To construct something takes researching, understanding, planning, designing, engineering, refining,… the list goes on! To construct anything will definitely take time. Lots of time. However, the end result will definitely pay off nicely. IE, these men are spending days and nights to build a bridge for train tracks. Once the bridge is complete, the train then can go to many more places that it could before because of the river that prevented it.
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in ones favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets: ‘Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it! Boldness has genius, magic, and power in it.’” –W.H. Murray, of the Scottish Himalayan Expedition
Dreams… are no different from the trains on tracks moving forward… Never backward.
photo taken during a boat trip at Chachoengsao, Thailand.
It is confirmed that Zen, a section of the Central World Shopping Mall, has collapsed due to fire. The building was set on fire today by the anti-government protesters. This building is only one of many buildings that they set on fire!
Bangkok will never be the same after today. Many significant places and buildings were destroyed by terrorists. Hence, the curfew is being enforced between 8:00 PM – 6:00 AM until further notice.
The Wat Phra Prathom Chedi in Nakorn Phrathom is the house of the remains of the great Buddha since… I don’t really know when. After doing some research on the website, I am yet to find a solid history about the Temple (Wat). But I am certain that it was already build for at least 20 years because I remember visiting this place when I was about 7 years old. Then, I found this temple to be huge but now I found it to be amazingly ginormous.
I really wonder how long did it take and what method were used to build this temple. A curiosity that is best not to be understood by me… just so that I can keep my imagination going wild about it.
It was during a walk at Aum Pha Wa market some weeks ago that I found this little alley and this coffee shop. The use of space here is really amazing. As it seems, every inch of the space are use for one or more purpose!
Now imagine you are in the alley and were walking where there is everything imaginable to the left and right hand-side and even above of your head constantly everywhere you walk. Your eye will simply try to look at everything, but you won’t be able to unless you stop. The experience at the market was beyond explanation. I was there twice during the past few months, yet I couldn’t explore the entire market.
If you like to eat, here is the place for you
If you like to shop for souvenirs, here is the place for you
If you like to take photographs, here is the place for you
If you like to take a boat trip to see fire-flies, here is the place for you
If you like to “whatever it is”….
… Aum Pha Wa is the place for you
I Simply want to post the photo of the sunset at Wat Arun. Also, if you look closely at the temple, you can see the people that climbed up to (probably) take pictures.
I haven’t get the time to climb the temple yet. But when I do, I’ll be sure to share the picture of the view from the top of the the building.
A slight problem is… I suffer from a bit of acrophobia!
HOT… REALLY HOT! It’s 36 degree Celsius here in BANGKOK!
A day like this, makes me want to jump into the pool and just be cooled by the water. Or perhaps a nice boat trip in Chao Phra Ya river would be in order. A speed boat trip is one of the MUST DO thing in Bangkok. The trip normally includes visits to many different historical sites along the river. I, too, took the trip once a few years ago and was surprised by the amazing sites.
Really, anyone that comes to Bangkok must at least take a speed boat trip to experience the city!
It’s Aum Pha Wa Floating Market, one of the tourist attractions in Thailand. Finally I got to travel again during Songkran Festival (April 13, Traditional Thai New Year) It wasn’t anywhere far, it’s Aum Pha Wa… again! The last time we visited, we didn’t get to take many pictures, nor could we explore much of the market because it was already late.
Second times a charm! We were amazed at how many things were left unexplored the last time we visited. The picture selected today shows some of the interesting lifestyle that is hard to find elsewhere. Down to earth lifestyle or perhaps we can call it down to “canal” lifestyle!
Only later that I found out about the house in the picture is a home stay http://www.ruernsabay.com/ I guess the next time we visit, we should try to stay here. But my concern which is the loud noises in the area. On second thought, just a dinner in front of the house should be enough
Today, we have an honored guest, Dr Pahn Pintu-On to write today’s post. Dr Pahn always goes to Ratchburi, Thailand on the weekends to meet/see patients. She has been wanting to take pictures of this river after work, but due to the nature of her work she haven’t had the time to do so. I, on the other hand, accompanied her to the clinic and had a chance to take the pictures while I was waiting for her to get off work, but I really don’t know much about the place. So Dr Pahn would be the right person for it.
For all of my life, I hated “waiting”. I don’t want to wait for anyone or anything because I have too many things to handle in a day. So letting time fly without doing anything is not something for the type of the person I am. That why I always run out of patience when I cannot do anything but wait.
However, sometimes we have to wait and something is worth looking forward to.
