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

tioman island, malaysia

malacca => taxi => intercity bus => mersing => speed boat => tioman island (pulau tioman, malaysia) ... yes, it is really as easy as that, 6 or 8 hours later we arrived in complete different world ... here in the northern part of the island (~ salang) there are even no roads, no cars, just small ways for motorbikes witch transport all the things needed from A to B ... and yes, water taxi is everything unless you like trekking through the jungle to the next village as i did today in order to visit monkey bay 

well, now we are in the divers' paradise in the eastern malaysia - swimming, snorkeling, sunbathing, watching the komodo dragon like lizards from the bridge over the (ugly + stinky) stream on our way to the beautiful beach, no rain season in the eastern part of the peninsula either ... komodo dragons? comodo? you still remember bali / indonesia 4 years ago, don't you?

btw, do you know what is the strangest thing out there? here is some tax free / islam restrictions free zone and e.g. beer costs only 30% what it costs in kuala lumpur or malacca => OMG, cheers :-)

OMG, komodo dragons ... nice  

some updates and pictures will follow soon, as for now here is the link to my tioman pictures

well, here it is so nice, do we really need to move to the cameron highlands or perhentian islands later on? who cares, let's visit the monkey beach first .... my dears, tioman is a really, really beautiful island and still so original = jungle + beaches + sea .... and you know what? it is even nicer underwater with all its coral reefs + colorful fishes ;-)

a corresponding underwater picture found at (source adventure4ever.photoshelter.com)

eof

i'm ready for the take-off

i'm thinking about vacation on bali / indonesia ... but have to wait 4 more weeks till take-off :-)

we've just booked a hotel and breakfast, so there will be plenty of opportunities to go outside and see the life out there + visit some temples, volcanoes, rice fields, komodo dragons, ... and maybe also jakarta/java, but i'm not sure if jakarta is not toooo far away ...

we'll look at the offers from local travel agencies .. and i hope we will see a many new + interesting people + things there :-)

cheaper than expected vacation => some funds 4 gold/silver available soon?

folks, folks, folks! my wife has booked our summer holidays now ... and the winner is ... is ... bali /indonesia :o). well, i'm looking forward to spend 3 weeks in south-east asia again (have been to thailand many years ago). komodo dragons, we are coming soon!

it was much cheaper than expected! pls, don't ask me with how many 'stars' was our vacation cottage rated, ok? btw, our eldest daughter proposed to contribute some money to our family's vacation cash-box just in order to allow us to choose a more interesting holiday destination than the usual mediterranean sea. what a child, isn't it? ... do i understand this situation correctly if i hope that there could be some funds left 4 additional addendum 2 our gold/silver stocks soon?

let's think how to invest 1,000 - 2,000 €uros in our commodity / hard assets column As Smart As Possible (=: asap, or more precisely my investing based redefinition of that famous acronym :-). what about physical silver, silver-ETFs, commodity stocks, renewable energy, nanotechnology ... any suggestions yet?

btw, do you also feel that komodo sounds exact the same as commoditities :D ... hmmm, is that a hint of fate 2 buy more commodities, isn't it?