Ju in Bangkok for 6 months :-!

www.jgbacktonormal.blogspot.com

2009-01-30T11:01:00.000-08:00

I have grown an addiction to blog, so I will try to keep on writing about my passionating life for a while and see how it looks like ...

I have also just discovered "google analytics"(https://www.google.com/analytics) and it would be a very big shame not to use it a little bit longer and see how almost nobody is going on my blog :)

So, see you in on this new easy address !

Back to reality !!!!!!!!!!

2009-01-19T20:40:00.000-08:00

That's it: I unfortunately didn't miss the plane so I have been back since yesterday morning and it is as difficult as expected :)

It begun with half an hour waiting outside for a taxi, without a coat, because there was a bombing alert (yes in France everytime someone forget ones luggage they explose it... french paranoia !! hopefully there were much cooler at Munich airport last year ;) ) Anyway, then it took more than an hour to go to my brother, because of the traffic (I prefer not to tell you how much I paid !) Then I went to ESCP, of course it is here cold and rainy and to make it funnier, I realized that I don't know anybody in this school and unfortunately don't really want to make it change :(!!
Then I went to visit a flat with three other nice German guys... very nice guys, but the room is bigger than the flat I used to have in Paris (there is even a piano tale in the room lol) and they look for someone to pay the crazy 900 € per months until August, when i could maximum stay until June and even so it would be crazy !!
So I went back to my brother (half an hour in RER A, one the most beautiful underground line I have ever seen!), queued half an hour at the supermarket to buy just spaghetti and ham and went on internet to look for a flat and discovered that 700€ is now the price for a decent flat in fucking Paris ... decent meaning just at least 15 m² and a wash machine !! Of course it is certainly possible to still find some good deals but for 4 months it is stupid to use an agency and I don't really feel like searching now for a definite flat, as I still don't know exactly when I will start working, nor where...

As you can see, it is 05:58 here and because of the jetlag I obviouly can't sleep Juhuu !!!

Ohoh first good news: episode HIMYM 403 is ready to be watched :)

The end :(

2009-01-15T06:22:00.000-08:00

I have had my last sun set on Ko Chang, my last Oil massage, done my last shopping in Bangkok and I have even begun to pack !!!

It is easy to sum up my feelings... I am freaking depressed to go back!!! I miss many people and I know that it couldn't last for ever, but anyway I AM DEPRESSED TO GO :(

I could have thought about a very cool concept of post for the last message, but .. I didn't!! too busy enjoying my last days :) so I will just stick to the classical pros and cons list :)

Things that I am freaking going to miss:
- FOOD (I have really get used to eating everyday three times a day in restaurants for less than if I would cook home"!!)
-Oil massage
-WEATHER (of course, it should even be first I think)
-Shopping (Chatuchak and Siam Square made me promise myself that I would come back !! I love them)
-Lady boys (not really but it s the symbol of the uniqueness of this crazy country)
-also the thais (After criticizing them pretty heavily in a previous post, I also have to admit that many of them are cool! I wouldn't have thought that BKK would be so fashion and I was very pleased about it. The fact that they are always relaxed and calm can sometimes be annoying but it is also very enjoyable and I know i will miss this as soon as i will be back in the parisian underground!)
-Paragon Cinema
-Frank of course, a lot more than anything :(

and blogging !! but I haven't decided yet, I might carry on blogging after I come back...

Things I am glad to let here:
-Mosquitos (fuck I hate them)
-Bad smells everywhere in the streets
-Censored internet
-Magazines (it is very difficult to find imported European magazines here and I begin to miss it)

So that's it, plane is tomorrow evening... bye bye Thailand and Bangkok (always this big discussion to know if BKK is thailand... almost as difficult as the discussion about where lady boys go to toilets : men or women?)
but anyway bye bye Thailand and trust me I AM DEFINITELY COMING BACK ANYTIME !!!

