Romeo save me, I’ve been feeling so alone

Love Story

We were both young. When I first saw you
I close my eyes, And the flashback starts
I’m standing there, On a balcony in summer air
See the lights, see the party, the ball gowns
See you make your way through the crowd
And say hello, Little did I know

That you were Romeo
You were throwing pebbles
And my daddy said stay away from Juliet
And I was crying on the staircase
Begging you please don’t go

And I said
Romeo, take me
Somewhere we can be alone
I’ll be waiting, All there’s left to do is run
You’ll be the prince and I’ll be the princess
It’s a love story, baby, just say yes

So I sneak out to the garden to see you
We keep quiet ‘cause we’re dead if they knew
So close your eyes, Escape this town for a little while

‘Cause you were Romeo, I was a scarlet letter
And my daddy said stay away from Juliet
But you were everything to me
I was begging you please don’t go

And I said
Romeo, take me
Somewhere we can be alone
I’ll be waiting, All there’s left to do is run
You’ll be the prince and I’ll be the princess
It’s a love story, baby, just say yes

Romeo, save me, they’re trying to tell me how to feel
This love is difficult, But it’s real
Don’t be afraid, We’ll make it out of this mess
It’s a love story, baby, just say yes

I got tired of waiting
Wondering if you were ever coming around
My faith in you was fading
When I met you on the outskirts of town

And I said
Romeo save me
I’ve been feeling so alone
I keep waiting for you but you never come
Is this in my head, I don’t know what to think
He knelt to the ground, And pulled out a ring
And said

Marry me, Juliet
You’ll never have to be alone
I love you and that’s all I really know
I talked to your dad, go pick out a white dress
It’s a love story, baby, just say yes

Cause we were both young, When I first saw you



Never knew the lyric till my 10 year old niece requested for this song sang by Taylor Swift during our Karaoke session sometime back.

Today, again I saw it on Astro, the lyric caught me as it did before. Got me thinking, so easy and simple huh…. To fall in love when you were young.

Will my Romeo save me and knelt to the ground, pulled out a ring and said “Marry me, Juliet; you’ll never have to be alone, I love you and that’s all I really know”.

Pic credit : Kuropii

6 days weekend

It was Zali’s “bird day” and the joke was on dear Bahija. Hehhehee…. I still burst out laughing by just thinking about it.




Nothing unusual, we had Zali’s bird day lunch just before Chinese New Year holiday, we figure it’s a good time to catch up and listen to Bahija’s juicy story from Isketambola (Istanbul).

Our lunch was at Bubba Gump The Curve. I arrived first as Andrea have to fetch Zali from his office (Yeah! Lucky Andrea get to work from home, all to our envy lar ofcoz!). Bahija reached much later as she can only leave office at 1pm. Everything works out fine since we can spare more time (longer lunch hour) as most people are on holiday mood (thus hardly working in the office).

We ordered our lunch, Zali ordered some fancy lunch which looked like “masak pindang” (Andrea have another name for this, just can't seem to remember) and I personally thought it tasted so-so… Oh well! At least we tried (and won’t order the same dish again). My lunch was “Trash” from the sea and Andrea called for something safer - salad & calamari (you can never go wrong with these!). By the way, there’s a Lingam chilli source in Bubba Gump, whatever happen to Heinz ketchup…. But it was funny as I kept saying “Where’s my keropok lekor!”, HAHHAHHAHA….

OK! Enough with the crap. Everything went ok till Bahija arrives. We were “interrogating” her on her jet-setting “ability”, I mean… she was travel ie holidaying almost every month… WOW! That’s like… ok! Am basically speechless here....

We start with her Isketambola holiday, she said it was fantastic, she bought a carpet which is “cheap” to her (apa nak kata, she’s rich lar kan! Hehhehee...). We then found it weird, where did she gets ALLLLLLLLL her leaves (AL). She said she took 4 days leaves, but the other 6 days was on weekend.

