The big question is whether to hold on for just another couple of months, or for another longer period than that. But somehow, it’s always the thought of "this could be the big one" that fuels the need for change.
While I was still in Jakarta, I considered my car as my own Fortress of Solitude. A private space where I can curse, scream, or sing to my heart’s content. One of the albums that got the most airtime was Hybrid Theory. I needed it as an energy boost to last the day and sometimes it acted as my anger management therapy session too. All the anguish seemed to go away as I screamed along with Chester & Mike.
That’s why I was a bit unsure if I could have the mother of all anger management session at all as I bought the seating ticket. And it got worse when I saw my next neighbour was a mid-30s Dad who accompanied his 10-year old son and brought along his little daughter together with the wife as well. Excuse me, are we supposed to scream & jump or sit along & smile while passing on the bread?
When I looked around, the scene was repeated numerous times. Dad & Mom with teenaged son/daughter, or Dad with 7-year old son. I wonder if they would leave the venue once Chester uttered his first "Shit".
They finally came out 1 hour late with lights silhouetting the curtained stage with Brad’s fro was the most recognized feature. Ladies & gents, please start screaming. The session now begins!
It was like a whirlwind inside of the venue as they kept bombarding us with songs after songs from Minutes to Midnight, during which I was still being civilized by sitting still.
Then Papercut came along and all hell broke loose. I was up on my feet, jumping, screaming on top of my lungs, and at the same time feeling that there was something primal inside me that wanted to be unleashed. This time around, all manners and politeness have been thrown out of the building as everyone was rocking along. Only the ones with weak knees were strapped to their seats.
When the tension was finally kept low, only Chester & Mike were left on the stage and the violent Pushing Me Away was given a tender treatment through Mike’s keyboard. I can’t say that I like it as it was one of the songs that I expected to scream along, but in the heat of the moment it was acceptable.
As the whole band returned to the stage, they trotted out the hits from the 3 albums with Faint as the closing song before the encore began.
It was close to 5 minutes when all lights were turned off and we’re all begging them for "more", and finally the machine-like intro of One Step Closer brought everybody back on their feet again. It was one of the songs that I came for and we screamed along happily telling those fuckers in our lives to "shut up when I’m talking to you".
While Bleed It Out was playing, it had a feeling of the last song of the night as there’s nothing else to look forward to. All of their catalogue have been used up, and I couldn’t be more right as the lights were all back once the song ended and Mr. Hahn & Rob went down from their own respective thrones to join Brad, Chester, Mike, and Phoenix.
That was it, no more encore. Please go back to your 9-to-5, face all your fuckers, back to your own self, and sleep tight. The session is now over.
Click here for more pictures.
If anything wants to be taken into account from last Saturday’s game, it only reinforces my dying hatred for those SOBs. I can’t wait for the return fixture, and really hope that we slaughter them once and for all.
It’s not a point gained for me, it’s another two points wasted.
The following events took place from October 27th to October 30th. By the way, it’s not like I’m trying to imitate this but it seems as the most appropriate way to start.
Day 1
Half day was already gone when we touched down in Bangkok, that’s why we looked forward to finding our drive to get to the hotel immediately. However, we didn’t find anyone with our names on the board like I experienced during my last visit. It wasn’t until we approached the lady who were holding a board with our hotel’s logo on it that we finally got to the car. I definitely preferred having my name on the board.
Upon reaching the hotel, I was quite surprised because the location was different from what I saw and envisaged from the map before. The hotel turned out to be located right smack in the middle of this complex, which was very fine with us because it meant that we could wander around by ourselves. And that was actually the first thing that we did after checking in while waiting for our room to be ready.
Our exploration told us that across the complex were 3 major shopping malls, a BTS sky train station, and more huge shopping malls just around the corner. Somehow I had a feeling that sooner or later we’d be heading that way.
