Baby...Baby

From left: Kuntala, Sukanya, Kumuda, and Kuchika

Yes! We had guests from India. And yes! They were from Hyderabad. And yes! They were veggies! And (another “and”!) they were mother and three clever daughters aged 13, 9, and 4. Don’t get me wrong. They were wonderful and no doubt about that. As we are professional dancers in our hearts, all we could do was holding our breaths and keeping the journey on. Raising children is a full-time job and we all understand that well even though none of us has children of our own. Believe me, we did our best.

The day began with meeting them at their apartment on Sukhumvit 22 road on Sunday morning. We were waiting on the ground floor but there was no sign of any of them. The meeting was misplaced as they were waiting for us elsewhere. That was alright we all had things to chit-chat all the time and only we knew the stories. Many people who accidentally heard any piece of our banter might think that we were insane but that was understandable. They were not wrong at any point. I sometimes think so too.

Erawan, The Three-Headed Elephant of god Siva


Kuntala at the shrine

Our first stop was “Three-headed Elephant” or “Erawan” monument which was god Siva’s elephant. It began raining but it was still okay so we strolled along to see what was inside. There was a big shrine and a temple. They had a chance to make some “Pooja” and put some flowers as offerings. I took some photos while they prayed. Kuntala asked me why I didn’t pray for their gods. I told her I was Christian and hope it was clearly understood and did not make any offense.

Lovely lotus in a bowl for "Hope Floats"

"Dao Reung" Flowers

There was a fusion-folk Thai dance group which was made up from little skinny girls and boys. Cherry and I looked at them and we were thinking how it would be like if we both went to India and lived lives of dancers at the shrine.

“I think our feet would be badly sore because we had to dance bare foot.” I started murmuring to Cherry.

Cherry nodded and looked at them dancing. She got carried away.

“I used to perform bamboo dancing too.” Cherry began to tell her story. “I also used to hit bamboo sticks too but I hit the dancers so they did not let me do that. They only had me dance.”

Bamboo dancing or “Lao-Kratob-Mai” is from Northeast of Thailand that dancers have to step over bamboo sticks in the harmony of song and rhythm. A person carries a long bamboo stick in each hand with another person carries the other ends. These two people have to hit the bamboo stick on a piece of wood at each end to the rhythm of music at the same time while dancers step across the bamboo sticks from one side to the other.

Imagine that! Scary Cherry hit those long bamboo sticks. I wouldn’t do bamboo dancing with her.

We went to crocodile farm and saw the scary show of all time “men fight with man-eating crocodiles”. Two young men were in a pond with more than ten crocodiles with bare hands and only wishful thoughts that those crocodiles were obedient to their commands. Cherry and I either closed our eyes or turned our faces away when they put their heads in between strong as iron jaws. How could you trust those teeth?

Ancient City


Kuchika's lovely post at Ancient City

The last place was my favorite “Ancient City” which was a place you can’t miss when you visit Thailand. It’s an area of 600 rais that mimics the map of Thailand. There are major Thai artifact copies from different parts. The place is well maintained and very educational. Hopefully the kids loved them.

Kumuda was only 4 years old and she was very tired from a long hot day trip. She began crying so we had very short time in Ancient City. The trip was well over before time. Cherry was tired too and I understood very well why. Three Indian children and a mother together with three Thai single girls and a Tolly dancer that made the day every unusual. God blessed us, we had P Goong who was very passionate with the kids and she enjoyed every moment with them. No matter how they cried, wanting to go to bathroom, hungry, or tired. P Goong could handle them. P Nuch, Cherry, and I did sigh a bit when we hear Kumuda screamed when she spilled hot coffee on her legs. And I was spilling my iced “Tao Tueng” on my jeans. Cherry was very helpful looking me laughing.

Do you want any description for this?

What can you do with baby crying and at the same time that a crazy adult giggling? Kill that peacock!

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Colors of Singapore

It was at the border line. I was bored and numb, having almost no feeling at all but wanting to go home. This was the third day in Singapore and I could see a place that was so structure, solid, and tiresome. I was on a taxi to Little India for the famous Muthu’s Curry. It started shiny when an office building caught my eyes. The windows made of woods were in seven harmonious colors, yet vivid. That stood out a day of extreme dullness. I could not wait for more as I took out my buddy camera from my baggy shoulder tote, rolled down the window and took several snaps. Good start!

At Muthu’s, food was clean and tasty. It was medium spicy but I guest you could tell them if you really wanted them as original. The Indian waiters were attentive as they were taking orders with handheld devices on wireless connection.

After having good food, I strolled on the riverside of the city and stunned by its charming lovely small Irish pubs along river bank.

