Quantum Leap: Multiverse Transmigration 87 4.11 Food Trip, Ghost Trail And The Heavenly Monk.

I parked my bike nearby behind the pushcart vendor, and from the unmistakable smell that my hound's nose had picked up from it, I'm sure it's worth the wait to fall in line with others.

This particular pushcart food vendor was rather a permanent spot as they had about 1 Cook and 2 a.s.sistants. One of them is to prepare the ingredients while the other is to help to serve directly to the awaiting customers in the queue.

They had eight tables that would be able to seat six people at a time and by the time I was in line, all of the seats were taken. This must be a superb food sutra for food hunters like me. I peered through what the patrons were or had eaten and it looked rather sumptuous and definitely budget friendly.

I just hoped that I had enough in my worn out wallet though. I searched through the memory of Aroon and had discovered the pin number of his ATM, or I'd be stuck on how to earn money during this time.

Let's talk about the food, shall we?

The rice that was steamed looked and tasted unique. It is cooked in rich coconut milk, a few pandan screw pine was added for the scent, a dash of salt and some ginger slices. It's accompaniment the chilli paste; consisting of cooking oil, blended dried chilis, shrimp paste, garlic, ginger, shallot, scallions, palm sugar, black salted beans and lime juice.

This paste would be prepared over a wood fire for at least two to three hours and stirred continuously until the contents had turned from a liquid base into a thick paste that looked like hot lava from the top.

Without this chilli paste alone, one can never be able to bring out the rich coconut milk rice flavour by itself and it would definitely tickle one's palate and drown the taste buds with a wonderful whirl of spiciness, sweetness and a faint sourish aftertaste once these two are mixed together. *slurp*

This rich coconut milk rice and the chilli paste is like a match made in heaven. Really, you should try it, you know. Let me know where you are and I could point some directions on where you could acquire it, even if you are from the UK, Paris or in Germany even.

A variety of side dishes may include a mix of the following that consists of fried tiny anchovies, fried groundnuts, a sunny side up egg with its runny yolk, a whole deep-fried mackerel, deep fried chicken wing, crispy and fragrant German pork knuckles and stir-fried water spinach.

To top it off, they also serve 'Tam Tim Grob', a cold dessert made from shaved ice with water chestnut and coconut milk and another one "Kaw Mao Durien" a sticky glutinous rice dessert amidst a seedless Durian floating in hot coconut cream.

If you are not into durian, the so-called King of Fruits, you may opt for a glutinous rice cake that would be filled wither with grated coconut and palm sugar OR glutinous rice filled with banana slices and caramel, OR glutinous rice filled with mung beans. These cakes were wrapped in banana leaves and steamed. Eaten with palm sugar syrup or thick coconut milk.

In Thailand, it is common to see dishes and desserts cook or drowned in coconut milk and the thing is that people do not get obese or have heart or high cholesterol-related diseases. Reminds me back on the first series of this novel where coconut is quite a commonplace to be made into everyday use items.

When it was my turn to order, I was like ordering most of the side dishes, 2 servings of rich coconut milk rice and a 'Kao Mao Durien". I sat while the a.s.sistant of the pushcart food vendor prepares them and brought to my seat. And yeah, the price is within the budget and most importantly I had the most wonderful Gastronomical trip during lunch!

I ambled back to my bike, sat on the soft leather covered cus.h.i.+on seat and somehow felt that something is missing. Oh yeah... The pack of cigarettes which I had given to the elder security guard of our office building. Aroon himself was a heavy smoker, that smokes about a packet and half a day, while me being in his body, is trying to get rid of all the tar and nicotine from his lungs!

After letting a few burps of satisfaction, I straddled the bike and ride back to my office building where I intended to take a short nap to while the remaining lunch hour. As the Chief in editor, there is no problem for me to take an hour extra off during lunch hour but I think I could rest better after being fed in the office instead.
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I was resting in my swivel chair in my office when my mobile phone rang. I picked it up and answered and the other line was none other than p.o.r.nsak. She had asked me if I had eaten lunch and I lied to her that my office colleague had bought lunch for me and I stayed in the office while I ate. I explained that I was taking a nap when she called.

She hurriedly informed me that her uncle would like to visit me later this afternoon and to see if u could accommodate the two of them later at about 3:30 pm.

I checked the clock on my wall and agreed to the timing. She ended the call and I recalled what she had told me last night about the review of my Third Eye's and the Chi upgrade due to the fusion of both of our spiritual energies.

I still hadn't had time to check the rankings of the list of site p.o.r.nsak had marked out for me since I am awakened by the call, I decided to take a glance at the number of sites the SPI team were gonna visit and the intensifying horror, gore or simply terrifying events that had happened on the sites before.

