More sightseeing and stuff

Despite the quantities of alcohol consumed at Melbourne Cup we still managed to be up and out in time to meet Jen (Teastains JJ) at 8.45am in Asok Skytrain Station (not bad eh!!). We'd both received invitations to attend a coffee morning at the Bangkok National Museum (We're both part of the NMV) so that we could view the Photography exhibition in more detail (It was difficult to see everything on the opening night because of the number of people there!!) and to attend a talk by the President of the Thai Photographic Society. I had never been to the Museum via the River Taxi before but had decided that it was probably a hell of a lot quicker than trying to get there by car (Honestly - Bangkok Traffic is really a sight to behold and I'm not even going to go into how bad it is in rush hour!!). It turned out to be a good move - we met up with Merran and Heather at the boat and it turned out that Heather had done this route before and we could actually just walk to the Museum at the other end (So we didn't have to go through the rigmarole of trying to get a taxi to take us where we wanted to go!!). We spent a really lovely morning there......we walked round the exhibition, Mum got to meet my NMV friends and then we sat under the shade of a huge tree eating cakes and listening to the speaker. Normally it's so hot here that sitting outside is not really an option but we're heading into the cool season now (which means that the temp goes down to about 28 degrees) so there was a pleasant breeze and it was just lovely!!! It was great that she got to see it in all it's glory and she managed to pick up a few copies of the book to take home with her as presents.

Jen headed off to do some writing and Mum and I went along to Kuppa on Soi 16 - If you've not been I can highly recommend it.....the roast vegetable salad is absolutely gorgeous and, this is the best bit, if you've had salad it means that you can have cake (The carrot cake is to die for!!). Mum and I met up with my friend Caroline and her friend Amanda who we discovered has a cat that weighs 12 kilos!! (2 stone......now that's a big cat!!). We had a lovely lunch then headed off to the SCAD (Soi Cat And Dog) shop where I volunteer and Mum helped me update their shop window for Diwali. (I'm not sure we did a very good job but at least we got rid of the mouldy pumpkins that had been there from Halloween!!).

I'm sorry but I just can't help myself.....
Diwali is lovely and is celebrated by Buddhists, Hindus, Jains and Sikhs across the globe. It's known as 'The Festival of Light' where lights or lamps signify the victory of good over evil within every human being. The story behind Diwali varies across different regions - some believe that it's the return of Lord Rama to Ayodhya after a 14 year exile and that the people of Ayodhya lit oil lamps to light his path in the dark, some believe that it's a celebration commemorating the killing of an evil demon called Narakasura by Lord Krishna whilst others believe that it is the day that Lord Krishna defeated Indra who is the deity of thunder and rain but, no matter what the belief, it is celebrated with fireworks, lights, flowers and worship.