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I am back from 12 months around the planet

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Sunset at Patung Titi Banda – Ramanaya epic – Denpasar Bali

Being back from one year traveling around the world 🌎 is kind of a weird feeling… those I met during my journey who were traveling for a long time as well won’t say the opposite 😅 you change from inside…

Already one month today I am back in Bali, where everything started and I am wondering where time is going …? 🤔

Sky of Raglan – New Zealand

Probably somewhere between the stars ✨ of course close to the moon 🌙 as everything is always because of the moon 🤷🏻‍♀️

Langtang Valley – Nepal

I am back full of images, colors, smells, sounds, taste, people, culture, places, food, stories, new friends, discoveries, langage, amazing nature, ideas, sun, music, love, names, smiles…

Varanasi – India

It is now time to readapt, readjust and process all these incredible moments and time I was lucky to live 🤗🙏🏼

Sunrise in Bagan – Myanmar –

I had only a glimpse of 15 new countries of our beautiful planet 🌏 I enjoyed it so much. I chose for now 15 pictures I took from those 15 countries… actually 16 pictures because I went back twice in New Zealand 🇳🇿

Battambang – Cambodia

From now I will try to write about my travel  and post pictures of my trip because now it is also time to share 🤗 and to not forget !

Samburu National Reserve – Kenya

I was supposed to share and post during my travel (hehe supposedly on my blog 🤪) but to be honest I didn’t take/have the time to do it 🤷🏻‍♀️ even though I was on holidays! 

Parque Nacional dos Lençóis Maranhenses – Brazil

When you’re traveling you want to enjoy the most of it and I for sure realized that we are always running after time , everywhere, all the time…time is only going clockwise! 

Ruta Provincial 60 – On the way to Perito Moreno Glaciar – Patagonia – Argentina

But now I will make the time go counterclockwise a little bit to share my journey on our beautiful planet 🌏🕰 💃🏻

Laguna Cejar – San Pedro de Atacama – Chile

Those 15 pictures are among my favorite pictures and above all represent each country from my eyes and heart ❤️ point of view…

Huacachina Oasis – Peru

It was difficult to choose only one picture by country as I took hundreds of pictures in each country 😅 but I think we often have a favorite one ! 

Comuna Trece – Medellin – Colombia

Sometimes because of the place, sometimes because of the story behind it, sometimes because of the people you met there or you were traveling with…🤗

Hierve el Agua – Oaxaca – Mexico

Though a picture can never replace the feelings you have when you live the moment 🤷🏻‍♀️

Grand Canyon National Park – USA
Valley of the Five lakes – Jasper – Canada

On this picture below I was back in Auckland where my Planet 🌏 tour started after discovering 14 countries in almost one year… so many things to catch up with Mo who I met there eleven months earlier 🤗

Devonport – Auckland – New Zealand

Japan 🇯🇵 was the last country of my planet tour and I have to say I was really happy to finish with this country as I enjoyed very much the peaceful temples, shrines and Japanese gardens 😌

Fushimi Inari Taisha Shrine – Kyoto – Japan

Let’s see what’s next for me…I’m looking forward for my next adventure! 

Atacama Desert sky – Chile

I’ll be posting my pics and stories either on Instagram and on my blog, so feel free to follow me wherever it’s more convenient!

Take 5 minutes to look at those 15 pictures of 15 different countries of our planet and ask yourself if you could make the time go counterclockwise for a bit for what or who you would like to have more time to spend…?

… and share it in a comment if you feel like to…😊🌎✨💃🏻🤗

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C’est parti mon Kiki !!! Let’s go around our beautiful planet and welcome in Planet Camsinsea 🌏🤪

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Here I am ! LET’S START THE JOURNEY !

So it is really happening !! Crazy hein ? Where time flies ? I cannot believe that departure time came so quickly !

After 4 amazing years spent on the Island of Gods, here I am on the road again for new crazy adventures !

I AM GOING TO TRAVEL AROUND OUR PLANET Whoop Whoop Whoop ! 😀

So to make it short, I left Bali the 15 of September 2018 to go and spend one week in Melbourne, Australia at my sister place. There I enjoyed quality time with my family finishing organizing, planning and packing.