Hong Kong rocks

2009-01-07T23:06:00.000-08:00

Back from 4 days in Hong Kong ... and honestly my feelings about it are mitigate:

Very impressive, the view from the plane was "awesome" ;) (no be really!!), high buildings are just cool, the mix of chinese and european culture is funny and makes the city definitely unique, the city and the people are rather fashion and take care of how they look ... but not as much as I would have expected! In fact, I was told that the city was very rich, with only beautiful cars and great buildings, it is definitely not true! But that's also what makes the city so typical, you have the huge malls in the centers, hundreds of them and next to it you still found the traditional chinese markets, with people buying their fish, meat and vegetables in the street... curious mix!!

Of course my impression was also distorted by the fact that I hadn't planed that it would be only 12°C and I was freezing + I got stunk by fucking bedbugs ... I hate insects and so do they about me :( i am covered with hugly pimples.. just GREAT!!
We took one of the cheapest hotel in Kowloon and trust me, there are also freaking shit buildings in Hong Kong (see the pictures)...

Anyway, I am glad that I saw Hong Kong, the city is definitely worth being seen but also glad to be back home in Bangkok... that's crazy, but I have really grown an addiction to this city and I really feel home here:) We went shopping yesterday in Pantip (the electronic mall) and in Siam Square (for cloth) and i jsut love it!!

chinese style :)

Consumerism Temple.... oups strangely enough I have no photo to illustrate, but I really swear it is also !!

freaking buildings:

freaking great buildings&view:

New Year's Eve

2009-01-07T22:11:00.000-08:00

After my parents and brother left for the airport, we get ready and went to Siam to meet the others ... of course we were late, so of course we arrived just a few minutes before 00:00, so of course it was incredibly crowded and impossible to reach the other ones per phone!! So basically Frankou&I jumped into 2009 alone surrounded by excited thai teenagers ;)

But eventually we found Julia, Daniel and his girlfriend, Aurelie... and we went to "Culture Club" (hopefully at the exact opposite to the club which exploded this same night :(!!)
Cool evening, nice&fancy people there ;), good music... nothing very special, but a decent evening to begin with this new year, which unfortunately can't be as good as the last one anyway!! It is pretty sad, but last year the perspectives were: 2 months in London, one month holliday in Paris, 3 months in Frankfurt and then Thailand.... so of course 2009 with its 6 months of ESCP and then working world perspective, can't really compete !!! But it is fine ;)

I love Asia freaks!!!

Anyway, BONNE ANNEE à TOUS !!!

Summary of one week of the Granger Clan in Thailand..

2009-01-01T22:27:00.000-08:00

It was pretty stressful to organise everything and take care of everybody during this last week ... but everything went very well and I think my three favorite Grangers have enjoy their trip !!!

The programm was:

23rd - breakfast in Kao San rd, Grand palace, Boat trip, Lunch in Silom, nap in hotel Suk 11 and dinner in a tipical Thai restaurant

24th - My birthday ;) thanks by the way to all of you who tought about it!! Brunch by Crepes&Co (I paid !!!!), Massage by "Spa 1930" (very very nice Spa, hopefully it was buy 1 get 1 free cause otherwise it would have been expensive.. but it was very good and offered by my brother!), then Kao San and awfull stress to come back home with taxi because of the traffic :( I had never experienced such a mess! We had to go by foot because it was so jammed! But eventually we arrived in Ari, had enough time to pack and go to the airport.
Christmas eve in the plane was definitely not a good idea but we arrived safe in Phuket and hopefully the hotel was very nice ;)

25th, 26th, 27th, 28th in Phuket
Beach, swimming pool, restaurants and lazyness...
Phuket is for sure not the best island in Thailand, it is just convenient for one week holliday but I don't really recommend it!

29th - was dedicated for shopping in MBK and hanging around in Lumpini Park and Siam. In the evening we went to eat in Bayoke Tower.

30th - Ayuttaya with my parents while jéjé and Frank stayed in BKK ... in Path Pong I guess ;) Muay Thai in the evening

awfull band :D

31st - only shopping and back to France! One week is too short :(

Strange christmas !!!!

