Sawatdee Khrup!

So after my internship has ended on 01 August, i left for Bangkok on 03 August.

Our flight was at 6.30am and i only reached the airport at 3am++ after hours of dance practices and night supper later...

Day 1 (03 Aug 2008)

After an uncomfortable 2 hour 20 minutes of flight on the budget air, we arrived at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport at around 7.45am.

Took a cab and went to our hotel directly. It was real early, but they allowed us to check in though.

The Tivoli Hotel::Our room
Spacious and nice room::Even the bathroom is nice
The hotel we stayed in was a boutique hotel, but it is below S$100 per night though. Doesn't sound budget, but it sure is comfortable.

After some sleep, we got out of the hotel to start our tour. Taking the hotel's tuk tuk to the nearby MRT station, we went to Chatuchak Weekend Market.

The hotel's tuk tuk service::Empty train station
Walking alone the open market::And the shelter area
The weather was real hot and there were many people. This market is too big and is said to have over 10,000 stalls. But the stuffs they sold can be similar at each area...

Crowded eatery::Glass bottle of Coke and my fried rice
Chatuchak Park::Some monument in the middle of the park
Had lunch, walked around for 3+ hours, bought a few cheap bargains and left the place.

Another empty MRT station::Some street market
Sweet and sour fish for dinner::Carrefour
Without any plans, we ventured into some shopping malls where we had dinner, before going to Suan-Lum Night Bazaar which is near our hotel..

The night market entrance::Some fake structure
Supper and beer at some nice restaurant with nice ambience
The night market is somewhat different from Chatuchak's but since it was near to our hotel, we only 'see see look look' and planned to go back again another night...


Day 2 (04 Aug 2008)

This day was reserved more for sight-seeing, so off we went again on the MRT and later transferred to their skytrain, BTS.

The ticket and ticketing machine. So old school::Transferring from MRT to BTS
Their platform::The train
And we arrived at one of their ferry pier to board the ferry along the Chao Phraya River. The ferry would bring us to the many temples that can be found along the river..

The ferry::Waiting area
The paper ticket::Inside the ferry
First, we visited the Grand Palace that also has a temple residing within the complex. But we only stayed in the free area and didn't buy any tickets to visit. Ha.

Funny looking trees::The temple
Grand palace complex

And then we proceeded to the next temple, Wat Po where the reclining Buddha is..

The giant reclining Buddha
Placing coins in each container
In the temple, there are several structures they called it the chedi. I don't really know the significance behind the structures, but they looked interesting.

Then, we settled for lunch in an eatery just beside the river pier...

There are 91 chedis in the temple complex::With the 4 largest chedis
Wat Arun across the river::Eating by the river
And took another ferry to cross the river to the opposite to visit Wat Arun, also known as the Temple of the Dawn..

The ferry
Wat Arun from afar

Wat Arun close up::Magnificent structure
Climbing to the top::The top view

The structure of Wat Arun is actually very tall. Climbing up the near vertical steps can actually induce vertigo.

Beneath the structure::Sitting on the base stairs
Towering::The peak
Grabbing for life::Looking down
Bottom to top
Then we took the ferry back to where we started and ventured to the next place...

Signs at the pier::Their wet market
High rise buildings along the river
The Victory Monument::Fashion Mall
Beer again::Live performances

We were back at Suan-Lum Night Bazaar again where we had dinner while watching live performances. More shopping again afterwards.


Day 3 (05 Aug 2008)

This day was also for sightseeing. First stop was the Hua Lamphong Train Station. Nothing much actually. It was just a visit that was along our way to Chinatown...

The interior of the station
The trains
The streets of Chinatown
Narrow alley with shops
With time to spare, we took the ferry again and traveled from one end to the other. The entire journey took like 1 hour but at least we could rest and look at the scenery along the river.

The Memorial Bridge::Endless floating plants along the river
Rama VIII Bridge::Setting sun

At night, went to a shopping mall and also the Patpong Night Market. It was more shopping for bargains.

Sumptuous KFC dinner::Patpong night market
The stalls::On tuk tuk back to hotel

There are also several night clubs and pubs beside the night market where one can watch the 'GoGo' girl and 'Thai Girl' shows. But we didnt watch any. Haha.


Day 4 (06 Aug 2008)

Shopping was reserved for this day. Taking the MRT and Skytrain again, we were on the shopping district...

The National Stadium in the background::Sheltered walk-way above the roads
MBK shopping center::Inter-locking rail tracks

So basically we went MBK Center which has all the cheap and bargainable stuffs.

While more high-end brands and boutiques are found in Siam Discovery, Siam Center, Siam Paragon and Central World which is the largest shopping center around, we didn't really buy much...

Siam Discovery::Siam Center
Siam Paragon::Central World
After hours of walking, we had a quick dinner before rushing back to our hotel....

