Tag

wei-seong Archives - juesatta (CJ Photography)

May 22

Bangkok: Chatuchak weekend market

By My journey, Photography
Chatuchak weekend market - a boy was doing double "teh tarik"

Chatuchak weekend market - a boy was doing double "teh tarik"

Taking a break from all the temples, we decided to do some shopping to the Chatuchak weekend market, the largest market in Thailand. The market is sprawling 35 acres and comprised of more than 15,000 shops stalls. It’s perhaps one of the largest weekend markets in the world too. Though it is not available everyday, Chatuchak weekend market opens on Saturday and Sunday, and it’s believed to attract over 20,000 of visitors each day. Fortunately we had a weekend in Bangkok when we could visit the market.

A less fortunate child and his mother at the Chatuchak weekend market

AA less fortunate child and his mother at the Chatuchak weekend market

Chatuchak weekend market is a shopping paradise! There is a huge range of products including household items, books, trendy clothing, Thai handicrafts, religious artifacts, collectibles, foods, and live animals. We were surprise to see how huge the market is and the varieties of merchandise sold there, nearly everything under the sun. Like a sea of infinite possibilities, we navigated through Chatuchak’s army of stalls and tried not to get ourselves disoriented. Sarcastically, almost all of what we had bought and had seen in our shopping for first few days in Bangkok and Pattaya could be found from the market and at good bargain too.

We would prefer to have cheap street food than classy and expensive restaurant’s meal. Hence Chatuchak weekend market would be our best choice to have our lunch. The foods offered are very variety and cheap. Thais are strong-flavor lovers which results their foods or drinks being usually sweeter, and more spicy, sour, and salty than other cuisine, yet delicious. So we started our feeding frenzy there. Within 2 hours, we had a bit of everything including fried chicken, spicy stir fried pork, meat and fish balls, satay, mango sticky rice, pineapple, coconut juice, teh tarik, iced blended coffee, durian ice-cream, snacks and much more.

Chatuchak weekend market is one must never missed in Bangkok. It was totally worth our time to discover that its wealth of culture provides for good opportunities to make wonderful finds. The market too attracts a colorful crowd of hawkers, tourists, beggars, street artists which provided me with interesting sights for photo taking:

Read More

May 17

Bangkok: Wats, the temples

By My journey, Photography

Gate to the Grand Palace

Being the capital city of a Buddhist country means that Bangkok is full of some of South East Asia’s finest temples. Therefore our visit to Bangkok would not be complete without seeing some of these famous temples (Wats in Thai). On the second day and fourth day in Bangkok, we visited a couples of temples:

  • Wat Traimit (Temple of Golden Buddha)
  • the unknown temple (we got blessing from a Luang Pu monk)
  • Wat Phra Kaew and Grand Palace (The Emerald Buddha)
  • Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn)
  • Wat Pho (Temple of Reclining Buddha)

Boon-Huat, Wei-Seong and Wee-Peng at the steep stair of Wat Arun's central prang

These temples we visited are the spiritual part of the capital’s heart and soul and each of the temples is unique like no other as the architecture and decoration are awe-inspiring. It would be good to share the story of each temple together with the photos I took after the jump:

Read More

May 11

Bangkok: Chao Praya River tour

By My journey, Photography

The scenic river, Chao Praya River

On the fourth day in Thailand, we went onboard for a river tour with an express boat along the Chao Phraya River tour from Grand Palace to our destination, Wat Arun. It was drizzling but it did not stop us from visiting the Chao Praya River of Thailand. We could feel the breeze, rainwater and river water on our face.

Boon-Huat (left) and Wee-Peng on the boat ride of Chao Praya River

Chao Phraya is a major river in Thailand and the largest river in Bangkok. Centuries ago, Bangkok waterways were the main routes of transportation, thus much of the Thai history can be traced along the banks of the river. Many canals have now been filled in to make ways for roads but the Chao Phraya River still runs through many Thai lives. Therefore, it became a must in our checklist to visit.

We were the only group on the small express boat. The boat driver could not speak English so we had to make our guess on the landmarks we saw. We had a great insight into a different perspective of Bangkok: hotels, temples, palaces, beautiful houses, run-down wooden houses and local line the banks. It was a very scenic ride.

The river itself is a hive of activities. We didn’t have the time to visit the real floating market of Damnoen Saduak which is located 110km from Bangkok, yet we could experience it right on this river: the traditional way of selling and buying fruits, vegetables, crafts, and other merchandises from small boats, and also the way people live and travel by boats. We purchased some jackfruit from a small boat which came to us, and enjoyed its sweetness on our journey.

