Global Warming

OMG... Can you in Bangkok just walk outside A/C room without getting sweat? Absolutely not!

..and I'm not talking about the horrible traffic, motorcycle all over the place, taxis stopping randomly next to a junction, bus dropping passengers in the middle of the road.

But it's still home after all. Thailand, I love you... and thanks for having BTS, MTA, and taxis for us. They surely save Thai people a lot of sanity.

At the end of the day, shopping here is not really that heavenly. Clothes are most of the time above my price range anywhere at the Trio (the Paragon, Central World, and the Emporium). Anyway, I still have Jatujak waiting for me this weekend. Prepared to spend a bit over there.

I'm not that fascinated the pirated stuff like in the prior visits. Maybe I'm too old for this kind of stuff (and probably because Avis has been giving me free iTunes downloads). I didn't spend much on CDs like last time either (after I realized that the sales at DJ Siam are full of sh** most of the time). Just bought only the ones I really knew and shut my ears off when they boasted about no-name people that they produced themselves.

Lastly, food here never disappoints me. ก๋วยเตี๋ยวปลาป้าหนึง (pattaya 038 428 908), รุ่งเรืองก๋วยเตี๋ยวหมู (อีกชื่อคือ เฮียฮ่อ, สุขุมวิท 26 0-2258-6746), Bei Otto (best pork knuckle and german sausages in my opinion), เลือดหมูคุณศรี are amazing.

Will update the full list after I get back then.

Gadgets I Currently Want

1) After my beloved Krups XP4000 manual espresso machine prematurely died, I was looking for a new machine that is capable of grinding and effectively frothing milk. This Delonghi's Super-automatic ESAM3300 really stands out. It's equipped with removable boiler, nice grinder, milk frother (although not automatic), decalcifing indicator, and programmable brewer. The price is a little steep-$800 shipped excluding tax. Better be prepared to pitch it to K. Kratai to split the cost (hey... I'm home just only 3 mornings a week!)

2) Have I told you that my new cellphone- Palm treo 750 is a piece of crap? Yes, it still is. (Although Palm has designed the phone itself pretty nicely, I can still go on and on how bad Windows Mobile 5, combined with stupid GoodLink, is but... maybe later). Apart from horrible battery life, the alarm feature sucks! Don't people at Redmond know that there's a feature called "Snooze" in most modern alarm clock at the moment. And, how about that stupid little beep that can't even wake up a cat?! Anyway, I've been fastinated with the "Smart Alarm Clock"-- the alarm clock that studies your sleeping pattern throughout the night, and wake you up when you're during the light sleep cycle within the preset period. As the technology is still at the bottom of the S-curve, the prices are still high. I found one (capable of waking two people up individually) from aXbo at about 200 Euros (yikes... it's just an alarm clock!) and one from US Sleeptracker at about $150. The idea and products are quite neat but I'd probably wait till the price goes down to "normal" level.