One of the biggest draw about going home is seeing my old friend, Maxwell again. He is such a sweet , sweet, darling not-so-little boy and has been with the family for about 9 years now. This is one cat that’s always up for a little bit of misadventures at times with his super friendly and trusting nature. Currently, he is a little on the obese side rolling in at about 10kg so far

This bugger likes to sprawl around at home or on his chosen human lap when he is not out of the house. He has this funny habit of meowing rather loudly at anyone who walks past him without petting him if he so happens to sprawl in your way and you ignore him. It is really funny to watch him do that and shock whoever that person in question is – it’s as if he does not like you to trespass his area without a simple hi. Usually, he’ll purr rather than meow in annoyance at you if you just give him a pet or scratch on his head when you happen to walk past him as he sprawls away.

He is also one of those cats who takes an instant liking to Silver Bullet. I am certain he recognizes me as his human choice once when I’m home as he does call for the needful attention. But somehow, he seems to struggle in making his decision of who he should be focusing on when he finds me sitting next to Silver Bullet. While he walks towards me, looks at me and purrs with one paw on me, he has his other paws and backside on Silver Bullet as if to say to me, ” I know I know you and I do like you…but I kinda also like him too. Maybe a bit better“. No bonus points for guessing who Ah-Max decides to snuggle up to in the end. Ahhh! The antics of a cat.

It only took a few minutes to miss Singapore and the entirety of its modern, civilized and efficient world the moment we set our foot back into Thailand’s soil and, into the arms of annoyingly grumpy-mr-know-it-all Bangkok’s taxi drivers. The ride home was less than pleasant as our cabbie took us for a bunch of tourists who doesn’t know our way around and nagged at us throughout the journey for not telling him the “right” location. It’s as if we don’t know where we live and as if it’s our fault that he misunderstood what we told him earlier at the airport. While we insisted on going to our right location, he kept insisting on another “right” location of where we want to go. It would only take one wrong turn to get stuck in rush-hour traffic for more than 2 hours if Silver Bullet hadn’t argued of the cabbie’s “right way”. We had a moron of a taxi driver and literally had to endure an earful of Thai gibberish and abuse as he scolded us for telling him the “wrong way” all the way home from the airport.

Times like this, I can’t help but compare how different it would be if this is Singapore. It is really so much easier to get around in good ole Singapore where people are more civilised. Thailand still has a long way to catch up. That’s why it’s always good to get out of crazy Bangkok every so often and remind myself that no matter what it sets out to be, Thailand is still a third-world country. And so, I have to adapt accordingly and be reminded once again that inefficiency and ineffectiveness is once again the norm, has to be accepted and any form of courtesy and kindness is a bonus.