Thailand – Bangkok
Hi from Thailand!
Well here we are in Bangkok, bustling sprawling capital of Thailand.
Very well planned city, with amazing transport, they’ve got motorways everywhere, underground and Sky Train, plus boats along the Chao Phya River as well as a buses everywhere!
Our first stop was a trip out to Ayuthaya – the ancient capital of Thailand up to the 1700s. THere are many many old Buddhist temples here as you can see!
Head of Buddha statue, growing inside a tree trunk:
Burma quemo el templo y destrozo todos los budas , y se quedo abandonado durante siglos , este arbol crecio junto con la cabeza , para los creyentes esto es un milagro..
The next day we took a trip around the centre, one of the many more modern Buddhist temples here include Wat Pho, close to the Grand Palace in the centre of Bangkok.
Then we visited the Floating Market, outside Bangkok, made famous by the James Bond movie Man with the Golden Gun! Remember he jumped on a motor boat and sped thrugh the floating market, slicing boats in 2 as he ploughed through them!!!
We then stopped off for a brief visit to the Bridge over the River Kwai – the infamous bridge built by western allied soldiers while in a Japanese POW camp, during WW2 when Japan invaded Thailand. 15,000 soldiers died in the construction of the railway line.
Bridge over the River Kwai:
Later that day we visited, wait for it, the Tiger Temple, a place where Buddhist monks run an animal sanctuary, and some of their most famous ‘guests’ are several tigers, which are so calm you can pet them and take photos no problem. They say that they are so chilled out because they feed them vegetarian food, which apparently surpresses their killer instinct, as they no longer have a tase for blood…
Yes they are real tigers, wide awake!!!! So cute!
Que son de verdad …!!
They wouldn’t let me take one home 🙁
The adventure continues!
Espanol
Hola desde Tailandia
Aqui estamos en Bangkok,la gran capi tal de Tailandia , todo lo que has o ido sobre Bangkok es posiblemente verdad.
Esta muy bien plani ficada ,el transporte es muy bueno, tienen muchas autopistas, metro y “sky train “, barcos y ferrys por el lago Chao Phya y autobuses muy comodos..!
Nuestra primer t our fua a Ayuthaya – la antigua capital de Tailandia hasta el ano 1700. Hay muchos templos budistas 90% de la poblacion es budista y hay templos casi en cada esquina.
Al dia si guiente dimos una vuelta por el centro .. el hostal en Kao San ( guirilandia) , y vi sitamos uno de los muchos templos budistas que hay, al lado del Palacio del Rey ( por cierto hay fotos de el en cada calle y en cada edificio y si haces bromas sobre la familia real aqui … chungo chungo..!)
Tambien visitamos en mercado flotante , a las afueras de Bangkok donde se rodo otra pelicula de James Bond!
Fresh fruit anyone?
You can’t stop taking photos ..
El lugar perfecto para tomar buenas fotos .
Hicimos una parada corta a puente sobre el rio Kwai ( si … el de la pelicula del mismo nombre) el m ismo puente donde solda dos aliados construyeron a la fuerza el puente cuando estaban en manos de los japoneses durante la segunda guerra mundial, cuando japon invadio Tailandia 15,000 soldados murieron durante la construccion de una linea de ferrocarril, tambien visitamos el cementerio.. 🙁
And the baby tiger cubs… aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh, Quene tried to put one in her pocket, but it didn’t want to go, so he ripped her trousers and scraped her leg, cute, but still they’re tigers !!!
Los bebes tienen 3 meses …Jugueteando , jugueteando y uno me comio un trozo de pantalon ..!!
Eser mismo dia visitamos el templo de los Tigres , templo/santuario budista para animales salvados de las escopetas de cazadores … se puede hacer fotos con ellos , estan acostumbrados a los humanos, desde pequenos crecieron con los monjes y hasta comen comida vegetariana, y eso les fue relajando su instinto asesino (por eso son estan tan relajados ??? )
Tocarlos fue una experiencia inigualable .. aunque si giraban la cabeza se te encogia la tripilla …Increible…!
James & Quene
hey james and quene…the tigers are sooooooo cute i would love to hug them so hard!!! i’m the first person to reply, again!!! i couldn’t email you earlier because dad hid the modem!!!! i would love to visit the floating market!! bye love, Rebecca xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Fascinante…
Fascinante…
Qué borrachera de belleza, uasss…
*
Así que aquí no se puede gritar de repente un viva la república, bueno, seré formalita…
Lo de la cabeza me tiene encantada, es de una belleza voraz… más voraz que el aspecto imponente de los tigres.