Hemmm….. My understanding is that :

1. Every weekend consist of Saturday & Sunday ie 2 days (right!?!? I know my math might not be the best but I am sure I can count up to 2 lar)
2. Meaning she either starts on Tuesday or ends on Thursday
3. Which means…. She only work 1 day in a week.

THAT’S IT! ALL of us wanted to know which company she is working for? How to apply? And anymore vacancies?


Can you believe some people’s luck!

The 3 travelbesties... (photo tag)

Recently I received a photo tag from Under Lock and Key, thought that it’ll be cool to join in the fun (so that my blog won’t be just about my trip - well…. kinda).
:P


Anyway, the rules of this tag are:
1. Open your 1st Photo folder.
2. Scroll to the 10th photo.
3. Post the photo and the story behind it.
4. Tag 5 or more people.

After careful thought and thinking of how best to cheat (INCASE my the pics turn out UGGGGGGLLLLYYYYYY), I am confident it will fall under my personal screen saver album of which I will; one way or another look AT LEAST presentable (phew!).

I opened the album, moved my cursor and counting at the same time… from left to right (naturally). Tah dah.. It falls under my Louvre & me pic… hemmm….doesn’t sound interesting to blog (susah lor like this). I read the rules again… AH-HAH! Since it doesn’t say to move the cursor right to left nor left to right nor top to bottom etc etc etc….. I smartly thought of doing JUST that ie move my cursor TOP to BOTTOM. YEAY! It landed on a pic and it is not just about MOI. Which means, better story to tell…. (as you can see, choosing pic alone took 2 whole paragraph to story mory!).

The 3 travelbesties…

This cool pics (well to us at least) was taken during our Jogjakarta trip (Yeah! Yeah! You can click on Jogja and it will redirect you to my Jogja blog) to see the magnificent Borobudur (YUP! UNESCO site. AGAIN). Our travel agent Lengga was very kind since I (as usual ie the ONE ALWAYS with WEIRD request) “highly” ie "insist-ly" requested to sight see Parangtritis (upon cousin’s recommendation) and YES! The view DID NOT DISAPPOINT us (unfortunately am not allowed to post more then one pics base on the rule lor. Lily SHALL FOLLOW RULE).

This pic was taken after the long horse ride along the beach. The coconut drink was certainly refreshing. Anna, Fatin & me togetherness pic, and if I'm not mistaken; that’s our 2nd coconut drink.

By the way, you will see the same folks in most of my pics by now… ofcos they’re my travelbestie - Anna, Andrea, Grace and Fatin the sista (in no particular order, nanti ada yang merajuk pulak kan kan kan… hehhehee….). Hopefully joining the gang - Kim, Rad & Esther (Come on guys! GURL POWER!).

Do go to my Jogja blog for more storytelling.

Parangtritis Beach Myth
Legends of Ratu Kidul or Nyai Loro Kidul and her tragic, demise abound…… Ratu Kidul's favourite color is a special shade of pale yellow-green known as gadung melati. Local folklore warns visitors not to wear the colour green, or the Queen will entice the wearer into the ocean to drown. And that is why you will rarely see anyone wearing green near the beach. If you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, Ratu Kidul or her one of her ministers, may just claim you as another subject in her underwater court. Hyperlink credits - read more…

Am photo tagging
Beauty In Darkness
Inside My Bubble Today
Life As Eye Sees It
my site... my stuff... my travel... my life...
Manglish, please!

Passion Quirks‏

The other side of me.



