I am back from Thailand.

Thailand was fun! I'm pretty happy about the stuff I've bought there.

I bought mainly 2 things: A remote controlled car that costs $10, and Red Alert 3 for $24.

Why am I so happy about the remote controlled car? Because it is only about 5cm long, and you wouldn't believe that it's remote controlled until you've seen it work. When I bought it, I got responses like this:

G(some guy): What's that you bought?
X(me): A toy car for $10.
G: [condescendingly]...you bought that?
X: Yeh, it's remote controlled.
G: [in disbelief] ARE YOU SERIOUS?
X: Yep. *proceeds to play with the RC car*
G: Eh! Tell me where you bought it from!
X: Sure. *brings him to the store* Excuse me, do you have any more of this? No? Oops, I guess I bought the last one... [in my mind: MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA]

I did this twice. Just to be a bastard.

The other thing I'm really happy about was the Red Alert 3. $24 for an original. It normally costs about $60 in Singapore. There were games in the same shop that the shopkeeper assures that "if it's not explicitly stated it's in Thai, it's in English" Problem is, the Red Alert 3 packaging stated that it's in Thai. I was a little apprehensive about it initially, but Haoyi assured me that there should be some way to change it to English, so I bought it anyway.

When people saw my purchase, they were comparing, "See, mine doesn't say it's in Thai, so it's in English. You see Xin Yang's one! It says it's in Thai, so I don't know... Eh Yak, are you going to learn Thai while playing this game?" "I'll try to work this out." "If you can't, you basically wasted $24!"

So when I got home, after a few hours, it was indeed in Thai. I MADE it work in English.

The next time they asked, "So, how's your Red Alert 3?"
"It's in Thai, but I managed to make it work in English."
"How did you do that? Mine is in Thai." *NOTE THE IRONY*
"Oh I had to download 3 language files, change the 3 files, edit a config file, and repatch it online. It's harder than it sounds."
"That's nice! How much was your Red Alert 3?"
"$24."
"And how much does it usually cost?"
"$60."
"So you saved $36."
"Yep."


Basically, my purchases were huge ego boosts for me, 'cos I have 2 things that you want but you don't have! Neh neh neh neh neh!

Other than my fruitful shopping trip, the night sky was wonderful. It is basically as though the star map in real time was displayed on Omnimax in HD, only more awesome because 1)there are no lines, 2) it includes planets, 3) as you look more closely you can see more and more stars. As someone said, "You could see Orion wielding his sword."

It's a pity that wonderful night skies always appear at the most inopportune moments. Once was in Bintan, during CCAL camp, when we had to move from our campfire location to our campsite. Another time was in Pulau Tekong, during 5BX. Now Thailand, during our deployment exercise. Damn. Oh well, at least I caught a glimpse of a wonderful night sky, and I know that this is something I can look forward to in future, since the stars will always be there.

In the day, the scenery is beautiful! The ground is mostly shubbery and sparse sundry vegetation or plantation, so once positioned on any small knoll you can see very far. Indeed, you can not only see the hills and knolls 10km away, you can even see the mountains >30km away, with the clouds encircling the hillside. It's a pity that for some reason, I didn't really see the sunset.

You wouldn't believe it, but it is really cold at night. Like, 15 degree celcius that kind. When you wake up in the middle of the night to go to the latrine it is so cold that it is hard to fall asleep again, unless you build a fire next to you. And yes, this IS Thailand.

This post is an attempt to make it sound like a holiday trip to Thailand. If you thought so, I have succeeded. Hurray to me.