SELF PORTRAIT

Although pulchritude is the forethought of man, I am fortunate enough God created man in His own image, with so much pride that I am good enough for a second look. My inadequate command of adjectives and words make me fail to describe myself vividly. I wish I could televise myself so that what I tell would prove to be true. I am Eric Am-is Baroy Mahinay a pure descent of half Spanish, and Malayan race. I'm a Filipino adventurer and sojourner and due to my adventurous spirit, I was able to reach the 3 big major islands of the country, Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. My mother was supposedly naming me an old Spanish-inspired name of a lover's saint Valentino because I was born on Valentine's day. Good heaven, the midwife suggested Eric as in King Eric of Denmark which was a viker then, the reason I name my blog Vikings after the meaning of my name itself. My early childhood was spent in different places in the country, then in Olongapo city where I graduated high school in the '80s. I moved back to my mother's homeplace and took my first course in college at my father's ancestral home Cebu. My birthday falls every Valentine's day of the year. I was born on a dear exotic and peaceful island of the world called " Isla del Fuego". It is located in the central part of Visayas (you could locate it on the Philippine map). My life as a Christian has spent 17 years inactively and 6 years actively. I'd not be where I am today without the untiring, powerful touch of the Holy Spirit. Thanks to the aghast threat of the millennium bug, to my horror I kneel crying alarmed to be grilled in the lake of fire. I thank God for giving me the opportunity of sharing this website. I hope this will transcends the barriers that keep from reaching out to one another. The above picture is the sketch of me being as the young me before. There comes a time in your life when you realize that if you stand still, you will remain at this point forever You'll realize that if you fail and stay down, life will pass you by..... Life's circumstances are not always what you might wish them to be. The pattern of life does not necessarily go as you plan. Beyond any understanding, you may at times be led in different directions that you never imagined, dreamed, or designed. Yet, if you had never put any effort into choosing a path, or tried to carry out your dream, then perhaps you would have no direction at all. Rather than wondering about or questioning the direction your life has taken, accept the fact that there is a path before you now. Shake off the why's and what if's, and rid yourself of confusion, Whatever is- is what's important. The past is a brief reflection. The future is yet to be realized. Today is here. Walk your path one step at a time with courage, faith, and determination. Keep your head up, and cast your dreams to the stars. Soon your steps will become firm, and your footing will be solid again. A path that you never imagined will become the most comfortable direction you could have ever hoped to follow. Keep your belief in yourself and walk on your new journey. You will find it magnificent, spectacular, and beyond your wildest imaginings.

CHIANG MAI TRIP

This Chiang Mai trip was a part of our New Year's Eve adventure in the north. On the 1st day of January 2010, we went down to Chiang Mai to spend another night and a day to seize the exciting trip...before we check-in to the hotel and rest for a while, we took a side trip to Queen Sirikit's Botanical Garden which is a drive away outside the main city.

  It's the biggest botanical garden I've ever seen so far...we never toured around the entire garden but just visited the main heart of the garden. I saw various species of plants which some were very common to me. Our boss paid for the entrance, and I decided to buy herbal made cologne. 

                                                           Second Destination-Kitsada Doi After we spent a couple of hours in Queen Sirikit's Botanical Garden, we visited another captivating and lush garden just half an hour from the Botanical garden. It's one of the interesting places to visit in Chiang Mai and one of the popular destinations for locals since it was decidedly opened to the public. Warm lights crown the tops of the tree as the afternoon sun spills across the manicured lawns and neat surrounding of the Kitsada compound. Not far away, at the gate- aromas of the flowers around the place scattered lightly through the air, blending together in the assortment colors of the flowers for the eyes to appreciate. The area was covered with dazzling flowers offering the scenic view of pink color among the sea mist. Kitsada Doi as they called it, is just outside Chiang Mai and 30 minutes by drive. I couldn't believe that it was exactly the same just as the usual wall posters being sold in the Philippines. Well, I can proudly say to my friends back home that I saw the place. My co-teacher and I took the chance of roving around taking pictures that we can as much as our boss gave us the moment to enjoy...well, where you could find a boss who's kind enough to take us to some places in the north by free?

