Life in Bangkok...a little bit more

Hi Guys!

Thanks to Margit for encouraging me to do some more writing about Bangkok!

And here are some pictures too...the server seems ok now, but we are having endless worries with other stuff...especially in Cambodia where connections are not so good!

But you are not here to hear mne compening about IT problems are you...enough of that in your life huh???

Sooooo : let's get back to Bangkok!

Our first contact with this huge asian metropolis was during a stopover on our way to Auckland.

This left us with an impression of a very touristy, crowded, polluted and noisy city...

Well...this is indeed the case, but, like every city (I think), it has corners to suit every mood and every person...just find them...

But first, a little bit on why we stayed so long in Bangkok.

(As most of you may know that we are not real city people...)

Bangkok was, from the beginning of our trip, the place where we had to come to make all our visas for the rest of the trip...And indeed, you can find in Bangkok all sorts of Anbassies...from the most useful (for us), like Laos and China...to the most unexpected (Armenia and Cyprus...)

So we went to the ambassies and got a first impression on the countries we are about to visit;

Laos embassy was in a far away location, demanding a 1h sweety bus ride + 1h walk (because we got lost as our map showed the ambassy at the wrong location...).

It was really easy to get the visa (in 1h, with a little extra of 5euros), but it was full of mistakes (mispelling in the name, no staying duration...). When we ask the lady at the counter, she waved our worries away; no problems, no problems...

We hope the immigration officers will think likewise...!!!

On the opposite, China Embassy has its own underground station, is located in a huge arteria, between 2 flashing new shopping centers!

The building is beautiful; marmor, huge stone lions garding the entrance, banner in the wind...but we weren't allowed to go in and had to go to next door office building to get our Visas.

It took 5 working days (but in China they seem to count saturday and sunday as working days...!!!) to get the visa.

It was amazing the number of people waiting in the room, and the number of passeports in the office behind the counter...but nonetheless our application was done in 15mn and when coming back for our visa, they found our passeport within 2s in the thousands they had!!

We were quite impressed by the efficiency...maybe because we are not used to it anymore...!!!

Striking News!!!!

We are now both graduated from the Wat Po traditional Thai massage School!

Yes, you read well...Thai Massage...this is actually (despite what has been marketed from the sexual tourism zones of Phuket and Patpong) a health massage, based on pressures on energy lines and some yoga stretching...

Do not worry; we haven't become hippies nor are considering a carreer change...but it seemed like an interesting way to discover an aspect of the thai culture, get a feeling for what life in Bangkok is like and make us wake up (early) in the morning.

While some people go on holiday to change from their routine, we go on a routine to change from our holidays!!!

So every morning, we left our homestay in a quiet backstreet near lunphini park and tooka metro ride, in order to beat the traffic. Plus the metro has aircon, which is quite good at the end of the dry season in downtown Bangkok (even in the early morning!). Finally, the metro is 3 to 8times more expansive than the bus for the same route...so it doesn't get so crowded!

Bangkok Metro, peak hour!

While outside...

After the metro, we have 15mn boat ride on the Chao Praya river (Bangkok "Seine" river)...this is really enjoyable, especially with the morning light over the carved roofs of the temples and the buzzling life of the river...but be careful not to inhale too expansively...the smell of the water unfortunately reflects the number of household without proper sewage of the city!!!

A Klong (one of the small canals radiating from the

river and justifying the name "Venice of the Est")

Wat Arun (Dawn Temple), overlooking the

Chao Praya River

Our school in located in a renoveated chinese shop house. in the street right behing Wat Poh temple.

In that street, a lot of shops sell plants, herbs, books and gear to masseurs and traditional medicine students of the school.

The door of our school and all the medicine merchants...

The school has 1 massage course for foreigners, which is given in english, but most of the students are Thai.

The army of Thai girls studying the same course as us, and who are going to tortur undreds of tourists in the beaches of Thailand...and even overseas, as some are heading to Europe, where their husbands are waiting for them...(3rd export of Thailand after rubber and plam oil?...The women!!!)

In this daily routine, enjoying the boat ride and the atmosphere of the street, studying in this beautiful wooden house overlooking the temple...we feel something very special...

And when I am getting massaged by one of the other trainee student, my eyes go through the carved window, over to the ornemented roof of the temple next door. And while the voices (in Thai) of the Thai teachers make like a lullaby in the back ground...I feel for some instants that I belong to this place, somewhere in this big foreign city...

This may sound crazy, but it is what I found out we are looking for in our travels...not just the sighseeing, the food or the people...but that special balance which is so hard to reach...

Through the window

04:05 - 5/04/2007 - Ajouter un commentaire