Parece que estais en una zona cálida, de nuevo… espero que os esteis cuidando bien. Recuerdo cuando fuímos al mercado en Temple Bar, todos aquellos colores… estar allí debe ser maravilloso…
Las fotos están saliendo bien en web. En alguna ocasión bajasteis la resolución de las fotos. Es genial que podais grabar cd’s.
Hemos hecho un mural precioso con las postales, Elio lo va “cosiendo”. Seguro que pronto lo tendremos que cambiar a una pared aún más grande.
Esta tarde mamá, elio y yo hemos ido a un concierto de cuencos tibetanos y ha sido estupendo. Elio se ha portado mejor que algunos adultos, y a mamá le relajaron mucho.
Quereres, Shalom
*
Todo inigualable, lo de los tigres vegetarianos es una pasada.
Al medio dia , hora española hemos tenido el honor de recibir el paquete , ha llegado todo bien , los dos libros de pintura , los 3 pinceles de acuarela, el Christmas, los libros de los troquelados , la tobillera, la cruz, el coco-monedero, el CD de India con cinco carpetas de fotos, la bolsa bandolera, y el bolso pequeño, el libro de notas. No creo que falte nada. Indicame cual es su destino final o si tiene destinatario concreto cada cosa
Las fotos del CD las he pasado al disco duro para ponerlas verticales. Asi que puedes liberar memoria con confianza. Al menos de lo que me has mandado a mi.
Saludos adicionales a la “basca” de curiosos y envidiosos
estoy alucinada con los tigres te podia mandar a sol para ver si alli lo civilizan un poco pues el tio me sigue asustando por la noche saltando encima de la cama de vez en cuando a las cuatro o cinco de la mañana por lo cual luego hasta que me quedo otra vez dormida son las siete ja ja ja ja que risa ,te veo mas delgada y a james igual , cuidaros aver si no comeis lo suficiente. muchos besos.
Agustín, crees que existe la envidia?
Yo no. Yo creo que lo que están haciendo quene y james es muy generoso, ¿cómo sentir envidia ante eso?
Por estos lares se siente gratitud, admiración y bendición.
*
para Calenco, la envidia metafisica es entristecerse por el bien ajeno, pero para los que somos terrenales es el deseo de emulacion , y la admiracion y alegria por el bien ajeno, que en este caso no es tan ajeno porque es el bien de los nuestros.
Claro que traspasarnos las experiencias es generoso , es admirable. En todo caso los que se quedan con los dientes largos somos nosotros
Capice colega ?.
No repliques , entiendo la idea. Kises
Becky ,
We have more surprises for all of you … we will post the photos soon…!
The big Tigers were a lot calmer than the little ones … they actually want to put the babies in to the wild again..
We are doing a diving course , we will finish it tomorrow .. we are not relaxing scratching our bellies on the beach.. we had to study, tables and charts ,theory of diving and practical test in open water… we were at the bottom of the sea 7.9 m watching little fish , coral other little creatures ..
Here is a lot cheaper than in other places..
Personally (Quene) if someone tells me a month ago that I would be able to relax in open water I woudn’t believe it .. we felt the butterflies in the stomach this morning.
Confront your fears = No fear
Agustin,
Uno de los libros de pintura me gustaria guardarlo ( cuando vuelva) lo demas repartirlo / compartirlo segun los gustos … hombre supongo que la tobillera no te va 😉 ..
El cd si es el que pone India 05 entonces el otro tiene mas fotos..( no me acuerdo)
Hacemos el blog para compartir la belleza no para que sentais envidia..( so eso la sana)
Blanca madre,
Pues la compramos un billete a sol para el Tiger Temple a ver si con el Yoga y tal le relajamos un poco , por cierto en HK vendian camisetas , chaquetas incluso kimonos chinos ..estuve a punto de comprarle una camiseta pero era el ultimo dia y en vez de eso compramos mas tarjetas de memoria para acabar con el dinero.
Estamos comiendo muy bien , el pescadito fresco, arroz , marisco ( tan barato…! ) zumos naturales , frutas exoticas ( algunas nuevas)
Sol ( de IBM ) nunca te dije que me perro se llama sol tambien ,
Calenco
Habeis recibido el paquete vosotros? .. las figuras de papel si las enmarcais quedan preciosas… mama no mires como estan cosidos los botones …jua jua jua !
Espero que os guste .
