Well, it's been a great week,
last Friday till Sunday, I spent time at Bangkok, my first time there,
thus, breaking the record for the furthest place I've been away from my home.
We spent the day time touring and the night time shopping around.
I visited the Pagoda in Bangkok, the highest point of the city,
giving me a great chance to look at this tourism-oriented dwelling from a landscape view.
Next, we moved on to the Standing Buddha temple,
and there was this golden figure of a Buddha standing upright,
having the height of a 6-7 floor building. What intrigued me the most was that there
was a chamber in the temple that contained a wax statue of an old monk.
It was dark and I took a glimpse of the figure of a robed elderly, sitting down, surrounded
by many people and their chants.
That was all for day one, when we started shopping around, we realized it was near closing time,
God, half of the stores in Bangkok close at around 8pm and most already shut down by 9.
The next day, we went to the ever famous Floating Market. Let me interject something here,
our tour guides were awesome, they got us an SUV to move around Bangkok,
and prior to riding boats to the market, they saw that the pier was full of other tourists,
which could take up about an hour to get a boat for us,
hence, they took another pier, somewhere nearby but we were the only people at there,
the boats were awesome too, they had engines and rooftops,
it's like heaven on top of water compared to other boats which were paddled or topless.
The floating market was a great time for me and my brother,
by some twist of fate, all my family and other tourists were on one boat while
my brother and I were on another.
We were floating around, drinking coconuts, savouring a Thai delicacy "Kuey Tiaw",
not your conventional Makaysian flattened noodle,
but a sweet and spicy dish and so invigorating.
In the end, after countless drifting on the boat through the alleys of wooden shops
suspended on water, i bought a mask for myself. The tour guide informed it was
a demon mask from Thai mythology. Initially, I chose it, because it was on top
of other masks and was golden, with a hint of uniqueness and granduer.
Hearing from the guide, I realized it was a genuine mask, handcrafted from wood,
and compared to its plastic counterpart all around it,
it was about twice their price. I'd follow the saying by Jim Rohn,
" Have a treasure, rather than an attic full of trinkets"
(I do not remember it accurately, but the essence it there)
My brother bought a crossbow** (**= Much consequences in the end).
After the floating market, we travelled to the Grand Palace,
it was a really grand place. Before arriving, we went past a field.
It was where they had demonstrations every night, but it was really empty in the day.
Our tour guide informed us that the Thailand daytime is extremely hot.
( Coming from an equatorial country like Brunei,
I find Thailand much hotter than our humid atmosphere)
Going in, we were instructed to wear long pants or skirts,
as some kind of custom or gesture of respect.
We ran through an extensive amount of badges, awards and royal ornaments.
One that caught my eye were the different golden clothes for the Emerald Buddha.
We went on a few places (including a miniature model of Angkor Wat)
and finally arrived at the royal temple. (we were still in the Grand Palace)
Inside, it was awesome, the Emerald Buddha figure was about 2 feet tall,
and it was positioned high up, like a tip of a pyramid, above other altars and ornaments.
It was wearing the Summer Robe.
There existed 3 robes. Each robe was for a season Rainy, Cold and Summer.
Earlier in the exhibition, we saw 2 golden robes on display.
The third one was currently worn. I glanced at it, majestically
as over a hundred people filled up the temples with their prayers,
not including the people outside.
The sceneries of the temples were also uncanny, their design and colourings,
especially the consistent use of gems and gold, made it fit for a royal temple.
After the Grand Palace, we retreated to the hotel, as I enjoyed the channels
available in Thailand. I especially like the Chinese MTV there.
The next day morning, we departed and I sadly left my
childish hope of meeting the people from the Aya Gang.
Now here comes the ** part. My brother's cross bow was taken by hand luggage.
The people at the Bangkok airport took the cross bow at their hands during the flight,
just in case. Worse of, when we arrived at Brunei, things took a spin for the worse.
At the airport, the security authoritives were already informed of the "weapon"
and they confiscated the bow, further wanting to discuss with my dad.
Making a tedious session simple, they burnt/exterminated the "potential" weapon,
saying that the crossbow was powerful enough to be modified into a gun-like killer weapon.
How cool is that? Nevertheless, I would rather protect my dad's job here as he's a
government worker. It was a day that ended with relieving sweats, and mocking
my brother's inablility to buy a proper souvenir that didn't involve the cops.
I smile happily at my demon mask.
