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Showing posts with the label Bangkok

I will be entertaining...

Skywatch : on an expressway to Pratunam, that area in Bangkok where everything is cheap. Reflections : history wings and things   I Heart Macro : floral tribute Friday's Fave Five : Anticipation mode. My entrails are somersaulting. Come, September, come! 1 Teacher's day . It's that time of year when I'm so in love with my profession. 2 New apartment, new furniture. In the move I found a photo which I thought I had lost forever. It's of my parents, the last and only one with my rarely-seen-in-photos father in it a few years before he died. I was just thrilled with the discovery. 3 A change I don't mind . It was originally Bali in three weeks. Thanks to an unexpected problem with the travel agency, it's now New Delhi.  Hello Taj Mahal! 4 Re-entry permit and visa report sorted . Always a relief to get immigration stuff out of the way. 5 I will be entertaining. A friend from high school I haven't seen in 26 years is com

King's parkton

For some reason whenever I dig into my archives and see this photo, I always associate it with a scene from The Hobbit or the filming location, Hobbiton in New Zealand.  This is a spot on King Rama IX Park , and on the opposite side is one of the ponds. Thanks to our host: Water World * Our World Tuesday

The party must go on

“Dare to love yourself as if you were a rainbow with gold at both ends.”  ~ Aberjhani, The River of Winged Dreams May I tell you something? I have been frequenting tea rooms lately. The other thing is, I found a sky beauty from my 5th floor porch! It makes me momentarily forget that we are under Martial Law right now. Life goes on and I am grateful for the wonderful things this week. Here are five of them: Something that made me smile in the midst of anxiety . Back home in the Philippines my kiddo is sick. It goes without saying I am worried but I can't help chuckling when I was told that he complained to my mother, "Grandma, I have a headache on my neck." An 'oh...?' moment . I was told that CJ's doctor is an old friend I used to date; asked my Mom about me after taking a look at CJ. Sounds and feels like my son is in good hands.... And then the roses, those love letters, that weekend together in an uncle's house came flooding

Temperature rising

Bangkokians are in desperate need of hydration.  Saturday we got whipped by a searing 36 °C. Sunday 38 °C and forecast from the Thai Meteorological Department shows temperatures will keep on rising the entire week. Thanks to an invention called AC and a powerful thing called imagination. I stay put in the office while my mind wanders to holidays past. This is where people take ferries to Koh Si Chang, an island close to Bangkok. Our World Mellow Yellows

Exam season

  Reflected on the table is an idea of where this place is (in case I forget)     Skywatch : clouds above canal lane trying to postpone the sunset Pines on the glass window  It's time for uni people to breathe easily. While students plow their heads through Strategic Management, Cost Accounting and Business Law, those exempted from taking the finals (read: instructors invigilating) get to have theirs charmed. Mine wandered around Chocolate Ville. I just love perks of exam season week. Work is light; the highlights fun: girlfriend time after working 9-hour days for awhile, we went al fresco in a seafood restaurant where the fried sea bass and mango salad was such delight on the palate enhancing travel plans for 2015.  We then proceeded to a saxophone jazz and blues bar. Blimey, what a place! It was like being in the cellar of a 16th century castle. The only reminder I was in 21st century Bangkok were the strains produced by a girl saxophonist whose r

More antidote

A hot hot moisturizing hallo from the chili patches! The week here has been highlighted with attempts to combat the heat; joys and faves are on: Antiques ! When I discovered that there's a big section for exactly those in Nawamin Market, I freaked out. If only I lived in Thailand permanently.... Culture exhibit . I didn't notice the woman was holding a drink until she, and I, opposite her, took a photo of the fish and I discovered that her reflection shows a straw in a disposable glass. I was probably also reflected in her shot. We snapped at the same time. It was fun. We are booked! I'm cruising with friends in Vietnam. Halong Bay in a few weeks. Blooms and a lake . My family trooped to Suan Luang for some healthy relief from the angry Thai sun. Icy dessert . Pineapple and strawberry. Sugar and milk. Crunch, crunch, one alimentary canal is happy. Visit: Reflections * Fave Five * Picture Clusters * Skywatch *  Share the Joy * Water Wor

One fine morning

Someone says good memories are for bad times; not that I'm having one. It feels good to express gratitude.  I look over my week and notice that I put in effort to turn yesterday's emotional glitch around. The attempt was successful. I am happy. So on to this life-enhancing exercise of sharing joys and faves: attending an art exhibit whose artist I have personally met from a fundraiser for Haiyan victims last year a friend I haven't seen in 25 years who now lives in the UAE rang and we chatted for two hours Pompeii and Robocop someone tells me I am her inspiration. Whatever she meant I thought knowing that was inspiring as well memories! I woke up one fine morning this week and reminisced: this spot in a splash resort, so appealing to the country girl in me  (Del Rio, June 2012) exploring a lake with young nephews and nieces (Sebu, 1 January 2014) finding myself in a lovely tea room free to dream as much as I want (Cassia Cafe and Tea Room, 2

