Heute habe ich die Bangkok Post in die Finger genommen und die Werte für die Luftverschmutzung angeschaut. Diese sind auf auf 250,9 microgramm per Kubikmeter. 120 Mg. sind so das Veranttwortbare. Bern wo ich herkomme ist bei 31Mg. (in der Schweiz hatte ich letzten Sommer das Gefühl neben der Autobahn ist bessere Luft als hier) Gestern mussten Flüge nach Chiang Mai gestrichen werden. Man sieht noch kaum die Landebahn am Flughafen. Chiang Mai wurde zur "disaster zone" deklariert. Gemacht wird natürlich nichts dagegen. Die letzen Wochen als ich in die Berge fuhr habe ich unzälige Feuer gesehen. Es würden Bussen gegeben (2000 Baht) Aber eben wer wird die schon einziehen. Dieses Jahr ist es viel schlimmmer als letztes. Seit Wochen haben wir Probleme mit den Atemwegen. Ich fühle mich im Moment auch recht schwach, einfach nicht wohl in meiner Haut. Übelkeit, gerötete Augen, Bronchities und verstopfte Nasen sind einige der Symptome die auftretten. Ich muss sagen Bangkok hatte die saubere Luft. Als ich am Samstag dort war sah ich blauen Himmel, etwas das man hier gar nicht mehr sieht. Es geht kein Wind, der die schlechte Luft vertreibt, noch wird es in den nächsten zwei Monaten regnen. Die heisse Zeit hat angefangen, obwohl mit dem Dunst die sonne gar nicht richtig durchkommt und so die Temperaturen immer noch sher tief sind. Also doch etwas positives in dem ganzen. Ich wünschte mir wir könnten alles zusammenpacken und einfach runter ans Meer fahren. Dort ist die Luft absolut super.
the adventure I find myself in / das Abenteuer in dem ich mich finde
Category: Living in Thailand (Page 7 of 10)
It’s been a long time since I have traveled to Bangkok. We had a great time roaming the shopping centers and taking time to talk and drink coffee. There were two new malls. Siam Paragon, next to Siam Center and connected through a walkway with water plays and Palm trees. Very nice. Siam Paragon is for the upper class shopper. To posh for my taste. But on the ground floor there are a lot of food outlets, very nice. Siam Ocean World is also on the ground floor. A place we will take our kids next time. There is also an IMAX cinema. Something I would recommend to do in the evening.
I went to Pantip plaza (the computer/software/DVD Mecca) Hasn’t changed a bit. Still crazy and noisy. Next to Pantip is the (new?) Platinum Fashion Mall. I didn’t go in there. We also were in Siam tower, Siam Discovery Center and MBK. They are all close together with MBK the best for cheap cloths. After two to three days in Bangkok is enough for me to be overwhelmed and go back to Chiang Mai, where the cows still roam the streets (it is very provincial here compared with Bangkok). Here a list of shopping centers from a link I found.
By the way. Did you know that Spiderman resides now in Bangkok. Or perhaps he is only on a holiday. I could swing from building to building in Spiderman style it would surely be easier to get around in Bangkok (with exception of the power cables that dangle over the streets everywhere)
In a view minutes we are off to Bangkok. Just lillian and me. Two days, shopping, drinking coffee, sight seeing and enjoying two days to our own. It’s not easy when the kids miss us before we even leave. But anyway its the first time in three years.
Last week as I was trekking through the jungle looking for leaks in a water-pipe, I came across those black ants. I have never seen this kind before. They had like horns on the back and were pitch black. Now it took me a long time to actually get a somewhat descent picture. I tried with the macro on my camera but those ants were just too fast and every time I would hit the button the ants would have already run through the picture. I also tried to find out what kind of ant it is. But looking through databases I quickly realized that there are so many different ants and abandoned this quest.
I just call it the "black goblin ant" If anyone knows it’s real name, let me know.
