Loy Kratong (2 Nov)

I was in Bangkok from 1-4 Nov with Yu, and came here mainly for Loy Kratong. I had experience the other major festival Songkran (Thai New Year) which I feel its best to enjoy together with guys, however, Loy Kratong is kinda romantic to be experienced with the loved one under the full moonlight.

The Loy Kratong means floating (loy) the flower raft (kratong). It is celebrated in Nov full moon to honour the water Goddess. Thai people float the kratong to express gratitute for the rain (water) for harvesting and also as an occassion to float away bad luck, anger, unhappiness etc in a year. And, one can basically float the kratong in any water be it longkang, basin, canal, river, sea, or even a bathtub.

We have no clue where is the Loy Kratong festival to be held in Bangkok, although it seems to be everywhere with water will do. So we asked the taxi driver and he told us that there is a Loy Kratong festival fair at Rama VIII park and it is popular with local. So there we go, at about 7pm. And man, it was super crowded! We had to alight quite a distance from the venue and walk there.

Some of the pics and videos to share here

Along the streetside towards the park, vendors setting up stalls to sell their handmade kratong. I bought one myself for only 40 baht (2 SGD). It is made from the banana stem and decorated with flowers. Although there are some modern version which utilise styroform as base, but they are not really environmentally friendly.

Rama VIII Park is a good venue for organising such a big event. It was flanked by Chao Praya River on one side, and fenced up on the other three sides. The disadvantage about floating the kratong here is the water was very choppy here due to the boating and the kratong doesn't float for long too. But hey, who care... sanut (fun) more important right?

Some of the huge kratong for competition...

And, how can the typical thai fun fair goes without the foodie right? This food section is special because it has different food theme from different regions, and also featuring some of the "old-time" food too.

Moto-V 5th Anniversary Ride @ Bob's Homestay

It was a nice ride with friendly buddy and windy weather... we went to Bob's Homestay located at Kg Sengat for our Moto-V 5th Anniversary celebration. Although I have been to Kota Tinggi area many times, this is the first time I ride to Jason Bay and surprisingly the scenery is superb!

So, we all just ride at our own pace and proceed to Bob's Homestay. Game, food, nice scenary, relax atmosphere. It was such a wonderful day ride. Must really thanks Alan for his organising, it is really not easy to keep all of us happily occupied after a day ride... good job.

But the pity is I need to fly to Bangkok the next day for holiday, so couldn't stay overnight there. Anyway, sharing some of the pic slide here... they speak thousand words.

Happy Birthday Moto-V

Rainbow Waterfall @ Sungei Lembing (part 2)

Day 3

We woke up early morning and left the hotel at about 5.30am. We were told that the sunrise there is at about 6.30am, and the climb up the Bukit Panorama is about 45 min.

The starting point is somewhere near the market, with nicely paved footstep there. Only me, koh, francis, and lao uncle were in this hiking. The rest were in casualty (encik -ant bite, vidak - soft knee), and all the rest too exhausted to wake up from the waterfall trip :)

At first I was following lao uncle, but he said he couldn't keep up with the pace so I passed him. Anyway there were few grp of people behind him too. By the end of trip he told us he nearly "die", haha... but glad that he still made it to the top. Bravo! The climb was much more exhausted from the waterfall one, because the steps were quite high and steep and it is continuously for at least 30-45 min.

The "signpost"" at the top of the hill... but we couldn't figure out where is the sunrise direction.

So we waited there til sunrise and we all resting and do the things we like. Lao uncle and francis checking their camera, and koh strip naked to attract some charbo...

The sky brighten up after 6.30am but we couldn't see the sunrise in its egg yolk form. Probably due to the thick cloud. Nevertheless, we saw the very nice sea cloud around there and its really worth our climb.

Great photograhers at work (lao uncle n francis)

 Going down was much more easier.

Breakfast time... very nice yong tao hu... the ladyboss was actually the one who prepare BBQ for us the previous night.

 

 

So, the 3-day journey. We took nothing, but the happy and memorable experience with us. For sure, each one of one, when think back of this trip, will have a little smile on our face.

Thanks everyone for making this trip possible.

(the end)

Rainbow Waterfall @ Sungei Lembing (part 1)

Date : 17 - 19 Oct 2009
Place : Sungei Lembing

This entry is mostly for photo record purpose because I was a follower in this trip and did not actually note down much info. If you need accurate details you should get it from Encik Pat of 1DTO.

Day 1

We left GP at about 6.30am by using east coast route towards Kuantan. The journey was ok although it was rather hot in the midday. When at Pekan town, instead of turning right to Kuantan, one should turn left towards Lembing town.

We reached our accomodation (Lembing Resort) at about 1pm. It is a very spacious place with huge compound for parking all of our bikes safely. After we settled down, we went to the only market there in the town and there we met with the huge and furious mountain storm! Everything was wet... but food taste esp good when one is hungry!

Day 2

Next day, we woke up at 4.30am and going to Rainbow Waterfall. Had breakfast at the market (that's the only place with ok food) and the wonton mee is different from what we have in Singapore.

Six of us cramped into the back of the 4x4 vehicle for the off road drive to the waterfall. The rest of the good life sitting inside the vehicle but couldn't enjoying the cool and nice breeze we had... hahaha. And we all had a good laughter at whoever kena hit by those tree branches, but seems like the luck was with Nathan and Vidak all the way, to and fro, they got the most hit!

You don't get to see this kind of view inside the car lor.

