Musings by Grace Chng

Oh, I’ve been lazy. Not blogged for 2 weeks!

Anyway, today I was desperately calling PS Cafe for a dinner reservation. For those who’re familiar with PS Cafe, it first started in Paragon. The parent is Project Shop that sells those grungy, edgy kinda clothes. The cafe is famous for its salads. For those with sweet tooth, its desserts like double chocolate cake, cheesecake etc are worth dying for.

Anyway, it has opened a new branch at Palais Renaissance. So I called for a reservation but the phone went unanswered. I tried from before lunch to after lunch. Finally I reached an answering service: plse leave a message if you want a reservation or call xxx, a cellphone number.

I’ve not heard of restaurant reservation by SMS, and was sceptical. I tried it and within 2 minutes, the response came in. Would I like indoor or outdoor, and what’s my name? I was impressed. Such quick service. I gave the information and at 7.30pm turned up at the restaurant and my table was reserved!

You learn something new every day!

I think that all iPhone owners would have upgraded to the new 3.0 software by now. I’ve 2 iPhones at home. Naturally, I upgraded both of them. One is fully functional, ie, I get all the functions. The other is missing some features. For example, the tethering feature is missing.

So I checked with my friend Graham in Bangkok and he said that he also had the same feature missing. Tethering it seems is not offered in Thailand. So maybe my one iPhone could have come from US where AT&T is not offering tethering until later in the year. So iTunes recognised the phone as from US and accordingly left out the feature. I haven’t checked what other features are missing.

Wonder if anyone else is experiencing the same thing?

I’m glad that I caught Li Yundi’s concert with the SSO tonight. He’s a really good pianist, robust yet lyrical. In his late 20s, boyish looking, but can he play. Tchaikovsky’s piano concerto No 1 was like putty in his hands. His hands blurred in those  presto parts and yet at the same time stroked the keys for the melody.

I knew about the concert about a couple of weeks ago but I didn’t buy the tix. By the time I came home from Bangkok, it was fully booked. Tickets were all sold out. I did buy a $30 tix to watch the rehearsal on Friday morning. But I made a last attempt and went to the box office at the Esplanade on Thursday. And it was my lucky day. I got one ticket which someone gave u.!

Hope the good look continues my way.

Funny how annual leave ends so quickly. It’s a 2-week leave, long time in my books. The first week passed not so quickly although 4 days in Bangkok did whisper past. I finally found Thai food that “hit the spot” in the hotel. Yes Siplathai - that’s the name of the restaurant - in the ShangriLa hotel was more expensive than what you can get in the air-con food courts, the food was good. So was the service. Yes, it was expensive for 3 dishes, 1 dessert and a beer - 1400 baht about S$60. But I enjoyed myself, ultimately that’s the most important, especially when I’m on holiday.

My friend Graham who has lived in Bangkok for 20 years didn’t know of any Thai restaurant. He usually buys his meals - when he’s not making potato salad at home or a sandwich at home - from the hawkers. You do get a good spread - different curries, vegetables, grilled fish etc. But I don’t think my tummy is iron-clad. So I declined to eat at the hawkers. It’s cheap, about 50-60 baht for 2-3 dishes.

We went to an Apple shop in Central World which is a mega mall. Plenty of students around and again lots of sushi, sashimi and ramen places. So are cafes serving cakes and coffee. Smattering of Thai food in menus here and there. The Apple shop was like all the other shops I’ve visited in San Francisco and London. The accessories are slightly different. I found cute plastic cup-like things that hold wires together. Haven’t seen them here but Graham and I agreed that tape would hold wires just as well. Saved a few bahts there.

I took Tiger Airways, cheap but the fuel surcharge made it rather pricey and same price as Silkair and SQ. In Singapore, the queues were orderly. In Bangkok, it was less than orderly. Although our e-tickets said passengers had to turn up 2 hours before flight, the counters didn’t open until 90 minutes before flight. Which made a few passengers annoyed. More so because they saw the staff lounging behind the counter, sipping coffee and taking naps!

I’ve a few more days of leave left. Funny, how time flies when I take it easy. Don’t try to rush to gym in the mornings, or rush to an appointment. Yet, the day just passes so quickly. And I still have all those books and magazines I bought which I haven’t read yet. Time for speed reading now.

Yup, I’m in Bangkok for a system-shut down holiday. Been here for 48 hours, slept 14 hours at a stretch but didn’t taste or smell any thai food. Don’t get me wrong, I like thai food except that I prefer to eat at the local places and where I’m staying at the Shangri-la, there aren’t any Thai food places for miles … at least as far as I can see. The shops in front of the hotel offer tailoring, t-shirts, luggage and jewellery. I don’t need any of them.

There’s an Indian restaurant with one page of Thai food like pad thai - fried kway teow - green curry and fried vegetables. Somehow I don’t think it’s quite authentic. So today, I set off for Siam Paragon, that huge shopping place that I thought would have at least some Thai food. Well, I discovered Thais - and perhaps Japanese - like Japanese food for there’re several sushi, sashimi and ramen eateries. Then there’re rows after rows of Thai sweets like mango with rice. I bought some tiny coconut-based pancakes which were scrumptious but sure as hell it’s full of sugar! (means extra hours at the gym).

I saw a Thai restaurant and ordered chinese soup - my tummy can’t take the spicey tom yum - and fried flat noodles with pork. I got the soup, no surprises there. But the noodles - some horfun with english pork stew with carrot on top. Quite yucky! Swallowed a couple of mouthfuls, walked up and paid. There weren’t any other Thai restaurants around. Guess I’ve to rely on my friends who’re taking me out tomorrow night. Yippeee!

Shangri-la hotel is by the chao praya river. Like all the shang properties, the grounds are large and there’re many places one can go to, curl up and read a book. Either the economy is really bad or it’s not the peak holiday season cos there aren’t many people around. So sitting by the river for breakfast and later by the poolside to read a book - was peaceful. I burrowed into the deepest cushioned seat in the lounge, had a cuppa of tea and read my book, without any interuption. So peaceful. (Alright, my phone was on silent.) I lurrrvvveee me doggies - uno, latte, sandy and zach. They are, oh, so cute and really know what you want and dominate you in the only way pets know (you’ve to be a dog owner to understand this), but hey, no sound of barking, no need having to say “go to your corner” is just great.

At Siam Paragon, the supermarket and the eating places were busy, not crowded, just busy. The brand names boutiques were empty except for one-two people walking in and out. Economy must be bad or is it because it’s a weekday? Kinokuniya on the 4th floor was crowded, to my surprise. For visitors who need an English book badly, Kinokuniya is good.  The english section is quite large and it carries the latest titles. I’d brought 2 books and 2 magazines with me, I’ve finished one book already and getting through one magazine. I’m afraid the remaining reading material won’t last, so I bought Free, the latest book by Chris Anderson. Okay, I was on the lookout for the book, so it was part temptation and part fear that I would run out of books to read.

While most of my friends would be astonished that I haven’t tasted my first tom yum, I’m not so worried. I’m hear for the whole system shutdown. I slept all the way on Tiger Airways, got to the hotel, had lunch, ready my book and slept from 4pm to 6am the next day. It’s been great.

I recommend this kind of getaway. It’s like a cruise to nowhere. Now I understand about the holiday/summer cottages that the Jane Austen and her ilk write about - it boils down to getting away from the humdrum of everyday work, it’s about recharging. For me, it’s cutting out the handphone, curling up to read the book and enjoying my gym workouts without worrying about the time!