A night of simple entertainment..

It was the eve of Vesak Day and I have been informed by friends in the drinking circle to 'fall-in' for a night of drinking at Good Cheers Pub.

Under normal circumstances,I would be very happy to oblige.. but I was still recovering from my illness and my body was loaded with a few kinds of medication, so I painfully declined the invitation.

Thus, my Friday evening started with a movie "the Ramen Girl"..it kind of tickled my funny bone such that my friend Alfred thought I was crazy. Straight after the movie, there was a very strong urge for me to eat ramen(you know,the other time alfred & myself saw a stingray swam past the screen,we had a strong urge to eat BBQ stingray too..and we did!), so me & my friend visited a Japanese Restaurant off Upp Thomson Road..Have not visited this place for a very long time, apparently, we over-ordered because we barely made it to 'last order'(..the group that came in after us was send back hungry..) and the irony was that we could not finish our 'ramen'.

After the 10pm dinner,we racked our brains thinking of any location(s) that we could go next without touching any alcohol. Seems to me like there are actually very limited night life in Singapore except drinking places. To cut it short, we ended up in Arab Street vicinity with the intention to smoke the shisha', carefully chose a Reis Turkish Cafe and was seated on a carpet inside.

Along came a 6yr old boy by the name Javier, still in his kindergarten uniform,sat himself down beside me and suggested playing a card came. Boy..his card game' is super boring & meaningless, but Alfred & myself took turns to entertain him while he kept telling us what is going to happen next in the movie on show(think he watched them many times over).My main concern was why Javier was hanging at a place like this since his schooling hours and why he was not tucked in bed yet(he sat with us till we left at almost 3am)? We later learned that his mum is the owner/operator/partner(something like that) of the cafe.

Javier is like a mascot of Reis Turkish Cafe, everybody seems to know him.When I saw Javier, I insisted Alfred to use his phone to snap a picture of Javier with me. He is a very nice kid, well behaved and well mannered..this some how brings out the 'fatherly nature' in me. It makes me feel like its about time for me to be a father! :P Well..I am still a few steps away..must find someone that I can marry 1st.

Maybe I should just make a trip down today to try the Turkish food..but hopefully i'll see Javier again.

Happy Vesak Day !

T T Tan wishes all Buddhists a Happy Vesak Day!

Bangkok- Friends (will you believe in friendship for life?)

People come and go in and out of your lives.

Well, I am certainly not referring to just any strangers because they always come & go anyway.

Does the word 'friend' mean anything to you? Are they just someone you approved to be added to your friend list on Facebook or friendster? What do you really look for in a friendship or rather I should say,who do you really consider your friends to be?

I'll leave you all to answer the questions yourself. For myself, a friend is somebody who had shared a certain part of my life experience with me in good faith,no matter how small that part may be. I may not be able to remember all my friends' name or everything about them,but it is the mutual attitude & respect towards each other that counts instead. They can be a familiar face at work, a neighbour you bump into, a drinking regular at a pub, a hawker at a stall you patronize regularly,a business partner or even someone you hate..the list goes on.

Since I had arrived in Bangkok by train, I definitely will take this opportunity to keep in contact with my friends there. Now that I try to recall,I have known them for years (how time flies) despite not having the opportunities to meet up too often.

P'Ja & Pui told me they are waiting at the MacDonald's at Siam Paragon..we got to learn from this meet-up that there are more than 1 MacDonald's in Siam Paragon because we were at different Mac and could not find each other. Luckily nowadays got mobile phones :P



We made appointment to do a tour of 7 temples in the old district with the rest of the gang..most of them are former school mates from Thammasat. I was very impressed that they took efforts to organize a trip like this to stay in touch so many years from school..Makes me feel like calling a class gathering too.





Another group of friends who have been my long time drinking buddies(our friendship started with a Singapore vs Thailand drinking competition on board a barge on a dam years back) and the meet up for this trip was at their company's Christmas/New Year event.

Just when i thought the party has ended(because we already drank quite some),Nong 'A asked me to abandon Aey and join her gang for disco.We squeezed into a cab and head to Ratchada 4. Got a surprise when we got of the cab and i turned around and counted 7 ladies..I was really shocked the taxi could allow 8 passengers in his cab..up til today,I am still scratching my head wondering how it could be possible..

I felt like i was a Guest of Honour attending their "Girls nite out" becoz they refused violently to let me pay for the bottle of whisky..I have confidence that our friendship will not end even if the drinking stops :) Cheers!

Next up is a group of pretty rude,but very humorous friends..P'Ti & P Aey..They are like my big brothers,always taking care of me,helping me..and they are super good drinkers! Only now I just heard P'Ti has been banned from drinking by his wife because of his poor health..I did not know that the last session we had could be the last 'drinking' session..



I believe in fate and destiny..how u got to know your friends among the billions of people in the world.
I take reference from my Bangkok friends here because these are the groups that even if I have not met them for a long time,when you meet up again,you can know that there is no distance between you.

How many of such friends can you count in your lifetime?
How many friends had you promised to stay in touch with over teary goodbyes when u left primary,secondary,college,army,reservist or even your last job? ..will you remember this friend when you bump into him/her on the streets or you try to look the other way because you cannot remember the name?
A true friend is willing to accept the imperfections you have because if he/she cannot,you may not be friends anymore. People come and go, its part of life.

So can friendships really be for life?

When you lose contact with your friends for whatever reasons, if you remember the happy days together..if you remember what good that he/she done for you..if you hold no grudges and come to terms with the concept of forgiving, friendship can really last forever in your heart for the duration of your life.

Even if there is really no God or heaven or hell and you know you will never get to see your friends again on your dying bed, you will still have good memories of good friends you made in your lifetime.

Today is not Friendship Day..its a normal day just like any other you may find on you calendar,but i'll pay a tribute to all my friends wherever you may be..Thank your participation in my life(in part or in full). Thank you for the friendship!