on safari

I finally got to see The Beach. It’s called Maya Beach on Ko Phi Phi Leh where they made the movie. And it’s …. crowded. Plenty of boats with noisy motors, people sunbathing, getting drunk, swimming, snorkelling… Honestly, I have seen better beaches.

Fabian and I spent almost three weeks on Thai beaches and we loved it. First we went to Ko Phi Phi and then moved on to Ko Lipe in the Ko Tarutao national park. We spent our days lazying on the beach, snorkelling, and diving. I finally read a couple of good books, got myself a bit of a suntan and I saw sea turtles, sharks, shrimps, pipe fish, and nudie branks in all shapes and colors. I also started taking underwater pictures while diving, though it turned out to be much harder than expected, especially with the constant underwater current.

As a final highlight before coming back to Bangkok, we got caught in the Songkran activities in Krabi yesterday and had much fun getting soaked in water and splashing around with our water pistol. So sad there is no similar festival in Europe :).

See the full flickr photoset here.

After having complained so many times on twitter about immigration at Bangkok international airport, they have finally heard my prayers. I have even missed my flight to Phnom Penh because of the long queue at immigration. I have, however, learnt from my mistakes and I now show up over two hours bevor the flight leaves at the airport.

According to this article in the Bangkok Post, Suvarnabhumi airport has admitted that “that a shortage of staff was forcing foreign visitors and returning Thais to wait in extremely long queues”:

‘Concerned about mounting complaints, the Royal Thai Police are considering requesting immigration officers on assignment with other agencies be returned to immigration.
In addition, the bureau will recruit “a number” of new immigration officers for duty at the airport, said Pol Lt Gen Chatchaval. The Police are in charge of immigration offices and border checks.
In the meantime, he recommended passengers arrive at check-in at least two hours before their departure time.
“Many passengers have missed flights after showing up at check-in less than one hour before scheduled departure. There isn’t enough time for check-in and immigration procedures. In fact, after the check-in, about 45 to 60 minutes should be kept for immigration procedures,” Pol Lt Gen Chatchaval advised.’

Fabian was in Thailand for a week and we made a trip to the beach in Ko Samed and enjoyed the sun, the breakfast pancakes and the great Thai seafood.

View the full photoset on flickr.

Today I went to a pharmacy nearby to buy some eye drops. Bangkok’s dust and dirt as well as the constant exposure to air conditioning and fans doesn’t seem to agree very well with my contact lenses. I actually wanted to buy some mild eye drops like ‘natural tears’ to ease the occasional irritations. I really thought that’s what I explained to the pharmacist. She gave me a box and said that this was mild. With all the Thai writing on it (which I still can’t read properly), I was kind of forced to trust her, so I bought it for 30 Bath (equals about one Swiss Franc). When I got home, I opened the box and started reading the package insert and the first sentence is: ‘[…] is a synthetic soluble corticosteroid, 30 times as effective as cortisone’. So that’s supposed to be mild? Sounds like a serious drug to me…

In Thailand and pretty much anywhere in Asia for that matter, any kind of medicine is freely available at the pharmacies. Just name it, and you’ll get it. Problem is, you even get it when you don’t name it. Therefore, people here tend to take antibiotics and really strong drugs for pretty much everything, simply because there is nothing else available at the pharmacies and everyone does so. But for my slightly irritated eyes, corticosteroid is a bit too much. Guess I’ll try to find a different pharmacy tomorrow.

I bought a box of birds’ nest drink, but somehow I can’t get myself to drink it, so it still sits in my fridge.

I learned two important lessons this week:

1. Christmas decoration disappears when Christmas is over.
2. What Thais and Chinese call birds’ nest is really birds’ spit

There was a fire at Major Ratchayothin on Wednesday. The Christmas decoration caught fire and distroyed part of the California Wow fitness center. Major Rachayothin is very close to where I work and when we heard that there was a fire, we ran up the stairs to see it from the balcony. However, after having seen what was there to see, we decided that there was no fire after all and went back to work. Later only we heard about the burning Christmas decoration and I thus learned my important deco lesson.

Major Ratchayothin: before and after the fire.

Ever heard about the famous birds’ nest soup? Birds’ nest is a popular new years’ present in Thailand and it’s currently on display in every supermarket. I always thought that eating a bird nest was kind of weird, but I never enquired about its details. While waiting for a friend to finish his shopping, I naively asked about the secret of the famous birds’ nest soup and I learned that it consists of the saliva of cave swifts. Mmh!

Bangkok features some of the most astonishing Christmas decorations I have ever seen. Almost every shopping centre has their own decoration. This is quite funny as Christmas is not even a national holiday in Thailand. I’ll be working on December 24 and 25… However, with these decorations it will feel a bit like Christmas anyway.

A few impressions from my first weeks in bangkok.

There are also some photos available from my last trip to Thailand in July 2007: