Chiang Mai

The night train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, via Ayuttaya, is an excellent mean of transport: relatively fast, cheap and comfy. And the beds are pretty large too :-) 

Just make sure that you buy your train ticket on time... We went to the train station in Ayuttaya on the day before the planned departure just to find out that there were no tickets left for the sleeping couches. We were pretty surprised because it was just middle of the week with no major holidays around. Another visit at the station early in the morning next day was more successful - we got two tickets but not next to each other, which in the sleeping compartments makes things much easier. The station clerk must have seen our disappointment because he promised to change our seats to neighboring ones, if possible, later on during the day. And he did :) the trip was very comfy (train no 1, 2nd class sleeping seat) and we arrived to Chiang Mai only 15 minutes late.

We stayed at the Julie's Guesthouse, which was nice, clean and cheap (300BTH for a double room with a fan and ensuite bathroom). I guess we were lucky to get a room there without booking, they were full for the next days.
After renting bicycles we made a tour around the old town and subscribed for an evening cooking course at Asia Scenic.  Our teacher was India and she made the classes not only useful but pleasuring and funny.A very much recommended experience :) we cooked 4 dishes and visited a nearby market to get a short lecture about spices used in Thailand. 

Our first visit to the Night bazaar was very interesting, as it was our first experience with such a huge night market in Thailand (and maybe in general). We did not buy too much, but wandering between the colorful booths was entertaining. 

Next day we decided to see what is there to see outside of the old town. Bicycles came handy again. We took a very informative and relaxing boat tour. It was pretty expensive (400BTH for 1.5h) but sightseeing from a boat gives another insight into the city. 

Our challenge on that day was also to do our first laundry in Thailand. We looked for regular washing machines "for rent" that would be fast and straight forward to use but found nothing like that. In the end we used the regular laundry service (can be found on every corner) and decided to pay extra for an express laundry service (ready in 4-6hours) instead of the regular service (ready next day). While cycling around the town we found the Saturday's market that was much nicer than the Night Bazaar and full of local people as well. If you have a chance to go there - do it :-)

The attraction for the evening - Thai boxing at Thapae Boxing Stadium - was the weakest point of the day and not worth the money (800BTH) in my opinion. But I am not into these sort of sports anyway...

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Bangkok

After arriving to Bangkok and a 20 minutes' train ride (Airport Link) to the Phyathai station the adventured started. We decided to use the public transport as much as possible during the entire trip and therefore we went to a bus stop, where we expected to find bus no 503. Nope... Plenty of other numbers, but not 503. Ok, I said, no worries, I know another stop where the bus should stop (I checked the bus lines earlier), just 10 minutes walking from here. While walking the we were asked about 20 times by the TukTuk drivers if we needed a ride. And the number 503 was not on the other bus stop as well... 

I got really confused... and than I saw drTBBE waving his hand at the bus approaching the bus stop. It was 503, and it stopped right where it was when drTBBE had started hand-waving: in the middle of a 4 lane street :-) Anyway, we took the bus and asked the lady collecting money for tickets that we wanted to go to Phra Nakhon. After about 20 minutes she said that we should get out at the next stop, as we did. I still have no clue where we left the bus but it was not Phra Nakhon :-) But it was pretty close to Phra Nakhon. After about half an hour we found our guesthouse, Amarin Inn :-)

We spent the evening in the Khao San road area that is full of tourist, food, loud music and booths with everything you need and do not need.
Sunday passed on visiting the old town with many temples and the Grand Palace:

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Project Belgium - first 2 weeks in Flanders

Things are going smoothly so far:
- most of the admin stuff like: registration at the Commune, getting a new bank account or mobile SIM cards are solved already,
- all of the furniture is re-assembled again - my last year's birthday gift rules!!!
- most of the boxes are unpacked and the flat slowly starts to feel "like home".

On Friday drTBBE joined me here for a couple of weeks and he will do teleworking for the Danish employer - I love Scandinavia and their way of treating people! It looks like we could keep going like that for several next months :-) Simply great!!!

And it seems like my new job is going to be interesting... very promising so far :-)

There are still a couple of points to get used to:
a) surrounding of our house is pretty deserted (the buildings next to ours are not inhabited) and I suspect that people who developed Fallout (a video game) could have been inspired by this area,
b) every day at 5 p.m. there is a test of nuclear alarm sirens... Believe me or not, this sound doesn't make you feel comfortable...



Our new address:
Building to the right,
Middle of nothing,
Belgium

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the heavies and the biggest 21m3 ever

Viborg, 12 September:

  

 

Mol, Belgium, 14 September, 3rd floor:

 

 

 

Was that the heavies and the largest 21m3 ever? Or am I just getting older?
L. - thank you for carying our stuff up for 4 hours!


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Vanda in action!

After tens of hours spent on flying our octocopter (we call it Vanda) on a flight simulator and a couple of hours of real flying we traveled to Spain for the first data collection. Very busy, intense and stressful fieldwork, at least for me as a rookie RC pilot. Fortunately after several flights my leg shake (stress!!) decreased and I finally started to really enjoy flying :-) 

Maybe I will even start to think about building a smaller version of Vanda on my own...

Work can be really fun!!!

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Andalusia - great time with good "old" friends...

Great people, beautiful places, delicious food, great fun!!!

And the best thing is that there are people who, after not having seen for several years, you start talking to and it feels like these several years never happened, like you saw each other two weeks ago... I really like thatt :D

Grenada, Alhambra:

Nerja:

Fire on the beach on San Juan's night:

Almuñécar:

Somewhere in Frigiliana:

Cordoba:

 Somewhere in Malaga:

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