Pluviophile

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow advises, " the best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain ." I absolutely have no problem with that! One childhood memory I remember to this day is that afternoon when playmates were out playing basket ball in the rain. Afraid I would get sick, my overprotective mother made me stay indoors. She allowed our dog and even the house help to play. I watched them by the window have the frolic of their lives through tears as torrential as the rain that was pouring, my heart broken. As an adult an opportunity to stand in the rain presented itself to me in a national park. Seizing it with a vengeance, I found that rain was a natural hair conditioner. But more significantly, I didn't get sick. Did you hear that, Ma? In fact I felt the opposite. I love chanting, " be still sad heart and cease repining, behind the clouds the sun is still shining. Thy fate is the common fate of all. Into each life some rain must fall. Some days

Too late and too early

Red flags. It's not easy when no one at work tells you (i.e. translate) what's going on. I knew though I was walking past an activity that was almost finished. On with the walk.  I waited a bit for this rainbow jar to gurgle. Nothing. Then I realized it wasn't evening yet. The fountain was on night duty only. At least I got a few trees and a couple buildings on her shiny wide neck. Linking to: Weekend Reflection * Water World * Our World * Ruby Tuesday Too

Mistaken identity

Sepia Saturday A message in my Outlook inbox on Friday directed Business Administration instructors to head over to the stadium. I thought it was just like having to watch state-run television to record credits for members of the cheer leading squad.  We did it a couple times in the past. But this week's activity turned out different.  At least to me. As I walked out the faculty office door, someone hollered, "it's a three-hour pageant!" Great. How much coursework is going to be wasted on this non-cur? Without anything I could do I idly took a snap of Snow White -- -- admired Goldilocks' curvaceous body, half expecting Little Red Riding Hood next. Where could my students be....  These are normal school pageant girls. We should all be worrying about swine flu. These contestants should wear masks. After all isn't walking around Bangkok wearing a mask now considered fashion? Cinderella... Thumbelina... Anastasia...  I vow

Mae Nak Prakhanong

Now I see what a ghost is. Unfinished business, that's what.  ~ Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses Ed Warren observes that the devil exists, God exists. He did not specify 'ghost' but that could well include Casper and his relatives whom I believe in but do not want to see except in films. On my way to see The Conjuring I snapped this photo from a speeding bus of the Prakhanong klong, a tributary of Chao Phrya. The water looks peaceful enough to me. If I closed my eyes to the wires and vandalized bridge, that is. Mae Nak Prakhanong, is a film I watched while traveling from Huahin to Bangkok in 1998. It portrays normal life in Prakhanong, then a village; of people rowing their boats in the klong to visit neighbors or go to the market. Scenes especially those around the water are engulfed in eerie serenity. You see Mae Nak  is a ghost. She is probably famous as I have yet to meet a Thai who has no idea who Mae Nak is. Her love story with her so

Alone with the dragon

His buddies have all taken shelter from the raging sun. But he seems worried about the wind blowing away their props. It was the University Games the next day. xxx ~0~ Our World Mellow Yellows

Queen's birthday week

What a pleasure to wake up , realize it's a holiday and therefore... free time! Thailand's Queen Sirikit had her birthday on Monday. It was also Thai Mother's Day. After a little FB chat with a cousin we, her kids and two uncles headed to a place we used to avoid (pricy) but always wanted to see. Chocolate Ville is little Europe / America in Asia. Business is mainly dining with lots of photo opportunities. Some spots, particularly the Waterfront Glasshouse made me fancy another visit to England. niece What's a celebration without food? There were loads but my favorites are (upper, l-r) fried oysters and santol salad topped with peanuts; (lower, l-r) chocolate strawberry cake and mango chocolate mousse I never realized how beautiful a quiet moment could be by a pretty window like this until I did. It was like looking at a lovely book cover and walking right into it.  Over in the city center, Dasa Books is having their Blow-out sale - $.29ce

Happy birthday, Your Majesty

The Queen of Thailand celebrates her 81st birthday Monday, August 12th, which is also Thai Mother's Day.  The kingdom is in celebration mode.  HM Queen Sirikit Pre-birthday exhibit at Government House Flowers for her in front of a mall Many families go alfresco. Mine explores Chocolate Ville ~ 0 ~   Our World * Sally's Blues

Dory Seafood Bistro

Thanks to calamari I found Dory And the lemon grass juice transported me back to  those late afternoons long ago when Ma would start preparing dinner and would send me to the backyard to get a sprig of lemon grass that she would add to her fat mackerel soup.   I like calamari ; been eating bowls and plates of the rings from time to time since falling in love with them hanging out late 90s in Planet Hollywood - a place which seems to have disappeared from view along Bangkok's Ploen Chit Road .   That's how a little hankering led me to Dory I was admiring the dainty windows and staring at the ceiling while waiting for my food. Aren't these chandeliers reminiscent of anchors?   But then of course it's seafood and Dory If I could not associate the words I might as well start imagining a trident before Ariel and Flounder come gliding by.   But what do you do when your order takes long to arrive and you're waiting in th