Thursday, April 8, 2010

Ancient City

I always fascinate with books or films that relate to time travelling or time machine type deal. Actually, I just finished a series of time travelling movie such as ‘the Time machine’, ‘time traveler’s wife’ and a 1994 Thai series called ‘Tha wi pob’ that, again, is about traveling through time.

Maybe one day mankind will be able to solve the puzzle and time travel will be possible. Moving between different points in time will become reality so we might need to start saving up for travelling to the future or back into the past…

But the technology is a long way off and I am quite certain that I won’t see it happens in this lifetime. So... I need something or somewhere that will allow me to travel through time – fortunately we do have such a place in Thailand.

Ancient City allows us to travel back in time to experience Thailand a hundred year back. Ancient city is located only an hour away from Bangkok and is easily assessable by major roads.
Once there, you have choices between biking, driving a golf cart or your own car to get around Ancient City. Walking is out of the picture as Ancient city takes up 320 acres of land! We chose biking – a fun and inexpensive way to wander around plus it’s a good exercise!

Ancient City has many reconstructed historical places from throughout Thailand, so just a visit to Ancient city is comparable to a journey to all important places in the country. There are also traditional Thai houses and Thai floating village that certainly strike your fantasy of travelling back in time.

Ancient City opens every day from 8:00am to 5:00pm. The admission fee is 350 baht (10USD) per person. A visit to the Ancient City usually takes up a whole day so make sure to arrive early and explore!

Monday, April 5, 2010

Leaf-reading, anyone??

Thai people are superstitious.

Yes! We believe in destiny and reincarnation.

Fortune-telling is part of Thai history and culture. We often consult our future with fortune-teller, asking our life away in many different aspects of life. The top must-ask questions are about love, money, work/study, family and health.

Many of us would like to know what the future has in store for us, and I am no exception!
When my life comes to a turning point – when I’m standing in that life intersection and don’t know what direction I should go - apart from families and friends fortune-teller is a person that I’ll go visit.

My friend introduced me to Bim – a fortune teller a few years back. Unlike other fortune-tellers Bim doesn’t read palms or use the astrology books, but she predicts a customer’s future from a leaf that the customer has hand-picked earlier.

A year ago, I visited Bim with a leaf that I picked from a tree nearby. She greeted me with a smile and asked me to sit down before her. She took my leaf, placed it on my palms, closed her eyes and after a minute or two she read my future aloud. Looking back to the experience, I have to admit that most of the predictions she told me surely become reality.

So, if you happen to be in Tha-chang area (near the grand palace), make a visit and have your future read. Maybe the questions that you can never figure out might eventually be answered!
Hours of operation: Mon-Fri 7pm-9pm Sat-Sun 3pm-9pm