I went to the Temple : Happy Chinese New Year 2012 - Chiang Mai

Hey Y'all,

The year don't really start till after Chinese New Year does it? Haha!

Well, at least for me. I do not necessary have the most Chinese family traditions, but we do celebrate Chinese New Year to a certain extent.

I was born into a Buddhist family so in my IC I'm a Buddhist. However, a couple of years ago I somehow lost faith and decided that religion is good for nothing. And since then, I don't pray or even believe anymore.

However when I went to Chiang Mai for my company trip few weeks ago, I decided that hey we should totally visit the temple. And so we did.

It was really spiritual. I never thought that I'd ever want to enter a temple again (not by choice at least) but I did and I was really glad I went there.

It was recommended by the locals and apparently it's one of the best temple in town.

It was huge.

The grand entrance. Everyone need to remove their shoes before entering.

Pinky and me in our sarongs!

Offerings.

All of us looking really tired from the activities and travelling.

We gave offerings and prayed. That's June in the middle.

Monks. Some are alive, some aren't.

Huge Buddha statue.

You're allowed to take photos in the temple, but no flash!

And here's the corpse of a monk who died at the age of 98.

Bath.

The reason why we were in sarongs.

That concludes my trip to the temple. Like I said I'm not religious, but I do believe that Buddhism is more of a way of life than a religion. I believe in karma and doing good things to other people.

I wish all my readers, a Happy Happy Dragon Chinese New Year 2012 and may everyone find long lasting happiness this year! :)

Ball lights I bought from Chiang Mai for only RM9.00! Bargain! Look how pretty it made the sakura tree look!

To those who gamble during this festive season (not that I encourage it), win more!

xoxo,

Mimi Pie

Siripanna Resort & Spa Chiang Mai : Paddy Planting

Hello All!

I recently went to Chiang Mai for my company trip. BEST TRIP in 2012! Well it's only January! Haha! What a way to start the year. 2012 is definitely going to be a good year.

I'd love to just blog about the whole trip in one post but I wouldn't want to miss anything out.

Our first day was hectic. I got on the plane at 6.55am. I left my house at 4am in order to make it for the check-in, baggage drop off etc.

I literally didn't sleep all night till I get on the plane. 3 hours later, we landed in Chiang Mai. I imagined the place to be more ulu. So, I was pretty impressed that they have a decent airport. Like a proper concrete one. Entirely different from the one at Koh Samui.

Once I got there, I met Elisa (Singapore HR Exec) to coordinate the Nuffies for the activities that were planned for us.

Elisa was right, it's really a resort in the city. Except that you won't feel the city when you're in the resort.

After the ice breaking games, the event coordinator from Siripanna ushered us to a secluded part of the resort to play games.

For the first time in my life, I "planted" rice!

Let's take a tour, shall we?

Here's the walk way towards the secluded area.

I must say that Thailand is really a spiritual place. It's almost always so peaceful. (I haven't been to Bangkok, so won't comment on that but Koh Samui was really quiet too.)

I can't remember if they called this place Panna House or something.

The only two HR Execs in the Region. Elisa is half Thai (I now officially have 3 half Thai friends! Whee!) so it's really nice to have her take me around since she can converse in Thai! It's so cool to hear her speak!

I've never been this close to a real Scarecrow before in my life. It was cute!

My Team Mates - Ming & Tim (Co-Founders of Nuffnang), Huiwen (Singapore Country Manager), Elisa and Latif (Malaysia Web Developer). Having the bosses in my team definitely made me more nervous. Nonetheless, I wouldn't exchange my team mates for anybody else! :)

Ran off to take a pic with Righty! Not profile picture worthy, so just post here la.

Latif got his game face on! Rule of the game is that we work as a team to plant rice. We were judged on the consistency and the tidiness of the rice/grass/paddy (I don't know what to call that - the green thingy la) when we stick it into the mud.

Huiwen trying to make sure that the plants were in order!

Looking more Thai than Chinese! :)

Tim joined us not long after the game started! He flew in from Bangkok.

Latif: I'm on the right track baby, I was born this wayyyyy.....

Timothy Tiah.

Ming Shen.

Ming planting rice. Rare sight but my bosses are really sporting people. They both got down and dirty for the challenge.

Tim beautifying our plot.

End product.

Nice anot? Nice right?

But we didn't win! :D I'm sure we came close enough but it didn't matter, it was a really good experience for me.