on safari

Arrived in Beijing yesterday. I feel constantly cold, but the weather applet says it’s 22 degrees (Celsius), so I guess that’s quite warm for spring. Yes, it’s spring time. Kind of strange coming to a four season place after Bangkok. Spring is supposed to be the nicest time in Beijing. Though to me, Beijing mainly seems really dusty. I think it’s a combination of pollution and dust from some nearby desert as well as the omnipresent construction sites. I live a bit further off the center, but conveniently close to where I will be working from next week. It’s a quite a large Chinese (meaning non-expat) apartment complex where I share a flat with a Chinese girl. It’s a typical Chinese furnished two bedroom apartment with a living room, kitchen, and bathroom. Nothing fancy, but really good value compared to what you get in Bangkok for the same price. My flatmate is real fun and she speaks perfect English. The apartment faces a large busy road (Chaoyang Bei Lu) and is quite noisy, but I don’t really mind. I am quite sure I’ll get used to that in a few days.

See the full flickr photoset here.

About two and a half years ago, I went to the dentist in Switzerland and she told me that I have two cavities to fix. Unfortunately, I could not go to my appointment and I finally never showed up. However, one year later I went to see a different dentist who said that my teeth were in perfect shape. Now today, I went to see a dentist here in Bangkok for a checkup before leaving for Beijing. Same again: Nothing wrong with my teeth. Hmm, so either the problem has fixed itself or my first dentist wanted to sell me a service I didn’t actually need.

I knew this was going to happen, but everything seemed so far away… Now it’s getting really close: I am moving to Beijing in 13 days and there is still so much to be done before leaving.

Luckily I already have a place to stay and a something to do (I will be telling more about that on my other blog in the near future). But I need to give up my beloved apartment in Bangkok, say goodbye to my friends, and my life I have started building up here. It still feels like I haven’t properly arrived in Bangkok yet, and I am already about to leave :(. On the other hand, there is this whole new adventure about living in the Chinese capital city awaiting me.

Honestly, I am quite excited, but I know I won’t enjoy it as much as I enjoy Thailand. First of all, Chinese food is edible, though mostly close to disgusting, Chinese people are far less friendly and helpful than Thais, and the weather is boiling hot in summer and icy cold in winter with the next enjoyable beach being far away… in southern China, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia. I am planning to stay for about six months which means I’ll be there for the Olympics. I can’t wait seeing Beijing even more crowded than usual with all the legal restrictions and regulations that are put in place just in time for the Olympics. Though I have heard that Chinese are really working on their pollution issue, so maybe I will be experiencing the cleanest summer ever.

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.’

I finally made it to Beijing! I could hardly believe it. China has been so much of a fascination for me in the last couple of years and every time I enter the country I do so with a lot of respect.

Beijing was great, however, as I went there for a conference and to meet IT people, I hardly found time to do much sightseeing. I therefore, didn’t get to see the great wall and some of the other stuff. Though I really enjoyed that fact that you can get on a bike and go anywhere in the city. This is absolutely cool for someone who has been living in Bangkok for a while.

See the full flickr photoset here.

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.

Phnom Penh was great! So nice to eat tasty french food and to meet Malin and Johan who currently live in Sihanoukville. Cambodia has finally hit the road to modernisation with a real airconditioned shopping mall in Phnom Penh and plenty of construction work going on. However, sidestreets still tend not to be paved and the city has not yet lost it’s slow-paced lifestyle. Even motorbikes run really slow on the streets.

Her a few pics from my trip to Phnom Penh:

See the full photoset on flickr.

While in Phnom Penh this weekend my Moto driver Han explained to me on Sunday that Tuol Sleng was closed. Now, this is normally just a way for touts to encourage tourists to go somewhere else and receive commission. It seemed strange to me that Han would do that, and I tried to find out more about it, but he didn’t know any details. As I didn’t want to go to Tuol Sleng anyway, I wasn’t bothered about finding out. Anyway, now I know what happened: Mia Farrow’s anti China rally has brought about some turmoil. See the Bangkok Post article for details.