Sawatdii kaa!

I am back from Thailand! God, it was amazing. The temples, the beach, the animals (just wait for it), the sun and the warmth in early February, the delicious food and fruits shakes and above all, my two absolute(e) friends from France who I joined in Bangkok. Unforgettable trip to the “land of smiles” (to be discussed then)!

Part 1 : BANGKOK.

Bangkok : a messy, noisy, dirty developing city, with bunches of loud tourists looking for an Asian Ibiza-style party place and loud local people looking for money, money, money. Unsmiling taxi drivers. Unsmiling shop attendants. Unsmiling hotel staff. Garbage on the streets. Cars, motorbikes, taxi and tuk-tuk driving madly. Rats. And… fun, fun fun! Fun everywhere! Desert streets when you avoid the touristic places, real deals when you talk to the right people, and temples shining like jewels in the sun… Check it out!

Wat Phra Kaew

Stunning Wat Phra Kaew, the temple of the Emerald Buddha and he most sacred temple in Thailand! I didn’t know exactly what to expect of the Thai architecture, and then, this… I suddenly felt so small. The buildings were so huge, the decoration so precise and rich and colorful… I have really been punched in the stomach by this pure gold on the violently blue sky. My pictures are fare below the reality. It was just like a proud and confident cathedral. I thought: “That’s a powerful country”. And I remembered these promotional posters at the airport, showing a Muay-thai box fighter, with the pitch: “Unbeatable Thailand”. Here I am…

(NB: you are supposed to dress “neatly” when you visit a thai temple. Short pants and skirts, slim jeans and light tops are forbidden – they check visitors one by one, and you have to rent a long dress if your outfit doesn’t match the criteria. Always bring a long skirt with you in Bangkok, and a sweater to cover your shoulders. Even if the weather is super warm. Just bear it!)

Palace

Wat Po

From the outside, Wat Po is more understated than Wat Phra Kaew, with its white-based walls and natural stones decorated with colorful tiles. But inside… the giant reclining Buddha is watching you between two pillars, and you feel just like an insect again. And these golden statues exhaling peace and meditation… Visual shock number 2, check!

Wat Arun

Wat Arun, the Temple of Daw, is made of darker stone. You have to cross the Chao Phraya river to the Eastern part of the city. The atmosphere is more peaceful, less busy than in the Palace area. You can hear the sound of wind around the pagodas…

Wat Saket

The main interest of climbing Wat Saket, the Golden Mount, is to embrace the 360° view on Bangkok. And to ask yourself what the hell is a “chedi”, for you can’t find any explanation in your guidebook. After a look at Wikipedia, I learned that a chedi is the thai word for the mount-shape pagoda protecting holly relics. Now I can sleep peacefully.

Khao San Road

Thanon Khao San is known to be the busiest, most touristic and noisy street of Bangkok. And we had the fantastic idea to stay there, is a casual guest-house called D&d Inn (casual, but with a roof-top pool). If your room is on the street side, no way you can sleep at night. The bars and club are spitting heavy electro-pop sound all night long, people are drunk, taxi get mad and generally speaking, everyone is as loud as possible. Walking in Khao San at midnight, with our backpacks, freshly debarked from the airport will remain one of the greatest moments of our stay. I though “Bangkok is not kidding”. After two days, we were totally addicted with this impossible street. Especially when the discovered an unexpected Absolut Bar... When you think that we have been the Absolut team since our marketing study about Absolut Vodka (Country of Sweden) at school... like, there is no coincidence, isn't it.

 Siam

The area of Siam gives a very different glimpse of Bangkok. This is a modern, commercial district with many shopping centers and public transportation. Still, I wouldn’t have traded Khao San’s crazy mess for Siam’s cleanness if I had had the choice.

Rama IX

There is something you have to be careful with in Thailand: Thai people just LOVE their King. Genuinely. The crime of “lese-majeste” still exists in Thailand: if you offence the king’s dignity, you can be legally punished. Like, they’re not joking with that. At first, the huge portraits of His Majesty Bhumibol (and sometimes his wife) just made me think of a thai-style stalinian cult of the personality, and I was feeling sorry for the Thai to worship this old guy just a bit less than Buddha itself. Then, I read a few stuff about the king, and I understand better. Thai has been politically unstable for long years, with a lot of political violence, riots, coups d’etat and so on. The politicians tend to exacerbate the latent nationalism and xenophobia because it is (everywhere) the easiest way to win elections. But Bhumibol (also known as Rama IX) is an enlightened king who has been studying in the USA and Europe, and who is especially opened to the world. He preaches cooperation with the foreign powers, democracy (yes), and tolerance in general. He’s also a big donator for the little farmers (of course, as one of the richest kings in the world, yes he can). For the Thai, he is the only stable and reasonable voice in the political field, and this is why they revere him so much. (It’s not an excuse for hanging ugly portraits everywhere, but anyway.)

