry a conversation with a taxi driver, and even understand bits and pieces of a tour-guide's explanation during a local tour at Gyeongju. Nothing super-interesting happened during the trip ... but we did order something "fishy" at a seaside restaurant in Gyeongju, simply because we didn't recognized a single vocabulary on the menu and decided to just go with the cheapest one, which turned out to be a raw fish bibimbap! Luckily it came with a stew, and my sister made the wise decision of dumping all the raw fish into the stew (we definitely sensed a few raised eyebrows from tables nearby). I decided to try it the local way, only to raise white flag after two spoonfuls of raw fish. While in Gyeongju and Busan, we stayed in motels which were kind of exotic. One has  a vending machine for vibrators, while the other has nude posters in the room. These motel rooms, however, were definitely much luxurious than our accommodation in Seoul because of the atmosphere and facilities (even though not so appropriate for our purpose).

I came back to a busy month in April, which was the time when the analyst churns out quarterly reports for the clients. I had report deadlines in three out of the four weeks in April, and it felt like going back to grad school again, except I get paid this time for squeezing my brain juice, and bearing the side-effect of panda eyes. 

Then, there was Bersih 3.0 on 28 April, which I morally supported from the comfort of my sister's air-con room, simply because I was kiasi and kiajuak (afraid of heat). I still remember how I was traveling in Yunnan province when I found out about the mass rally in KL last year. It was the first time I heard about Bersih 2.0, and honestly, I didn't know exactly what the movement was about. I had the vague sense of people protesting against the corrupted ways of the government, in a major way that I never knew before, but I totally missed the electoral reform part, which was supposed to be the main goal of the movement (this shows how ignorant I was). I definitely have a better understanding now, because it is part of my business to know, and also because there were friends who "forced" me to know. And recently, I even took the effort to attend a public forum that offers a critical analysis of Bersih 3.0. I left the forum with more information, but even more questions. "So what after Bersih 3.0?" was probably the biggest question that everyone had in their mind that day. Nevertheless, if there was one thing that I really appreciate from the forum, it is the knowledge that there are many fellow Malaysians who genuinely care about the future of the country and are not afraid of speaking out for what they believe in. 

There seems to be quite some excitements in store in May. Firstly, my siblings and I finally found a place that we will call home for the next one year. It is a house in SS23 Petaling Jaya, and we will be moving in mid of May. I have been moving from room to room for many years, and finally, I am upgrading to a house! My parents got me a car last month, so I am totally experiencing the driving-in-KL lifestyle now.Secondly, it is about time for year-end performance review at my company, and to find out how much pay-raise and bonus we get. Our incentive package is really nothing huge if compared to a big corporate, but any monetary incentive is an incentive, especially when I have been burning quite a few holes in my pocket lately. The third one I want to keep as a surprise. You guys will probably find out soon when it happens :)

On a sad note, I have to admit that I failed to achieve any of my new year resolutions so far, as usual. In fact, I only vaguely remember what my resolutions are, because they are indeed very vague resolutions (sigh). So, I guess to the new resolution for the second half of 2012 is to review the old resolutions and make them actionable with specific targets to achieve. I should probably be posting about these targets once I sort everything out, just so I have the motivation to achieve them in order not to embarrass myself, as they are already public knowledge. Until then, take care.

M&A (of MB&AMM)

Back in January, my company announced that it would merge with its biggest competitor in South East Asia, MB. Essentially, MB was bought over by AMM's owner (a venture capital group), however, because of MB's stronger branding and bigger market share in the SEA region, AMM will be absorbed into MB and operated under MB's leadership. This definitely caused quite some restlessness among the employees of AMM.

All M&As happened mainly for two main reasons: 1) to realize cost efficiency and 2) to achieve synergy (and supposedly greater market share). Obviously, management will usually go with cost cutting first, because it is a "quick win" as result is usually achieved in a shorter period time, justifying the reasons for the M&A.

Cost efficiency will result from the consolidation of the operations of MB and AMM, and this is when people start to worry about their roles being redundant. The company promised that there will be no layoffs, but a hiring freeze was on. Apparently, the company planned to flush people out by its normal annual attrition rate (about 40 plus per cent).

Analysis team has its own worries. Being the newbie, I was quite neutral about the M&A, except for the inconvenience of having to adapt to a new working environment (new office, new colleagues, new management style ...). But some of my colleagues who have been with the company for a few years found it difficult to accept initially, as MB was THE Competitor as far as they know. MB and AMM offers different set of products and services, and AMM's team has been making fun of MB's offerings since forever. The idea of having to work together with MB as one company now definitely feels kind of surreal. Managers of different departments have been going in and out of meetings trying to find a solution to integrate products from both companies, but nothing has been announced yet. The short term plan is to gather MB and AMM's team in one office, but both teams will still operate as before with minimal interaction.

After a recent visit to our new office in Technology Park Malaysia together with the MB's team, my biggest worry now is which corporate culture will dominate the new workplace. AMM, with its origin from ANZ, has a strong Aussie-style AngMo culture which is more chillax and focuses more on work-balance; whereas MB, started by a local Chinese businessman, has a strong Chinaman culture which is very result-oriented, and by the "minimalist" style of its office decor, one can pretty much tell that the management keeps a very tight-watch on its purse-string.

At this moment, I am not sure what to think about exactly; should I stay or move on? Two people in our team already left, while another will be transferring to a different business unit. The original team is torn and the chemistry never the same. In my previous careers, my companies suffered because of the GFC, and now I am in a company that is actually growing, but somehow, I feel quite uneasy towards all the changes that are happening and will happen in the future.

I have longed to settle down, but seems like I will be on the move again to a new place because of the relocation of the office in late March. A bird without feet, my fate it is...