Thailand
Don Mueang

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    • Day 109

      Von Tag zu Tag

      February 14 in Thailand ⋅ 🌙 33 °C

      Soeben trat ich aus dem Haus, um wieder einmal – wie fast jeden Tag – eine, nein sogar zwei Sendungen von unserer eigenen Postsammelstelle abzuholen. Man kann sich ungefähr die Temperatur vorstellen, mit der unsere Kaufhäuser winters mittels Luftduschen an den Eingängen von oben die Kälte außen am Einströmen in das geheizte Gebäudeinnere hindern. Genauso warm war es gerade draußen – so um die 36 Grad. Ja, die kühle Jahreszeit geht allmählich ihrem Ende entgegen. Es folgt nun die sogenannte heiße Jahreszeit.

      Gestern war Ulrike einmal wieder in der Innenstadt. Dabei entdeckte sie, daß der fünf Meter hohe künstliche Weihnachtsbaum gegenüber vor dem Eingangsgebäude der Sri Pathum Universität nun doch schon abgebaut wird. Immerhin hatten wir den 14. Februar, na ja nun doch schon ein wenig jenseits Mariä Lichtmeß‘ –doch sind wir ja hier inmitten des Buddhismus, also: was soll’s?

      Seit wir Mitte Dezember hier in unsere Wohnung einzogen, erfreute er uns fortlaufend abends mit seiner Lightshow – ähnlich einer Lichtorgel, jedoch ohne den untermalenden Discosound. Für Geräuschuntermalung sorgte jedoch der stetig Tag und Nacht dichtbei vorbeiflutende Großstadtverkehr auf der sechsspurigen Pahonyothin Road.

      Gestern am Mittwoch dem 14. Februar wurde auch hier mit dem weltweit üblichen Kommerztamtam der Valentinstag zelebriert. Die für die öffentlichen passenden Dekorationen Zuständigen kamen wahrscheinlich mit hängenden Zungen ihren sich gegenwärtig Schlag auf Schlag wandelnden Aufgaben kaum hinterher. Am 10. Februar, also am vergangenen Freitag, wurde nämlich das chinesische Neujahrsfest gefeiert. Dieses richtet sich genau wie das Osterfest nach dem Lunarkalender und wird daher ebenfalls von Jahr zu Jahr an einem anderen Tag begangen.

      Die auf der Glücksfarbe Rot der Chinesen basierenden Dekorationen zum Neujahrsfest mußten so mit wehenden Fahnen flugs in Valentinstags-Dekos umgebaut werden. Zum Glück ist die Grundfarbe dieses Tages nun ja auch in Rot, so daß man vieles von Neujahr sicherlich mit übernehmen konnte.

      Das Jahr des Hasen ging zu Ende und wurde durch das Jahr des Drachens abgelöst, einem überaus glückbringenden Tiersymbol. Traditionell wird am Morgen nach Leibeskräften mit Schwärmerketten geböllert. So auch durch die Schüler unter Lehreraufsicht auf dem Pausenhof der benachbarten Grundschule, in den wir nolens volens von oben aus luftiger Höhe Einblick haben. Man stelle sich vergleichbare Zeremonien bei uns in Deutschland vor – oh heiliges Schulamt, oh heiliges Aufsichtsamt! Andere Länder, andere Sitten! Auch das ist es, was für uns den Reiz vor Ort mit ausmacht!

      Valeria schickte von der Insel Koh Tao, wo sie gerade einen Tauchkurs absolvierte, einen kurzen Clip, der das Neujahrs-Böllern im dortigen Hafen zeigt.
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    • Day 105

      Hello Bangkok for 12 hrs

      September 15, 2023 in Thailand ⋅ 🌧 28 °C

      After arriving at BKK I was delayed at customs with a new guy trying to work out all my stamps in my passport!
      We then picked up our bags that were waiting for us and dropped our new big red bag at the luggage storage for 27 days! We’ll pick it up on the way home.
      The driver was waiting for us and took us the 1.5 hrs across the city to our hotel which was next to tomorrows airport at Don Mueang. We stayed at a quirky little hotel run by a couple of lovely Thai ladies.
      Dinner out ended up being takeaway from 7Eleven as we didn’t want to risk all the street food - especially with Jasins dodgy guts.
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    • Day 10

      Adventures in Bangkok, Part 1

      December 18, 2016 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

      We've only been in Bangkok for three days, but we have covered a lot of ground - literally!

      We stayed at the Bangkok tree house (see last post) which is in a very secluded part of the city. That is because it's in the "green lung" district of the city, literally in the jungle. That means it took close to 3 hours to get to the temples, by foot to the ferry, then taxi to metro, then foot again, but it was worth it.

      First, we visited Wat Pho, one of the oldest and highest graded Buddhist temples in Thailand. It was built in the 17th century. The temple complex houses the largest collection of Buddha images in Thailand, including a 46 m long reclining Buddha! See the pic.

      We were lucky to meet my friends here and see the temples with them. That means we had a local hook us up and help us get around, and even be our local guide and translators for the day. Thanks so much, Gordon, for the fantastic memories!

