Bangkok (Thailand)

Departure from Brussels and stopover in the super modern and super large airport of Istanbul, such as if you arrive at gate A and your connection is at gate F, you must already allow a good half hour to walk from there. to each other - if you don't get lost on the way!
Then 9 hours flight to Thailand, just enough time to try to sleep, eat twice, cultivate myself while listening to the Quran with English subtitles, try to sleep again, smash the record for the stupid little game offered on the individual mini TVs (photo proof of the exploit in support !!), of still not getting to sleep, ... and here we are in Bangkok!
We lost 6 hours of our life and gained about thirty degrees somewhere on the way.

Modern megalopolis
We were able to relate a lot of pictures received with the reality of the place.
First of all, it is a very classic city, no bikes or motorbikes for the whole family, the roads are mainly occupied by large new cars or all kinds of motorcycles and scooters.
We meet the traditional tuktuk there but even they are quite few alongside the 4x4, SUV and other external signs of wealth.
People don't harass you to sell you stuff, except maybe in tourist spots, and more.
To get around, take the metro, the skytrain, the boat bus or our legs.
And Vince was not hit by Thai girls in need of money either, I think they got it before us that Asia is the new Europe and that soon Europe will be the new Africa: indebted and on the decline.
Well, the cost of living remains cheaper but it is especially true for food, you can eat for the price of a metro or water bus ticket.

Besides, food is everywhere, everywhere, everywhere.
Fresh fruit cut into pieces, dishes cooked on a sidewalk, soups to take in plastic bags, etc.
A saucepan, a gas cylinder, two three plastic basins and that's enough to feed passersby.
No way to stay hungry!
Well, the slightest noodle soup is decorated with dead animal, it's a little hot for vegetarians. But so far, everything we've tasted, always a bit random, has been delicious! Only spices and fresh products.

On the other hand in public places, do not forget your mask under penalty of being looked like the disrespectful and plagued westerner that you are.
And if you have the misfortune to cough, it's dozens of angry Thai people who turn to you, half-disgusted, half-frightened.
I, who left sick, very often felt like the shameful zero patient of a new pandemic, just that.
Another sign that the capital is modernizing: the people of Bangkok are proud to have the largest shopping center in Asia, if not the world.
A consumer temple that spans seven floors of shops of all kinds, food on the ground floor, the rest above with a special space for luxury shops directly accessible from the neighboring Hilton.

IconSiam is therefore a magnificent patchwork of atmospheres all as magical as each other, like a death contest between interior decorators under lsd The Disneyland of compulsive buying.
Only problem: the air conditioning when it is 35 degrees day and night all year round, the great luxury is to walk in an air conditioned environment to death, like 15 degrees maximum ...
I'll say, for that, come to Belgium, huh guys - suddenly I froze so much in my little summer dress that we fled after swallowing some delicious maki (it's over, never again I will eat it elsewhere, it will not hold the comparison -_-). Then I say "hot chocolate at Starbucks, it will warm me" but the girl does not get what I want and I get an iced chocolate.
So we rush on the terrace to warm up, frolic in the middle of the fluorescent flowers and other lulumes, just when they begin the games of sound and light in the fountains facing the river.

So yes, going so far to hang out in a shopping center seems a bit ... stupid but it was worth it!

Bangkok (Thailand)

Impossible to talk about Bangkok without going through the Grand Palace with its Emerald Buddha - which only has an emerald in name, in fact, this 66 cm statue is made of nephrite (a kind of jade) - and the Wat Pho, a nearby temple where the Reclining Buddha has been lazily resting since 1788, feet (9 meters high !!) in the air, since he reached nirvana. This is where the real change of scenery begins!

Two sites surrounded by white walls (really white, kind of crazy despite the pollution of the city) with an indoor wall covered with frescoes.
That of the Grand Palace retraces the Hindu epic of the Ramayana: Rama's struggle to free poor Sita, his kidnapped wife (decidedly, there is always a story of a woman kidnapped in ancient mythologies).
All the murals, facades, statues and paintings are beautifully maintained and renovated, surely because in addition to being the first tourist attractions of Bangkok, some rooms and buildings are still used today for religious ceremonies or official services .

Inside the walls of the Grand Palace, you get lost between the rooms and pavilions built by the different kings, from Rama I, founder of the dynasty, in 1782, to Rama V.
This gives a fairly well matched set of gilding, statues, gardens and buildings.
Part of the Palace remains occupied by royal services even if the current king has deserted the place to establish his residence a little further.

As for Wat Pho, it brings together the largest collection of images of the Buddha in Thailand, including the famous Reclining Buddha, a golden statue 45 meters long and 15 high representing the Buddha on his deathbed before achieve nirvana.
Its feet alone are 9 meters high, the biggest feet you have ever seen !!
Along its back, hundreds of small pots in which a few cents are deposited each time as an offering, only to find itself relieved at the end of about twenty baths.