The kinda silly one that most of my friend beh tahan (can't bare) is my dressing... looked normal right in all my pics?!!?!? YOU SEE.... I MUST look good in pics because the logic is that I won't be spending the same amount of dollars to travel to the same place AGAIN! THUS....I make sure

- The clothes I bring are of all colours, meaning all of the rainbow colour will be in the luggage (you won't caught me in more then 2 black items per trip)
- Different hair style each trip (though I hardly follow this rule these days)
- NO REPEAT of clothes within the last 2 years of my travel unless to the same country over & over again (ie Bali/ Bangkok etc etc), hence all destination are special (DRAMA!)
- 1x JEANS ONLY (I will wear to/from the trip - to lighten the weight, in between? dresses, skirts, shorts, whatever lar...
- STRANGELY am not a toiletries person ie I MEMANG even at home (really) DO NOT use any fancy soup, body wash, shampoo etc, NOR do I use moisturizer, toner or whatever stuff those girls put on their face. I ONLY USE Johnson Baby lotion since like forever (since baby!)
- Make-up ? BASIC. Foundation, Johnson Baby Powder, eye-brow pencil, blusher & lipstick AND I don't touch-up after that (MALAS!). YUP! Low maintenance gurl I am.
- NO BLACK colour luggage nor backpack nor passport holder nor any accessories lor, hard to locate lar if it goes "missing"... so, I play my PSP while waiting for luggage (I can spot it a mile away). Most of my stuff are in apple green (black colour means I need to stand near the belt and keep flipping and checking). FAVOURITE COLOUR = GREEN
- 1x UNIQUE adventure per country (if I can help it lar) ie abseiling, bamboo rafting, microlight, sand boarding, sunflower field, desert hike, cruise, road trip etc etc ZOO as well (I HEART ZOOOOO)
- 3x SD card minimum! I can easily take thousands of pics per trip
- MUST MUST MUST have UNESCO site in each trip, else LILY NO GO! Action nye..
- NOT into shopping! THUS, NO SHOPPING COUNTRY unless you tempt me with some UNESCO site as mandatory visit! Hehehhehee....
- DESPITE all of the above, I still manage to travel LIGHT! But no REAL backpacking trip as I injured my knee.

Enough about my travel-bringings.

In office; my cubicle is like a travel desk, colleagues tend to stop by to ask about travel, map, location, activities etc even to a country I have never been before, so much so that I can't bring home the map I received 2 years for my BIRD DAY. Bird day pressie is fully utilised & optimised by the whole floor of which I think Lisa gotten back her ROI if I were to charged everyone who uses it at RM1 per view, heehehhehe.... (Thanks Lisa, LOVE me map).

Wonders of the World & UNESCO sites are my main aim, will hunt for it at every country and cities I go. Crazy huh! YES! I voted in the New7Wonders campaign. And YES was very upset that Borobudur is not one of it nor was Angkor Wat. Shouldn't the nomination be base on the technology, resources & material being use that is NOT easily available during those period PLUS the age of the wonders.


Seven Wonders of ANCIENT World
Great Pyramid of Giza (2,600 B.C.) Cairo, Egypt
Hanging Gardens of Babylon (Date : unknown) Iraq
Statue of Zeus (5th Century) Olympia, Greece
Temple of Artemis (6th Century) Ephesus, Turkey
Mausoleum at Halicarnassus (4th Century) Turkey
Colossus of Rhodes Colossus of Rhodes (4th Century) Rhodes
Lighthouse of Alexandria (3rd Century) Alexandria, Egypt

Do you know that The Great Pyramid of Giza is the LAST remaining ANCIENT Wonder of the World?


New 7 Wonders
Petra (9 B.C. – 40 A.D.), Jordan
The Roman Colosseum (70 – 82 A.D.) Rome, Italy
The Great Wall of China (220 B.C and 1368 – 1644 A.D.) China
The Pyramid at Chichén Itzá (before 800 A.D.) Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico
Machu Picchu (1460-1470), Peru
The Taj Mahal (1630 A.D.) Agra, India
Christ Redeemer (1931) Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

14 Other Finalist
Stonehenge (3000 B.C. - 1600 B.C.) Amesbury, United Kingdom
The Acropolis of Athens (450 - 330 B.C.) Athens, Greece
The Hagia Sophia (532 - 537 A.D.) Istanbul, Turkey
Kiyomizu Temple (749 - 1855) Kyoto, Japan
Statues of Easter Island (10th - 16th Century) Easter Island, Chile
The Kremlin and Red Square (1156 - 1850) Moscow, Russia
Alhambra (12th century) Granada, Spain
Angkor (12th century) Cambodia
Neuschwanstein Castle (1869 -1884) Schwangau, Germany
The Eiffel Tower (1887 - 89) Paris, France
Sydney Opera House (1954 - 73) Sydney, Australia

Personal favourite
Borobudur (760 - 830 A.D.) Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Perhaps lack of voters...sigh...

