City Line and Canton House

One of my favorite breakfast of all time

Last weekend was not exceptionally thrilling due to bad weather, by which I meant, very hot. By morning, the city was blanketed by sun and we waited until afternoon to avoid high temperature. Our breakfast was the only special thing happened last weekend. Since I bought sticky rice from the near by market, I decided to eat that with our native specialties as opposed to different fried fishes or grilled cat fish sold in the market.

@Rajprarop

We were free and easy after we made a few social calls on Sunday. So we decided to ride on the City Line, which was opened on August 23 this year. Its services consist of the Express Line, a 15-minute non-stop service between the Makkasan city air terminal and the airport, and the City Line, a commuter rail service with 8 stations, from Suvarnabhumi Airport, via Makkasan city air terminal, to Phaya Thai station in central Bangkok. It took us about 30 minutes from Rajprarop Station to Airport excluding waiting time for train, which is 15 minutes.

Of course, we were starving after that (I would call) little excursion and made up our mind not to return home for dinner and eat at The Canton House, south of PhayaThai BTS station. They have two menus, one for the dishes and one for dim sum. The prices are printed and I found that very reasonable. The drinks are not complimentary but it costs only 10 Bahts and you can get refilled as much as you drink.

Fried Egg noodles with shrimp and pork

We did eat fried egg noodle, fried vegetable, along with shrimp and crab dim sums, and the dessert. The noodles are delicious but a little bit oily, and wait for it, there was only one shrimp (I can’t decide it is for us to eat or as a garnish). The fried vegetables? It tasted good but some pieces are not chewable.

Various Shrimp and Crab Dim Sums

 Shrimp wonton with mayonnaise

Most dim sums were just ok, which make me hunger for dim sum at Traders Hotel, Yangon. My big disappointment is the waiting time: we had to wait a while to order (it wasn’t crowded though), wait for dim sum to arrive, wait for waiters to give us refill for the drinks, and most of all asking us about whether we were waiting for the bill before the dessert had not yet come.

Rice Sesame Balls in Ginger Syrup 

I think shortage of manpower seems to be their main drawback, considering the fact that only one guy is taking order from customers. In addition to that, job responsibilities are not clearly defined: like everyone is doing everyone’s job but not in a perfect way. This is it; I wish The Canton House could provide better service in future, as I am not so sure about going back there.

Mother's day

*Picture: Google

Since Her Majesty Queen Sirikit’s birthday is on August 12^th, it is considered as a national Mother's Day in Thailand and is one of the most important days of the Thai people. The symbol is "Jasmine" which represents pure, and white as a symbol of chastity of the mother who give birth to us. What do I want to celebrate this day? Well, in a perfect world, I want to grab my purse and buy the Jasmine garland for someone who is special, my mom, and go to lunch with her. Event like this makes me wonder how am I doing these years to return her merits. 

Are these manners socially acceptable?

The first thing I would likely to have seen such a behavior is from a teenager sitting on the bench at a park. But, no,no,no, I did not right it right again. There was this couple in their late twenties, not Thai, not European, and probably from India, got into the bus, and eventually got the seats. They cuddled, and sat very comfortably as if they were sitting in their living room. Am I way to traditional or conservative? Oh, wait, I have been to New Delhi, they don’t act like this in public.

Raining hard has destroyed my mood to enjoy the evening, so I came back home earlier than planned. On my way back home, I took the bus again as it is too convenient. Sitting besides me was a one good-looking Chinese-Thai in her early twenties girl. I did understand how bored she would be, trapped on a bus among strangers in Bangkok traffic. Through out the world, there are some different manners for us to comply, but sitting this comfortably on a bus is not one of them, I hope.

I didn’t know that the annoyance had more to offer: a group of multinational students, I guess, hopped in and had been talking to each other loudly the whole time. Most people stared at them, shook their heads for unspeakable reasons. I did nothing but to listen to dhamma from my phone to forget all unpleasant encounters. Am I being hypocrite for not expressing my feelings on the bus and worst of all, writing down in my blog? 

