Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Krabi Day One

Once we touched down in Krabi, fellow passengers started congratulating us. It was too bad that Jimmy was too nervous that he did not ask someone to take photographs or video of the situation. Nevertheless, it will always be ingrained in my memory. :)

On the way to the taxi, when the both of us had calmed down, Jimmy started to recount the things that he had memorized prior to the proposal (something along the lines of "we have been together for more than two years now and would you give me the honour of being my wife"). And then I complained that he had actually thrown the box at me. Hehehe...

Once we reached the hotel, the receptionists were whispering to each other. When we entered the room, it was decorated as shown in the previous post, in case the bouquet couldn't be sent on board. That was when Jimmy went down on one knee and proposed in Mandarin. Awww...


Another angle of the deco on the bed.

After a short rest, we went to hunt for food near the hotel that we stayed at. We had the most delicious Seafood Tom Yam that we had in our short trip to Thailand in a nearby Dutch restaurant (the area that we stayed in catered mostly to Caucasians).



The very good Tom Yam and so-so Green Curry


After that, we wanted to explore the Ao Nang beach which is about 15 minutes' walk. The place was previously partially destroyed by the 2001 tsunami. They have rebuilt it and the place looks really good now. Along the way, these two lazy fat bums decided to rent a scooter (eventhough neither of us have a license although Jimmy used to ride a motorcycle in his Uni days). The scooter rental was only 200 baht for 24 hours! Cheap!



At Ao Nang beach

Thank goodness for this scooter!

At night, as we were walking along the touristy area, a couple from the Air Asia flight recognised Jimmy. Haha...and the lady was like, isn't he the fella who proposed on the airplane? :)

The night was still young, so I went to have cheap manicure and pedicure done. At around 8, we decided to have seafood for dinner. We chose a restaurant which looked quite good. The food and service were disappointing. The only thing good was its ambience and the dessert.


Mango with glutinous rice and coconut milk.


Thursday, March 24, 2011

Love is in Air Asia

"Ladies and gentlemen, there is a special announcement." The voice of the head steward on the flight to Krabi woke me and other passengers from our naps. We must be nearing our destination now. Hmm..Jimmy was not at his seat.

"Love is in the air," the steward, Mr. Afif, continued. "We have a special proposal here from Mr. Jimmy to his girlfriend, Ms. Jiawen."

Oh. My. God.


There was a round of applause as Jimmy walked towards me (from behind the head steward) with a bouquet of flowers and a ring in his hand. I couldn't believe it! Jimmy, who is the most un-romantic guy I've ever dated, was proposing to me in front of so many people?! People craned their necks to see who the lucky girl was as Jimmy quickly sat next to me giggling nervously.


The bouquet of flowers and ring Jimmy gave me on the plane

I couldn't believe it. My hands shook as I opened the box with the diamond ring inside. Jimmy took it and slipped it into my ring finger (he forgot to ask the all-important question). There was another round of applause as the head steward congratulated the "future Mr. and Mrs. Tan".


He slipped the ring into my finger before asking the Question.


So, that is making a long story short. LOL...

Jimmy's plan started a few weeks earlier with him asking Air Asia's help to bring up the bouquet of flowers that he got from Mid Valley (and was sent to LCCT in a taxi). At first, his request was rejected. Then, a Mr. Jonathan from the Customer Care picked up his case and agreed to help.

On the day when we were supposed to leave for Krabi, Jimmy got a phone call from his boss and numerous calls which he did not pick up. I did not think much of it as it was a Thursday. When we reached the airport, Jimmy's parents decided to park the car and wait with us. I did not think much of it also as I thought the parents wanted to have lunch with us. Jimmy went off to look for a clean toilet as he told me he had a stomachache. We waited for half an hour and I got angry because we had to check in soon.

After we had checked in, Jimmy claimed that his sub-contractor had come to LCCT to meet him as he had some urgent documents for him to sign. I believed him as his phone did not stop ringing the entire morning. So, that was how he had managed to pass the bouquet of flowers to Mr. Jonathan, who brought it into the plane, without alerting me. :)

Jimmy's original plan was for Mr. Afif to hide the bouquet of flowers in his cart and push it to us as we were nearing Krabi but he did not have a chance to tell him that before we boarded the plane. When Mr. Afif approached Jimmy and asked if he had ordered a meal, Jimmy answered "no", to which Mr. Afif tried another tactic and said that there must had been a mistake and insisted Jimmy to follow him to the front. As Jimmy realised what was going on, he became extremely nervous. Looking at the almost full plane, he forgot all his plans and all the things that he was supposed to say to me. So, when Mr. Afif asked Jimmy how he wanted him to help, Jimmy was totally blank. That was why Mr. Afif took it upon himself to announce the proposal and Jimmy forgot to ask me the question. :)

Well, it would have been a big YES anyway. But it was truly a memorable proposal. THANK YOU AIR ASIA, especially to Mr. Jonathan (from Customer Care) and Mr. Mohd. Afif (the head steward on the AK 804 flight to Krabi on 17th March 2011).