Not just that, I have links of the places I've gone, will go even places I don't intend to go. Muahahahhahahahaa.... OK! A lot of folks been asking how I travel cheaply ESPECIALLY on transportation and I believe most of you knows the land part and on how to get about cheaply... BUT FLIGHT...hemm.... lemme share a secret....WELL! Not actually a secret SECRET, I bet most people already knew but for those that don't.... go to below links yah. HEAVEN!

Low Cost Airlines Around Europe

Low Cost Airlines Around The World

NO WORRIES, They have it by continent hence none of you will ever felt left out :P


Then ofcos the ever so helpful HOP-ON HOP-OFF (HOHO as what Andrea and I always say). I should try the one in KL and compare to overseas :P Wonder how Malaysia will fair…

HALAL! Found this good site, HELPED me a lot so far.

This is abit expensive traveling hobby aside from those WEIRD adventurish stuff I love to do. Hard Rock Cafe shirt & shotglass!!! Sometimes I give it a miss as the cost can be a weeeeee bit expensive like the one in Stockholm! This site I got actually inform you the OPENING, REOPEN, CLOSE DOWN, RELOCATION of most HRC in the world. FANTASTIC! SOOOOO... those traveling, pandai pandai lar huh! Don't worry, I pay back wan...

By the way, I collect magnets as well...hehehheee.... MOST of my FRIENDS has been helpful lar.... ain't complaining so keep 'em coming!

This is the resort of my dream.... when lar I get t go..... sigh....BUT it's OK lar as I am contented with my traveling needs/places (BUT if dapat FREE, BEST lar jugak kan kan kan... hehehheee). OK! OK! OK! Need not necessarily be this Aman i-Khas, as long as any AMAN RESORT will do! HAHAHAHHAAA.... Belanda mintak tanah betul lar (proverb).

That's about it folks... as for the rest... let me dig my slides (YUP! I prepare slides for each trip!)

Hyperlink credits : Aman Resort, HRC, Attitude Travel, Zabihah, Hop-On Hop-Off, New7Wonders, Crystalinks

Killing Time in Bangkok

Day 5 (3 February2010). Tah-tah Siam....



Last day pretty much of nothingness for me, woke up, trying hard to finish food allocation (basically maggie mee). Packed ie making sure we are not overweight - ain't gonna give Tony any more richness then he already have, hehheheee... then check out.

Our flight was at 5.20pm, meaning by 3.20 must MUST be at Suvarnabhumi Airport, which means..... by around 2 or 2.30pm must leaving hotel. Hemm..... need to kill time then, guess we have no choice but to go shopping since we have checked out at around 9ish. And ofcos my sis still have her long list of stuff to buy, and pressies for her February babies ie friends.

We head to Paragon Mall as I need to get some Korean movie (original at 90baht, how cheap is that! And if you purchases 6, pay for 5 ONLY!!! Even better.). Then we walked back at Centraworld to get some innerwear for ibu which took almost 1 hour. Sigh.... sms-ed and calling her the brand, size, colour, type... finally!

Lastly my sis stuff.... all at Platinum Mall & the Ladies Wholesale Mall, we went to/from and finally she got all in her list EXCEPT for a funky denim shirt (still NOT happy lar ofcos). She said must visit (by visit she meant shopping) to both Chiang Mai & Bangkok since we still haven't covered our Train Market & Bat "Migration" yet.... (excuses!)

GOSH! A shoppoholic & travelholic in one! Do you think I created a monster ???

How come lar.... even an airport can't avoid trafic jam !?!? Hehehehee....