Then the big departure was on 24 September 2018, heading to Auckland in New Zealand, the first country of my planet tour 

My itinerary will be a priori the following one :

  • New Zealand – 25/09 til 08/10/2018
  • Nepal – 09/10 until around 29/10
  • India – between 29/10 and 28/11/2018
  • Myanmar (Arrival in Yangon) – 28/11 til middle of December – Myanmar to Cambodia onland.
  • Cambodia – around 15-17/12/2018 til 02/01/2019
  • Kenya – 03/01 til 30/01/2019
  • South America – Arrival in Brazil at Rio de Janeiro on 30/01/2019
  • Departure from Lima Pérou on 22/05/2019 – Countries planned to be visited while in South America : Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and Peru but may change with dates and/or countries
  • Mexico – 22/05 til 11/06/2019 (may change)
  • Los Angeles, National Park Grand Canyon – 11/06 til 29/06/2019 (may change)
  • New York – 29/06 til 5/07/2019 (may change)
  • Montréal Canada – 05/07 til 25/07/2019 (may change)
  • Vancouver Canada – 25/07 til 14/08/2019 (may change)
  • Auckland – 14/08 (may change)
  • Then Japan for around 2 weeks if I still have enough money haha but dates are not booked yet, so to be confirmed.

Then after Japan, going back to Bali.

Here you will find my map itinerary below on this amazing website which helped me a lot to prepare my Planet Tour :


This itinerary was created on Le planificateur de voyages website.

Going soon …😎🌏🌍🌎

Majestic Gunung Agung

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It is almost time to leave… I cannot believe it but in exactly 1 month I will leave this beautiful Island Bali…

Time is flying….!! 4 years spent here and it feels like it was yesterday I arrived here…Just crazy!

I will soon start again to write on my blog. I have to changes few things first but soon I will put my itinerary and more details about my world tour.

Stay tune! 

GALUNGAN

For French version, click here

Rahajeng Nyangra Galungan !

Galungan

It was Wednesday, 17 December. It’s always a Wednesday. It is the biggest ceremony day in Bali, every 210 days. It is the one that requires the most preparation, days of preparation. It’s a special atmosphere for those who are not Balinese 🙂

Few days before, when you walk around the streets, the first Penjor just grow up in front of the temples and houses, it’s magical! Those huge bamboo sticks, ornated, colourful, all differents, swinging in the wind…one…then two..then three…then four…Sometimes you have the feeling that they will fly away…but no! They are standing there, swinging above our heads with their little offering temples…And I heard it is even more beautiful in the villages around.

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When you’re asking Balinese, what is Galungan, some of them don’t really know how to explain, but you can feel it is very important 🙂

What I understood, is that they are celebrating Victory from Good over Bad, Dharma over Adharma. They invite Gods and ancestors to come back on earth to celebrate with them this victory J And the Penjors, standing towards the sky, are here to help them to find the way to come down on earth…I like the idea 😀

Penjor temple
Penjor temple

Each Penjor has a small altar (Sanggah Penjor) which represents Besakih Temple and inside which thay put offering for Mont Agung.

There is a ritual several days before but I will only tell about the day before and the day after, Penampahan Galungan and Manis Galungan.

Penampahan Galungan: day before Galungan, in the vilages, men kill the pig (and also chicken and ducks). They cut it, chop the meat, and prepare sate and lawar, traditional Balinese preparation (skin of the pork well chopped, mixed with minced meat and spices of course 🙂 ). Men also make the Penjors and install them in front of the houses.

Galungan 2 Galungan 1

Women prepare other offering days before (biscuits, candies and sticky rice).

Offering
Offering

Galungan: On Galungan day, they start very early morning, around 4 or 5ock. They bring lots of offering trays in many temples. Then, back home, they also leave offering everywhere in the house in the family altars where the women bless them with holy water.

The offering are made of rice, sate, fruits…They also leave offering on all the important things they use in everyday life like on cars, motorbikes, television, computers…

Offering for Eka's car
Offering for Eka’s car

Offering for Eka's bike
Offering for Eka’s bike

Eka family
Eka family

Eka's mum temple village
Eka’s mum temple village.

Then, family is meeting in family temple to pray all together, and in all others family temples, and main temples.

Manis Galungan: The day after Galungan is called Manis Galungan. This day is devoted to visit family members, meet each others, eat together, chating, walk around.

