Yearly Archives: 2014
Lost Foot Steps: Crossing Pridi
The Temple of Dawn at Dusk
Once upon the time, “globalisation” was a buzz word and tourism was starting to kick in in Thailand. I was studying in Thammsat university and regularly went to the local pub with this view. How stunting was that! Decades went by, a good old scenery hasn’t changed, has it?
Well, it has. This three images are pretty much like the same as I remember then. But the experience around it is definitely different for someone who spent most night out for cheap drinks twenty years ago.
I spare the details such as the snooker tables in the pub then or the nice park next by now.
The photos were original posted on Instagram
Revisiting my local riverside local pub
The Back Lane Kuala Lumpur
Early this year, I had a chance to have a break from a work trip in Kuala Lumpur before heading back to Bangkok. So I took that afternoon to visit its renowned street food—Jalan Alor. There wasn’t really much anything since it was too early. However, I found its back lane. And that was a real good fun photography I hadn’t taken for a long time.
Back in Sydney years, one of my favourites photo walk was exploring back lanes and decoding them. What fascinated me the most about it was that it was, to me, more honest than what it was presented in the front. It’s just the naked appealing.
This back lane in Kuala Lumpur added an Asian flavour into the British colonial city plan, something I don’t think I could find neither in Sydney nor in Bangkok.
The photos were original posted on Instagram.
The Standing
Shophouses in my neighbour are gradually turned. One last standing on this one is a spirit house on the rooftop. But it won’t be long.
Original posted on instagram on 19 May 2014.
Hanging Arts and Real Estate
How fortunate it was that I took a picture of the same spot and posted it here about a year ago. Things go up, things come down. And things go by without you noticing it if you don’t stop for a while and look at it.
Ok, the place is now an open-air beer garden, which I am writing this blog right now. And it is intriguing with the mixture (or the crash) of cultures. I’ll go into the detail what is inside later.
I have always been into urban landscape and paid attention to urban decay. But this time, living back in Bangkok, the refreshing thing is about urban development.
It is definitely not about how the estate development itself but how it connects people. This is why it is something to be explored.
Let’s have a look at the photos side by side, for now.
Where have I been?
Oh it’s been a long time since the last post. And before that it was just once in a while. So where have I been?
Not that I’ve got nothing to blog about. On contrary, Bangkok is such a city that you can always discover something interesting in such a wide spectrum. And I’m gonna burst not telling these stories.
But three years living back in the city, where I was born, there are things to keeps me occupied as excuses to almost abandoned the platform.
Work excuse
Yeap. The day job that pays the bill also drains the energy. My leisure times—weekends—become leisure times not the time I think about creating things.
Also, working an international development organisation has put another layers into the excuse. I was thinking too much if it was appropriate. Well, now, I think I have to play strategic work-life balance.
Health excuse
I’ve got hypertension. As a man who has just entered the 40s, this is quite early for this chronic health issue. There was a sign of that when I was in Sydney.
That turned my lifestyle around. My third place has changed from the Net in a pub, tweeting and blogging to the gym. I spend one or two hours most days of the week there and be aware of what I take in.
The result, I shed ten kilos of weight. My BMI dropped from slightly overweighed to a healthy scale. My wardrobe was changed almost completely.
But I lost the engagement with blogging. I could have written about this transformation. But I don’t want to turn this space into what I brag about how I work out and eat. It’s lifestyle and a routine, not the passion.
Other excuses
When I left Sydney, one thing I lost the most was the sense of security. So I compensated it by buying a place for my own. That chuck of effort went there.
But it is worth it unexpectedly. It is just like stepping on a gold mine, where this neighbourhood becomes the most diverse I’ve experienced since I’ve been back in the city.
This lucky strike brings me the urge for me to tell the story about it. Big time.
Bottom line is, the challenge for me is to combine all of this thing and making this commitment work. Oh is this a commitment now? Yes, it is. Otherwise I’ll be forgetful and it all will be forgotten.