two steps behind

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

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!

In case you missed it, it was this temple.

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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!

Simply amazing!

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.

Woof woof… WHO LET THE DOG OUT!

Memories are like leaves going thru different seasons

Spring to Winter…
Winter to Fall…
Fall to Summer…
Summer to Spring…
*repeat —

opse… that sequence only happen in my world where everything going opposite direction!
But normally it would be

Winter to Spring…
Spring to Summer…
Summer to Fall…
Fall to Winter…
*repeat—

Some leaves may fell before the other,
Some may lasted thru out the seasons change,

But eventually… all leaves would fall
So that the tree itself could survive the cold winter night…
So that it could fight another year ahead…

And eventually… spring would come
… to sprung the New Leaves
A fresh start…

Thousands of leaves may fall…
But the tree will stand…

Somewhere to belong…
… to hang on to

Somewhere with stability… consistency… security…
… to grow slowly… strongly…

One season at a time

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.

SSSNS Universe

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?

This is the playground where I learned how to Rollerblade when I was about 10 years old. After my last visit, months ago, not much has changed from 10 years ago except that they have elevated the playground to prevent flood during rain season. I remember there were times that the playground had totally turned into a pond full of fish! Good times.

As for the picture today, it was taken by my cousin Gift. Great capture isn’t it ^_^ I just handled the post production part. Well, I am hoping to visit Ayutthaya again sometime this week. With more pictures to come!

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee… spin spin spin.

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!