Thursday, March 27, 2008

Top Ten Things that I Learned in Bangkok


Having had the best week of my life in Bangkok, I’d like to share the top ten things that I learned in Bangkok (yeah, I just had to repeat the entire title of this friggin’ article).


1. Never assume that since Thais look like us we can easily understand each other.
If you’re a Filipino, that is – brownskin, pudgy nose, average height, curly hair (if you’re of Aeta descent); if you think otherwise, example you feel like you look mestiza already after a bottle of glutathione and a truck of papaya soap, then you live in a parallel world where you are alone (hahaha). Yeah, so back to Bangkok. Imagine talking to someone whose face is just like the faces that you see day in and out when you’re in the Philippines, but the moment they open their mouths a queer high pitched sing-song language poke your ears. Lo and behold, the Philippines really is the 3rd English speaking country in the world!
You can just imagine how a simple “How do we go to the train station?” would fare. It took us two hours to get an answer! Yeah, talk about a major nosebleed crisis! It was quite fun when I queued up in a Starbucks or a KFC and let them make their spiel in Thai and just smile up to them – then telling them my orders in fast English.
So the next time you want to extract information from a Thai national, these four words should serve your right - “Do you speak English?”

2. Authentic Thai cuisine can be classified into three – spicy, super spicy, and crazy spicy.
If you love spicy food so much, well, good for you, if not, good luck! Personally, it’s not that I hate spicy food. In fact I like it, but I can only eat anything spicy if I’m in an air-conditioned room that can suppress my sweat from pouring. So imagine my surprise when we looked for breakfast and what we saw was soups and porridges in large cauldrons with different shades of red. It was 6 in the morning and I’m drenched in sweat, tears welling up my eyes and the cafeteria lady sweetly told me that what I’m having was actually mild. I’m fucked! In fact, in my entire stay in Bangkok, my rectum was burning (hahaha).
Of course, not all Thai food are spicy, you dumb idiot. In fact, I love some of the street foods in Bangkok. I love their banana crepes, and Pad Thai, among others. It is there that I learned that I could never be a Food Adventurer, after my Bangkok experience, I thought I could eat anything, but once I saw various snacks ranging from hotdogs that smelled like feet, crickets, and cockroaches (they say these roaches are of a different genre from what we have in our houses, yeah that’s a relief, thank you very much haha) I had to rethink myself.

3. Bangkok Taxi Cabs are super cool.
You can never get tired of looking at Bangkok taxi cabs, unless you are color blind or just an old bore. Most cabbies there are in pastel colors – hot pink, neon yellow and metallic green; fun huh! Better still, ‘coz their fare is cheaper than ours. Although their flag down rate is 30 baht, their taxi meters run at 1 baht unlike ours that run at 2.50 pesos.
Frankly speaking, I am fed up with our taxi cabs here in Manila! Apart from riding in “Tetanus-on-wheels” (which we have no choice from since most cabbie drivers are picky – the nerve!), most cabs smells funky like a mixture of rags, sweat and feet (yum), and cab drivers here rounds off you’re total taxi fare. I always ask for change, I only give extra if the cab driver was good.

4. Even if you think that you are already dark enough, you can still go a shade darker than what you really are.
So I thought I’m golden brown already. Yeah yeah big deal. I thought sunscreen lotions are for lighter-skinned people only. Wrong. After spending a great deal under the hellish heat of the Sun, the dizzying and glaring golden- capped temples at the Grand Palace, and did I say that it was a gazillion degrees in Bangkok? Enough said.
Next time, always believe in the saying: Black is beautiful, but too much black is charcoal!

