Thailand-4

Hi, welcome once again to my blog, where I'll continue to describe my adventures in Bangkok.
Thursday I didn't do anything special, just stayed at home. Friday was similar, though I did go to a shopping center.
Saturday we went to the Ayutthaya Province (the family I'm with has another house there). The house was next to a river, where I sailed a bit around. We went to a place where I saw an elephant show and even took a ride on one, while appreciating the view of some old buildings.

Elephant in the show

Old structure

We then visited Bang Pa-in Palace, which has a lot of buildings and structures with different styles.

Thai-style structure

Chinese-style mansion (Phra Thinang Wehart Chamrun)

Classical Roman-style statue

Me in front of a Buddhist temple (Niwer Thammaprawat Temple) that looks like an European Christian Church

Sunday night we went to a river in Bangkok where we celebrated the Loi Krathong festival, by placing floating decorations (Krathongs) with lit candles on the river, firing fireworks and releasing a sky lantern
 (basically a small hot air ballon).

My Krathong

Krathongs floating in the river 

Firework being fired

A sky lantern

Monday (today) I got back to not doing anything special and just staying at home (I'm getting lazy).

Thailand-3

Hi. As you might have noticed, it's been some time since my last post, but I'll explain why. As might be expected, I have a lot to talk about, so let's get to it.
Last week's Wednesday (6th of November) I was expecting to deliver all the documents for the visa, but couldn't because of ONE document (that visa was really starting to get on my nerves at that moment). So I had to go back home and get it. But before that I had lunch in a shopping center, where I also got to use a very useful TOSHIBA product.

Thursday I was finally able to deliver all the documents and apply for the visa. I also got ready for my trip to Chiang Mai.

Friday I went to Chiang Mai by plane. I didn't want to bring too much stuff, so I only brought my small rucksack, which has limited space, with solely the necessary stuff inside. This excluded my laptop, and that's why I haven't been able to write on my blog while I was there (I could have written before going, but I didn't think it was worth it). I arrived at the airport and took a red taxi to my hostel, where I met my roommates. We decided to go out and have some fun, so we went to some bars and discos, where we sang karaoke and danced.

Me, with some people, at the entrance to a disco

Saturday, I decided to visit the old city. The city has a huge amount of temples, so I only visited some of them, notably Wat Chedi Luang and Wat Phra Singh. I also visited the 3 Kings Monument and the Chiang Mai Historical Centre.

Wat Chedi Luang

3 Kings Monument

Wat Phra Singh

Sunday I went to the Doi Suthep mountain, and visited the temple on its top, Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, from where I had a nice view of the whole city.

Stairway leading up to Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

The temple

View of the city 

Monday I took a Thai massage course, so I would just like to tell all the ladies out there that Mathias Ajami is now a very skilled masseur (or as skilled as you can get after a two-hour lesson), and is ready to use those skills on you ;). In the evening I visited the Night Bazaar, which was also quite interesting.

The Night Bazaar building

Tuesday I went on a bike trip, where I got to feed catfish and visited some rice fields and a very nice lake (Huay Tung Tao lake).

A catfish

Me next to a rice field

The lake

Wednesday (today) I flew back to Bangkok. I was picked up by my friend in Bangkok, and had lunch with him and two other prople he knew. The most interesting thing about this meal must have been the dessert, bread with ice cream (not kidding).

My dessert

I am now in his home again, writing this.

Thailand-2

Hi, welcome back. Today I will talk about what I've been doing since Saturday with the people I'm with here in Bangkok.
Saturday we went to the Flow House in Bangkok, where I could surf without having to go to the beach, in a kind of simulated wave. In fact, I was on a surface over which water was flowing (hence the name).

The Flow House

Sunday we went to the Grand Palace, the Kings residence, where we saw a lot of beautiful buildings, paintings and statues, such as Emerald Buddha (who is actually made of jade). Then we took a boat to another part of the city and walked a bit around there.

In the evening we had dinner in a restaurant where I got to see some Thai pop artists performing (I couldn't understand anything, of course, but Gangnam Style clearly showed us that understanding an Asian song is by no means necessary to enjoy it) and also some performers doing some truly amazing stuff.

Monday I was occupied preparing the documents to get the visa for China, so I didn't get to do anything very interesting.
Tuesday (today) I haven't done anything much interesting either, and I also worked on that visa (lots of bureaucracy). I only went outside with one of the members of the family to get one of the kids at school and take her to a place where she learned English, and where I talked a bit with some of the staff.

The school

Jordan-2 and Thailand-1

Welcome back. Today I'll tell you what I've been doing in Jordan and Thailand from Monday until today (Friday).
Monday we left the Dead Sea and went back to Amman (Jordan's capital), where we stayed in a hotel next to the airport.
Tuesday we took a taxi to the famous desert city Petra (another one of the 7 New Wonders of the World), where we walked a lot (especially me), since we could only go a little way on horseback, and had to walk through the Siq, a 1,2 km narrow gorge, before we got to the city itself. But at least we were able to appreciate better many of the monuments and structures, including the famous Treasury, the Monastery, obelisks, a theater, among others.

The Treasury

The Theatre

The Monastery

Wednesday I went back to Petra, and followed a path which forced me to climb a bit, but also allowed me to find new monuments (such as a lion fountain) and appreciate gorgeous views of the city and the landscape. After that I climbed the Al-Habis Fortress (an old crusader fortress), and enjoyed again a very nice view from the top of it.

The lion fountain (the water came out from the mouth, but the whole head seems to be missing)

View from the Al-Habis Fortress

Afterwards we went back to Amman and to the airport hotel, where I parted with my parents, as they had a flight to Istanbul.
Thursday I packed in the Hotel, and went with my father's business associate to the ruins of Qasr al Abd, in the village of 'Iraq al Amir.

The ruins of Qasr al Abd

We then went to the Airport, where I caught a plane to Cairo Airport and then went directly from there to Bangkok (I would have liked to stay in Egypt, but right now it is unfortunately not very safe).
I arrived in Bangkok today (Friday), after a long flight, and as I arrived already in the afternoon (due to a combination of the long flight time and the different time zone-Bangkok is 4 hours ahead of Jordan) and was quite tired (sleeping in a plane when you're traveling in economy class is not that easy). But I still enjoyed some Thai food in a restaurant with some friends in Bangkok, who went to get me and in whose house I'm staying.

My dinner