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dimanche 31 décembre 2006
Par matt le dimanche 31 décembre 2006, 01:30 - voyages, voyages
Here are some of the pictures I made when I was in the temples of Angkor. I took a lot of pictures since I had hardly anything else to do (so strange to travel alone :)), I put here the most interresting, I hope you'll enjoy!
You can go to this post to have a lot of details (well, it's a long post but still there're few details in fact)!
mercredi 20 décembre 2006
Par matt le mercredi 20 décembre 2006, 00:57 - trip advice
dimanche 26 novembre 2006
Par matt le dimanche 26 novembre 2006, 00:08 - voyages, voyages
C'était il y a déjà deux semaines ... Un super week-end avec Adrien et Noémie (une française qu'on a rencontré içi), avec plein de temple et de Boudhas, des rues animées à toute heure, des chauffeurs de tuk-tuk fous, des masseuses thaïlandaises :) et des soirées cools avec des intiens et leurs potes francais. C'était un chouette week-end quoi !
Les photos suivantes vous donneront un petit aperçu du week-end, ya aussi du texte en anglais si vous voulez :)
vendredi 24 novembre 2006
Par matt le vendredi 24 novembre 2006, 16:05 - trip advice
There's not much to say I guess. Bangkok is the capital of Thailand for a few centuries now and is quite famous ! We took the plane in the evening on Friday and came back on Monday evening, having then 3 days there.
We arrived late on Friday (around 2am at the guesthouse) so we slept quite long on the morning. We took a breakfast at the israeli guesthouse we were in, the Greenhouse in Thanon Rambutri if I remember well (first one we found, it was not so easy to find a guesthouse in Khao San neighbourhood at 2am on a friday night). Then we walked to the river and took a boat down to the Tha Sathon (central pier). This boat is a good way to see Bangkok from the river, it was pleasant.
Then we took the Skytrain to the very north, last station, of Mo Chit. We had an appointment with a friend from the INT (my home school) at 7pm and decided to spend the afternoon there. The Chatuchak market is just near the station on every Saturday and Sunday. It is a huge market with many many things, some clothes, of course, but also some pets, flowers, paintings, handicrafts ... It's quite beautiful and incredibly cheap. We stayed 4 or 5 hours there (and I'm usually not that fond of shopping :)) !
At night, we took a van to go to the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) where my friend Laurent and other people from the INT are studying. There were a party there where every country cooked something to make the others discover their local food. It was good. Then we experienced the local pub and its cheap whisky. This is quite strange, people are dancing around the tables, but it was a good evening. We went back to Bangkok at 3am ...
We didn't wake up very early once again ;). After a lunch in Th. Rambutri, we walked in the direction of the Grand Palace. At the middle of the trip, a guy wanted to give us some advice. "You should not go there on Sunday, many people are praying, foreigners are not welcome", "Have you been to this Buddha, this one and this temple". "Try also to go to this shop, they're selling gems at an uncredible price". Well, we'll see mister ... "I call you a tuk-tuk, he can drive you everywhere for cheap" (80 bahts for the whole trip, the driver waiting everywhere). Well, we finally followed. I think he was paid by the shop ? but anyway the day was ok.
So we went first to Wat Intharawihan and its 32m high standing Buddha. It was the first one and we appreciate it. But it's true that at the end of the day, after thousand Buddhas, you don't even have a look at them anymore :). After this we went to another temple but monks were praying or something like that, it was closed. We walked around in the garden, I spoke with an english-speaking thai (not so easy to find) and took tuk-tuk again to the shop the guy wanted us to go. There were beautiful gems, that's true, but still a little bit too expensive for my student purse :). We didn't stay long and people there weren't boring, it was ok. Then the tuk-tuk drove us to the Wat Saket and Golden Mount. This is another temple, but next to it there is an artificial hill from where you can see Bangkok. The view was not very special, but the place was calm and we stayed there for a while. When we came back, the tuk-tuk had left without even being paid :), so we had free trip ! We walked in the street following a Lonely Planet walking tour. We went through the Romaneenart Park where we made a stop, lying on the lawn. There were Thai people all around, some children playing, it was nice. Then we walked to Wat Suthat and visited it while the sun was going down. The end of the tour was in the Pak Khlong flower market. There where beautiful flowers everywhere, and so cheap once again. So sad I cannot bring it back to France :). As we had an appointment for dinner in Suhkumvit, we took a tuk-tuk once again. Crazy tuk-tuk :).
We spent the evening with some french people, some we saw the day before, some new ones. We ate in a good restaurant in a soi (an lane-way that runs of a bigger treet) of Suhkumvit, the neighbourhood of embassies and well-known hotels. It was pleasant and interesting to talk with some french people studying there, to compare with our experience in Singapore for example. After the restaurant, we went to the Saxophone, a live-music bar near Victory Monument. I really enjoyed the place, they were playing some good groovy jazzy music and had nice cocktails. We talked quite a lot again and went back home around 1am. We walked through Khao San road before going to bed, but everything was closing, we were late.
Waking up quite early to have the time to enjoy the whole day, the went first to the Grand Palace. We went into the Palace without paying, it was interesting but nothing really phenomenal ... then we just skipped the Wat Phra Kaew and its emerald Buddha. We judge it was woth the 200 bahts they were asking for it and we already saw so much temples ... We just went to the close Wat Pho ant its giant lying Buddha (45m long!). Actually this temple was very cool, not to many people, nice gardens, small statues everywhere. I liked it.
After this temple morning, we wanted to try the well-known thai massage (well, try again for me, but still :). We went to the Wat Pho massage school, it was very pleasant! Then we ate in a small thai restaurant in front of the Grand Palace and took the boat down to Chinatown. Once there, we walked in the markets for a while (they weren't as nice as Chatuchak) before taking the taxi to the airport ... the trip is already finished!
Bangkok is definitly an interesting city, so lively all the time, mixing so many old things with new ones, with an overwhelming circulation and tuk-tuk and cars everywhere ... There are not that many things you really have to do there, it's more a matter of enjoying the atmosphere, walking around ... and three days are enough for this !
dimanche 22 octobre 2006
Par matt le dimanche 22 octobre 2006, 01:50 - voyages, voyages
Après notre passage à Hong Kong, la Chine était la seconde étape de notre voyage de mi-semestre (Oui c'était il y a un mois j'ai un peu de retard). Un objectif majeur, arriver jusqu'au Vietnam à temps en profitant à fond de toutes les occasions pour visiter et découvrir le pays. C'est finalement le train qui nous a permis de croiser des gens et d'échanger avec eux. Bon, l'échange a du être limité à quelques pommes et des sourires à cause de ce fichu langage incompréhensible ... C'est définitivement frustrant tout autant que handicapant au quotidien de ne rien comprendre à ce qui se passe autour de soi ! Mais c'est aussi bon de le vivre au moins une fois, c'est presque un peu surnaturel ... En cela, rester trois jours est amplement suffisant !
Pour plus d'histoires sur notre passage en Chine, voir l'article en cours de rédaction (ouin j'avais tout tapé pendant plus d'une heure et il a tout perdu) sur notre voyage ...
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