Sin City By The Sea And THE LADY

Day 4 (2 February 2010), Chinese Rock !?!?!

Seriously, I don’t think I will ever like Pattaya and being there recently proves it. Maybe because I’m a female kot!??! Hahhahaha….. Sure punya lar kan.

Ah well! After much thinking of the 2 hours journey away from my darling collection… NO wild horses can drag me away! Decided, we took the BTS to Ekkamai and hop on the immediate bus to Pattaya which cost 113baht, and go go go…

Our aim, once reaches there, look for Hard Rock Hotel Pattaya and buy the shirt, pin, shot glass and then cabuuuut. The bus journey was boring and as usual I couldn’t sleep lar, so decided to watch CSI on my PSP (lucky thing I bought this toy!) and sis with her iPod.

2 hours later and at the bus terminal, we queued up to buy the return tix (kiasu) but soon learnt that this was not allowed, you are only allowed to purchase tix 1 hour before departure…hemmm.. Interesting - no booking!

Oh! The good thing about the bus terminal is that they have mobile tourist personnel to assist tourist - kid you not, BETUUUUL! He approaches us and asks where and what we plan to do, after learning that we wanted t go to HRC, he said perhaps we should go next door (like really really next door) to find out more of what activities we can do while in Pattaya. OK lor…. We figured since it’s free advice mah… the lady was very polite and helpful giving us maps and “up selling” the cabaret show, water activities and other stuff. We straight away tell her ONLY HRC, she said why (!?!??!?). Well…. I can’t possibly say I just wanna buy this 3 items and balik to Bangkok right, I mean…. I will look silly doing it!!! So, I smartly said “Wanna eat lunch there” (It’s not even halal, sigh… the crap things I tend to say), of which after saying it, I KINDDDDAAAA look silly!!!! Took a 2 hours bus journey just to have lunch in HRC!.. I buat muka slumberland and said I like HRC food and thanked her. Hehhehheee….

Tuk tuk cost 40baht for us both to reach HRC (coming back was 150baht… strange!). We more or less spend half an hour there and decided to walk to the nearest mall and take some beaches pictures as well.

OK! This is MY opinion on Pattaya; it’s really not THAT great…. In fact I think Kuta was much better. Maybe I was at the wrong happening beach - MAYBE. But I was kinda disappointed lar… I know their nightlife is DARN happening wannnn….. But not my cup of tea pulak. The beach front was short for one, the stretch/length was so-so, I think the whole population is right there on the beach as I felt it’s a liiiiitle big congested. And a lot of not-so-young-nor-good-looking-folks there…. Hemm…. Ladies, forget about man-hunt here yah! On scale 1-10, I’ll give it a 3. SORRY!

We went inside the mall of which we thought so-so as well… (MAN! So hard to please me today!)…We had our lunch - bread! (AGAIN!) And calling it a day for Pattaya. Hahhaha…. So not eventful like the rest of my other days…. I personally disappoint myself. HAHAHHHAHAHAAA….

We did the reverse route and went shopping in Bangkok…. HAPPIER.

Not so fast! Belum habis yet. Something weird… strange… scaring… spooky happened to us in Bangkok that night. You see…. We went shopping at Platinum Mall after the Pattaya trip and have dinner in Centralworld Mall (Yeah! Got halal stall there. YEAY!), on the way back which was only around 8ish, we walked back to our tiny-cute-alcheapo-hotel, BUT on the way back, my sis was stopped by a local lady (decent dressing), and start talking to her in Thai, she said “no! no! Speak English” but the lady stopped her again and continue speaking in Thai (I was few steps in front of her and didn’t realise this ofcos), she called my name out loud, and I turned and ran to her, stopped the lady and said “NO! NO!” sternly and ask my sis to march on and cabut lar…. We walked like a maniac and realized she walked as fast behind us (few steps behind us). We got panic lar kan… I told my sis to go into this bigger hotel (Indra Regent) and obviously I doubt she will follow us there, we then wait awhile before walking back to our hotel which is 7 mins away. Good plan right….? (I wouldn’t want that lady to know where we stayed).