I understood that these three days were really busy and intense days for Balinese people , full of colours, emotions and prayers…

I would like to thanks deeply, Eka, my wonderful Galungan reporter, who took time to take pictures for me during this very special day and who allowed me to publish them for you! Suksma sweet Eka 😉 and I would like also to thank all the people I bothered with my questions concerning this big ceremony, Galungan and who took time to answer me and explain me 🙂

Of course it is only a quick overview of what is Galungan, but it gives you an idea…Now waiting for Kuningan 😉

Sources: « Ma vie balinaise » – « Sur le chemin des offrandes à Bali »

For more pics, click here

Rainy season started in Bali and I decided to continue my blog :-)

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Ma vie balinaise
Illustration from « Ma vie Balinaise » – Edith Baudrand assisted by Wayan Leppo

After few months of silence, I thought that today was a good day to write back on my blog 🙂

Rainy season started in Bali and I’m off today.

I couldn’t or I didn’t take the time, is much appropriated to say, to finish telling the story of my South East Asia trip but I will, soon or later. I’ve written everything down and I still have tons of photos to post!

But today, I’ll be writing about the rainy season in Bali.

It will be my first rainy season but not the last one 🙂

It’s…how to say that? Again one of this thing that life makes me discover…

There are tons of things to write and say about rainy season in Bali and this post will be the first one of a long series I think!

First of all, it’s raining… a lot! It’s a big change comparing to the desert in Egypt where we were waiting the rain sometimes for ages…all the year…sometimes it was coming,  sometimes not at all…

But here, it’s coming all of a sudden, from one day to the other, without notice and then it goes again and come back again, everyday! Sometimes from the morning, sometimes at night, sometimes in the evening…with storm, thunder, clouds and the sun who appears and disappears behind them 🙂

Few things to remember and keep in mind during the rainy season:

  • Always have a rain coat with you either in your hand bag or under your scooter seat (NB: don’t forget it where you put it to dry the day before, like me today
  • Love green and mud (gadoue?)
  • Always have spare clothes
  • Love having hair that curl
  • Never plan a long scooter trip
  • Love rain
  • Drive carefully with the scooter
  • Prepare lots of good music playlists because when it’s raining you can be stuck at home or somewhere else
  • Always have food at home because when it’s raining you don’t want to go out to eat but I guess and hope you get used to it, to go out even with the rain 😛
  • Enjoy the sound of rain and storm
  • Do not be afraid of frogs because during rainy season it’s frogs party in Bali 😀

I’ll give more tips later because rainy season just started !

Just in case, for those who might not know yet, I’m living in Bali now 😀

Feel free to come and visit me whenever you want, except maybe during rainy season 😉

Welcome to Ankor Temples, Cambodia

Welcome to Angkor!
Welcome to Angkor!

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Welcome to Cambodia my friends!

1st day in Siem Reap:

I had booked into a guesthouse which was fine but when I arrived I had the feeling of being alone in the guest house … plus there was no common areas to meet people eventually …

So when I arrived in the room, I decided to locate the European Guesthouse and see if they had a room available.

This was the case, so I change and I have absolutely no regrets!

The European Guesthouse is very well positioned, my room is very clean and there’s especially common parts, a restaurant and bar where meeting people is pretty easy!

After I put my bags in my room, I went to the bar where I met Pheak (pronounced a bit like Pierre), a young Cambodian who works at the guest house. He explained me the different options for visiting the temples …

I decided to do the « small tour » the next day by bicycle alone and to do the day after the « big tour » by Tuk-tuk with Pheak.

So there are two tours, a small tour and a big tour … Here is a map to give you an idea.

Ankor Temples map

The small tour (purple line) is about 17 kilometers, and the big tour (red line) which is an extension of the small one is about 26 kilometers.

I have not done much more that day, I went walking around the city center of Siem Reap and then I stayed at the guesthouse where I talked to some people.

Day 2  in Siem Reap:

I took off around 8:20 in the guesthouse with my super bike 😉 It is not very difficult to find the way because in fact everyone seem to go to the same place and in all cases for sure all the tourists! ! Whether by bike, scooter, Tuk -Tuk , bus or car.

It is also very funny because people pass each other then stop, then pass each other again… There was a young Cambodian student who was part of a group of people all on cycles, who came to discuss with me on the road pedalling next to me 🙂

After about 20/25 minutes of cycling I arrived at « Ticket Booth  » which is on the right side of the road. Here there is a crowd! And there is a whole row of point of sale Admission tickets. You have to check which queue you take, because every counter is selling different tickets (1 day, 2/3 days, 7 days entrance… ) and they take a photo from you at the counter 🙂 at least for the 2/3 days ticket, so SMILE 😀 and this photo will be on your ticket.

Then, you will be controlled just after the ticket booth and several times at the entrance of some temples.

So here I am on my bicycle for the little tour! And there, the drama ! When I wanted to stop to take a picture of the  » Welcome to Ankor  » panel I realize that I forgot the memory card for my camera ! 🙁 It sucks!

Going back to the guesthouse does not seem like a good idea because I’ll lose too much time so I ‘m reasonably thinking that today it will be just for eyes pleasure and I would take pictures the next day, but still keeping a little hope that I can buy a memory card arriving on the site of the temples … and YES it is! Well, $10 for a 2 GB memory card is not cheap but it’s for a good cause ! And I had to negotiate … she wanted $25! I cannot believe it!

So off I went to explore the temples of Ankor …

So I started by Ankor Wat . THE famous Ankor Wat which all guides book refer to and which is the largest and supposedly the most beautiful. Well… excuse me but for me it was not my favorite … ! In contrast, the next on, Baksei Chamkrong, I loved it!

(Pictures here)

It was raining … first downpour about 10 minutes then big storm about 40 minutes … That’s how I made the storm breaks 🙂 For the storm, I sheltered under a temple of prayer and I stole a little nap, and I can tell you that I was not the only one 😉

(Video here)

It’s already 2:00pm when I start again after the little nap! I go toward the East-gate and I decide to finally eat something. I stop near one of the temple and one of the woman who is selling fresh fruits and cold drinks, and who is sitting a little bit away from the others, comes to me, and tells me like the others:

“Hey my lady! You want pineapple, mango, cold water?”. I have to tell you that all these women have the same voice tone when they speak to tourists. So, at the beginning it’s funny but then, after a while it becomes quite annoying!

But these one seems nice! 🙂 so I tell her that I would like some pineapple and some water and she immediately prepared a plastic chair for me to rest 🙂

So I decide to sit for a while beside her. She is chating with one Tuk-tuk driver who is waiting there for his client who went to visit the temple.

After eating my pineapple and drinking some water I start to speak with them…

I stayed there with them for a while, Map and Tantié, taking a Cambodian course 😀

I could learn some of the basics, like « susaday » (hello, « Le Hay » (bye-bye), « Ankun » (thank you), « tchnjan » (very good), « kleipeman ?» (how much is that? ») , and also numbers : « moy-1, Bée-2, mbay-3, boon-4, pram-5, pram moy (6), pram bée (7) etc…dap-10, roy-100, Pâon-1000. »

Tantie, chauffeur de Tuk-tuk / Tantie, tuk-tuk driver
Tantie, chauffeur de Tuk-tuk / Tantie, tuk-tuk driver

Map, la vendeuse de fruits / Map, the fruits seller
Map, la vendeuse de fruits / Map, the fruits seller

Well, we had a lots of fun!They found it so funny to hear me trying to speak Cambodian 😀

Tantié, the tuk-tuk driver even gave me his phone number if I needed a tuk-tuk later, except that as he was not speaking very good English, we laughed about how to understand each other on the phone 🙂 So we decided that if I call him I should say “Hello! Camille European Guesthouse, 10 minutes?” We had a good laugh about it!

After saying good-bye to my friends, I continue my circuit.

It should not be far from 3:30pm and on my way I pass a little greasy spoon that is on the road but still a bit in the middle of nowhere – It seems that they have other things than fruits to eat. After a few minutes of hesitation, I stop here and ask the young nice lady if there is something to eat and she tells me « only spring roll and eggs « .

Ankor temples 58

Well, it’s perfect! Here I am sitting at a table with two other Cambodian women in green uniforms who probably work in Ankor Park. It is probably their lunch break ? or 4:00 ock break? That I do not know! 😉

The young lady from the greasy spoon prepared me in a jiffy two beautiful spring rolls ! Sure, there are almost never here of tourists who stop … only locals in my opinion , it’s great ! I love it!

The spring rolls are simply DELICIOUS!

Rouleaux de printemps extra frais! / Fresh spring rolls
Rouleaux de printemps extra frais! / Fresh spring rolls

I have a thought for my dad at that time who advice me one or two days before on the phone “do not eat raw vegetables” 😉 but I think I must try !

