(Think what you will, but I thought this was an interesting and clever photo. A couple of days before Christmas, Muriel and I signed up for a free basic photography course where we were asked to go around and take photos of everyday scenes for critique by the class.)
Christmas is traditionally a time for celebrating the birth of Christ (aka Jesus) in the Christian religion, but it somehow has turned into a big consumerism festival. My friend, who just came back from Viet Nam where the government is communist, said that they had a big party there! Even though Christmas decorations adorn all parts of the city and festive music could be heard throughout the city, it just didn’t feel like Christmas this year. Oh yes, if you went to any of the shopping mall, the Christmas “spirit” was in full gear, but anywhere else in the city and you would hardly know it was that time of the year.
(Not sure what this was, but it looks cool for some reason)
Maybe it’s a good excuse to shop (and I’m not saying this doesn’t happen in Canada or elsewhere), but if everyone is talking about global warming/climate change/sustainability/environment, shouldn’t we be buying less? Consumption + Production = Dying Environment… so if we reduce our consumption and/or production, we can have a positive impact on the environment, right? But I guess that’s lost in the holiday cheer where buying stuff (i.e. to show how much we “care for” or “love” our family and friends) is the norm.
(Around 4pm near the entrance to the Siam BTS platform where the two BTS lines meet)
Not to sound like too much of a grouch, I love the Christmas time… For some reason, this year I was reminiscing a lot about how Christmas isn’t Christmas without the cold and snow. At 25-30+C in Bangkok, its hard to think of Christmas, but maybe that’s just my Canadian-ness showing. One thing that is good about Bangkok at this time is less traffic on the streets as the locals take the opportunity to take some days off for holidays and head out of the city.
(Since Muriel is normally into Christmas, I thought I’d surprise her with some Christmas decorations in our flat… I didn’t have much time so I had to make a tree out of paper, which almost caught on fire when it fell on the candle!)
New Years should be also low-key… no big plans at the moment. I’ll just play it by ear… One thing I’m looking forward to is visiting my cousins who are on holidays here in Thailand. And then a couple weeks after that, towards the end of January, we’re off to Calcutta for one of Muriel’s friend’s wedding…
(On Christmas day, we decided to visit Ocean World in the basement of Siam Paragon. It was surprisingly good… the aquarium was well laid out and all the activities and sites where interesting… here’s a jellyfish blobbing around in a tank with some psychedelic video playing in the background)
(Santa decided to visit Ocean World and swim with the fishes)
Thanks for the tree,
It’s the most wonderful Christmas tree I ever got 🙂
Joyeux Noel
Muli
nice lines and curves shots! 😛 surpringly, i really llike the bts one…who knew concrete could become art? and i guess santa was trying to sell fishes or something in all of the x-mas-y hype.
nice lines and curves shots! 😛 surprisingly, i really llike the bts one…who knew concrete could become art? and i guess santa was trying to sell fishes or something in all of the x-mas-y hype.
It snowed in Vancouver. Ha ha ha.
No, seriously, I felt the same way this year more than the last couple. It’s hard to get into the Christmas spirit when it’s 80 degrees and flowers are still blooming and the newspaper is telling you what you can plant.