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.
The sky was so blue, the clouds were scattered by the wind, the trees were waving along with the breeze of fresh air and I was just laying there, on the stepping stones. Letting the day drift away slowly and just simply staring at the clear blue sky wondering why… why do I think about “why” so much! And then I just kept on why”ing”.
It was then, when I captured the view while I was visiting the Retiro Park, as I laid down by the pool and waited for my friends to finishing rowing the boat.
One of the questions I had was… Who is this man?
After zooming at the picture, then googled the name… I found out that he was the King Alfonso XII of Spain reigning, from 1875 to 1885. The amazing thing is that he was born in1857 which mean that he became the king while he was only 18 years old.
My car broke down. Well, it wasn’t really broken but it’s DEAD because I happened to have left the headlights on all day. Well, what can I do? TAXI!!! But the night was still young, so I spent the time walking around my work place. After 4 months of working here, with the Erawan shrine across the street, I must have passed this shrine hundreds of time but never really stop there, not until today.
At the shrine, it is full of energy vibes where people from around the world come here to pray, wishing for luck and success in business and LOVE. Once their “wishes” came true… they would come back to the shrine again to make offering (Thai Traditional dance) as a tribute to the shrine. The Legend start with an old lady asked for success in her business and promised to dance to the shrine in return if success. As time passed, her business went prosperous… so she returned and danced to the shrine.
The shrine is at the intersection of Ratchadamri Road and Ratchaprasong Road in Pathum Wan district. The nearby shopping plaza would be, Central World, Gay Sorn Plaza, Amarin Plaza… you can’t miss it!
Isn’t this amazing!!! This is a “normal” sight to be seen here at Yaowarat street, Bangkok.
I AM SPEECHLESS!
But isn’t it fun to look at these cables going EVERYWHERE from roof to roof, window to window, inside to outside, ground to roof,… well, really EVERYWHERE!
This is an example of simply something that I love about Bangkok. The beauty in these mess and the ability to make use of the SPACES are just UNBELIEVABLE
This is from another perspective since the last time that I visit Sao Ching Cha (The great Giant Swing of Bangkok).
As much as I would like to type, I couldn’t due to a very irritating cough I am having these past few days that has prevented me from having a decent conversation because I have had to stop, to cough every now and then (or stop typing every now and then)
You may thought that I am blogging this at 4am because I had so much work that I had to finish (makes me look dedicated and all.) In fact, I am blogging at 4am because after hours of trying to sleep, I have failed to succeed!
Why? The cough… that’s the reason! Any suggestions for cough medicine?
Listening hasn’t been this much fun! Well, some of us probably know how I am sometimes, if not all the time. I love to talk and talk. However I couldn’t talk much because of my sore throat, which I am trying to heal with… a cough syrup, cough spray… and Vitamin C. Beside those, I am currently taking another 3 types of anti-allergy medicines! Mix all of that together… I have never ever been taking so many medication in my life. LOL… BLAMEcGLOBAL WARMING!
Wasn’t being able to talk much wasn’t a bad thing as I get to… listen to the conversations that were going on tonight at Red Sky on the rooftop of Centara Grand Bangkok. The view from the Red Sky is amazing and that I am planning to get up there again for a few pictures.
Ahh Centara Grand is the tallest building presented in the picture. The display light change from red to yellow to orange to blue to … on and on…!!! Ahh!!! It’s so hard to explain with words! I guess I’ll have to find sometime to take the picture from the Red Sky to show what I am talking about!
The night ended, too early, with me knocking for security to let me out of a building… although I thought that I wouldn’t be able to get out of the building because the security may have been sleeping LOL, but when I arrived at the door – another security had just arrived! Just in time to let me out of the building. YAH!
I figured that, as long as we believe that everything is going to be fine, then it shall be… more than fine. So let us not worry and hope for the best… knowing that HOPE achieves the IMPOSSIBLE.
Humm… Sunset!!! The moment that I haven’t experienced for a while, because I only get off work after the sun… already SET Oh well… I guess I won’t be seeing many sunsets for a while.
On another topic… tomorrow is going to be the first day that I’ll be shadowing the Wedding Planner!!! THE BIGGG DAY! Yup!
—
Oh oh… I got this forward email… very interesting thought on FOOD and DIET!
what do you think?? !!! I sorta agree with him!
Q: Doctor, I’ve heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true? A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that’s it… don’t waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that’s like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap.
Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables? A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products. Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake? A: No, not at all. Wine is made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine, that means they take the water out of the fruity bit so you get even more of the goodness that way. Beer is also made out of grain. Bottoms up!
Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program? A: Can’t think of a single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No Pain…Good!
Q: Aren’t fried foods bad for you? A: YOU’RE NOT LISTENING!!! ….. Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they’re permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you?
Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle? A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.
Q: Is chocolate bad for me?
A: Are you crazy? HELLO Cocoa beans! Another bean!!! Beans are good for you. It’s the best feel-good food around!
Q: Is swimming good for your figure?