It was t.i.tled "Thai Hong" which simply meant angry spirits. These spirits would be found roaming aimlessly where sudden or violent deaths had occurred and there was neither an acceptance to their deaths nor their sudden demise where they had other unfulfilled intentions that had yet to be made before their deaths.

Such sudden or violent deaths would normally be resulting them turning to be angry spirits such as poltergeist that either moves objects, makes unearthly sounds, scaring other human beings, as well as spiritual possession of one's soul to in turn, take their own lives.

Some even were able to scrawl in comprehensive images or words across walls or floors and some even left their blood on the floors that cannot be removed by was.h.i.+ng alone.

Normally in this situation, a Monk would be summoned to appease the spirits and guide them to the netherworld but these spirits sometimes can be stubborn and turned violent. They require another body to possess in order to 'speak' their minds to the exorcist or simply turn violent that turns the whole situation 180 degrees about.

In cases of suicide, some spirits may enter and possess weak souls of bystanders and make them commit suicide like the way how the former lives of those spirits ended their lives such as jumping from a height.

Most spirits were stuck in this world and the netherworld and seemed to repeat their way of demise by repeating the scenario over and over again. As in Thailand, there were cases where there would be more than one ent.i.ty in some of the sites that the SPI team would be 'interviewing'.

Frankly, little was known about these SPI team main intention as they would soon be meddling with matters that really don't concern them at all.

The sites were as follow:

Wat Pai Ngoen, Bangkok

Type: Disused Crematorium

Ranking: 2/5 stars

Ajarn Chuam Ashram, Chachoengsao

Type: Dilapidated Temple

Ranking: 4/5

Thawi Wattana Road, Bangkok

Type: Abandoned House

Ranking: 6/5

The piece of paper among the pile of which had been marked by p.o.r.nsak didn't look too shabby though. As for me, the abandoned house was ranked 6/5...! Which meant that it is either deadly or too scary by means of words.

Furthermore, an abandoned house carried more tales than fact and it could only mean one thing; the decline of property value in that place. Or else how would it be abandoned in the first place.

The disused crematorium part was ranked as 2/5. Seems more fittingly to be doc.u.mented as Thailand was made up of a majority of Buddhist believers and the way the deceased would pa.s.s through the final disposition of death by cremation.

It saves s.p.a.ce on burial grounds as their urns would be placed in some sort of slotted concrete shelves, marked by lots and the unit number just like one would stay in an apartment.

These urns which contain their ashes would either be placed there at their final resting place while some were brought home to be placed on mantelpieces above the furnace of the house.

While some would prefer to be scattered in the sea, which they believed would make the pa.s.sage of the deceased faster and also to 'broaden' their journey or some sort?

Furthermore, I won't recommend them pouring their deceased ashes in the sea. Would it be a matter of pollution or in a spiritual point of view, still it is a bad idea to spread their ashes in the sea? Fishes live in the sea.

Humans eat fishes thus these ashes might not be properly digested in the stomachs of those fishes and thus we, in turn, eat them up. Urrrgghh... We writers do have such imagination running wild in our heads.

Is ashes a degradable product or non-biodegradable product that's not a question for me to find out though at this moment. The thought of these fishes gobbling up these ashes that seems to be like plankton flakes would definitely turn me off against consuming seafood anymore. *Wwwweeeccckkkk* (retching sounds in the background made by someone offscreen, throwing up their lunches as they read what I had just written.)

Little was known about a dilapidated temple. Either its popularity among the residents of the town had dwindled in time or maybe the structure had gone out of style. Or either the maintenance had gone neglected which means someone had pocketed the money that was meant towards the maintenance and upkeep of the temple.

No one knows what it is and all these three locations were being marked to be doc.u.mented and narrated by p.o.r.nsak. She may have the script or story behind all these. As for me, I'm there to use their equipment to capture the doc.u.ments as well as the presence of ent.i.ties.

There was a knock on my door and one of my work colleagues poked his head in and said the Narrator is here again with a Monk. He said that the Monk was blessing our office and everyone were involved. He then gestured me to join him as he swung my office door wide open and placed a rubber wedge on the floor against the door to actually let it open ajar.

I stood up and went to my door where I saw p.o.r.nsak and a Monk. She immediately came to my side and placed both hands in front of her chest and bowed to me in a Thai customary fas.h.i.+on. I did the same with her and she came right to me and hooked my arm with hers. Wow...! That was fast...! I wondered what would the rest of my office colleagues would think when they saw her hugging my arms with me like that on a second meet.

The Monk went about the office, his robe he wore was of auspicious saffron coloured which the other monks were used to be seen wearing during ceremonials and such. He also had some talismans around his neck which is known as "Phrak Khru Reang" which had some bald headed dude carved from some blessed clay that was embossed in either plastic or acrylic material that protects the "talisman" safe from everyday use.

