Bangkok unrest

Just a short post to update you on the recent trouble in Thailand and Bangkok in particular. First of all, many thanks to all of you who have called or e-mailed us to ask whether we are fine. Yes, we are fine. Tom is currently in Singapore, Nirmala in Bangkok. Tom was planning to travel back this weekend but this may not be possible for obvious reasons. One of his colleagues from Singapore is currently in Bangkok and may not be able to return as planned as the airports are blocked by protesters. Nirmala has not noticed much of the unrest downtown Bangkok but was asked to go home early today as there are many rumours circulating that a coup may happen in the coming hours. To be continued... 

Kort bericht aan familie en vrienden die bezorgd zijn over de situatie in Thailand: bedankt voor al jullie berichten en telefoontjes. We zijn veilig en tot nu toe is er geen gevaar in de stad. Betogers hebben de 2 luchthavens van Bangkok bezet en vluchten zijn opgeschort. Tom is momenteel in Singapore en kan hierdoor niet onmiddellijk terug naar Bangkok. De verwachting is dat de situatie een ontknoping nadert en dat er snel ingegrepen zal worden, misschien door het leger dat een staatsgreep zou plannen. Dit zou niet de eerste keer in Thailand zijn. De vorige staatsgreep dateert van 2006 en was vreedzaam verlopen. We houden jullie op de hoogte.

Ayutthaya

As indicated in the previous blog, here are some pictures from a recent weekend trip to Ayutthaya, the former capital of Siam (Thailand), destroyed by the Burmese in the 18th century, after which the capital was shifted to Bangkok. Did we already mention that Bangkok is the city with the longest name in the world? The full name is "Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Yuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit" (Thai script: กรุงเทพมหานคร อมรรัตนโกสินทร์ มหินทรายุธยามหาดิลกภพ นพรัตน์ราชธานี บุรีรมย์อุดมราชนิเวศน์มหาสถาน อมรพิมานอวตารสถิต สักกะทัตติยะวิษณุกรรมประสิทธิ์) or "The city of angels, the great city, the eternal jewel city, the impregnable city of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukam", of course better known in the shorter versions Krung Thep, Bangkok or City of Angels (Los Angeles if you wish). Back to Ayutthaya: this is now a lively city about an hour and a half away from Bangkok. The city, with a design apparently inspired by Angkor, is filled with ancient temple ruins, as Ayutthaya was an important religious and political centre for more than four centuries. The city never fully recovered from its destruction and most ancient temple buildings have not been fully restored. You can see the ancient brick work, the covering is damaged or has disappeared.  A new city has sprung up around the temple buildings and ruins, contrary to Angkor. We drove around in a local tuk-tuk (pictured), saw a number of ancient monuments as well as an elephant swallowing a man... as part of a show, of course. The most famous sight in Ayutthaya is the Buddha head captured in tree roots in Wat Mahathat, one of the temples (see background of our picture). In the same temple archeologists (and thieves) discovered a gold treasure buried under one of the main buildings. Whatever was not stolen can be viewed at the local museum. Ayutthaya is Unesco world heritage and certainly worth a visit if you are planning a trip to Thailand!

Thailand pictures: Bangkok - Loy Krathong

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.

Siem Reap (Angkor)

During a recent long weekend, we managed to do a short trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia, famous for the impressive Angkor Temples and ruins of the ancient Khmer civilisation. Angkor Wat is probably the most famous part of the enormous complex. The whole site is stretched over several square kilometers and temples can be very far apart. We were there for 2,5 days so focused on some of the highlights but still managed to visit a few temples farther afield. The heat was unforgiving so we had to sweat it out during our trips. Highlights include: Angkor Wat (central temple complex representing the universe), Angkor Thom (walled temple complex with Bayong temple, famous for the giant carved faces), Banteay Strei (Lady temple, a small but exquisite temple 20km out), Roluos temple group (with Bakong temple), Preah Khan and the fantastic Tha Phrom, offering great photo opportunities due to the fact that several trees have grown in and on the buildings (fans of Lara Croft-Tomb Raider will know that this temple was prominently featured in the movie, or so we were told). There are many more sites to visit, but you have to make choices in life... Attached a few random pictures of our trip.