SKSU/IAME – Bangkok Graduation Day

The never ending education of men and women…In the far away distance from my present location, not so long ago, I was never of thinking to follow the footstep of my mother and to my two elder sisters yet also struggling to finished even my secondary. I guessed the life like the “dice-ball” always rolling and rolling with inertia on it and when doesn’t have any forces of courage to do so it will stop. But life is futile without motivation in everything you do. Guess what, we are motivated to continue and pursuing our goals because of our love ones. If not our life would be miserable and meaningless. I’ve finished my college last 2000 and and now after 10 years took another course as badly needed for my present job as I’ve never thought for this but because of our needs things could be possible. This is my 3rd work related profession and with the cooperation of Sultan Kudarat State University and St. Roberts International – Bangkok branch, many Filipinos, ESL teachers and Thailand expats have the chance to continue and uplift their educations and profession through Bachelors, Masters and Doctors degree of Teaching, Economics, Managements, and Marketing. Above are the still and moving pictures from my S100FS Fujifilm Finepix Camera during my graduation day. Enjoy watching and please don’t forget to leave your comments after watching… thanks

Sembreak – Rolling with my friends in Sisaket

Freddie, Reagan and Julius @sisaket forest park

At least 7 days off to work included Saturday and Sunday before the second semester opening but not like to my others friends that having a month vacation, some are paid and some are not, depends on their policies. Last October 9, 2010 Saturday, rushed to travel to Ubon Ratchathani the third biggest city in Northeastern part of Thailand if not the second. Traveling 130km distance at normal speed of 80km/hr to 100km/hr by my Kawasaki Serpico 150cc and got there for an hour a half. Anyway after meeting some friends there and buying some stuffs, Reagan and I started to run to Sisaket province as he wanted to test his motorcycle in the long run travel as also our main agenda. (The road to Sisaket)

Swim like Phelps…:)

I really enjoyed my visits in Sisaket and had lot of fun with them as my co-Filipinos are always hospitable to their visitors. We did some swimming activities couple of days and visited Forest Park and Zoo which is the most fun of all we had been to. We made some crazy pictorials with those trees and abnormal animals we’ve seen. I guess most of the cities in Thailand have their own zoos except Yasothon, where I been living for almost 4 years and never heard or see the zoo. I’ve seen that their tourism is extremely growing many westerners came here to see these attractions. They also not relying on the foreigner’s visits, as the local people like to visit every now and then in the zoo or any attractions with a very affordable entrance (15-20 baht or like 18-23 pesos).

The modern monkey

The modern monkey

I’d like to thanks to those devoted teachers in Sisaket that I met for those wonderful days that I’ve been encountered. Thanks to all of you guys… (Julius, Lorna, Grace, Reagan and Freddie) see you again next time…

Bangkok Scenes – the most crowded city in Thailand

When you talked about populated cities in Southeast Asia, you’re talking “Bangkok” the most populated city, where 30% of the total populations in Thailand were people reside. Most of them are come from the northeast and migrated to the central part, to have a good business opportunities and works, many of them sending their salaries to their families and relatives in the upper portion of the map. As an example of my place in Yasothon where mostly of the parents are working here in Bangkok. The one who take care their children are their old parents so basically the students in the remote provinces are no parenting when they grew up. Majority of them would like to live in the city as they have many opportunities to live with. Well, city is a nice place to leave for leisure’s. Wide-roads and expressways, smooth skyway train and subway train, big malls to shopping, versatile pub and bar for drinking and socializing, extravagant sport recreation and amusement centers, you named it, all of that are easy to see in Bangkok.

Journey to Roiet – visiting tallest Buddha and camping

It was Friday morning after logging; the school van is rushing to Roi-Et province where the walking Buddha statue stands. The Name Roi Et translates to 101, which refers to the original 11 satellite cities around the main city as well as the 11 city gates. To express the importance of the city the number was exaggerated to 101.

tallest standing buddha in Thailand @Roiet Province

What a lucky day to capture this longest standing Buddha statue in Thailand. Geographical area of this province is covered by plains about 130-160 meters above sea level, drained by the Chi River. In the north of the province are the hills of the Phu Phan mountain range, with the Yang River as the major river. The temple is home to Phra Buddha Rattana Mongkon Maha Munii, also known as Ong Phra Chao Yai or Phra Suung Yai, the tall standing Buddha. Believed to be the tallest, standing Buddha in the kingdom, Phra Buddha Rattana Mongkon Maha Munii stands 67.8 metres high, measured from the base to the top of the crown. The highly revered principle Buddha image stands in the ‘Offering Blessings’ (prang prataan porn). Several rooms located in the basement of the statue serve as a museum. Opening hours: 08.00 – 17.30 hrs.

Camping @Forest park, Roiet

Camping time – after visiting the Buddha statue, we drop to a small restaurant. One of the famous foods in Thailand is Somtam (papaya salad) that mostly served and usual food to eat with my companions. A few hours we arrive to the teacher’s camp and chat with some Thai teachers in different provinces. I installed the tents that they give me as my shelter in the night. Chatting and eating is all about in that camp and of course drinking as I remember most Thai teacher’s really good of alcohol drinks. After dinner, We ended playing cards (Pokdeng) lucky 9 number games. After a couple of minutes, the game doesn’t made interesting anymore. Anyway, I feel like I’m bit sleepy, so I started to walk through my tent to sleep.

Roiet Forest Park

The place is quiet and chilly but even that I couldn’t sleep my mind still revolving. I go out my tent and take a look the surroundings, one notice me is the old dead tree that looks so weird to me. I go back and get my camera and take some pictures till i finally got tired and sleep.

Phimai Historical Park – Ruins of Khmer Temple

Phimai Historical Park

One of the tourist attractions that can be seen in ISAN part or Northeastern part of Thailand is the ancient temple of Cambodian or Khmer.
The historian believes that marks one end of this temple is the ancient Khmer highway from Angkor Wat, located now in Cambodia. The enclosed area of 1020x580m is comparable with that of Angkor Wat. Phimai must have been an important city in the Khmer empire. Most buildings are from the late 11th to the late 12th century, built in the Baphuon, Bayon and Angkor Wat style. However, even though the Khmer at that time were Hindu, the temple was built as a Buddhist temple, as Buddhism in the Khorat area dated back to the 7th century. Inscriptions name the site Vimayapura (which means city of Vimaya), which developed into the Thai name Phimai.
The inventory of the ruins was done in 1901 by the French geographer Etienne Aymonier. Most of the restorations were done from 1964 to 1969 as a joint Thai-French project. The historical park, now managed by the Fine Arts Department, was officially opened by Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn on April 12, 1989.
Many believes that Khmer temples was the greatest engineering of ancient time of the world.

Why Khmer?
Khmer is the name of the Empire that was the largest empire of South East Asia based in what is now Cambodia. The empire, which seceded from the kingdom of Chenla, at times ruled over and/or visualized parts of modern-day Laos, Thailand,Vietnam, Myanmar, and Malaysia. During the formation of the empire, Khmer had close cultural, political and trade relations with Java, and later with Srivijaya empire that lay beyond Khmer’s southern border. Its greatest legacy is Angkor, which was the capital during the empire’s zenith. Angkor bears testimony to the Khmer empire’s immense power and wealth, as well as the variety of belief systems that it patronised over time. The empire’s official religions included Hinduism and Mahayana Buddhism, until Theravada Buddhism prevailed after its introduction from Sri Lanka in the 13th century.