I have to say that it was a successful test because I have absolutely not been sick after eating these spring rolls filled with raw vegetables, fresh and crispy ! 😀

Again, short course of additional Cambodian at checkout to revise my previous lesson! Moy Pôan riel plus moy pôan riel = Bée pôan riel 🙂

I continue my journey after this short authentic stop and I see on the map that the circuit is about to end … That’s good because I’m getting full legs 😛

Return to Siem Reap by a circuitous route because I lost the way a little bit 😉 that’s where I say, “Long life to GPS and 3G!”

This evening, I devoured in my guesthouse, one of their pizza which was absolutely GORGEOUS!

For the next day, appointment is set at 7.30 with Pheak for the big circuit.

Day 3: Siem Reap

Let’s go for the grand tour!

The photos speak for themselves … The light is beautiful …

(see more photos here)

Between visits to the temples of the Grand Circuit I talk to Pheak to learn more about the lives of Cambodians.

Pheak
Pheak

He is 24 or 25 years, he is married and has two children, two boys, one 3 years old, the other one is 10 months old.

He is living with his in-laws 😕 Because he explained me that about two years before (if I understood well) he left to Thailand for about 3 months to find for a work there…Then he had to return to Cambodia because his visa was over and his family was angry against him at this time so they didn’t want him to come back home…When he returned, he started to work at the guest house but he was dealing only with the tuk-tuk drivers I think and then he is now working as receptionist in the guesthouse every afternoon shift. He is also doing Tuk-Tuk tour to the temples on the mornings on his free time, a way of earning extra money on the side. He is earning at the guesthouse 90 USD per month, so he bought a tuk-tuk that costed him around 600 USD (he made a loan at the Bank) and a scooter and he can almost double his salary in high season I think…

This is the life of a young Cambodian boy of 25 years old, already father of two children.

As I had already seen much anyway the day before, I did not elaborate the temples of the grand tour… I took some photos but still we got back to the guesthouse at 11:30 am.

For lunch, I went to eat in a small Cambodian restaurant indicated by Pheak and evening I tried the Cambodian BBQ, very good!

Déjeuner Cambodgien / Cambodian lunch
Déjeuner Cambodgien / Cambodian lunch

SEA tour 50

BBQ Cambodgien / Cambodian BBQ
BBQ Cambodgien / Cambodian BBQ

Here in Siem Reap, I was amazed for two days 🙂

The day after it was released, I am on vacation after all! And anyway then it rained a lot that day …

It is already May 5, and I’m leaving Cambodia for south Thailand …

To be continued 🙂

(More pics here)

Bangkok, again and again…The temples and the rest…

bangkok 137

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So two full days in Bangkok, this is not bad! You can do a lot of things but you can easily stay longer too!

The first day I went to visit the classics, the Grand Palace and Wat Poh (Temple of the Reclining Buddha) and then I wandered here and there taking photos …

At the Grand Palais, I visited the textile museum and I must say it is really good! Very informative and interesting.

They explain you the various manners to weave, but also the dresses of the queen are exposed with magnificent embroidery! It also explains the different ways of folding the traditional Thai clothes with lots of little demonstrative and educational movies and also the actions of the King and Queen to help poor people in developing the weaving in the villages of Thailand.

On the ground floor of the museum you have a workshop that they call “studio” or “atelier” where you can try yourself traditional clothes, what I did! I found it great!

Musée du textile / textile museum
Musée du textile / textile museum

bangkok 140

Otherwise, I did everything by foot, nothing is far from Khao San Road. On the way from the Grand Palace to Wat Poh, there was a small market where I had lunch… A little further, on sidewalks, amulets sellers … at first I wondered what they were selling 😕 and then looking at the guide book I realized … They are all with their little pocket magnifier (like my sweet daddy) to consider and look very closely at these small objects in terracotta or metal …

Vendeur d'amulettes en action / Amulet seller in action
Vendeur d’amulettes en action / Amulet seller in action

(More pictures here)

After that, I visited Wat Poh Temple and I must admit that I was exhausted by the heat at that time … so I only went to see the famous reclining Buddha which is very impressive! 🙂

Wat Po
Wat Po

(More pictures here)

After this very busy day, I had no courage to go to visit Wat Arun, so I just went to check how to get there the next day.

So I went back to the hotel and this is where you really appreciate the rooftop pool … this is just GREAT! 🙂

Piscine sur le toit du Rikka Inn
Piscine sur le toit du Rikka Inn

The sunset was a bonus! It only needed a small beer 😉 but we were not allowed to take drinks to the pool, shame!

