Going Back Home Soon

It will be really nice to be back home after spending over 7 months living in Thailand: Back to see my family, to see familiar surroundings, to have cool evenings after hot summer days and to spend time with my brothers riding dirt bikes as often as we can. Take a look at an inspirational video of the pros practicing and getting ready for the outdoor motocross season. KTM - Orange sure is a beautiful thing :-)

Amazing Scenery of America Captured by Nate Zeman

Take a look at these absolutely wonderful photos of amazing scenery in America. I haven't traveled to every point of the earth but have done quite a bit of traveling and have seen landscapes from all across the world but nothing compares to the diversity and beauty that you can find in America. This photographer has captured it.

This is my photo but...

CLICK on the title below to see the photos or CLICK here:



Last Stand : Mayflower Gulch - Colorado : Nate Zeman - Fine Art Nature Photography

Penang Hill Rest

 Walking up the rest of Penang Hill after the ride up in the tram was great. There weren't many people walking. Most of the people were in golf carts going up to the garden of carnivourous plants (Monkey Cup Garden). Was trying to see it too but went right past in on the quest for the top of the mountain. Eventually did find the route to the top but it was forbidden to go any further because it was a military installation. The hike was great and it always seems longer when you are not familiar with your surroundings. On the way down someone (nOk!!) got tired so I found a wheel-barrow and started the ride but it turned out to be defective. The wheel kept rubbing on the bottom so it was too hard to push. At the haunted house I found another one and this one worked out just great but after starting pushing it seemed the whole way was uphill!! I thought it would be all downhill from this part. Anyway I would not quit until we reached the end. After about 2-3k uphill it was finally downhill. Ahhhh....because it was easier I started to jog and then run down the hill pushing NoK in the wheelbarrow unti the very end. Hope it was an enjoyable ride.

Flying Back From Penang, Malaysia

I am jumping ahead to the flight back from Penang, Malaysia without including some of the other photos I took while I was on the island but there is a good story wrapped in this. 
These are just photos I took with my phone and if you look closely at the lower left photo you can see the shadow of the plane silhouetted on the clouds with a circle rainbow around the shadow....can you see it? The flight wasn't all the way full but when they assign the seats they always pack the front first leaving some rows of seats completely empty in the back. I usually wait back there until everyone has taken their seats and then take the whole row for myself. This time it worked out great. 
Well let's go back to the beginning when everyone (except for 1 Chinese guy who will be the topic of this story) was waiting patiently in line for the announcement from the attendants to board the plane. As most people who fly know, they usually call the front rows first and then go back from there. I don't know why some people are in such a hurry to get on the plane anyway but for this one Chinese guy, I will call him Dick, he must have thought it was some kind of status symbol to be able to get on first. Well Dick thinks he doesn't have to follow the protocol and that he can show off to his loser friends and just go on board when they call the first rows. Trouble for Dick is that he is not in the first 5 rows, he is in the middle where it is nothing special. The gate keeper sure stopped Dick in a hurry and it was "none shall pass!" for Dick. Dick sure "lost face" with his friends on that one so he tried to plead with the attendant and keep up his Dick attitude but it didn't work out. You see Dick had to walk back dejected and as a failure back to his friends who were all laughing at him. Dick wasn't done yet, it was time to call the rest of the rows. He had another idea...instead of waiting back with his friends in line like everyone else was doing he would just walk up to the front and demand that he goes first like he is something special which all his life I am sure he has been attempting this same Dick move and all his life repeatedly met with failure and ridicule. So what happens when Dick tries his Dick move? FAIL! It took a couple minutes for Dick to be convinced that his scheme wasn't going to work. In the mean time the crowd was getting a bit impatient with him and I politely asked his friends, "hey why is Dick being such an ass? Does he need to get his fat pan face punched? Because I would love to do it. Why don't you call your loser friend back to your little gang here." They just got nervous because here was Dick being a complete loser and his friends were now being the target of some off-handed language directed at them too. All the while Dick was trying to plead his case and move to the front I asked his friends 2 more times the same thing about "does Dick need his fat pan face punched in? I would gladly do it." Seriously I really wanted to do it and wipe out his whole crew in the process. You might ask why? Well I am sure this was not Dick's first attempt at thinking he could do anything he wanted, and as you will see it wasn't his last. How many other people had to be bothered and inconvenienced because of his stupid ass behavior? Needless to say, Dick got kicked back to his friends who started touching each other and licking each other's egos because they were so damaged in front of such a big crowd. We all boarded the plane like civilized people and then...
So as I mentioned before I got a row of seats, 3 of them, in the back and was chillin'. Just a short time before we started our descent into Bangkok I see Dick saunter back to use the bathroom. He goes in and after a moment of his thinking "why was I born this way....so small!" and relieving himself, he walks out and back to his seat. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until after we land and everyone is getting out of the plane into the bus that would eventually bring us to the terminal. I am the last one off the plane and what do I see? There is Dick, true to the last moment, being held back by 3 flight attendants for thinking the was sneaky and trying to smoke in the bathroom. What a Dick until the very end! It's been a long time since I have seen someone fail in such epic proportions over and over such as this guy. He looked like a little kid that was just caught stealing cookies from the cookie jar but in this case the penalty will be more severe I am sure. I had to laugh and when the attendants told me what he did they laughed at him too. Even one of the mechanics that came on the plane got a chuckle at Dicks's expense. While we were all waiting on the bus to carry us back to the terminal we all got to witness Dick's fat face being escorted off the plane and hopefully to some dark room where they strip search him and send him to one of Thailand's famous prisons. Ok, it won't be that bad but I wonder if he will learn his lesson after this. Probably not. 