A: If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me.
Q: Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle? A: Hey! ’Round’ is a shape!
Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.
And remember:
‘Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways – Chardonnay in one hand – chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming ‘WOO HOO, What a Ride’
AND…..
For those of you who watch what you eat, here’s the final word on nutrition and health. It’s a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies.
1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans. 2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans. 4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
5. The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
Water is LIFE!!! I believe that everyone must have heard that statement before. However that statement couldn’t be more true anywhere else but in THAILAND (years ago!) where the means of transportation, food, agriculture, culture and life-style were really relying upon rivers and small canals.
It was a short visit, yesterday, at the floating market in Pattaya, Thailand where they RE-CREATE 4 regional (Northerner, Southerner, Easterner, and Westerner) Thai’s way of life. There were so many foods that I just got really filled by a little bit of this and that. Souvenir shops are at every corner that I didn’t even want to start buying because I would probably end up with a mountain load of them.
So check it out at http://www.pattayafloatingmarket.com/
Great varieties of food to eat,
Excellence view for photographing,
Simply an amazing place be.
GOOD TIME
*Forgot to mention that… in the photo, if you are wondering… Yes the people in the rowing boat are about to go under that bridge! Everyone had to duck! Really low so that the boat can float thru! Neat huh!
Blogging has been really hard recently due to problems with the hosting server (dreamhost) that has been very unstable due to “unknown reasons” according to the DH representative. Most of the time that the problems occur, it happens just right before my bed time (the time that I normally blog)
So I end up only uploading photos to FLICKR and believe it or not… FLICKR was down the other day too, so I couldn’t upload the pictures or even blog on Flickr! Sigh…
All these uncertainties that seem to keep happening non stop are really driving me to the edge… of a river… to REST, and just fall asleep some where, with the breeze from fresh air, sounds of the chilling wind, and the soothing scent of the nearby flowers. I need a really good rest sometime these days!
Just can’t seem to find any opportunities for it yet.
For having faith, hope and belief that everything will turn out fine and alright… has turned me into a dreamer.
How ironic…
Call me whatever you want, as I am still going to be me… walking forward, because I believe that any hardship, any obstacle, or problem… can be overcome.
So what if something doesn’t turn out as I dreamed??? Then it is just “another” NIGHTMARE.
First of all… I did not take this photo however, it was taken by my cousin a few weeks back when she went to visit Ayutthaya. I really wanted to go with them but work didn’t permit me to do so. Instead, I let her borrow my camera and made sure that she would shoot in RAW mode just in case she were to capture something amazing like this house.
According to what my cousin told me, the house… the Green house (the only way I could find out about the name of the house was to really zoom into the board hanging in front of the house) was built in the King Rama 5th era in Puck Hai district, Ayutthaya province more than a hundred years ago. The house is situated next to River Noi and the reason that it was named the Green house is because it was originally painted green because the owner of the house, Khuen Phi-Tuck was born on Wednesday.
In the past, the house was full of joy and very lively because Kheun Phi-Tuck would always have social activities years round. It was very well known that King Rama 5th once stayed over at the house during a visit to Ayutthaya.
Today… hundreds of years have passed and the house became sort of a museum for later generations, like myself, to witness a part of history. It was said that the house was the very FIRST house in Thailand that was built with concrete cement foundation to prevent flooding and such.
I am going to find sometime in a few week to visit Ayutthaya myself. Already have a few spots to visit in mind ^_^ which includes the very first Portuguese settlement in Thailand!
While driving home after a wonderful hotpot dinner today, I thought… that my life could be something similar to iTune play list with 2510 songs that if played, would last 7.6 days! w/o repeating the same song! That is way too many songs! What I am trying to get at is that… the list is made of many different type of music from:
Alternative Rock/Punk
Ballroom Dance Songs & waltzes
Blues & Blue Grass
Christian Rap & Rock
Classical
Acid Jazz/Deep House
Country/old & Current
Big Band /Swing & Lounge
Irish tunes (St Patty’s Day stuff)
Medley’s
Novelty Songs
Old Club
Opera (not timed just listed)
Pure Moods (easy Going Music)
Salsa/ Mardi Gras/Reggae/Dub
Ska
Slow/Romantic
TV & Movie Themes (for improvised Trivia sound vents)
Monty Python Cuts
Disco/Retro Dance
Old 70’s, 80’, 90’s, Pop & Rock
Old Classic Rock
Old Hip Hop & Rap
One Hit Wonders
Motown
P-Funk
Current Pop & Rock
Current Hip Hop & R&B
World Beat
Japan Music traditional
Japan Pop dance top hits
Latino Soca/ Steel Drums
X-Mas (Christmas Music)
50’s 60’s Mod & Surf Music
Club/ House/Rave
DJ Tools Show Enhancers—ETC
Comedy Cuts
DJ Messages
Answering Machine cuts
Speeches (the odd ones that can enhance a DJ Show)
Yup…. when shuffles, its just kindna like my life because I wouldn’t know which song is going to come up next! Surprise! Many times, surprise can be good, but most of the time it isn’t. Today I prefer the “Genius Play list” that iTune would create a play list base on a kind of music that I like. Sweet isn’t it?