Coucher de soleil du toit du Rikka Inn / Sunset from Rikka Inn roof pool
Coucher de soleil du toit du Rikka Inn / Sunset from Rikka Inn roof pool

After the first day, a little green curry chicken and sleep!

The next day, I met Anne-Sophie on the way to Wat Arun … pretty funny because it was in the street, at a big crossroads. We were going to cross the road, there were a couple of tourists, she and I. We all stopped at a pedestrian crossing, waiting for the little man goes green … Then the couple decided to cross another pedestrian crossing and suddenly changed direction.

Anne-Sophie looks left, right and decides to follow them and…so do I ! 😀

We, then found ourselves crossing at the same time and I asked her if she speaks English, she replied with her good little French accent (like mine!) « A little bit, I am French » …

From there, it was much easier! 😆 She had arrived the day before and she had planned to visit all the classics tourist places that I had done the previous day but ultimately discussing it , she decided to keep it for the next day and we then spent the day together.

We started our program with the visit of Wat Arun, magnificent temple! My favorite in Bangkok I think! A splendid 360 ° view of Bangkok.

Wat Arun
Wat Arun

(More pictures here)

After this visit, we decided to make a boat trip on the canals. Also superb! 1 hour ride, really beautiful!

Balade sur les canaux / waterways tour
Balade sur les canaux / waterways tour

(More pictures here)

Then we were looking for Chinatown. We walked a lot but we finally arrived right in the heart of Chinatown market, a maze of paths and alleys in an indoor market.

Chinatown
Chinatown

Chinatown
Chinatown

(More pictures here)

A parade of colours, scents, and animations … I loved it! We even crossed a flower market…

Marché au fleurs / Flowers market
Marché au fleurs / Flowers market

After all this, we ere very tired of walking, so we decided to take a taxi, which we were not able to bargain like usual 😉 but we did not care because we just wanted to go to our hotels.

Back to Khao San Road, we went for a splash in the pool. Pretty good! Huh Anne- Sophie ? 😉 And from there we decided to meet again later for a drink in one of the famous skyscraper in Bangkok to enjoy the view across Bangkok by night ! What needs to be just gorgeous …

And there … it was an experience , I must say at once very funny but frustrating nonetheless 🙄

So, it should be noted that I check the skyscrapers address in question and at the same time I had read reviews on trip advisor … the majority of comments insisted that there was a  » dress code  » to go to the bars … and they specified for the most part, the guys were not allowed to enter the bar when they were wearing shorts or open shoes , flip flops or other … so I told myself it is ok for girls, that should not be the same, as long as we are not wearing just a swimsuit 😕

So I just put the only dressed up top I had 🙂

We take a taxi next to Khao San Road and indicate the address to the taxi driver who agrees to put the counter! Amazing! 🙂

Half an hour to reach the skyscraper which is a luxurious hotel with bar and restaurant at the top …

It appears at the entrance of the hotel that it had to be written on our heads, as the hostess down told us immediately « For the Sky Bar? 64th floor, the lift is this way. » The lobby is beautiful, with chandeliers, a pianist who plays on a piano and touti quanti …

Sky Bar Hotel
Sky Bar Hotel

Sky Bar Hotel
Sky Bar Hotel

Sky Bar Hotel
Sky Bar Hotel

We cross this beautiful hall and go up in the elevator to the 64th floor. We are really excited about the idea of a drink under the stars with Bangkok at our feet …

But now, when the elevator door opens … this is the drama! The hostesses looks kindly at us and then tells us that in fact there is a dress code here and therefore, because of our shoes we can not enter 😕

Pfff … so here we are completely disappointed! Not really possible to go back to our hotels because it was half an hour drive to come…

We read the panel to be sure … but inevitably it does say, « We do not allow (…) flip flops and Birkenstock » and BINGO! Anne-Sophie is wearing flip-flops and I am wearing Birkenstock…so this is a damn shame!

Sky Bar Hotel
Sky Bar Hotel

There’s nothing to do … they do not make any exception …

We tried to look for shoes to buy in the neighbourhood … but everything was closed.

