making final preparations

This weekend I have been busy making final preparations for my trip to Burma beginning on Wednesday 19 December 2007. My 75-litre backpack already weighs 10 kilograms! Whilst I am prepared in the sense that (I believe) I've packed everything I need, I am extremely under-prepared in terms of mentally mapping out where I will be when. I just started flipping through the Lonely Planet guide on Burma and there's just so much that I want to cover in 11 days. I plan to spend time in Yangon, Bagan, Mandalay, Inle Lake and maybe Bago - although not necessarily in that order. I will be flying to Bangkok on Tuesday night with Ethiopian Airlines and then catching AirAsia to Yangon early Wednesday morning. After that I don't know although I am likely to travel by air between the four main cities I plan to visit as opposed to wasting time on long gruelling bus rides. Fingers crossed that everything will work out!

frustrating start to weekend

Had a relatively frustrating Saturday today! I was expecting friends from Sweden this weekend. They told me that they would be arriving at 7am on Friday so I gave them my work number as they would not be able to reach me on my mobile or at home. However, I never received any telephone calls from them on Friday (and I left the office at 9pm)! When I got home last night, I sent my friend another e-mail with my home and mobile numbers. First thing this morning at 8:30am I checked my work voice mail from home and found that someone got through but did not leave a message. I know it's got to be my friends but there's nothing I could do because the hotel that they are supposed to be staying in has been closed for renovations since November. Later on in the morning at around 11:45am I checked my voice mail again and this time on two occasions someone got through but again no messages were left. However, this time I could hear people in the background speaking a language I did not understand (I presume Swedish) so I know for certain that it was my friend trying to get through. But frustratingly again there was nothing I could do! I just hoped that the next time he called he would leave a message or alternatively check his e-mail. Throughout the rest of the day I continued to check my voice mail regularly but received no further evidence that anyone attempted to call me.

In the afternoon, I played soccer with my colleagues against our professional body. We lost 7-1 and I didn't get many touches of the ball so it was disappointing.

In the evening, I watched the 3D version of Beowulf at IMAX in MegaBox. MegaBox was so out of town that my mum and I got there 20 minutes after the movie started! I hated the movie (or rather it was not my type of movie)! But for the free tickets from my colleague I would never have watched that movie. At around midnight I checked my voice mail again and this time my friend left a message telling me where they are staying. I've just called the hotel and as they were not in their room, I left a message. I will call them again shortly to sort things out for tomorrow. At the beginning of the week I had made a booking at the revolving restaurant for tomorrow so hopefully we can do that and maybe go to the peak as well if they haven't already. It would be great if my weekend can end on a high note.

I've done it!

I still can't believe it but I've done it, I've passed level 2. The funny thing was that I didn't feel any jubilation or elation after I was told that I've passed level 2, rather, I felt relieved and exhausted from the physical workout that I've been put through.

On Friday afternoon I finally got my visa to go to Burma. I was supposed to get it last Tuesday afternoon but because of an urgent matter at work, I only ended up receiving 1 hour of my afternoon leave. Anyway, I got to the embassy at 1:35pm and found the door locked. From their website I knew that they are supposed to open at 1:30pm so I called them. I asked what time they open and the receiver said 1:30pm. I responded, "Well, I'm at the door right now and it's locked, can someone please come open it!".

I got a surprise on Friday morning. I received a gift voucher for a 90-minute stress relief massage session from a client. Funny, I don't know if and how he got the impression that I was stressed and in need of stress relief! In any case, it was a very nice gesture from him. I've never had a massage in my life up to this point so I am keen to see what all the hype is with massages. I will sure let you know.