two steps behind

When the word “beautiful” just isn’t enough!

… yesterday’s class was the end of my first week back to school at Chulalongkorn University. Going back to school for my Master of Architecture is amongst the best things I have ever chosen to do thus far. Getting to know new people, exploring our differences and making new friends is just fun. The class was about the Methodology for Research that will help under understand how to do research properly. Aside from that, we were taught and asked to be more of a Grad-Student rather than an undergrad-Student by using vocabulary that are suitable for a Master Degree candidate.

Therefore, it seem that I may not be allowed to simply use the word “beautiful” to describe the scenery of the Zen garden and the serenity pool at Arashiyama 嵐山 – Kyoto 京都. As a result, I find the garden and to pool to be very …

admirable, alluring, angelic, appealing, beauteous, bewitching, charming, classy, comely, cute, dazzling, delicate, delightful, divine, elegant, enticing, excellent, exquisite, fair, fascinating, fine, foxy*, good-looking, gorgeous, graceful, grand, handsome, ideal, lovely, magnificent, marvelous, nice, pleasing, pretty, pulchritudinous, radiant, ravishing, refined, resplendent, shapely, sightly, splendid, statuesque, stunning, sublime, superb, symmetrical, taking, well-formed, wonderful  

Even though the list are made of synonyms, it is very amazing to see how many words are out there that can also describes the meaning of “beautiful”. Just like in nature, there are so many things out there for us to appreciate and the Japanese have done it superbly, indeed!

The walk along the path to the Bamboo Forest 竹林 in Kyoto 京都 – Arashiyama 嵐山 isn’t an easy one.

I believed that the paths were created to make it harder to access the Bamboo Forest; not to test the visitor’s endurance but to allow them to enjoy the beautiful scenery that Arashiyama has to offer! If we were to walk a straight path from the parking lot to the Bamboo Forest, it would probably take us about 10 minutes to get there. The path has instead detoured us for perhaps an additional 40 minutes, but it made it a walk to remember.

The path lead us along a river with colored autumn leaves on the hillside across the river. Enjoying nature’s serenity amongst the simple and peaceful local lifestyle made the walk extra memorable! Every step, every turn, and every view we had along the walk is simple, yet very stunning. The selection of the materials used along the walkway and the colorful autumn leaves have made the walk akin to strolling in a work of art.

Sometimes enjoying life isn’t all about getting to the desired destination as quickly as we can… because getting detoured… isn’t always just a detour!

Live life! Be lost… and enjoy the detour!

Weather and seasons in Japan are a great lesson to everyone when one pays attention to it. The seasonal circle of Spring – Summer – Autumn – Winter… is just an amazing life lesson. Japan’s weather and seasons may be seen as a life cycle or a moment in life where there are moments to begin, moments to enjoy, moments to remember and moments that end. As long as the moon still rises, the sun still shines, and the planet earth is still spinning around…

…we can be sure that the moments to enjoy and to remember will be return.

Same goes for life, so don’t sweat it!

Life is all about perspective and viewpoint. Once I came to understand the concept of the differences in perspectives and viewpoints of people, it became so much harder for me to be so judgmental towards others. Because everyone has their reasons to do whatever it is they want to do, some of us may never understand because we are not in the situation they are in. But sometimes, we just do whatever everyone is doing without knowing why we are doing it too!  Yup, this is life and there is so much more to discover.

Sometime I think that everything in life can be seen as Newton’s laws of motion as follows:

Newton’s laws of motion are three physical laws that form the basis for classical mechanics. They describe the relationship between the forces acting on a body and its motion due to those forces. They have been expressed in several different ways over nearly three centuries, and can be summarized as follows:

First law: The velocity of a body remains constant unless the body is acted upon by an external force.

Second law: The accelerationa of a body is parallel and directly proportional to the net forceF and inversely proportional to themassm, i.e., F = ma.

Third law: The mutual forces of action and reaction between two bodies are equal, opposite and collinear.

Counting down, 12 more hours… goodbye Osaka, goodbye Kyoto and goodbye Japan. Till we meet again!

It is currently 2:00 am here in Osaka, Japan but I would like to stay awake as much as possible to absorb all the Japanese’ness before it is too late!

The trip is part of the Masters of Architecture of Chulalongkorn University field trip; visiting Osaka University to exchange ideas and research topics on architecture. Let’s skip the academic stuff because… you know how technical and boring it may be! But because of this academic discussion between the universities, we get to explore so many aspects that Kyoto, Osaka and Japanese culture have to offer!

