Revival! Onward to Kanchanaburi

Yes, it is me again, and we're in the year 2009. 3 years after the trip for the circle of nine. a lot of changes in our lives...compared to the times when we were poor, budgeting, absolutely calculative students, we've all become pretty much well to do.

so here i am, attempting to blog about something from nothing. the adventures 3 years ago shall resume.

may i present to you, Pop Tart, Mr Nai, our driver. Everybody say: "He's a Nai(nice) guy!"


circle of nine posing with Mr Nai (cool guy in striped polo tee)...

why pop tart, you ask.. well, dear reader, you never knew what joy his avril lavigne cds gave snakey and tinman, closet pop tarts themselves, who kept singing along at annoyingly loud volumes. they were enroute back to Bangkok, a stopover for one day before heading out to kanchanaburi again.

wasting no time in bangkok, the circle of nine headed out to town for more adventures...here's a nutshell (in pictures)

tinman and kingkong welcome you to Siam Paragon!


fancy a relaxing rubdown before roughing it out in Kanchanaburi again? Yes!

so in a nutshell of a nutshell, that's what the circle of nine did in Bangkok...and soundly they slept, in preparation for what awaited them for the next 3 days... hush now...you musn't wake them up, dear reader..leave them in their dreamland..


welcome to Kanchanaburi.

Calling out.....

Eh KingKong, should we at least attempt to finish blogging about the Thailand trip?
I know its been quite some time.
Let's see if we can dreg anything from our river of memories and continue with this?

-- Tinman out

Eh.... What's up doc?

I have no idea whether we have absolutely no time to blog here.
Or just too plain lazy to do so.

In any case, the memories are getting blurry.
I need to do something soon...

Chapter 12: Top of the world...

And I present to you, the Top of the world!!!

Right...

The Circle of 9, being the restless people that they were, decided that an adventure was in the making, theirs for the taking + the need to do something else other than staying in the resort area = search for a waterfall. (the reason being they heard so much about the waterfalls there they decided that a trip will be wasted without a pilgrimage to see at least one of them...)

Now here's the difference between fact and fiction.

Fiction: The Circle of 9 braved treacherous paths that led them in a merry-go-round of sorts, running into dangers at every wrong turn, be it drooling, half-crazed beasts to a lost tribe of savages, all the while exposing themselves to the mercy of nature, who bombarded them with pouring rain, scorching sun, biting winds.... you get the picture.

Fact: The most interesting thing that they did was this:

Prawn catching.
I kid you not. Snake, KingKong and Ayekay were quite amused and contented with catching baby prawns and 'transferring' them into the water bottles that we were carrying.
Nuff' said.

Despite the minor 'roadblock' that halted their progress for a period of time, our brave friends persevered, went up up up and viola!!

Gnin, Dragonlady and Snakey. Positively beaming!

But like what they say, what goes up must come down.
So we leave the Circle of 9 for now, as they make their way down slowly, we shall make our way out of these memories, quietly, lest we stir up the memories meant for another time...

Till next time, Tinman out...

Chapter 11: (Days and) Nights in Paradise.

Nature Boy thanks you for not stepping on any corals, but reminds you to watch out for sea urchins.
Mai Tai for how much again? Gimme 1 more!
Tinman's Henna, which later on was destroyed by himself via scratching.
Iceban, prepared for any tanning occasions.
OMG, what's Snakey doing sia ? Damn suggestive man...
Photohunt, spot the extras in the picture.
Swinging Moments, Long Swinggggggggg


Not wanting to waste any of their glorious but limited time in Paradise, some of the Circle of Nine set out to do their activities, such as camwhoring, hoarding the swimming pool, tanning on the beach, sitting on the long swing (tied to a tree, btw.), getting henna tattoos etc etc.

In the day, Kingkong saw hot European females in bikinis, tanning on the beach. He began to keep diving downwards into the swimming pool to douse his flames each time he saw one. Just when he resurfaced for the nth time, he saw a topless, meaty girl tanning on the deck chair right next to the pool. He did not dive down ever again.

