Unwind

You would have thought that, living in Thailand, I could go to a massage as often as I want considered how cheap it is, but it's actually the opposite. The first time I went to a Thai massage was last year with friends from Japan who came visit. The second time was this Saturday. I decided to go because I had a really sore neck and shoulder this week as a result of sitting in front of computer almost all day at work. Went to a massage place that is famous among Japanese in Bangkok called Asia herb association, even my boss said she goes there every week. As a price 350 Baht an hour (about $12), it's considered not that cheap here because there are massage places you can go for like 200 Baht, but I decided to try because the service must be decent if a lot of Japanese go here. I had a head and shoulder massage for an hour and it was really relaxing. Almost put me to sleep. Think I should do it more often. Now my shoulder feels sore after the massage though, but I could tell the muscles are more relaxing. It was much tensed before I went.

I had a great dinner at Wine Connection this weekend. It's a trend in Bangkok now that wherever you go, you can't escape from the restaurants with the word "Wine" in it - Wine connection, Wine republic, Wine I love you, Wine me up, Wine bistro, Wine, Wine, Wine. WHY. Just a bunch of pretentious middle class to upper middle class Bangkokians going out to have some wine and dine at the end of the day, that's how I see it ... Anyway, it turned out the meal at Wine connection was better than I had expected. In the beginning I recoiled from it because it's ridiculous with people queuing up in front of the restaurant, and thought it was just another hype to be yawned at. But it turned out the margarita pizza and the sausage thing (sorry forgot the name) there were really delicious, though salad wasn't that impressive. We didn't have wine though. I'm not much of a wine person anyway. Whine(y) person, maybe. (ok, that's lame, promise I won't do that again..)

Work last week was alright. It's strange how I used to be extremely stressed and worried when I was assigned the first 10 hotel accounts, but now that I have 100 and even know for sure I won't achieve my sales target this month, I don't feel stressed anymore. Mostly it's just following the patterns of what we've been doing, only there's more amount of work to do. It doesn't require much thinking or planning, which is really not good in the long run. This job is good for me for the time being and I'm not complaining about it, it's just now I start to see the problem our company has and many other things in Thailand branch office more clearly. I could tell my colleague who started the same time with me is stressed as hell though. Maybe I'm too chilled for this? Or maybe it's because I've decided in mind how long I plan to stay here.

I've been reading Catching fire, second book of Hunger Games, and can't put it down! To me it's a lot more fun than the first book, and I'm not sure whether it's because I watched the movie before I read the first book. If I had read the book first, I might have had a different impression on the book. I'm about 3/4 of the second book after only a few days and think I'll finish it really soon. Bought the third book in hand already.

Spent quite a bit of money this month, with concert and presents bought for colleagues and eating out and drinks etc. Haven't done shopping though! (so proud of myself...) I've been eating out so much more often since I started working, at more pricey restaurants too. But I guess it's because I can afford all of them now. You may think I'm a big spender because I always talk about going shopping and how I like to shop, but mind you, with all the eating out and shopping and other things, I do manage to save money at least 30% of what I get paid every month. Or even half of my salary for some months. I think it's really impressive! Some friends were shocked because even though we get paid about the same, she said she can't save her money at all. But I think everyone's lifestyles are different, and my friend drives so she has gas to pay for, and we all know how gas can be so damn expensive these days!

I've just told my friend recently how much I love, love, LOVE reading BK magazine, a free English weekly magazine about lifestyles and events in Bangkok, and even used to think about applying for work there because I love reading its product so much. But I didn't because first, I think maybe my English is not good enough, like not fun enough in a quirky, sarcastic journalist BK style way. And second, the pay is sure not good, that's one thing for certain with book/magazine publishing industry. I think it's very likely that the job will pay about or a bit more than half of what I earn each month now, and I don't think I can take that, you know. To be honest, as much as I think the writer job could be fun and challenging for me, I still need food to eat too. And some pretty skirts and dresses in between! What a shame ...

Had a 125 Baht ($4) hot chocolate the other day. RIDICULOUS price. Made me a bit mad. This is Bangkok, it's not supposed to be that expensive, seriously ... I'm normally fine as long as the price doesn't go up higher than 100 Baht for a cup of coffee.

Well, let's end this post here, before I start telling you the brand of shampoo I used this morning or something more random than this 125 Baht hot chocolate.