The experiences are priceless! Many of the places that we visited were on my “places to visit before it’s too late” list! The Bamboo Forest is definitely on the list along many other places that I have unexpectedly visited these passed few days.

Life is just amazing, a journey to take, places to discover, cultures to explore and memories that last.  Simply PRICELESS!

It was weeks ago when I found “Hoklee Cafe” at the Dam Nuen Saduak floating market in Ratchaburi province. I was taking my grandma and mom to visit the floating market. However, we arrived there a little bit late in the afternoon and there were not much activities left at the floating market. So we simply looked for a place to just sit and relax. We just found the cafe by coincidence! Those that often travel with elderly people must know how often the elders use the restroom. For my grandma that is 78 years old, she uses the restroom every other hour! Because of that we ran into this awesome cafe the “Hoklee Cafe” at the Lao Tuk Luck, which is a section of the Dum Nuen Saduak floating market.

Based on the information I gathered from chatting with the owner of the cafe; the cafe was a house that was passed down from generations to generations. The house’s foundation and roof has been renovated but the interiors were kept un-touched to preserve its origins as much as possible. Currently the owner has turn the house into a cafe shop for a quick stop off point for the passers-by, either by foot travel or by boat. The owner and the community of Lao Tuk Luck  are trying to rejuvenate the livelihood of the community as it was seen years ago.

Check out the Lao Tuk Luck facebook for more information and photos of the community.

My grandma was really pleased with Hoklee Cafe as it was very peaceful, calm and breezy yet classic and elegant in its own way. Be sure to ask for the Lao Tuk Luck’s community when you visit the floating market.

Good morning Bangkok, it’s currently 5:45 am in Thailand. Good afternoon and good evening to everywhere else on earth.

First of all, I am so excited to hear about the news that one of my Bangkok photos was selected as part of the “35+ Most Beautiful Cityscape Photography From Around the World” Who would have thought that a photo taken while getting ready to visit Bali last year would be selected. Be sure to visit the link ” “35+ Most Beautiful Cityscape Photography From Around the World” because the blogger really put together a nice collection of cityscapes from around the world. So many places that I wish I’ll have a chance to visit in this lifetime. I’m sure that you  feel the same too.

This is the first time that I got a chance to post on the blog in a while. Boot camp is not over yet, as I still have a few months left. However, we are allowed to use computer and have internet access from time to time. Well, let’s talk about the boot camp at another time. Today, I am sharing one of the night views taken at Pattaya, from when I had a chance to visit a few weeks ago during our 10 days break from boot camp. It was the best 10 days off ever!

Pattaya, the famous night life city that is well-known around the world. And because of it’s fame, it is quite hard to find a calm and peaceful corner of the city. Normally I stay at the Holiday Inn Pattaya, but it was fully booked. So I gave “The Zign Hotel” a try which is just a few minutes away by car from Holiday Inn. The hotel provides an amazing views and a great swimming pool to float around under the nice blue sky.

Just relax…

The rest you’d just have to be there to know about it. Enjoy the views!

P.S. The panoramas were taken by PaHn. Such an amazing view isn’t it?

As he said in a former post, Natt is now in boot camp, doing what a man should do for his country, working out for his six-pack. :p

Today, I accidentally found this website. It’s about the most beautiful photographs of big cities around the world. Guess what! The first photograph under the topic was taken by Natt. It’s a view from my balcony.

I’VE GOT ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL VIEWS OF BIG CITIES IN THE WORLD!!!!!

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unfortunately, Natt’s not going to be allowed to use mobile phone. So, I can’t tell him about this good news. Maybe I should try to write a letter.

http://www.tripwiremagazine.com/2011/04/35-most-beautiful-cityscape-photography-from-around-the-world.html

Dear readers…

Tomorrow I’ll be going for 6-months to boot camp. The boot camp has been waiting for me since I was 21.

I haven’t had much time to write or any chance to take many photos these past months due to “things” that had to be handled prior to me departing to boot camp.

Hopefully this boot camp will help me get fit & firm up my aging body.

The boot camp schedule includes 10 weeks of basic military training, 1 week of rest and another 13 weeks of working “somewhere,” as they see fit. Hopefully, I’ll have some time off to update www.TwoStepsBehind.com now and then.

The hardest part, in my opinion, is the basic training that includes running, sit-ups, push-ups, digging a hole, climbing fences… etc. Yup, that is a real challenge for me, a person that hasn’t been working out for years.

Well, a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do!