And the royal palace. That we couldn't visit because you can't enter if you don't wear a skirt. Between the temples and the palace, one needs to visit Bangkok with her full wardrobe in her bag...

And a few glimpses of Bangkok…

 Fresh fruits at every corner

A temple in Chinatown

Tuk-tuk, the crazy taxi that can slalom between the cars

Bangkok, green city

Blue sky, white elephants

Karaoke in the taxi!! Even the Japanese taxis don't have it...

Wanna see more?? “Absolute trip to Thailand – Part 2 :Chiang-Mai” is coming soon! Just wait for it !

I didn't know that Hong-Kong is the country for orchids. There are more than 120 species in the region, and you can find it for insanely cheap on the flower markets (from 2 euros the sing orchid and 4 euros the "orchid branch"). The flower market has been, itself, a great surprise - I didn't expect such a creativity in the presentation and colors! Hong-Kong really deserves its name of "fragrant harbour"!

Another Hong-Kong treasure: jade stones. From green to blue, purple, grey and white. They are everywhere on the market for cheap, and cheaper when you pretend not to be interested.

Antiques are also everywhere in the area of Sheung-wan, offering a wide range of one of my obsessions: boxes. boxes, boxes, boxes.

Of course, China is a major land for tea. Colourful teapots are the stars of the night market.

And now, UFOs. Unidentified Food-related Objects. The shops in Hong-Kong are full of dried - what ? Dried mushrooms? plants? seafood? animals' horns? And what is the proper way to eat this stuff? So many mysteries...

I have two homes: France and Japan. As I live in the second one, all my holidays are generally used to get back to the first. As a result, since I move to Tokyo three years ago, I had never put a toe on another Asian shore. But friendship is a powerful decision-maker, and I decided to experiment the rest of Asia visiting Miss E. in her "Fragrant Harbour". Noisy, busy, quirky, yummy Hong-Kong!

Hong-Kong is only 4 hours away from Tokyo by plane, but it's difficult to find a Tokyo-HK-Tokyo flight for less than 40 000yen (400 euros). The HK-Tokyo-HK flight is much more affordable, which is very unfair if you want my opinion, but I guess that as long as the Japanese will be OK to pay ridiculously expensive air-tickets, the companies won't slow down their prices. Low-cost airlines are flourishing, though. Maybe there is hope. Anyway.

Hong-Kong is, indeed, smelling incense, but also stinking money. The mix between the Chinese population, with its inner sense of business and its unlimited apetite for growth, and the Western wolfs ruling the global financial system, is explosive. People there don't loose their time with subtle concepts such as the cultural differences or the local mindset. First, Hong-Kong is not a "special" Chinese region, but the "Asia's Global City", as written everywhere around. If a Westerner comes to study Chinese, it's really for business - and most of the time they don't, and if they do they focus on the spoken language. Not a lot of foreign businessmen seem very attracted by the inner poetry of the Chinese characters, or personnally challenged by the complexity of the language and/or thinking. Learning Chinese, for the HK golden boys, is just a painful and boring must-do for their career. I've been there only five days, but I have met no one who is genuinely interested in the Chinese languages or the Chinese culture; and people don't take a special pride in mixing with the Chinese or in making Chinese friends, whereas in Japan, most of the foreigners are dreaming of an inaccessible integration. Having Japanese friends (not only lovers), speaking/reading/writing Japanese, knowing a bit of Japanese history and culture are highly appreciated and valued. In Japan, only a (very pitiful) tiny part of the expats don't make efforts to adapt themselves; most of the foreigners I know in Tokyo are living there by their own decision and do their utmost to reach a kind of understanding of the local mindset. But in Hong-Kong, I have experienced a strange lack of mutual fascination between the East and the West. No one there is special for no one. And everything is about money. Fortunately, Hong-Kong is also a major land for cinema, and this allows me to keep a glimpse of hope about the ability of its population to enjoy poetry.

Because Hong-Kong is poetic indeed! Check it out!

Hong-Kong by day

Hong-Kong skyscrappers are tall, thin, and ugly. There is a perpetual rumor of mixed voices and car noises on the streets. The city is alive, roaring and frantic. Parks and terrace let the citizen have a breath from the fast-pace atmosphere around.

Hong-Kong by night

Darkness let us shine.

More pictures to come!

For some reasons I love living in the XXIth Century. For example, you can get this kind of map for free. It shows my world, based on my friend list on Facebook. Japan and Europe (all Europe ! Thanks ETP !) are at the top of Noemi's Friendly Lands shortlist; as well as North America and East Africa, where I have never been...

It's a small world after all

Great, isn't it ?

Friends from Ukraine, hello ! I'm in your pages !

This humble blog had the honour to be noticed by an Ukrainian magazine, Світ під кутом (World's New Angle), interested in volunteering experiences in Tohoku. I was glad to provide a few pictures of Tohoku and my inspiring co-workers... And here I am, with my legendary pink T-shirt, introducing Ishinomaki to my Eastern "neighbours" !