Often when it gets late I will become more active and sometimes more productive. It’s quite, there are less disruptions and if the "devils eye" wouldn’t petrify me to the sofa (by this I mean the TV) so often, I would get a lot more done at night. It is already past midnight and I have to get up 5.30 in the morning. A few hours sleep. Then pick up some people from the Guest-house and off to Prao to the boarding home. 55 Children need rice to eat. So at least once a month I go up there for to bring the monthly support. Then we will go on to Fang. Stay the night in Hui Kau Laam. We have to bring in some water-pipes to fix part of a the pipeline in the jungle. I will be back Friday evening.
So why I am up so late? I need to prepare work for next week and try to solve our wireless network problem we have in the office while backing up Lillian’s computer and writing e-mails. So who says man cannot do some multi-tasking. I guess we just have to be able to get our lazy bones of that blooming sofa and find peace in the stillness of the night.
Good night….. Chiang Mai and the rest of the world! 00.34 A.M
This morning I was dreaming of the beginnings of war just before I woke up. I dreamed that it became more difficult to live here because of nationalism and hatred against foreigners. We had to flee. What a way to start the day. Then I red the bible (yes I still do it) It was about Davids accomplishment as the King of Israel decimating the Philistines. Is there something God wants to tell me, or just one of those days where I shouldn’t leave the house?
Thailand seems to be a very save place. Okay don’t look at the Southern most part of Thailand where there are incidences every day of people being hurt, killed, houses bombed and schools burned. The government is concerned about the stability in the land and works hard to keep the peace. So far with success.
If you come here as a tourist you won’t see or feel anything of this. You can enjoy the beaches in the South and the Lanna culture in the North. Everything is same same…
Better late than never…..
I wish all my readers a very happy and great year. Thanks for popping in even lately I haven’t updated. It was very busy and blogging comes last on my list of. But anyway I want to keep on writing.
Our e-mail has been down since the 28. of December. I think I found out now that it is our local Provider who looses them. Because in the office it seems to work. So if anyone wrote to me and didn’t get an answer, it’s probably because I haven’t received e-mail for the last 9 days. It is like living in the stone age. Strange how we get used to services in our lives. Mmh… complicated life. How much time do I spend to have a modern lifestyle.
Whatever. the Internet seems to be a blessing and a curse at the same time. The blessing is that I can be connected with people from all over the world very easily. The curse? I leave that for today 🙂
In a former Post I wrote about the annoyance of Christmas music in shopping centers. I must say there are some songs which are clear worship to God. "Joy to the world…" I have never celebrated Christmas so many times and told the Christmas story to so many people before. The reason is that I spent several days in the mountains visiting the Lahu villages we are working in. We distributed one hundred blankets and loads of presents. I did about 6 hours of Christmas caroling in Lahu (I still don’t know what I sang though). My family came also up for a night to celebrate in Hui Kau Laam. We had a great time.
Yesterday evening we spent at home as a family, ate Swiss fondue, red the Christmas story, sang some Christmas songs, prayed together and of course opened a lot of presents. Christmas can be very stressful. Still I don’t want to miss it. it is a special time as a family and it is good to remember that God send his son Jesus to be with us.
Today we had a lazy day. Coffee in bed and time well spent as a family. In Thailand the Christmas days are just ordinary days, business as usual. Tomorrow we will go for a Christmas dinner with some friends, before it is back to work.
To all of you readers. I wish you God’s peace and a time of rest.
Last night, there was this train driving through our house. At least this is the way it sounded. A roaring coming from the storage moving towards me. The foundations of the house shook. Then two seconds laster it was over. About a minute later it came a second time. But shorter and less strong.
It is the first time I actually wasn’t asleep through an earthquake. They happen here once in a while and are not very strong. This one was 4.7 on the Richter-scale according to my Tremorskimmer widget.
Even though it is not that strong it is pretty scary, because we are not used to it, if one can ever get used to the feeling that that the ground beneath is anything but stable. What if they get stronger? The house we live in is not exactly earthquake proof.
We were at a Christmas Market in Chiang Mai, where they were selling all kinds of art stuff. I found this Beatles figures and just had to get them. Actually they are for my brother. So next time I get too Switzerland I’ll take them along for him.
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