Before the Eastern Sunset

Siam Center in Bangkok

2013-05-24T12:21:00.000+08:00

Popular shopping destinations in Bangok are the bargain malls and markets where souvenirs can be bought. MBK and Chatuchak Weekend Market is just two of these bargain shopping centers. Tourists who want to see an upscale shopping center have nothing to fret, however, because Bangkok also has the Siam Center.

Siam Center is not just one mall but a mall complex that have a lot of buildings. Unlike MBK and Chatuchak Weekend Market, Siam Center has shops that sell high-end products from popular brands.

How to Go to Siam Center

Siam Center is at the "center" of Bangkok at the corner of Phaya Thai Road and Rama I Road. Taxis and buses can reach this shopping complex but the fastest way is by riding the skytrain (BTS). You should go down the BTS - Siam Station to reach this shopping complex.

Siam Center Attractions

Aside from shops, Siam Center also has various attractions like Madame Tussauds Wax Museum and the Siam Ocean World.

Siam Ocean World looks cool but I didn't go in. I already visited the Manila Ocean Park, which I think also offers similar attractions (i.e. fishes inside the tanks, animal shows, etc). I rather spend my money on Thai historical sites and other attractions that can't be found in the Philippines.

I just ogled at some of the designs at the entrance to Siam Ocean World like these penguins:

Siam Center is not the mall for me because I don't buy expensive stuffs. I'm also not keen on window shopping so I didn't went to the shops of Siam Center. What caught my attention in this mall are the designs that gave this mall an artistic aura.

Siam Center has giant horses guarding its doors.

Too bad that they're just wooden horses. I wonder if there is a secret room inside these horses like the Trojan Horse.

Siam Center's wooden horse

I don't know who made these wooden horses. What I know is that I saw one of them being sold at a shop during my travels in the northern part of Thailand.

There's a sort of mini-museum of modern art when I visited Siam Center. Can anyone guess the modern artist connected to this can of Campbell's Tomato Soup?

The mini-museum is not orderly. Things are scattered on the floor and everything is a mess. I think the chaotic style of modern art mirrors the chaotic “modern era”.

Queen Margrethe of Denmark

There are paintings on the second floor of the mini-museum. Taking photos is prohibited but I managed to take a snap of this painting of Queen Margrethe of Denmark by Andy Warhol. The mini-museum featured Andy Warhol because he's an icon of the modern art. Here's a trivia for you concerning Andy Warhol: do you know that Andy is a Catholic? You can read about this art tidbit here.

There are other interesting things that can be seen in Siam Center, like the fountains on the open air walkway, but I didn't spend time to look at all of them. What I saw inside this mall is already enough for me.

Shopping in Chatuchak Weekend Market

2013-05-21T17:24:00.001+08:00

Bangkok is a shopping haven. This city has plenty of shopping places that will surely delight all shopaholics. Tourists can go to MBK, Siam Center, the shops in Bangkok Chinatown and other street shops. Of all the shopping places in Bangkok, the one that I prefer to visit is the Chatuchak Weekend Market.

The iconic clock tower of Chatuchak.

I bought most of my souvenirs and pasalubong in Chatuchak Weekend Market. As I had said in the previous post, Chatuchak Weekend Market is a mecca for affordable Thai souvenirs. This market has plenty of shops and wide array of products to choose from.

How to Go to Chatuchak Weekend Market

Chatuchak Weekend Market is located just beside the Chatuchak Park in Mo Chit. It is accessible by bus and taxi but the best and fastest way to reach it is by riding the Sky Train or the underground train of MRT. Go out of the Mo Chit Station of the MRT or the BTS (Sky Train) if you used the train to reach Mo Chit.

(Source: Google Maps)

Chatuchak Weekend Market is touted as one the world’s largest weekend market. The whole market has a total of 27 acres* and have more than 5,000 stalls** selling products from different parts of Thailand.

My Chatuchak Weekend Market Experience

A Myanmese friend brought me to Chatuchak Weekend Market during my first visit. I was overwhelmed by the place because it is very big and has a lot of stalls to choose from. The place is very crowded too, especially in the hallway where goods for sale and buyers block the way.

The crowd and chaos in Chatuchak is nothing as compares to that in Divisoria. Shopper-veterans of Divisoria will find Chatuchak Weekend Market easy to navigate.

Map of Chatuchak Weekend Market. (Source: Asian Escapes)

The labyrinthine lay-out of this market made it very hard for to locate the shops that I visited previously. Thus, I just kept on walking until I found a stall that had good prices.

Hordes of bargain hunters in Chatuchak.

The immensity of this market will be a challenge to shopaholics. Like what an article in Bangkok.com said, “this is where you can literally shop ‘till you drop’”.

I shopped two or three times in Chatuchak Weekend Market, and thankfully I didn’t “drop” due to exhaustion. I only experienced fatigue and aching limbs because of too much walking. Bargain hunting is truly exhausting in Chatuchak.

Vendors in Chatuchak Weekend Market are very strict when it comes to taking photos. Many stalls don’t allow tourists to take photos of their wares. There is one time that a vendor approached me and demanded to hand over my camera so she can delete the photos. From that day on, I avoid taking photos of stores in Chatuchak.

I always enjoy shopping in Chatuchak Weekend Market. There are so many things to see and that includes the different people coming from different countries. I even met a group of Filipinos buying souvenirs in this market.

How I Bargained in Chatuchak

Negotiating prices with vendors is a challenge in Chatuchak. They know that buyers will ask for discounts so they mark up the prices of their goods. Thus, it is imperative to haggle with the vendors for a lower price.

I make it a point to ask for discount whenever I buy an item. I leave the stall if the item is common (i.e. key chain, ref magnets, etc.) and the vendor don't want to give any discount. I just go to other stores that will give better prices.

I managed to shave 10% of the original price most of the time. Take note that you will get better prices if you buy many items in a store. This is their tactic to make customers buy more items in their shop.

Items for Sale in Chatuchak

Name it and Chatuchak Weekend Market probably has it. I saw ref magnets, key chains, figurines, clothes, caps, and all the typical souvenir items. I also saw dogs and other pets for sale. There are books too. The wide variety of goods found in Chatuchak Weekend Market draws many tourists.

There are also bars and restaurants within the market grounds. The most noticeable restaurant, I think, is the one with so many Europeans. I noticed that people actually line up just to eat at this place.

In the previous post, I said that I made the mistake of going to Chatuchak during the weekdays. What I saw, instead of souvenir items, are decorative plants being sold throughout the market.

I discovered that there is market schedule for Chatuchak. Plants and flowers are being sold from Wednesday to Thursday. Fridays are wholesale day. Weekends (Saturday and Sunday) are the days when Chatuchak is fully open.

So, to avoid any hassle, I suggest that you go to Chatuchak during the weekend so you will not be disappointed like me.

Chatuchak Weekend Market may not be as grand as MBK or Siam Center mall but it has charms of its own. What I like with this place is its rawness. It is as if tourists come to this place not only to strike a bargain but also to find an adventure.

---

*Chatuchak website

**Chatuchak Weekend Market page of Wikipedia.

A Stroll in Chatuchak Park

2013-05-17T13:05:00.000+08:00

One thing that I like about Bangkok is the presence of greens even though it is a highly urbanized city. The Thai government created parks in many parts of the city so as to give Bangkok citizen a place to enjoy nature. One of these parks is the Chatuchak Park located in the Chatuchak District.

I believe that Chatuchak Park is the most popular park in Bangkok because it is located near Chatuchak Weekend Market, which is the mecca for affordable Thai souvenirs. The truth is that I always pass this park whenever I go to weekend market. Chatuchak Park is very big and shoppers to the market will find it hard to avoid it.

Clock tower in Chatuchak Park.

