Traveling time!!! Finally had a chance to visit the sea in the southern region of Thailand again!...

 

Krabi is a very special place especially around the Railay bay area. The surrounding is very serene and harmonious. Without road access, Railay is considered quite lively in it's own way. If you call this region to be Bob Marley I wouldn't be surprised.

 

There are mainly 2 sides to the Railay bay, generally people arrives on the west side from Ao-Nang. The beach there is beautiful. However, there is also the easy-Railay which is even more special in its own way. The beach there is actually a mangrove, which makes it more interesting. During the high-tide the sea water rises to cover the whole sandy area. So walking in sea water to get around brings fantastic experience especially with the surroundings of trees in the sea.

 

There are also several beautiful lime stone sites which are perfect for rock-climbing. I believe this is the most beautiful rock-climbing site in the world (although I haven't been to too many sites). The lime stones are not just on the Railay area but on several islands in the area as well. To say that the area is beautiful would be an understatement : -).

 

The room rates there are also quite reasonable especially during this low-season. One can easily find a fan room from Baht400-600 a night and air-conditioned room from  Baht 1000 per night and in some places you can even get breakfast with the deal. These rooms can be found on the east-side of Railay. On the west side, the rooms are much more expensive. There is also another beach which is a hike away from Railay bay and the price can get even lower but it's not easily accessible.

 

Climbing there always give wonderful experiences. I did meet a really nice climbing guide his name is Su and he works at the Tex climbing shop. I have visited this shop once before (around 2000-2001) and liked it very much. However, the climbing guide that I met last time no longer works here. I heard that he has left the shop and tried to be a musician. Anyway, I still would highly recommend this Tex climbing shop. Su and I became good friends and I look forward in seeing him again sometime soon.

 

There is an island close by  the Railay bay, it's called Koh Tub and Koh Moh, these two islands are quite special in a way that when it's low-tide, these two islands would connect to each other. This is definitely one of my favorite places to spend the day. I did quite a bit of snorkeling to the back side of Koh Tub and it's amazingly serene and vibrant there, I did spend some time just sitting in the water while overlooking the beautiful sea from this spot.

 

Check out the pictures!!! : -) http://fog007.spaces.msn.com

 

Went to Cha-am and Huahin for 4 days new year celebration with all immediate families..

 

The energy for new year was relatively low, perhaps people were not really in party mood this year.

Pictures ADDED, check the albums at http://fog007.spaces.live.com/

 

 

 

 

Check the photo album!

This trip has been fantastic as I have been looking forward to go on this trip for years.

I was not sure how I got the seat on the airplane on 22nd Oct as my ticket is an mile-award ticket and it has the lowest priority. I called THAI office on 22nd Oct morning and was told that there are 21 seats overbooked. Some how they called me back later to tell me that I got a seat confirmed which was fantastic (this happened after I have been going to the airport and being on stand-by for 2 days without getting a seat).

I met my great uncle Gurmukh Singh on the way to board the air-plane and he was on his way to take care of matters at his charity clinic in New Delhi and he is in process of opening another charity clinic in Kushinagar (an ultra-generous being like a bodhisattva). So while in Delhi I did go visit his clinic there.

 

Took the early morning bus to Agra, made couple of friends on the bus including a guy from Delhi named Sumeet and a spiritual person from Malaysia. They were very cool. Had a good tour of Red Ford and then went to the Taj in the late afternoon. We found out that the Taj has been temporarily closed as some VIP guest of the government was visiting the Taj. People were lined up to wait for it to open, the line was probably about 300-500 meters long. The Taj opened again at 6:30pm in which Sumeet offered to squeeze to the front and get us our tickets then we had to squeeze in to get into the Taj. It's extremely hard to describe the scene there during the pushing and pulling of the people (you would have to watch an Indian film with riot in it to get the picture). Fortunately the police officers were in control, they did not pull out their canes to organize the crowd. It was a dark foggy night which made taking the picture with flash extremely difficult. We went into the Taj and took a couple of photographs, enjoyed the atmosphere and got out. Later we found out that only our group from the whole bus got into the Taj. (It was not very nice as people came from all over India just to see the Taj Mahal and most of them didn't get to go in). Then we took the bus back to New Delhi. The bus ride was not supposed to take more than 4 hours but it took 8 hours as there were labour-class protesters sleeping on the inter-state roads taking their rest as they were marching towards New Delhi to demand their rights. Well it was quite a big delay. Anyway, nothing unusal :-).

 

 

From New Delhi, I took a train to Chakki Bank in Pathankote (Punjab) then took a bus from there to Dharamsala. I left on 26th evening and arrived in Dharamsala on 27th mid-day. On the bus I made some friends who were western volunteers working in New Delhi. Great people, they were Matt, Olivia, Camilla, Renate, and Yiling, so I tagged along their group. From Dharamsala I took a bus upto McLeod Ganj (or upper Dharamsala) while the rest of them hiked their way up. The place was very beautiful and people were extremely nice and friendly. I stayed the 'Green Hotel' which costed me a Rs300 for a big room to myself with hot shower and a great balcony view. Got our rooms for the night, visited couple of temples and saw the town, which was fantastic.  From there then we roamed up and down the town which was extremely calm and peaceful. The weather was a little cool, just right. Then we all had dinner together and went to bed. Next day we met up for breakfast and went around town again, this time to His Holiness Dalai Lama temple and then I hiked towards behind his temple which seems to be a long way but it came back to the temple itself (lol, made me feel quite dumb really).  Then the girls left the place by bus to New Delhi in the evening. Only Mattew and Olivia stayed on. That evening we went to see a film about how Tibetan children crosses the Himalaya mountain to come to India and how their parents send them without knowing if they would make it alive or it. The producer of the documentary was there, the actual title of the documentary was 'Escape over the Himalayas'. (Again, it made me realize how fortune I am and why I should cultivate the Bodhisattva path. On Monday Olivia and Matthew went for hiking on the hills but I didn't go as I felt a little sick and I planned on attending teachings on the 'Bardo' by Chamtrul Rinpoche which is 2 hours a days for 5 days (which I did attend) and I started to feel ill as I did catch a cold. That night itself I met up with Jonathan while watching a football match. He is a British guy, a new writer, travelling and writing his first book. We got along really well.

 

For the next few days I ran up and down the hill in search of an Oracle which took me 2-3 days to find and I finally found her and asked her about how I should pursue my path and her reply was that I should ask His Holiness Dalai Lama. So I tried to request an audience with him for when he comes back but it was impossible as his schedule was extremely tight (extremely tight could even be an understatement). Apart from attending the teaching in the evening, I did have a chance to visit the Tibetan library, and also went to the Holloween party organized by Phil Void. Met up with bunch of ghosts there which was fun. In the nights, we would spend the

nights listening to live music performed by my friend Shambhu and Rohan at a restaurant called Carpe-Diem. Yes, it was totally relaxing.

