two steps behind

wherever you are, whoever you may be… wishing all a very Happy New Year 2013 from Bangkok, Thailand! ^_^
Here are the first 3 minutes of 2013 in Bangkok.

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.

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!

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)

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

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.

What is happening to Thailand?

The picture was taken on May 13, 2010 just days before the civil unrest evolved into a full force military crash between the Thai government and the anti-government protesters. I don’t want to get into much detail about the issue. Please search online for more information regarding the event or you can try to check it out at http://www.nationmultimedia.com, a website that I often check for updates about the situation to know if it is safe or not to travel to certain parts of the city.

Oh well, I do believe that PEACE will prosper in Thailand once again.

photo by: PaHn
processed by: Natt

In Bangkok, people don’t really get to drive their car because of the tremendous amount of traffic. Sitting behind the steering wheel and pressing – releasing the break paddle can’t be considered as “driving”. It’s rare that we would go above 20 km/h in the city. Ironically, without traffic, people don’t know how to drive their car and often cause accidents; hence, more traffic occurs. That is simply the cycle of the Bangkok’s traffic.

This photo was taken while I was “not driving” but stuck in traffic on a hot day here in Bangkok. Having air conditioning on in the car helps mitigate the irritating and unbearable heat. However, this doesn’t seem to affect that maintenance man in the city’s service truck. I envy him, to be able to endure the heat, the sun, the traffic and the air/noise pollution. He should get a medal of honor or something.

One amazing man, indeed!

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!

Too hot to write any further…

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

I’m sure everyone has their dream wedding…

how the cake would look, round – square – layer – cupcake ?
the arrangement of flower… the colors?
the color of the table cloth, red, green, blue, pink? or just plain white?
the location… Ballroom, island, beach, skydiving ?
the ice sculpture… oh yes, in Thailand it is very common to have an ice sculpture as part of the wedding decoration.!
the type of food that is served…
the guest of honor… dad, mom, … Mr President? ??? ??
the brides maid…?
the best man! ?
…
..
.

the list continues… on and on.

I too… have my dream… a dream to, one day, make others dreams come true.
One couple at a time.

In the end, I believe that that most important part of the wedding itself is not the wedding… but the one you love.

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!”

(How to: Wai properly)

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.

Guess where the Pra Narai Song Suban is located…?

Answer? Follow me on the next post ^_^

Problem: The majority of office employees rarely have the time or the capital to shop at the high-end luxury malls.
Solution: We bring the mall right down to you at very affordable price!

Many of the pavements along the street in Bangkok turn into a market from 5:00 pm to approximately 11:00 pm depending on the location and the foot traffic of each place. The market are filled with all sorts of things that you can imagine, from a pair of socks to a Rolax watch,.. no, it’s not a Rolex! It’s a Rolax! At certain point, the streets would be way too crowded for anyone to walk as everyone would be stopping at a vendor, buying their things. To some pedestrians, they see that as a problem because they can’t walk to where they want to, however to the vendor… the more the crowded, the more the foot traffic… the better because that give the vendor more chances to sell their product. How? Because heavily foot traffic – that come to a stop at some point – allow the pedestrians to notice the products more, hence a higher chance for the vendor to sell.

This picture was taken across the street from the Central World, Bangkok at 10:30 pm. You can notice the clock on the top right of the picture. Yup it’s late… but not for us, the Bangkokian.

“Bangkok, is trying to solve traffic problems by elevating all of its transportation routes above the original street.” a saying that I heard from many of my friends. The way they said it was more like sarcasm, as if it was a bad thing. In their understanding, which I also agree, that Bangkok should have solve traffic problem from the core of the problem which is… the way that people drive, the traffic lights, the law and regulation that should be enforced more strictly to keep Bangkok’s streets in order.

A taxi driver would stop their car anywhere to pick up a passenger,
a bus would stop anywhere and make a u-turn anywhere it see fits,
while a motorcycle-taxi and a tuk-tuk are trying to drive pass thru the gap between cars in traffic,
street vendor are taking up the space on the road, turning a lane into a street market.

Unbelievable ! It’s a good idea for us to solve from the core of the problem but how can we when what we perceive as a problem is the culture and the way of life on how people are living. We simply can’t tell them to re-live their life… but what we can do is, adapt to their culture… and renovate from with in.

Bangkok… city of life!

an assert from Wikipedia.

“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.”

(wiki)

I’m back… just for a little bit, before I got to get down (back to work) again.

So, for most of the time that I have been gone are to “learn how to” handle wedding after wedding. FUN FUN FUN!
I love this theme very much… crimson red!

I will keep you up to date soon…

For now… enjoy the REDNESS!