Have you ever heard “the right time” or “the perfect moment”? I believe that everything has its own perfect moment; not sooner, not later. You can’t rush, force or do anything else but to wait and wait with patience. Holding your breath and let it happen on its own.
Like the way Natt took these pictures; the perfect moment to see “the colored pencils” in the river is just after the sunsets. If you want to capture this moment, you have to wait for it, wait for the right time. That why I haven’t had a chance to take pictures like these. Always too early, too late or too tired.
After waiting for an entire day, Natt finally captured “the perfect moment”. Look at these pictures, do you think that it was worth waiting for?
and waiting…
and waiting…..
and waiting……..
and waiting………..
and waiting…………..
and waiting……………..
and waiting…………………
and waiting……………………..
and waiting………………………..
and waiting……………………………
DONE waiting!!!
TAXI!
Simply just want to share a moment while we were waiting for a boat that, after 20 minutes, never show up!
We were waiting at Tha Dian port across from Wat Arun (the glowing temple in the picture) after a full day trip in Bangkok.
Another trip that I almost get to join with Hans and Heather. I just received this via Email from Hans, the view outside of his window in Lisbon. Enjoy the trip! If you still can, would you try Pastry de Nata and Bolas de Berlim and tell me how does it taste like, or even better if you could go learn how to bake one! Thank you very much!
Enjoy the trip ^_^
A lot more to go! And that’s look like a load of driving!
There I was, resting after my very first friendly pre-wedding photo. The Mall that we took the photo, unfortunately I couldn’t remember the name of the place, is opposite of the Crystal Park, Bangkok. Here, I felt as if I were in the U.S.A. again because, to be more exact, it’s reminded me of the Arcadia shopping mall, Arcadia, CA.
But anyway, what I love the most about this shopping center is… the light-up wall and semi transparent wall. It’s reminded me of SCI_Arc, Southern California Institute of Architecture, administration office and the design of the place is quite simple and modern. Make me want to start designing again, but perhaps not yet.
For now, taking it easy… slowly but surely, for once
Less is more… a phrase that I first heard it in 2006 at SCI_Arc (Southern California Institute of Architecture) during a weekly lecture on Wednesday night. We were like, please not another cliche phrase, I guess the idea of less is more doesn’t really make sense at first in the state where everything get “super size” and that “more is better”!
Not until the class of Philosophy of Technology did I start to agree with the once thought of silly phrase, less is more. The class was offered at SCI_Arc during a summer by Marcos Sanchez, an amazing professor, that brought up the topic of hot media and cold media by Marshall McLuhan
Hot and cold mediaFor McLuhan there are two different kinds of media: hot and cold media. The hot media are those, which have a large influence on humans and its sensous perception. According to McLuhan these media even possess a “destructive strength” (for example “stone axes” see the point “the medium is the message”). The pioneer of the media ranks the writing, the phon-etic alphabet, the book, the photography and also the radio among this kind of medium. These ob-jects of communication place much data and de-tailed informations at the users disposal, which are mainly concentrate on one sense of the recipient.
It is affected by this, but remains rather passive in the behavior. The cold media have a small influence strength on humans. The reason for this is, that they offer little details and information, and are not optically delightful for humans. To use and understand these media humans must actively deal with these media. McLuhan calls the televi-sion, the telephone or the caricature as example for it. Finally we mention the fact that a medium is not only hot or cold, but must be regarded always standing in a relationship to another medium.
To my understanding, the cold media is the one that is “LESS” informative but allow for “MORE” interactivity with the media. I guess that is why I choose to do the black and white version for this photo, to allow interactive with the moment, the space and the time that the picture was taken rather than the hundreds of colors that were in the picture.
Who would have known that this roughly built, patched together wooden bridge would be able to withstand the load of people that walk on it, the wind that blows thru or the storms that come crashing upon it from time to time. I guess we just can’t simply judge its capabilities simply from the way it looks. It looks like a bridge and works like a bridge with its purpose to transport one from one side to the other of this path by crossing the obstacle below… therefore it is a bridge.
It is common for some to doubt the capabilities of the bridge because it does not look trustworthy, but for those who believe in it… get to walk and board the boat that take them to many amazing places that those who choose to stay behind would have never experienced!
I was simply trying to metaphor this with the idea of “LOVE” between 2 persons. Having love as a bridge for the couple to walk; it is important for them to TRUST in the LOVE so that both can surpass any obstacle that would get in the way to finally board the love boat where they get to share their life together.
So it seems that the most important part of this journey is that… one must TRUST in the bridge in order to find a bit of happiness. There is no way that we can test the stability of the bridge; even if we do… we won’t have the time to because the boat is leaving.