There was a day when I decided to go to Chatuchak Weekend Market even though it was not a weekend. I refused to believe that such a popular tourist attraction is not open during the weekdays. I went to Chatuchak Weekend Market hoping to buy some pasalubong or souvenirs. That's the day I realized that the “weekend” in Jatujak Weekend Market really means weekend. All the shops are closed and what's on sale are decorative plants.

I was disappointed with the day I wasted. I decided to vent my frustration by strolling at the nearby Chatuchak Park.

There is nothing much to see in Chatuchak Park other than the trees and plants that are soothing to the eyes. I think that this is a perfect place to relax after many hours of bargain hunting in the weekend market.

There is no entrance fee to this park and anyone can just have a picnic here.

I had no mat that day so I just sat on the grass. Pigeons approached me asking for food.

Good thing that a friendly college student offered me some of her bird food. At least I had something to feed these feathered creatures.

I noticed that there are so many pigeons in Chatuchak Park. They're everywhere gawking at park visitors for food. Tourists who want to feed the birds can buy bird food from vendors inside the park. The bird food costs 10 or 20 Baht a pack.

A man-made lake was placed in the middle of the park. It reminded me of the canals that are so common in Bangkok. I guess that waterways is important to Thai culture that they usually place any body of water in their parks.

Bridges cross this lake and I bet that this are place that would be good for photos.

There are boats-for-rent on the lake. These are good for couples because each can load up to two persons.

There's nothing impressive with Chatuchak Park aside from being the park near to the popular weekend market. Tourists can use this place to take a rest after a tiresome day at the weekend market. The good thing with this park is that the stations of the Skytrain and MRT (underground train) are in the vicinity. Visitors to this park can easily go to other places in Bangkok by just riding the trains.

Souvenirs from Thailand

2013-05-14T08:00:00.000+08:00

One thing that a balikbayan worries about before going back to the Philippines is the buying of pasalubong. I have the same worry in the last month of my stay in Thailand. I know that many people expect tokens from me when I return to my normal mode of life in the Philippines.

I made a list of people who will receive pasalubong from me. I included in the list my bosses, close office mates, close friends, some relatives, my brothers and sisters, my parents and my future in-laws, my future wedding godparents, my godchildren, and my Beloved. I also made sure that I will have my own souvenirs from the beautiful country of Thailand.

Key chains are the usual tokens that I buy whenever I travel around the Philippines. In fact, I collect keychains to mark the places that I already visited. The keychains shown in the above photo were given to some of my supervisors and other bosses in the office. For my other office mates, I gave these keychains:

Key chain of masks

I can't recall the exact price of these key chains. I think a pack of of those key chains costs around 100 Baht. I bought these key chains in Chatuchak Weekend Market.

Key chain looks cool but what's more cooler are refrigerator magnets. I now prefer to buy ref magnets during my travels than key chains. I aim to cover the door of our refrigerator with all the ref magnets that I have.

These are the magnets that I gave to my friends. They're pretty to look at and the good thing is that it costs 10 Baht per piece. This is much better and cheaper than the ref magnets (below photo) that costs 100 Baht per 3 pieces.

Expensive ref magnets

I bought the 10-Baht-per-piece from the Sinthai – Jatujak store in Chatuchak Weekend Market. The store is located in stall 121-125 Section 8 Soi 14/3 of the weekend market. I highly suggest this shop because their ref magnets are cheap. You may contact the shop owner at his mobile number 089-991-2828 or see the Sinthai – Jatujak website.

Aside from these, I have other ref magnets that I bought from other places in Thailand.

(Clockwise from upper left) key chain from Sukothai, and ref magnets from Doitung Flower Garden,
Ayutthaya, Mae Sai and Chiang Rai.

Now you have a hint of the places that will I post in the future.

Big bosses should have a special kind of gift, which means that it must not be a key chain. What I bought for them is a bell that doubles as bottle opener.

Bell + bottle opener

I also bought shot glasses for another Big Boss.

What I like with these items is that they are placed in decent boxes. I just handed them to the big bosses without the hassle of looking for boxes.

One challenge is in searching for souvenir gifts for my parents and future in-laws. My search is easier for my father and future father-in-law because I decided to give them baseball caps.

My only mistake in buying these caps is that I bought it at a market near the Grand Palace. One cap costs 400 Baht in that market! My blood pressure went up when I discovered that the same caps cost 250 Baht each in MBK. I was tricked! Grrrr...

Lesson learned. I must avoid shops located near popular tourist spots.

I had a hard time searching for gifts for my mother and future mother-in-law until I reached Mae Sai, which is the northernmost town of Thailand. I found these beautiful jewel boxes in the market of that town.

Each box costs at a reasonable price of 250 baht. Too bad that I didn't have the money to buy gold and jewels that I will place in these boxes.

I bought another gift for my mother when I was in Ayutthaya, which is this bag:

The bag costs 150 Baht.

The elephant is the symbol of Thailand. So, I searched for elephant stuffed toys. What I found are the following:

I gave the small elephants to my godchildren. I gave the big one to my Beloved.

There are other items that I bought from Chatuchak Weekend Market, MBK and other stores around Thailand. Of the many souvenirs that I bought, the ones that I value the most is this copy of the Holy Bible from a church in Rangsit town in Pathumthani Province...

The Holy Bible in Thai language.

...and the image of Our Lady of Thailand that I bought from the store of Bangkok Cathedral.

I value that copy of the Bible because it represents the parish church that served as my refuge during my 6-month stay in Thailand. It also reminded me of my Thai Catholic friends I met in that church. The image of Our Lady is highly valued because it is a very unique souvenir. Very few tourists buy this image as their souvenir of their visit to Thailand.

These are the few items that I bought as souvenirs from Thailand. I have other items that I didn't include here like the shirt I bought for my niece. I know that that my blog post will be very long if I include them all here.

How about you? What are the things that you buy to serve as souvenirs for the places that you visited. Please tell us by leaving a comment.

My Candidates in 2013 Elections

2013-05-03T22:56:00.000+08:00

Yes, it's fiesta season.

I feel like I’m searching for a needle in a haystack when I making a list of candidates who I’ll vote this coming election. It is very hard because there are so many candidates to choose from and almost all of them had the same slogans and motherhood-statements.

Looking back at the set of candidates that I chose in the 2010 elections made me realize that my criteria became stricter. Many things had changed since 2010. I was drawn more to the Catholic Faith and I have been active in fighting against the RH Bill (now a law) and other proposed DEATH bills.

The criteria that I have for choosing the candidate that I will vote for are as follows:

Criteria 1: He/she does not promote ideologies that are in contradiction to the teachings of the Catholic Church. More specifically, the candidate is not an advocate of contraception, abortion, euthanasia, same sex union, divorce and other beliefs that are against the sanctity of the family and sacredness of life.

Criteria 2: The candidate is living (or trying to live) a morally upright life. This means that he/she is not having an extra-marital affair, or a boss of a criminal organization, etc.

I know that these criteria are very strict but these are the things I can’t compromise. I can compromise my stand on gun ownership, economic policies, foreign policy and other aspects but not these criteria.

I think that only four candidates satisfied my criteria and I will surely vote for them this election. These candidates are:

Marwil Llasos (#20)

Marwil Llasos is one of the senatorial candidates of Ang Kapatiran Party. What I like with this candidate, aside from satisfying my criteria, is that he is not afraid to say that he is a Catholic especially now that secularism is on the rise in this country. In a TV debate, he introduced himself as a consecrated secular Dominican which made me say that this man is courageous indeed. He is also a lawyer thus he will not have a hard time crafting laws in Senate. Please check the Monk’s Hobbit blog for more info about Marwil Llasos.

Lito Yap David (#9)

Lito David (Ang Kapatiran Party) is certified Tondo-boy. He was born in the slums of Tondo and spent his young life making ends meet with his parents. With this kind of experiences that Lito David has, I can say that he truly feels the plight of the poor. As he said, “I went through poverty. Saw it, ate, slept, lived with and struggled against it, often at the risk of losing what I have established for myself and my family.”