 

After 5 days of class which ended on Friday, we found out that His Holiness Dalai Lama would be coming back to town on Saturday so Phil did organize a little band going to sing for His Holiness on his way back to town. So on Saturday there was a big reception for him as he have just recently received US Congressional gold medal from the USA government. People were waiting from way below town uptil his residence, people were waiting for him and looking forward to see him wave at them while we sang on the side of the road which he passed by. It was a fantastic experience. After that we just hung around and relax and Jonathan decided he would join me for the trip to Bodhgaya so we sorted our train tickets out. We left McLeod Ganj/Dharamsala on Monday and headed back to New Delhi on our way to Bodhgaya. So we took a bus on Monday 5th November to Pathankote. On the way, the bus tyre got punctured so there was little delay. When we were in Pathankote, we were 2 hours early for the train as per scheduled departure time. So we went to a local Punjabi road-side (Dhaba) restaurant and saw a snooker table inside, so we started playing with the local Punjabi guys. They were extremely friendly and nice so I played snooker with them for about 2 hours before me and Jonathan headed for the train station. Once we got to the train station we found out that the train was delayed for 2 hours so we waited and got on the train. The train arrived around noon in Delhi (scheduled to arrive at 7am or so), well nothing unusual for the almost 6 hours delay.

 

In New Delhi, first thing we did was sorted our train tickets out for going to Gaya (near Bodhgaya), we both got first class tickets but on different trains of 10 minutes apart. Then I did manage to have dinner with Camilla, Renate, Matthew and Olivia in New Delhi, it was great that they could join us. Gagan (My cousin in New Delhi) also joined us later. Next day we headed for Bodhgaya. After boarding the train, I found out that one of our cabin-mate is an Member of Parliament (MP) from Bihar, he belongs to the communist party. So I made another 3 friends (4 people in the cabin) on the train, the MP, an NRI, and an Indian engineer.

 

Arriving at Gaya was interesting. Yes, and it looked poorer than New Delhi. Anyway, after saying bye to the MP, Jonathan arrived about 10 minutes after me in Gaya. Then we decided to take the auto-rickshaw to Bodhgaya (The price was Rs100 but later we found out that it should have been Rs50). Arriving in Bodhgaya we shared a room and all were fine, we met up with a local boy named Manish and he showed us to Sujata cave and other nearby places. Then we met Joe (from Switzerland) at Om restaurant and we kinda hung out together most of the time. I went to visit The Karmapa at his temple (this is one recognized by Shamar Rinpoche) and exchanged a few words with him and he seems to be very nice person. We also visited several other temples in the area. For the next 5 days I attended the Kagyu Monlam (prayer). It was great experience. Joe joined me couple of times during the event. On the 3rd day of the event Jonathan fell sick and so did I. I started having a terrible cramp on my stomach. This happened in the night while all the clinics were closed. So the guest house owner took me to doctor's home. He was very kind, I must send a ton of thanks to him. After taking some medication, I started throwing up, even the medicines came out. Somehow, I was fine in the morning. So for the next 2 days all I had was some cookies and electrolytes. Jonathan didn't eat for 2-3 days and he became fine. On 16th November there was a grand opening event for a Vietnamese temple so monks from several temples of different traditions were invited. I attended the event, it was very nice as monks from almost all schools of Buddhism attended, prayed, blessed and had lunch together with monk of several traditions on the same table. Yes, it was magnificant. Then I went to the sculpture maker who supplies all the shops. His name was Birendra Kumar, a very simple man. After selecting a Buddha statue that he has made I paid him Rs200 and gave him Rs50 as tip to support him for the the is doing, and surprisingly in return he gave me a piece of wood with Buddha which he carved on it and he told me that that piece of wood which fell from the Bodhi Tree in the Mahabodhi temple and  has been given to him by a Thai monk. Wow, this was really something to me!.. (what kind of karma did I create to receive this???? Thank you all for reading and sharing this joy)

 

Took auto rickshaw to airport and as I checked in at the check-in counter, the flight manager told me 'I have been waiting for you'. Then he continued 'we share the same last name', his name was Vicky. He was an employee of THAI airways who travels often and that day he happened to be in Bodhgaya. After noting down his contact information I proceeded to the security check and met one military personnel who asked about my trip and started chatting with me, he mentioned that he was from Agra. As I told him that I plan to visit the Taj Mahal again he told me that I should let him know and perhaps he could take me around the next time I come :-).

He was very nice. Then I boarded the airplane and made my way back to Bangkok.

 

It was fantastic, fantastic, fantastic trip .... people are extremely nice and friendly and fortunately I managed to make friends with 'a lot' of people in which

I have just sent out maybe 20 emails out to check if they are alive :-)

 

Wait wait, I did go back and count and I did send out emails to more than 30 people......

 

 

Europe trip.. Italy France England trip :-)

 

Pictures are finally up, now the story.

 

 Arrived in London from Bangkok, stayed with my Mom's friend for a day and took a flight to Palermo. Arrived in Palermo, I was quite lost, not many people spoke English, taxi driver trying to cheat me by their attempts to bring me to expensive hotels, etc. Somehow I got on the airport bus and met a Chilean girl who were going to a bread and breakfast place so she allowed me to tag along. Yes, it was cool, we had dinner together and I took an early morning flight to fly to Pantelleria Island which was the southern most Island of Italy just off the coast of Tunisia. My great friend and brotherly Fabio came pick me up from the Airport and took me to his home to see his family. His mom and sisters were nice as usual. They were really cool. Took shower, ate and went around the Island. Yes, it's very beautiful Island with some Arab style houses. Even Georgio Armani has a home on this little Island. Stayed overnight there and next day Fabio and me took an air-plane back to Palermo where he showed me Palermo and the surrounding area, which was very beautiful. Went swimming the next day in the sea which was about 1 minute walk away from Fabio's house (how convenient!!). Saw the Sicily parliament, museums, etc. Next day we went to Rome, visited the Vatican, and yes, it was very pretty. Went around downtown of Rome and drive to Pompei, the historic city that has been excavated quite recently. Pompei was interesting as it has this ancient city in place, yes the whole city together. The reason for its survival was because it has been covered by volcano dust for several centuries in which several invasions did take place. After Pompei we went to Naples or Napoli, which was also an interesting old city, capital of the old Kingdom. Next day we took an airplane to Nice.

 

We rented a nice car in Nice which came with a computer navigator (really really useful) and drove to Monaco. Monaco is an interesting place, very developed, quite artistic, and rich. After Monaco we drove back to Nice and stayed there. Went around town in the night and toured the area. The next day we drove all along the southern coast on our way to Marseille. Stopped by Cairns then we stayed the night in Frejus and made a couple of friends there including Joaco, Lucas and Marie all from Argentina. Next day Fabio, myself and other guys we met there headed to St. Tropez which was an extremely rich pier city. If you see this coast you would not be able to think that there exist poverty in this world. After seeing that city we headed to Aux, before we checked in at Aux, Fabio found out that he forgot his passport in Frejus so we headed back to Frejus and stayed the night there. We left Frejus early in the morning to head for Marselli where we did catch the train to head to Vannes for my best friend from college, Mr. David Loy was getting married.