So we finally gave up and take a taxi back to Khao San Road … and this time of course, the driver refused to put the meter 😉

Here we are… we drowned our misfortune in a beer and ate on Khao San Road. We then got a foot massage for consolation 😛

Khao San Road
Khao San Road

Anne-Sophie et moi à Khao San Road
Anne-Sophie et moi à Khao San Road

That was my second day in busy Bangkok! The next day I go to Cambodia … Stay tuned 🙂

(Pictures here)

Bangkok…Continuation!

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Khao San RoadHere I am, arrived in Bangkok and checked in in one of the hotel of Khao San Road !

The Hotel, Rikka Inn…quite expensive one for Thailand, but there is a roof pool! And for this, you’re happy to pay little bit more! 😉 Rooms are clean and nice for the time you’re in…It is very noisy until late at night but come on! You’re on Khao San Road! So, you cannot expect silence here!

So, I will try to be quick because I have to catch up!

Khoa San Road is like I said in my previous post, this is THE road of Bangkok! And you must go there because it’s really a thing! It starts around 7:00 pm I think…and from this time, it’s going crazy until all bars close and even later on…but I was already in bed!

It’s little bit hard to explain…It’s just very busy and there are lots of bars with very loud music and people, more specifically tourists of course who are here to party but specially to drink!

In front of most of the bars, waitresses and waitress (often Lady Boys) solicit people to make them come, sit and drink in their bar, offering “very cheap amazing and strong cocktails” and showing up with T-shirts saying “Here, we don’t check ID!”.

A ce bar, les serveurs portaient un T-shirt "nous ne vérifions pas les cartes d'identité"...C'est pour dire! / In this bar the waitress were wearing T-shirt saying "We don't check ID cards"!
A ce bar, les serveurs portaient un T-shirt « nous ne vérifions pas les cartes d’identité »…C’est pour dire! / In this bar the waitress were wearing T-shirt saying « We don’t check ID cards »!

There is also a lots of different to eat, lots of kitchen Tuk-Tuk selling Pad Thai and other Thai meals (Pad Thai is typical Thai meal: fried noodles with chicken, porc or shrimps and vegetables and lots of spices) and there is also the Special Grilled Insects Tuk-Tuk 🙂 and this is funny! You can find from grilled grasshopper, big beautiful and fat cockroaches, worms larva , grilled scorpions and even grilled spiders… 😯 Well…I just took a photo and tasted the worm larva! Not just to die stupid  🙂

Petite larve grillée à l'apéro ;-) Small grilled larva for Apéritif ;-)
Petite larve grillée à l’apéro 😉 Small grilled larva for Apéritif 😉

(For more photos click here)

When I was in front of this Tuk-tuk, there was that American guy who ate a big grilled scorpion 😕 YUCK! But there were also Thai people who came to buy a small bag of grilled grasshoppers…Well, for sure it is really the touristic thing but it’s pat of Khao San Road.

You can also find a lots of shops selling Thai clothes and more specifically Thai pants or others… There is everything for everybody and all prices!

Then, if you are a man and you’re walking in Khao San Road, you will have offers to have your own suited suit 😀 very special one! So apparently some guys solicit you and show you a catalog, but Oh! How surprising! In fact inside the catalogue it’s completely different thing! You’ve just been ask to attend a Peep show…So I didn’t try it of course but I’ve been said that it is a show where young beautiful Thai girls are making very special exploits…more specifically with their vagina for instance…I’ve been able to have a look on one of the list of these specials show and it was for example vagina bottle opening, or Ping-Pong pussy…among others…well…everything is possible in Bangkok! And I imagine that I didn’t see half of what is possible of course!

You can also have a massage in Khao San Road, at Charlie massage, the one I’ve tested with Anne-Sophie, a French girl I met in Bangkok on my second day there.

Foot massage tested! GREAT! 30 or 45 minutes massage I think, from top of the calf til end of toes…Gorgeous! And we even had a little extra neck and shoulders massage at the end! And I had a man who made massage 😉

Massage des pieds dans Khao San Road - Foot massage in Khao San Road
Massage des pieds dans Khao San Road – Foot massage in Khao San Road

This street is very livened up until late at night with really bang bang very loud music, and all the young tourists who are walking around, less and less sober as time goes by 🙂

This is definitely a Must Do in Bangkok!