NEW YEAR'S EVE - NORTH OF THAILAND PART II

My ultimate travel and experience in the north of Thailand were unforgettable. So this is the continuation of my adventure up north (of Thailand). One of our New Year's adventures was trekking around the hotspots of Pai Maehonsong. After we spent a day and a night shopping around the proper town of Pai - we headed up to the highest peak of the place which we spent New Year's eve. As expected, the road going up was a series of short sharp turns which equally interior with un-denuded trees. Upon reaching the mountain, we were in the instance of hard finding a spot to put up our tents just as the place was overcrowded with kindred vacationists. Lucky us we were, within a minute or two - we blissfully found enough space to set up our tents. To my amazement, my homesickness was practically slipped by for a moment as my eyes were being googled by the unspoiled beauty of the mountain. Both sides of the mountain are surrounded by fascinating wildlife & pristine forest. The ancient lush forest with huge timeless rubber trees, amazing green scenery, and deep silence and serenity made me feel relax at once. Freezing cold wind causally made us shiver when it touches us, untiring breathtaking views continued to make us on awed while we didn't stop appreciating the beauty of nature and taking pictures.

 

LOST IN CAPITAL CITY

"If we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find that we have lost the future".
(Source:http://g8.no/index.php?showimage=309)
I found this picture very fascinating so as with the message....There are moments and ways I have found myself alone and desolate in places I dare not speak of.Lost in the capital city, broken promises and untrodded.
I am bored that sometimes I lost myself in the city of joy, looking for my way back home.

AGE IS JUST A NUMBER

Honestly, I am afraid of getting older without any accomplishments in life....getting older of being single, & alone. Afraid of getting older when I failed to do something that the desires of my heart wants me to achieve...
This picture really awakens me when I checked the site of Chuckie Dreyfus....its nice isn't it?

BLOGGING FOR HAITI

The world is still on shocked about the earthquake happened in Haiti..another calamity that brings so much worries and threats to the world. I remembered a certain news in the Philippines before I left for Thailand that Philippines,specifically the capital city Manila might be hit by a strong quake that would damage a million. Philippines is prone to earhtquake since the fault line is just along the shore of the archipelago..well,the Bible predicts as I may say it that there'll be calamities during the end times..and its been happening before I was born..
I'm blogging for Haiti, giving my support through prayers to the victims...my heart honestly bleeding.



May Haiti recovers in a soonest time possible and forgets the casualty behind...

POSTERS, SIGNS, and WHATEVER

I took picture of posters, signs that are commonly posted around Chiang Mai and Pai...My intentions of taking them was to share how Thai obviously grasping the simple English just to let the Foreigners to understand..

NEW YEAR'S EVE - NORTH OF THAILAND

As New Year's eve was approaching, I knew that I'd be celebrating it somewhere else since my boss already booked a hotel beforehand for us somewhere at the Northern part of Thailand.
Well,this has been my first New Year celebration abroad too, just as the Christmas eve.Our boss took us at Pai,I guess the coldest place of Thailand way ahead of Chiang Mai city.
We left our place early 8 in the morning and drove almost 8 hours headed up to the North.Sitting on the van was actually a really awesome condition for a good sleep(not me) with all those shaking and warm temperature going on so as got me the chance of seeing different places of the northern Thailand.
It has been a tradition for the classy and middle class Thai people to welcome the New Year up north or somewhere else around Thailand, but usually at the northern part.It took us 5 stop over (I guess) with some travellers headed north, which I just found out that some of them were heading to the same place that we went to.
The road going to the north was quite good and its almost jammed with vacationeer cars.
On the way to Pai was a thrilling drive since the road going there is a zigzag and prone to accident as well.The road was a bit dusky because it's enveloped with trees and untouched suroundings.
Pai is a small community, embraced by rolling mountains and enveloped in natural setting that is fresh and beautiful. The atmosphere is clean, pure, quiet and warmly welcoming. The different ethnic groups, the people of plains and the people of the mountains have blended together there to form a unique set of cultural traditions.
The citizens of Pai live their with a spirit of generosity and a sense of community. Yet at the same time, the remoteness of the region makes travel to and from Pai difficult because its an isolated place too. I really do love Pai.It's a nice and the weather is perfectly good for me.Talking about "Farangs" as the Thai called us foreigners, Pai was also known to white foreigners as well.
I saw a handful of white foreigners around the town of Pai, enjoying the cold weather and the natural old Thai settings.
My happiness was completed for this year, though I spent New Year a seas away from home..What else can I ask for? Just grateful to the Lord that it was a great welcoming of the year 2010 for me.