 

 

David and his wife came to pick us up at the train station and took us for dinner. Then we took a small boat across to another island where Jack's home was. We stayed at Jack's place and met a whole bunch of David's friend there who came for the wedding. Great people. Next day we went swimming in the sea which as about 18-19c, yes it was cold but once our whole body got into the water there was no longer the feeling of cold. Did little swimming and came back up. In the evening many more friends arrived and David came over as well. Around mid-night, we challenged each other to go for swim and only four of us went in, yes, the rest stood on the beach and watched our craziness swimming in freezing sea (16-17c). Next day was David's wedding, we went to the church, celebrated his wedding then went to the dinner. Had great time dancing and then party was over, headed back home. Next day I took train back to Paris and from there took Eurorail back to London.

 

In London I stayed at my Mom's friend place again. Next day I went to the Notting hill carnival and met up with 2 girls there. They showed me around. Very nice people. The carnival was very beautiful, people were enjoying themselves. For the next day I roamed around London, went to different places, and ended up in Leicester square, an amazing place. It's now one of my favourite places in the world. Checked out casino there for a bit, made some wins and quickly left. Checked out some bookstores and then headed home then to the airport. At the airport I saw some Thai monks there so I went to pay respect to them and then I found out that on was the Abbot of the Thai temple in London and his title was Chao Kun, which is a very high title given by the King of Thailand. Then they gave me some blessings and asked about my job. Chatted for a while and headed back home to Bangkok :-)

 

 

 

Went to Koh Samet with Muthu and Claire. It was wonderful, just 2 days, Saturday and Sunday.

Had a great time..

 

Me, and a bunch of people including Muy, Harish, Muthu and Claire along with other friends of Muy went on a one-day nine temples tour. It was fantastic. Great experiences. :-)

 

Check the photo gallery, to see the action.

 

 

Left Bangkok around 5am on Friday 29th December 2006. Drove to the pier. Took speed boat across directly to Silversand bungalow on Ao Phai. We arrived there before the reception/restaurant opens. So we waited and waited until 8am. A guy whom I see every time I go there shows up, we greeted each other as the counter opens and he asked me to wait as someone will check out and I'll be able to get a room. And as planned, we got a room. It was a nice and clean room as usual, warm shower, safe-deposit box, etc.

 

After taking a brief rest, we headed for the beach, I headed right into the water. Spend hours there. Sea is life for me. It was great. Rit didn't swim, he just wanted to rest on the beach. We then headed back to the room, took shower and came out for dinner. Sat on the dining area on a thin mat just few meters away from the sea. Food was great Yummy... and the atmosphere was even greater, dim candle lights, clear starry sky, sound of water hitting the shore, etc....Took a walk down to the beginning of the White sand beach, on the way back we stopped by Jeb's bungalow restaurant and each of us had a black forest cake.. even more Yummy.... walked back to the Silversand and sat down near the place where we had dinner but this time closer to the Silversand bar. Watched fire show, had an enjoyable time, met an old friend by chance. I didn't recognize this friend at first but she recognized me, so she greeted me from afar, I was not certain but after a while my memory became clear. She is a very good singer was singing in my friend's bar in Bangkok before. She was there with her new boyfriend. We updated ourselves of past events since last time we met... It was great.

 

Later the same night, the bar became more alive, me and Rit hit the dance floor which was just next to the beach. It's beautiful as usual. However, there is this girl, this one crazy blonde white girl, she claims to be an American and has lived in Russia for 6 years, was very drunk, she told me that she saw me and Rit eating cake at Jeb's so she just wanted to say hello. This girl tried to follow me for the whole night.  Even her friend who came with her told me that she was very drunk and I should watch out but her friend kept giving her more alcoholic drinks!!! (go figure!!!)...I think she must have been intoxicated with alcohol+other stuff on the top. Anyway, at some point she started punching me and grabbing my arms in a violent way, YES, IT WAS CRAZY!!! but was funny in a way.... The funniest thing she told me was that she works for the US State department.. hmm... makes me wonder which state was she on.... Anyway, we made couple of new friends that night which were Jose, Kote, Angel, BJ, Klouse, Hanna, Life and their group.. Actually 2 families came and their children are good friends or something... One family came from Chili but lives in Rayong, and the other came from Denmark and only the son (BJ) studies in ISB (Bangkok). It got quite late, so we went to bed maybe around 3:30am or so. (BJ, Hanna and Life are sibilings and Klouse is Hanna's boyfriend all from Denmark; Kote, Angel and Jose are sibilings from Chile)

 

Woke up around early afternoon, maybe 12:30 or 1pm. Went straight to the beach, met up with our new friends. Again, Rit stayed on the beach while I jumped into the water. Rit went for massage on the beach which made him feel great. Player some frisbee with BJ, Klouse and Hanna..Did some swimming, came back on the beach, sat around for a while, went back to our room and took shower. Relaxed for a bit and came out to have dinner with the other guys, went to Jeb bungalow restaurant and had even more food. This time me and Rit shared a dish of vegetarian Taco and it was the most delicious dish on this Island EVER!!! Don't forget, if you ever goto Koh Samet, go to Jeb and order Taco. After dinner, we all went to Tok's bar and chilled on the beach... they also had some live telecast of English premier league so I got a chance to keep myself updated with the results  LoL...

 

Went back to Silversand bar, it was not so much fun tonight. The bar was packed with men and non-men but not too many ladies (I know u get what I mean).... Somehow, I saw this guy walking around, this one guy, yes, Rajan... We sat down and talked for a little bit, he said he came with his family for new year celebration so I invited him to join us for party after the count down as I figured that his celebration with family was gonna end early  ;).... After a long chit-chat with friends there it got quite late, so me and Rit left...

 

 

Woke up around past noon maybe 1am... Went to the beach, but this time Rit did also join me for swimming. The place was getting more crowded.... After a long while of swimming and chilling on the beach, we went back to the room, took shower, and took a walk down to Jeb's again. Ordered taco, enchiladas, spaghetti, fruit juices, this was our last meal before new year.... We did spend quite some time eating... After the meal, we came back to the room, relaxed for a short while and went to sit down on the beach next to the Silversand bar again... This time it was really crowded, all tables were taken quite early in the night... and one couple from Bangkok joined our table as there were no space left... We sat on the beach and watched the fire show, this time, it was really great, they did put on quite a spectacular performance, applauses were coming from every where....After a long while, we left our table and went to the dance floor and did meet new people.... We waited for the count down, and about a few minutes before the count down we went to the Happy new year sign that was gonna be lit up....

 

My mind was at peace even while there lots of people around. Looking at the fireworks were more beautiful than ever. During the last few moments of fireworks show, the sign started to be lit up.... it was beautiful.. We were standing right infront of it and it was hot, we did jump over the year again... took lots of photos and videos....I went behind the fire sign and got my photo taken... I must say, it was REALLY hot when I was standing behind the burning 'Happy new year 2007' sign BUT it was a really GOOD PHOTO :-)....

 

After the count down, we went back to the dance floor and enjoyed the moments of new year.... after a while of dancing, I hard something exploding, first I thought it was the decorative balloons, but no, it was gun shots, real gun shots which I have never heard before. I saw 2 policemen standing on a table one with the revolver gave 3 gun shots in the air, the other with another kind of gun. They were next to a table where people were fighting one another with bottles. Yep, it was a fight, so police stopped the fight... Ok, the music stopped...