Estamos haciendo un curso de submarinismo -idea de James a mi me daba mucho respeto pero supongo que hay que superar los miedos enfrentandose a ellos 🙂
En vez de relajarnos al sol , hemos aprovechado que sacarse el certificado de Open Water Diver es mas barato.. y estamos estudiando , haciendo examenes teoricos y hoy por primera vez hemos ido al mar a ver pececillos ( ayer fue en piscina)
y hemos superado los examenes teoricos y algunos practicos ( hemos estado a casi 8 m de profundidad )
Manana ultimo dia..es una pena que no hemos visto camaras de usar y tirar para el agua ..
Kisses to all
Look out for little sergeants ( also known as little b*stards because…… :). ) they are the tiny fish with black and white stripes and if you have a cut or a scab look out cause they’ll sneak right up and bite it off (seriously).
I was watching (only briefly) Miss Universe which this year was in Bangkok and I could swear I saw James in the front row!!!!
ah no but they were saying during one of the tourist interludes (where they show all the scenic shots of the country) how Bangkok was a modern bustling city with a modern transport system and I laughed myself off the seat.
And now you are saying it have an amazing transport system??? woh woh…its mad!!!
It works due to chaos theory, there is every type of vehicle everywhere, they had to build that Skytrain (which runs on a track above the traffic) cause there was no room to get any more vehicles on the road.
But damn the place rocks, once you get used to the chaos, and the river boats are great fun.
And don’t start me on those little Sergeants, nipping at your legs.
Lads, there’s not a hope in hell that I would have petted those tigers. But fair play to you for doin it!
Saw a bit of Bangkok a year ago and was surprised at how well developed it was! Subway and Skytrain are top-notch! Roads are chaotic! It’s a very vibrant city and country. One of my favourites!
Here in Hong Kong we’ve had the anti-WTO protests since you left. I got a text message from the HK Secretary for Security on Saturday evening urging me not to go to Wan Chai which is where I usually am on a Saturday night! Was also the place that we spent a night out if you remember though James you won’t remember much from that night! 🙂 haha How the police got my phone number is the most worrying thing!
I’m off to Phuket on Saturday. Almost one year to the day that I – very fortunately – finished off my Christmas 2004 in the sun. Looking forward to a relaxing beach holiday. And the tsunami anniversary events should be special as well.
All for now ladz.
All thats left to say is Merry Christmas!
Larry
Yes Bangkok is rockin,
as for transport, yea Ruari there’s no space left on the roads, so the ingenious Thais have even roads on top of roads! Coming back into Bangkok yesterday by bus (see next post from Koh Chang!), we spent about 45 minutes floating above, actually driving above the city, about 20 metres above street level on one of the many motorways that criss-cross the city. The feeling was not unlike coming into a city by airplane, as you fly over the houses and roads, wierd! I wonder if the folks at Dublin Council have even heard of a raised motorway, let alone even seen one! What we’ve seen so far in Asia, Bangkok is really a very modern bustling city with a transport system that puts Dublin to shame!
Richie,
yea we’ve heard about those fisheys, but so far so good, no attacks!
Larry,
interesting that the head of security has your mobile number! We saw a bit about the WTO protests on the news, let’s just hope something useful comes of the talks!
Well enjoy Phuket, we definitely had a great time on Koh Chang!
Take it easy all!
J&Q
this is no place to get political but I have to say that the poor Thai’s living in shacks under those concrete flyovers and who can’t afford the Sky train (only for tourists and business men) would probably not be recommending the transport system to others.
But it was our favourite city over there, we enjoyed coming back to it the several times we were there and had a great time, its one big city with lots to do. And don’t forget those tuk-tuks.
Okay okay I’ll shut up now.
Happy Christmas to ye’s. Get down to a beach, grab a cocktail and put on your santa hats.
Happy Christmas to all, next post will be from Australia 😉
Larry ,
keep us informed about the celebrations in Phuket .. and send our blessings to the sea ..
Ruari,
We did not try the Tuk-tuks in BK , we had enough in India , also were nearly all the time in Kao Shan ( guirilandia)
Bye bye from Thailand!!
Hi
I am very happy in Chinese New Year! Because I can do many funny things in Chinese New Year , like flower mark , watch fireworks…… Before Chinese New Year we also hare to clean our home. And we hare eat some thing to celebrate Chinese New Year , We are grandparent will make a rice cake give us to eat It is very yummy
Finally the most important in Chinese New Year is luck money. If someone they are marry already they will give some luck money to the children. I can give a thousand luck money ever year.
Hello again
Last year i have been in Australia, New Zealand and Thailand, and i enjoy very must read your blog. I would like to go back to thailand some day.
my blog is: planisferiopessoal.blogspot.com
Bye bye from Portugal