Having a poor-family background is not the only qualifications of Lito. He worked for a very long time in the government and served as staff of Senator Kit Tatad and Senator Jaworski. This means that Lito knows the ins and outs of Senate. If you really want a Senator who truly cares for the poor families in our country, I highly suggest that you vote Lito Yap David.

Please check Monk’s Hobbit blog for more info about Lito David.

JC Delos Reyes (#10)

Those who followed the 2010 elections surely know JC Delos Reyes of Ang Kapatiran Party. He ran the presidential race even though he and the party don’t have the machinery and funds of the mainstream parties. He lost the last election but his zeal for improving our government didn’t end there. He continues the fight with other Ang Kapatiran Party candidates as he run for a Senate seat.

JC Delos Reyes is not a newbie in governance because he was once a councilor in Olongapo City. JC campaigned against illegal drugs and rampant violations of Hanjin against its workers. He may be a relative of the Gordons but he said that he parted ways from that famous political clan for the sake of his fight against political dynasties. This is what I admired with JC. He can use this connection with the famous name of the Gordon clan to get positions in the government but he never does so. You will notice that he don’t use “Gordon” in his campaign.

If you want a service with a heart then please vote for JC Delos Reyes this coming election.

Please check Monk’s Hobbit blog for more info about JC Delos Reyes.

Mitos Magsaysay (#23)

Mitos Magsaysay fought to the end during the fight against the RH Bill in Congress. She fought on even many of the anti-RH lawmakers already folded to the pressure of Noynoy Aquino and gang. She could easily give up the fight and get the pork barrel funds and the friendship of those who are in Malakanyang. But she didn’t and that’s what I admired of her.

My friends in the Filipinos for Life group met Mitos Magsaysay a lot of times during talks and their usual comment that she is a down-to-earth politician. I will vote for her because I know that she has the guts to stand up for what we are fighting for. She will be an iron lady in the Senate.

These are just four candidates that I will surely vote this coming election. I’m still 8 candidates short for the 12 positions that I can vote for in the Senate. Other candidates that I’m considering are Koko Pimentel, Christian Seneres, Greco Belgica, Bal Falcone and Samson Alcantara.

For the partylist, I’ll be voting for the Ang Prolife Partylist (#42)

I’m sure that this partylist is not connected to any communist group nor a front of mainstream political party or political clan. Ang Prolife Partylist’s stands on the anti-life bills are very clear. They are against the culture of DEATH.

These are the candidates that I had chosen this 2013 Election. I hope and pray that you consider them also when you go to the election precinct on May 13. It is time to stop voting for the same old politicians who are espousing beliefs that are destructive to our nation. It is time to bring true progress. Please vote Marwil Llasos (#20), Lito David (#9), JC Delos Reyes (#10) and Mitos Magsaysay (#23) for the Senate and Ang Prolife Partylist (#42) for Congress.

---

Image source is the Team Buhay Facebook page.

End of the Month Roundup - April 2013

2013-04-30T14:15:00.000+08:00

The month of April finally came to its end. My blog series about our 18-kilometer pilgrimage from Monumento to Baclaran Church also came to its end. I enjoyed reminiscing our exhausting but unique experience. I do hope that many of you enjoyed reading about it too.

I know that some of you are expecting to read about my adventures in Thailand. I'm happy to announce that I will resume talking about my Siamese adventures in the month of May. My topic for that month is the shopping places in Bangkok. I'm sure that shopaholics out there will enjoy this blog series.

April can be considered a stressful month for me. I felt the shock of the sudden change of environment. My life is easy and workload-free in Thailand, which is very different from my life in the Philippines. I returned to our office to deal with 6-month pending workloads and other requests. There is so much activities that I don't know how to fit my time.

I'm also back to commuting between our house and the office, which means that I'm back in competing with hundreds of commuters every day in getting good seats inside the bus. The Summer season is unhelpful too because of the stroke inducing heat. The Election Season~~, with the irritating campaign jingles, disgusting political posters, and the more disgusting promises (a.k.a. lies),~~ also made my April less than savory.

Fortunately, April is not all gloomy. There are many things to enjoy especially the things that I missed while in Thailand. These are my family, the warm embrace of my Beloved, the daily visit to the Adoration Chapel and the present-everywhere Catholic churches. Even commuting is fun when I see amusing scenes like this:

A Naruto character appeared.

Really, there's no other place like home. :-)

Me and my Beloved went to a movie for the first time since I returned to Thailand. We watched “It Takes a Man and a Woman” starring John Lloyd Cruz and Sarah Geronimo.

(Source: Starmometer)

The movie is OK but it paled in comparison to other local movies that we watched last year.

Oh! I almost forgot to tell you that I got another chance to visit Lucban this month. I saw the Kamay ni Hesus Shrine again and it is now more beautiful than the first time I visited it about 3 years ago.

I will talk about our visit to Lucban maybe before this year ends.

Now. Let me give you the summary of post that I posted in the month of April. This month is dominated by my posts about our pilgrimage from Monumento to Baclaran Church. I also talked about my cooking like the fish sausage and the tortang talong. I also talked about the delicious Chinese dishes at Lan Zhou La Mien and the noodles I had eaten at Victory Monument, Bangkok.

I divided my narrative about our pilgrimage into four parts. The first part is the beginning of our pilgrimage, the second is the walk from Monumento to Blumentritt, the third part is the walk from Blumentritt to Binondo Church and the last part is the walk from Binondo to Baclaran Church.

Filipinos for Life pilgrims.

A positive note about this pilgrimage is that some people became interested with what we did. Some people, including Ma'am Maritel Ledesma, said that they want to have their own Lenten pilgrimage. I do hope that many people will join or make their own pilgrimage in the next Lenten Season. I'm sure that our Lord will be glad to see many Christians doing acts of penance and sacrifices.

These are the things that happened to me and my blog for the month of April. Hope that you also enjoyed this month. May we all have a blessed month of May. God bless you all.

End of the Month Roundup is the monthly segment of this blog that summarizes all the adventures that I featured for the month.

My First Try of Tortang Talong Recipe

2013-04-26T17:22:00.000+08:00

One of the things that I miss in Thailand is my cooking. I know that I’m a failure when it comes to cookery but I enjoy risking my life to create an edible-but-sometimes-not dish.

There is one vegetable that I played around during my 6-month stay in Thailand. I cooked two types of dishes for this veggie. One dish is adobo, which a failure. Another dish is the torta and you’ll be the judge if what I cooked is also a failure.

The veggie that I’m talking about is the talong (eggplant).

Now let me show you how I cooked the tortang talong recipe.

Step 1: Peeling of the Talong Skin

The first thing that I did is that I place the talong over the fire of my stove. The purpose of this is to burn the eggplant’s skin so as to make it easy to peel.

The grocery where I bought the talong only had the unripe green ones. I’ve been searching for the violet-colored talong to no avail.

The talong is so hot so I used fork to peel away the skin.

Step 2: Preparing the Egg Mix

I beat two pieces of egg. I had a chicken breading sitting in the cupboard for so many months so I mixed it with the egg. I felt that I already messed up when I mixed the breading.

Step 3: Talong Plus + Beaten Egg

I then placed the talong in the egg mix. I made sure that the mix covered the whole talong.

Step 4: Fry Time

I placed the talong with egg mix to the pan with hot oil. I cooked both sides of the torta. Cooking this tortang talong recipe is very quick. It is just like cooking an egg omelette.

And voila, here is the tortang talong:

I know it is not a perfect tortang talong and it looks terrible. The breading got burnt too. Maybe I’ll not add chicken breading to my next tortang talong. The tortang talong tasted OK because it tasted like fried chicken because of the breading.

How about you, dear Reader, what can you say about my tortang talong?

