Something I could use

The Marshmallow Challenge

The task is simple: in eighteen minutes, teams must build the tallest free-standing structure out of 20 sticks of spaghetti, one yard of tape, one yard of string, and one marshmallow. The marshmallow needs to be on top.

How would you do it?

LOY KRATHONG

"Loy Krathong is as old as Thai heritage and represents a close bond between Thai culture and water. The festival takes place on the full moon night of the twelfth lunar month when the water level is high and the climate is cooler. Participants ask water spirits to sail away their troubles in their krathongs, which are containers traditionally made from banana leaves and carrying offerings of incense, lotus flowers and small money."
We just happened to be around at the time of the November full moon and could witness the festival and people making offerings to the goddess of water: floating candles and flowers.
That night people lit light paper lanterns and send them to the sky. Like everybody else, we bought one, lit it up, waited until the air inside was hot enough...

... and successfully released it to the sky, as proven by the video from Alice: click here.

Similan Islands

Heaven, I'm in heaven...

PS: the color of the water is real. No Photoshop, no tricks applied. The water was really turquoise and transparent. The sand was really white. Heaven on earth, I'm telling you.

A walk in the jungle around Chiang Mai

Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep

"Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep is a temple often referred to as "Doi Suthep" although this is actually the name of the mountain it is located on. The temple is located 15 km from the city of Chiang Mai and is a sacred site to many Thai people. From the temple impressive views of Chiang Mai can be seen and it remains a popular destination of foreign visitors."

Indeed the temple was on top of a hill which we reached via a red taxi shared with 8 people.
On top of being one of the most beautiful temples we've seen, it was also the first one we visited on a Sunday. We had the chance to witness people praying and making their offering to Buddha.
Please watch respectfully.

and listen here.

Wat Rong Khun (Chiang Rai)

The white temple.

Yes another temple but one of a kind!

Thai Cooking Lesson

First, learning about the ingredients. Very important is to smell them so we can decide whether we like them or not, and in case we can't find them back in Europe, we can figure out a substitute.
Lemongrass, ginger, Thai basilic, Thai coriander, etc.

 Thai aubergine, long bean, onion, etc.

Follow the recipe and the instructions, and magically you get:

Tom Yam Soup with Shrimp

Chicken in coconut milk soup

Green curry chicken & Chicken with cashew nuts or with Chicken with Basil

Stir fried big noodles

and the legendary Pad Thai fried noodles (my favourite).

Look for an invitation for a Thai buffet in the coming months ... at your own risk :)

Visiting a market

Some items we know, some are new, some are scary, but overall it makes you curious of what you can cook with all of these ingredients.



Thailand - Best of Food

Quail eggs, served in a bowl made of banana leaves

 Grilled fish & Satay chicken

 Banana Chocolate Rotee, already pre-cut so you can eat it easily with a wooden stick while walking.

 Watermelon juice & Pineapple juice (freshly blended)

 Pineapple fried rice

Thai BBQ - Sea food



Offering

Many symbolic offerings are made to Buddha. Typical material offerings involve simple objects such as a lit candle or oil lamp, burning incense, flowers, food, fruit, water or drinks.
It's actually impressive to see the beautiful offerings that can be created simply with flowers and banana leaves.

Hill tribe village

or the human zoo...

Golden Triangle

As already mentioned, there is not much to see apart from the 2 rivers merging.

Hilton Phuket Arcadia Resort

Also known as paradise.

When can I go back? I'm sure the swimming pool is missing me :)

Wat Chaimongkol (Chiang Mai)

Simply because we haven't seen enough temples in one day... just one more and we close the day by a massage.

 As the number of temples we visited increased, the passion for Buddha and other symbols decreased. It seems there are so many Buddhas one can see in a single day :)

Wat Chiang Mun (Chiang Mai)

Wat Chiang Mun is the oldest temple in Chiangmai.

In this temple, a friendly Thai man explained to us the 8 Buddhas of the week. One for each day, except Wednesday when there are one Buddha for the morning and one for the afternoon. I still don’t know why but one can make an offering for each day of the week.

Wat Chiang Yuan

Another temple with one novelty: a black Buddha.
After seeing so many Buddhas, we started to track the colors we saw: yellow/golden, white, red, green and now black.

This temple was not as well preserved / maintained that the others we've seen which translated into plants growing pretty much everywhere.

Wat Mornthean–Sri Poom, Chiang Mai

Yep, another temple.

With more Nagas, but somehow looking funnier this time.

With more Buddha, but this time really big. So big I could sit in those hands.