Tinman got his henna, Iceban got his tan, Ayekay got his Underwater World. The rest of the Circle of Nine should have gotten what they wanted as well, maybe except for Kingkong, who dreamt of meeting a hot and cute Japanese tourist and fall in love with her in Paradise.

Breakfast was intercontinental (with a lot of kampunghutflies) buffet but it was good, lunch was spent lazing around at a reggae hut where Snakey passed a small chilli to KingKong and told him it was a bean. No amount of ice cold mineral water could save KingKong at that moment in time. Throughout that spicy ordeal, Snakey kept laughing and sniggering.

Dinners were at the restaurant, or cheap places near Paradise. And Nights were spent playing games (a little drinking card game), where Snakey got pissed and slapped Kingkong's thigh because he could not comprehend what Tinman's action was. Oh and did i mention drinking cheap, distasteful red wine bought from a souvenir shop below the bungalow. (Tinman is a self styled Wine Connoisseur, who told Kingkong to look out for watermarks on the wine glass. Telltale signs that distinguish good and bad wine.)

Nights were a little creepy, with the occasional stray dog finding his way upstairs, the steep, uneven flight of steps, which were literally invisible at night, and Iceban dancing ballet to the tune of What If God Was One of Us. (yea, yea, God is good..) Really creepy.

The Tenth Chapter: A milestone.

and we are still up and running, a testament to our friendship and commitment.

here i should like to introduce a new friend.

introducing..... Coral Chen Shan Hu. Hu u say? The dog in the picture. Named by Iceban, and loyal companion of Nature Boy.

Everytime we were at the beach, Coral would come along with us to join in the fun. I suspect it understands Singlish.


Dogs do go to heaven.

Chapter 9: Found. Happyness. Where? At this place...

Happyness for the group of 9 at last.
There were so many pictures that we can choose from, all looking so very happy.
Be it iceban, dragonlady, same same, snakey... everyone was just. Happy.
Cos we're there.
We're in paradise, having a good lunch, in a reggae inspired kick ass wooden hut, with soft cushions, refreshing wind, and the knowledge that we left hell behind.
Hell that started with the long winding road that greeted us when we forged ahead in our exodus from Phroar Beach resort to the leeching, unethical bus driver that hounded our every step waiting for a chance to pounce on us upon the first signs of fatigue.
But we made it.

And I present to you all.
Angel Beach. (correct me if I'm wrong kingkong) aka Paradise.
That were so much to do there, so much to say. But given the lack of time(tinman has to go shit), much more will be revealed.

One of the things that we were able to do in Paradise. Why?
There's an existence of a thingy what is commonly termed as a "Swimming Pool" in paradise.
In hell(Phroar Resort), the only pool you will get is probably a pool of mud.

Anyway, I present to you, the 3 Stooges...

Till next time. Tinman out...

Chapter 8: Welcome to Paradise.

Contented people. Smiles on faces. Clear water beneath our feet. Welcome to heaven.

You scratch my back, i scratch yours. This maxim was discovered by KingKong and realised by the Circle of Nine, when desperate, lost, thirsty and with the gangsta thai driver on their trail, they stopped at a nearby kiosk for drinks.

The lady of the kiosk smiled, probably because she made money from all nine of them, and so Snakey decided to try his luck. He asked, while gulping from the ice cold mineral water bottle, "Can you help us find a taxi? We want to go to other beach."

Some of the Circle of Nine were skeptics, and refused to believe that she would actually help, but help she did, and the Circle of Nine were soon on a taxi back to somewhere near the port, on a quest to find a paradise in a foreign land.

And paradise they found indeed. The sweetness of victory. They almost kissed the ground beneath them when they alighted.

And therefore, dear reader, remember. You scratch someone's back, yours will be scratched in the end. Its karma.

PS: This photo could easily be mistaken for a still shot of a Taiwanese Idol Drama, but its actually what materialises when you find your heaven on earth. You find your youth and happiness again.