      They even gave us a crash course in Thai culture and the Royal family. What's interesting about the culture is that Thailand had a royal family. The recent King, Rama IX, has been in power for six decades but died two months ago. He was revered almost as a god. We even saw a big memorial by the palace and lots of locals dressed in thick black traditional clothing to pay their respects and mourn. Apparently, many night clubs even closed after his death because of how much this country worshipped him.

      Having locals with us really helped when we decided to get Thai foot massages. Wat Pho is renowned for its massage school, one of the first and best in Thailand. We were able to skip the tourist lines that had half an hour wait times because our fantastic guide took us around the corner to the student center where the was no line!

      The massages at the student center were great. First, they give you these comfy pajamas pants. And after an hour of being twisted, cracked, hit, and acrobatically rotated by the masseuse who used her legs and every muscle in her body to massage us, we still felt super peaceful (no joke... That's a Thai massage!). Marc's pic below proves it.

      We also had another friend in Bangkok that we we able to explore with and celebrate Marc's birthday, too: Matthieu! He met us at one of the highest rooftop bars in the city for cocktails, Vertigo. We got a great view of Bangkok by night from the 60th story! And we drank passion fruit cocktails to get the true flavor of the city.

      Our last adventure this week in Bangkok (before our stay in Chiang Mai, a northern city) was the floating market. Here, local food and clothes markets are often set up on the river. Some are accessed by canoe taxis, but we walked. We sampled everything from passion fruit smoothies to fish balls on a stick to coconut custard cooked in banana leaves! We even heard some karaoke!

      Then we flew to Chiang Mai for an elephant adventure. Stay tuned for the next post about the elephant sanctuary and then another from Bangkok after our trip to Chiang Mai, for Svet's birthday!

      --

      Depuis notre base dans le poumon vert de Bangkok, il nous a fallu prendre un ferry, puis un taxi jusqu'au métro, pour arriver après deux changements dans le cœur historique de la ville. Pas très pratique, mais pas trop mal comparé aux 3h que les habitants passent dans les bouchons en moyenne chaque jour !

      Et le trajet vaut le coup ! En compagnie de nos amis qui habitent sur place, on a pu visiter les temples de Wat Arun et Wat Pho (très réputé pour son école de massage, on en a fait l'expérience 😃), et siroter des cocktails sur le toit d'un hôtel de luxe avec vue panoramique sur Bangkok du haut des 60 étages (merci Matthieu !).

      En passant près du palais royal, on a vu toute une foule venue rendre hommage au roi décédé le mois dernier. Il y a des mémoriaux partout dans Bangkok et beaucoup de gens portent des vêtements ou un ruban noir. Le roi était très apprécié et révéré : les thaïlandais lui attribuent plusieurs milliers de mesures qui ont contribué à améliorer leurs conditions de vie depuis que le roi est monté sur le trône il y a 70 ans.

      Avant de partir pour Chiang Mai, on est allés au marché flottant près de notre hôtel-cabane. Comme le reste du "poumon vert", le marché attire surtout des gens de Bangkok qui viennent passer le week-end à l'écart de l'agitation du centre. Loin des marchés flottants attrape-touristes, ici les étals ne sont pas sur des bateaux mais au bord des canaux. Ingrédients, plats cuisinés, vêtements, artisanat, et même karaoké, il y en a pour tous les goûts ! On s'est régalés de boulettes de poisson frit et de crème de coco colorée au pois papillon bleu.

      Prochaine étape : les éléphants !
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    • Day 2,288

      Reunited

      March 4, 2022 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

      Wow I don't think I realised how drunk I was yesterday. Its always the bloody Sambuca that gets me. It's like a silent assassin, but it's made itself very apparent in my head this morning. I feel rough as toast but weather the storm and take myself down to the pool for a swim to try and clear it. As I sit there the hotel backs onto the river and huge covered tugs go by that are carrying construction equipment, it can be anything from steel to sand. It amazes me the things that they move around by various transportation but they certainly get the job done. I've met a lovely couple here Patricia and Jan and sit talking to them by the pool. They own a condo here and spend two lots of 3 months here a year. As much as I'm a little envious I'm not ready to lay my hat down just yet and my plans are to head North tomorrow. Kate my Thai friend is in Bangkok and I invite her over in the afternoon to use the pool. Its so good catching up with her even though it wasn't planned to be this quick. We plan to meet up with the boys and head over to Khaosan Road again. Khaosan Road is a tourist street in Bangkok which going back before covid was absolutely packed day in day out with tourists eating anything from tarantula to scorpions and even though they are still doing that now there are far fewer of them. The boys are running a little late so we grab a few nibbles and a drink and arrange to meet them at the Jazz bar. I've booked a table because it gets so busy and we are literally squashed into a very narrow area but everyone is happy and seems to be enjoying themselves even though the drinks are a bit pricey. At the end of the evening Damon invites us all to a club but to be honest I haven't even packed yet and still need to book my train for tomorrow. The boys are thinking about it but there also on the move tomorrow so we call it a night and Damon and i share our last supper in the same late night food bar. I have the chicken in a whisky sauce which is so delicious before crossing the street to our hotel.Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Don Mueang, ดอนเมือง

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