There were boats going up and down the river and it was kind of interesting to see how the people reacted to us when they saw us: gazing, waving, and smiling. Likewise we enjoyed looking at the people interacting with each other and what they were doing.

Some photos I took on the boat ride:

Read More

May 07

Bangkok: Songkran festival of Khao San Road

By My journey, Photography
From left: Wei-Seong, Boon-Huat, Wee-Peng, and Meng-Hong at the Khao San Road's Songkran Festival of Bangkok

From left: Wei-Seong, Boon-Huat, Wee-Peng, and Meng-Hong at the Khao San Road's Songkran Festival of Bangkok

On our arrival in Thailand, we went to the biggest celebration of Songkran Festival in Khao San Road, Bangkok. I didn’t bring my camera with me because I was afraid it getting splashed with water. However an email of photos I received from Wee-Peng yesterday, then reminded me that I did take some photos of the Khao San Road’s celebration with his camera phone, which carefully wrapped with the shower cap we took from the hotel. More shots after the jump:

Read More

May 07

Pattaya: elephant show of Nong Nooch Garden

By My journey, Photography
From left: Meng-Hong, Wei-Seong, Boon-Huat, and Wee-Peng at the European Garden of Nong Nooch Paradise

From left: Meng-Hong, Wei-Seong, Boon-Huat, and Wee-Peng at the European Garden of Nong Nooch Paradise

After staying a night in Pattaya, we departed back to Bangkok the next morning. On our way, the tour guide took us to the Nong Nooch Garden, which has a wide variety of gardens inspired from all over the world including traditional Asian tropical gardens, the Cactus Garden to French and Roman gardens. Besides, fascinating Thai culture and traditional dances, and other performances such as religious ceremonies, martial arts and the amazing elephant show – one of the most popular attractions of the garden, are presented daily in the theater within the garden compound.

Wee-Peng vs the mighty elephant

Wee-Peng vs the mighty elephant

After 20 minutes drive from Baron Beach of Pattaya, we arrived at the Nong Nooch Garden. That morning, the garden drew a massive crowd of tourists. We were late for the Thai cultural and traditional performances, however we did not miss the elephant show.

The well-trained elephants in the show were performing skills adopted from human sports like bike ride, soccer, basketball, and more. Towards the end of the show, audiences had the chance volunteering to be towered and massaged by the gentle elephants. They were really brilliant so we purchased bananas to reward and feed the elephants.

After the show, we were given the opportunity to touch and feel our favorite elephants. In addition, we could also pay to ride on elephants, perch between two elephants’ trunks, and take photos with elephants, which Boon-Huat and Wee-Peng did.

Time was so limited for us there because we had to go to a bees farm and a jewelry factory of Bangkok. After having our buffet lunch in the garden, we could only spend a little time in the European garden.

The whole garden was beautiful and the shows were amazing. According to the management, those gardens are constantly updating, with new ideas, new plants and new formations; therefore gives a reason to revisit Pattaya and Nong Nooch Garden again.

Below are some of the shots I took:

Read More

May 03

Pattaya: the Alcazar Cabaret Show

By My journey, Photography
The dancers of the Alcazar Carabet Show in Pattaya

The dancers of the Alcazar Carabet Show in Pattaya

During our trip to Thailand, We went and stayed a night in Pattaya before we traveled back to Bangkok the next day. The one and the only night in Pattaya, we chose to spend the night with the popular show in Pattaya – Alcazar Carabet Show. It is a must see if you visit Pattaya. I’ll explain later after the jump.

The Alcazar Carabet Show was amazing and got us totally immersed in it. It successfully blends the art of acting, stage design, costumes and the sequence of the show so well to be impressed by every one of all ages. We were entertained with the music, lip-sings, dances and various shows played by many perfectly beautiful female.

The traditional (Vietnamese, Indian, Malay, etc.) and modern dances (e.g. Poker Face by Lady Gaga) performed on the stage, fused also into a unique show which brings eastern and western cultures together, thus brought to us a very colorful and entertaining show.

The Siamese traditional dance performed on the show in Pattaya

The Siamese traditional dance performed on the show in Pattaya

I heard that originally, the show was at a small theater of 350 seats with 40 employees on almost 20 years ago, founded and operated by the Phettrakul family who never gave up and continued to improve and upgrade its facilities until the show became world famous.

Today’s Alcazar Cabaret Show features a grand beautiful theater with a capacity of 1,200 seats & 440 employees, fully equipped with high tech surround sound system and modern computer technology. The Alcazar Cabaret Show is now well-know throughout most of the international.

These are some shots I took during the show:

Read More