Thoughts beyond my life & my travel - Bel

I joined one of the local lawn bowling associations to play in a competition yesterday. I couldn't recall I played lawn bowl that seriously. I usually talk and make some jokes when playing with friends. But the players were so serious. I didn't know how come I had the "bad luck" to have such a painful right shoulder yesterday morning. It added some challenges to my first debut not to mention that I didn't practice for a month. It's funny that I knew nothing about what's the competition about. How the teams were paired up and how it's like. I even asked what my team member name was and what was the team we're playing against. The player in the other team probably was surprised how come I knew nothing about that association and how many games our team has played so far. Never mind. I'm happy that it turned out I didn't play that bad at all.

I had been to Thailand a few times. Bangkok and Chiang Mai are my favourite. No matter how notorious Pattaya is, I thought that I should give it a try and make a fair judgement myself. What I can say is that I don't think I will come back to this city again. The beach is full of rubbish and so touristy. The city is a bit backwards and very adult. People seem to be more interested in meeting gals in the bars, seeing those adult shows or tranvestite performance. I just didn't feel comfortable spending my vacation in such an environment. Is it globalization that makes thai people less friendly too?

I missed the squash tournament held in Hong Kong last time and it's great to see those world squash players to compete again. To my surprise, I found out more about squash this year, here's the list: * almost all players put their websites on their t-shirts / tops * thanks god, the squash shoes look a lot more fashionable and even cool. It's not white, plain squash shoes anymore. * look at the gold racket / racket bag that few players used * cameron pilley is cute. I enjoyed watching him playing a lot though he's lost to james willstrop. The speed of the game was just incredible. He even showed the audience his sense of humour. * Rachael Grinham & Natalie Grinham are sisters but one represents Netherlands, another one represents Australia. * the squash court was incredibly crowded. Wish we have a court really for the tournament. I have back pain after sitting for hours!

I was recommended to visit a coffee shop in Vancouver which is famous for its coffee drawing. I couldn't make it as my Vancouver trip was so packed last time and I didn't care looking for a coffee shop doing this. Now I definitely like to visit the coffee shop as someone made a special request for a special coffee drawing for me. It's definitely a "wow". I heard that the coffee was so much better than Starbucks, too. So, coffee fans, visit Caffe Artigiano next time you're in Vancouver next time.