Chicken strips and burger for my dinner
Back at hotel, we have a spa appointment. Since it was the last day already, we gotta relax and relieve our muscles from all these travelling for a while..

The Tivoli Spa
The room
I had Crystal scrub, ginger wrap, and massage. Though the scrub could be painful, the wrap very scorching due to the ginger use and the massage quite mild, it was still some form of relaxation. Ha.

With some time to spare after the spa, we went back to Suam-Lum Night Bazaar again for some last minute shopping and to spend all our Thai baht away. Haha.


Day 5 (07 Aug 2008)

Waking up at 5am+ to check out of the hotel and check in at the airport for our morning flight back to Singapore.

Reaching the airport::The waiting area
My Burger King breakfast

Well overall, the trip was rather slow-paced and not rushing here and there. It was good in a way.

And i realised i ate a lot in this trip, it was definitely more that what i had posted in this entry. Haha.

I yearn for more overseas trip......

Pseudo-holiday

1 week of school has passed, and i still felt like having holidays.

Maybe this is how a 2-day week feels like.

Despite that, i still went back to school everyday, to the extend of leaving school only at late night.

Well, final year project, design project and another 2 modules' projects will start soon.

I see a busy schedule coming.


Anyway, yesterday was audition for O School Recital.

Through such event, it is not difficult to realise it is always a world with 'one mountain higher than the other' in existence.

But, it was fun and for fun though. Haha.


Actually, it was a good chance to learn by joining more, but too bad, we didnt realise early... Ha.

On Interning

1 August marked the last day of my 12-week internship.

Well, some would choose a 24-week attachment rather than 12-week, citing reasons such as being able to learn more and that the company is more willing to teach.

Yes, they are true. But that doesn't mean a 12-week internship will half the amount learned. What matters most is the experience, regardless the length.

My internship company::The relatively small office
My tidied desk before leaving::My pass
In the desk-bound 12 weeks, though they didnt really follow the training schedule due to 'unforeseen circumstances', I still managed to learn from the numerous small tasks here and there.

Since my company is dealing with water treatment related projects, naturally i was able to learn much from this industry.

One interesting experience would be the visit of skid fabrication workshop.

Skids are like separate structure which parts of the water treatment processes are built upon. For instance, one skid can be for chemical dosing where pipes, valves, pumps are built on steel structure and such structure allows easy transport and installation on actual site.

A chemical dosing skid::Valve tags
Reverse Osmosis module trains::Skid fabrication workshop
But this also mean they have to be designed properly such that they are able to connect to other skids with proper alignment of pipes and such. Just like jigsaw puzzle.

Other significant experience will be the opportunity to visit the Singapore International Water Week convention at Suntec City in June. Actually, it was an exhibition where all other water industry-related companies will be present, showcasing their technology and products.

The Singapore International Water Week Convention::My Pass
Jar test apparatus::Flocs forming
It was definitely a good time for all to network and learn.

Another interesting task was to assist in jar test. Well, to know the type of chemicals and the concentration to use for optimum floc-forming and coagulation will be through a jar test.

Varying known amount of chemicals are added to each jar with the water required to be treated and mixed and observed.

It was very amazing how the flocs will just appear only when you started to mix them, and not at the point when you added the chemicals...

Small flocs and big flocs
But at the end of the jar test, report has to be done. Luckily i wasn't ask to do it. Ha.

Overall, the internship experience was good, though i wish more can be done.

But it is also through such experience that i came to realise how tough engineering work can be. It is not the kind of work done but the amount of work to do.

It just isn't easy.


I'm glad it is over. I can't imagine if it is 24-week instead.

Project Summer on Sand

Held at the East Coast Park on 26 July, this is actually a charity/volunteering event organised by SMU and we were invited to perform.

It was morning, cloudy and breezy and the SMU students made up the main crowd in fact.


Our item was nothing new, but smaller in size to fit the small stage.

Overall, the performance was average i guess, mainly due to the environment and set-up.

We still need to learn and gain more experience.


School starting soon. Sheesh..

Break's Over

Ha, I just came back today from a short overseas trip right after the end of my internship..

Location? I shall talk about it next time.

Meanwhile, I've taken several nice pictures and maybe one can easily realise where i went from these preview photos. Ha.





School is starting soon, and i still have a lot of things to do or needed to do.

Just like after getting home from the flight back, i went out again in 1 hour time. That's how packed my schedule is.

Oh well.


Maybe a 2-day school week is good for me?

Time Out

12 week of internship has finally ended.

At first i still felt a bit sad since i'm leaving the company, leaving the people already, but when i told myself, if given the choice to stay another week, i will definitely not stay. Then i'm glad im leaving.

That's how fast it took to change my mood.

12 weeks seemed very long or short, depending how one sees it.

But i guess, it is enough.

Time for a break.


I shall talk more about my work next time. Haha.