two steps behind

It was weeks ago when I found “Hoklee Cafe” at the Dam Nuen Saduak floating market in Ratchaburi province. I was taking my grandma and mom to visit the floating market. However, we arrived there a little bit late in the afternoon and there were not much activities left at the floating market. So we simply looked for a place to just sit and relax. We just found the cafe by coincidence! Those that often travel with elderly people must know how often the elders use the restroom. For my grandma that is 78 years old, she uses the restroom every other hour! Because of that we ran into this awesome cafe the “Hoklee Cafe” at the Lao Tuk Luck, which is a section of the Dum Nuen Saduak floating market.

Based on the information I gathered from chatting with the owner of the cafe; the cafe was a house that was passed down from generations to generations. The house’s foundation and roof has been renovated but the interiors were kept un-touched to preserve its origins as much as possible. Currently the owner has turn the house into a cafe shop for a quick stop off point for the passers-by, either by foot travel or by boat. The owner and the community of Lao Tuk Luck  are trying to rejuvenate the livelihood of the community as it was seen years ago.

Check out the Lao Tuk Luck facebook for more information and photos of the community.

My grandma was really pleased with Hoklee Cafe as it was very peaceful, calm and breezy yet classic and elegant in its own way. Be sure to ask for the Lao Tuk Luck’s community when you visit the floating market.

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.

*note: we can visit her photo blog at http://pintuon.multiply.com/

By: Pahn

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?

Yes, I think they are!!

I wonder if this how a forest would look like on Mars, the red planet. The original photo were so GREEN, so VIVID… seemed too have too much information to take in. So I tried this and that… and some how by applying “antique” + “boost color” the photo has resulted in the picture posted today. A lot less colors, redish, blackish, and whitish… Just the way I like it.

It was during a trip to Ratchaburi, that 90% of the views are what you see here today… forest of banana and coconut trees. Sure there is a small road leading inside BUT I wasn’t daring enough to walk into the jungle!!!

Spooky !!! woohhh “GOOSEBUMPS”

A typical view of temples all over Thailand. Most of the temples, if not all, are located next to a river. I am not sure why they located them next to rivers. But come to think of it, I think it is because that in the old times the river was the main transportation route and that most houses are built by rivers. So each house would have a small boat to roll from one place to another, using the river as their main route. Each village will have their own temple and that every Sunday all the villagers will go to the temple to build their good merit. I think it is one of many reasons why they located a temple next to a river, just like why we have major cities next to rivers.

Another reason is because Water is “LIFE”!

*Today, marked 1 full year since I left the temple in Ayuthaya in July 13, 2008. One year has passed by, it is amazing how much I have achieved, completed, and accomplished! Flew around the world… from Bangkok back to Los Angeles, explore the west coast of USA from Tijuana, Mexico to Vancouver Canada. Then flew from Los Angeles to Malaga… studied at Les Roches Marbella, Spain! Explored SPAIN as much as I can afford to for 5 months. Then from Malaga back to Bangkok. A complete circle!

and also this year…

Found the LOVE of my LIFE!