18 Kilometers - Binondo to Baclaran Church

2013-04-23T16:46:00.000+08:00

I'm finally at the last stretch of my narrative for our pilgrimage from Monumento to Baclaran Church. The members of the Filipinos for Life, the pilgrims for this journey, was exhausted becuase of the long walk that we made the whole morning. Our lunch break in Lan Zhou La Mien refreshed us but not it is not enough.

The energy that we recharged during lunch was gone almost immediately when we stepped under the burning sun.

We left Binondo, passed by Escolta and Lacson Plaza. The intense heat made me lazy to pick up my camera so I had no photos for these places. It is good though that I have posts about Kalye Escolta and Lacson Plaza that you can read about.

Our group crossed the Pasig River using the MacArthur Bridge. Our crossing allowed me to once again see the Manila Central Post Office.

Manila Central Post Office.

Across the post office are the towering buildings of Escolta.

Escolta buildings.

The bridge we were walking on was named in honor of General Douglas MacArthur. He is the so-called “liberator of Manila” during the Second World War. I read somewhere that MacArthur is held in high esteem by Filipinos. That's why many believed in him when he said his famous promise, “I shall return,” before he ran away to Australia while the Philippines is falling to the Japanese Imperial Army.

The statue of the general marks the bridge. The statue commemorates MacArthur's landing at Leyte, where he fulfilled his promise. A blogger friend named Stef, who owns the blog And These Thy Gifts, commented that the soldiers look like they're standing on a bed of tulips. I agreed with a big hearty laugh. A thought suddenly popped in my mind showing the manly MacArthur and his soldiers skipping and dancing a la “Sound of Music”.

Hundred steps later and we reached Mehan Garden. The statue of Alexander Pushkin caught my attention because I never heard of him being involved in any part of the Philippine history.

Pushkin's monument was erected to celebrate the friendship between the Filipino and Russian people. I found it weird that I passed by this statue few minutes after I passed by the statue of MacArthur, who is the enemy of communist Russia.

Few more steps later and we finally saw the clock tower of Manila City Hall:

And another monument of Andres Bonifacio:

I felt that my whole body is burning while we walked. My sweat was flowing like waterfall. The bottled water that I brought was near its boiling point. Every step was agonizing and every shade is a welcome respite. Maybe all that we need that afternoon is to be poured with sarsa (sauce) so we can become lechon.

The sun is throwing all of its radiation towards us but we walked on. We raised our fists against the sun. Mere sunlight will never deter us in doing penance for the sake of this country and the hundreds of unborn children being threatened by an unjust law and the hard hearts of many people.

Slowly we walked along Taft Avenue and pass by Luneta Park and a few steps more we saw the naked statue of the Oblation in front of UP – Manila.

Few more kilometers and we found ourselves along Quirino Avenue and saw the entrance to Manila Zoo.

F4L pilgrims along Quirino Ave.

Our walk along Roxas Boulevard was the hardest part of our pilgrimage. Exhaustion already set in and only our will pushed us to move forward.

I gave a sigh of relief when I finally saw the Heritage Hotel.

We finally reached EDSA! We are very near Baclaran Church! This realization gave us new energy. We can finish this 18-kilometer walk.

Crossing EDSA

Street vendors, parked vehicles and the chaos of this place is blocking our path but we passed through them. After walking 18 kilometers, I say that Baclaran Church is the most beautiful church that I had ever seen.

Baclaran Church!

We said our final prayer and there we ended our Lenten Pilgrimage.

Filipinos for Life

Our walk from Monumento to Baclaran is very exhausting but a one-of-a-kind experience. Aside from praying for our fight against the RH Law and the unborn, the pilgrimage was an opportunity for me to see Metro Manila more closely. There is chaos in our streets but I also saw beauty that is hiding beneath the chaos and dirt. Our 18 kilometers also proved that we can do difficult things as long as our will is strong to do it.

---

This is the fourth part of my narrative about the Filipinos for Lenten pilgrimage. Read the first part, second part and the third part of this blog series.

Lunch Break at Lan Zhou La Mien

2013-04-19T17:04:00.000+08:00

Lunch time found our group in Manila's land of yummy Chinese food. AJ, our group leader, wanted to reach Binondo at lunch time not only because of Binondo Church but also because he wanted us to try his highly recommended Chinese restaurant. That restaurant is the Lan Zhou La Mien located along San Fernando Street.

I was surprised that the Chinese restaurant that AJ recommended is just a stone throw away from Hou Kui Tea House, which is the restaurant highly recommended by my Boss.

Lan Zhou La Mien is a cozy place. The space is quite small to fit many tables and chairs and even customers. Despite of that, AJ said that this restaurant is popular and many people still go to eat at this place. I think that cozyness is typical for the restaurants in Binondo Chinatown.

Fortunately, Lan Zhou La Mien has a second floor. Each pilgrim had a table for himself.

AJ guaranteed that the noodles at this place is delicious so I ordered the Kan Pan Lamien. Our group also ordered the steamed dumplings. We waited 15 to 30 minutes for our orders to come.

The first to reach our tables are the water and the tea.

The long walk from Monumento made us very hungry. I could eat a whole cow just to satisfy my hunger.

Kan Pan Lamien

The serving of the Kan Pan Lamien is big. I think that two people can share one plate of this noodles. Fortunately, my appetite during that day is for two people. I finished Kan Pan Lamien in no time.

I understood now why AJ recommended this restaurant. The Kan Pan Lamien tasted good. It is one of the few best-tasting noodles of all the noodles that I tried.

The steamed dumplings that followed also tasted good.

I think that Lan Zhou La Mien's dumpling is way beyond that typical dumplings offered by the stalls of Master Siomai or even by Chowking. The dumplings have meat and leafy veggies inside.

Yum yum yum yum.

If you want to try wating at Lan Zhou La Mien, I suggest that you prepare enough money because the dishes in this place is not that cheap. The Kan Pan Lamien costs 130 pesos while the twelve pieces of steamed dumplings cost 160 pesos. Refer to the image below to see the costs of the dishes from Lan Zhou La Mien.

The food at this restaurant may not be cheap but the taste of the food will not make you feel that you are robbed. The food at this place tastes really good.

We, the pilgrims, were energized again after eating at Lan Zhou La Mien. We left the restaurant to finish the final stretch of our pilgrimage to Baclaran Church under the hot afternoon sun.

18 Kilometers - Blumentritt to Binondo

2013-04-16T22:02:00.003+08:00

Around two hours left before 12 noon but we were still not halfway through our pilgrimage to Baclaran Church. Our group just crossed the train tracks of the Philippines National Railways (PNR) at Blumentritt but we still have miles to go.

F4L pilgrimage route from Blumentritt to Binondo.

Our next stop was the Shrine of the Holy Spirit (Dambana ng Espiritu Santo) located in Manila’s Santa Cruz District. I'm glad that I managed to enter this church but the crowd prevented me from taking good photos.

The interior of the Shrine of the Holy Spirit.

I believe that it is a beautiful church. The painting at the altar depicts the descent of the Holy Spirit during Pentecost. The scene depicted by the painting is very apt for the shrine because it is the event when the Holy Spirit emboldened the first Christians.

The crowd prevented us to pray a decade of the Holy Rosary so we just chose a spot in front of Mama Mary's image outside of the church.

We used the LRT stations to mark our progress. We even stopped at each station to pose for photos.

Boss AJ at Tayuman Station.

My experiences in Manila taught me to expect street children on the streets. There are plenty of them in Manila and I saw some of them during the pilgrimage.

Manila street kids

It would be wrong to lump these kids as “children” of the poor people of Manila. I know that each street kid has a unique story. Some might even be a son or daughter of a well-to-do family. Nonetheless, it is not good for them to stay away from their families. Where are their parents?

Another common scenery on Manila's streets is the perpetually under renovation streets.

AJ commented that this portion of Rizal Avenue was also under renovation during their pilgrimage last year. Does that mean that they renovate this portion of the avenue every year? What a waste of taxpayers' money.

We quicken our steps. We knew that noon is near and we want to reach Binondo by that time. Our next stop would be Quiapo Church.