After about 1 hour of bumpy drive, we reached the starting point of waterfall. But first we need to cross the river. The rock were very slippery and if lost balance, easily slip and injured yourself. So better wear a very good shoe there, preferably a hiking boots.

After another one hour of climbing, we reached the rainbow waterfall lor... this waterfall is so special because the downpour of water got dispersed by rocks and become quite misty at the bottom part. Therefore the morning sun able to reflect a rainbow on the waterfall. Very special sight to me, and we all were awed by the wonder of nature. All behaved like a small little kids and jumped into the water (except Vidak, scared of wet)...

The next day, me, koh, francis and lao uncle will climb up to Bukit Paranoma for the sea cloud view... so keep watch out for that too.

(to be continue)

Living in Pai (Day 4, 21 Sep)

We woke up early so Yu brought me for a walk around her village.

The rice field behind her sister's house. The rice cultivated here are of the highland type without water irrigation (as different from normal thai rice), so the growing period is only in rainy season between June to Sep.

Every Monday there is a market near Pai. It's not in the town centre so only locals will go there for their once a week grocery supply. You can buy all kinds of necessity there like clothing, kitchen ware, electrical items etc.

Pai is a very beautiful town. It is very famous especially in winter season (nov-dec) and the weather can be very cool. Yu brought me to the Chinese village there and from there we could see how enterprising the Chinese in converting their village to a touristy place with really nice guesthouses.

Late afternoon we rode up to a hill to Yu's friend house, which also operates a guesthouse there. It is common for those with money (usually with rich foreign husband) to purchase a piece of land here, then slowly they start to build some building as a guesthouse.

A nice field beside the guesthouse. For Lisu people, they are still practising self-sufficient farming. So almost every family will have a piece of land to cultivate any crops suited for the season and living off the field. Anything extra then they will sell it to the market. Unlike other tribes, they do not really survive on tourist money such as selling handcraft or souvenir. In a family, usually the elders will stay at home to look after the farm and family, and most of the able and young one will go out to work in city. It is only during major harvesting season (eg. rice crop) then the young one will return home to help out with.

In November, when the rice was harvested, the whole field will be grown and blooming with sunflower which I was told is very spectacular.

The next day, we was leaving Pai to Chiang Mai to spend a few days there before catching my flight back to Singapore. It was a very memorable trip and it is nice to get to know these happy people. Really hope to have chance to go back again and stay for longer.

As for now, we will be enjoying our time in Chiang Mai first... haha... night bazaar... food... shopping...

(the end)

Living in Pai (day 3, 20 Sep)

So how to make Thai people really very happy?

... bring them to hot spring!

Today we have run out of idea what to do at home, so the sister suggested that we go to hot spring. So we all excitedly preparing our day trip there. We first went to local market to buy lots of food such as eggs, biscuit, snacks, water, beers, and instant noodle. Yeah, instant noodle... I curiously asked them how we gonna do with the noodle without any cooking utensil, but they just smile and said Mai Bpen Rai (no problem).

This hot spring is located inside a jungle. Very quiet as it is far away from Pai town and not really on tourist trail. One needs to climb abit to reach the source of the hot spring which is very very hot at about 80 degree.

Yu was cooking the eggs, while I posing only.

Yu & me... and Yu was in her traditional hill tribe costume. She claimed that Lisu is the most beautiful hill tribe in Thailand. Well... I quite agree that their costume is very colorful if compared with others such as Akha. Interestingly, they feeling very comfortable in wearing their traditional costume in Pai town, such as going for market, shopping, daily stuff etc. But they will change to normal clothing if they go to big city such as Chiang Mai. So if without the traditional costume, one actually really cant differentiate between a hill people or so called lowland Thais. The trouser I was wearing is the traditional Lisu costume wore by Lisu man. It is very baggy and airy, quite comfortable.

So, how to eat the instant noodle there? Simple lah, just put in some hot spring water and soak the noodle in its package lo... and they were very innovative to pluck some wooden stick from the plant there and used it as chopstick. Here showing Yu's sister... any taker? lol

So, another simple day passed, happily.

(to be continue)

Living in Pai (day 2, 19 Sep)

Today is the opening ceremony for the new house. Yu is of the hill tribe Lisu, and the common misconception is hill tribe people are very poor and live in wooden or bamboo shed. But that is not really true. In the Lisu village I have observed, there are some of the houses which are of the modern concrete build and some are even nicer than our Singapore standard.

Our newly built house costing only B400000 (SGD20000) which inclusive of the land, all the material and labour. One just need to buy a piece of land and can start building on it. It looks big on the outside but actually is quite simple within, with living room, two bedrooms, kitchen, and one bathroom. And if you notice carefully, almost 1/3 of the floor area has designated as outdoor verandah open porch. Thai people just love to sit and gather around there for everything. It can be used for social gathering, dining, playing area, etc.

There are paved road in the village. And mama's house is just 50 metre away from our house. It is very common for the extended family to live near each other. So you must bear with the common flow of relatives and friends in and out of your house at any time too. It's kinda nice if you need someone to take care of your kids, or just drop by to have a meal.

Some praying to do in the house for opening ceremony. Praying is a big thing in Lisu village, they will organise praying for new house, wedding, pray for unborn baby, new born, etc etc. And the praying is not cheap, cos need to invite almost the whole village for the feast which can easily come out to B10000.

Need to cook a big feast for whole village. Not that cheap, got piglet one.

Mama was happy, so was Papa.

The house is very simple. There is just mud and sand surrounded it. So the kids love to play around.

Life is simple, but happy here. Isnt it? You just need to be contended with what you have right now.

(to be continue)