That’s just how life is… just like a tree that has to withstand anything that comes along.

Merit-making has been part of the Thai culture for generation after generation, because they believe in karma and because they are Buddhist. Good karma is gained by doing good deeds, but if that is not enough, merit-making helps increase good karma as well.

Thais make merit here and there from daily worshiping the house’s shrine, also known as Thai spirit house, to weekly visits to a temple praying for health, wealth and protection. Aside from the daily and weekly merit-making, Thais would look for a chance to do “9 temples of merit-making in 1-day”.

9 temples of merit-making in 1-day is often done on special occasions such as international New Year or during the Songkran Festival (Thai New Year), praying for a new beginning for the year and year-round health and wealth protection.

My mother and grandmother are Buddhists as well, so I had the chance to plan a 9 temples of merit-making in 1-day trip for them. For many, they would plan the trip in Bangkok, Thailand where the great grand palace located along with many popular temples that is close by to each other. Doing a 9 temples of merit-making in 1-day trip in Bangkok involves a lot of walking, tuk-tuk riding and ferry crossing from one temple to the next, because it would be unwise to drive in Bangkok due to horrible traffic.

Instead, as I have an elderly person along, I planned the trip in Ayutthaya, the formal capital of Thailand that is just an hour or so drive from Bangkok, because it would be less walking for the elder as I could drive them around from one temple to the next and also have a chance to re-explore the formal capital.

The photos selected today are the different Buddha from the following temples:

1.     Wat Phananchoeng

2.     Wat Yaichaimongkol

3.     Wat Suwandararam

4.     Wihan Phramongkhonbophit

5.     Wat Thammikarad

6.     Wat Naphrameru

7.     Wat Choengthar

8.     Wat Kasattrathirat Worawiharn

9.     Wat Thagarong

At the end of the day, my mother and grandmother felt accomplished, anew with a peace of mind and are ready to take on another year ahead.

Be sure to include the 9 temples of merit-making in 1-day as part of your trip’s plan the next time you visit Thailand

1.     Wat Phananchoeng

2.     Wat Yaichaimongkol

3.     Wat Suwandararam

4.     Wihan Phramongkhonbophit

5.     Wat Thammikarad

6.     Wat Naphrameru

7.     Wat Choengthar

8.     Wat Kasattrathirat Worawiharn

9.     Wat Thagarong

A few months back, I had a chance to visit Palio, an Italian-style village mall and I felt as if I were in Europe. Even though it looks like an Italian village, the place is filled with a variety of international foods, shops and products along its narrow walkways. The Palio has become one of the weekend getaways that is only a few hours drive from Bangkok. It is also a good place to take photos. The place is doing so well that some of my co-workers actually quit her jobs and moved to Khao Yai to open an outlet there!

So, be sure to visit Palio if you ever come to Thailand.

The photo below was taken at the Palio, that only has one “object” identifying that it was taken in Thailand.

Looks can be deceiving!
The “object” is a small and white sign written in Thai in blue and an arrow pointing to the right in red.
[ ไปดูตูด -> ] guess what does it mean?

Let me translate it directly [go look at your butt ->] !!!!! However, it’s actually a restroom sign.

“Palio  Khao Yai”, New Walking Street Shopping Center in Italian-style village mall, located among the the distinctive and spectacular views adjacent to Khao Yai National Park. Here you would experience the passion of shopping excitement of various unique products, services, venues and specialty stores to fulfill your needs and discover Italy’s charms & romance amidst the Italian façade buildings.  (http://www.palio-khaoyai.com/)

Prabad Mountain is only open to the public once a year, sometime between February to April. Hundreds of thousands of people visit the site during the 3 month period to pay respect to the Buddha’s footprint. It took us hours before we got to the top of the mountain that is more than 1,000 meters above sea-level. More photos of this fun activity can be found at the facebook public album

Next year… I will try to go again. It is said that, we should make a total of 7 trips in a lifetime.

One of the activities anyone must try when visiting Thailand during February to April.

Family @ Khao Khitchakut on SUPER MOON night.
The Schedule:

Departed from Bangbon, Bangkok: 9:00 PM (Friday 18 March 2011)
Arrived to Chanthaburi: 1:20 AM (Saturday 19 March 2011)
Total of 4 hours 20 minutes for transportation

Buy ticket for 50 Baht per person (twice) and wait for the ride
Get on the Ride from the market to the temple Entrance: 2:50 AM
Arrived at the Entrance: 3:25 AM
Total of 35 minutes for the ride

… now we walk … hike our way up!
Arrived at the Buddha’s print: 5:00 AM
Total of 1 hour 35 minutes for the hike

… and here is the view from the top.