(Author's note: Somehow this articles seems to mechanical to me
and should have more subjective POV)
last Friday till Sunday, I spent time at Bangkok, my first time there,
thus, breaking the record for the furthest place I've been away from my home.
We spent the day time touring and the night time shopping around.
I visited the Pagoda in Bangkok, the highest point of the city,
giving me a great chance to look at this tourism-oriented dwelling from a landscape view.
Next, we moved on to the Standing Buddha temple,
and there was this golden figure of a Buddha standing upright,
having the height of a 6-7 floor building. What intrigued me the most was that there
was a chamber in the temple that contained a wax statue of an old monk.
It was dark and I took a glimpse of the figure of a robed elderly, sitting down, surrounded
by many people and their chants.
That was all for day one, when we started shopping around, we realized it was near closing time,
God, half of the stores in Bangkok close at around 8pm and most already shut down by 9.
The next day, we went to the ever famous Floating Market. Let me interject something here,
our tour guides were awesome, they got us an SUV to move around Bangkok,
and prior to riding boats to the market, they saw that the pier was full of other tourists,
which could take up about an hour to get a boat for us,
hence, they took another pier, somewhere nearby but we were the only people at there,
the boats were awesome too, they had engines and rooftops,
it's like heaven on top of water compared to other boats which were paddled or topless.
The floating market was a great time for me and my brother,
by some twist of fate, all my family and other tourists were on one boat while
my brother and I were on another.
We were floating around, drinking coconuts, savouring a Thai delicacy "Kuey Tiaw",
not your conventional Makaysian flattened noodle,
but a sweet and spicy dish and so invigorating.
In the end, after countless drifting on the boat through the alleys of wooden shops
suspended on water, i bought a mask for myself. The tour guide informed it was
a demon mask from Thai mythology. Initially, I chose it, because it was on top
of other masks and was golden, with a hint of uniqueness and granduer.
Hearing from the guide, I realized it was a genuine mask, handcrafted from wood,
and compared to its plastic counterpart all around it,
it was about twice their price. I'd follow the saying by Jim Rohn,
" Have a treasure, rather than an attic full of trinkets"
(I do not remember it accurately, but the essence it there)
My brother bought a crossbow** (**= Much consequences in the end).
After the floating market, we travelled to the Grand Palace,
it was a really grand place. Before arriving, we went past a field.
It was where they had demonstrations every night, but it was really empty in the day.
Our tour guide informed us that the Thailand daytime is extremely hot.
( Coming from an equatorial country like Brunei,
I find Thailand much hotter than our humid atmosphere)
Going in, we were instructed to wear long pants or skirts,
as some kind of custom or gesture of respect.
We ran through an extensive amount of badges, awards and royal ornaments.
One that caught my eye were the different golden clothes for the Emerald Buddha.
We went on a few places (including a miniature model of Angkor Wat)
and finally arrived at the royal temple. (we were still in the Grand Palace)
Inside, it was awesome, the Emerald Buddha figure was about 2 feet tall,
and it was positioned high up, like a tip of a pyramid, above other altars and ornaments.
It was wearing the Summer Robe.
There existed 3 robes. Each robe was for a season Rainy, Cold and Summer.
Earlier in the exhibition, we saw 2 golden robes on display.
The third one was currently worn. I glanced at it, majestically
as over a hundred people filled up the temples with their prayers,
not including the people outside.
The sceneries of the temples were also uncanny, their design and colourings,
especially the consistent use of gems and gold, made it fit for a royal temple.
After the Grand Palace, we retreated to the hotel, as I enjoyed the channels
available in Thailand. I especially like the Chinese MTV there.
The next day morning, we departed and I sadly left my
childish hope of meeting the people from the Aya Gang.
Now here comes the ** part. My brother's cross bow was taken by hand luggage.
The people at the Bangkok airport took the cross bow at their hands during the flight,
just in case. Worse of, when we arrived at Brunei, things took a spin for the worse.
At the airport, the security authoritives were already informed of the "weapon"
and they confiscated the bow, further wanting to discuss with my dad.
Making a tedious session simple, they burnt/exterminated the "potential" weapon,
saying that the crossbow was powerful enough to be modified into a gun-like killer weapon.
How cool is that? Nevertheless, I would rather protect my dad's job here as he's a
government worker. It was a day that ended with relieving sweats, and mocking
my brother's inablility to buy a proper souvenir that didn't involve the cops.
I smile happily at my demon mask.
(Author's note: Somehow this articles seems to mechanical to me
and should have more subjective POV)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment