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.