After going to the room, we’re off to the market that I hadn’t explored properly the last time. It was there where one of my ideas came into realization and then properly crashed into pieces. To visit that place, we used the service of a taxi driver who seemed to be aspiring to replace Alonso as Lewis’ teammate.
Once we got there, we dined first at the same restaurant that I had previously, and I ordered the same food. But this time around, we were charged 100 baht more for the air that we breathed while we’re there. When we confronted the manager, he backtracked by saying that the bill was supposed to be for the other table. Another lesson learned.
We spent more than 2 hours going through every lane in all of the blocks there, and returned to the hotel with sore calf, feet, and all. But it was alright because I could still manage to watch United scoring another 4 goals. Hooray!
Day 2
We went down for breakfast around 9.30 AM and it was the very first time we experienced of having to wait for our table. The restaurant was too small, and couldn’t accomodate all of the guests. Besides that, the menu selection was quite disappointing, even though the omelette was really good.
To get to our first destination, we used the sky train which was surprisingly clean and very convenient, and one of the signs inside the train showed the importance of Buddhist monks among Thai people. The journey cost us each 35 baht and was 15 minutes long.
Unfortunately, that was also the same amount of time that we spent in the market. The place was hot, chaotic, and uncomfortable. So, we went back to the train and decided to go here instead with another 35 baht and 15 minutes were spent.
Upon arriving, you might have guessed that another retail therapy session would be in progress. It was here that we felt lucky of not bringing our shirt to Bangkok because virtually almost every shop sold it in all colours imaginable, and everywhere you turned you’d be certain of seeing someone wearing it. We even managed to see one massage parlour where all the masseurs were wearing the same shirt with the same colour!
After exploring the place up and down, we move to the hotel next door to have dinner. The menu for that night was Korean BBQ & hotpot buffet, and I could testify that it was the most delicious Korean food restaurant that I’ve tasted in my life so far. Everything went down well for our tastebuds, and it was a perfect remedy for our tired feet.
We walked back to our hotel by crossing through this, this, and finally this. It was enough retail therapy for a day, and we couldn’t wait to get back to our room.
A chocolate cake was waiting for us in the room, a gesture from the hotel to the birthday girl. It’d be nicer if it was accompanied with free stay vouchers 
Day 3
We woke up late because we were knackered from all the walking the other day, so we decided to go across the complex once we’re ready.
The first place we went was this aquarium which was amazingly located in the basement of this mall. I knew that I had to go there once I saw the "Monsters of The Deep" signage together with the giant squid picture.
The admission fee was 750 baht each and it already included a trip with glass-bottom boat, ticket to 4D movie show, soft drink with orange octopus bottle, and a bag & notebook. Not bad, eh?
It wasn’t really different with the other aquariums actually, but the sharks here were really big, scary, and quite a lot! It was an educational and fun place for the kids, and I finally saw the giant squid in the last part of the aquarium.
I expected to see a live, swimming giant squid ever since I bought the ticket. But the only giant squid that I saw was already dead, and put in an ice block with ever changing lights. It was like the squid was displayed in the middle of a discotheque. I was disappointed because all that you could see was its head, and its tentacles. Yes, it was long, but the ice block and the light blurred the full sight of the squid. I felt that if I wanted to see a dried squid, I could just head to the nearest snack store.
Once the 4D movie was over, we moved upstairs to the Food Hall for our late lunch. We took many pictures of our food, but strangely all food that I ordered tasted sweetish and not spicy or sour at all.
We spent the rest of the day inside the building, and only left for the last 2 hours of the day to go back to Suan Lum for some unfinished business.
Day 4
As our plane home left around lunch time, we just had breakfast, checked out, and went to the airport. The customs officer in my line took like forever to clear out the passport & documents, not sure what he was doing or checking there. Then, our flight was delayed about 20 minutes. It seemed all just conspired to keep us in Bangkok longer.
But we’re certain that we’d be back again in the future as there are still many places to see and things to do. Click here if you want to see some parts of our adventure.
