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

Prabad Mountain is only open to the public once a year, sometime between February to April. Hundreds of thousands of people visit the site during the 3 month period to pay respect to the Buddha’s footprint. It took us hours before we got to the top of the mountain that is more than 1,000 meters above sea-level. More photos of this fun activity can be found at the facebook public album

Next year… I will try to go again. It is said that, we should make a total of 7 trips in a lifetime.

One of the activities anyone must try when visiting Thailand during February to April.

Family @ Khao Khitchakut on SUPER MOON night.
The Schedule:

Departed from Bangbon, Bangkok: 9:00 PM (Friday 18 March 2011)
Arrived to Chanthaburi: 1:20 AM (Saturday 19 March 2011)
Total of 4 hours 20 minutes for transportation

Buy ticket for 50 Baht per person (twice) and wait for the ride
Get on the Ride from the market to the temple Entrance: 2:50 AM
Arrived at the Entrance: 3:25 AM
Total of 35 minutes for the ride

… now we walk … hike our way up!
Arrived at the Buddha’s print: 5:00 AM
Total of 1 hour 35 minutes for the hike

… and here is the view from the top.

Departed from the Buddha’s print: 5:30 AM
Arrived at the temple Entrance: 6:25 AM
Total of 55 minutes for walking down

Buy ticket for 50 Baht per person (twice) and get on the ride (not much waiting)
Departed from the temple Entrance: 6:30 AM
Arrived at the market: 6:55 AM
Total of 25 minutes for the ride

… now we just relax and refresh ourselves at the market …

Departed from the market (Chanthaburi): 7:25 AM
Arrived at Baan Rabiangmai (Rayong): 10:25 AM
Total of 3 hours including a few stops for souvenirs along the way

Departed from Baan Rabiangmai: 11:40 AM
Arrived safely at Bangbon, Bangkok: 3:00 PM
Total of 3 hours 20 minutes including a few stops for etc.

18 hours of family fun activities

I Simply want to post the photo of the sunset at Wat Arun. Also, if you look closely at the temple, you can see the people that climbed up to (probably) take pictures.

I haven’t get the time to climb the temple yet. But when I do, I’ll be sure to share the picture of the view from the top of the the building.

A slight problem is… I suffer from a bit of acrophobia!

Just waiting for a boat

and waiting…
and waiting…..
and waiting……..
and waiting………..
and waiting…………..
and waiting……………..
and waiting…………………
and waiting……………………..
and waiting………………………..
and waiting……………………………

DONE waiting!!!

TAXI!

Simply just want to share a moment while we were waiting for a boat that, after 20 minutes, never show up!
We were waiting at Tha Dian port across from Wat Arun (the glowing temple in the picture) after a full day trip in Bangkok.

Exhausted!

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.

.

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?

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!

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.

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?

This is the Emerald Buddha that is MATTER to all THAI and is the one thing that can bring all THAI together. Thai’s had gone thru great lengths to secure the Emerald Buddha with the belief that the Buddha will bring luck and fortune to Thailand. With the legend (according to wiki) that the Emerald Buddha was created more than 2000 years ago, it is amazing to see something from that era survive well preserve till now.

In the photo, the Emerald Buddha is the statue in the lower middle inside the temple thru the entrance. Beside the amazing history of the Emerald Buddha, pay attention to how detailed the temple itself is. Everything is hand made hundreds of years ago to specially house the Buddha. I spent quite some time staring at the wall, entrance and ceiling, amazed by its detailed decoration and design. I am still amazed by those details just by looking at the photo.

Currently I am on medication due to allergies from dust and the weather. It’s side effect is SLEEPINESS! Directions: One after breakfast and one after dinner. The one after dinner is not really the problem but the problem is after breakfast because it make me really lazy and sleepy. I have been trying to stay awake thru out the day during work! There were times that I just blank out at the computer’s monitor, day dreaming! And that was how I got reminded of this picture I took of the Sleeping Buddha at  Wat Pho weeks ago and I would like to share it with everyone before I fall asleep in front of the computer!

Bangkok is full of amazing places to visit! I hope that I get to visit everything there is offered by the city before I have to depart, once again.

After I kept taking pictures with “typical views and compositions” as I always do, I just couldn’t make it any more interesting than it was! I was trying not to only capture its color or its architecture and design. I was trying to capture everything and I couldn’t do it with the typical direct shot.

That was when I started to look down and rest on my neck and to my surprise, i fell in love with the reflection of the pond on the ground then I fired away, taking a lot more shots at the ground.  I’m sure I caused the passers by to wonder… “what is he doing? Taking pictures of the floor? That is one crazy guy!”

Crazy or not… that’s the result!

I must have taken this photos a few weeks ago when I had my Laptop serviced. I couldn’t upload the picture until now. My family was planning to visit the temple as I also wanted to take the picture of this amazing temple, which I will not reveal to you, yet. But it was raining by the time we arrived so we went to a mall for lunch and an hour later we went back as the rain had stopped.

We spent a few hours there, walking from one temple to the next. After having taking so may photos that are so clear and detailed, I find this photo to capture the moment and the beauty of the temple at its greatest. When something is so detailed, you begin to look for the flaws in its perfection. But when something is so crude and blurry… you will use your imagination to paint and complete that canvas yourself.

Complete the photo with your imagination.

This week will be Thai week, so hang on tight! I’ll keep it coming!

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!