A trip to Osaka, Japan wouldn’t be complet without a visit to The Umeda Sky Building (梅田スカイビル Umeda Sukai Biru). When possible, I always try to visit the city’s tallest landmark building to get an overview of a city. This may be the result of my favorite childhood game, SimCity, where we always get a Bird Eye’s view when building the city. The Umeda Sky Building is the must visit when you have a chance to visit Osaka, Japan

Located in the Umeda district of Kita-ku, the building was originally conceived in 1988 as the “City of Air” project, which planned to create four interconnected towers in northern Osaka. Eventually, practical considerations brought the number of towers down to two.

The 173 m (568 ft) building was designed by Hiroshi Hara.^[2] It was constructed by Takenaka Corporation and was completed in 1993.^[3]

The building features a rooftop observatory, The Floating Garden Observatory, as well as an underground market that attempts to recreate the atmosphere of Osaka in the early 20th century.^[4] At the base of the towers is an urban garden with walking trails and water features. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umeda_Sky_Building

It is really amazing when we see a tiny dot of light (vehicle) moving around stripes of black lines (streets). But it really come to self-realization that I and everyone else are part of this amazing planet. There are so much out there to explore, to visit, to experience… to live and to enjoy life.

Sometimes, most of the time, I can’t believe how time can passed by so quickly! My last blogging was way back in December 2011, and I was so busy since then with my Masters of Architecture – Hospitality Design and Planning in addition to working at the Plaza Athenee Bangkok, A Royal Meridien Hotel as a Marketing Communication Assistant Manager.

Anyway, now that I have more time to actually look thru countless photos that were taken during the Japan trip, I was amazed as I had almost forgot that I actually visited Japan last December. Moreover, I wonder how I could possibly remember all the countless places I have visited if it weren’t for my Canon Rebel EOS digital camera that always wanders thru places with me whether it be in the back of a truck, hanging off an edge of a building and much more places I couldn’t imagine myself doing before. Life is fun, only when you have time for it!

The photo today is The Great Kinkaku-ji (金閣寺, Temple of the Golden Pavilion) in Kyoto.

Kinkaku-ji (金閣寺 Temple of the Golden Pavilion^?), also known as Rokuon-ji (鹿苑寺 Deer Garden Temple^?), is a Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto,Japan.^[2] The garden complex is an excellent example of Muromachi period garden design.^[4] The Muromachi period is considered to be a classical age of Japanese garden design.^[5] The correlation between buildings and its settings were greatly emphasized during this period.^[6] It was a way to integrate the structure within the landscape in an artistic way. The garden designs were characterized by a reduction in scale, a more central purpose, and a distinct setting.^[7] A minimalistic approach was brought to the garden design, by recreating larger landscapes in a smaller scale around a structure.^[8]

It is designated as a National Special Historic Site and a National Special Landscape, and it is one of 17 locations comprising the Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto World Heritage Site.^[9] It is also one of the most popular buildings in Japan, attracting a large number of visitors annually.^[10] It has also been made widely familiar as being featured in a photograph in the desktop picture art of Apple’s OS X computer operating system, labeled simply as “Golden Palace”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinkaku-ji 

Founded in 1398, the temple still stands as it once was and as beautiful as it was designed to be hundreds of years ago. I truly admire the Japanese dedication to preserve the temple for the later generations to enjoy so that they will always remember their parents or grand parents who made them who they are today.

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