LRT - Bambang Station

Our group finally reached Recto Avenue around 11 AM. I was glad to finally reach a familiar place.

Intersection of Rizal and Recto avenues.

Recto Avenue was once a busy commercial hub. The place has theaters, malls and bustling commercial center. Its golden age occurred during the time when Escolta and Binondo were the commercial center of the country. Recto Avenue fell to disrepute and this place is now known as the place where people can get fake Ids, fake diplomas, fake birth certificates and other fake documents.

Quiapo Church is just a short walk from Recto Avenue. Unfortunately, the church is very crowded but that is not surprising. Quiapo Church houses the image of the Black Nazarene, which has millions of devotees. It is no wonder that this church is crowded to the max.

With no place to stop for praying, our group decided to go to the nearby Santa Cruz Church.

It was my first time to see Santa Cruz again since the day I went back from Thailand. The white paint of the church's exterior was now replaced by brown (or orange) tiles. Santa Cruz Church is still under renovation during our visit.

After our prayers, we entered Binondo Chinatown and walked along Ongpin Street to reach Binondo Church.

You'll know you're in Chinatown once you see these kalesa.

Ongpin Street is the main street of Binondo Chinatown. Many people go here for the food (Chinese restaurants here have excellent dishes), or for history (this Chinatown is the oldest in the world) or just for taking photos.

The golden cross along Ongpin Street.

Binondo Chinatown is the place where Christianity and Chinese cultures meet. A golden cross along this street is a testament this “clash of cultures”. People light up joss sticks at this cross instead of candles, which are the usually found in regular Christian spots.

Binondo Church

We finally reached Binondo Church and said our prayers. Noon had just passed and our belly is rumbling. We are in the right time to visit a Chinese restaurant highly recommended by our group leader.

18 Kilometers - Monumento to Blumentritt

2013-04-12T17:18:00.000+08:00

1 kilometer, 2 kilometers, 3 kilometers...the distance from the starting point of our pilgrimage is growing but our group didn't seem to mind it. We were not daunted by the 18 kilometers of distance that we had to walk from Monumento to Baclaran Church.

There were few people on the street that morning despite it being Palm Sunday. The weather is still cool. It is the perfect time for walking.

Our route for the pilgrimage and some of the churches that we visited.

We followed Rizal Avenue and our plan is to visit the churches along the way. It was my first time to walk the whole length of Rizal Avenue. The truth is that I rarely go to any part of Rizal Avenue located north of its intersection with Recto Avenue. The road that we walked is simply out of my way.

Somewhere along Rizal Avenue.

AJ, the group’s leader, said that our next stop would be a church inside La Loma Cemetery. I got excited because I hear about La Loma but I haven't visited it yet. I heard that La Loma Cemetery has a beautiful old church inside.

The street to La Loma Cemetery.

St. Pancratius Church

The guard freaked out when he saw the SLR camera of my companion. He almost stopped us from entering the cemetery until we promised that we will not take photos of the church interior.

We didn't go to La Loma Church but stopped at St. Pancratius Church instead.

St. Pancratius Church in La Loma Cemetery.

I never heard of St. Pancratius and I found it unusual to see a church in the Philippines dedicated to a less known saint.

St. Pancratius

Saint Pancratius, who is also known as St. Pancras, was martyred on AD 304 at the age of 14 years. He is the patron saint of the jobless, the sick and the youth.

We left La Loma Cemetery after praying a decade of the Holy Rosary. Our next stop would be the San Roque de Manila Church.

Off to San Roque we go.

There are a lot of things to see along Rizal Avenue. Our pilgrimage was a perfect time for me to try street photography. I was hesitant to take photos because of the fear that people will be angry with me when they saw me photographing them. But this is a rare opportunity so I took a shot at street photography.

Not angry? I guess PM is happy to have his photo taken.

San Roque de Manila Church

It was Palm Sunday so most of the churches that we visited were crowded. San Roque de Manila Church wasn't an exception so we had no choice but to pray at the candle area.

AJ said that the interior of the San Roque de Manila Church is also beautiful. Unfortunately, it was too crowded for me to enter and gaze its beauty.

How I wish that I climbed these stairs!

The sidewalks became crowded at San Roque de Manila Church. Vendors are everywhere! I suddenly felt like I was in Divisoria.

This is not Recto. This is Blumentritt.

Seems like this area is another market hub where products from Divisoria are being sold. People can buy anything here. Bags, fake shoes, pirated DVD movies, clothes, and even these:

Who wants to buy pigeons?

Few steps from San Roque de Manila Church is the PNR railway and the PNR – Blumentritt Station. I made another first at this place. Yes, it was my first time to cross a railway on foot.

Some of you may be wondering who or what is this Blumentritt. Well, Blumentritt is the German friend of the Philippine national hero ~~and ultimate idol~~ Jose Rizal. The street of Blumentritt and the stations of LRT and PNR in the area were named in his honor.

Almost two hours had passed when we reached Blumentritt. We were already sweaty and starting to get exhausted because of the long walk. But we didn't surrender. We continued our pilgrimage because it is a test of our will.

---

Read the first part of this blog series. Up next is the third part, which narrates things that we saw from Blumentritt to Quiapo and our walk to the historical church of Binondo Chinatown. You can also jump to the last part (Binondo to Baclaran Church).

Information about St. Pancratius came from Catholic Online.

When Your Child Needs a Tutor

2013-04-12T09:03:00.000+08:00

One of my part time jobs during college is tutoring. My neighbor, the sister of my grade school teacher, asked me to teach her son because he is weak in Math. The mother told me that her son always receive low scores during Math exams. I agree with her observation because I noticed that her son had little grasp of mathematical concepts while I was teaching him.

The mother of my student made the right decision. Her son truly needed a tutor to help him exceed in Math. It is good that my student's mother picked me as a tutor.

Hiring a tutor for your child will truly help him excel in his studies. The tutor will give your child the full attention that he needs. Your child does not receive the full attention at school that is why a tutor is vital, especially if he has failing grades in any subjects.

Hiring a tutor for your child is not easy because it is not easy to find high quality tutors. The truth is that there many tutors of doubtful value, which means that your child will not receive the tutoring that he needs. Thus, finding an excellent tutor is very important.

If you are looking for tutors then you can check Eduboard.com. It offers reliable tutors that will surely help your child in his studies. Please follow this link: http://eduboard.com/math/pre-geometry/, to go to their website.

So, what are you waiting for? Get the tutor for your child at Eduboard.com right now! He can easily learn Math, Science, English, Essay Writing and many more.

18 Kilometers - The Beginning

2013-04-09T12:06:00.000+08:00

A friend invited me to join their Lenten devotion of walking from Monumento to Baclaran. This devotion is the F4L (Filipinos for Life) pilgrimage started last year and is meant as an act of penance for the sake of the unborn and the repeal of the Reproductive Health Law (RH Law).

Yep. We are doing thus for the little ones threatened by abortion.

I was hesitant in joining the pilgrimage. My excuse was that I'm still tired of my travel from Thailand. Our pilgrimage was scheduled on Palm Sunday, which is the day after I returned to my home. Walking for a long time under the sun will surely beat my exhausted body.

The long walk will be hard but I didn't back down. Walking from Monumento to Baclaran is one of a kind experience and my blogger self is demanding me to join.

Another reason that convinced me to join the pilgrimage is the benefit of self-mortification. I believe that denying the self is the way to grow in the Faith and Saints of the Church are my proof of that. These holy people defeated the Devil by battling the desires of the flesh. They trained their spirit to defy the Devil by drilling their body to deny earthly pleasures and conveniences.

Jesus Christ, our model of self-denial.

So, the early morning of Palm Sunday, I found myself marveling at the masterpiece of Guillermo Tolentino.

This is the Andres Bonifacio Monument in Caloocan City. People simply call it Monumento. Andres Bonifacio is the leader of the rebellion against the Spanish colonial government.