5. You can never get enough temples in Bangkok.
Since Thailand is predominantly a Buddhist country, of course you should expect a lot of temples, and Buddha relics or monuments in different poses – reclining Buddha, meditating Buddha, standing Buddha, etcetera etcetera. I’m not complaining though, I studied Buddhism in high school and I know how reverent the religion is. Here in the Philippines, the Buddha that we know of is the obese person with arms stretched up, laughing heartily and in different levels of disrobement. Of course, this is an entirely different Buddha.
What I noticed also is that most houses in Bangkok have elaborate bird seed thingies. These are like colorful bird-houses that are placed outside Thai houses. But then again I think they are like altars and such. Probably like some Filipino houses that have grottos of the Virgin Mary in their gardens. I’ll ask around when I go back to Bangkok.

6. When you’re in Pat Pong and a hussie promises you a “fucking show”, trust him, it IS a fucking show
WOW!! Pat Pong is crazy! It is best if you visit Pat Pong with friends, lest you go alone and be branded as sleazy. Of course bring your non-prude friends. Leave your prude friends behind unless you want to endure loud shrieks of “yuuuccckk”, and if you have enough restraint not to slap this friend’s face. You will typically be accosted by a hussie (hustler or pimp or whatever) bringing a menu-like thingie listing stuff like: Ping-pong shooting, Banana slicing, and bottle-opening, among others. Pretty normal eh? Then put vagina along each activity and you’d get my drift. I bet you won’t look at a bottle of soda the same way again!!

7. Bangkok is the new “tiangge” Mecca in Southeast Asia.
Chatuchak, Bangkok’s weekend market will excite those shopping mongers shitless. Those stuff from Greenhills will pale in comparison from the thousand square foot vast selection of clothes that you usually see in boutiques. What’s crazy is they cost waaay lower. Example, you can get swimsuits that’s almost like you got it from Nothing But Water for more than a quarter the price. The down-low of this one is that you won’t be able to buy anything anymore since you know that you can get cheaper stuff.
Actually, this cycle will be never-ending. You learn that clothes are very inexpensive in Bangkok. When in there, you’ll discover places cheaper than in Chatuchak. So and so forth, until you discover a place where you get ‘em for free.

8. Compared to what we have here, everything is grand in Bangkok.
We were so excited and haughty when SM’s Mall of Asia opened. Imagine my astonishment when I saw the malls in Bangkok! Going to Louis Vuitton in Greenbelt will involve plenty of foot power. In Bangkok, you just cross the street and there’s Louis in all its glory. (Of course this is an exaggeration, it’s not like as if it’s 7-11 you know. By the way, this doesn’t mean that I’m into Louis Vuitton and that entire shenanigan, I would like to elaborate on it but it will be a different blog altogether). But that’s just the malls…
Oh my god their Mc Donald’s fries are gigantic so as their large Coke! Our KFC is waay better than theirs, thank God, but I was so flabbergasted by their fries. Then again, this is a country who love elephants, so I guess it rubbed of to their potatoes or something. Speaking of elephants, it surely is grand! The biggest animal that we have here are carabaos or our local drunkards. Hmmm what else is grand? Well, one of their attractions is the Grand Palace, which will make our Malacanang Palace look like its bathroom.

9. Contrary to popular belief, a 30 minute elephant ride is scarier than a 50 ft roller coaster ride.
When I first saw an elephant, all I can think of is “Shit this is how I die”. Such monstrosity, although they seem docile especially if you picture Dumbo, could easily throw you a few meters with its trunk and could easily crush you with its hind leg. When in front of an elephant there will only be two expressions that you will be mumbling. Ooh and Aah. Ooh, when the elephant picks up a banana and eats it gingerly. Aah, when you get slapped by its trunk or it sneezes on you.
My elephant experience was obviously memorable. Notwithstanding the obvious facts stated above, it was an experience that I could only do once a year. The fact that I had a 12 year old boy as a “driver” never helped. The first half of the ride involves trudging under the hot sun in an open field while firmly gripping your seat, lest you fall and get trampled on by the elephant. The second half will make you invoke all known Saints and see your life play out in front of you. Memorable and miserable, just like the first time you fell in love hahaha.

