bangkok ~ thailand

this time was thailand not our final destination. we just enjoyed the chance to have some break on the looong flight to australia and spent 4 days in thailand. of course, we visited the king's palace in bangkok and this time we have had finally enough time to stay as long as we wanted to see enough from this imho nicest man made place on earth😍

the main entry into the king's palace (built 1782) ~ tosagirivan (green) and tosagirithorn (white)

our next stops (day trips) in thailand were:

• ayutthaya ~ the former capital of siam / thailand about 70 km to the north of bangkok
• patthaya   ~ the beach and sex tourism resort about 100 km southeast of bangkok

well, this time in bangkok we stayed in china town, so there was a lot to do / to see in the area where also locals live and spend their time. i liked china town much better than our big hotels area where almost only western tourists move around in the streets on evenings 😖

our nicest experience this time? well, while searching for the lumphini park, we asked two young people for the way and they joined us immediately and guided us via three different bus lines to the park. unfortunately, they didn't like an ice cream or a cold drink, so we only could say thank you and moved forward looking for komodo dragons 😵

enjoy few pictures ...

all in one collage

hotel china town

hotel rules: no durian :-)            china town by night

 

in one chinese temple

king's palace / grand palace 

apsarasi

Wat Phra Kaew temple is the home of the emerald buddha and a part of (king's) grand palace

fascinating wall painting stories / motives in king's palace ...

two of us, tired

best of all wiwes

King Rama IV

the chao phraya river is sooo dirty. shame on you, dear thailand, shame on you :-(

4 of us in lumphini park

komodo dragons in lumphini park

there are poor poeple out there, too

co-operation between gods + demons? yes, devas + asuras have had a common goal 😃 ... read more about the sage of churning of the milk ocean at wikipedia and read more about vishnu and hindu gods in my old india - rajasthan blog

 bangkok and singapore airport

more pictures here

our last visit to bangkok in 2012

eof

koh samui, thailand

next stop after bangkok? koh samui, thailand .... well, we have landed at the island's nicest beach (due to some internet research) in chaweng and you know what? the water is not clear because of the current (monsoon) season and most of the day only knee deep, at its maximal peak is the water level only a little bit above my hip, if you want to swim, than you have to go miles before you will find deeper water, the airplanes are landing/starting right above our heads, there is a party most of the night in all these bars, cabarets, pubs, the local taxi driver mafia charges for a short few minutes drive more than we pay for 1 hour of thai massage on the beach (=> yes, i hate rigged markets and yes, the open market competition as in the massage area provides fair + reasonable prices for the consumers), everywhere folks trying to sell us some (mostly completely unneeded) stuff => WTF? yes, we will move to a different place on koh samui tomorrow :-)

chakka, the northern part of koh samui, the bo phut beach is much much much better than the eastern ramba-zamba-but-no-deep-water chaweng beach, thanks goodness ... and yes, our hotel 'lawana resort' even if not much more expensive than the previous one but much nicer + the people especially in the reception are also much much more friendly than in our chaweng stay 'the island resort & spa' :-)

enjoy my insights comments below the PICTURES

bangkok, thailand

our flight from georgetown to bangkok with backpackers' air asia was quite fine, let's see what has changed in the city from our first visit it 15 to 20 years ago :-)

part of thai king's grand palace in bangkok (it is just a little bit more than 200 years old because the destructed former thai capitols sukhothai + ayutthaya are in the central/northern region of the country) ~ damn, for me still the nicest man made part of the earth i've ever seen ...

... coming soon or never: pictures + insights as comments below the pictures 😃

our next stops? the koh samui island + ang thong marine NP

what about bangkok in 2019? here we go, enjoy pictures + insights.
eof