Loy Krathong - Kartik Poornima

Last week this time I was in Krungthep, I had gone there for Loy Krathong.

I have been going to Thailand since the last 2 years to celebrate Loy Krathong. This festival is very similar to my Kartik poornima, and it is celebrated almost in the same fashion in orissa (I don't know about other provinces/states in India), and Thailand. In Orissa as well as in Thailand we make floats made of Banana trunk and let them loose in the river. I am aware that kartik poornima is celebrated in other parts of India, but probably not in the same fashion as Orissa or Thailand. This year I got along with my GF and her sister Mamaew and Mamaew's fried Koong to make our Krathongs. After eating at MK's we decided to get the supplies, we went to talad thai, the fresh wholesale market in pathumthani to get the supplies, the supplies included, the stalk of banana tree cut into round shape to be the base of the float, flowers including orchids, banana leaf, candles and incense stick.

It was good 2 hours when the girls got busy making the krathongs(banana stalk boats) at Maew's place. I did nothing other than disturbing them, asking lots of questions, and taking pics. When we completed making the krathongs at around 7:30 we went to the ancient city of Ayuthaya which is similar sounding to our Ayodhya, this was once the capital of Siam kingdom and it was raged by the invading armies of the kingdom of Burma.

This was my 2nd visit to Ayuthaya on Loy Krathong, so most of the places were familiar to me, we had fun letting our krathongs go, and prayed for the blessings of god. the river shore was a mess with so many people cajoling to get a foothold to float their krathongs. after the melee was over we got along to see, had fin eating some snacks and then finally off to Krungthep.

The next day I asked my mom about the festival in India, she said that we in orissa celebrate it by floating the banana stem boats early in the morning instead of the night. I remember me having gone to the river early morning with my aunt to do the same.

memories, similarities, culture... I am simply amazed.

sunday , me , alone

Today being a sunday, I was stranded at home, Yesterday was an eventful day for me, lost stuff, like Cellphone etc (dont want to talk how ) , and at night I went to celebrate Edmund's B'day. after being back at 4 am from "Zouk", went straight to bed, and got up at 12 noon. It was good, drank a lot, without losing Stupor. Marena, Balrina, Mei Chin, her tiny friend(forgot her name), Keith, Jerry, Edmund (B'day boy/monkey LOL) were a geat pack to be with, though I must say I am already feeling at loss with the partying scene, maybe am growing older :P.





Am feeling good at the upcoming India trip, 3 weeks, hope to catch up with oldies and family and of course food. me n gogo have already planned out some places we want to go together. I got a good Deal due to Matta fair, which is malaysia's Tourism fair and thanks to Kiran for the same, she tipped me about it, and of course thanks to Marena who helped me out to check the cheapest fares.





This is the holy month of Ramadan, and it seems the whole of Malaysia is going fasting, except for a few like Intan, Kamalia, who have to eat haha. This is another of the big festivals that I have seen here in Malaysia, the other one was the chinese new year at the beginning of the year. I was in Singapore at the time but on new years day I flew back to KL, I remember I also got my first "Ang Paw" from Sanjay our senior colleague in KL office. see pic of the same. Ang paw is gift money that juniors recieve from seniors in the family.





Another upcoming festival maybe the Diwali, an Indian Hindu Festival, for which I tried to get leave to be with my famikly in India , but unfortunately that coulkd not be agreed upon. so I will be back by 4th Nov a few days just before Diwali. I know mom will be cross at this , but I couldnt help it.

I hope to write more in the near future, especially when so many things are happening.

Amit

Landmark - 20th Aug

Somehow this day is a lot meaningful this year, It was exactly 4 years ago in 2003 that I stepped out of India for the first time, I was a day late for the start of my session of MBA at AIT, but that was acceptable. I was 2 days late. but after 3 years I discovered that it was my GF's Birthday and Today also happens to be her first job after she completed her MBA. A new life for her. God bless her, I pray for her well-being, and I promise I will take her to Phra trimurati when I go there next.

