Welcome To Hell

A True Story by Colin Martin
 

Colin Martin is an Irish man, has a wife, 2 sons and a daughter, an engineer by profession, he was a successful man with a dream family and career. Several years later in 1994, it was a beginning of 'journey thru hell' for him. He secured a business deal in Bangkok with a large foreign corporate, not known to him, turned out to be a large fraud. So dedicated in his work, he didn't realized he was being cheated and being ripped off left to right. When the beans were spilled, it was already too late as the culprits were on their way sipping fine cocktails, spending the money. Penniless, mad, super frustrated, he decided to stay in Bangkok, ended up spending several years in Bangkok trying to find the culprits, leaving his wife and children in UK.

After 2 years, he managed to find the culprits and thought everything will be back to normal again. But he was absolutely wrong and that was the beginning of the real nightmare for him...

What happened to Colin? can be found in this book 'Welcome to Hell', a story told so intense by Colin about his life jailed in Bangkok Hilton - the most notorious prison in the entire Thailand. It is where money rules, the guards has ultimate power over the prisoners, filthy jails (feaces everywhere), men turned to men for sex, prisoners were asked to masturbate to fill the guards leisure time, super corrupt guards and policemen whom strip the prisoners' money (given by family and friends) to buy their daughter's birthday gifts, gangsterism, violence with no cause, 'cartoon' court trials and many more. How did Colin survived? Do grab the book. I found mine in 1B.

If you like true story, this is a must read, easy to understand, the type you can't put down for a break. It is an eye opening. One message Colin wants to deliver here is - Thailand is dangerous. Happy reading! *But at the same time, Thailand has its beauty side as well*

Amazing Work Done!

Amazingly and astonishingly done, this piece of work is very detailed, perfect and shiny! I can imagine the persons whose making it must be a very creative one. We asked a shop owner of this 'iron men' miniature, he said his friend made it. Sounds like the friend made it at the back of his house..maybe ada yg buat sendiri or buat di kilang...can a machine do this? i dont think so la..

nuts and bolts
taken at Jungceylon Mall, Patong
For sale, this can easily be RM10K
Mo juga masuk dalam gambar ahh...sandi
Ai ai ai.. jan jua

alien

VS

predator

Thanks to dik for the pics...

The Beach

2nd Day - Bathed, fresh and breakfasted, dik and i started the day with looking for the famous Bangla Road. Thought it would'nt be so exciting to be at Bangla Rd. in the afternoon, i am wrong, bars open and music playing. But 1st, we have to see the beach. Most pics credited to dik.Welcome to Patong Beach!

Patong Beach (photo credit: dik)
men heading to the beach, dik you should take women pictures too u know...
advertisement medium for muay thai..great match we watched on day 5..stay tune


It was a hot and sweaty day, it wont hurt to have a couple of beer in the afternoon, we chose Blue Lotus Bar
she wishes she had done this earlier....
i wish: if only beer doesnt weight people up, i would......

Only a couple of beer that's enough, we have to run for the show in Kamala Beach at 5.30
The Phuket FantaSea Show..a history of how Kamala build up until now, a mixed of traditional thai dances, modern touch i.e. acrobatic and magic show and not forgetting with special apprearance of elephants, tiger, chicken (yes), ducks (yes) and birds...... unfortunately cameras and viewcams are not allowed...oh the opening gave me goosebumps..
tickets at 2200baht each... i just love colourful things...

The Golden Kinaree Buffet Dinner...sadap gila bossMakan sudah...lapar berabis

food, water and a hungry person...lol lepas makan, biraqs.....kahkahkah

and the theatre..amazing scenery. ni gmbr dik punya..sa tia pandai edit jadi sorry loh...

That's it for the day, the show brought us to 1130pm back to Patong. We hang out again in Bangla Road after that but didn't take any pics. Back to Blue Lotus for another couple of Chang and oooh it's a totally different environment now..the night as always is more happening..more pics on Bangla Road on Day 5 but un-edited ones..hehe

FUN IN THE SUN

Day 1 - Today is 8 March. A dream came true today. I've always travelled in a group, but what is it like to travel alone or duo? I've asked myself that question and have planned to make it come true. "Thit it it" as the Thai would say it ( most can't pronounce s very well) or "This is it"! The plan is to travel duo 1st then alone. This time i travelled duo with my twin-sister a.k.a my tazmanian sister, Mandy .

Dedication to the other gangs: Didn't mean at all to opt out u guys, but this i'd like to do duo and not in a group. This is my travelling plan. Besides we have manila trip waiting for us in 2 months time!! woohooo!!

Sawadeekap.....the man behind the counter greeted me when i handed my passport and asked me to stand about a feet away from the immigration counter for the camera to capture my face. Why do i always get my baggage last? We were the last persons to get out from the baggage area. With about 3 free maps and brochures of Phuket with us, we headed to the most right end of the airport for the metered taxi. The guesthouse we booked advised us to take the metered taxi rather than the airport limo which costs us about 700-800 baht, that's about RM70 or more (RM1 = 9.6baht). Yes we saved 250baht today for the taxi to Patong Beach.

Patong beach is the busiest part of Phuket in terms of entertainment, food, people, malls, shows etc compared to other beaches. The scenery is none other than bars be it big or small, thai food and seafood outlets, massage outlets, malls, money changer, local shopping stalls, street food, u can find fastfood everywhere like McD, BK, KFC, ice cream parlours like Swensens, Hagen Daaz etc. It's a long list....! Patong is the centre of fun and entertainment in Phuket.