10. No matter what, you will be coming back to Bangkok.
Enough said!


Of Dismantled Concrete Blocks and Four-Faced Shrines (Cambodia Sojourns)


As I was staring into nothingness because of sheer professional boredom, I saw a vision. A woman clad in black skimpy shorts and tank top full of boobies and lips with an unnatural pout, rolled, crawled, catapulted and posed while carrying a gun on each hand. In a crazy British accent she shouted “Maddox!” – then I woke up from my midmorning stupor. I’ve realized that you are at the end of the spectrum of boredom when crazy visions play in front of you. So in perfect whimsical fashion, I’ve decided to go to Cambodia! (Of course the previous sentences are all farce; I just needed to write something as introduction haha).
So together with two of my close friends, Doris and Leah, we lugged our bags to the airport. Since this is the first time that I’ll be using my passport, albeit the first time I’m going out of the Philippines, I was really excited shitless. Of course I will momentarily miss our fascinating (barf) political situation, my very exciting work (bleech) and my landlady (aargh). It wasn’t my decision to go to Cambodia but Leah’s (Don’t ask me why) and Doris and her were industrious enough to plot out our travel itinerary for God help me I hate doing itineraries. Our original sole destination was Bangkok (thanks to Cebu Pacific everyone can fly; goddamit give me a discount already!!) but we’ve decided to sidetrack to Siem Reap Cambodia to see the Angkor. Personally I just want to be in two different countries in one trip. After almost 2 hours of flight delay (of course) and 3 hours of actual plane flight, we arrived at the Bangkok International Airport at 12 midnight, 1 AM Manila time. The airport itself was a surprise to me, I have to admit. I know NAIA is almost as old as Jose Rizal (or as the Angkor Wat itself) but I was frankly blown away with their airport. It was so vast, there are plenty of walkalators to the luggage carousel (of course I’ve never been to any International airports, so shut it). After we freshened up, we went to look for the exits.
Surprise, surprise! Thais aren’t really English fans. Asking a simple question like how do we get out of this lovely airport, will involve a lot of gesticulation and diagram-drawing. Talk about nosebleed galore! So after asking 2 airport guys, 2 airport officials and their boss, we’ve decided to go to the tourist information booth. At last, we met a cute guy from the limousine service booth (the information booth is scary because it was swarmed by salivating taxi and hotel reps waving their banners) who can understand and speak English. He told us that there is a free airport shuttle bus that goes outside the airport and back every 30 minutes. After a million thanks and a gazillion flirtations, we went out to look for that darn shuttle bus (note to self: next time, bring a mountaineer’s backpack instead of a humungous gym bag to prevent scoliosis). After almost being hassled by a scrupulous cab driver, the bus pulled up just in time. As vast as the inside of the airport was, the outside was a party of skywalks, roads, tunnels, time machines (haha), and whatnot. After 1 hour, the shuttle bus dropped us off to another bus terminal. From the itinerary lifted off from the internet, the quickest and safest way to Poi Pet, Cambodia’s border was to go to Aranyapathet, Thailand, then ride a tuktuk to the border. The problem at hand was how do we go to Aranyapathet? We spent almost 3 hours just asking anyone how, and found out that there were 2 options: by bus or by train. Although traveling by bus is faster for there are fewer stops, we have decided to take the train. We finally got the directions afterwards to the Hua Lamphong train station (Imagine my surprise when the people that I ask for directions don’t know what the word train means – I had to pump my arms and say choo choo only to realize that the last time I did that I have no puves yet haha). A bus and taxi ride worth around a total of 150 baht brought us to the train station. The Hua Lamphong train station was very quaint, almost reminiscent of Hogwarts. We bought train tickets to Aranyapathet; very cheap at 47 baht each. Since we have an hour to spend before the train sets off, we’ve decided to eat breakfast. Apparently Filipino breakfast will pale in comparison to a typical Thai breakfast. If we begin our day with 2 pieces of pan de sal (bread of salt) and taho (soy curd something), theirs are waaay different. Calling their stuff just porridge and soup is an understatement. Their soup was so spicy, I actually can hear my esophagus scream (and the sweet lady matter-of-factly told me that what I had was actually mild, I’m fucked). At 6:00 AM, the train was on its way to Aranyapathet, the train’s last stop.