In the meantime I am struggling for deadlines, but I am becoming a lot more resolved, dunno which direction my careers will take me, but I hope I will make the best of it. I will be seeking God's blessings a lot, and hope that I always get his blessings.

Sumi today asked about the GMAT, it seems he is becoming a bit serious about it, I hope he really starts to give shape to his plans for his MBA. Peace be n all of us.

At Crossroads

I got back after 4 months to you, amidst introspection and hope, I am myself to blame for all the procastination, look at this, a simple act, that I had been wanting to put down over here since Februaury has been delayed and delayed and delayed, I just wanted to write about the Chinese new year and the tradition of getting "Ang Paw" from Seniors, which I got for the first time this year in Feb, but ...... this attitude of mine is costing me so much, in terms of career development and also in terms of achievement of goals in life. I do not want to wash away another opportunity of a good appraisal, I hope that I will be able to be in a good bargainable position this year. I am also look forward to give a headstart to my future plans, asking for god's blessings. Phra Phromma take me into your fold. Grant me my small desires, I will do my best at my deserving end.

Recounting and reliving old days

I am posting this blog from my friend's room, in AIT my alma mater, yes I am in Bangkok, Thailand for a company presentation, but instead of coming here on Monday 9th April, I decided to come over in Friday, 6th April, so that I could spend a day in AIT. I boarded the plane in KL at 6:45 pm and reached here at 8:00 Pm local time, about 2 hours journey which didn't exhaust me much. Visa-on-arrival, cleared immigration, straight hopped onto a taxi and told "Pai Thammasart Rangsit na krap"- damage about 500 bahts tolls included, but arrived fast in 1 hour. while coming called a host of friends to know their whereabouts. some people had moved houses, and many others had moved companies and some also moved to other countries.

The whole purpose of writing all these is I am feeling very sentimental, ... On reaching I took Phanna's Cycle and went to the Indian cafe in the campus called the "snack bar" had naan, palak-paneer, tandoori cicken ... mmm satisfying and had called in some indian friends and talked awhile with them, then Ice-cream and then said goodbye to all, while on the way back to phanna's place I decided to go by the 2 student village units where I had lived, Time froze, my heart melt, pushed me back by 2 years and I had all the memroies rushing back to me. On my adjecent SV unit stayed Anh Ha whom I adored so much, today (6th April, 2007) also happens to be his marriage, and he will be going to honeymoon to Nha Trang... goddamnit, why did he have to remind me of that, also today is Huy's marriage another vietnamese friend, here I mentioned about Anh ha, because invariably many time he would come to my place and call me out "mit oi" and I loved running to him for small stupid reasons, i remember he and I went to Talad Thai to buy flowers for all vietnamese girls in class because it was vietnamese women's day. ohh miss those days so much. there are so many memories of that hostel unit, and they all came rushing to my head. Then I went to old V14 where in the last few days I hardly stayed but had my GF always come there, she spent many days with me there, oh those sweet memories. .... Probably I need to settle down, slow down the pace ... go back and cry a little, love u my dear AIT.

Golden people in Golden Triangle

I was in Thailand for a Final presentation, to a client, It was to be in Powerpoint. It was my first fully independent presentation, so was a bit nervous, but thankfully everything went smooth. After the presentation part was done, I was all free, so in Thailand till 3 Jan, 2007.

