Bangkok crazy thrombotic metropole

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Morning view from our hotel room

Breakfast in the Central-World mall. Our hotel occupies some of the space on the top levels of the Centralworld skyscraper. The building contains countless shops, restaurants, cinemas etc. A futuristic vertical little city in itself with neon-lit passageways and a pleasant hypnotic voice making announcements over hidden speakers. The future is Asian.

Crepe aux marrons with excellent cappuccino

Chinatown

Lunch in Chinatown. Highly praised shark fin soup (I don´t see the point - just some jelly stuff floating around in a pretty bland soup). Fried crab with glass noodles - that on the other hand was fantastic!

Christmas in Bangkok

This is how I like my Christmas tree (although palms are not trees..).

Christmas from a crazy Asian angle.

Anime (?) Christmas couple.

In front of our hotel: People were watching a football game on big screens, live bands were playing, and people were taking pictures of the Christmas decorations. Great Saturday night.

Snoopy-mania. When did Snoopy become part of Christmas?

Goodbye favorite beer. Our last dinner at a dim sum place (dumplings). Great food - just as good as when we had dumplings in China Town in Manhattan in 1998 - but the atmosphere wasn't quite the same in the mall. The dumplings were produced highly efficiently - and in vast quantities - behind glass windows by a team of people in sterile suits, face masks, and plastic hats. 

Arriving in Bangkok

View from our hotel room, a little capsule of luxury high above the crazy city.

Rooftop pool area.

Me after a good workout in front of pool on the rooftop.

In-room dining after fitness/ pool.

Gourmet dinner: Enzo bistro

We had an amazing dinner at Enzo Bistro, a Japanese gourmet restaurant in Khao Lak.

Assortment of appetizers.

Sashimi on the rocks

Crab-tempura with shells - fantastic.

Scallops compared to Korean mushrooms.

Fresh local tuna - barely fried.

Japanese wagyu beef (Miasaki). We fried each piece shortly on the lava stone. It was delicious!

Traditional sushi with miso soup.

Dessert: freshly made waffles with ice cream.

James Bond Island

We went on a day trip to see the "James Bond Island" (featured in a James Bond movie). After a bus ride to the Ao Phang Nga pier (close to Phuket), we got on a longtail boat, which took us to a place where we got in canoes and were taken around some amazing steep islands.

Then we were taken to an island close to the "James Bond Island".

Us, in front of James Bond Island.

After James Bond Island, we were taken by boat to a Muslim village on an island, where we had lunch in a restaurant on poles. The village was like a maze - every square meter being inhabited. We passed by a school where we could look straight into the classes with the cute little kids. Some french tourists played soccer with a group of school kids.

 

A narrow alley in the Muslim village.

We then went on to visit a Buddhist cave temple. The cave was quite impressive!

Khao Sok Nature Park

Elephant trekking in the jungle. Although I am not too keen on the tourist elephant industry, I must admit that it was quite an experience to ride on an elephant. We rode into dense jungle, along a rocky stream. Funny to see how carefully these big creatures place their feet. They were able to get up some very steep and difficult rocky passages. You had to keep the balance, pushing against its head with your hands when sitting on its neck!

Monkey business. We stopped by a temple and said hello to a bunch of friendly monkeys.

Amazing view of the jungle. With the jungle-clad pillar-like mountains and exotic giant trees, the jungle we saw in the Khao Sok National Park is the most amazing jungle I have seen (not that I have that much jungle experience, but it was more impressive than what we saw in Sri Lanka). The views were simply stunning. We had a nice lunch at restaurant in the park, sitting on a deck overlooking a small river. Over lunch we got to talk to a nice Swiss couple who were on a half-year tour.

Canoeing on the river. We saw a yellow-striped/ black snake in a tree, a small python in a tree, a swimming varan, a giant frog, a kingfisher (colorful bird).We saw a black-tanned man resting, having a cigarette, on a stone after a dive where he had caught a gigantic prawn (size of a small lobster) with a spear and a likewise black girl swimming and hiding on some rocks in the river. She looked just like Mowgli from the Jungle Book. I got to paddle the boat for a while, which was fun. Especially where the river was fast.

Tarzan jumping in the river. Stopping by a spot which was good for swimming, I and a German guy got to show our Tarzan skills.

Good dinner to celebrate 20 years of marriage...

Relaxing day by the beach

By the beach in Khao Lak.

A shot of coffee.

Updating the blog in a restaurant by the beach.

Analog travel diary.