Guess what!!??!?!??! I told my sis to “let’s hide in the washroom” and we blur-ly walked towards the gents instead (hehehee… that’s how scared we are), as we turn around to look for the ladies washroom after realizing the boo-boo, we saw her walking into the hotel from a distance. SHIT! HOW!!!!! We ran behind the pillar and waited anxiously, not sure of what to do, to tell the guard (they wouldn’t understand more over we are not even a hotel guest! OPS!) Or run out… think hard! Then we caught a glimpse of her standing at the lift…. Wah… we were thinking, is she going up to hunt for us? Lagi lar panic. Sis said we should walk out (follow the crowd) and ran back to our hotel. Well… let’s go for it…. RUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kept looking back we did, “NO” she wasn’t behind us…. But we still wanna be safe. Finally reached our hotel, we thought we walked forever (felt like the longest walk). We double locked our room and push our suitcase behind the door. I think we might have over doing it BUT then again…. What are the chances of a local staying in the same hotel that you trying to hide in right…? I couldn’t sleep well that night! Prayed like crazy. Sms-ed Andrea and my bro, they calmed me down ofcos (Thank you guys! MUACKS!).

Finally we got our drama to end the what we thought gonna be a boring day.

Hyperlink credits : Wikipedia, HRC, Centralworld, Sony, Apple, BTS

Specially dedicated to Raymond

Day3 (1st February 2010). Heehehhe…. Out of spike.



Yup! You heard me awight! Despite his age (of which I believe to be close to half a century :P), he is a crazy-cool-fun guy as well as a helpful colleague, and I believe a dotting father and loving husband too for sure (family pic everywhere on his desk). Just before our company year end closure (yeah! We had a mandatory leave for 2 weeks, all taken from our annual leaves!?!?!), a bunch of us gang (LH, JC, RL, FT etc) went to catch AVATAR in 3D on the first showing day! Meaning we kinda go during our working ours, heeheheee…. Nothing to do already mah… all system shut down, no emails, no follow up, regional & worldwide office on silent mode. Apa lagi, kucing tak ada, tikus menari lar… yeay yeay yeay!!!

Off we go to Cineleaisure at The eCurve (apparently they've changed the name huh! With the “e“, whatever…), if I remembered it correctly we catch the 3pm show or was it 2pm… it’s a 2 hours and 50 minutes show of which am sure most of you would have know (and for those that haven’t watch, GO!!!!!!)

Ofcos, we all LOOOOOOVE the 3D effects lar, the story line was kinda normal but Pandora was AMAZING, to me - it’s like earth and sea combined… DEFINITELY fell in love with the jungle or coral jungle?!?! Hemmm… then there’s the animal, the flying “bird” or “dinosaur” look like - a cross between a snake (especially the skin) with a dinosaur. Let’s not forget the rhino cum hammer head fish with bird feathers…. That’s like combining land + sea + sky=SUPER COOL! This movie makes me kinda wanna take diving, hehehehee…..(am terrified of open water by the way, but now….hemmm… perhaps give it a try?!?)

The Hallelujah Hanging Mountain! It should definitely be classified as UNESCO site, I will go hunt it down!

All these were thought thru… I can’t say enough.

Ok! Back to our Mr. Raymond, him being a "techie guys" was thrilled with the movie and effects and everything lar… the thing is…jeng jeng jeng…. Apparently our another colleague KT watched AVATAR in Bangkok and it was IMAX 3D… meaning even COOLER & REAL"ER"- it’s like the ULTIMATE version (we were GREEN with ENVY)! Ofcos, Raymond was curious lar, and coincidentally, he have a training in Singapore of which there too have a AVATAR screening on IMAX 3D. UNFORTUNATELY.... he got to know the show time toooo late and his flight has been booked….heehheheh (evil laugh)!