After 6 hours, 25-30 stops, 3 piss breaks (imagine peeing at fast speeds), and a million naps we finally arrived in Aranyapathet. A tuktuk ride worth 50 baht (for the 3 of us) took us near the border. We searched for the Immigration office so we can get our visa. It was a good thing that there were a lot of precautions posted in the net regarding the manic rip-offs that were happening in the border. True enough, we almost were victimized - by police officers nothing less (I guess they were the police since they wore official uniforms). A cab driver, probably an accomplice, led us to a makeshift station where the officials gave us “free” visa cards. But for 1st timers we need to pay $30 each. That sonofabitch! Anyway, we were saved by another cab driver and he led us to the correct visa office. Guess what? Visa cards were just strewn on a table. After queuing up we started to look for the cab driver who helped us so he can bring us to Siem Reap. Since we can’t find him, we proceeded to look for other options. A man approached us and told us not to loiter around the plaza, it was off limits to tourists he said, (by the way, Cambodians are better English speakers than Thais). He then “whole-heartedly” brought us to an air-conditioned bus and promised to take us to a “taxi association”. Because of this I’ll call him Mr. Association. It is here that we met Mark Belcher (Nope I never heard him belch or anything) from London (he reminds me of CNN’s Anderson Cooper) who will spend most of his time in Siem Reap with us.
We finally got a taxi after insults, shouts, door-slamming etc. It was really very funny actually, that was the most dramatic taxi moment of my life. In the background I can hear Mr. Association shout in heavily accented English – you are the most bad tourist that I ever met – I almost choked trying not to laugh out loud. Anyway, the cab driver (he got $40 from us plus $5 tip) led us into an experience that I will definitely swear off from doing again in the future. The border to Siem Reap was a 5-hour bumpy, REALLY bumpy ride. After that, I thought I developed Sciatica and my feet switched with my hands or something. Never eat buffet before going to Siem Reap, lest you regurgitate everything that you just had. Of course empty out your poo and pee pockets, unless you want to do it in open fields (at least you give other people the chance to have something to look and laugh at), which is all you will be seeing for 5 hours! I was seated beside the cab driver while Leah asked Mark highly intellectual questions such as How’s the Queen and Is the London Bridge still falling down. Good thing ‘coz the ride made me unconscious and I fell into a shameless stupor. Doris, I’m guessing is evoking the spirit of Sadako while bobbing her head lifelessly up and down haha.
I could almost feel what Marco Polo felt, when he first set foot on land after months of traveling on a ship, when we reached Siem Reap. A free tuktuk was waiting for us at our beck and call. Our tuktuk driver’s name is Ra. Ra then dropped us off to our very Cambodian Inn named Green Village (haha I thought we will be staying at a hotel with crazy names). We had dinner after arranging with Ra so he could bring us to Angkor the next day. Agreed time was 5:30 AM so we can have breakfast while watching the sunrise.
Let me tell you about the deal with Filipino time. But then again, I’m too lazy to talk about it haha. So yeah the agreed time was 5:30 AM, big deal. Mark and Ra waited for us for an hour and the three of us got dressed in only 30 minutes! Of course we miss the sunrise, who cares? Anyway, to cut things short, we were definitely on our way to the legendary ancient city of Angkor. Prior to visiting these places, we had to purchase passes for $35 each for a one-day pass. Mark got himself a one-week pass (honestly, a week of looking at ruins is too much unless you eat and breathe Angkor). After 20 minutes of breezing (the early morning wind was so pleasant it was almost sexual) in Ra’s tuktuk we were at the Angkor Wat’s entrance. This is the best time to visit the Angkor Wat; there are few tourists yet. Most tourists at this time of day are oldies; you will definitely feel the antiquity of everything, so to speak. Before beginning the long walk inside, we searched for something to eat. On our way to a barbecue sandwich stall, we were accosted by Cambodian kids selling us spectacular state-of-the-art knick knacks like wooden bracelets and postcards. As young as they are, they are the best salespeople that I ever met. Relentless, cute, and tenacious. Of course I bought 2 packets of postcards and 2 bunches of wooden bracelets for a dollar each. Who could resist their cuteness? (For all we know they will tell each other – haha foreigners are real suckers!) After I got my purchase, the kid that I said no to went to me and demanded that I tell her why I didn’t buy from her and told me as a matter-of-factly that it was unfair. Then she shouted “Don’t come back to my city again!”, that lil’ witch!