2008-12-28T10:01:00.000-08:00

Sun, 30°C, Phuket ... it was definitely a strange christmas this year ...
We flight to Phuket on the evening of the 24th of December (because our flight was rescheduled, we spend the evening in the plane with creepy air asia sandwich .... VERY VERY SAD lol) but the rest was ok and as long as I got "teint" everything is fine :D

But anyway I just wanted to thank you all for your messages for my birthday ;)

MERCI LES AMIS VOUS ETES CHOUPI !!!

Bangkok Zoo

2008-12-23T03:35:00.000-08:00

Many many freaking sweet and strange stuff there ;)

But the public here is from far the funniest species... people just eat the whole day and don't really care about the animals but just want to be untertained with freaking loud music and shows! Honestly it is pretty sad for the animals :(
Security is also uncredibl poor ... you have only a low fence around the aligators park and just a sign to prevent you from puting your arm over the fence... you can imagine how efficient it is for children!

In the same area as the Zoo (North West BKK) there are also a few nice monuments, which were designed by some random italian artists from the "renaissance"... I don't know if those pictures are really worth it, but anyway here there are:

Cambodia

2008-12-22T07:56:00.000-08:00

Cambodia is a lot cooler than I thought !!!

I mean "cool" is maybe a little stupid from me, as it still remains one of the poorest country in the world with a devastated economy after the red-khmer desaster, but what I mean is that people are very nice and welcoming and Phnom Penh has a nice architecture, some bright avenues, many parks and very good restaurants... I stayed only two days but it was a true pleasure ;)! I went to see the S21 museum: it used to be the prison where the Pol Pot regime killed all their educated co-citizens... 2 millions as a whole! Strangely enough we haven't learnt at school about this period of history of Cambodia, even if the french have many relationship with the country and even if Pol Pot was educated in Paris... pfff
Anyway, Cambodia now has 14 millions inhabitants against 5millions in 1976 ;) but the country is still uncreadibly poor. It looks really strange from the flight, as the country is almost empty> no road, no industry and a very archaic agriculture.

From Phnom Penh we then went to Siem Reap, which basically exists just as a dormitory for Angkor tourists, but is also rather pleasant! I highly recommand the cambodian driving license, it is very easy .... when you want to go ahead a motorbike for instance and you see a bus coming on the other way, you just go and blow a horn (+my personal touch "make a prier", but it looks like the cambodian are always optimistic and don't need the last one :))

As always the organisation of my trip was a catastrophy and hopefully were Ludo and Marine there to plan everything! I have to change something about it... I left Bangkok without having checked a guide about Angkor or Phnom Penh, without having read anything about Cambodia and without even being sure that I didn't need a visa to get in... everything turned out to be fine, I am freaking lucky but it won't last forever, I must change!
So i got the visa at the airport for US$20 and one foto... of course I had no foto, but of course the guy let you go for only 20BTH in his pocket (less than the price of taking the foto) lol It is awfull because there is no incentive for me to be organised here, as I know that I will always get through everything for the same price as if I had be carefull... pffff

Angkor was very nice and I would love to be able to show you some great pictures but of course as soon as Frankou (and his camera+talent;)) are not there anymore, then I am unable to do something correct :(

New Flat !! eventually

2008-12-21T06:47:00.000-08:00

Hot shower and normal bed, 5 minutes from skytrain ... I had been dreaming of it for 4 months, it is now reality :)

Kao Sok c'est TOP

2008-12-15T05:34:00.000-08:00

This will probably be my best tip for Thailand !!

As I said already in my last post, Kao Sok is a National Park in the middle of Thailand with a huge lake and a jungle around it... http://www.khaosok.com, for more infos :)
In fact "national park" in Thailand doesn't really mean the same as in Europe... as always!! Kao Sok was a normal huge jungle until 1982, when 2 years after being recognized as "National Park", Kao Sok was used for a hydropower project! lol From this project they created the lake by flooding the jungle ... in complete accordance to national park philosophy ;)

Anyway now it looks really beautiful. In most of the national parks, you can't really enjoy the landscape as you are in the middle of the jungle and you can just see the surrounding first trees. Here thanks to this lake the view is pretty orgasmic ;) As it is near of Krabi, you still find this characteristic "rock montain" environment, which is so nice!

