i mixed cement at chiang mai

don't you just hate the feeling after a trip overseas has ended?

the weather here is horrible compared to chiang mai. the moment i stepped out of tiger airways plane i could feel the air just sticking to my skin - oh yes, it's reality alright.

my first overseas community work is definitely a memorable one. i can't wait to try new things and explore the world further while helping people along the way.

the homeowner of the house we were building for is called DANG (meaning red in thai). she has 2 sons, 1 working and the other schooling. she's really nice and gets really emotional whenever she thanked us for all the help. the community she was living in is also very friendly and helpful. everyone's always smiling and the neighbours would come down to help with construction. her sister lives opposite the site we are working at and the family in that house are ususally the ones who cook us lunch. I SWEAR, THE FOOD THEY COOK IS HEAVENLY. It's really delicious and every day they would cook different foods and we are really lucky to try the real authentic thai cuisine! the house is a simple 1 room + living room house. it's design is similar to the first house we ever learnt to draw: square, single level, 2 windows and the sides and 1 window beside the front door and back door.

every morning we had to leave the hostel at 830am. Breakfast at the hostel does not disappoint too. the people at the youth hostel are very friendly and the setting and atmosphere of the hostel is very cosy and comforting. i'll ususally order a muesli yogurt every morning, which contains meusli, a big portion of different fruits, nata de coco and a drizzle of honey in the yogurt. i tried banana pancakes for the first time on the first morning i woke up there and it was very satisfying, i'm gonna be making my own soon! Anyway, we would take a 40 minute ride on the songthaew to the baan mae community where construction is and usually everyone would be plugged into their mp3s except mummy.

we were only going to be working for 5 days and we weren't expected to finish the house within this duration but all of us never gave up hope being the awesome team that finishes it within 5 days. we worked fast and efficiently, ignoring the cries of nina and aommy, "please stop! please stop working! break time! break time!". we would reply, "no! finish this first! we will finish this house!"

on the schedule we are supposed to finish work everyday at 4.30pm but on the first day alone we finished work shortly after lunch and asked for more work. they gave us another task to do and we finished it by 2plus and cleaned the tools by 3pm with nothing left to do for the day because the next step requires skilled workers to complete it.

every night, everyone would go out and explore the night market or find more eateries. i would go with tas and lavannia and on the first day we arrived at chiang mai, they got me drinking my first cocktail at a bar. subsequently we would often go to another bar called Chiang Mai Saloon, (which i observed one day while walking past it that it was also called Chiang Ma Is A Loon) because of their famous and delicous burgers that were reccomended by Lonely Planet and Rough Guide and something else.

We made friends with waitress/bartender there called Anna. She's only worked there for 6 months but she plans on quitting because old angmoh guys would hit on her, haha. but that may be only 1 of the reasons. she would talk to us and find out more about us and on the last night she treated us to a free tequila shot each. it was my first time drinking tequila and alyssa was repeatedly telling me the procedure of drinking it because i kept re-confirming with her. so i had to lick the salt, drink the shot, bite the lime. it was quite cool because i was last to drink it and everyone (not the whole bar of course) including the chef who MAKES THE BEST BURGERS IN SE ASIA! was banging on the bar table, chanting, "drink! drink! drink!"

LOL

i felt like i was in a totally different world, damn funny.

so i licked, drank --- my throat burnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn. i drank till i felt was like the last drop of the shot because it was a pleasant and unpleasant feeling that went down my throat but i think more unpleasant because it was so weird i can't even describe. like i felt my heart racing, the alcoholllll soo bitterrr, yucks! and i slammed the glass down and put the whole lime in my mouth and CHEWED.

alyssa: YOU ONLY DRANK HALF OF IT! AND ARE YOU EATING THE LIME? YOU ARE JUST SUPPOSED TO BITE IT
me: takes out lime and puts it on the plate. sticking out my tongue and wincing.

i finished the other half and bite the lime again.

everyone appluaded. lol

all of us exchanged emails with anna and welcomed her to contact if she comes to singapore again.

we also made a friend who's a waitress at the Garden Restaurant which is just opposite chiang mai saloon. her name is Nin and she has a canadian boyfriend who she met at the restaurant she works at, how nice!

everytime we walked past the restaurant we would stop and have a chat with her before going off. we've added her on facebook which i was so shocked she had. it's because she's studying computing in chiang mai university and her professor told her to get it.

oh and i had another drinking experience in a bar called the Sisters Bar. all bartenders are a females and that includes a girl boy, who was quite interesting.

anyway, that night, lavannia ordered a shooter B-52 first and said it was realllly good because it didn't have the taste of alcohol at all and tasted totally like coffee. so tas and i ordered it too. so the procedure was that the bartended would light up the sides of the drink and we had to quickly insert a straw and drink it really fast. so tas had hers first, then when it was my turn, the bartender lighted up the drink and thought it was for lavannia but it was for me, so i had to pull it towards me, causing some drink to spill out and because of the time delay the flame all over the surface of the drink when it is actually just supposed to be the sides. so the flame was quite big and when i bend over to insert the draw i saw the flame dancing INFRONT OF MY FACE at close proximity and i hestitated and before i knew it, the burnt was burnt. the bartender went to get another straw and i really tried to do it really fast, i inserted and sucked but had to pull out after just a sip because the straw was gone and my upper lip felt a little burnt. the bartender decided i should drink without the flame and put the flame out. 

sigh

ok i think i'm done with this and i really hate this shit weather