A busy night street of Pai...

A breathtaking scenic view of Pai mountain...the fog contributes more beauty of the nature while it speaks its natural beauty.

A cozy room that we rented..at Pai.

traditional store as my boss at the back buying something.

As we strolled around the busy night shopping street of Pai.

a bright morning just as the sun trying to warm us.

Gazeebo..a European style of sort.


matching my sweatshirt's color to the trolley....if you wish to fall in love..just visit Coffee in Love shop..you surely do fall in love the place.

Lunch break at the Chinese resto located at Pai's old Chinese small village.

Leaning against the rock with Chinese writing on it(I dunno what does it means)

Chinese old hut.....

Busy,crowded,and traffic street at Pai Chinese village.

BEYOND CONSPIRACY........

Since I was blog away for a while..I decided to post more just to make up the absent. As a fan and supporter of Ninoy,I just want to make use this chance to post whatever the program of Ninoy's supporters online.Got this text from Bluepanjeet's blog while browsing the blogosphere.


Twenty-five years ago, on August 21, 1983, former senator Benigno “Ninoy” S. Aquino Jr. was shot and killed at then Manila International Airport. It happened less than a minute after soldiers escorted him from his seat on board China Airlines Flight 811. Ninoy’s death sparked a chain of events that would end the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. Today, only dim memories of this national tragedy remain. What linger are faint recollections of a military conspiracy. Beyond that, the circumstances surrounding Ninoy’s murder remain a mystery… UNTIL NOW!
Produced by the Foundation for Worldwide People Power (FWWPP), Beyond Conspiracy: 25 Years after the Aquino Assassination was directed by documentarist Butch Nolasco while the script was written by Ben Tangco. This 90-minute documentary combines painstaking research with state-of-the-art CGI(computer generated imaging) technology to recreate Ninoy’s assassination, showing angles that Filipinos have never seen before.
Beyond Conspiracy seeks to affirm the historical significance of the Aquino assassination to the youth, many of whom have very little knowledge of this tragedy and its profound impact on Philippine society, other than what they may have hear or read in school. The documentary of FWWPP also talks to those who were old enough to recall the assassination but have grown indifferent, convinced that Ninoy died in vain because the “real mastermind” will never come to light. Hosted by Ms. Tina Monson-Palma.

CHRISTMAS IN THAILAND

I'm back from such a very busy Christmas English program in the school....since it's my first time to celebrate Christmas outside my country, I was sad and lonely being away from friends and kins on holidays. I was worried that while living in a Buddhist country, I would not be able to enjoy anything of Christmas other than in my own little living space. I was WRONG!!! There are 4 foreign Christians living in the place where I am staying and they actively celebrate the birth of Jesus. And, although I could be very wrong in this thought, everyone believes in Santa! Three of them are Protestant missionaries from New Zealand and Uk, and there were two young ladies who just joined us coming from England and Wales serving as missionaries in a nearby city. On the 25th day of December, we grouped together just as a family in a foreign land with purely European traditional foods, of course, my co-Pinoy teacher prepared something in the Pinoy style as well. From the day I arrived in Thailand, I saw evidence of the approaching Christmas season just as big malls around Bangkok filled with decorations and ornaments of Christmas...but then it didn't give me hope because I was enveloped with homesickness. Many of the malls had huge Christmas tree displays with full-sized colorful wreaths...that brought so much sadness to my face as I was thinking of the biggest Christmas celebrations in the Philippines while the cool breeze of December caressing your face. Faces of friends and family were the first pictures that I remembered, flashing back how the Filipinos busy rushing about the Christmas shopping and the Christmas carols in the air played always.