Tribute to the Late Princess

As one of the Thai citizen, I want to pay my respect to the late HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana.   For the past few days, the royal funeral ceremony was broadcasted nationwide, I have been watching and very proud of our Thai unique customs and cultures.  So I sat down and tried to write something as a tribute to HRH Princess.   And here are two poems or verses or whatever you may call. Their contents are similar but written in different styles.  With all my respects.
1    “Now the angel had left the Earth”
Tears run down from the eyes, Heads turn up high to the sky, Blue as it could be blue, It’s the truth of life, still so cruel. Now there’s one less angel on the Earth.    Highest in nobility withal lived the simplest, Greatest generosity always give rather get, Kindheartedness likes a river flowing down from heaven, By purest love and care you were driven. Now there’s one less angel on the Earth Shimmering Chaopraya at dusk gently flows, As if all people’s loves are adrift with the wind blows, Candles are lit up throughout the country, Leading the way to eternity. Now there’s one less angel on the Earth. With love, we all are thankful, With respect, we all are grateful, May you rest peacefully high up there, By Gods and Goddesses, may you be taken care. Now the angel had left the Earth.
2    “Heavenly Home”
Teardrop Clear, explicit Running, flowing, rolling A feeling of sorrow Sadness    Angel Majestic, graceful Flying, leaving, satisfying She’ll always be remembered The Princess Chaopraya Glimmerly, flickering Streaming, carrying, delivering People’s loves are poured Affection Heaven High, peaceful Greeting, opening, embracing The journey to eternity Home
Composed by “Loong-eK”

Piano Related

What’s your way to free and ease your mind?  For me, it’s the piano.  Around this time last year, I bought myself a piano and seriously started playing it again.   It’s my way to relax and working on my brain cells.

It’s been a long time since I have practiced classical piano and my fingers are not working as easy and smooth as I wished them to be.  First, it’s very frustrated for me not to be able to play some classical pieces that I used to play.  But then it clicks.  This is what I want.  I need to keep focusing and concentrating, which I find it harder to do these days.  In piano world, there is a saying–“Practice makes perfect”.  So I think this is a good time for me to sit down and take it easy.  I also think that it is the way for me to get my mind out of my daily matters.  It’s a kind of a mind therapy for me.

Anyway, over the last couple years I have been inspired by many movies related to piano.  The first one is a Japanese movie called “Shindo” (神童), which I blogged about it earlier.  There are differences between those who are gifted and those who are not.  Under pressure, those talented people can just stop and escape.  Nonetheless, they cannot run away from who they truly are.

Yet again, I find this Japanese TV series called Nodame Cantabile (のだめカンタービレ), which is based upon the best selling comic book by the same title, very inspiring.  It’s such a shame that I do not see this kind of series in Thailand.  I think there is only one Thai person who makes it into the world of classical music–Bundit Ungrangsee–comparing to our neighbor countries such as Japan, Korea, and China.  I believe that we can successfully maintain both our national culture and other foreign culture only if we have an appropriate support and a right system from government and private sector.  I just feel like having Thai children to be able to explore the world art forms and high quality inspirational media.

The next one is a Taiwanese movie called the “Secret” (不能说的秘密), directed and starred by a famous young singer, Jay Chou.  I am just stunned when I see the piano battle scene.  I do not know what to say.  It’s just amazing.  What surprised me more was that the scores were composed by a Thai musician named Terdsak Janpan, whom I never heard before. Until today, I still cannot find further information about him.

Another touching movie is from Korea, titled “For Horowitz” (호로비츠를 위하여).  It’s just not easy to live and push your dream in another person’s life, especially when that person is just a child.  This is a good movie to watch if you have time.  I won’t tell you the ending but be prepare to cry.

When seeing those movies, I get an urge to play classical piano again.  Now, getting start is rather difficult for being away such a long while.  I have to start exercising my fingers with scale and Hanon.  Anyway, three months ago, I decided to go back to music school with hope that I can somehow enjoyed my classical music again.

Currently I am practicing a piece called “Etude: Op. 47 No. 21 Adante con moto” by S. Heller, which I find it confusing in terms of finger position.  Anyway everyday I keep telling myself “practice makes perfect”.  I am now learning to be patient and focus for at least an hour everyday in front of my piano.