I wish that I have a Genius Mix in real life; less surprises but still full of a sensational life style
Um, I don’t have a particular kind of music that I like… kind of a mood swing listener, whatever make me feel right. then I am set! You, don’t you wish for a Genius Mixes in your life? Wouldn’t it be nice to know exactly what is going to happen next, and when is it going to happen just like the time table for trains that are so exact! Still, there are times that trains are DELAYED… sigh. Expectations for that train to show up and not showing brings disappointment to us.
Going back about a year ago… around mid September 2008. It was months before I learn about HDR photography or even know how to use RAW format! Yup, that was the time when I was just point and shoot at every single things that move or doesn’t! Because of that, my battery went out quickly… and NO! I didn’t have any backup battery, I still don’t! Lately, my battery last for days or even weeks because I only get to go out during the weekend and become more aware of what to take before just snap snap snapping away!
The sculpture, reminded me of my own architectural models that I made for my thesis (you can check it out at www.NattMuangsiri.com opse, that reminded to renew the subscription for the web address!) The sculpture, if I remember correctly, is made of old aircraft scraps that are tied together with cables. That was literally my last shot of the night because the camera just shut itself off after the shot! The other picture, the reflecting pool was taken just a few shots earlier.
Everything out of focus, shakily and blurry but that’s how things are at the beginning, isn’t it?
Just have to keep going ^_^ like Energizer bunnies! LOL
The server for the website is very unstable today. It took me more than hour before I can actually get to admin page and by the time I am trying to add this post… the server got an error again! I am hoping that by the time I finish with this blog, the server will be back up again.
Thanks to Hans for letting me join the trip and thanks to me for inviting myself into the TRIP, haha. And because of that, I got to take the amazing road trip from Los Angeles to Vancouver, Canada! It was a week long trip! Amazing trips As for me, I didn’t really know where were we going, I simply just… “hey can I come?” And then… went home, bought the plane ticket, packed my backpack… and the next morning we were on the way to our very first stop, San Francisco.
We love to plan things ahead of time because planning will prepare us for whatever obstacle that may confront us later. However, planning may prevent us from reaching our true potential, within us. I would plan everything that is related to work because they need to get done. I would never plan anything about myself… so that I won’t have any expectations of anything… and because of that, I get to be AMAZED at everything that would happen around me!
Instead of planning… I set goals and then simply do whatever it takes to achieve it. With this… I allow more possibilities of reaching that “GOAL” rather than restricting myself to “a plan” and try to make that plan work.
I may be very bad at planning… but I always reach my GOALs in ways that I would never have imagined!
Hum… a metaphor to this would be, just throw me into the water and I’ll learn how to swim in seconds… LOL!
Seattle was one of our stops during the road trip… and it was just amazing how I just keep walking for hours after check-in at the hotel and to have found the Space Needle and — to be amazed by it!!!
Woooppps… I must have left this post up for hours before I actually bloged it! That was because… I was creating a LinkedIn profile! Finally catching up with everyone else out there.
Okie… back to our topic… Architecture vs Nature. The thought of writing this topic really come down to a question… which is
Could there be architecture without nature and vice versa.
In my opinion, we need both architecture and nature for us to be able to enjoy the beauties of the 2 elements!
We just can’t have one without the other.
Ahh… one of the famous, must visit activities at Wat Pho is a body massage. Many Thai and tourists came to the temple to use the services to freshen up themselves from the hot weather we have here in Bangkok! Unfortunately for me, I didn’t get a chance to use the massage because I had to go move the car while my families are enjoying the 60 minutes of massage!
These statues, if I remember correctly, show different postures of body relaxation, a Yoga lesson, that are integrated into each massage session.
I really have got to try the massage at Wat Pho one of these days.
What’s the best way to cool us down? A swimming pool! Just jump and splash in the pool… what a great feeling… REFRESHING!
I thank that the waterfall at Siam Paragon is such a great idea to cool down the very hot city in the heart of Bangkok. The waterfall at Siam Paragon becomes the center of attraction simply due to its water display, pool and waterfall as these elements cool the unbearable heat of Bangkok! I too, was sitting up there for about half an hour after taking this photo. Even though it was already late evening, the temperature is still too hot for me to keep on going with photographing, so I took a short break below by the waterfall and called it a night. ^_^
During the visit at Wat Pho, I found this side of the temple that is under renovation, restoration, construction or which ever they might call it. It suddenly reminded me of the drive-by shot of the church that I took in Los Angeles. The amount of colors that they use in Los Angeles are at the minimal while the Thai’s are really colorful and lively!
Once in a while, everything is going to need some renovation and restoration… Don’t we all?
So, what do you think of the differences between these 2 churches?
Oh well… I guess I won’t be seeing many sunsets for a while.