It was my first time to stand close to this popular landmark in Metro Manila. Regular visitors of this blog may compare it with the Victory Monument, which I talked about in an earlier blog post.

We started our pilgrimage at the Shrine of Our Lady of Grace, which is near Monumento.

This church is very spacious but it was crowded during that day because it's Palm Sunday. I met the other pilgrims after the Holy Mass.

F4L Pilgrims (from left to right): PM, Mok, AJ and JJ.

We began our pilgrimage with a prayer and the beginning of the Holy Rosary. We intended to pray one decade of the Rosay for every church that we visited during the journey.

Off we go!

---

Read the second part (Monumento to Blumentritt), third part (Blumentritt to Binondo) and the last part (Binondo to Baclaran Church) of this blog series.

Food for Lent: Fish Sausage

2013-04-05T14:41:00.000+08:00

I had a hard time during looking for something to cook during the Lenten Season. I vowed not to eat meat so my only option was to cook fish and vegetables. Unfortunately, fresh fish is “rare” in the area where I stayed in Thailand. I was also a picky fish eater. I only eat the familiar fish like the bangus and tilapia.

Because of these constraints, my diet during the Lenten Season consisted of eggs, fish balls, Mama noodles and vegetables. One day, while I was in the grocery, I chanced upon this:

Minced fermented fish from Big C.

I had second thoughts in buying the minced fermented fish because it was new to me. I didn't want to buy food that I might not like because I will just throw them away.

So, I walked around the grocery to check the fish balls, walked around to check the frozen fish and then checked the fish balls again. I decided in the end to buy the minced fermented fish because I was already satiated with the fish balls.

I called the minced fermented fish as fish sausage because it looked like a regular sausage. I was not sure if the fish meat is packed in pork intestine to prevent them from falling apart.

I sliced the fish sausage then I fried them. It was very easy to cook. I finished cooking it after few minutes.

One piece of the fish sausage is enough for a cup or so of rice.

It tasted good enough that I bought another pack. The minced ferment fish doesn't taste good as the regular sausage but it is a fine alternative for the pork, beef and chicken meat during Lent.

Noodle Time at Victory Monument

2013-04-02T17:09:00.000+08:00

Victory Monument is not much of a tourist attraction. Tourists don't go there to marvel at the tall obelisk in the middle of the rotunda. They go there either to ride vans going to the provinces or taste yummy Thai foods.

Victory Monument is a busy place, thanks for its being a transportation hub. Thus, it also became a sort of Thai street food hub.

The busy Victory Monument.

One of the stall that I noticed is the one located near the escalator.

I had a hard time communicating with the lady at the food stall. She couldn't understand English so I just pointed at the food that I wanted. The lady just motioned me to go to the tables near the stall.

I'm ignorant of the scheme when eating at this place. I actually didn't need to go to the stall. All I need to do is to sit at the table and then somebody will come to get my orders.

The waiter immediately brought a metal cup with crushed ice. There is no free water so I was forced to buy a bottle of it.

It was about an hour before the usual evening rush so the place is not yet crowded. I bet that this restaurant has plenty of customers, based on the number of tables that they have.

My short wait was over and this is what I got:

Looks yummy!

I noticed some chicharon (deep-fried dried pork rind) on my table.

I'm sure that it is to be mixed with the noodles. I know, however, that I have to pay extra if I'll open a pack of chicharon. So, as a cheapskate, I didn't try chicharon with my noodles.

So what's the verdict? I say that it tastes good! The soup is not spicy but just perfect to my palate. It has pork meat and coagulated pork blood (in Philippines we call it betamax). At first, I thought that the white things in the dish are squid meat. I realized then that it is the noodles, which are short and fat but tasted bland. The soup tastes OK but I think I tasted better ones in a noodle shop inside a mall also in the vicinity of Victory Monument.

I paid around 50 Baht for the noodles and the bottled water. I guess it is still cheap for this kind of street food.

I am not sure if this dish is the famous Thai boat noodles. Maybe I had to go to certified Thai boat noodles shop near Victory Monument to see the difference with this noodles that I just tasted.

End of the Month Roundup - March 2013

2013-03-31T21:20:00.001+08:00

Time indeed moves very quickly. The month of March has ended and the first quarter of 2013 is gone. Nine months more and we'll be welcoming 2014. Aside from the end of first quarter, March is also the month when I ended my 6-month stay in Thailand. I posted my farewell to this beautiful country before the Holy Week began.

Some of you might have noticed that I didn't posted anything during the Holy Week. I also failed to visit other blogs. I even went missing-in-action (MIA) in Facebook. The reason is that I was overwhelmed with my work loads in the office. I also had a difficulty adjusting to my old-new environment. I had no choice but to take a rest from blogging during the Holy Week.

I am glad to report that I enjoyed a long rest during the Holy Week. I didn't went to vacation, though, because I want my Holy Week to be spent with my love ones.

There are so many things that occurred during the month of March. I managed to visit some interesting places during my remaining days in Thailand. I managed to visit the Grand Palace and saw the much revered Emerald Buddha. I also joined a trip to towns located in northern Thailand, which gave me the chance to reach the Thai boundary with Myanmar. I also visited Sukhothai and Ayutthaya, which are the old capitals of the Kingdom of Siam. I assure you will enjoy my posts about these travels. So, please watch out for them.

It seems that I already said a lot of things (4 paragraphs!). So, without further ado, I begin the roundup for March.

I only posted about my [mis]adventures to Phukhieo Wildlife Sanctuary this month. I started with our stop over at a Buddhist temple, which coincidentally is the very first Buddhist that I visited.

This is Wat Promraungsri built by a Thai celebrity in honor of a Buddhist monk, who lived around 150 years ago.

I enjoyed our visit to Phukhieo Wildlife Sanctuary. I saw many animals like the deer, some wild dogs and few birds. The animal that I were so attached to during my visit is the leech.

I also got the chance to see a big skull of an elephant complete with its tusks!

I'm a little disappointed with our Phukhieo trip because our travel time is longer that our actual stay at the place. Our bird watching is a failure because the birds of Phukhieo hid themselves from us. My disappointment was gone, however, when I saw Phukhieo's giant tree.

The trip also had two bonuses because it gave me the opportunity to visit the Chulabhorn Dam and the winery of Vin de Ray.

So, these are my posts during March. I am slowly laying out my adventures in Thailand. So, expect more Thai adventure posts in April, May, June and even July. I only hope that you will not be satiated with my Thai adventures.

End of the Month Roundup is the monthly segment of this blog that summarizes all the adventures that I featured for the month.

Cheap Essay Writing Service

2013-03-31T14:56:00.001+08:00

Looking for a reliable and affordable writing service is not easy. This is true even if we already have the “power” of the Internet in our hands. The reason for the difficulty is the fact that there are hundreds of websites and companies that offer writing services. The difficulty is compounded by the fact that there some of these companies were set-up by people who do not care about the quality of their work as long as they get your money.

To help you in choosing a good company that offers cheap essay writing, I will give you one company that you can try. This company or website is the Buy Essay Cheap.

Buy Essays Cheap offers absolutely cheap essay writing service. They offer $ 7.95 per page for high school students, $ 10.95 per page for college students and $ 11.95 per page for university students.

The service that Buy Essays Cheap is indeed cheap but you are assured that the quality of their works is good. The writers that they hire knows that their success depends on the your satisfaction. This means that they will do their best to give you a satisfactory service.

Buy Essays Cheap offers cheapest prices in the market, essay or paper in any citation style, absolutely non-plagiarized papers, confidentiality or privacy is guaranteed, and with 24 hours support.

So, if you are looking for a company to do your paper for you, I suggest that you check Buy Essays Cheap.

La-kawn Sawatdee Siam

2013-03-22T08:00:00.000+08:00

Last Tuesday the whole office gathered for a send-off ceremony for me and a Mongolian office mate. Our bosses gave us our certificates and of course we gave our little speeches. I realized that day that I'm really leaving Thailand. That my days here in Siam are numbered.