 

Half an hour later, music started again. Me and Rit hit the floor again, this time, I saw a bottle flying towards us, so we went to the other side of the bar.... Then I saw this tall European guy, maybe 6'3" or more  ran down to the beach, came back with a long wooden stool and smashed it on someone. Although I didn't see the person who got it, I could feel the intensity there. After smashing, the guy tries to escape by running to the beach. He was followed by a Thai guy who threw a bottle at him but I think it didn't hurt that European guy at all. Anyway, music was stopped, policed chased them down the beach and I don't know what happened afterwards....

 

After all these, we finally met up with our friends... the gang we met the other day and their families.. after about an hour the music came on again, which was great, we all danced and danced...until it was late, so I left first and Rit followed me later....

 

 

Woke up the next day around noon, checked out went to the restaurant at Silversand to have our lunch... At this point I was told that the European guy from last night was dead, and they closed the news...What he did was he was so high and did pee into the Thai guy's glass, that's how it all started... Anyway, after lunch we said bye to everyone and took the ride to the pier....

 

 

OM MANI PADME HUM

 

 

Went to Mabchan forest monastery for the official opening ceremony of male Avalokiteshvara statue (Chinese : Guan Yin or Kuan Yin or Kwan Yin, Tibetan : Chenrezi or Chenrezig, usually known as the Buddha of compassion). This is quite rare as this is a Thai Theravada forest monastery which is very strict when it comes to teachings while Avalokiteshvara influence is from Mahayana school of buddhism. Anyway, we had a great time, went with Fongsua, Annmarie and Pornthep. We did go through the opening ceremony with recitation. It was great to see our fellow friend Phra Ajarn Acharo as well as the abbot Phra Ajarn Anand.  On this auspicious day, Kathina ceremony (Thai: Tod Kathin) was also on the same day so there were lots and lots of people in the Temple.

 

We also met a nun there, her name was Santusika, she is a Theravada (Thai tradition) nun from a Buddhist center in USA. She was just visiting her son who is also a monk at this monastery. How wonderful this family is. First the son become a monk and then the mom also got curious and found what she was looking for and followed the same path.

 

We took monks and the nun out of the monastery to have a conversation with them and also to change the atmosphere. You can see the rest of the story in the photo album.

 

If you want to be blessed like we did you will just have to recite "OM MANI PADME HUM" and Avalokiteshvara will definitely come to you.

 

For more information regarding Avalokiteshvara please click here.

1 week in 3 cities 2 different continents... what a short trip eh?

 

Here is how it all started...

 

Got on the plane in the evening around 5pm, transitted in Taipei and got on the plane

to Los Angeles. Once at Los Angeles got on another plane within 2 hours time and flown to Las Vegas.

Got to Las Vegas and "YES" they have slot machines right in the airport. This is not even the funny thing.

The really neat thing is that there were slot machines even in the Smoking Room within the airport...  Yes... in the small room where smokers go in... I wonder if they have Slot Machines in the toilets

as well (I didn't have a chance to check).. Took Taxi to the hotel "LUXOR", yes, the PYRAMID hotel in

Las Vegas. It was quite alright, the service was ok, not that great. Anyway, it was around something past

midnight arriving at the hotel. Was up until 5am in the Casino in hotel lobby.

 

Woo... Woke up around 9 or so, had break

fast, went back to the casino briefly, went out for lunch, then we headed out for some business meeting.

Finished the meeting in the evening, got back to the hotel then I passed out. After about half an hour

my colleague came to my room and told me that I had to go down for dinner meeting. Went down for dinner

then remained at the casino until around 1am. Went to bed.

 

Got up around 9am again, went out for business meeting again. Headed to the Las Vegas airport. 

Arrived in Los Angeles.

 

In Los Angeles, the traffic was horrible as we were heading to Van Nuys area. I called my friend from

high-school who have moved to LA for almost a decade now. I saw this friends abour 2 weeks before this

trip in one of the Bhangara Party in Bangkok, he was just visiting Bangkok. Took us more than

an hour to get there. Checked in the hotel, went out for dinner, came back to the hotel and went

to bed.

 

My uncle in LA came and pick me up in the morning. Went to his home, had some home food, went out

for some personal business. Came back to the hotel, had some meetings there. In the evening my friend

from high-school came to pick me up to take me out for dinner. It was great doing some catching

up with him. We talked abour so many things, business, personal, girls, etc etc.. It was great... Got back

to the hotel, went to bed.

 

Woke up, my uncle came to pick me up again, went to his house, went to see some NGV cars at the Honda

showroom in LA but didn't find it. Went to the bus terminal and headed for the LAX. Got on the plane

heading for Taipei

 

Arrived in Taipei around 11pm, called my friend Edward. I arrived at the hotel around 1am and Edward

was there to welcome me. It was great. Took some quick shower and went to the clubs...Edward

seems to know everyone everywhere...It was great party. We danced and danced all night long.

At one point in the club there was this competition to find out which lady would be quickest at putting

on condoms on to big objects, and those big objects were.......

....

....

Vegetables...

 

Yea, it was cucumbers, potatoes, etc...

 

It was great fun...They were rushing in putting condom onto big vegetables...

 

We had a great laugh..

 

Out from the club around 4am, I was quite hungry so we stopped by 7-11 and grabbed some chips there.

Then we hung out around there and met these 2 girls. They were both Chinese while one was from

Taiwan and the other one who spoke fluent English was from South Africa. We did share our chips

with them and exchanged contacts. I think I did meet a new friend :-).

 

Got back to the hotel and got to bed around 5am.

 

Got up around 8:30am, called my boss who was staying in the same hotel up and asked for the plan.

Quickly took shower and had breakfast with him. After that his business associates took us out for

lunch then I was free from there on. Edward came to pick me up around 3pm. Went around to

see Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and the surrounding area before we went back to his place after

picking up some dinner. After having some starter-drinks, we went out to some bars, where we met up

with a Dutch guy and another Brazillian girl and then to a Latin dance club with them. This Edward was dancing as if he was Elvis when it would be Rock and Roll. It was great fun.

 

Came back to the hotel, went to bed, woke up around 10am. I was pretty much free the whole day

as my flight back to Bangkok was around 11pm the same day. So I walked around the city a bit, and

I saw this place called "California Fitness", and I was wondering if my global membership card from Bangkok

would work there....YES, it did. They did let me in but it was quite funny as I was in suit and tie..Walked

around further and arrived at the World Trade Center while there was one computer fair there. Did

brief shopping. Saw this very good looking girl, I presumed she was some sort of public-relation lady. As

I walked by her she smiles and I said hello for the second time we walked by again. And I asked her where

she was from and if she could speak English. Anyway, she quickly answered "Sorry, this is my boyfriend"

and pointed to the guy next to her. Finally I got her email address and found out she was from Japan.

Maybe I just made one more friend in Taiwan eh? After the exhibition, took a Taxi to Edward's home.

Before he came down to pick me up there was this clothing shop, it had beautiful roses aligned in the

front..very beautiful as you can see in the pictures...Went to Edward's home, did some

business talk and took some rest as I felt quite tired. Went out for dinner and went to the airport.

Go on the plane and arrived in Thailand past 1am..

 

 

Just 2 days in each city all in a week...

