Songkran in Singapore

Just not long ago I was unhappy at not being able to make it to Thailand for Songkran festival due to time schedule, although I had booked the air tickets not long after I returned from Nakhon Nayok last year. Today, however, I had a short taste of being in the festive mood again locally.

This afternoon, after buying some art material at Bras Basah Complex, I decided to take a detour to Golden Mile Complex for a while before going back. Being the "Little Thailand" of Singapore, I thought there would be some sort of celebration going on. And indeed there is. The moment I reached the area, even before I stepped into the complex itself, I already saw many Thai people with their face powdered; a sign that there was water splashing activities going on.


The main water splashing "zone" was inside Golden Mile Complex itself. I was surprised when I see that the floors of the first and second stories totally wet due to all the water splashing going on. I don't even remember seeing people splashing water in shopping malls or commercial buildings in Bangkok! Anyway the floor of the first storey is so wet that almost half of my feet were submerged in water.


This is the first time I saw so many Thais in Golden Mile Complex and its surrounding areas, so much so that I almost thought I was in Hat Yai or Phuket. The festive spirit was strong, but relatively milder than in Thailand. For one thing, the celebration of Songkran is only restricted to the Thais and those who like Thai culture, hence the "water splashing troops" do not simply splash at anyone, but only at those who showed interest in their activity. When I initially arrive at the mall, nobody "disturbed" me even though I walked among them, but the moment I started taking pictures of these people in action, I got splashed and powdered.


Now, having had a mini Songkran celebration locally already, I felt much better. But even then, I am still not quite happy that my air ticket was wasted. Hopefully next year I'd have the chance to go again!

สวัสดีปีใหม่แด่เพื่อนทุกคน!

Hectic Sunday: Potato Live In Concert

After our performance at Chong Pang Community Club, I quickly removed my makeup and made a dash to Golden Mile Complex to catch my favourite Thai rock band, Potato in concert. Luckily, I arrived there at 10 minutes past 11, which means I only missed out 10 minutes or so of the show.

As the concert was held in a discoteque, there was a cover charge of $25 per person. It was sort of expensive for me, since I can't consume the beer that comes with the cover charge as I was riding a motorbike, and secondly I won't be staying throughout the entire concert as I wasn't feeling really well, and that I still had to work the following day. Nevertheless, I still paid for the admission, since it won't be easy to catch Potato in Singapore!

The discoteque was already packed with lots of people, just like what a friend of mine had fore-warned me. I managed to find a good spot quite near to the stage, but then the distance was still too far for me to actually video-record clearly the band performing on stage. Potato is a really good band, and they managed to make the people on the dance floor high. The group of people behind me enjoyed the music so much that they were jumping up and down while singing loudly to the songs. I guess Pup, the lead singer, noticed them too, as he kept pointing towards my direction from time to time during the songs. I wanted to be as crazy as them, but I can't, as I had completely lost my voice due to my flu, and that I don't really know the lyrics to all their songs and hence am not able to sing along.


Potato singing รักแท้ ดูแลไม่ได้ (Ruk Tae Doo Lae Mai Dai)


Potato singing ไม่ให้เธอไป (Mai Hai Ter Pai)+ กล้าพอไหม (Glaa Por Mai) medley

I was enjoying myself, but alas, it was soon midnight and I had to leave unwillingly. The news of this concert came to me out of a sudden, and hence I wasn't able to plan in advance. If I had known of this concert long ago, I could have requested off day for the following day as well to "recuperate" my health. Hopefully I can catch Potato again live, and it was indeed a unforgetable experience attending their concert!


Original MV for ไม่ให้เธอไป (Mai Hai Ter Pai)


Original MV for กล้าพอไหม (Glaa Por Mai)


Original MV for รักแท้ ดูแลไม่ได้ (Ruk Tae Doo Lae Mai Dai)

Potato Is Coming To Singapore!

Lately, I have been seeing posters of Thai pop group Potato being pasted in parts of Golden Mile Complex, the place where I work. However, a few days, I noticed that the posters had been amended to include some text. Upon reading, I realised that they are coming to Singapore soon to perform!

I got to know of this fantastic group in 2003 when I was browsing through some CDs in a music shop in Bangkok. I came across their album "Go... On", and it was available for preview listening. I found the tracks in the album very nice, and instantly bought it, although I had no idea what they were singing. Anyway, this five-man band album was one that had many ups and downs in their music career as they have experienced two changes of members over 5 years. The first change took place somewhere before their release of their second album (which was in fact "Go... On"), when their lead singer Pee passed away in a freak accident, and another member Nuch (guitarist) left the band to concentrate on her studies. Pup, the other lead singer at that time, became the main lead singer while two new members, Win and Ome, were recruited into the band subsequently to replace the two empty slots in the band. However, by their third album "Life", which was released in 2005, another pioneer member, Note, left the band as well. Now, Potato was reduced from a quintet to a quartet. Hopefully the one another pioneer member Bom won't be the next to go, neither do I want to see any change of blood again!

Back to Potato's performance in Singapore, they are scheduled to perform on 26th November at Thai Disco in Golden Mile Complex at 11pm. I was very excited, as I finally had the chance to meet them in person. But the only problem was that I had a performance on that night, and even if I rush down to Golden Mile Complex straight after my show, the place would be too packed by the time I arrive. I'm still considering if I should go attend this concert, as if I don't go, I don't know when will they be coming to Singapore again, and it's not quite possible for me to fly all the way to Thailand just to catch them in concert!