Here are some more recent pictures from Thailand from the last couple of weeks. The Belgian readers of this blog will be pleased to see that the "Thai-Belgian bridge" is still standing in Bangkok (not far from where we live). This not-so-elegant but functional construction used to be on the Leopold II avenue in Brussels from the 1950s until the 1980s but was taken down and reassembled in Thailand as a sign of friendship. It is a well-known landmark, as it is one of the most important intersections in town. Nearby is the bigger Thai-Japanese friendship bridge. Nirmala's company will move into a new office building (Q House Lumpini, see picture) nearby in the coming weeks. Next to the bridge is Lumphini park, Bangkok's equivalent of Central Park. Last week, on 12 November to be precise, Thailand celebrated the annual "Loy Krathong" festival, whereby people will put elaborately crafted floating devices (usually made out of wood and banana leaves with flowers, incense and candles on top, see photo) in rivers to allow bad things (feeling, memories...) to float away. The dates shifts according to the Thai lunar calendar but it has to be full moon and it is usually in November. Thai Airways uses the Krathong symbolism in its advertisements. We were lucky to get to the big Chao Phraya river in Bangkok (just 3 stops away on the Sky Train), see the floating "Krathongs" on the river and witness the fireworks (at eye height!) from a top-floor hotel bar near the river. We also managed to get to Ayutthaya, Thailand's former capital city, about an hour and a half away from Bangkok, so ideal for a day or weekend-trip. More about this in the next blog post.
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