So it’s been a month since my last update (bad, I know) and I’ve been in Paris for the past 10 days. Such a beautiful city, but incredibly cold in the winter. I’ll remember to avoid coming to Europe in the dead of winter the next time (-3ºC outside right now!).
What am I doing in Paris? I decided to take an extended vacation and do some shoots at the same time. Problem is, I plan to do most of it outdoors on location but I don’t think the team will appreciate that very much so I’ll have to find a way around it. Lots of blankets and flasks of hot coffee?
My new years here was a bit of a bummer, I was feeling sick and fell asleep at 11 pm. So much for a crazy new years in the city of lights!
I’ve been having lots of fun with Chrysan, my roomie and she’s been dragging me out to as many places as possible. Funnily enough, I’ve not been to the Eiffel tower yet (to come, soon maybe?).
Life here is good, it’s simple, the French way of living is extremely laid back in my opinion. Besides the odd uptight Parisian, most of the people here are very nice and friendly. They approach everything with a c’est-la-vie attitude, sometimes a bit frustrating but other times a reminder to take everything with a pinch of salt.
Photos to come soon.
p.s. It snowed today and I’m trying to find every reason to stay indoors in my nice cosy room. Not good!
Some have asked to see my new studio apartment but I didn’t think of putting it up in public. I love the place so much that I can’t wait to show it off! I don’t have any ‘before’ photos of the apartment prior to dropping a bomb buying all the basics and some extras so these photos will have to do. The finishings are quite simple and basic but I’m hoping to get a few more things to ‘home-y’ it up a little more.
First impressions from the front door.
My lovely new clean kitchen and loving my bar stool (necessary to satisfy my ‘bar habits’).
Tiny dining space for two. I absolutely adore that little plant and floral arrangement, I need more of it (hint hint).
Living area and workspace, featuring a glossy new 24″ iMac and the amazing Alesis M1 monitor speakers.
Last but not least and definitely my favourite, The Room. Also, awesome night view outside my window.
I did have some assistance from dear mother with moving in and shopping for all my items so that was a big help. Thank you mother (yes, she does read my blog). I still have this huge space at the start of the apartment that I need to fill up with furnishing. It’s so empty that my voice echoes in that area. I really like the fact that I have so much space which I can also easily convert into my shooting areas. Apparently my bathroom is so big it can fit a whole family into the shower area, not that I tried of course.
I would love to have people come over for some company since it can get rather boring staying in the apartment by myself all the time. You are also welcome to bring the following as housewarming gifts hehehehe:
• Flower arrangements or shrubs
• Rugs and placemats
• Wine and champagne glasses
• Art pieces or large canvas prints
• Candles and holders
• Throw pillows
• Let’s not forget the ‘Hard Stuff’ (liquids).
Come visit soon because I also have an amazing poolside <3 <3 <3
I left my heart in Bangkok. But it’s a good thing I did not take its diseases with me.
Joel trying to figure out a way to throw me off the balcony because I ‘complain’ too much.
A city like Bangkok gets better and better each time you experience new levels of fun, followed by remorse after. 3 weeks was definitely a lot and enough but yet it seems like it wasn’t. I had that issue even after 2.5 months in Australia. Maybe it’s just me but I can definitely see the charms of the place and sort of understand why so many people love Bangkok.
Bro’s fo’ tha ‘hoes. Word.
Let’s talk about Songkran. Now I know I mentioned that I would lock myself in my room till it was all over but I have to admit I became very curious after Emmanuel said it was hell of a street rave at Silom that I missed out. Boo. I decided that if I anticipate getting drenched and plastered, it wouldn’t be so bad being splashed on for 6 hours continuously. Oh boy.
Drenched and slathered in paste. Yuck.
This is how Leonardo works his ‘charm’ on the ladies.