The Angkor Wat is an epitome of Cambodia. It’s in ruins, moldy, but regal nonetheless. Ruins don’t excite me at all simply because my imagination will run wild whenever I see something ancient. I transport myself a hundred or thousand years ago and think what the structure was like, complete migraine for me! Most often than not if I see ancient temples I almost always associate them with human sacrifices and that automatically churns my bowels. I didn’t have the chance to browse in the internet stuff about the Angkor Wat, so we just had to make do with eavesdropping from tourist guides while they regale tourists with stories. The Angkor Wat sits on a vast field, I’m sure it was more than one hectare. All the walls are covered with interesting etchings of deities with legs stretched, commonfolks, animals, etc. Even the ceilings have wonderful etchings. Mark was particularly fond of the structures that guard the entrance – mythical creatures with asses as big as J Lo’s! I particularly enjoyed feeding the wild monkeys at the opposite end of the Angkor Wat, Not that I have a fascination with monkeys or anything. I just found them very cute (in fact I remember some of my friends through them haha). Doris enjoyed taking photos from her camera that we will soon learn took nothing at all (good thing I brought my phone camera). Leah on the other hand got really psyched seeing the ruins. After developing varicose veins as big as the Balete, from excessive walking, we then proceeded to Wat Thom or Bayon.
What I love about Bayon is that it’s not so vast and wide therefore you don’t have to battle it out with your varicose veins or something. Bayon’s main features are the four-faced pillars atop the entire structure. I heard it signifies that their King (or Buddha?) is always watching them, talk about trust issues! Even if the whole place is in ruins, it’s as if a giant hand carefully piled up the large pillars and had meticulously strewn them across Bayon’s once-existent courtyards. It’s easy to get lost within the tricky tunnels within the structure. Of course I never dared to play around, lest I’d be transported to a place where cellphones and television are witch gadgets. Outside Bayon is refreshing, since there were a lot of trees to block out that darn sun. (I believe in the saying – black is beautiful, but too much black is charcoal). The Angkor Wat had no trees whatsoever, so everyone was up for maximum exposure. We were about to proceed to the air balloon where we got tickets for $30 each. I was quite looking forward to it since 1, I’ve never seen an air balloon up close, and 2, I’ve never been in one. But it was still 2 PM and yeah the sun was having a grand time himself, so we decided to ask Ra where we should go next. Imagine my excitement when he said that the place where The Tomb Raider was filmed was near! Of course we have to go there!
Lesson learned – never amp yourself over something, you will be very disappointed. True enough I was. The noisy Koreans didn’t help also (don’t get me wrong I love Korean drama but never Korean tourists, they are just soooo noisy). Wat ____ is a cornucopia of ancient giant trees with roots as wide as my waist (and I’m not slim at all) intertwined with the ruins. It was as if the trees went berserk and crumbled the structure under it. Anyway we had an hour to spend before we hoist ourselves 300 meters above sea level.
In one hour I learned that Mark is scared of heights. And Mark, on the other hand learned Philippine history from the Spanish occupation to the present through moi in 1 hour. Unwarranted or not, I just blabbed until I realized I too get tired of myself sometimes haha. The ten minutes that I spent up in the air wasn’t very nice, I must say. I literally saw my life flashed before my eyes, and yeah that Korean lady didn’t help at all. I could’ve easily tripped her out of that friggin’ balloon. Good thing the view from below was so magnificent, everything became worth it. Suddenly, the cool breeze up in the air was interrupted by a funky waft of odor. Fuck it’s me! I need to take a bath!