Trust is a matter of CHOICE.
Without trust… we stand still
By simply TRUSTING in that LOVE… we, then, start walking,
The answer to the previous post…
…the entrance to The InterContinental Bangkok.
Welcome to the InterContinental Bangkok!
Today is a very important day, at least for me because it is the last day of my training BUT… yes there is a BUT…. but it is not the last day that I will be coming to the hotel.
As for every ending… a new journey begins.
I’ll Be BaCk! (imitating the voice of Arnold from Terminator) which reminded me of a scene in the movie. Check the youtube.
He came back alright… with a BANG! And soon, will I… perhaps not the exact same way he did
After months of walking past what I thought was just a decorative statue, I came to realize that this is no ordinary simple statue. The realization came when I noticed people paying respect by “wai” to the statue
“The wai is the Thai greeting and show of respect, indicated by pressing your palms together near your chest and bowing…
The wai is a unique, graceful action practiced throughout Thailand. It plays a very important part in showing respect and is central to Thai etiquette. For the most part Thais do not want to touch your sweaty, grubby little hands, so it’s a good idea to learn how to wai. The European kiss-on-each-cheek-greeting will certainly alarm a Thai, especially if you are a man doing this to a woman who isn’t your wife or girlfriend!”
After much curiosity about this statue that everyone wai to every time they walk by, I asked around to find out that the statue is Narayana on garuda, aka Pra Narai Song Suban.
I have yet to find out about the historical significant of Pra Narai Song Suban, however, I will update with more details after a bit more research.
“The Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand is the supreme law of Thailand. Since the change from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional democracy in 1932,
…
1932 Constitution of Thailand
The People’s Party, facing an internal power struggle and opposition from the King, promulgated a permanent constitution in 10 December 1932 that gave the monarchy a significant increase in authority compared to the temporary charter. The day is currently celebrated as Constitution Day.
The constitution continued to state that sovereign power belonged to the people of Siam. However, unlike the temporary charter, the monarchy would now be the direct exerciser of that power, rather than the branches of government. This royal power would be exercised by and with the advise and consent of the People’s Assembly, the State Council (the cabinet), and the Courts. However, the monarchy lacked any say in the composition of any of the branches of government and the royal veto could still be overruled. The monarchy was also made “sacred and inviolable”, in contrast to the temporary charter.”
From the outside of the El Escorial, all we see is the stone, cold, and harsh walls; but it has a totally different feel once we made it thru the wall. A very warm welcoming is waiting patiently for the residents to come home.
*architecture 101: A wall is a usually solid structure that defines and sometimes protects an area. Most commonly, a wall delineates a building and supports its superstructure, separates space in buildings into rooms, or protects or delineates a space in the open air. (wiki)
There are many times in life that… I just can’t seem to find words, pictures, nor paintings to describe what I want to say. Today is one of those days, a day that is best expressed by Debussy – Clair de Lune (moonlight).
In this world you tried,
Not leaving me alone behind.
There’s no other way,
I pray to the gods let him stay.
The memories ease the pain inside,
And now I know why.
All of my memories keep you near.
In silent moments,
Imagine you being here.
All of my memories keep you near,
In silent whispers, silent tears
Made me promise I’d try,
To find my way back in this life.
Hope there is a way,
To give me a sign you’re okay.
Reminds me again it’s worth it all,
So I can go home.
All of my memories keep you near.
In silent moments,
Imagine you being here.
All of my memories keep you near.
In silent whispers, silent tears.
Together in all these memories,
I see your smile.
All of the memories I hold dear.
Darling you know I’ll love you,
Til the end of time.
All of my memories keep you near
In silent moments,
Imagine you being here.
All of my memories keep you near,
In silent whispers, silent tears.
By simply looking at this photo, I am reminded of the moment I was taking the picture. Grabbing onto the rail while leaning out to the side just so that I can take this picture. Just to think about it, gives me the chills and I get weak in the knees! This was taken at Wat Rat Burana, Ayutthaya, Thailand. I came up to this location by the stepping stone outside of the temple. I was hoping to find another way down that perhaps would be less scary than on the way up. This stair way was my option, no thank you!
According to this gigantic Christmas tree in front of the Zen mall (aka Central World, Bangkok) that is across the street from my wor place, apparently, Christmas is here already… Even thought I don’t get to see the sunset, I am able to enjoy the night simply enough with only 5 minutes walking. Listening to music and just relaxing at the water fountain was a very pleasing experience and peaceful.
Well, better start getting your hands on the tree… or it won’t be ready and nicely decorated, as if it wasn’t enough time, by Christmas!