We were at Khoasan (Backpackers district) this time. It was fun, for sure. My only complaint was the overuse of flour paste with a whole lot of aggression. I got mobbed a few times where a bunch of guys would rub their dirty hands all over my face just to make sure I was completely covered in paste. I had to be pulled out from that lock-hold just so I wouldn’t lose the rest of the guys in the crowd. What was up with that craziness? I had so much flour in my eyes that it was all bloodshot and I had to throw my contacts out because my eyes were completely blinded. There were more civilised people who would just rub the paste on my arms or cheek but please, stay away from the eyes and mouth! Putain.
I couldn’t open my eyes properly the next morning because my lids were stuck together as a result of the paste drying up. Advice to readers, wear goggles if you want to attempt going out during Songkran and put all your valuables in a zip-lock or sealed waterproof bag.
I also caught a cold and lost my voice after all that. A sniffing frog isn’t very sexy.
Joel, Michaël, Unknown and Emmanuel. Until now, no one recalls who Unknown was or what he was doing in the picture.
Part of Khaosan on a regular night.
I went back to Khaosan again a few days later with some friends to experience it on a regular day and do some location scouting for my upcoming shoot. Did I also mention before that the heat in Bangkok is comparable to being slow roasted in an oven?
Blue cocktails to trick us into thinking that the weather was much cooler than it really was.
My China doll.
With Leisa ‘Big Eyes’ Pearson.
The night started out innocently enough. Everybody was great company and relatively sensible. Until it was time for the infamous BUCKETS. If you’ve never heard of Thailand’s Buckets before, you have not lived. It is what it is, cheap booze served in a bucket with a multitude of straws (supposed for sharing if you’re generous enough).
These roadside make-shift bars only consist of a kiosk where they mix the drinks and patrons sit on plastic stools squashed next to as many people as possible. There are no tables so we use “chaibles“, as said by the server. The music clashes painfully with the bucket bar about 5 meters away and fat people dance over-excitedly when they really should just be sitting still. Also, Sangsom (Thai Whisky) is a nasty drink only for the really brave. You will feel really shit in the morning and I speak from experience.
The next few images will describe what the world looks like after a couple of buckets. Trippin’.
We love Redbull Vodka buckets.
Ying is very easily amused.
Leisa, Ying, Matthew, Me and Nick. Sebastian was trippin’ with this photo. Heh heh.
6 faces of the blue elephant.
We got an inflatable elephant from some other patrons, meant to annoy the hell out of each other with. Nick decided to courteously bite on the poor elephant’s head and the rest is pretty gross. I’m not too sure what happened to it after, actually.
I vaguely remember what else we were up to the rest of the night. Maybe a few more bars and this really unusual place called “Wong’s”. My best description of it would be a secret brothel or drug ring disguised as a bar in American Chinatown during the 80′s.
Then came my last night in Bangkok and the boys decided that they wanted to kill themselves during dinner at this all-you-can-eat cook-it-yourself place at Victory Monument. I think I can still feel that dinner in my stomach now, even a few days after. Maybe I should’ve suggested Basilico instead for the most amazing pizza.
Joel and Emmanuel trying to show an unusual level of affection towards Marco.
More affection. Poor Marco.
The only photo of Joel with his eyes relatively ‘open’ and I am the Asian one here. Pfft.
The best way to sum up this post and final instalment of my trip to Bangkok in 4 minutes is to watch this video. I may not have said very much about the place while I was there, but I think I’m starting to miss the place already. Probably not a good idea for me to stay there for too long because I could hardly ever get any work done there!
I can’t believe it took me almost 3 hours to write this post and yet I still have so many more posts waiting for me to finish. I am now in KL, incase you didn’t realise so anybody here please contact or write to me! Schedule is going to be very hectic, but more on that later. And now I leave you with this:
McDonald’s Double Big Mac with four slices of patty.
As much as possible, I swear to myself never to eat fast food when I travel but for some reason or the other, I will always have McDonald’s at least once. I guess it’s the curiosity of trying something from McDonald’s worldwide, there’s always something different. I thought the triple cheeseburger I had in Australia was the bomb until I came to Thailand and laid eyes on the Double Big Mac! Dum-dum-dum.
The Long Table.
