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?

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!

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 place was so surreal, so much so that I actually felt as if I was back in the time… the time… you know what I mean. There are so much food at the Pattaya Floating Market and so many varieties of food that are being cooked in traditional ways that are hardly seen anywhere else.

Well, how could I resist any of the food, I must have ate enough for an entire week! If I were to have the stomach of an elephant, I would have probably ate everything there!

Talking about food… I’m gonna find something to eat now ^_^

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

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!

Ahh Silver Lake… a vineyard that is hidden in a mist of mountains in Pattaya, Thailand. When I was told that we were going to a Vineyard… I couldn’t believe my ears! A Vineyard??? in THAILAND??? It just doesn’t click to me! I just didn’t know that we have vineyard in Thailand, well it was a news flash to me!

In my imagination, I thought of hills full of vineyards, well it wasn’t that big. However to me, it was more of a mock-up of vineyard and European culture and climate, yet very interesting.

I guess, in the end… no matter how hard they try to make it look and feel like EUROPE, it CAN ONLY and ALWAYS will be a EUROPEAN wannaBE vineyard.
We just have to admit that… things can never simply be replace by something else and hope that it would produce the same results.

This was taken… 24 hours ago at the balcony of the Holiday Inn in Pattaya, Thailand. It was a trip that wasn’t definite until really late in the evening when everyone finally agreed on the location! And that was… Pattaya City, Thailand!

Booking got me a little worried because it was really a last minute reservation… however it was taken care of by a colleague who had booked us in rooms with an amazing view!

I mean… what do you think? Isn’t it amazing? or Beyond words!

24 hours later… back to reality, Bangkok. Sigh…