We arrived in Patong as early as 8am, it takes only 1 hr 15 mins to get to Phuket from KL. Early and tired from the stay up last nite in LCCT lobby (Tune Hotel is not up and run yet grrr). Fortunately, Phil allowed us put our bags in the guesthouse 1st before we can check in at 12pm (it's actually 2pm but Phil is so nice to let us in 2 hours earlier). Adonis Guesthouse is located in Patong area, i dont know the name of the street but it is just near the Royal Paradise Hotel. Phil upgraded our stay from deluxe room to studio room which is very very convenient. Everything is in the room including bathtub muahahha!

If you're tired, thai food is a must, i had my 1st meal in phuket i.e. beef noodle soup in No.6 Restaurant. Sedapsss but ada tauge..paduli sa yg penting sedap. Remember guys No. 6 Restaurant. A simple restaurant but the food is great and the service is super fast! Continued the day with jalan-jalan to get a feel of the area. Where is the beach? Haven't seen the beach yet. Both of us were very tired and sleepy now, we can only last the jalan2 until 11am so we decided to look for the beach later and brroooomm brroommm back to Adonis. Wow we can check in already and its not even 12.

zzzz....slept until 5pm (i guess) thai time..so that's 6pm m'sia time. TV was the 1st thing in mind, so many channels but most of them in Thai...and no sub-title! There are 3 movie channels only 1 in english the rest were translated to thai..i guess the TV authority does not think tourists would want to watch TV while in phuket. Hmmm tiapalah...Can't remember where we had our dinner on this nite..u remember ka dik? ko tau la sa ni bangas mungkin memory sa.. I remember buying microwavable food from 7-E hmmm...anyway i know i had food since i survived the nite hehehe...The nite scene is colourful with all the neon lights. Ah now i remember we had thai food in a local stall, nice tom yum goong! Yes i remember now, we tried to find the night market in Soi Sai Namyen but couldnt find it. Actually we had to just turn right from the traffic lite, but when we reached the traffic lite, we didnt know where to go so we headed back. Hmmm..that's what Napoleon Hill said 'dont stop cos u r an inch away from the gold'..pa bulih buat la.
On our way back, there was a bar which played good songs so we stopped by and had a couple of Chang beer before we continue our jalan-jalan. Besides Patong beach, there are other beaches like Kata, Karon, Kamala, Nai Harn etc. It is definitely worth to go to Kata and Karon which i will tell u guys in my next post. Till then..

Love moves in mysterious way

Who'd have thought this is how the pieces fit
You and I shouldn't even try making sense of it
I forgot how we ever came this far
I believe we had reasons but I don't know what they are
Don't blame it on my heart, oh

Cho:
Love moves in mysterious ways
It's always so surprising
When love appears over the horizon
I'll love you for the rest of my days
But still it's a mystery
How you ever came to me
Which only proves
Love moves in mysterious ways

Heaven knows love is just a chance we take
We make plans but then love demands a leap of faith
So hold me close and never never let me go
'Cos even though we think we know which way the river flows
That's not the way love goes, no

Cho:
Love moves in mysterious ways
It's always so surprising
When love appears over the horizon
I'll love you for the rest of my days
But still it's a mystery
How you ever came to me
Which only proves
Love moves in mysterious ways

Like the ticking of a clock two hearts beat as one
But I'll never understand the way it's done, oh

Cho:
Love moves in mysterious ways
It's always so surprising
When love appears over the horizon
I'll love you for the rest of my days
But still it's a mystery
How you ever came to me
Which only proves
Love moves in mysterious ways

But i believe.....

Follow my Dream, but which one?

That is the essence of the new book by Paulo Coelho entitled The Winner Stands Alone. It will soon be released in March but it is already available online for all readers all over the world. What does Paulo said about his new book?

"One of the recurrent themes of my books is the importance of paying the price of your dreams. But to what extent can our dreams be manipulated? For the past decades, we lived in a culture that privileged fame, money, power – and most of the people were led to believe that these were the real values that we should pursue".

"Yes, you may reach the goal society has fed you – but will you be satisfied? Will you be whole? Will you be in peace? This cycle of possession never ends – because the moment that you think that you have reached your goal another desire creeps in. And how can you find rest when it is the hunt that moves you?"

"....We are part of the solution, if we go back to the real values of life, being “follow your dream” the most important of all. Not the dreams of the Superclass. Not the dreams of our parents, or our partners. We should be what we always wanted to be".

You can read Paulo's full comments on his new book here

I have always been telling myself to follow my dream and pay the price of this dream. Prayer sets in almost everyday, if not in a form of a dialogue, always in a form of monologue conversation with...i guess, my own soul. Years of reading books by succesful people like Napoleon Hill, Robert Kiyosaki and Paulo himself feeds me the same pattern of how to fulfill dreams. I'm working on it or maybe i thought i'm working on it. Lately i question whether my pursuit of happiness is the right dream or am i working myself in conformance with the society which are, and always will be, fame, money and power? Maybe i'm not but will my desire be eaten as such? Definitely looking forward to reading this new book. Fiction yet based on real issues which i believe will give it a new perspective.

- a book does not change a person, but it provokes thoughts and action -

Paulo Coelho

The 1st chapter of The Winner Stands Alone....

The 2nd chapter

The 3rd chapter

The 4th chapter

That's it, I had enough!

I wish i can say that to my boss but who will pay my salary after that? I am sooo bored here in Sandakan..oh i know, i can resign from my job and be jobless for a period of time. What would it feels like hmmmm...My parents will be furious but that's if i stay with them. If i stay by myself, then it would pretty much cost me some $$ right..If i stay with friends, they would run away from me ahah..What if i go to NZ and work my butt off the way i can't even imagined or maybe it will turn out to be something good. God please help me! Give me your strong sign i mean strong sign that i should leave, Amen.

There you go, i posted something...lol ;-p