SAGADA SOJOURNS

ls
Being one with civilization most often than not could cause the sanest people to flip out for no apparent reason, whatsoever. Metals and glasses on cement could never suffice at all for the much needed landscape that could soothe the mind. The smog that we religiously breathe in wouldn’t be of such help either. The noise, most especially, can leave us at the edge of our patience. You can spend your days bitching about it or better yet dealing with it head-on! Well I dealt with it (after much bitching, for sure!)! So, it was then that me and my equally crazy friend, no other than the Queen Bitch Herself, Leah (I’m the Bitch Emperor, just so you’d know), has decided to spend the holidays on high level altitudes! I don’t mean climbing up a thousand flights of stairs just to prove the insanity clause, which is way too flagrantly on-your-face obvious. Of course I meant going to Sagada (and as if the title of this thing will never give you an inkling of any sorts on what this is all about)! So my Sagada cum Holiday adventure starts…
December 21 was a day to be reckoned with. A day to be specially marked on my “Significant Days” calendar, for it is one of those days (to be politically correct, it was actually night, since we left the city during the night, but duh! who would ever give a shit?) that I considerably, possibly, probably, may have lost some weight (well about half a micro-pound). Why? Well, stupidity played a major role, but I have to blame it on my career for reclaiming my life and forgetting to borrow hiking packs from some of my friends (weird, I heard the loudest lightning ever!). So in the absence of a major bag in which I can lug all my stuff in, I brought 3 big bags instead! My brown Elle bag for my laptop, my Addidas sack for my gadgets (hair drier, hair iron, phone chargers, The Zahir by Paulo Coelho, green peas and my BFF Espoir) and my gray ukay-ukay bag for my clothes. I just wonder, if I got to carry all of my bags and hike all the way to Baguio, I can let Quasimodo take a vacation and I will be the next Hunchback of Notre Dame (at least I get to live in Europe!)! That could be fun! But then I could cause a major national incident the next time I get my toenails done, the nail technician will die at the sight of my corns as humungous as the Banaue Rice Terraces (or is it Bocaue Rice Terraces? Haha)! Anyways, back to the adventure. So it was then, on the 21st night of December, together with the Bitch Queen, that we have decided to torture our asses for 5 hours on a trip to Baguio, to segue us into the paradise that we set our minds on.
After two stops, where Victory Liner obligingly gave us, and some centuries after, we arrive at Baguio at around 6 AM. Upon disembarkation, the cold air slammed at our faces like two chismosas bitch-slapping each other. I, on the other hand, with my intellect left somewhere between Manila and Pangasinan, was wearing shorts that just grazed above the knee. Mind you, the cold air that crept up my thighs weren’t that pleasurable as others might think. Dragging my near-freezing full-muscled ass plus my 3 purgatories (my bags, that is), the Bitch Queen and I gleefully took a taxi that would eventually take us to the Dangwa station, where we will take a bus ride to Sagada. On our way there, we announced our arrival to the populace of Baguio by messing around with the city’s pollution by exhaling air to create fog. We bought bus tickets when we got there and decided to eat breakfast at a nearby cafeteria (where a sign says that if you’re not a customer and you use the cafĂ©’s comfort room, you have to pay 500 pesos, makes you think why you shouldn’t buy food instead). Leah had her first complete meal of the day – coffee and water. I, on the other hand, considered the next 7 hours of having nothing to stuff in my throat but air, and so decided to have a plateful of rice, lechon kawali, vegetables, and Milo (but I, being the Bitch Emperor, I would like to call it Hot Choco). After masticating the fried crunchy suckling pig and fresh foliage, we decided that our bus co-passengers are all ready to feel our presence. After our asses had found a place to amalgamate, we doze off for a while (contrary to popular notions, us bitches need to rest also).