You know where am heading right….?! Since I will be in Bangkok, I told him that I will DEFINITELY go catch it on IMAX (out of spike lar ofcos….MUAHAHHAHHAHA) and YES I did! Upset he was when he got to know…. (evil grin).

The feel is more terror the merror as what Malaysian would say or in English superb / fantastic. But the thing is, not the movie that impresses me most, it was Bangkok’s Cineplex.

GOODNESS GRACIOUS! It looked MUCH better then those in MALAYSIA! Am soooo embarrass, basically quote what my sis said “macam hotel” (look like hotel). From the counter, to the service, to the lounge, to the lobby / foyer, to the restaurant EVEN the popcorn box was NICER. Sigh…. Put us to shame man! MALUUUUU!!!!

I can’t help but took dozens of pics and help to “promote” the Cineplex to my colleagues. NO! They are not giving me commission for this kind act!

As we surveyed the Cineplex area, we came to an area where they held mini concert / showcase and guess what?!?!? My sis favourite Korean band (2PM) was there few hours earlier….. Upset max! Tak pa, we take the pics ok! And then we show off to all her friends.

I did a silly thing lar ofcos (this is what happen when you wanna spike someone and have “ill” thoughts”, god will punish you lor), we smartly choosen the 8.50pm show FORGETTING that the movie ends at close to MIDNIGHT. OH NO!!!! Walking back to hotel at midnight in Bangkok - SCARED! SCARED!… we “braved” ourselves and “walked” (ran) back to hotel… guess what? It’s safe lar…. In fact, safer then KL. 2nd time MALU BESAR!

I have to say, every time I bumped into Raymond or otherwise this week, he will shake his head with “despair” (pretend only lar) and I would laugh and say “WHAT!!!!”, followed with a giggle.

Naughty! Naughty! I even tag him to AVATAR pics on my FB. (I've watched it 3 times!)

Raymond, do go to Singapore to catch AVATAR in IMAX 3D! TWO THUMBS UP!

Dawn of Happiness

Day2 (31 January 2010). Sukhothai Historical Park - UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site.

After an exhilarating day of Microlight (still high over the excitement), we manage to keep our insanity intact and purchased the bus tix to Sukhothai for the next day. Yeah! It’s a crazy worldwind adventure as mentioned in my Facebook - 1-day-1 city Siam. How it works (more like how I “smartly” planned this tiresome trip in the maximus-kiasuism way) is…. Jeng jeng jeng…

1st Day - Chiang Mai
2nd Day - Sukhothai
3rd Day - Avatar (even though it's not a city NOR a country but in my own little world; it's A whole new continent that I wish to visit! ahhahahah)
4th Day - Pattaya
5th Day - Bangkok

The major new site will be Sukhothai ofcos since I’ve never been there before, I mean... I've even been to "Avatar" 3 times (2x 3D and 1x IMAX 3D in Bangkok, it does count right!?!?!).

It’s a 5hours journey which departs at 7am, meaning… MEANING I have to wake up at 5AM and shower, and get ready and pack and call for a cab…it’s about 10mins trip from hotel to Arcade Bus Station. *Oh! I blogged on Day1 till 2am in the morning… thus sleep was much deprived of*.

Nothing great of the journey, slept half the way; nothing great about Sukhothai Bus Station either - almost deserted. Apparently it’s more laid back then Ayutthaya…. Wow! (you can check out my entry on Ayutthaya and the sunflower trip here).

Upon arrival, we enquire on how to go about in Sukhothai as we planed to cabut to Bangkok (or should I say Avatar IMAX 3D the next day). The lady at Lotus Village was very helpful and she even manage by sheer of luck) got us the best tuk tuk driver to take us around (he can’t speak a word of English BUT was very accommodative - SWEETNESS).