Haunted House on Penang Hill....Beware!

 Coming back down the hill from the highest point I found this old house and as you can see from the old tennis court now overgrown with weeds and grass it has been abandoned for a long time...The legend says that a family from England came to live here in 1903 after it was made for them. They stayed in the house one week and came back down the hill for some supplies and food. After they went back up to the house they were never heard from again. There is a swing that's on a tree that has been cut down several times but each time the rope is back on the tree with the swing hanging down and moving. As I was taking this photo there was a big flash of light in the upstairs window and if you look hard enough you can see a trail of light going from one window to the next. I was able to open one of the doors to take a look inside and the air was freezing inside the house. The next thing I knew it felt as if the door was pulled back from my hand almost ripping my hand off and then it slammed shut. I didn't want to hang around there anymore so I started to walk down the short steps that lead to a small trail that was really slippery from the moss growing on it. I looked back just one more time and all the doors and windows were open! That was the last I looked at that house.

HDR Penang - Malaysia

My time in Thailand is coming to an end but I still had to make one more visa run out of the country and chose Malaysia for the 3rd time. This is my 2nd time back to Penang, a small island on the west coast. I already have a 2-entry tourist visa and when I come back to Thailand this will take care of the 2nd entry. After I arrive back to Thailand it will only be a matter of a few weeks and then I am going back to my home in America. I took a lot of photos but as usual there are only a handful that seem to worth posting. These are a few of the HDR photos I experimented with around Penang. I hope to add some more HDR photos from this trip as well as some 'normal' ones. One of the highlights was going up to Penang Hill in a trolley and then a 16k round trip hike to the peak of the mountain. Today's even consisted of a motorbike ride almost all around the island after trying to go to the national park and missing it...turns out the ride was better.
I will write more about all the day's and night's events including the places to stay, things to eat and things to see and do very soon. Also a lot more photos to be posted too so stay tuned!

Suan Pakkad Palace Museum & Phaya Thai Palace

Today I went with Lek, my friend and student, to the Suan Pakkad Palace Museum and then to the Phaya Thai Palace in Bangkok. It was a great experience to see some historical aspects of Thailand in the heart of Bangkok. Most of these places are not well known and are almost hidden. It is a shame because they really have a lot to offer both educationally and just to get away from the mundane, busy, noisy life in Bangkok.

"Suan Pakkad" means cabbage garden. They named it that because that is exactly what it used to be on this very spot before it became the residence of Prince Chumbhot Paribatra of Nakor Svarga. He was 'a' grandson (there were many!) of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V). He lived there with his consort M.R. Pantip Paribatra, or Princess Chumbhot Paribatra. 

Click on the links above to learn more. 

Unfortunately I didn't bring my Canon 7D so I just use my phone to take the photos. Hope you enjoy them just the same.

The museum grounds is composed of 7 houses. Each house contains distinct and separate artifacts, exhibit rooms, furniture, pottery and tools from distant past and many other items. This photo is of the Lacquer Pavilion. This is dated from the Ayudhya period about the 17th century. This building used to be located at a temple near the city of Ayudhya on the Chao Praya River. It was eventually restored in 1959.

The Phayathai Palace was built in 1909 as a 'country' cottage and a place for King Rama V (Chulalongkorn) and Queen Saowabha to escape for the weekends and look after the farm. It is hard to imagine that at one time long ago there was a farm on this very spot. The king and queen were both fond of doing agricultural experiments here. Because the queen loved it here so much she would often spend several days here while the king had to drive his new yellow electric car just to spend visit her. Unfortunately King Chulalongkorn didn't get to enjoy the palace much as he died on October 23, 1910, only a few months after the palace's official inauguration.

This is the Thewaratsaparom Throne Hall and was used as a theater, reception hall and for performing merit-making ceremonies. Because Rama VI was a playwright and actor the theater was used very often during his reign.

A view from the 3rd floor of the palace. 

This was the lone statue inside the palace and it seems so out of place...almost an afterthought. Maybe they are in the process of renovating the building and at a later date will increase the amount of period pieces.

The stairways were elegantly painted at one point and what's left is a nice patina covering the walls and ceiling. 

There isn't a jail that can hold me!

The site is even made nicer that there is a nice cafe to relax, drink and eat on the palace grounds. The ceilings are very high and it incorporates a distinct western architectural flavor with the lavish use of wood, arched doorways and large windows. 

Here you can see how tall the ceilings are. It gives it such an airy, pleasant feeling.