Banded seasnakes, mushrooming jungle islands, endless catch-ups and very few … books

By Emma.

Hum I did try but my bad choices in Thai books meant my mind wandered to the far more interesting things around me while books lay forgotten and damp in bottom of my beach bag …

Thailand – for now, a land submerged in words

By Emma. Cliquez ici pour l’article de Damien. Click here, here or here for photos of there.

Following weeks of quiet, space and slow rhythms in the Nepalese Himalayas, landing in Bangkok was surreal – the colours, the sleek modern veneer, even its name. “Bangkok”, a city name which isn’t. It’s a strange feeling when you realise that you are not actually where you thought you were. It’s maybe an Alice in Wonderland-esque sensation. Then again, “Bangkok” is only a name, a word, but, for me, it was an auger of things to come. A country that would dissolve into words. Anyhoo … Thais actually know their capital by Krung Thep (“City of Angels”), an abbreviated version of the ceremonial full name, “Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit”,which roughly translates as “The city of angels, the great city, the residence of the Emerald Buddha, the impregnable city (of Ayutthaya) of God Indra, the grand capital of the world endowed with nine precious gems, the happy city, abounding in an enormous Royal Palace that resembles the heavenly abode where reigns the reincarnated god, a city given by Indra and built by Vishnukarn”. And yet, Bangkok it is. From those first surreal moments of our arrival, self-consciously travel grubby, to the moment we left, sun-tanned and relaxed to the point of a stupor, Thailand never once lapsed from the surreal into the convincing real. The country didn’t make my heart beat faster … but I don’t think it’s supposed to.

Thaïlande: plages et plongées, curry et coup d’Etat

Par Damien. Click here for Emma’s Thailand. Et pour les albums, cliquez ici, là, ou là.
WARNING: cet article est bien trop long.

Après 2 mois en Inde et 4 semaines au Népal, atterrir à Bangkok c’est un peu comme voyager dans le futur. Se retrouver tout à coup au milieu des autoroutes et des gratte-ciel, on se sent presque dans un film de science-fiction!