Departed from the Buddha’s print: 5:30 AM
Arrived at the temple Entrance: 6:25 AM
Total of 55 minutes for walking down

Buy ticket for 50 Baht per person (twice) and get on the ride (not much waiting)
Departed from the temple Entrance: 6:30 AM
Arrived at the market: 6:55 AM
Total of 25 minutes for the ride

… now we just relax and refresh ourselves at the market …

Departed from the market (Chanthaburi): 7:25 AM
Arrived at Baan Rabiangmai (Rayong): 10:25 AM
Total of 3 hours including a few stops for souvenirs along the way

Departed from Baan Rabiangmai: 11:40 AM
Arrived safely at Bangbon, Bangkok: 3:00 PM
Total of 3 hours 20 minutes including a few stops for etc.

18 hours of family fun activities

Having been off from work for less than a week, I have started to miss you, InterContinental Bangkok.

The photo today is the Grande Deluxe room that I had opportunities to stay in once in a while. I’m not much of a reviewer, so I’ll leave that job to trip advisor. All I remember was, I felt relaxed when I was working at the desk with the amazing view of Bangkok behind and a wide screen LED TV with movies in front. They also provide a complimentary fresh fruit bowl, which I eat the entirety of! But the most amazing part (for me) is the rain-shower cabin! Such memorable nights!

Grande Deluxe
A 45-square metre room offering fine views of bustling Bangkok. Available with one king-sized bed, two queen-sized beds or twin single beds all with Sealy Posturepedic mattresses. Along with daily replenishment of fresh fruits, guests receive amenities such as two phone lines, iPod® docking station, in-room entertainment system including LED TV and DVD player, in-room movies, laptop-sized safe as well as tea and coffee-making facilities. High-speed internet access is available. The finely marbled and tiled bathroom contains separate shower and tub. As in all Deluxe range rooms, connecting rooms are offered. A rollaway bed is available at an additional charge.

The bakery started when my cousins and I always wanted to eat cake and pastries. Back in 1992, a bakery wasn’t easy to find and if we could find one, they would be pretty costly. So my auntie started baking cakes, breads and cookies for us from time to time.

As simple as that, our love for eating cakes turned into a bakery shop.

The shop wasn’t fancy nor trendy but simple and homely. We have never done any advertisements before.  All of our loyal customers are through word of mouth.  As for this post, it is pretty much word of mouth as well as I hope that if any of our reader ever visit Bangkok, be sure to come visit us!

For more information and our address… click the image below to be taken to the Muangsiri Bakery (facebook page)
For our Thai readers, be sure to come by and try our simply delicious cakes, breads, cookies… etc!

Looking forward to serving you soon.

Once a year, our hotel will host for a Staff Party… the time that everyone is waiting for because of all the fun activities, the performance from different departments and the secret performance from our Executive Committees! The show wasn’t the only highlight of the party but there are prizes, awards and lucky draws.

The top prize this year is… a trip for 2 to “any” country in Europe, sponsored by Kuwait Airline! Imagine that…! Such an amazing prize! The runner up are 1 gold bar and an iPad!

Unfortunately… I didn’t win any of those prizes nor any at all from the party. But I get to be one of the 4 MCs at the party. I discovered that… speaking Thai properly isn’t easy at all. I was more comfortable to speak in English rather than in Thai.

Another good opportunity that I has was that, the Staff Party committee assigned me to get a shot of the hotel which then printed 6 meters wide and 3 meters tall!… THE BIGGEST print that any of my photos has ever been printed!

After all, the photo is just part of the party and was over shadowed by the fun and all the activities that night!

Another year has passed! That was quick wasn’t it? 

The very first post of the year, just can’t be anything but the fireworks from last night’s countdown…

3….

2..

1.

Merry Christmas 2010!
I gave a simple gift for TwoStepsBehind…

the snow fall!

The festive season reminded of my very first snow experience about 2 years ago.
Simply… AMAZING!

my VERY first snow experience ever in my life! Vancouver, Canada! Just minutes into the New Year 2009!

