Bangkok

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Unfortunately our Africain adventure finished on the 8th of January, but nothing to mourn as we started now our Asian adventure in Bangkok where we were welcomed by Riepko, a person Florence met in Ghana two years ago. The city overwhelmed us with the humid climate, the many skyscrapers, motorbikes, tuktuk's, people and skytrains. A huge change compared to South Africa! Staying for five days, we had enough time to visit the different neighborhoods of Bangkok. The appartment of Riepko is centrally located in Bangkok, so we could easily enjoy the different public transport to visit many places. The first day, we decided to explore the shopping area. Huge shopping malls with many floors and each floor selling a specific product category. It is also in this area that we discovered a Pokemon festival, where everybody was wearing a pikachu cap. Of course we received one too and felt directly immersed in the Thai kitchy culture. Our second day in Bangkok, we visited the very crawded Chinatown. In order to arrive there, we first crossed Lumphini park where every morning and evening you can attend a public free aerobic lesson. Than we took for the first time the skytrain and taxi boat, which are also public transports that are used by a lot of local people to move easily around the city. Arriving in Chinatown, we really felt like being in China! Very crawed little streets with motorcycles trying to pass you, by almost driving over your feet! Here, we saw a lot of jewelery shops, food street stalls and natural pharmacies where you can still find medication based on herbs, plants, roots, etc. We also had the time to visit four different temples in that neighborhood, which were not as impressive as the must-see sighs, which are the Grand Palace and Wat Po. The Grand Palace was built in 1782 and was for 150 years the dizziling home of the Thai King, the Royal court and administrative seat of government. We liked the Grand Palace a lot for it's beautiful architecture, many colours and intricate detail. The very famous huge reclining Buddha is to be found in the Wat Po, a beautiful temple next to the Grand Palace.

The last day, we decided to go to a selective rooftopbar in Bangkok, to see one of the most beautiful sunsets on the city. The moon bar offers cocktail for crazy prices and even the local beers are twice the price, but the view we had from the rooftop on the city and the beautiful sunset was totally worth it!

Every night after visiting the city, we enjoyed a delicious meal and drank some good wine or beer with Riepko on his extraordinary rooftop terrace. Enjoying again a bit of luxury and privacy which felt again really good. Moreover, Riepko made it even better by welcoming us with open arms and treating us very good. A special thanks to him for his hospitality and interesting discussions.

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