Koh Samet again with Dianne and Sharen. We had a great time altough didn't party at night so much.

They spent most of their time on the beach while I spent most of my time in the water!!!!

Sharen and Dianne are best friends and we all stayed together in one room. Hey, don't get

the wrong idea I had my own bed!!!  Met James and June their. They are are friends of Dianne and Sharen..

 

My shoulders were burnt!!!

 

Anyway, it was fun..

 

 

 

Went to Koh Samet via Pattaya. Left with Flo, Christina and Daniel for Pattaya on 30th around 8pm, arrived in Pattaya quite late. Slept at Dennis' place, woke up around 5:45am on 31st, five of us together headed for Koh Samet. Arrived at Ban Pae and took a speed boat over to the Island. Arrived at the Island, all hotels and resorts were full, so we splitted into 3 teams and waited at 3 different hotels, had breakfast in the mean time, finally we got 3 rooms. While looking around waiting for the room, I thought I saw my ex-girlfriend, but was not very sure.

 

Checked in our rooms, had our lunch, relaxed on the beach, which was GREAT!, went to the White Sand beach to tell the hotel owner that I don't need any more rooms which I have have requested in the morning. While leaving that hotel, I saw my cousins from Bangkok and yep, the whole family of 20+ people were there, woo, how fun....so I briefly greeted them and came back.

 

Started drinking over dinner, and it was totally amazing, I saw my ex-girlfriend sitting with 3 guys in the same restaurant. It was a little hard for me as I haven't seen her for almost 1 and a half years. Anyway, took a short while for me to stay calm. Partied on the beach all night. It was great, big count-down, fireworks, music, drinks, etc etc. Went to bed around 2:30am, was really tired after long day of travelling.

 

 

 

Woke up around 10, had breakfast together with the other guys, went swimming in the sea. Had lunch, had snacks, met a couple of girls there, started chatting, had snacks, fruit-shakes, etc etc..... Went for dinner at White Sand beach, saw my cousins there, so we started chatting on the beach while having dinner....Which was fun, this was a totally relaxing dinner as we sat down for atleast half after we finished our dishes.

 

Went to the bar, at some point Flo was drunk, after getting into some verbal trouble for talking to a Thai girl there, a beer bottle flew into his face and I had to rush him to the clinic on the island. Thanks to the bartender at Silver Sand for helping us get there and for waking up the doctor to do the stiching. Flo got 9 stitches under his left eye. This guy totally amazes me, he remained totaly calm even after getting hit, a big respect for him. He was so lucky that not a single piece of glass got into his eye. We didn't see who did it but we know who to think of but anyway.

 

 

Biggest thank to the doctor. We left the clinic sometime past 3am and went to bed around 4am. Woke up around 10am packed our staff and headed home.

Left Bangkok on 26th October afternoon for Frankfurt. Got to Frankfurt after 11 hours. On this flight, I got vegetarian food again, the attendant was very helpful and found the extra vegetarian meal they had and gave it to me (I could not request this as my ticket was issued just about 3 hours before the flight time). At Frankfurt airport waited for the connecting flight to Rio De Janeiro on Varig. Waited, waited, went to the check-in counter, they put me on the stand-by list.. waited..waited... they called my name, YES, I got on the connecting flight... got in Rio at around 6:30am in the morning local time... So it was about 26 hours travelling...tired? not so sure... Rio airport isn't all that nice, it's ok... some guys tried to help me with taxis etc, I knew what they were up to.. I went up stairs at the airport as it was too early to get to the exhibition, went to the Internet booth, checked the time of the exhibition and found out that it would only start in the afternoon.. When I tried to pay for the Internet, the lady in-charge didn't have enough change so I told her I would goto the coffee shop to drink something and I'll come back and pay after getting some change...ordered bread with cheese and a BIG hot-chocolate....BIG hot chocolate was soooo small, it was sooo funnny... anyway, while sitting there I kinda met a lady there so I asked her if she was from Brazil and yes she was, so I started asking her about getting a hotel, getting to the exhibition etc etc... She was really nice, we became friends..She is studying political science in Germany and once in a while she flies to Brazil to visit her husband...She knew the taxi driver and asked the driver to help me find a hotel, got in to a small hotel for Real55 a night.. it was ok, no aircon, small room, breakfast included, just sufficient for me.. went to the exhibition, worked worked worked...You can see more from the pictures... went out to a few places, park, Copacabana, restaurants, etc... that was about it..

 

 

It is a little funny in the city, in some areas in the city especially on the hills in Rio, the housing are very poor, they are more or less the ghetto, the local call it Favelas. I was warned not to go into one of these areas as it could be very dangerous... I never did.... The street at night might look dangerous but all is fine. I was adviced to not let others know I am a tourist... so I tried not to take too many snaps on my camera..

 

Getting food was sure interesting as I am a vegetarian, and I don't speak the language there.. hmm so I walked around and around, found a buffet place where you fill as much as you want on your plate, then they put your plate on a weighing machine and charge you by weight... I usually end up eating about 500 grams :-)

 

There are lots of football fields/ground/sand... almost everywhere you can find one.... on the Copacabana beach there are plenty of teams playing with tons of goal posts on the beach... some people also play beach volley ball and some play rugby.

 

 

While walking at the Copacabana beach on the day before leaving for Bounos Aires, I was with Chokdee and we were speaking Thai, after a while of walking a guy turned around and asked us if we were speaking Thai, wow, amazing Brazilian knows what he's talking about!!, so we started talking... He works with the Brazilan government in promoting Brazil, that is the guy in the picture, Edward, he speaks Japanese, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, English, and maybe other languages as well... amazing guy... His office is in Taiwan, maybe I'll go there to party with him someday.. He is from north east of Brasil, he told me it is a great place... So if I am going to goto Brasil again, I'll definitely go there..

 

At night, drinking with Edward and Chokdee,

 

----well, I was sitting with Edward and Chokdee, then there was this blonde girl on next table, she kinda turned and looked at me for a second, I noticed that so I waved my hand and after a few rounds of doing this I kinda asked them to join on our table... they invited us to their table instead....

 

so we met these 2 girls on next table, started chatting, had a really great time..

 

--they thought I was the only Brazilian there while Edward and Chokdee were foreigners... how funny... they also thought that I was translating for them ... lol, we chatted and chatted..---

 

 

at one point I was telling the girls that Edward's name was Bond, James Bond... Chokdee name was Don Juan... then they started asking for my name... I said Casanova.... The blonde girl screamed and asked me how did I know her last name...!@?#!@?  yes, her last name is Casanova, look in my picture album, I took a snap of her ID card....

 

Bought a new ticket and went to Buenos Aires on 31st October, arrived in Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires airport is very nice, clean, like Bangkok airport.. big difference for me... The city layout is like Europe, neat, clean, strutured, with old mixture of European architecture.... The city is very beautiful and very neat and clean....the subways are also nice, they have 5 lines of subways there and one of them then train is a wooden one, really classy... some escelators on these subway stations are also made of wood, quite neat...