“Kang Lang Pap” – Behind the Painting: The Musical

It has been an annual anticipating event for many people since the renowned huge success of “Bunlangmek: The Musical” in year 2001.  This year, Thakonkiat Veerawan comes back again with a big musical production ever–“Kang Lang Pap” or “Behind the Painting: The Musical”, which is adapted from a best selling novel by the same title.

Kang Lang Pap was written by Sriburapha, who was one of the most respectful Thai authors and was named by UNESCO as the world most outstanding people in year 2005.  This novel was first published in a newspaper since 1937; and had been made as movies twice in year 1985 and 2001 with equal success.

Personally, I have not seen any version of the movies.  I only read the novel when I was in a high school as a required reading for my Thai study.  This year, before I went to see the musical, I read the book again and it made me realized that how wide was the gap between the language and style then and now.  I forgot how beautiful the language in the old days was.  Many expressions were not used nowadays.  Language is really revolving.

Anyhow, talking about the musical version of this long time famous novel, after the curtain was down and the light went off, I had a mixed feeling between satisfaction and bore.  I guessed it was the theme and tone of the story that made me bored.  I did not say that it was bad; just some moments that were too interminable.  Nonetheless, there were a lot of bright sides that still made this musical worth watching.  One of those was the actors and actresses, who were really good in both singing and acting, especially all the lead characters.  I was expected to see the best performance from Pat Suthasinee Bhudhinund and Rudklao Amaradith; but then Bie Sukrit Visetkaew was surprised me.  He, actually, sang quite well but still needed to sharpen up his acting skill.

Off course, music was the core of the musical and this year they did it again.  However, personally I preferred Bunlungmek to this one.  There were only one song that I liked the most, which was sung by both Pat and Bie on the scene when they both were apart.

This year production was the biggest ever.  The talk of the town scene was the Mitake Waterfall scene where there was real water on the stage.  I was amazed seeing water gradually flowed and covered up the stage then fell over at the front stage where audience were sitting.  It was kind of funny to hear the roaring noise from the audience when water started flowing and almost no one paid attention to the performers on stage, including me.  Wow, this time they really made it!  I felt happy with the producers and creators of the production team.  :-)

One other thing that disappointed me was the classic words by Khunying Kirati, the lead actress–“ฉันตายโดยปราศจากคนที่รักฉัน แต่ฉันก็อิ่มใจว่าฉันมีคนที่ฉันรัก”–“I am dying without one who loves me; but I am satisfied that I have one whom I love”, which was not well portrayed at all in the musical.  In my opinion, there should have been some other way to do it in a more touching and emotional manner than what they did.

Well, I will see what will be the next surprise in the coming year from Thakonkiat and his team.

Food Stories :: 02 :: Yummy Yellow Things !

Next week my sister and her husband will go to Hong Kong for their vacation.  When we are talking about the plan, my memory of the time when I was there working for 6 months relived.  Regardless of good and bad times that I had over there, one thing that I always remember is food.  Every week, the team manager would take us out for dinner at different places.  She said that food was a good way to learn one’s cultures.  I am totally agree with her.

My breakfast was very normal liked other all the locals there–an egg sandwich and soy milk, which I got them on my way walking from subway to the office.  I would stop by the same shop until the owner recognized me.  The very first day that we met, she talked to me in Chinese and I could not understand any Chinese then.  Later on, after she learned that I was a foreigner, she talked to me with her gestures, lots of smiles, and a calculators.  When time passed, I picked up some Chinese words from her as well.

Lunch time was very hectic and not so fancy since we would have only one hour or one and a half hours max before heading back to work.  Normally we would walk to the fast food section at the nearby shopping mall or some times we had our lunch at the food shop on the street.  One common thing was that every place would be extremely crowded.  Many times, we had to wait in line for almost half an hour or even stood by tables waiting for others to finish their meal otherwise we would not have our seats.  We had the usual meal like the locals such as noodles, fried rice, or rice with different toppings.  By the way, there were couple times that we had dim sum.  All I could say was that it was very delicious!