“Forget about all the reasons why something may not work. You only need to find one good reason why it will”
a very inspiring quote that keep me going days after days!

Love make you blind but…
wedding will open your eyes…

It’s a saying that most, if not all, people find it to be true… absolutely not all people because, not all lovers have their wedding, not yet anyway.

The wedding day is the happiest day of the wedding couple. It is the day that the couple taking their first step together, to create and start a family. By announcing to the world that they will spend the rest of their life as husband and wife, together from this moment on.

Wedding is not end result of love, instead it is the beginning of their journey. It is a journey of two people that grow up from different places, had different experience in life, born from different family, believing and seeing the world from different point of views…

…two people that has absolutely nothing in common to begin with
to make a vowed that they would spend the rest of their life together because…

they… forgot about all the reasons why something may not work and found one good reason why it will,
whatever that reason may be…

This picture was taken on the pedestrian bridge between the Central World mall and the Gaysorn Plaza a few nights ago. Normally, the street would be filled with cars so badly with traffic, that in order to get from the pedestrian bridge where I took the picture to the next pedestrian bridge that is about 400 meters away could take up to 50 minutes! That was from my own personal experience on a night where my co-workers and I were trying to go out for a game of tennis. That was the only time that I would ever go out for a tennis again because we must have stuck in the car for more than an hour for what could have been a 15 minutes trip.

That was one of the many dreadful experiences I had with Bangkok’s traffic.

After walking for so long, I have finally stopped to rest by the stepping pool in front of Siam Paragon, Bangkok, Thailand where all the lighting were fully decorated, ready for Christmas. The walkways were full of locals and tourists alike, taking pictures with each other for the other or taking pictures of themselves… by extending out one hand and turning the camera back, posing… and just take the picture. It was very enjoyable to be able to relax and just let everything become white noise and just let the time and space take over the mind.

While I was resting there, it reminded me of the time that I took the picture of a standing tree in the middle of the frozen lake in Northern Vancouver, Canada last year. Hum… It’s that time again already?

Santa Claus is coming to town!!! I am not worried if Santa would visit Canada, but I am concern if he would be able to make it thru Bangkok traffic! Good luck Santa. Here’s a few tips for Santa; learn how to take a BTS or MRT train.

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!

Get busy!

So… I googled “Why Get Married?” and the very first link is to this article by Aron Moss on this website http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/361650/jewish/Why-Get-Married.htm

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!

Let’s go make a wish!

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

You may kiss the bride…
NOT!!! Not a part of the Thai Wedding Tradition.

The wedding season is officially here! However, I wonder what makes November and December the wedding season? Because of the cold weather or simply to cerebrate the years end and the start of the new year together. Thai Wedding Tradition is much more complicated than any of those I can imagine. It involves many steps and processes that the couple must go thru before they get to start their life together. Here are a rough outline of the processes.

ขันหมาก: Khan Makk
ขบวนขันหมาก: The Khan Makk Procession
พิธีกั้นประตู : Barring the Groom from Approaching the Bride
พิธีนับสินสอด : Counting the dowry
พิธีรับไหว้ : Paying respects to the Elders
พิธีหลั่งน้ำพระพุทธมนต์ : Water Pouring
สวมมงคล : Mong Kol
การเจิม : Scahet Powder
พิธีปูที่นอน – ส่งตัว : The Nuptial Bed

The picture today represent part of the Water Pouring process.

“The pouring of water is the most important part of the Thai wedding ceremony as it is during this part of the ceremony that the couple officially become husband and wife . Traditionally, this was all that was required to validate the marriage, but nowadays the couple are also required to obtain a marriage certificate from the Amphur or local registration office.

Before the water pouring can take place the couple must seat themselves at the traditional water pouring tables (Tung Rod Nam), with the bride to the left of the groom.”

info from jittima

Anyway… the “You may kiss the bride…” process is after the – “พิธีปูที่นอน – ส่งตัว : The Nuptial Bed”. An FYI, just in case you were wondering about when does the groom get to kiss the bride… ASSUMING that she is not to tired from the ceremony.

If you think, planning for a wedding is hard? Think again! Because the hardest part is for the bride and groom to actually try to survive thru the ceremony!

It must have been weeks ago that I went to this restaurant with my family for a relaxing lunch by the river. It was really confusing regarding how to get to this restaurant, left here, right there, u-turn here, left again there…….. OMG there were TONS of TURNS before I get to pull up to the parking lot of the restaurant.

Once stepping out from the car, walking to the table… I knew that it worth the hassle of getting there because it’s so nice and quiet with the breeze of fresh air, remote from the busy world.

now… keep the food coming!