As I slept at about 4am the "previous day", I woke up at 12+pm only:p A few of my Buddhist friends had arranged to catch up and roamed around Geylang for Buddhist celebration sights.
I decided to visit Wat Ananda Metyarama Thai Buddhist Temple at Jalan Bukit Merah prior to our meeting. This was the first temple in which I had my formal Buddhist lessons. The crowd was manageable when I arrived at about 4pm. I met one old friend from Wat Ananda who was still actively participating in their activities.
I was attempting to get a good picture of the temple compound when I saw Herry! haha. Our past karmic links had ripened!
Wat Ananda (Side view)
Wat Ananda (Front view)
Painting on wall near main gate
Buddha figure under Bodhi Tree (One spot which I particularly like)
Buddha statue (Thai style) in main Shrine
Four-Face "Buddha" (The Four-Face "Buddha" or Hindu God of Creation, Brahma, played a very significant role in Thai Buddhism)
Buddha's Relics
Herry and Me posing for a pic:p
I invited Herry to join me with my friends at Geylang. He agreed.
Reunion with old friends at Geylang
After dinner and some catching up (and lame jokes as usual haha), we went to the exhibition by Amitabha Buddhist Centre (ABC for short) next to Aljunied MRT station. ABC belongs to the Vajrayana tradition (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetan_Buddhism). I am not too familiar with this Buddhist tradition. It was also at this moment that our organiser decided to "abandon" us for a few meat buns hahah (personal joke!)
Below are some pictures taken at ABC's exhibition area:
Prayer Wheels (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_wheel)
After we had finished looking at the exhibits and some deliberation on whether to call it a day or explore some other places, we finally decided to go to Burmese Buddhist Temple at Tai Gin Road. This was also where I had my first car accident=( It was a minor one though (heng!). The story went like this:
Being the blur (not familiar with the roads) and reckless driver I was, I kept making the wrong turns en route to Burmese Temple. At one occasion, I was changing lane from the utmost left to the utmost right (it was about 3 lanes). My attention was all over the place. I was talking and listening to my friends in the car and at the same time, I was changing lanes. As the distance to the utmost right lane was not exactly near, I stepped on the accelerator while checking my blind spot to make sure there were no cars coming from the back. Before I realised it, I was too near to the car in front and even though I stepped hard on the brakes, I could not avoid the fate of bumping slightly into it...
The other car's driver was not too pleased naturally and he complained aloud before proceeding to inspect his car. Fortunately there was not any significant damage and he decided to just let it go (phiew!). My car suffered a minor but obvious scratch at the front bumper.
I was really shocked by this incident and have since vowed to drive even more carefully!
After much "ostacles", we arrived at Burmese Buddhist Temple at about 8 or 9+pm. They were almost done with the packing of the decorations haha. There were still a handful of devotees doing their prayers. I particularly liked the figure of the Standing Buddha on the 3rd floor. We left shortly after for a drink at Novena Square. It was defintely a very fullfilling day!
For next year's Vesak though, I decide I would be a True Buddhist and diligently do my practice:p
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