Looking across the river, former Singapore General Post Office now luxury hotel, turned the city stylish. Just next to the Singapore General Post Office, there were skyscrapers but surprisingly they didn’t bother the elegant old style building. On the contrary, they enhanced the perspective and contrasted the clear blue sky in a hot sunny summer day. Even I personally don’t like skyscrapers but this is for sure the exceptional case.

Just a semi-sphere turn from the Singapore General Post Office, Asian Cultures Museum was connected by a pedestrian bridge. It was one of many tourist attractions and anyone who had a chance to visit Singapore should not miss. They neatly organized history bits in different chambers where I could literally sink in for the whole day.

In a dull day, there were colors. And they were near me as I learned to cherish simple things around. I learned the way to breathe in every blessed moment and learned to be thankful to be able to dance again today and the days after.

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Raining in Hong Kong

I've come this far but rain is after me everywhere. I went from Causeway Bay and changed MTR at Admiral to Tsim Tsa Tsui. Then I got to MTR from Tsim Tsa Tsui to Jordan to visit Nathan road. It was so wet as it rained unstoppably. It was so dull and everybody here seemed to get used to it. Nothing was so active today. Street was not very crowded even when it was rush hour. I was so tired and weak it might be because of the rain shower and of course, the dance. My sneakers were damped and ugly and as soon as I got in my hotel room I couldn't wait to take them off.

And it happened to me that it was like something that has been annoying me recently. It stayed on my feet and I hardly took it away. Tomorrow will come and hope everything will not be too bad even if it will get worse. I have to keep my gloomy thought away from my sleep before I grind my teeth bleeding. There will be sun after rainy days. Cheers!

Curious Cat

It’s a “meow” hot summer day making a moment sometimes quite lugubrious and lazy. A day can be most interesting when I know there is something new that I want to learn and yet not so difficult to get there although sometimes the heat of summer gets in the way. It’s really disturbing when I don’t know what to do first and even if I should do it today as late last night the street was so crowded and deemed insensible to go anywhere. Looking at the timetable again and again, still the decision is so hard to make when many things needs to be done in almost at the same time. I need to choose wisely.

First thing first! Reading books is not quite difficult but having eye sight problem and needing to adjust it make an easy thing too complicated. Focus seems too short to grasp anything out from pages and reading lasts too long to get what I really need. Browsing content on the Internet can easily lead me to wrong places as curiosity adds up by millions of entries found on search engines and I end up opening so many pages at the same time and get lost in space. “M…M…Meow!”

Aches and pains from yesterdays remind me of moves and steps in the rhythmic grooves, calling me to get out plus the heat through the right and left windows is trying to expel me away from here. Trembling and restless, I have to stick to priority and priority. My heart hungers for dancing but I have so many things to do. I start flipping pages I need to read and mark the pages I need to go through otherwise I will not allow myself to quench the thirst for dances. I finally keep my head down and keep reading. This is like a battle of soul. I know what I need to do against what my heart longs for. They need to coexist since I cannot survive one without the other. So control, control, and control. I rally through the miles and I need to see my gauge moves to the place I set to meet what is expected to set myself off.

Now the time is right. Let’s go dancing! …M…M…Meow!

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Heat Strikes On

The night is still at large and so does the dance spirit. It does get on me real tough and even tougher when things get rough. I only knew what dances of divine really meant when I first got my feet into the dance two years ago. And my world changed forever.

Bit by bit it got on me and crawled into my clump head. It began thinking about dancing all day whenever my mind got a peek. Until later I began imagine of the dances to my sleep with a smile on my face. In my dreams, I reflected myself dancing to the exotic tunes and moved to eternity, to the glittered lights, on the spotlights, under shining stars. My favorite pair of shoes has changed to a pair of plain soft black leather twined of tiny black cords with padded leather sole for dance practice. It’s called jazz shoes and it’s made to fit my feet. Never before, this time was real. It was not nothing near this high when I went to jazz dance class 15 years back.

It’s a mystic movement that has gone beyond my imaginary, yet became real and indispensable. What was “euphoria” I have never knew until the music has become another element and never before as tangier when I got to dance. My mind drifted away, away from the whole world, to the world of my own.

In my own space, in my sacred twilight and to my heart desire, like there is nothing in this world to bother me for heaven or earth, I want to dance and dance like there’s no tomorrow, ever again.

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Charming Little India

In Little India, Singapore, is definitely a place to cherish. On Monday afternoon where thousands of Indian are expected to stroll but when I went there, the charming Little India seemed so peaceful.

We went to Muthu's Curry and found it was rather full even late after lunch time. Familiar look of Southern Indian faces smiled at us to take orders. Only looking at the menu made my stomach groan and by looking at other tables was even more fancy. Yummmmmmmm! Bon Appetit!

Indian Snack

Plain Biryani Rice

Side Dish

My Favorite Prawn Masala

The Famous Muthu's Fish Curry

Happy Day and Happy Thursday!

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