And if that's not enough, I'm scheduled to take a server systems certification exam tomorrow morning! So it's another trip on the train up to Sydney again. Finally, to top it all off, I've got a very important calendar entry for Friday morning. *Sigh* Hopefully things will calm down once I hit the weekend.
For now, I thought I might post an entry from my old photo archives. This one comes from two years ago, back in 2003. In December of that year, my parents and I made arrangements to visit Noon's family in Thailand to discuss our (then) impending marriage. Noon was with us as we traveled through Bangkok and up to her hometown of Udonthani.
We visited the Bang Pa-In Summer Palace first, was a pretty big place but we managed to hire a golf cart to drive around the compound instead of having to walk. Have to mention here that Noon's parallel parking abilities here were somewhat... *ahem, edited*
Next stop was the Ayutthaya ruins. It was rather hot in the sun that day so we didn't spend all that much time wandering around. Still, it was a nice place to visit and, for me, interesting to absorb the historical significance of the city.
We stopped for lunch at a local restaurant situated by the riverside, and let Noon do the ordering for us. She got us a green curry chicken dish with fermented noodles, and a crispy pork knuckle that was tender and moist on the inside. It's great when you have a local guide who not only speaks the language but also knows what to order!
After our trip, we returned to Bangkok where we met up with our good friends Off and Nid. We got to know them while they were here in Australia, and they have since returned to Thailand upon completion of the University studies. They brought us to a great Thai restaurant in Siam Square.
Here are just some of the dishes we ordered. Lots of vegetables, and fish, and prawns, and meat... Turned out the be a great big feast of traditional Thai food! Yum!!
And at the end of the meal, the delicate desserts Thailand is so famous for! Those little treats looked almost too good to eat!
From Bangkok, we made our way up to Udonthani where Noon's family live. Believe it or not, the have elephants walking past the front of the house every evening with their handlers. The handlers would have combs of bananas or sticks of sugar cane for sale. One would purchase these bananas or sugar canes and feed them to the elephant. I personally believe this is a great thing to do, seeing as the animals have lost their homes due to human encroachment into their natural habitat and have had to resort to other means for survival. And one cannot truly expect the handlers to be able to offer their charges a home and at the same time afford to pay for its food all by themselves. Dad was immensely taken by the elephant as it walked by.
The evening we got into town, Noon's family brought us out for dinner by the lakeside. Yummy food all over again :) That's Noon's sister and grandmother in the photo on the right.
As I said before, the purpose of this trip was so that our respective families could meet to discuss arrangements for our marriage. So, after dinner, we proceeded back to the family home. Noon and her brother had to translate because they were the only ones there who could speak both English and Thai. All in all, the discussions went smoothly.
The following morning, Noon brought us to the local markets where we browsed around and picked up some food for breakfast. There were grilled and fried meats, fried dough (great with the local coffee!), packaged sticky rice or noodle packs, and barbecued fish and chillies.
One thing you don't want to be at the market is pig-headed... you might end up on the chopping block!
I mentioned before that Noon's grandmother is over 80 years of age, and still runs a tobacco stall at the market every morning. Well, here's the proof!
We were treated to a Vietnamese lunch that day, after which my Mum and Dad caught a flight home to Malaysia. I stayed on with Noon for a few more days, before catching a flight back to Australia.
Here are just some of the dishes we ordered. Lots of vegetables, and fish, and prawns, and meat... Turned out the be a great big feast of traditional Thai food! Yum!!
And at the end of the meal, the delicate desserts Thailand is so famous for! Those little treats looked almost too good to eat!
From Bangkok, we made our way up to Udonthani where Noon's family live. Believe it or not, the have elephants walking past the front of the house every evening with their handlers. The handlers would have combs of bananas or sticks of sugar cane for sale. One would purchase these bananas or sugar canes and feed them to the elephant. I personally believe this is a great thing to do, seeing as the animals have lost their homes due to human encroachment into their natural habitat and have had to resort to other means for survival. And one cannot truly expect the handlers to be able to offer their charges a home and at the same time afford to pay for its food all by themselves. Dad was immensely taken by the elephant as it walked by.
The evening we got into town, Noon's family brought us out for dinner by the lakeside. Yummy food all over again :) That's Noon's sister and grandmother in the photo on the right.
As I said before, the purpose of this trip was so that our respective families could meet to discuss arrangements for our marriage. So, after dinner, we proceeded back to the family home. Noon and her brother had to translate because they were the only ones there who could speak both English and Thai. All in all, the discussions went smoothly.
The following morning, Noon brought us to the local markets where we browsed around and picked up some food for breakfast. There were grilled and fried meats, fried dough (great with the local coffee!), packaged sticky rice or noodle packs, and barbecued fish and chillies.
One thing you don't want to be at the market is pig-headed... you might end up on the chopping block!
I mentioned before that Noon's grandmother is over 80 years of age, and still runs a tobacco stall at the market every morning. Well, here's the proof!
We were treated to a Vietnamese lunch that day, after which my Mum and Dad caught a flight home to Malaysia. I stayed on with Noon for a few more days, before catching a flight back to Australia.
5 comments:
Reminded me of my own trip to Ayutthaya. :)
ooh!! pig heads!! those remind me of certain people i know. =P
GOOD LUCK IN YOUR EXAMS!! mine's ending this monday, the 21st of november after which i have a grand total of 6 MONTHS holiday!!!!
*~jumps around with joy~*
p/s: in case you didn't know, you can moderate your comments or activate the anti-spammer engine (or whatever you call it...). just go to the Blogger homepage.
Prim: Feel free to post a link to your Ayutthaya post. I've read it, but can't find a link to it.
Silveraven: Not long now until the 21st, Merdeka is just around the corner for you! Yes I know I can moderate the comments, and I do try to remove spam as quickly as I can. I haven't used the word verification feature because I didn't want to cause any inconvenience unless absolutely necessary.
Sure. :) You can read about my write up here
what a lovely trip and lovely array of pictures. I hate the fact that I forget to take pictures. Im going to try and do better with that.
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