 

Went around Bounos Aires a little bit, went to the club, partied to the maximum on that night and got up early with a big hang-over on the next day which I had to work for the whole day....hmm.. fun but tiring...worth it :-)... The Argentines are more European type except they still keep more of the family values.... I really like them except they are not as fun as the Brasilians in my opinion... However, I felt much safer in Argentina than Brasil... things seem to be more systematic and much more organized... Argentines are mostly white people with either Spanish or Italian origin, they speak a little better English than the Brasilians...

 

 

Had tons of meetings in Argentina, got on the plane right after the last meeting, went to Rio, tried to change my flight to be a day earlier (I had a 10 days minimum stay ticket) and the guy at the Varig counter was VERY VERY VERY helpful, he tried to find me different routes to go home as most of flights are full... He tried atleast 5-6 routes via Sao Paolo, different cities in Europe etc etc... Finally he got be on the next flight to Frankfurt... really nice guy his name is Juan (I hope my spelling is correct)... go to Frankfurt, waited several hours, lost my luggage tag along with my boarding pass from Rio to Frankfurt... ok... stayed calm... talked to the Thai ground staff at the check in, he was really helpful, but adviced me that it's not likely for me to get on the flight as it was very full..Anyway, he tried really hard to track my luggage... I went around the airport to different locations that I was sitting and waiting, didn't find the tag.. came back to the check in counter.... I really felt that the staff was really helping me in securing a seat... and yes, finally they got me a seat, but didn't find my luggage... so they asked me not to hurry to board the plane... so I waited, finally they found the luggage!! :).. put me on the flight... Really nice.....On flight it was also cool, as I didn't order vegetarian meal, they managed to find me vegetarian food, and this time not a normal meal but a meal from one of the business/first class... it was great.....it was a really long journey, these meals and great hospitality of the Thai crew was exceptional...made me feel totally relaxed...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Went from Bangkok to Amsterdam Schiphol airport via Istanbul. Nothing interesting on the flight, took train to Delft, took a couple of pictures there. Worked almost full time for 4 days. On the second night I stayed in a hotel where it was right at the city center, which is in some sort of square with restaurants and bars in the square. The receptionist was a Petroleum Engineer, so we started talking and exchanging idea. She mentioned that she is in her first year for her master in the field. We exchanged knowledge quite a bit...was interesting..anyway it was quite funny actually, for the 3 nights in Delft, I stayed in 3 different hotels as there was some sort of conference going on in town making all the hotels almost fully booked. Saw a number of Americans in the hotel, I am guessing they came for the conference.

 

 

 

Then flew to Istanbul, checked in Bakdas hotel which as about Euro 25 a night, quite comfortable. Went for work, and then work again until late night. Sunday, walked around town, quite interesting, but nothing very interesting as didn't have time to take a tour or anything. Left the same night for Bangkok, slept quite well on the flight, got back to Bangkok, work work work.. :-)

Trip to Vietnam was great... check photo albums while reading this :-)

 

 

 

 

 

The rest of the story starts here...

 

 

Went there to attend the APNIC 20 conference at Melia hotel in Hanoi. My first visit to Hanoi was in year 2000 for a small APNIC training. As this was not my first visit to Hanoi, I kinda feel that Hanoi is a mixture of New Delhi and Bangkok.

 

I stayed in Pacific Prince Hotel as recommended by Champika. The room was ok for $20 a night. On the first night, after attending the conferece, I kinda walked around Hanoi old town by myself and met 4 girls on the street playing on their motor bike. They invited me for a ride but I kinda refused and told them that I preferred walking and asked them to join me in walking instead. So we walked around town and I asked them to show help me find some back-packer style hotel. They found me one, it was for $10 a night for air-conditioned room... very reasonable....so I bought them some drinks in return..they offered to pick me up in the morning to take me to the conference and we agreed on the time at 8:30am ... So I went back to the hotel and went to bed...

 

 

 

Woke up around 8am, took shower, had breakfast, and waited, those girls didn't show up... took a motorbike taxi ride to the conference...attended the conference, went to the social event after the conference... it was great... the social event was held at the Ethnology museum, as shown in the photo of some old-style huge house.. Also, there were Vietnamese musicians performing... It was great... The music was amazing especially one of the instruments they use which uses only one string and only one piece of wood from pine tree (I think) and the instrument could create different sounds depending on where the strings receives the touch. On top of that, the player of that particular instrument was really pretty..snap snap...After that I went back to the hotel, took a walk, didn't meet those girls, went to bed.

 

 

 

Went to the conference presented my paper during the APOPS session, went out with one guy from VNNIC, went to the Ho Chi Minh mouseleum with crowd from JPNIC, KRNIC, one person from VNNIC, San from APNIC and few other guys at night, didn't manage to get it as it was closed... Went back to hotel, asked the hotel staff if they know of any Indian restaurant as I was starving for vegetarian food. Went to the Tandoor restaurant and when I got there I realized that it was the same resturant that I visited 5 years ago, and the back-pack place that I stayed in was just next door... Found it!! Had a big meal, met the owner there.. Mr. Ravi who has been living in Vietnam for 15 years so I asked him about vegetarian food and all. Food in Vietnam is a little strange for me being a vegetarian, Ravi told me that they always use some sort of pork fat... but again, not a problem, found one place of great food...went back to the hotel, walked around, met those 4 girls, walked around town with them, bought them some shirts and some shoes, took them to a small bar and had some drinks. They again offered me a ride in the morning, so I told them 8:30am..

 

 

 

Woke up around 8am, took shower, had breakfast, checked out of the hotel. While checking out, I realized that they also charge 10% tax on the bill which made my room $22 a night... what a rip-off... so I informed Champika accordingly so he can talk to them about it before checking in. Then I waited for those girls... no show...took the motorbike taxi ride to the hotel with my hand luggage... attended the conference, conference ended!! yay, work is over... Went to the Hanoi Old Quarter travel (hotel that I stayed 5 years ago) and asked if they have anything available, they said no and took me to the AZ hotel which was just about 10 seconds away and the room also at $10 for air-conditioned room and no stupid taxes and other charges.. :-) great... After checking in, I took a walk around town again and there was some sort of special night market going on, quite interesting, walk and walked and walked and got lost... Had to hire a bicycle-rickshaw to the hotel. After getting back, I went to the same Indian resturant again, had great food... walked around again, went to the "I Love Vietnam PUB" which was just opposite to the Hanoi Old Quarter travel.. had some drinks..met some German girls there who were gonna come to Thailand, gave them some advice... Went back to the room, slept...

 

 

 

Woke up early to catch the tour to Halong bay with Champika, Sunny, John and Peter. Had a great time, met an Austrian and a Croatian girl both from Austria on the mini-van. Arrived at Halong bay, was was quite foggy. Fortunately it only drizzled a little. Took the boat ride to a small Island which Thien Cung cave was on. The cave is actually very amazing, it's one of Unesco's preserved site... all sorts of hanging rock in there... and one even resembled a tit... snap snap.....

 

Got back on the boat... we got on two smaller boats as one wasn't enough.. This small boat took us into a small cave which turned into a lagoon, it was just awesome..came out of that lagoon and went into another cave to another lagoon.. I thin I really did get some great pictures from there...then we went around Halong bay. As the sun was setting, we got back on the land...