I can not read the content of the article, but I am happy enough to see my face and my little blog in these pages ! Thanks "World's New Angle", thanks Ukraine !

This blog uses to deal with intercontinental experiences in general and mine in particular. Today, I write an article for someone I have never met, someone I don't know at all but who deserves that as many people as possible learn how he lived and how he died.

Many people die everyday and among them many people die for unfare reasons. They are killed by war, poverty, madness or simply because of bad luck. In their case we blame the guilty people and the guilty systems that led us there and somewhere, somehow, some people try harder to fight the causes of their death.

But in this case, there is nothing and no one to blame but irony of the destiny. Take a brave, healthy and generous young man who decided to do something for the people who were born in the wrong side of the planet. His name is Lee Yong-jun, he is Korean, he is studying architecture and since he is a freshman he has spent his free time to get involved into volunteering programs in Tanzania, Africa. He gives lessons to kids, he fixes solar panels, he designs buildings for the people living there. He gives the best of himself to make the world a bit less unfare and to live a life reflecting his wide, wide heart.

So wide he suddenly had an heart-attack and died in Tanzania last year. When he was swimming. Who could ever imagine a way to die more in harmony with the universe ?

His heart led his life and also his death.
There is nothing, no one to blame and very few to regret, except his young age, when we consider how useful and meaningful his existence has been.

(Source : the Korean Times)

They will all remember this beautiful soul.

Japanese Autumn is sweet, definitely sweeter than Paris' one, but still I needed more sun before begining my internship - three months sat in an office when I will barely see the sun shining...
So, I flought to the sunny Guam (USA), a southern island of the Mariannas' archipelago, in the Pacific Ocean : around 3 hours by plane from Tokyo, the ideal place to rest for the Japanese, and a little change for me because local people here speak Japanese more than English, even to me ! An appendix of Japan, if I can say. It's very clean, very organized, very Japanese-friendly (ramen-ya at every corner). But with a little change that makes all the difference...

First, Guam is EMPTY. The streets are surrounded by the same Ginza-style shops, the same international food restaurants than in Japan, but you have so much space everywhere - ceiling are highs, streets are wide, and you feel so much confortable in this micro-island than on the main-land of Honshu... because people don't live here like sardins in a can...

The hotel pool, empty...

The streets, empty...


The beach, empty...


The bar, empty...


The aquarium, empty...

Then, Guam is bright. The sun, the water, even the grass is shiny as if there where pigments to reflect the light from everywhere, so you absolutely need to wear sunglasses, even the Japanese. How can nature make the things so different, from the dark volcano-ground Japanese beaches and the ultra-white seashores of Guam ?

Sooooo transparent water


Blue lagoon


Bright beach


Underwater


Underground colors effects


Surface coral art

Finally, it is USA after all, and the Japanese are not at home, even if everything is kind of made for them. I heard many of them doing an effort to speak in English with the local people on the shops for example, even if they really didn't need to do so. In addition, I was welcome everywhere with a "happy Thanksgiving" and I could see a huge pannel saying "We support our troops" at the top of the airport entrance, which is definitely not very in the Japanese spirit. But from the bus, it seems that I was the only one to notice the message... Polite blindness or fear to get involved in any political subject ?
I also felt that I was going to the USA at the check point of the international airport of Guam, where I had to answer to the most intimate questions about my "strange" interest for Japan, and about with who I was travalling and why this choice. But in the absence of US visa, I had no right in front of the final decision of the custom guy and if he decided not to let me enter, I could only take my flight back to Tokyo... So, I answered to everything smiling like a good girl and I let the person in front of me to play with my fate around 7 minutes before allowing me to receive the precious stamp on my passport... Jeezus.

Japan, USA, Guam...


Two girls from Kansai who absolutely wanted to take a picture with me... I am so exotic


Guam : a Chrismas tree and tropical plants

Guam is also a little Marketing Paradise where everything is based on the themes of flowers, fruits and exotism - hawaiian style clothes, hair flowers, perfumed skin-care, coconut soaps, fruity cocktails, scented candles - and as all is moderatly cheap, you can't prevent yourself to fall for all these colors, all these smells ; and you shop... and shop... Guam is a brand itself, in addition with the commodity of the malls which propose the same global stuff you can find all over the world, from Prada to Vuitton, Givenchy and Chanel.

Cocktails...

... Cocktails...


... and Cocktails.


Aquarium-bar

But if you take a bus for a few miles (yes, we are in the USA, remember), then you discover an untouched nature, very impressive : the deep blue of the sea, the strength of the wind, the schock between the high cliff and the sweet beach... You can still imagine the lifestyle of the Chamorros before the Spanish came on the island, despite the routine of tourism and the confort established for the high-demanding Japanese travellers...

I had a very good time at Guam, and I encourage all the Tokyo-addicts to take a break once in this Japanese Paradise...