Precious Vera at Ah Yat Abalone

Before and After Pictures.. Twinkle lost 5 KG!!

Before:

After:

(5 kg lighter and the world is brighter) :-)

黑白五常 - (courtesy of Adeline)

I took this interesting picture in the cab the other day. I was really surprised to see this because I always thought that chinese people (especially older folks and taxi drivers :) ) are usually very superstitious and scared of such things. Obviously not this taxi driver!! :-P


For those who do not know what I'm talking about....let me share with you that the chinese believe that when you die...the hell guards will come and collect your soul to be judged. The hell guards come in the form of Hei Bai Wu Chang 黑白五常 as shown above. One of them short, plump and black while the other is tall, white and have his tongue sticking out.

And there is a reason why one is white and one is black and its an interesting story. Do you know?

Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) - Churning of the Milk Ocean

If you've ever departed from the new Bangkok airport - Suvarnabhumi Airport, you will be greeted by an impressive statue the moment you clear immigration.

The statue depicts one of the famous scenes from Puranas (Hindu literature) - Samudra manthan (Devanagari: समुद्र मंथन) aka the churning of the ocean of milk. This story is celebrated in a major way every twelve years in the festival known as Kumbha Mela.

The Churning of the ocean of milk tells of the story where demons and gods cooperated to churn the sea for thousands of years in order to extract the elixir of immortality, coveted by both groups.

As you can see from the pictures, the Devas (demigods) are engaged in a tug of war with the Asuras (demons). Each team is holding onto one end of the king of serpent - Vasuki (aka Naga). The centre of the serpent is coiled around Mt. Mandara (which is a pivot) and at the base of this pivot would be Vishnu, incarnated as a huge turtle.

Asuras (demon) holding onto the head end of the Naga (3 headed king of serpent)

Asuras (demon) with colourful painted body and demonic faces

Naga wrapped around Mt Mandara as a pivot and supported by turtle (Vishnu)

Devas (demigods) holding the tail end of the serpent

You can see that the demigods are depicted in human form.

As the ocean churned, a deadly poison known as halahala emerged. Shiva drank this poison and his wife stopped it in his throat with her hands, causing the throat to turn blue. (explaining why Shiva is sometimes called Nīlakantha meaning Blue Throat)

From the churning, numerous opulent things were also produced including Dhanvantari (Heavenly Physician) carrying the pot of Amrita - the heavenly nectar of immortality.

In the end, the cooperation between Devas and Asuras was shattered with Vishnu taking the form of Mohini - a beautiful and enchanting damsel who served to distract the Asuras while distributing the nectar to the Devas. (a little cheating and disception seems to be happening here). The Devas having fulfilled their plan of acquring all the Amrita banished the Asuras out of Heaven and into the underworld. (tsk tsk)

Of course, as all Hindu literature, there is many versions of the story. One such version can be found as follows:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samudra_manthan

Another version

http://www.sanatansociety.org/indian_epics_and_stories/the_churning_of_the_ocean.htm

One interesting twist to the story that I like was that:
A particular Asura, Rahu, had disguised himself as a Devas, and managed to drink some of the nectar. But before the Nectar could pass his throat, Mohini cut off his head. The head, due to its contact with the amrita, remained immortal. It is believed that this immortal head occasionally swallows the sun or the moon, causing eclipses. Then, the sun or moon passes through the opening at the neck, ending the eclipse.

Sunkist versus Thai Orange

In the early part of 2007, I spent quite a lot of time in Bangkok and I've been dutifully snapping pictures with my dopod 838pro but as you can quite clearly see, procrastination has gotten the better of me and I never quite got about to posting them online.

Well, its long overdue but I declare the winner of the orange juice competition between Sunkist and small Thai orange as .......................*drum rolls*

THAI Orange Wins Hands Down!!

As you can see from the picture below, the street vendor totally agrees with me and also proclaims Thai orange juice as NUMBER ONE!!! (index finger pointing up in the sky)

Perfect for a hot sunny day in Bangkok - This drink is ultra refreshing and cost only 20Baht. It is a heavenly concoction of small thai oranges, lime, salt plus sugar for the perfect taste. Like the famous Thai coconut, it can be found at almost any street corner and is relatively safe to drink. (Tried and tested - no stomach problems after bravely testing out several different stalls)

This picture is taken right outside the office building where I work in Bangkok and I relish the mornings where i get to treat myself to a bottle on the way to work....

LOMA results

I didn't get the 100 I was looking for... but it sure was damn closeee.........

301: Insurance Administration - 96
361: Financial and Management Accounting -99

For the effort I've put in for this 2 papers, I sure as hell ain't complaining..........:)

Indeed, I do!!

WHIPPEEEE......OUT FOR A CELEBRATION!!!!

Headachesss

Well, in an attempt to live life to the fullest, for the past few weeks, I've been on the "GO".

The result is....a super mind boggling headache that last for 2 days straight in which no amount of pain killers can possibly fix/mend.

On Thursday mid noon, I felt the onset of a major headache. It was like someone was playing Linkin Park full blast in my head. I had alot of sleep on Thursday but I went to bed with a headache and woke up with the same headache. Therefore, on Friday while at work, I was still feeling very extremely horrible.

That's when I became a pill popping maniac and my colleague is screaming:"Whoaa, easy on those pills, you can only take 6 per 24 hours."Still the pain did not go away and for the whole day I was like that ->

Managed to somehow survive the day at work. Wasn't in the right frame of mind and so I'm pretty sure I did alot of things I will later come to regret.

Anyway, come 6pm I am out of the office in a flash, jump into my car and flooring my accelerator I'm on my way home. The moment I'm home...I'm in bed with the covers over my head. No dinner for me, I just need to sleep.

This morn 5.45am. I'm feeling a little better now....

P/s: I saw another really freaky picture about someone having a headache, here is the link: http://www.freakingnews.com/Headache-Pictures-35336.asp

There are really strange strange people out there.

Senseless Ramblings...............

I've been so busy lately I've lost the momentum to blog. B.K says:"Now you understand what I mean when one has lost the passion to educate" and I'm thinking it should be along the line:"Now I understand what you mean when one has lost all all desire to infect others with utterly senseless ramblings" :)

Anyway, I'm BACK at 5.45am in the morning.