Bang Pa-In

We have been busy lately with a number of visitors: Tom's parents just left (post to follow) and Nirmala's former colleague Olivier and his wife Daniele with their daughter Lila were here for a few days earlier this month. We went to Bang Pa-In with them on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Sunny is a bit of an understatement: boiling would be a better description. The temperatures have reached very high levels in Bangkok now, ranging between 30°C and 40°C during the day. The rainy season will start in April, and the humidity is already building up. Bang Pa-In is the former summer residence of the Kings of Thailand about 70 km north of Bangkok. It is a nice park with a collection of interesting buildings, ranging from European-style palaces to a Chinese mansion, Thai pavilion and a watchtower. It was nice to be out of the city and see some greenery, including some nicely sculpted shrubs. 

Luang Prabang

Dear readers, welcome to our blog! This is already post nr. 50! Thanks for the kind comments we have received over the last months. We are still trying to make the most of our free time here so we managed to squeeze in  another city trip during a weekend in March. This time, w escaped to the quaint town of Luang Prabang in Laos, or officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic. Laos is a land-locked country squeezed between Thailand and Vietnam. A large fraction of the border with Thailand is the mighty Mekong river. Laos was part of French Indochina until shortly after WWII and is under communist rule since 1975, but has slowly opened up to the world in recent years. Luang Prabang is on a peninsula in the Mekong river and is the former royal capital and has a lot of charm, with a mix of gentle  French colonial and ancient Asian buildings. The highlight of the town is the magnificent temple Vat Xieng Thong dating from the 16th century. Saffron robe clad Buddhist monks are omnipresent in Luang Prabang, especially in the temples of course. Otherwise, the town if famous for its lively night market in the main street which is also lined with sometimes surprisingly trendy cafés, restaurants and shops. The town is a great place to explore the Mekong river valley and we managed to catch a boat ride to explore the Pak Ou caves, where thousands of Buddha statues are stored. Other highlights include the great local and French food and BeerLao, the local beer which is one of the better ones in Asia (having won medals at an international competition in Brussels!). In a nutshell: a great place to relax after a long week!

Shanghai

During the last week of February, Tom went to Shanghai for work meetings and added two free days to discover this fascinating city. It was certainly not the best season to go: it rained every day and temperatures did not exceed 10°C during the day, in other words: awful weather. We will spare you with details about the work part of the trip, but there was some time to take in a number of sights as well. One of the most famous streets in Shanghai is the "Bund", a remnant from the concession era about a century ago along the Huangpu river. The city has many other picturesque areas such as the Old Town and parts of the former French concession. The brand new office area across the river is known as Pudong and is in a way the New Shanghai. A famous landmark is the Oriental Pearl TV Tower. The area also boasts the Shanghai World Financial Centre, the tallest building in China and currently the highest observatory in the world at 474m. A taller building is already in construction next to it. There are also many preparations for the World Expo of 2010. As in many places in China, you can also find some fine examples of "Chinglish" (example from Pudong International Airport).