Ratchapruek:- My Girlfriend decided we had to see the north, she was particularly interested to see the Ratchpruek Gardens in Chiangmai, even me I was looking forward to see this new garden as I had heard so much about it. It was king Bhumibol's Pet project, so it was regarded highly in Thailand. With many countries having a flagship representation, it was a sort of beauty contest, and the country which had the longest queue, was Bhutan, LOL not because it was beautiful, but because the Prince (now king) was popular in Thailand. The sights worth seeing there were the Orchid herbarium, - where I went crazy at the beautiful Orchids, clicked away like 2 dozen shots, then the newly constructed Temple, inside the garden. It was a whole day tour, and the funny part was we didnt have tickets, but my GF's Aunty was there to rescue us, who has a group ticket, for 10 people and she had only 8 people with her. we got back to our hostel late after dinner withe whole group, then went around town in a borrowed motorcycle, the 2 days in chiangmai were great, among the other things things worth mentioning were the fruit market, where we had 7 baht Khnom Chin, and in Chiangmai Night market where we had assorted northrn Thai food Lanna style in McDonald's, dont get me worng, we just used McDonald's table to eat the food. LOLz. But we had a full-fledged Lanna food at a specialty restaurant on the day we left Chiangmai, It was just yummy, Lanna Food (or Ahan Lanna) is the food on the Northern Thai Region, which was developed under the Lanna kingdom, which was once the dominating power of that region. Now it is the Chakri Dynasty, with the present king being loved and adored by his people, including my GF, who is the biggest fan. Talking of Lanna Food, it is no longer popular in Thailand, I believe as even in chiangmai, we had to struggle to find a good shop, on our last day after return from Chiang Rai, we eventually found one, and had a sumptuous fare of Ahan Lanna, (btw Ahan means, food , which probably comes from the sanskrit word Ahaar,also means food)

Chiang Rai, Golden Triangle:- The next stop was Chiang Rai, It was Pat, My GFs old Dormmate in AIT, who invited her and me to stay with her family, on reaching the bus stop, her father was there, and immediately she had plans for us, Her Dad, mom and Pat took us to Doi Tung a nice manicured garden on top of a hill, the weather there was pleasant and we took so many pics with the flowers, (Doi Tung btw is also famous for its coffee, and there is a chain by the same name which sells coffee) but that was not he star attraction of the day, the events which I find ever so impressive were the next, when we visited Pat's grand parents, They lived further up north literally on the border, town of Chiang San, while passing through we could see the river which separates the 3 countries laos, and Myanmar, it is also called the Golden triangle, saw a lot of tourists there, when we reached the house finally, we met her grand parents who are already in their golden years, but I was amazed to see them in fit form, both beyond 75 years old, but having a gait which can shame a 40 year old, the funny part was the grandmother drove the car daily to their farm herself. I was amazed at their strength, then since it was new year time, Pat's parents presented them with some gifts and we recieved blessings from them, her Grand mom tied me a String which I am still wearing, take that as a blessing, from those Golden people.

While on the way back, we went to Pat's old College named Mae Fa Luang university, named after the King's mother. This is also the place where my friend from AIT, Khun Aod, is a lecturer, she is a PhD student in AIT and will be graduating this year. Later that evening we went to chiang Rai Night Market, with Pat's American Friend and Teacher, a sweet lady named Karen. In there we saw the Katoey dance and competition. and I had my Favourite Beer Chang. At night the whole sky of Chiang rai was filled with Firecrackers and hot-air balloons, which Thai people alight on auspicious Days.

Blogging after such a longtime ...

I almost forgot my Blog, & havent been able to update, though quite a lot has happened in the past. The last I posted was on June 2006, that makes it s straight 9 months of procastination. I am the king of procastination. But in the next few posts I will be giving flashbacks on what happened in those 9 months. As a brief snapshot, I joined Frost & Sullivan, Malasyia office in Nov'06, left India in Oct'06, traveled around the region like Singapore and a few times to Thailand, celebrated New year in Northern Thailand in Chiangmai, went to the Golden Triangle region bordering 3 countries, Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar, Went to a friend's wedding in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Since a picture is as good as a thousand words I will post a few pics here.

The 1st one was taken in Chaingmai, at Ratchapruek garden, from their Orchid Collection, 2nd at a temple in Chiangrai, 3rd Trang and mathieu's marriage @ Hanoi, 4th -> me in Singapore.