Dinner was what I look forward to.  Why?  Because we would out somewhere different and tried some new food.  That’s the time I discovered my favorite food–an egg tart and a mango pudding.  There were all in yellow.  The yummy yellow things!  :-)  During the period that I stayed in Hong Kong, both dished were not popular in Thailand and not many Thais knew about them.

The first time that I had a mango pudding was at one of the big restaurants out of the city (sorry that I could not recall the name) and the manager said that so far it was the best in Hong Kong.  And I, again, had to agree with her because after that I still could not find one as dilicious as the one I had at that restaurant.

For the egg tart, my malaysian friend who I knew at the project took me to one of the bakery shops where we had to order and pick it up in the evening.  This shop was on our way between my working place and the hotel.  And I had to tell you, it was the best of the best.  I had egg tarts about 3-4 days a week.  I ordered them in the afternoon for my evening dessert that I could enjoy after long working days

When I finished my project and moved back to Bangkok, these two dishes were gradually coming into the Bangkok area.  I tried them but none was satified.  They were not as dicilious and original as ones in Hong Kong.  My Yummy Yellow Things!  :-)

There are still more food stories in Hong Kong but I rather keep them for the next times.  Hope you all are stay healthy and eat well.  Later then.

The Auspicious Flowers

I think it’s a trend that people were talking about global warming and climate change.  For me, I didn’t know if I could help much on this matter; however, I was trying my best to do all of my activities as friendly to the Earth as possible.  One thing that I was sure was that if everyone on this planet helped little by little, the final result would be big.  It’s a matter of time and self-awareness.  It’s not the thing that you could force anyone to do.  It had to be from the heart.

Anyhow, almost six months ago, I came across an article about growing tree to help reduce the global warming.  So, I was thinking what kind of trees should I grow?  My home had a limited space and could not grow any big tree any more.  So I thought…what if I wanted to grow some trees or flowers, what would be good for me?  I searched the Internet and put down some notes.  Later, I came to think that it might be interesting if I added some feng-shui concept so that it would do some good for the people who planted them.

1. Chrysanthemum:  This was a very popular flower among Chinese and Japanese as it represented a good and comfortable life.  The most popular color was yellow.  It was also be used to make a sweet tea simply called “Chrysanthemum tea”, which was a very good herbal drink.  There was a study by NASA that chrysanthemum plant could help reducing indoor air pollution.  In terms of feng-shui, you could put in in the pot by the window or planted it in the garden.  It would bring you a smooth life.

2. Peony: According to Chinese culture, peony flower was considered as a symbol of prosperity, honor, and beauty.  Many Chinese families liked to grow peony in their home if they had daughters because it would give them good marriages.  In terms of feng-shui, for a good luck in relationship, marriage, and love, you could put it at south-west of your garden.

3. Peach Blossoms:  This flower was a symbol of a good fortune and longevity.  It had a very sweet scent.  For the best feng-shui result, you grew it on the North of the garden.  I thought it’s a bit troublesome to find this tree and grew it under hot and humid weather like Thailand.

4. Magnolia: The flower was white representing purity and many believed that if a single tree was planted in front of a house, it would bring happiness to a family.  However, if you grew it at the back of a house, it would bring you a prosperity.

5. Lotus:  If you had a pond or a water space in your garden, you should consider adding some lotus into it.  Lotus was a symbol of peace, satisfaction, and good opportunity.  In addition, it also had a related meaning with the Buddha.

6. Bamboo: There were many meanings associated with bamboo.  One of them was that it represented a power to protect you from evil spirit.  Furthermore, it was also thought of as a symbol of patient and endurance because bamboo could grow all year long.  For the best, you should grow bamboo on the left of your house.

7. Pine tree:  Any pine tree you could find locally.  A pine tree was a symbol of strength and honesty.  I thought it was a good choice for me since there were so many kind of pine trees to choose from here in Thailand.

Actually there were many different believes regarding flowers such as flowers associating with your birth day, flowers of love by your birth month, flowers according to your birth sign.  However, this was just a short list relating to feng-shui that I had at the moment.

Well, these auspicious flowers that we could grow in our garden not only for a wonderful feng-shui, but also for the good health of the Earth.  Like everything, we had to take good care of them such as watering, fertilizing, trimming, and etc.  Hope that we can make this planet, little by little, a better place to live.