 

While taking the minibus back we saw this one guy driving a motorbike and carrying 2 alive pigs on it.... amazing.. check the photo.... then one person in our group mentioned that she have seen 3 pigs before but didn't manage to take any photos... It was amazing... After that we all started chatting... At one point we chatted about the tour price. Some of the people in our group paid $23 dollars, we paid $20 per person and we found one guy who only paid $16...amazing eh? Hotels were selling similar packages (maybe same or maybe better food and services) nothing below $60 per person... Champika, Sunny and me then went to have Indian food together in the same restaurant... went to the I love Vietnam PUB, had some drinks then we went to bed.

 

 

 

Woke up a little late. It was about 8:30am. Took shower, had breakfast and went to meet Champika and Sunny at the Pacific Prince Hotel. From there, we headed to the Ho Chi Minh museum and saw these set of weapons with different heads, didn't know what each one symbol mean :-/ ..snap snap..  Then we went inside the Ho Chi Minh mouseleum to see Ho Chi Minh's body, Ho Chi Minh presidential palace, then the army museum... The army museum was quite interesting, one building was for the French war, another was for the American war, and the Vietnamese actually kept a lot of stuff left from the war to show the newer generations of their ancestors' accomplishment... quite amazing.. There was one bicycle with big sacks of stuff... and the signed said that the bicycle carried upto 350kg of stuff... with one person riding it... snap snap ... After the Army museum, we headed for the B52 crash site which was in a little pond in the middle of some residential areas. I was told that it sinks slowly, fortunately the wheels are still over the water..Then we headed back...

I went back to my hotel, went to another Vegetarian restaurant that Ravi also owns. Watched some cricket there, the match was between England and Australia, and there were quite a number of English men there... they were screaming as Shane Warne from Australia was caught out without scoring a single point on that day. Met a Srilankan guy, Gaston, who was from Australia there.. Then I went back to the hotel, chatted with the hotel staff, went to the I love Vietnam PUB, met one guy from Canada and one guy from Republic of Ireland... Then they invited me to join them to another club, so I did... Walked to another club in the middle of nowhere.. It was supposed to be a popular club among back-packers but I only saw maybe about 10 people there. Had some drinks, went back to the hotel.. Slept...

 

 

 

Got up, took shower, took a taxi to the airport, got back to Bangkok, got home :-) end of trip....

 

 

 

Went to Koh Samet again with Dave and Caj..

Party party...

Well, we left on late Friday evening, went to Caj's place in Pattaya for him to pack his stuff then drove off to the pier. Took speed boat over, checked into some room and went to the bar.

 

Dave was amazingly funny at one point. It was quite late, maybe 4am or so, there were buncha people we were chatting with and I told dave to "Screw the dog", so he asked me "Are you sure?", I said "yea". At that moment, there was a dog walking around, so he went behind that dog and grabbed its hips.... guessed what happened???!@#! The dog turned around with growling sound like it was gonna bite Dave... so Dave quickly left the dog alone and then only realized that it was a male dog...!@#!@

 

The rest of the trip was good. Had lots of fun... will go there again soon....

 

 

Left with Rishi (my cousin) around 3am on the 12th of August. Stopped by Sub-way picked up our sandwiches and started heading out of Bangkok. While driving, we didn't realize that all gas stations were closed until we were well out of town. Yes, it's actually a law, all gas stations must close at 10pm and can only re-open after 5am. Hmm, the gas level was getting low. We continued driving at optimum speed (around 90km/h) in order to get as far as we could then try to get into the gas station when it re-opens. At one point, we were in the middle of nowhere (few kms before the juection that turn left to rayong and a big-o turn to the right for Pattaya), it was raining quite heavily, and we were thinking "oh, shit....". We continued driving and driving, the gas indicator came on and it was quite scary. The rain became heavier and the atmosphere was quite tense.... We kept driving, driving and driving... and.... we saw the intersection sign!! Yay,... we knew there were tons gas station next to the junction.. yes, we got into the station, got filled up, drove to the pier... parked and left the car at the pier... got on the ferry.

 

Arrived on to the Samet Island!!! yay.... Checked into a very beautiful bungalow at a relatively good price with 10 steps walking distance from the beach.. it was awesome. Went to the beach, sat there for a while, read some books, went into the water, it was nothing but fantastic feelings... Went back to our room, took shower. Had a should and arm massage from an old lady as my right arm and shoulder had been hurting for weeks now, the massage really helped. We walked around quite a bit, the wind was so strong that we could see and feel the sand floating (check the photos), it was quite a sight. We then went to buy a bottle of Vodka. While walking back to our room, we saw a big group of people standing on the beach. First thought that came into my mind was "Something bad must have happened, is everyone ok?", when we got closer, it was true, one man was doing a CPR on an unconscious man...actually, he was dead... I actually saw a dead body infront of my eyes.... This is the second time in my life that some one dies because of water within or near my presence. The first time was years ago in a cable-ski lake in Pattaya "Lake land", a lady died back then from drowning, she even had her own wake-board and stuff and didn't looked like a regular wake boarder, after she was drown, noone noticed her until it was too late..Anyway, we went back to the room, meditated for a little while and tried to recall words from "Tibetan book of the dead" dvd about dying process and bardos and chant it for the dead.

 

After a while, "Italian job" came on TV, I watched it while Rishi slept...When the movie ended, I woke him up, we drank a bit, went to meet up with Dennis' friend from AIT whom I never met before (Dennis sent me his friend's number and called them to inform about me)... They were cool guys.. They were staying on the Had Sai Kaew (overcrowded beach in my opinion and the bar sucked), so I introduced them to the Silver Sand bar on Ao Pai beach... They really loved it... Shared Vodka with them, met some old friends by surprise, had lots of fun, had a little headache probably from not enough sleep, went to bed...

 

 

Woke up quite late, hung around on the beach, did a big of swimming, had dinner, finished the last big of Vodka, went to the Silver Sand bar, met tons of girls, the party was very good. Met another old friend whom I haven't seen in about a year. She used to run a small resort and bar on another beach on the Island but now she only runs a bar in Bangkok. It was quite a surprise. Chatted for quite a bit, drank some more, met other girls...It was fun... Walked back to the room with two Dutch girls, they were very nice and they were staying at Narai hotel in Bangkok which is less than 5 mins walk from my place. It's very nice to have friends from different places especially now in Holland as I might be travelling there for business on a regular basis. After saying good night, went to bed.

 

 

Woke up around 11am. Rishi told me that someone knocked on the room door in the morning but he didn't open, probably the girls we met the night before. Well I don't know... Had lunch, went to the pier, took the ferry back, got into the car and drove home ... :-) ....

 

 

 

 

Check the photo album :-)

 

 

Started the Journey on 20th night to Pattaya, stayed at Dennis' house. Took off around 9:30am on 21st for the journey. Arrived at the pier hours later, took the ferry across. The weather was quite bad, as the sky was cloudy. Checked in at Plaloma resort then went to couple of places on the Island, didn't do much really. Couldn't swim in the sea as the current and the waves were too strong.

 

Went to the temple for the Asalha Puja vientien (walking with candle, incense and flower) ceremony. Stayed there for a while.