Amazing… that’s all I got to say for the great Chedi! I am always amazed by how the local people hundreds of years ago could build a structure this big that last for hundreds of years!
As much as I love taking aerial photos, one of the problem could be the height issue, as I really don’t like hanging out at the edge of a step to snap a photo at all but it wasn’t to the extents of Acrophobia, as someone might believe. Walking up the Chedi was fine, but walking down was a very scary experience. After 2 steps of walking down facing out, I realized that it would be wiser for me to turn around and climb down one step at a time with me facing into structure and grab on to those steps, hoping I won’t fall off! Slowly but surely I arrive safely on the ground. Phewwww. I made it!
After all those light-headed sensations that day, I think it was all worth it to have finally explored the city, Ayutthaya, which once upon a time was the capital of Thailand.
This security guard has 4 legs and fur plus fangs but it was very tame and friendly. So much that she just laid there chilling by the entrance to the temple. At first, it wasn’t sitting there, instead it was sleeping near the door keeper. But once I took out the camera and start taking pictures at the temple, she suddenly woke up… walked to the entrance steps… and just laid there. I didn’t want to have to vaccinate due to rabies so I kept my distance from her and just snap away the pictures, quietly.
Pomelos, I used to think that it was a giant orange when I was a kid. But it does look and taste very similar to an orange and I do still believe that it is a giant orange! One thing I love about Thailand is the convenience in finding fruit anywhere you go either by the street or even by the river! The fruits are fresh unlike like those we have in the States where most of the tropical fruits are frozen for transportation to (try to) preserve its freshness.
Pomelo from Nakorn Prathom, a province north-west with an hour drive from Bangkok, is well known for it sweetness that they registered their special pomelo as “copyright” knowledge by the local. After months of staying in Thailand, I have yet to try a pomelo from Nakorn Prathom but when I do… I’ll be sure to update with its flavor, taste and texture.
Ohh, about the picture… this was taken at the Pattaya Floating market. They said that there is a real floating market call “Aum Pha Wa” that is south-west with an hour drive from Bangkok. Hopefully I have sometime to visit and to take pictures sometime this month because the weather is so nice.
The winter is here butI wonder how long would the winter would last in Bangkok!
I sure love spending time watching the sunset because I can’t wake up in time to watch the sunrise, right… Last weekend was the first time in month that I got to see the sunset and to see how fast the sun drops out of the horizon.
This picture was taken from the balcony of the Great Chedi Chaya Mongkhol at the temple.
The Great Chedi Chaya Mongkhol was built by the command of King Naresuan the Great, to commemorate his decisive victory over the Burmese invasion in A.D. 1592. The event was climaxed in the momentous elephant combat between the King and the Burmese crown prince Maha Uparaja, in the province of Suparnburi the renown of King Naresuan was such that there was no more outside invasion for the following two hundred years.
The reason that I love sunsets is that… it is the sign for… the day being over and that a NEW day is beginning. And for that, I get to have a fresh start tomorrow. Anything that was done wrong today, gets another chance to make it right tomorrow. There are days that the sky may be filled with rain and storm, but the sun still keeps moving forward, knowing that the very bright, clear and blue sky is waiting for it ahead…
for it… to shine, the light fills the sky with happiness and joy.
This picture was taken just hours ago while (really) visiting and (actually) exploring Ayutthaya city for the first time in years! Normally, I would only visit the city for food, Ro Tree Sai Mai – kindna like cotton candy wraped with a tortilla. Yeah, you should try that at home! haha! It’s true that I love driving to places just for “food”!
Yea, I have notice myself been quite busy that I only get the chance to upload most of the picture to Flickr but have yet to blog them here. Why so slow?… because I’m taking one “solid” step at a time. Wow, I just use my new slogan as an excuse for not being able to blog for the last few days. Well, I think it is a good reason. Don’t you?
After hours of walking at the Pattaya Floating market, we were so exhausted that a bottle of cola wouldn’t cut it! So we went on looking for food and found a small little Pad Thai shop by the pool. I was too busy on concentrating on what to eat to see the surrounding. Not until I finished my Pad Thai, a glass of coke and a glass of Lod Chong, did I see this beautiful scenery that was there all along.
I guess, sometimes or many times in our lives where we are “only focusing” on what is in front of us and keep taking and taking the thing we want that we unconsciously ignored or simply overlooked those around us to see and enjoy what’s life is all about and what it has to offer.
As Winston Churchill once said “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” And Albert Einstein has confirmed that “only a life lived for others is a life worth while.”
I mean, come on… If Einstein and Churchill said it then it better be right!
The choice is yours.