Special arrangements made by Jimmy at the hotel for Proposal Plan B.
 P/S: Jimmy went down on one knee and popped the question when we reached the hotel afterwards.  :)

Do you have any proposal stories to share? :)

Wednesday, March 09, 2011

Demoted

I am officially playing second fiddle to my 6 month old niece. My father declared it the other day when he asked if I wanted to join my mom and him for a holiday with their friends. I was happy for a while until he said that since The Precious couldn't join them because she was teething, he called me, the second Precious. -_____-"

At 2 months old. This was what she liked to do. =)

At about 4 months old, puts everything into her mouth. Even mommy's T-shirt.

Who you calling Botak Head?

Showing off her ability to turn at 5 months old.


Actually, I don't mind. She is the cutest thing! Hehe...

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

The day I almost lost Baby


Baby lost her right eye last week. It happened so fast that I didn't even realise it until the maid told me. She has been reluctant to move these 2 weeks. She is now totally blind due to cataracts to both her eyes. I've read that cataracts aren't removable on dogs. If anyone knows otherwise, please let me know.

When I called out to her on Sunday morning, she wagged her tail and came out of hiding, banging her head and body against walls. And when I looked at her, I started crying because she seemed to be on her last legs. She hadn't been eating well because she couldn't find her food or water, I think. The maid told me that Baby had been falling into the drains and did not want to come out.

While I was weeping while patting Baby, Jimmy noticed that there were a lot of flies around her. When he bent down, he saw gaping holes at her neck area and they were bleeding. My first thought was that some dog must have bitten her. I called the vet but he was in surgery and his assistant told me to call again the next day.

Monday morning came and I was preparing myself for the worst. Baby is 13 years old this year, which is equivalent to 91 dog years. I don't want her to suffer. When I reached home, the maid complained that Baby was very grumpy because she couldn't see and she would snap at the maid whenever the maid tried to get her out of drains or under the car. But the maid had already bathed Baby and got her ready to go to the vet's. By this time, Baby's wound was dripping blood and she smelled of rotten meat.

The journey to the vet's was easy as Baby sat quietly and with my hand protectively on her head. She didn't seem to mind not being able to see at that time. When I reached the vet's, he took a look at her and asked if I had time to take care of an old dog like her because many more ailments are bound to come. As much as I prepared myself for the worst, I burst into tears.

I told the doctor to look at Baby's wound first and treat that before saying anything else. It turned out that Baby had a maggot infection. It started with a small scratch wound that attracted flies to lay eggs in it. The vet tried  to pull a maggot out to show me, but Baby whined in pain so he stopped. I had two options: put Baby to sleep or put her under anaesthesia so that the vet could treat the maggot infection with the risk that she might suffer a heart attack or never wake from the anesthesia.

I called my mother and she suggested that I put her down. Why let her suffer, she asked? I was crying uncontrollably by then. I really don't want her to suffer. Jimmy shouted at me for wanting to give up on Baby so easily. I wasn't giving up on her. I cared for her too much that I can't see her suffer in old age. The vet left me alone to think about it for about an hour. A second call from Jimmy made me realise that I really couldn't give up on her so easily. She came with me to the vet happily because she trusted me. She was sitting on the surgery table comfortably because she was leaning against me and because she knew I was there. How could I put her to sleep just because I think she was suffering? She surely didn't look as though she was suffering! Uncomfortable, yes. Unable to adapt because she is newly blind, yes. But she was not suffering.

I took the chance that she might suffer from a heart attack. It's God's will if she died on the surgery table. The doctor put her under anaesthesia and she suffered from spasms for about a minute. I thought I had lost her then. But, everything was well. After a 45 minute surgery, the 20 over maggots that were about 1cm each was taken out and the wound cleared.

(Googled for image)

Baby was knocked out for about 6 hours in total. When I left that night, she couldn't move her body yet but she was blinking and wagging her tail when I touched her. Thank God for Jimmy for talking me out of making the worst decision ever!
I know in my heart that there might come a day in the near future that I might have to make the decision again. But I'm grateful for the days, weeks and months that Baby still has with us.