Blogs from Eastern Thailand, Thailand, Asia

Hello everyone, After the Songkran festival in Phra Pradaeng, I left Bangkok quickly to be on time for another monk ordination ceremony in the area of Surin, in the little village of Ta Klang in the east of Thailand. Ta Klang is a small elephant village. Elephants are kept here as pets. Almost each family has its own elephant under the house. To be honest, I didn't really like it. I do think people really like their elephant, but I still think that animals should be in the wild. I don't like the view of elephant tied up with chains to a house, even if they are loved by their owner. That's why I still haven't take part of any elephant ride or this kind of thing after 3 months in Thailand and I won't. But ... read more

After Chiang Rai, I went back to Bangkok to see another Songkran festival. South of Bangkok, in the Phra Pradaeng district, the Songkran festival happens 2 weeks after the rest of the country, because they use a different calendar (I think a moon/sun calendar, but I'm not sure). Songkran is celebrated over 3 days. The festival starts with a beauty contest as often in Thailand. According to the say of a Thai man I met who speaks French (rare enough to say it!), this the most important beauty contest in Thailand. I don't know if it is the most important, but this is definitely the longest! It started around 8pm I think, and finish around 3 am! I didn't stay until the end. Not the energy and after a while, it starts to be a bit ... read more

McLeod Ganj-ról 12 órás éjszakai autóbuszúttal jutottunk Delhibe, amiből 4-5 óra azzal telt, hogy felváltva balra illetve jobbra dőltünk. A repülőorvosi vizsgálat egyik része, hogy az embert egy forgószékbe ültetik előrehajolt állapotban és jól megforgatják, majd leállítják a széket és fel kell egyenesedni. Na, ha behunytam a szemem azok az emlékek köszöntek vissza. Delhiből hajnali gép Bangkokba, onnan másnap reggel 7-órás busz-komp-taxi és már a Long beach-en is voltunk. 2 nap alatt sikerült a hőmérséklet/páratartlom számos kombinációját megtapasztalni. A hegyekben a gyakori záporoktól kissé nedves, 23-25 fok, Delhi 35 száraz hőség, Bangkokban 37 fokos szauna ( amiben egész nap vásárolgattunk és életemben először kifejezettel légkondis szobát kerestem ), Koh Changon szintén megvan 33-35 de a sós tengeri levegőnagyon k... read more

Just a few more things about Koh Phangan ... i think anyone who has ever been on an island coverd with jungle and an unknown it's easy to get lost, however i put into practise what i learned 30 years ago from my dear friend Eric ... always use visual references, a mailbox, an orange painted house, a generator, elephant park, antennas etc ... and if you then still can't find your way it doesn't matter either as at one point u just hit water again and one look up to the sky and the Sun, moon and or stars will tell ya what part of the island u are (midst of course u can read these natural directions - which i actually can ..,) so gotta say a few times i got lost , ... read more

Daniel and Tanja have been travelling a few months through the world and decided to get married in Thailand ... they told who ever wants to come can join us, at first they thought maybe 5 or 6 people come, we ended up with 17 ... Sjoerd (who i joined for the national marine park trip) had Daniel's wedding suit custom made in Bangkok and as icing on the cake he had the exact shirt and pants made for the boys, which of course came as total surprise to tanja ... i will summarize the day, the rest u can view on the pictures After my horrible unjustified holding by the Thai police i barely was in time for the dressing of the kids ... we took a longboat to a beach on the east coast ... read more