By Natt ( September 30, 2009 at 11:57 pm) · Filed under Travel, Canada, Travel, Vancouver · Edit

Finally I got my iPhone updated to 3.0!!! So I thought I could send pics from my mobile vis MMS, but… NOPE! Whatever the reason is… I just don’t want to bother with it anymore. I couldn’t update my phone regularly via iTune because it locked to a US mobile carrier. If I were to update it normally, as I did once… the one expression I’d have is just… “EEK!” So I bring my phone to a shop at MBK, tell them my situation and they have it taken care of within the hour. Yes!!! Now I can CUT and PASTE! What else is good about 3.0? Ahh yes there is an application that allows me to BLOG on the iPhone! Sweet!

I still don’t know why the website’s server is so unstable that it is unavailable most of the time! Sigh…

Now the picture was taken at Vancouver, Canada just a few minutes after midnight on New Year 2009. It was my VERY first snow experience ever in my life! The falling snow feel greats… but the snow on the ground, does NOT!

Great times!!!

This post is all about Natt wants to show his photograph taken by his new wide-angle lenses. So he said I had to write something because this is a view from my balcony. Here we go!

Bangkok is called officially in Thai as “Krug Tep”. It means “the city of angels”.
That means “the heaven”, isn’t it?

***… and then she stop writing… (20 days later)
oh well… I guess if you want to know about Bangkok, you would need to do a little searching on the web yourselves

Bangkok… the place to be!

Choo Choooooo…!! It was a sound of the train howl while I was taking the picture of this boy. It was amazed me to see the boy who was standing by me in a train during my Japan trip. I was wondering what this boy has been doing resulted him to end up with these band-aids all over his arms and fingers! Even though I was unable to read Japanese, from the cover of the magazine with pictures of birds, flowers and gardens, I could guess that he must have been discovering a lot of new things. Wasn’t it because of his adventurous and stay discovering spirit that has kept him going forward?

Kamakura, Japan.

Photograph by PaHn
Story by Natt
Photograph edited by Natt
Story edited by PaHn

Ira Erwin once said that the GREATEST DISCOVERIES have come from people who have looked at a standard situation and seen it DIFFERENTLY.

I couldn’t agree more when I saw this little kid looking at the kitty. He might be curious that the kitty would look like a lion when he look at it up-side-down!

Wouldn’t it be amazing if we had the “eyes” as when we were kids again and had everything waiting to be discovered!

Oh wait!… Was the kid discovering a new species of a lion or was the kitty discovering him? I’ll leave that for you to decide.

Photograph by PaHn
Story by Natt
Photograph edited by Natt
Story edited by PaHn

after a long… disappearance due to loads of work, I am back just to let you know that…
Well it’s all said right in the screen capture today!.

Long story short;

WE WON.

Thank you everyone for your support and your votes! Thank you very much.
Holiday Inn Resort Baruna Bali, HERE I COME!!!!!

^______^

Enjoying the local transportation.

Friends are a gift we give ourselves. But for our Bali trip, we need your help.

What a delight it is to be at Bali with your BFFs. Right? So feel free to vote for us. )

Humm… These are photos that we (InterContinental and Holiday Inn Bangkok’s Sales and Marketing team) have submitted for a shot at a trip to Bali! Of course not all of us would get to go, but we will work something out once we win it! (Positive thinking ^_^)

Well… I am not asking much at all… just a minute of your valuable time to vote for us, once a day… for 5 days. That is only 5 minutes total of your valuable time. Your vote matters as we are competing with everyone around the world. Well, hopefully a top 10 would be awesome!

Any clicks will help!
Simply click the images above to the FACEBOOK page and click “VOTE NOW”

Thank you all for your CLICKs.
(Maybe I’ll get to go to Bali and bring back memories to share with everyone here)

Hua Hin, a district 3 hours southwest of Bangkok, is a great get away place. There you will find many hidden spots for peacefulness that you won’t be able to find in Bangkok…

Really, there is not much to write about for this picture because…

all I remember was…
the peacefulness…
the happiness…
at the simplest moment.

Just a few weeks ago, my friends and I went on a trip to Kanchanaburi, a province  2-3 hours away west of Bangkok. Our main goal was to go visit a temple that allows for an amazing tiger experience! The destination was “Wat Pa Luangta Bua- www.tigertemple.org” where we can spend our time with TIGERS up close, REALLY CLOSE! I mean, you can literally hug, pat, take pictures or anything with these tigers. I won’t get much into detail of it because… we were 15 minutes too late and the gate keeper wouldn’t let us in. Oh well, maybe next time.
And for that, we went to the Elephant Village nearby instead. The 30 minutes ride was very down to earth… it felt much longer than 30 minutes and we were glad that we didn’t take the 60 minutes tour ride. It wasn’t bad, but it was very tiring to hang on to the seat on the elephant back. The tour started of with a walk through a small jungle, then to the elephant rider’s village and to finish the tour off by a dip into the river near by. A very fun trip indeed!

