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Juesatta art

May 29

A trip to Rumah Seri Kenangan Cheng

By Involvement, Photography
The front entrance of Rumah Seri Kenangan Cheng

The front entrance of Rumah Seri Kenangan Cheng

Collected a total amount of RM450 of donation, Kok-Liang, Wee-Peng, Dylan, Cinda, Regine and I went to purchase daily necessities such as rice, biscuits, coffee, tea, chocolate powder, cooking oil and etc., and made a trip to the old folks home, Rumah Seri Kenangan Cheng and donated the items.

Wee-Peng was happily unloading

Wee-Peng was happily unloading

Rumah Seri Kenangan Cheng is a government funded old folks home and it takes care of senior citizens and also physically or minor mentally handicapped elderly. It is located in Cheng and about 30 minutes drive from Melaka town, next to the new Tesco Extra. The main objective of this trip was to raise awareness and build the compassionate heart towards the elderly among friends.

It was not the open day of the center when we went, thus the management prohibited us from taking photos of the elderly. However after unloaded the items from the car a staff, generously took us for a tour of the center’s residential dormitory where we met the elderly.

Every elderly seemed thrilled to have some company. While taking the walk with the staff, there were some elderly who talked to us and needed our attention. Some also smiled at us and wished we could snap photos of them when they saw our camera. They gave us a look that would soften even a heart of stone.

Currently there are 220 elderly staying at the center so it requires large amount of funds to maintain the center. According to the staff who led us, it would require more adult diapers (size: L) for the elderly. So we’ve decided to make another trip there with more adult diapers.

Thanks to Kok-Liang for the arrangement and fellow friends for the support. It was a fulfilling event and we hope it is a little glimmer of something special for elderly who have so little. May all beings be happy.

The address and contact number of Rumah Seri Kenangan old folks home:
Rumah Seri Kenangan Cheng,
KM. 12, Jalan Cheng Baru,
75250 Melaka
Tel.: 06-3121179 (Miss Emily)

Dylan at the front entrance

Dylan at the front entrance

Kok-Liang, the organizer of this trip

Kok-Liang, the organizer of this trip

From left: Dylan, Cinda and Wee-Peng

From left: Dylan, Cinda and Wee-Peng

Donated goods

Donated goods

May 26

Bangkok: Chinatown

By My journey, Photography
The street of Chinatown of Bangkok

The street of Chinatown of Bangkok

The last day in Bangkok before we departed to Krabi, Boon-Huat and Wei-Seong left us back to Malaysia in the morning and didn’t join us to Krabi. Wee-Peng, Meng-Hong and I would not want to waste our last morning in Bangkok, so we decided to get to the Chinatown of Bangkok, one of earliest Chinese community’s areas in Thailand.

Meng-Hong (left) and Wee-Peng at a Chinese lanterns stall in the Chinatown of Bangkok.

Meng-Hong (left) and Wee-Peng at a Chinese lanterns stall in the Chinatown of Bangkok.

Originally a community of Chinese traders relocated and settled here in Chinatown from Rattanakosin (the old City) in the 1700’s, and continues their own traditions and religious practices. The area is quite unlike the rest of Bangkok, relatively untouched by modern development. To us, it seemed like a little Hong Kong with Chinese businesses and Chinese characters’ signboards everywhere and it was not difficult for us to shop for Chinese goods.

Jewelry and gold shops and pawnshops are very popular in today’s Chinatown and can be found almost anywhere. Besides, there are also morning markets with stalls selling garments, textiles, stationery, souvenirs, second-hand parts and equipment, electric goods, computer parts, antiques, imported musical instruments, and local delicacies at a bargain, often at wholesale prices. We had packed up our belongings and so we didn’t plan to buy anything, but to do a leisurely stroll through the morning market.

Another common sight in Chinatown is Chinese food stalls. These stalls set up by the roadside offer a wide variety of quick inexpensive meals or popular Chinese food from simple bowls of noodles and soup to grilled meat, fresh seafood, sweet cakes and the locals’ favourite roasted chestnuts. Though we had a very simple breakfast at one of these food stalls of bread with condensed milk and teh tarik (literally pulled tea), and they were really sweet. Thais are really strong-flavour lovers.

It was only a half day tour in Chinatown then we headed off to the airport and took a flight to our next destination, Krabi. The whole trip in Bangkok for 4 days was so fun and pleasurable to witness and experience the Thai’s culture and customs, Songkran water festival, the Red Shirts, shopping, nightlife and people-watching. May the people in Thailand find peace and be happy.  🙂

Some of the photos I took in Chinatown of Bangkok:

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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:

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May 20

Looking through the window with Cinda and Wee-Peng

By Beautiful Melaka, Photography

Before the event-shooting for the blood donation in Bukit Beruang last Sunday, Cinda invited Wee-Peng and I for a photography outing at the Jonker Street of Melaka in the morning. She needed a photo of “window” topic for the KL photonian‘s presentation thus asked for our company.

We started early in the morning to avoid the hot weather. Walking along Tokong Street, we were looking for inspiration which could bring back the nostalgic old days, especially with the windows of Cheng Hoon Teng Temple and Xiang Lin Temple. At the same, we were also looking for gaps, holes, cracks, and frames which she could use as a form substitution for windows. After the temples at Tokong Street, we moved to Jonker Street and continued our search of the heritage buildings.

It would be my first photography outing with Cinda. Thanks to Cinda as I really enjoyed the shooting session and also my morning walk in the heritage town of Melaka with Cinda and Wee-Peng’s company. May everyone be happy. 🙂

Sharing some photos I took that morning:

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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:

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May 15

Still carrying her

By Photography, Wisdom
Still carrying her

Still carrying her

Two traveling monks reached a river where they met a young woman. Wary of the current, she asked if they could carry her across. One of the monks hesitated, but the other quickly picked her up onto his shoulders, transported her across the water, and put her down on the other bank. She thanked him and departed.

As the monks continued on their way, the one was brooding and preoccupied. Unable to hold his silence, he spoke out. “Brother, our spiritual training teaches us to avoid any contact with women, but you picked that one up on your shoulders and carried her!”

“Brother,” the second monk replied, “I set her down on the other side, while you are still carrying her.”

[source: http://stories-shortstories.blogspot.com/2008/01/zen-story-still-carrying-her.html]

中文翻译：

两个旅途中的和尚到了河边要渡河时，发现河边有一名年轻女子正在发愁如何过河。河流很急，她就请求两个和尚的帮忙。一个和尚正犹豫着，另一个和尚二话不说，抱起女子就过了河，把她放下河的彼岸。女子向和尚道谢就离开了。

当两个和尚继续赶路的时候，一个和尚不断沉思和忧闷。终于，他忍不住开口了：「师兄，我们的修行是要守戒的，不能和女人有接触，可是你刚刚还抱着她。」

「师弟」另一个和尚答道：「我在河边已经把她放下了，你怎么还抱着她？」