Other monks would not have these but he had this large beaded kind of prayer beads around his neck, and the size of each bead was slightly smaller than a ping-pong ball. Black and s.h.i.+ny and I wonder how many beads are those. In some MMORPG games, these beads around his neck would be of some sort of weapon with divine powers.

108 prayer beads were entwined on his left hand starting with a loop around his middle finger, and from the looks of it, that item was rare since it was made from some kind of scented wood. In Inu Yasha, Miroku was a Hos.h.i.+ and also had the same beads around his right hand instead to seal his 'Kazaana' or 'Wind Tunnel' curse left by Naraku.

Maybe this Monk had the same Kazaana in his left hand instead. He could exorcise the spirits right into his hands without breaking a sweat! The only missing thing is the staff that normally Miroku was carrying all the time. Without the staff, I think the big black beads around his neck sort of being a subst.i.tute for the missing staff.

He held on his left hand a small blessing bowl that was intricately designed and was either made from metal or stainless steel with colourful designs on the surface. From my point of view, I can't say the actual make of the blessing bowl. He used a kind of short bamboo brush and used it to sprinkle around the office and the people around it after he had dipped into his blessing bowl.

Everyone had their hands clasped together and placed under their chins with bowed heads. Likewise, I did the same out of respect. The Monk went forward and blessed both p.o.r.nsak and me and entered the small cramped office where his eyes widened slightly but remained to bless the whole office, resulting in splashes of blessed water to smudge some of my papers on my table. Ooohhhh..... Those Dreadful third-party inks from inkjet printers sure were not as those Nippon brands.

He stopped and he then placed his bowl and the bamboo brush into a cloth bag which he had slung on his right shoulder. Thinking it was a cool thing to do since the blessed water in his bowl did not spill a single drop inside the cloth bag. It was a Vans - Off The Wall brand.

He clasped his hand in a Prayer like a manner and placed under his chin and bowed deeply to me and wished, "Its a great opportunity to meet you, oh Chosen One. My sincerest respects to you from our clan as well."

"O, Benevolent Monk, what's a Chosen One? What does that mean? I mean, please try to enlighten and share with me, in this unknown and sacred information in my office. Come, please take a seat and make yourself comfortable." I inquired him as I led him to my guest chair and a colleague of mine brought in another one from their works.p.a.ce into my cramped office for p.o.r.nsak.

Both of them took their seats and sat in front of me while I returned to my seat, stacked all the doc.u.ments on my table on one side thus making a clear s.p.a.ce between us.

"You have travelled far and wide and had a vast experience that no had ever possessed before, Chosen One. You came from different walks of life and you experienced the existence of birth, life, living and death in multiple instances once at a time in a continuous path. Your fate and destiny are what you choose along your palm of your life's journey, Chosen One."

"Benevolent Monk, it is too much to be called Chosen One. But why the term 'chosen one' while I'm just a normal mortal like you and me."

"p.o.r.nsak, please close the door. I do not wish this conversation to leak through."

p.o.r.nsak rose from her seat and promptly closed the door shut, thus disallowing anyone from overhearing this conversation. The Monk continued.

"You, as the Chosen One has the path to change one's life, one's fate, one's destiny am I right to say that? It may be alright for you not to reveal who you are, what you did and how you ended up here in this life. As I had said, Chosen One, you came from a place far away and had lived the lives that others had not the chance to. I leave this part for you to know by yourself whether you are not aware of had already been aware of the existence."

The Monk smiled as he spoke through with lots of metaphors used in the conversation. As what they called it, beating around the bush or used metaphors and ways to describe the matters without actually mentioning the direct meaning of it.

"Benevolent Monk, thank you for explaining the matters to me. p.o.r.nsak and I..."

I was interrupted midway when the Monk raised his hands to stop me.

"I know; I can see from your Third Eye that it was very ancient and sacred and had been awakened not by you but by ancient methods and by someone from the past a long time ago. It is not used to see spirits by the unseeing eye but also as a guiding light as you pa.s.sed from one place to another; protecting you and your future. It is very bright, and it resembles your inner self, your joys and happiness especially with p.o.r.nsak around."

I closed my mouth when I was stopped midway while trying to explain the spiritual upgrade or so-called chi for example.

"Oh Chosen One, do you wish to know from me how far you had progressed in your Chi powers? Then open your palm and place them on this table and clear your mind and breathe normally."

I placed both my hands on the table, palms up and I glanced at p.o.r.nsak who was smiling away as if she knew what would happen next and then at the Monk who told me to close my eyes.

He slowly used his forefingers and slightly hover on both of my palms when suddenly I felt myself as if being sucked into a wormhole as the hovering fingertips of the monk's were being connected by a single flow of unknown blue electrifying spark or lightning that came from the middle of my palms into his forefinger..... *Bbbbzzzzzztttttt* (try to imagine the sound effect, guys. I'm about to be enlightened and enter into an unknown realm, you know)