Try it for yourselves!

There were days when I had buckets full of cherry tomatoes while watching a movie back in the States. Those days are gone because it is so hard to find fresh and sweet cherry tomatoes for a good deal here in Bangkok, until 2 days ago when I found them at Grossi!

I took the photo of these cherry tomatoes during a photo shoot of Guy Grossi, the famous chef from Melbourne. It was amazing to be at the set during the shoot because I got to learn so many photographing techniques. Anyway, I was carried away taking pictures of the props at the set but after looking thru all of my photos taken that day (2 days ago) I found this picture, the cherry tomatoes resting on a marble table of the Grossi Trattoria & Wine Bar at Intercontinental Bangkok to be very refreshing.

I got to admit that… half of those cherry tomatoes disappeared… but I really don’t know what happened to them!
Yumm… Sweet… Juicy… Refreshing!..

Opse… don’t tell anyone

As much as I would like to try to describe the details of the wedding, I don’t think that I could get into many details. However, there is another blog by Richard Barrow of Thai Cultures Blog, that has information regarding the Thai wedding. The blog provides very detailed insights into the Thai wedding ceremony.

I guess it would make more sense to read his blog then come back to check out the photos that I have taken on the wedding date.

Enjoy

A moment to remember…

A story of a girl whom had ventured to do her internship far away from home. There, she had met her soul mate… Jo! Their story is one to remember… Jo, a man whom had been waiting for the one and Por, a woman whom has found her prince charming at the least expected place.

… to see more of their story, please visit http://www.por-jo.com/ there, you will find a collection of their wedding photos and a MUST SEE video of their story.

On March 14, 2010 I got the chance to take picture of the Thai wedding ceremony of Por and Jo. It was amazing; the room, the location and the moment…. felt magical. The feeling of someone that is committing their life to another is just unexplainable. Yet, the feeling of the parents letting go of their daughter, whom they raised since day one, was just too overwhelming for simple pictures, videos or any words can describe those moments.

I, a mere photographer, can only try to capture those moments to share with us all.

Date: March 14, 2010
Location: The Rose Garden

The guests must have gotten me confused, as for some reason, all the guest will ask me again right asking for their table and direction. Oh well, funny enough… I became a host, greeting all the guests and directed them to their assigning table.

Oh yes! This is about June and Paul’s wedding celebration. As I was occupied with greeting the guests, I didn’t have much of a chance to take pictures, but please do check the pictures out as it was a really amazing wedding. Allow me to try to describe the experience from the guest’s perspective.

Each guest will be greeted with a photos gallery archway where the guest can see June and Paul’s pre-wedding photos taken by PaHn and I. It was a really good feeling to see our photos hanging in the archway and even better when the guests stop to look at each photo.

After the photo gallery archway, was a table with presented pre-wedding photo albums taken by a professional photographing service. A really nice album that I wish someday to have a chance to do one for a couple. The guests will then meet with the bridesmaids that helping out the event. The bridesmaids then direct the guests to a flower archway where they will take group photo with June and Paul before they were then lead to their table.

… a very lovely couple indeed!

The wedding day has finally arrived for June and Paul, but who would have known that the ceremony started at about 4:00 am!

The wedding tradition in Thailand involves the handover of the bride by her family to the groom and his family. The time of the handover, moving out from her house to move in to his house is really important. It is believed that there is a specific moment, the right time for this handover as when done properly will bring prosperity, good fortune and longevity for the couple.

The engagement ceremony for June and Paul is a Chinese one which involves a tea ceremony where June and Paul offer “tea” to the groom’s family members. This tradition is for the couple to show respect to the family and also for the family to show acceptance of the couple marriage.

The morning engagement ceremony lasted til about 11:00 am and then everyone was off to get ready for the evening’s wedding celebrations!

Having not written for a while… only means I am way too busy with work. No, I haven’t forgotten about twostepsbehind. As a matter of fact, I check the web’s stats everyday. Some of my friends and families are starting to wonder of what have I been doing here in Bangkok, Thailand.

January 09, 2010 was the first time that I get the opportunity to take photos of the lovely couple for their pre-wedding photo. It was really fun and I really enjoy seeing the couple’s love that they are sharing and caring for each other. It’s proof that… love exists!

And that was how my interest in portrait photographing began.