 

Headed to the bar at night, quite alright, not too many people.

 

22nd July 05

Got up, cloudy sky again, drove to Fishermen's village and trekked through the jungle for the Khiri Phet waterfall. Talking about lots of people there? Not at all, just two of us were there. After trekking there, taking some photos and trekking back, we went to another waterfall place but we were too tired to trek so we headed for the Klong Plu waterfall. To get to this one, crossing a canal is a must. As this is the rainy season, the water current gets very strong. I slipped and fell, fortunately it was quite shallow and my camera and other stuff didn't get wet. Lots of people at this place, but again, it's quite beautiful.

 

Headed back, went to eat and went to the bar again. Played some pool at the bar, went to bed.

 

Rainy day again, but the rain stopped around 10am. Checked out couple of hotels and resorts. Some of them were really beautiful.

 

Headed for the Than Mayom waterfall, did a little trekking to get to the beginning. It's definitely a wonderful place. The waterfall flows on different levels. At the top level, there exist a pond for swimming. The water was so fresh and clear that I could open my eyes underwater without getting irritation.

 

 

Even the current was quite strong, it was lots of fun to try to go swim against the current.

After a while of swimming, we headed back to town for a meal then headed off the island on the ferry.

 

Dennis got me back to Pattaya where I parked my car. From there, I drove back home (Bangkok).

 

 

 

 

Check the photo albums as you read this :-)

 

 

Got to London on the morning of 5th July 2005, stayed at Mom's friend place after roaming around London with a cold weather and murky London sky. I stayed only one night there as I alone flew to Rotterdam on the 6th evening, my mom and nephew stayed back in London. From Rotterdam I stayed at a local Bed and Breakfast place just for the night.

 

 

 

On the 7th I tool a train from Rotterdam central station to Delft for a meeting. During the meeting I got a call from my elder sister in Thailand regarding the bombing in London which I didn't know about. It was quite scary. I tried calling my Mom in London but never did get through as the call volumes were high. So I waited. Got another call from Mom's sister in Bangkok. Still could not give any answers regarding the situation. After a while I received message from mom asking about the next day's program to Liverpool. That was a relief. Anyway, I tried checking several web-sites on that day to see if going back to London (as planned) and going to Liverpool by train (as we have pre-paid for the tickets) with mom and Kevin could be confirmed, obviously no conclusion could be reached as the train operator were not sure about the situation. Bought new ticket directly from Amsterdam Schiphol airport to Liverpool. Now I am only missing a white shirt and a tie as I have everything else with me for the graduation ceremony in Liverpool. So I went shopping and spent about Euro 70 for these two things (not so bad). Continued the meeting, finished the meeting, went to the hotel. Talked to mom, things were fine. Mom told me that she'll try to hire a taxi to the train station and take the train to Liverpool and I can meet her at the University. At this point, I was still not sure if mom and Kevin would make it to the University or not, I had to do what I came for.

 

 

 

Next morning, I flew to Liverpool after taking train from Delft to Schiphol airport. After arriving in Liverpool, I took the bus to downtown and walked to the University, found the right places, got my gown and then .... mom and Kevin came!!.. They made it.. yay!

 

Mom was telling me that in the morning (8th) while she was at the station there was an emergency evacuation and everyone had to rush out of the station. I am glad nothing happened and the she managed to take a later train.

 

Went through the ceremony, it was quite fun to see fellow teachers and freinds face-to-face. After the ceremony, took a lot of photos, returned the gown, got something to eat, went back to the dormitory. We stayed at the Rescoe & Gladstone hall. After doing few things in the room, we went to the Tate Liverpool gallery at Albert dock for our program's gathering. After the gethering, mom and Kevin went back while I stayed back with the Laureate crew and we went to a near by bar. After the bar, we went to some night club in the area.  It was great fun, I took lots of photos.

 

 

 

Next day we roamed around the city of Liverpool, it's not a big city, but quite fun indeed. After roaming, went back to our rooms and slept. Next morning we took the train back to London. We roamed around London after checking into the Hotel in the Victoria area. London is definitely a special place. We stayed the night at the hotel and checked out next morning where we roamed around London Bridge area looking for hostels only for myself as my mom and nephew were leaving for Bangkok in the evening. After getting the room thing sorted out at St. Christopher's inn, I went to he airport to drop mom and Kevin off. After droping them off I went to the bar at the Inn. It was quite fun, but seems to me that there were lots of younger people (teens to early 20's). Karaoke session was fun. Met couple of people there, went to bed.

 

 

 

The morning was beautiful, had my breakfast at the Inn and started surfing the web to look for London Buddhist centers. Went to Rigpa center and found out that there were gonna be special teaching by Sogyal Rinpoche  on the 14th. However, my plan was to go back on 13th... hmm... Anyway, after Rigpa, I went to a Kagyu center and it was closed (They open only from Wednesday to Sunday). So I headed off to Jamyang center in the Kennington area. Met Allen, showed me around the place and told me that they have lodging facility for guests. The guest bedrooms were actual JAIL CELLS as the building was a court house and he told me that it is the oldest Victorian courthouse in London today. Anyway, as I have paid for the night stay at the Inn, I would only stay there the next day. Attended a teaching session at the Jamyang center, went back to the Inn, went to bed.

 

 

 

Around 6am in the morning of the 13th, 2 girls in the room I was in started packing up. It kinda woke me up. A little annoying but not a problem. They left very early. I woke up around 8am, had breakfast, went to train station and headed for Lancaster for a business meeting. On the way back from Lancaster, the train ran into some problem and was delayed for quite a while. Got back in London, went to the Jamyang center, had dinner, watched HH Dalai Lama's video, went to bed.

 

 

 

Got up around 8 in the morning then Allen helped me find directions to the Thai Buddhist temple Buddhapadipa in Wimbledon area. Wimbledon area is definitely very beautiful with up and down hilly slopes. Had lunch at the temple, it was quite hot and spicy...but it was quite good... Stayed back for a while for a chat with the monk there. After that I headed directly for the Rigpa center to attend Sogyal Rinpoche's teaching. It was a GREAT session. Went back to sleep at Jamyang center.  

 

 

 

On the 15th , I woke up quite late, I think it was around 8:30am, had breakfast, packed, and left the place. Roamed around London, went to the National Art Gallery, it was quite nice but could not take any photographs as it was forbidden (in Paris Louvre museum it is allowed). So walked around for a bit, then went to the National Potrait Gallery, it was quite fun. Continued walking around London and headed for the train

station to go to the Airport.

 

 

 

I started from Leicester Square, taking northern line to Embankment. As I reached Embankment to swich to District line, there was an EMERGENCY EVACUATION announcement. People didn't seem to care, so I was wondering what was going on. After I hear the announcement 3 times, I started running, I noticed one or two people ran after me. Rest of the people didn't seem to care and walked out very casually. I am not sure if they didn't care or they didn't understand the matter. This was just about a week right after the 7th July London bombing. I bet they needed to hear some explosion sound before they would start running. Took lots of photos during and after this evacuation incident. It's quite amazing how Londoners react to such situation.

 

 

 

Things returned to normal again after a short while so I boarded the tube to the airport and got back to Bangkok safely :-).