tripping in asia

Since budget airlines broke wind in our Asian neck in the woods, people I know left right up down and off centre have gone for, are taking or are planning intermittent trips cum mini breaks like they would to the shopping arcades.

After leaving left her previous job, Zanissa spent dreamy mornings in Vietnam and brought back Viet coffee for us. Likewise, Nicholas the trekking honcho in my Kelantan trip will be fumbling towards Indochine ecstacy this coming Vesak too. Some unexplored mountain ridge sans landmines, I believe.

Whereas Sabby just came back from that Eternal Sunspot of Teresa Teng's Demise and despite having had a ball of a time there, complains she's gotten 'fat and broke'.

I don't know about her but saying 'fat and broke' in the same breath gives people wrong ideas. Very wrong ideas. Hehehe...

My sis flew off yestermorn for shopping in ballsy Bangkok (pun intended). I expect she'll lug a boutique sans the kitchen sink back. And Ike has already banged up his 'extra curricular programme' for June.

Gen and Wee must be feeling pretty peachy in beachy Bali now: Wee on work assignment and Gen assigned for company and to work the 'sweat' shops. Sweating from the bargaining, no less. Nevertheless, I can't think of a tighter couple.

Moi? I'm still waiting for KL to happen. Flight - or rather coach *sheepish look* - delayed. But I'm sure Badawi won't mind if I drop in a tad later for tea...

It's the latest buzz.

Like it used to be 'Let's have pancakes at Beauty World' and now it's 'Let's have salmon sashimi for beakfast in Bangkok on Saturday'.

Or 'I went for a facial yesterday' has become so passe that now it's 'I washed my hair in Bali last night'.

Know what I mean?

While I would love to take a leaf (I'm on 'leaves' everyday now anyway) from these good fellas I want to maintain my ideal itinerary though.

Bali? I'll go back there in a beat cos I had such fond college memories from my last trip. It was like touring with the cast from Dallas and Falcon Crest, but that's another story...

Bang the cock? Maybe. I'm gunning more for Phuket or Phi Phi.

Le Vietname? Desolee, non merci, un autre fois dans un autre vie, peut etre...

I'll never go to Hong Kong. I don't fancy China at all, but not Tibet. I'm not wowed by Japan. I hate Korea. I loath Taiwan.

I'd love to see the Philippines. I'm curious about Nepal. I like Fiji. I'm interested in Papua New Guinea. I think Malaysia has many unsung gems. I don't mind Indonesia.

Then again, I change my mind easily. So never say never.

That's for the mini breaks.

The real die-die-must-go-once-in-a-lifetime-when-first-prize-lottery-strikes get away trips for me?

1. France - bread and pastry, gay Paris, lavender in Provence, escargot, Merlot and Cabernet, grapes in Loire, TGV, Pyrenees, Mont St Michel, soak atmosphere, stalk Juliette Binoche, watch, sit, breathe.

2. Holland - tulips, Vermeer and museums.

3. Russia - Trans-Siberian Railway, St Petersberg, Moscow underground train station, GUM (for shopping, not chewing hor).

All I need now is someone who knows how to rob a Swiss bank and get away with it...