I was unabashedly shooked up one time when the bus took the sharpest curve ever and my head, which was dangerously lolling off the side of my headrest, fell and rolled out of the door (it rolled in garden and under a bush and then my poor meatball… was nothing but mush hehe). Seriously, the term twist and turns was graphically demonstrated by the roads leading to Sagada. The only way to stop your ulcerated stomach from churning and regurgitating your last meals was to distract yourself from the view on the other side of the road (One, rice terrace, Two, rice terraces, Three, rice terraces, etc). You can even wave at the clouds. But then, you’d have to endure the blatant stares and chuckles afterwards, so you might rethink that after all. You can exercise your mandibles and nibble on anything, nuts, candies, tissue paper, whatever. At least after the journey, you’d have the greatest chiseled jaw; Gretchen Baretto would give her Swarovskis to the poor. Reading is out of the question. Don’t ever try reading Paulo Coelho’s poetic verses at high altitudes and when you’re in great swooshing motion and you’ll have the worst case of vertigo – hand-delivered by Lucifer himself. If you already got tired from staring (or emotionally breaking down) at the scenery outside, you can always work out your intellectuality and whip out your incendiary wit by talking about other people’s lives. (I saw a signage once that says, “Great Minds talk about events; Poor Minds talk about people”, or something like that. Well, I talk about everything ESPECIALLY Events and People, so I may have one hell of a mind HA! HA!). After literally crossing seven mountains, enduring 2 freezing piss breaks (try pissing inside a walk-in freezer and you’d get what I mean), and major loss of sensation of my Gluteus Maximus, we finally arrived! Citizens of Sagada, Behold! Drop whatever you’re bringing and fall on your knees for the arrival of Your Royal Bitchiness.
Describing Sagada as a quaint little town is an understatement. Seventy percent of the entire land area is foliage, around twenty percent is the residential area, and the remaining ten percent is occupied by a measly thousand, both mortals and ghosts (I’d assume that Sagada wouldn’t just be a breeding ground for hardcore naturalists but also of free-roaming spirits as well). The Bitch Queen and I went directly to the town hall to register and to check out some activities that we can do, of course we didn’t plan to travel a gazillion miles just to freeze ourselves.

Parallel Intercourse

It's hard to wake up when the warm breeze lulls you back to the field of dreams. Harder still, to bend beyond the rickety prongs where your livid body has decided to amalgamate itself upon. Way harder to fathom succumbing to the tempest of the angry sun... of the impatient wind... of the wailing rain... You yearn for the melodic cacophony of sounds... the music of your dreams.. You yearn to run and fight the gust of wind against your face, arms spread; your fingertips caressing the wind’s billowing robes, your bare feet amidst the velvety grass, and tears, oh beads of tears – pure sweet happiness streaming down your cheeks... You yearn to lie on the white powder-sand of the beach willing your toes to be licked by frolicking waters of the deep. You yearn to live a perpetual life, death being a foreign word. You yearn of yearning…

The creases in your forehead prickled with sweat until it flowed incessantly to the camber of your nape, down to the folds of your pillow, acting as a vessel of your anguish as it likewise serve as a receptacle of dreams. The white blanket enveloping the fullness of your body seems to be a strong blast of light in the verge of completely consummating all of darkness, until it is dark no more. And you continue to dream… Dream to yearn… Yearn to dream…
And so it was then that you have finally decided.
*dlas*