And now I come to this day – my last full day of stay here in Thailand. Tomorrow I'll be going to the airport, ride a plane and look at Thailand from the air for the last time. Tomorrow, I will say “la-kawn sawatdee Siam” (farewell Siam).

My 6 months stay in Thailand passed very quick. I can still remember my first day here, my first meet-up with my office mates, my first nasty experience of tasting super-spicy Thai food, my first attempt to cook, the joy of finally learning how to bike, my first drinking session with my kababayans in the Filipino community...such memories, such sweet memories!

I wrote in my final report that I learned many things that will be of great benefit for my career. Frankly, that is just half of the story because I didn't wrote the other things that I learned.

My 6-months stay in Thailand taught me the highs and lows of living alone outside of my country. I felt like an exile in a land of foreign tongues and alien food. I felt the loneliness that most Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) feel. It is sad to celebrate New Year and other special occasions away from my love ones.

My only companion: the Teddy Bear that my Beloved asked me to bring to Thailand.

I met a lot of people of different races. I met Thais, Indians, Bangladeshis, Burmese, Vietnamese, Italian, Spaniard, and many more. This exposure taught me how to deal with other people of various cultural backgrounds. I learned that a smile is the best tool in establishing friendship with other people. Human beings, no matter what their backgrounds are, understand that a smile is a welcoming gesture.

A gesture of friendship. Flowers given to me by a Thai lady, who is actually a Catholic sister.

The best part of my stay in Thailand is my travels. I am thankful for generous friends who invited me to join their travels. I'm sure that without their help I may not be able to travel places located far away from Bangkok.

I will give you a hint that the travels that I already posted here on this blog are less than 50% of my travels to the many places that I visited in Thailand.

A preview of my future posts: hitting the beach.

Will I be able to visit Thailand again? I have no sure answer for that. My opportunity to visit Thailand is unplanned because it came to me as a surprise. Maybe my next visit to this country will come as a surprise as well.

I say it once again: “la-kawn sawatdee Siam!”

---

The first image was obtained from a blog named, Life's About Experiences...Let's Share Them!

Final Stopover at Vin de Ray Winery

2013-03-19T08:00:00.000+08:00

The sun is setting and I'm exhausted because of our very long travel from Phukhieo Wildlife Sanctuary. Our driver wanted to get home fast so he just gave us few stopovers along the way. The result is my butt and back hurt so much because of too much sitting.

My travel companions, exhausted as we all were, still had little energy left for more adventure. Thus, our group leader decided to bring us to the final stopover at the winery of Vin de Ray.

I was surprised that a vineyard exists in Thailand. Whenever I hear of winery and vineyard, I always think of grape farms of Italy. The presence of a vineyard in tropical Asia is a remote possibility for me. Well, I'm glad that I'm wrong.

The first thing that welcomed me in Vin de Ray winery is a statue of a lady twisting her hair. This lady is a goddess of Buddhist myth named as Mae Phra Thorani. She is the goddess of the earth and the water pouring from her hair drowned the demons attacking Buddha.

Many Thais place images of Mae Phra Thorani at their homes to call forth the bounty of the earth. I guess that the placing of her statue in Vin de Ray is intentional because vineyards depend very much in the richness of the soil. The winery owner is calling upon this goddess to take care of his vineyard.

Large “bottles” of wine can be seen from afar. This place is truly a winery and a vineyard.

According to Andreas Hörstemeier, a blogger living in Thailand, Vin de Ray is owned by a TV personality. It is the second time I visited a place built by a Thai celebrity. The first is the Wat Promraungsri, which we visited while traveling to Phukhieo Wildlife Sanctuary.

Grapevines.

It was my first time to see grapevines. Too bad that there is no grapefruit yet.

There are other things that the visitors inside Vin de Ray vineyard can do aside from taking photos with the giant “bottles” and grapevines. There are motorquads that can be rented for 100 Baht per hour.

Some of my travel companions rented the motorquads and zoomed around the vineyard. I just stayed on foot and watched them go because I don't know how to drive a motorquad.

I just discovered in the Internet that Vin de Ray vineyard has spotted deer. They are bred for their meat. Too bad that we didn't know of their existence. I would've photographed them if I just knew.

Vin de Ray vineyard also has a shop for those who want to buy wine, grape juice, raisins and other products made from grapes. Andreas said that the red wine has same quality as the European ones, “at least for the taste of a casual wine drinker”.

Vin de Ray shop.

There are other items that are for sale like sweets, souvenir items, vegetables and chicharon.

Vin de Ray products for sale.

I didn't bought any item from the shop because I'm such a “penny pincher”.

We still had miles to go before reaching home. So, we hit the road again after my travel companions bought all the items that they want from Vin de Ray winery.

---

Info about Mae Phra Thorani came from Wikipedia.

Some info about Vin de Ray winery came from Andreas Hörstemeier's blog, My Unseen Thailand.

Inside the Forest of Phukhieo

2013-03-15T07:36:00.000+08:00

I had no experience in entering a thick forest prior to my visit to Phukhieo Wildlife Sanctuary. I actually live on the top of the mountain in a province near Metro Manila but the forest is gone. The trees were cut down for the sake of “development”.

Entering the forest is the last activity that we did in Phukhieo Wildlife Sanctuary. The forest trail is about 3 kilometers long and passes through different features inside the forest. One of those features is the site where the smelly rafflesia flowers grow.

Unfortunately, we had little time left for our stay in the wildlife sanctuary. Our group decided to just enter the forest and look at one the gigantic trees of Phukhieo, which is just a short walk away from the road.

One of our rangers lead the way. Other rangers also joined our group to ensure our safety. Wild dogs and other ferocious animals still inhabit the forest, so we needed their protection.

I was in awe when I entered Phukhieo's forest. Being inside the forest is very different than merely watching about it in an environmental TV show. Inside the forest, the sunlight is blocked by trees and the view is obstructed by vegetation. Anyone can get lost easily inside a thick forest such as this.

Phukhieo Wildlife Sanctuary is a very cool place. I woke up in our room that is so cold as if somebody left the air conditioner at very low temperature. I also had to take a bath using nearly-freezing water. This cool weather of the wildlife sanctuary is perfect for those who want to escape the heat of the lowlands. Unfortunately, this cool weather is also perfect for that bloodsucking menace, the LEECH.

I suddenly felt something cold crawling up my left foot. I panicked and shook my feet frantically. This is the thing that fell off my pants:

Zooming in

This leech smelled our blood. I bet the leeches are following our group so they can feed on us.

I was so preoccupied with the leech that I lost the people in front of me.

Oh no!

I'm glad that the trail is clear enough to follow. I walked a little more and then I saw the most amazing sight in Phukhieo Wildlife Sanctuary.

So far, this is the tallest tree that I saw in my lifetime! It is so high that I can't see the top.

The base of the tree is wide that around five people are needed to fully “hug” this tree.

We linger a little time beside the giant tree until we felt that leeches are creeping up our legs. We ran as fast us we could to reach the safety of the road. I immediately checked my feet the moment I went out of the forest.

One way to remove the leech is by sprinkling salt on it. However, we didn't have salt so the alternative is by rubbing tobacco from cigarette. The leech got irritated so it left me in peace.

The wound left by the leech was bleeding so I had no choice but to cover it with tissue and cloth.

I am more fortunate because only one leech was sucking my blood. Other people in our group had three or more bloodsuckers on their legs.

The experience with the leeches dampened our group's desire for more adventures inside Phukhieo Wildlife Sanctuary. So, we packed our bags and hit the road again. Our destination, this time, is home.

A Disappointing Day in Phukhieo Wildlife Sanctuary

2013-03-12T08:00:00.000+08:00

I had a feeling that my trip to Phukhieo Wildlife Sanctuary will not satisfy my expectations. The second (and last) day in Phukhieo proved just that. I traveled for 10 hours just to be disappointed.

