Borort

Life is moving forward as time passes through..and today, August 08, 2008, the time of moving to the next stage of my life.. sth new to start thinking about, sth new to start preparing, sth new to start doing, sth new to start achieving, .. for one proper and better future..

Not just only start with sth new, but with many things which are always stayed in my heart throughout my whole life.

Good and bad experiences which had been gone thru in the past are invaluable lessons learned to start with the right direction gradually onward.

And everything cannot happen without the huge and uncountable merits and supports from all my beloved ones..

Thanks to my beloved parents whom offer me life, brought me up, guided and educated me to become a good person, always care for me, and much more.. I cannot have today without your huge support.. both physically and spiritually..

Thanks to my beloved aunt and uncle whom are my second parents..

Thanks to my beloved sister for sharing the life with me, listening to me, and understanding me..

Thanks to all my beloved mentors and educators who had given me knowledge and good and useful advices..

Thanks to all my beloved friends.. whom always stay there for me.. encouraging, sharing of happiness and sadness, listening, caring, understanding, correcting and being a good sample for me so far..

Thanks to lord buddha for guiding, teaching, and inspiring me to have peaceful mind..

And thanks to those who have always treated me nicely..

May today, 08-08-08, bring good luck and my 8 wishes: Health, Happiness, Luck, Love, Wisdom, Intelligence, Wealth, and Prosperity.. to all my beloved every time, everywhere forever.. And may all people around this world live in peace and harmony..

Once those wishes become true, that will be my great gift..

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08-08-08  = 8×8X8 = 512 = 5+1+2 = 8

08-08-2008 = 8+8+2+8 = 26 = 2+6 = 8

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Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path, The path to the end of suffering 

1. Right View. The right way to think about life is to see the world through the eyes of the Buddha–with wisdom and compassion.
2. Right Thought. We are what we think. Clear and kind thoughts build good, strong characters.
3. Right Speech. By speaking kind and helpful words, we are respected and trusted by everyone.
4. Right Conduct. No matter what we say, others know us from the way we behave. Before we criticize others, we should first see what we do ourselves.
5. Right Livelihood. This means choosing a job that does not hurt others. The Buddha said, “Do not earn your living by harming others. Do not seek happiness by making others unhappy.”
6. Right Effort. A worthwhile life means doing our best at all times and having good will toward others. This also means not wasting effort on things that harm ourselves and others.
7. Right Mindfulness. This means being aware of our thoughts, words, and deeds.
8. Right Concentration. Focus on one thought or object at a time. By doing this, we can be quiet and attain true peace of mind.

This is my second time visiting Laos during the last couple of years and that was a very nice trip i could say. It is also another travelling experience in my life.

Patuxai monument, Vientiane’s “Arc de Triomphe”

Hard working often offers some rewards at the end.. and actually the trip to Lao this time was to conduct a training workshop for all GMSEENet members over the Knowledge Management Toolkit project. We had a very tough time preparing for this workshop and eventually it was quite successful and fruitful.

Workshop

From 24th to 25th July 2008, this one-and-a-half-day training workshop was held at the Lao-Japan Human Resource Cooperation Center which is located in the campus of National University of Laos (NUOL) in Vieng Chan. The purpose of the workshop is to provide the participants who are the members of GMSEENet (Greater Mekong Subregion Energy and Environment Network) the fundamental knowledge on how to use knowledge management tools for sharing the the information among partner’s universities in the region. Knowledge management tools are sets of opensource applications such as CMS, Webblog, Wiki, Digital Library..  which are useful for information and knowledge sharing. Participants are from different universities and institutions in Burma, Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam.The trainers for this workshop are all from AIT, who have actively been working in the KMTK project and I am one of those.

Workshop

Departed from AIT by van at 9:30 pm on the 22nd, it took us around 10 hours over the 615km road to reach the Thai-Lao border. The border is in Nong Khai province, the north-east province in Thailand which is only about 24km from Vieng Chan.

A place in Nong Khai, Thailand

Our breakfast – Poridge (Jok in Thai)

It was about 6:30am the next day and we ate breakfast in Nong Khai before crossing the border to Lao. Nong Khai and Vieng Chan are separated by the Mekong river and connect each other by the Thai-Lao Friendship bridge.

Thai-Lao Border (Thai Side) – Imigration Check Out

Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge

Lao Side (Imigration Check In)

After checking out and checking in passport at both side we exchanged some money into Kip and continued our trip to Vieng Chan on other two vans. The vans were bringing us toward the hotel (Novotel) in Vieng Chan. It took about half hour from the border and we reached the hotel around 11:00 am.

The hotel that we stayed

Vieng Chan 

Once entering Lao, along the way, people lifestyle, scenery on both side of the road are quite similar to Cambodia and made me feel like visiting home again.

However my first impression in Lao, is the foods. There are alot of delicious foods to enjoy.

Nem Neoung Shop

Nem Neung (Far more difference from Nem Neung in AIT)

Lunch

Another delicious one

After checking in the hotel room, Khun Chort, a very nice Lao lady who facilitated for the workshop and who is also from AIT, had brought us to one food shop for lunch. It is called Nem Neung. The spcial menu in this shop is Nem Neung the most popular food in Lao.. and it was quite tasty..

To be continued..

Fantastic moment in AIT after the rain has stopped.. A greenish scenery which makes my feeling warm and happy..

Green..

and living in green..

and everywhere is green in AIT..

I really enjoy life in AIT.

It is nearly every year that at least one of my friends get scholarship to continue his/her study abroad. This year like the other previous years, my other two friends will leave the country for their respective study/research destinations.  The two of them will depart during this July.

Chouly, one of the Cambodian alumni from AIT and is also my good friend, will continue her PhD in the US under Fulbright scholarship (more on the news) while another good friend of mine Kakada will also leave for her Master degree program in Japan under JDS scholarship. 

I am really proud of them for their effort to get this opportunity.. and wish them to be success always with their studies as well as future lives. 

However, I wish I could see them off.. yet the time seems to be tight which make me uncertain for going back home some days before they leave.,

Finally, with a big miss, I hope we can meet each other again some days in the future.. and good luck to both of you my dear friends!!    

Here comes the rainy season.. in AIT

.. and just thought and felt of sth ..

Just feel so tension these days.. with some complex stuffs.

Last monday’s evening our advisor, Dr. Paul, had invited all of us as his advisees who had graduated and his project team go out for dinner.. The place where we went is along the Chao Praya river, not so far from AIT.. but I could not remember the place anyway. We really had a very good time to have talked and joint the dinner with him.

Since many of our Cambodian friends have just graduated from AIT and went back to home country, there are only fews of us here and make me feel that it is very quiet in AIT nowadays.. Hope there will be more new Cambodian students come to AIT in the upcoming semester.. 

With the visit of Cambodian AIT alumni, we had set up a trip to Siam Park last Saturday by gathering in front of UFM coffee shop in AIT.

It took about 1 hour from AIT to the place. Siam Park (Siam City Park) is similar to Dream World a place where we can enjoy and have fun with such games from mild to extreme..

In front of Siam Park

Jourassic Adventure

Roller Coster

Siam Tower

Dinosaure Museum

Flying..

Tangoda Disco.. Happy before the play.. and painful after..

After the game, some of us continued our trip to the center of Bangkok. We went to have dinner at Bayoke Sky hotel, the highest holtel (building) in Bankok. Before dinner we also had a chance to play golf (1ball/baht).. Then having dinner on the 82nd floor with various kinds of buffet food and enjoy the night view of Bangkok.

Dinner

All of us

Bangkok @ night – view from the 83rd floor of Bayoke sky hotel