The Four Noble Truths

ในชีวิตสิ่งที่เราคิดว่าเป็นสิ่งสำคัญคืออะไร คำตอบอาจจะแตกต่างกันตามประสบการณ์ ตามความต้องการ ตามศาสนา อายุและการรับรู้ของเราเกี่ยวกับชีวิต อยากรู้ว่าฉันคิดอย่างไร ตอนเด็ก ผลการสอบที่ดีและเล่นหลังโรงเรียนก่อนพ่อแม่กลับเป็นสิ่งสำคัญมาก ตอนวัยรุ่นไปเรียนศิลปะที่สอนฟรีในช่วงฤดูร้อนอ่านหนังสืออื่นนอกจากหนังสือเรียนและไม่ให้พ่อแม่ของฉันผิดหวัง เป็นความสำคัญของตัวเอง เรื่องเงินไม่เคยเป็นสิ่งสำคัญไม่ว่าฉันให้ความฝันของฉันไป 


เมื่อเราเติบโตแล้วเรารู้ว่าทุกสิ่งทุกอย่างเปลี่ยนแปลงและไม่แน่นอน ฉันมีความเห็นแตกต่างกันในเรื่องชีวิต วิธีการคิดมีอิทธิพลอย่างมากจาก Existentialism  นอกจากนี่ฉันถูกนำขึ้นในศาสนาผสม ซึ่งทำให้ฉันอยู่ห่างจากความเชื่อเหล่านั้นจนฉันได้พบความจริงของตนเอง มันไม่ง่ายเลยที่จะให้ทุกคนทราบทางเลือกของฉัน คือฉันเป็นชาวพุทธแล้ว บางคนบอกว่าฉันไม่ควรจะทอดที้งประเพณี ฉันจะพบปัญหาต่าง ๆ ในชีวิต บางคนทำนายว่าฉันจะจน นั่นคือความคีดเห็นของญาติพี่น้อง ไม่ใช่ของฉัน่แน่นอน ฉันให้ชีวิตของฉันไปตามปกติ ถ้าฉันต้องตอบคำถามของฉันเกี่ยวกับสิ่งสำคัญในชีวิต ฉันจะตอบว่า อริยสัจ ๔

In life, what do we think is important? Answers may vary according to our own experience, desire, religion, age, and most significantly, our perception about life. What do I think? When I was young, a good exam result and playing after schools before my parents’ return were important. In adolescence, going to free art class during summer, reading books other than textbooks, not letting my parents down in everyway were my own importance. Money was never important though I had to let a lot of my dreams go. Things were unpredictable when we grow old. I had different opinion in the matter of life as my ways of thinking were greatly influenced by Existentialism. Being brought up in mix religion convinces me of staying away from those beliefs until I have found my true self. It wasn’t that easy to let everyone know of my choice to be a Buddhist, Theravada Buddhism.  Some said I should not neglect some customs and I was asking for trouble in life, some predicted I would be as poor as a church mouse. Well, it is their point of view and certainly not mine, so I keep my life going. If I have to answer my own question about what is important in life, it will be The Four Noble Truths.

Black Friday

It is supposed to be another Friday: people normally go to work  trying to finish their urgent tasks and thinking of "to do lists" during weekends. Instead, most people couldn't come to work due to lack of transport or come to work worrying about their safe return in the afternoon. 
It is supposed to be a pleasant evening for everyone: we could enjoy our dinner @ favorite restaurants or look for new novels @ favorite book store. Instead, we ended up cooking from scratch. ( Stir fried chicken with holy basil and omelette).
It is supposed to be a tranquil night: everyone could sit back and enjoy their preferred program or talk about their activities in beautiful way. Instead, we are stuck with local news program trying to find out what happened, what is happening and what will happen next.

Tragic incident

มันเป็นคืนเศร้าไม่เพียง แต่สำหรับคนไทย แต่ยังเพื่อมนุษยชาติ มันไม่สำคัญว่าใครทำระเบิดเกิดขึ้น สิ่งที่สำคัญคือไม่ให้ความรุนแรงชนะ ฉันได้สูญเสียความเชื่อของความสงบและเริ่มถามคำถามจำนวนมาก
ถ้ารัฐบาลทุจริตมีอำนาจอีกครั้ง?
ถ้าพวกเขากระทำเช่นเผด็จการ?
ถ้ากลุ่มสีอื่นประท้วง?
ถ้าพวกเขาขอรัฐบาลใหม่?
ถ้า ... . ?
...
..
.

Bangkok, je ne t'aime plus.

Qu'est-ce qui se passe? Chaque fois que je regarde les nouvelles ou aller à mon couloir, je vois des chemises de couleur. Je ne veux pas d'associer à toute politique que la mienne comté. La plupart des résidents de Bangkok opte pour ou ont été dit de rester à la maison pour éviter les événements malheureux. Mais sommes-nous vraiment envie de rester à la maison pendant les
week-ends en espérant tout sera ok? Sommes-nous vraiment prêt à aller au travail plus tôt que l'habitude? Sommes-nous vraiment content de rentrer du boulot en retard? La plus grande question de tous: quel couleur êtes-vous?
Jaune?
Rouge?
Bleu?
Blanc?
Rose?
Ou choisissez votre couleur préférée.