ECQ Retreat 2006 : Day 2

Had only a couple of hours (or so) of sleep before being awaken by an earlier than usual morning call, at 530 local time (i.e. 630am Singapore time). It was from D's client as there were some glitches back in sg. Slept for another hour before the actual morning call came, by which I had already woken up. Washed up, had breakfast, and then proceed to the check in room for the game briefing. The teams set off at around 915am.

I had chosen to follow the team of Uncle Chong, Hui Lam, Templar, Boon Chan and Jovine. The teams had to take group photos with / at certain items / places as indicated by the clues. There were some tasks and items in which they could perform and collect respectively.

The team set off for Amari Watergate Hotel first.

Along the way, HL manage to take the pic of the various taxis on the road, as part of one of the tasks.

Then we found some locals who were not shy from wearing the specs with ECQ$.

Also went a few other places for the group photos.

Took a cab back to hotel when it was almost 12 noon. They were the third team to be back. However, the team finished fourth overall after the score were tallied. By the time the last team returned, it was about 1245pm already and we were all taken to a restaurant for lunch. WK made a brief speech after lunch and some of the new staff were given time to introduce themselves.

It was free and easy after lunch. D, Irene, S and me went MBK for some shopping. We walked all the way from the restaurant, as the local tour guide says it is within walking distance. On the way there, changed some S$ to THB, as I've known that this money changer was offering a better rate than the others from my last trip. That time we did not change our currency here.

Shopped for a while at MBK before D and I decided that it was better to split up with the gals as we were looking at different stuff. Arranged to meet up again at around 5pm to buy some local food. Meanwhile D and I walked a bit then went down to take a break and snack at Baskin Robbins. I bought a pair of 3/4 shorts at MBK.

After getting back to the hotel to put our stuff from shopping, the same 4 of us went to a nearby massage parlour for a Thai traditional massage. Finally get to do it this time round as I never died on my last trip. 300 THB for a 2-hour session seems pretty good value for money.

It was dinner after that, where XY also joined in. We took a cab down to Tawan Daeng for dinner, which costs us THB150 (with additional THB40 highway toll... ... ... and the return trip only cost THB80).

The place was quite crowded when we reached. There were no table available inside. So we took a queue number and waited. After a while, we decided to take a seat on the outside and the waitress would let us sit inside the pub once there is a table available. We did not order too much food as the table was too small to accomodate so many dishes. Then we got a table inside halfway through our meal. But we did not get a good seat, as we couldn't see the stage from where we were sitting. Although the main performance has ended, there were still some singing performance on and off. We also ordered a litre of beer.

By the time we finished our dinner and got back to the hotel it was already around 1am, which was time to zzz....