One night in Bangkok…

Arriving Bangkok in a period of national mourning (already lasted for over a month) over loosing their king Bhumibol Adulyadej, made a huge impression on us. He is the longest-reigning king  in the world with over 70 year at the throne. The prime minister has now declared a one year mourning for state employees and it seems like the whole country is going to follow this long-lasting mourning period. For many people he was seen as a demigod or as a close family member because of his wise and caring way of reigning the country. He administered with his daughter over 4 000 environmental, rural and self-sustainable projects throughout the country to help it grow and develop for the benefit of Thailand and it’s people. On several occasions at the cinema we were kindly asked to stand up in order to remember and honor the late king for a minute watching a video with highlights of his deeds and life. I have to admit that I got tears in my eyes while I stood there understanding what a great and unifying king he must have been…

Our experience of Bangkok is that it is full of culture (museums, monuments and art), cosy night markets, riverside hotels and restaurants, river cruises and taxis, good food, interesting activities, modern buildings, skyscrapers, and technology. People are busy but friendly and try to help whenever you ask. The low prices make it easy to enjoy the diversity of the many possible activities and cultural sites and art of the city. We visited Wat Pho, The Grand Palace, Wat Arun, Khaosan road (backpacker’s road), Asiatique The Riverfront (night market), as well as travelling by water taxis, Tuk Tuks and SkyTrain to visit the city center Siam where we went bowling, shopping and watching movies. Both Luna Noor and Emeric ended up buying their very own ukulele… I hope we will have much fun and pleasure listening to them in the future when they probably will be able to entertain themselves and us with nice music! 🙂

We also spent our last days touring with our oldest son, Ib Margido in Bangkok, as he went back to Norway after half a year touring the world with us. He decided it was time for him to continue where he left off before the worldwide family tour started back in Trondheim. We miss you already and wish you all the best in your future life journeys! Love you soooo much! We will be checking up on you from time to time… 🙂

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(Outside) The Royal Palace

The day we decided to visit The Royal Palace was on the late king’s birthday… Unfortunately the palace was closed to visitors this day and thousands of Thai people were mourning outside the buildings. The cars were stopped and the police held strict order among the many people sitting, walking and praying in the streets nearby. The dress code to access the area was white or black to show respect to the late king.

Wat Pho and the reclining Buddah

Wat Arun

Siam (city center)

Cars and LAN-parties

Tea-time in Siam Center

The cinema inside Siam Center

Cosplay-day in Bangkok

Fish massage – refreshing, tickely and funny! 🙂

River taxi and cruise

Night market shopping and eating

Our favourite restaurant

Snacktime…

Our hotel

Breakfast on the terazze