Oh yah! A little bit about this place that am staying in, it kinda reminds me of Baan Lotus in Ayutthaya but slightly more expensive… Lotus Village is owned by a French guys, friendly and nice obviously. It’s a walking distance to the night market and you’ll get tuk tuk or song thaw waiting for customers outside the gate. I believe it takes about 5-10mins walk to the main roadside if you want to catch the bigger government bus; but I suggest the tuk tuk will do. We took a fan-room (basically non-aircon lar since we figured that northern Thai will still have the cool weather this early part of the year thus we shall NOT waste money :p ), with this “judgement” call I official declare myself as “smart” hahahahha…..

Why Sukhothai right? OK, a little fact….

Sukhothai meaning the Dawn of Happiness was a town founded in the 13th century on the fringe of the Khmer empire. With an area of 6,596 square kilometres, is about 427 kilometres north of Bangkok, and was founded in 1238. Sukhothai was the capital of Thailand for approximately 120 years. Sukhothai province is most famous for its historical city of Sukhothai, the first capital of Siam founded by King Ramkhamhaeng. The province’s temples and monuments have been restored well and Sukhothai Historical Park – a place with numerous sites of historical interest has been made into a UNESCO World Heritage Site. During its golden age, Sukhothai was the centre for administration, religion, and economy. The original city was surrounded by walls with 4 city gates.

And you know lar, anything that spells UNESCO, I will go (gee! It rhymes). The kind tuk tuk driver took us to 1st “wat” (temple/chedi) - Wat Si Chum. The pavilion and denoting a small square temple building used to house minor images or religious texts. is 32 metres square and 15 metres high, and the walls are 3 metres thick. And here is where we met the German uncle… will share more.

Next - Wat Phra Phai Luang; the largest temple outside the city walls, and is second only to Wat Mahathat in size. In fact, the temple is older than the city, and was most likely built late in the 12th century during the reign of the great Khmer king, Jayavarman VII (the king who had Angkor Thom built). The German uncle is doing world travel via land and still short of Indo-China countries. Been traveling in this Merc for the last 20 years in seems.

Wat Saphan Hini is situated on a hill 200 meters high. A pathway of slate slabs leads to the sanctuary yard. Sis dare not climb that high and eventually the sumimasens overtook her… hehehheee….

Wat Chesiphon - A pavillion enshrines four Buddha images in different postures: sitting, standing, walking, and reclining. The outer walls of the still retains a section in the form of a slate pillar-balustraded window. Strangely I was more fascinated with the whole compound… reminded me of the Forum in Rome. Weird huh!

The one that I have been wanting to visit in Ayuthayya but ran out of time. Wat Mahathat is Sukhothai's largest temple with a customary main Chedi in lotus-bud shape and a ruined Wihan. Its main Buddha image (8 metres high) was installed inside a separate building.

This is one of my favourite shots - Wat Si Sawai. Three prangs (pagodas) are surrounded by a laterite wall. Inside the wall, the viharn in the west, built of laterite, is separated from the main prang which was constructed in the Lop Buri or Hindu-style, but the other also constructed beside the prangs are Buddhist viharns.

This is the part where my sis and I got a liiiiiittle bit overdose with all the “wat”s. Wat Traphang-Ngoen with its square pedestal, main sanctuary, and stucco standing Buddha image in four niches. There is a viharn in front, and in the east of the pond, there is an island with an ubosot.

We were kinda relieve when we found out this is the last “wat” of the day… phew… Wat Chang Lom located to the north of with a bell-shaped chedi of Ceylonese influence standing as the centre. The chedi is situated on a 3-tiered square base with a platform decorated with a row of elephants seen by their front halves supporting the round chedi. A huge bell-shaped Chedi supported by 39 elephants, with 4 of them at 4 cardinal points elaborately decorated, marks the centre of the temple.

We're still wondering “wat” were we doing…. Such an overdosed... nevertheless; enjoyed the pics taking time!!!

“Wat”ever it is, its a totally cool UNESCO site… you need to visit it yourself to understand the MAMMONTH SIZE of this site. It was the right choice hiring the tuk tuk, via bike coverage would probably take 2-3 days.

Hyperlink credits : Wikipedia, UNESCO