The Loy Krathong Festival, what's that?

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***Backdated to Nov 2nd, 2009***

It's been a few days of carnival like atmosphere across the street from my apartment.I know it's the Loy Krathong Festival season and being here on and off for sometime, I know that no festivals in Thailand will go unnoticed. Having said that, evenings for the past few days have been filled with ear-deafening fireworks. Open air stage-performance in the evening on the other hand could go on till 2 a.m in the morning.

"This is crazy, how can I sleep?!" I cried as if they could hear me. Even with blankets over my head I could clearly hear every single word they sang. "Sad, sad the door to the balcony was still throbbing in resonance."

"Do you see the difference with both options?"

I don't see anything right now with the office notebook. Apparently, I've a message saying I haven't got the latest Flash Player Installed. Thus, I'd really love to hear from you if the 2 videos in this post are working properly.

On Mon..

Me : Aik (surprised expression), we haven't checked that, and it's already on the truck.

Contractor : Oh, today.. everyone is rushing. They want to go back by 4pm. There's a festival today. You heard of Loy Krathong?

ME : Yes, yea.. Loy Krathong. I know coz there seems to be a party across
from my apartment with blasting performance and fireworks until 2 am.

Contractor : Yea.. it's a pretty big festival. People light up decorative flower made of banana leave, you know banana leave? ..and
let it drift in the water.

ME : Which river?

Contractor : Everywhere with water.

That went my conversation with a 'Farang' having lived in Bangkok for the past 10 years.


There's a reason I was here at this moment. God wanted me to experience this festival. *smile* So.. why not?

The children just set the flower off into the water.

Here's how the festival's seen, heard, smelled, felt and tasted...

Will AkiraSabine ever be a good tennis player?

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She likes playing tennis. However, sad to say she hasn't been playing a lot lately due to business trips. Normally, she'd go back to uni to sweat it all out during the weekends. AkiraSabine's trying to improve her basics, which are the forehand and backhand strokes. It's also essential to coordinate her body to hit the ball hard and yet able to control the height of the returns. Many times, the ball would fly over the wall in search for freedom. Someday, AS wishes she could get herself a coach to teach her. She doesn't like playing a game just for the sake of leisure or relaxation. AS loves to play it well. She considers herself playing badminton quite well and it's no fun playing with beginners or so-so players. Like wise, good tennis players would look for competitive opponents to play with instead of AS. This all the more makes AS wanna be a pro soon! That day will surely come!!!

Do you have the same desire to excel in the sports just like AS?

Do you feel the awe whenever you watch professional players in action?

Do you often envy how effortlessly the pros get before the balls and hit it wherever they want it to land?

Do you often go into slow motion videos to scrutinize how the body-mind coordination works to hit it right?

Do you often find it hard looking away from how good the branded sports attires look on the the toned athletic figures?

Do you often wish you could damage a racquet one after another as your mood drives you?

AS still has a long way to go as her playing buddy now is a wall.

On a Sunday morning at 8am.




One of the day looked to be special - there was a carnival-like atmosphere on the other side.

HOT! and it's time for me to go

When there's a crowd, there's earning.

The tennis courts turned futsal field for a day.

How HK Shows Off Its Assets

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HK is a sky-scraper country. That's for sure. These buildings are always shared in the TVB dramas we watch. During my recent trip, I came to know those are the finance buildings, and that HK is a finance hub, neither an industrial nor an agricultural country. The building which resembles the bamboo plant is actually The Bank Of China Tower.

The Hongkies(also known as Hong Kongers) are very proud of their sky-scrapers that they actually organizes day tours focusing on the architecture on the buildings. The architect would explain the reasons of the achitecture style of each significant buildng around Central at Hong Kong Island. Even their Museum of History tells how HK has emerged from villages to sky-scrapers as well as land reclamation taken place around the coast.

Museum Display

Thus in order to show off the country's pride, they developed the Victoria Peak. Visitors get to go up in a tram and there they have a chance to be higher than the buildings. Besides the sky-scrapers, they could enjoy the sights of ferries and Chinese Junks drifting at the harbour. Kowloon which is located across the harbour and beyond(mainland China) is also part of the sights enjoyed. It was simply amazing I didn't want to leave especially in the evening as the breeze set in and the buildings litted up.

Awed by the peak view

HK is a country which made me feel the importance of water transportation particularly to office workers. Back home, it's just car and sometimes buses and komuter trains. In HK, besides the MTR and buses, day to day life relies on the Star Ferry to get across the Victoria Harbour. The busy harbour and number of ferries told me it's an important transportation for the Kowloon - HK Island route. Besides from the top, if you were in HK, you may also want to enjoy the high rise from the harbour. To add to this, HK tourism has thought up neon light shows at the Harbour every 8pm for 15 minutes(I missed it). There is also a Chinese Junk ride ( Duk LIng ride) offering tourist a view round the coast of HK island. Check out Robert Liu's snapshots here for pictures of his experience on Duk Ling.

Harbour view during the day