After a painful 3-hour emergency shopping spree with Matthew (for him, not me), we went to a rooftop restaurant bar to chill and check out the view. The place is really chic, when you first walk in it looks somewhat like a bar you would find in New York. Not that I would know because I haven’t been to New York, just saying. Apparently they have what is the longest communal dining table in the world (hence the name, The Long Table) and seats up to 70 or so people comfortably.
View from the balcony of The Long Table.
Exhausted shoppers.
The next night, I was in Patpong with Mikkel and Wang Ying. Patpong is one of Bangkok’s most notorious districts, infamous for its Ping Pong shows. Can someone say gross? We had to take a beer break from more night market shopping and almost died from the insane humidity. The issue was that every bar looked like some place from hooker hell or prone to getting a “Madam, you want to see Ping Pong show? Come one minute free, very nice. No shy-shy”.
We sat outside because we were too chicken to drink inside. It was scary.
Mikkel Nielsen.
Wang Ying. So cute when she drinks, she turns crimson red
I decided to redeem myself from that night at Patpong by going to this other awesome rooftop restaurant bar The Nest at Le Fenix Hotel on Soi 11. It was a good choice. Not as much of a view as The Long Table, but very cozy decor and great music. Not the least bit pretentious and probably one of my favourite places so far.
Check out that couple going at it on the lounge beds!
Nest-like lounge beds scattered around, hence the name.
This is when Mikkel decided to get epic wasted. He had a Blowjob shooter, Mojito, Apple Martini, Long Island Iced Tea, and 3 Jägerbombs all within a span of 2-hours. Let’s not also forget the few beers he’s had prior to The Nest. I must also mention that The Nest makes potent cocktails. POTENT.
Jägerbomb, Apple Martini, Long Island Iced Tea. Still looking sober.
Not so sober anymore.
Fast and Furious on the roads of Bangkok.
Walking back was not an option since we were pretty much tripping all over the sidewalks so Mikkel had an insanely bright idea of taking a Tuk-Tuk! Cue video.
A few days later, we headed to Suan Lum Night Bazaar at Lumphini for the last round of shopping. I’ve already spent too much attacking Siam Central, Siam Square, Siam Paragon, Central World and miscellaneous places, but I bought still this really gorgeous item there. Absolutely no self control, I am ashamed of myself. Pfft.
View from our watering hole.
Not-so-red Ying. Hehe.
Being very greasy looking stereotypical Chinese, with no eyes.
Asian FOB and Dane gangsta??
Yes it was very, very, very hot which is why we look so extremely greasy and gross. But it’s ok, we’re still cool.
Anyway, everything looks all fun and happy here, which it is but there’s also been a lot of shit happening with local politics. If you haven’t seen the news, protests have been going on for the past week and escalating to serious levels with 2 dead and 113 injured. The Thai military have opened fire, buses are being hijacked, gas bombs are being thrown. Tourists are shitting their pants and leaving on the soonest flights possible. It’s quite unfortunate really, because it’s a fun place to be and with everybody running for their lives and Thais leaving the city for Songkran, Bangkok has become rather quiet.
Also Songkran, the Thai New Year Water Festival is in full force with water guns and pails everywhere. The concept is to drench everybody out on the streets, so I’ve been locking myself at home trying to stay dry. I am boring and unadventurous, I know. Don’t judge.
Unfortunately, Songkran celebrations have been cancelled in Khao San (backpackers party town area) because of the protests, but according to Emmanuel my housemate, I missed hell of a rave party at Silom last night. Boo.
On the upside, the protests and chaos are happening in an isolated part of Bangkok like the Government and Parliament house, so most of the city areas and the area around where I’m staying is still safe and relatively normal. I will still be alive at the end of my trip (hopefully)!
To end, I leave you with this picture:
Joel ‘selling’ pirated DVDs to Emmanuel. I LOL-ed.
(yes, she does read my blog). I still have this huge space at the start of the apartment that I need to fill up with furnishing. It’s so empty that my voice echoes in that area. I really like the fact that I have so much space which I can also easily convert into my shooting areas. Apparently my bathroom is so big it can fit a whole family into the shower area, not that I tried of course.