Further on, the sacred hall of Phra Ubosot, where the Buddhist rituals take place in front of a golden Buddha statue on a gold and crystal pedestal.
The area is delimited in three: one for ignorant foreigners, to watch, one for the Thai and a third, which we recognize by its red carpet, for the monks.
No question of keeping your shoes and, literally, be careful where you step!
Turning one's feet towards a representation of the Buddha is an offense!
We do not remain standing and, when we sit down, we hide our feet well under his ass so that the sacred statue does not have to endure this impure vision.
And speaking of impure vision, it is of course imposed to chastely cover shoulders and knees under penalty of committing an odd. A store at the entrance of the temple sells at triple the price of long skirts, pants and t-shirts covering.
Making money on the backs of ignorant tourists, that, on the other hand, does not seem forbidden.

Know that it is also immoral to tattoo Buddha on the body and put his representations in a bar or other place of debauchery ...
And if you put the Buddhist temple leaflet in your back pocket, don't be surprised by the shocked looks: you do nothing less than put Buddha on your ass!

A bus then takes us to see a traditional dance performance, included in the ticket for the visit. 25 minutes of show on the history of Rama and Hanuman.
We find there many other Indian influences, in the way of dancing with the hands for example.
The costumes and masks are breathtaking - kitsch to death but magnificent!

We will thank in passing the Corona virus which relieves us of hundreds of Chinese tourists, confined to their homes for the occasion. Thank you forties, thanks to which we were able to wander quietly without being oppressed by the usual crowd.
Moreover, at the entrance of the sites, there is a queue planned for Westerners and another (larger) just for Chinese, that is to say if their absence should represent a budget loss for tourism in Asia .

Voili voilou, and don't forget, if you have a statuette of Buddha at home, stop showing him your feet, he hates it.

Chiang Mai (Thailand)

After three days in Bangkok, we are on our way to Chiang Mai, in the north.
We arrive at Bangkok airport, we go to the queue for check in, normal, and there a flight attendant jumps on us, weapon in hand, direct on the front ...
"Can I check your temperature?" she asks, pressing point-blank the trigger of her thermometer of the future ... I, who have had a break for a few days, fortunately I had taken a Dafalgan just before.

Chiang Mai, or the "rose of the North" is a small town whose old center is surrounded by moats and walls.
Be careful to cross where there are bridges on pain of finding yourself, like two chicks, to climb the wall to be trapped by the fleet anyway (climbing which is also strictly prohibited, we have learned, by turning back, out of the tena thousand signs that we didn't have seen before).

a thousand signs that we didn't have
In restaurants they are often in the kitchens, which is always a bit odd but gives an opportunity to take a look at the chef's work.
Then, for ecological reasons (everything is discharged into the surrounding rivers?) Or practical (the pipes are not wide enough?), It is forbidden to put PQ in the WC.
A delicious trash can therefore be found next to each ... throne There are even some who have so little confidence in their waste pipes that they kindly ask you not to poop "no shit please" specifies the sign overlooking the toilet.
Finally, having said that, in my opinion, toilet paper is just for tourists.
Thai people, in fact, all have a hand shower next to their puppy.
And that, guys, is a hundred times more hygienic than PQ!
Like you take an ass shower every time you're going to relieve yourself, doesn't that seem cleaner than rubbing yourself vaguely with something very fine and rough?

Okay, well, let's tackle a slightly more hyped subject: friiiingues!
The fashion here is quite different, you see directly that it is designed for little skinny girls who are hot all year round: all the t-shirts - even those with long sleeves - are short, like vazy that I show you my belly dish of Thai woman who eats healthy (and it is true that we did not come across big ones here, their diet seems to work better than our beers, potatoes, fries, mayo) ... and couleuuuuuurs, there's everything the rainbow, and above all, above all, pastel shades.
As for the bras, they are all padded and, for once, I'm not even the smallest size, youpi youpla.

Another amazing thing: theft is so inexistent that even in shopping centers or supermarkets there is no anti-theft!
I do not know if it is a question of not charging his karma or not having to deal with their police - who really does not seem convenient for the time being - but thieves and other budding cleptos seem to be restrained , climate of total confidence ...
This also gives a fairly pleasant feeling of security.

What is not secure, however, are the electrical installations, it looks like everyone has been grafting their personal cable to the city's high-voltage lines ...
You are strolling quietly in the streets and you meet, at eye level (a), a bare cable that dangles quietly, like a snake watching for its prey to swing "cheep" how many volts in the mouth.
Voili voilou for today, kisses from Chiang Mai.

Akhéane C.

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