I woke up early that day to do some bird watching. Our group is ready and many brought their cameras so as to capture some rare birds in photo. Our guide, meanwhile, had his weapon: the telescope.

The road is still foggy when we started our journey.

Walking in the middle of the forest is indeed refreshing. The air is fresh and the weather is cool. Too bad that my intention here is not walk but to see some birds.

Sadly, what we only saw are just bulbuls and grass.

Yep, this is grass. The birds are hiding.

Where are the birds? I don't know if they're hiding or they just hate our group. Maybe the birds were in the other parts of the wildlife sanctuary.

A deer showed up to steal the show from the birds. I wonder what this deer tastes like.

Our guide brought us to the top f a hill. I was surprised to see a beautiful house in the middle of the forest.

This house was made for the Queen of Thailand. I'm not sure if the royal family already visited Phukhieo. Maybe the park authorities built it just in case the king, the queen or any of the princes or princesses showed up.

The Queen's Palace is not the only house in the area. Located at the back are houses and rooms made for the officers and servants that accompany the Thai royal family in their travels.

View from the Queen's palace.

The view from the Queen's palace shows the wide expanse of Phukhieo Wildlife Sanctuary.

I had the feeling that my time was wasted that morning because the birds hid from us. Frankly, I've seen more birds in Bangkok than in this wildlife sanctuary.

Quick and Easy Loan with 44 Cash Loans

2013-03-11T22:57:00.000+08:00

Obtaining a loan is never easy especially if you have bad credit history. No banks will entertain you. Big lending institutions will avoid you. Bad credit history is like a curse that follows you wherever you go.

Many people with bad credit history thinks that there is no hope for them. That no one can lend money to them so that they can improve their situation. What they are thinking is wrong! They have never encountered 44-Cash-Loans.com yet.

44-Cash-Loans.com is an company that offers loan even for people with bad credit history. The good thing with 44-Cash-Loans.com is that they offer No Credit Check Loans.

Bad Credit Loans can also availed from 44-Cash-Loans.com. I know that this is good news for people with bad credit history.

Getting a loan from 44-Cash-Loans.com is quick and easy. All you have to do is to go to this link: http://44-cash-loans.com/ and then fill out the application form. You just to wait for your application to be approved. A loan lender will contact you once you loan application was approved. Money will then be sent to your bank account.

It is quick and easy. So, if you need money right away I suggest that you go to 44-Cash-Loans.com.

Short Stop at Chulabhorn Dam

2013-03-08T08:00:00.000+08:00

Chulabhorn Dam is a big dam located in the vicinity of Phukhieo Wildilife Park. Our group made short stop on the top of this dam before we actually went to the wildlife sanctuary. ~~And yes, I admit, that I didn't not posted in chronological order.~~

Chulabhorn Dam was named after the youngest daughter of the current Thai King. The purpose of this dam is to generate electricity and provide water for irrigation.

We did nothing much on this dam but to marvel at its size and take photos.

I noticed that the other side of the dam has little water. It seems like the dam greedily took all the water. This situation is not good for those people downstream who need continuous supply of water for their crops.

The other side of Chulabhorn Dam.

Phukhieo Wildlife Sanctuary is located on the “dry side” of the Chulabhorn Dam. Fortunately, the wildlife sanctuary has other source of water other than the river. If not then the animals in the forest will fight each other for water.

Chulabhorn Dam is quite big that it also serves as bridge for people and vehicles who want to cross the river.

Our groups photo taking was over so we hit the road again to finally go to our destination: Phukhieo Wildlife Sanctuary.

On the Way to Phukhieo Wildife Sanctuary

2013-03-05T08:00:00.000+08:00

I mentioned in the previous post that we took a stopover at a big wat somewhere north of Bangkok. Who are those “we”? Well, obviously I'm not Multiple Man so I can't make copies of me. I joined a tour to one of wildlife parks of Thailand. Our destination is Phukhieo Wildlife Sanctuary.

The trip to Phukhieo is the longest land trip of my life! I'm not exaggerating when I say that my butt hurt most of the duration of the trip. Phukhieo Wildlife Sanctuary is miles and miles away from Bangkok.

Are we there yet?

Phukhieo Wildlife Sanctuary is located in Chaiyaphum Province, which is about 280 km northeast of Bangkok. The province is divided into two by the Phetchabun Mountain Range*. The place is highly forested that's why there are many national parks and wildlife sanctuaries in this province.

We rented two vans for this trip since our group consists of around 20 people. We started our travel around 7 AM and we reached Phukhieo around 5 PM! Very long trip right? Well, stopovers are included in the travel time.

Still on the road.

Sitting inside the van for the whole day is boring. Me and my seatmates killed time by talking, sleeping, talking, munching biscuits, etc. We even made fun of those who are sleeping (he he he). Our group became excited when saw welcome sign of Phukhieo and some rhinoceros.

The travel to the main area of the wildlife sanctuary still took around an hour.

Almost there...

We are so happy and relieved the moment we reach the office of Phukhieo Wildlife Sanctuary in the middle of the forest. But before we went to our rooms, the staff of Phukhieo invited us for a short introduction of the wildlife sanctuary inside their office.

All of my tiredness due to long travel was gone the moment I saw the big skull of an elephant.

The skull is very big! Its tusk is longer than my arm. How I wish I can take this back home and display it at the front yard of our house.

One of the park rangers told us many things about Phukhieo. Were gathered around the big scale model of the wildlife sanctuary.

Aside from the skull, I also discovered some remains from pandas.

I didn't know that pandas once roamed Thailand. Now they're all gone in Phukhieo Wildlife Sanctuary. Maybe the reason that they're not here is because bamboo tastes better in China.

After the short introduction, we we went to the guest house...

and took a short rest in our room.

I will talk about our adventures in Phukhieo so stay tuned to my future posts.

---

*Chaiyaphum Province page of Wikipedia.

My Very First Visit to a Buddhist Temple

2013-03-01T14:07:00.000+08:00

There are plenty of Buddhist temples in the Chinatown of Binondo but I never dared to enter one because I'm not a Buddhist. Meanwhile, in Cebu I visited a Taoist temple, which I think has lots of similarities with Buddhism. Thus, entering a Buddhist temple here in Thailand is novelty for me.

Buddhism is the major religion here in Thailand. About 95% of the population are Buddhists*. Images of Buddha and other famous monks are everywhere. They can be found in front of houses, public places, and even hanging as necklaces of the Thais. Due to this, Buddhist temples can be found everywhere.

I am not thrilled or motivated to visit any wat (Thai word for temple). But, as they say, a visit to Thailand will never be complete if you haven't entered at least one wat. So, one day, during a trip to a nature park north of Bangkok, I found myself within the grounds of a big wat.

The place is truly big. The grounds is covered with grass and well-cared garden. There is also a big eatery, which just shows that this wat has many devotees.

I didn't record the name of this wat because it is written in Thai letters. I also have no idea where this wat is located. Thankfully, members of the Thailand Photo community in Google+ supplied the info that I need.

According to Bengt Johansen, this wat was established by a famous Thai actor to honor Promraungsri, who is a monk who lived 150 years ago.

What's impressing with the Thai people is their generosity for their religion. They have no qualms giving golds or precious items to the their temples. Thus, their temples are adorned with gold or other precious items.

A Buddhist friend told me that they believe that offering more to their Buddha brings more luck or good fortune. Thus, they don't worry to give gold to their monks because they are sure that they will receive twofold or threefold of what they gave.

It was a weekend during our visit to the wat and the place is a little crowded by devotees. Many of them came to this temple by busloads. What they went to see is the big statue of Promraungsri within the temple.

We ended our short stopover and once again hit the road for our very long trip to Pukhieo Wildlife Sanctuary.

---

*Info on percent population of Buddhist obtained from Thailand page of Wikipedia.