Click here for pictures

My arrival in Bangkok…

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Arrivée Khao San roadAfter a first flight of few hours, and a stop over in Kuala Lumpur and a second flight for about 1 hour ¼ , here I am in Bangkok Airport named Suvarnabhumi Airport…

I booked the day before a hotel room in Khao San Road, with Inès advices (Thanks a lot by the way! it’s very good place!) for three nights. In the plane, I have read the South-East-Asia Lonely Planet to check how I can get to Khao San Road from the airport and I decided to make it with the cheap option, which was Airport Rail Link until Phaya Thai and from there to catch a taxi until Khao San Road…

So, no problem to find the train, which is in fact the equivalent of a rather modern and quite new RER (REGIONAL EXPRESS NETWORK)…45 baths for the train (that is approximately 1 €). So this it is the simple part after that it’s getting a little bit more complex but not that much finally!

I arrive at Phaya Thai and a young and kind Thai girl wonders where I want to go and indicate where I can find a taxi. Nickel!

I went in the street and there that swarms with cars, with people, with lots of smells …

I have my big backpack on the back, my small backpack in the front and in front of me a street where cars move forward in slow motion, because traffic jam! I approach a first taxi and the driver opens the passenger window and I say  » Khao San Road please with meter? « , this is what was written on the Lonely Planet … You need to ask the taxi driver to put the meter otherwise they make their own prices, which is often double 😕

Thus, first taxi was a total flop! The driver told me  » no meter, no meter, 200 Baths « , I refused and I passed to the following one … the same flop, but this one was even rude because he closed the window to my face! I tried a third one and then I told myself to have a look into the guide book to see how much does the route normally costs. Then, coming from nowhere, a small young Thai with glasses, wonders if he can help me… I said yes of course and I explained him that the taxi drivers do not want to put the meter and ask me 200 Baths to go to Khao San Road … He confirms me that was too damn expensive and then suggests me asking for me! Well, why not!

He, then stops a taxi and speaks to the driver in Thaï and he asks me if he can come with me in the taxi! No problem! Since I go where I want to go and where the driver starts up the meter! No problem ! And hup! Here I am in the taxi, with my backpacks with me (because apparently we do not put luggage in the trunk of the car in Thailand :-/) and the young Thai who wears glasses next to me and especially the meter turned on! 🙂

In brief, finally, it was not bad arrival in Thailand! We discussed in the car, I asked him his first name but it was impossible to remember! Anyway very nice guy! We arrived at Khao San Road, verdict of the meter 69 Baths! I wanted to pay it all but the small young Thai guy in question insisted on paying 20 Baths and as I was not enough familiar with the currency, time for me to find a 20 bath note to complete the 50 one I already gave, it was too late, my friend already paid the driver…

He accompanied me in front of my hotel! Tip Top the small Thai guy with glasses! We exchanged our emails and he told me that if I had the slightest problem I could contact him anytime! I took a photo of us in the end to have a memory! I contacted him by email two days later to thank him but I had no answer but I am not sure that he typed the good email address 😕

In brief, it was anyway a good introduction for Thailand!

Then I settled down in my room and I took a good shower before going out again in Khao San Road, THE street of Bangkok where everything is allowed, at any rate in the evening!

I have to dedicate another post to Khao San Road! Click here to find out more! 🙂

Back to Bali…Like it was yesterday!

Mie Goreng et Bintang
Mie Goreng et Bintang

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Sooo great feeling! It’s very funny to come back to a place you know from before…very pleasant! I even had the feeling that I never left but it’s already one year!

I found back my little Guest house, Sanur Bague, with my dear Nyoman who came to welcome me. The geckos were still there and the little frogs…but there are not so many than before because there are building works in progress…Nyoman is building 8 new bedrooms and there is still a lot to do… »six weeks, six weeks and it’s finished » according to Nyoman…I am not really sure about that but…that’s Indonesian optimism 🙂

I also found back my dear Madé, the guy who rent me my scooter last year. He called me back as soon as he received my sms and my scooter was delivered the next morning in front of my door! Great Madé!

I found back the very special balinese left hand driving by scooter, with a little Indonesian shower on the way back from Padang Bay…the night market of course and the delicious grilled Mahi-Mahi!

I went back to my favorite supermarket beside my guest house and the nice indonesian couple who are selling fried and crunchy vegetables and fruits were still there! I found back also the chicken sate, the Smorgas Café, the Little Bird Warung with its yummy food, its small concerts, its Bintang and very special art painting ;-), the Casablanca where I spent a nice drinking evening…Well, everything was still there like nothing changed!

Time really was flying! Have a look at some pictures here…