We stayed there four days and could sleep on huts direclty on the water in a very remote and quiet area, see Giant Hornbills, Varan, Monkeys and even one Gibbon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gibbon) during the morning safari (which starts at 6.30am :( )
Oh yes I we also had a rare specimen of swiss girl! Sooo strange those swiss people..lol or maybe just her, but she was great! Everytime someone said something, she managed to speak about herself... pretty stressful! For example Frank said "I hope we won't get rice soup for breakfast..", she answered "oh yes I already had a rice soup in Chang Mai" GREAT or the other german guy said "we booked a tour just for to of us because you never know the people you are with in a group and when you have only one week holliday..." and she goes on "oh yes in Chang Mai we were also in a group." GREAT AGAIN lol and this every single sentence, I could give hundreds more examples... but I won't ;)

Anyway the message is KAO SOK become a AAA rating !

Unexpected reaction ...

2008-12-13T21:24:00.000-08:00

The plan for the last few days, before going to Cambodia with Marine, Ludo and Typahaine, was to make a short trip to Kao Sok. Kao Sok is a national park in the middle of Thailand well known for being one of the oldest forest in the world!

I really thought that the bus night to Surat Thani would just be like all the others before ... but I had overlooked the fact that this time, when we would come back to AIT nobody would be there anymore :( Fanny and Daniel wouldn't be home and I would never meet the others anymore at SOM... and it kind of freaked me out in the bus!

It is strange how quickly we grew addiction to our everyday habits and environments and how difficult it is everytime to let it go...no matter how often it already happen, and no matter how we know that we will easily grew new landmarks!

So yes, unexpectedly I was a little bit sad in the bus, struggling not to cry while remembering all the cool (and not soo cool but sweet) memories of those 4 months here!
For someone who claims being misanthrop I have to admit that when I meet cool people, I really get attached to them... or maybe it is the definition of misanthrop...
Anyway it was cool to meet new people and I am almost frustrated that I haven't had more time to discuss with some of them: Fanny was a cool girl ;)

But to be honest, three days later I don't care anymore... I just want to move out of here, get a proper room with a proper bed and a proper warm shower ;)

Last overview of the campus and its beloved wierd stuff...

2008-12-07T09:26:00.000-08:00

very lol for the bike :)

Starbucks replica...

2008-12-07T09:15:00.000-08:00

Big question ... does the promise not to go to any Starbucks anymore also apply to the Thai imitation that we can find everywhere .. even on the campus?
Here is copying definitely not an issue! lol It is a way of living...

No I hope it doesn't also imply to it, because I have realized that I still sometimes like those creamy, caramel blabla coffee and never going anymore in any king of Starbucks would be tough :/

officially on holliday

2008-12-07T01:41:00.000-08:00

That's it the semester in AIT is over... I can't really say that I will miss the campus but it is still sad that it has gone so fast!

I am pretty happy, because we have managed to organised a nice last party with everybody and it was rather fun... We wanted to begun with an "apero" in our Student Village before going to restaurant together, but of course we stayed until 12pm and left directly to Bangkok, without the restaurant step.
We had instead the "Khun Sue" order option ... i can't remember if i already explained about "Khun Sue" already, which is a shame because I have eaten there almost everyday since 4 months now! Anyway, basically "Khun Sue" is the only decent restaurant on the campus, only Thai food of course and the owners are more like a "freak show" (the old women "Khun Sue", the fat small strange waitress, the little girl who everybody find cute, and the three cookers) but it alos the reason why we like it :D It is a family owned place and since a few weeks they accept to deliver us to our places on the campus.. So on Thursday evening, after a few whisky, when everybody begun to feel like eating something we just once again had to go for Khun Sue food!

Piouhhh I can remember very well when I was in Calyon doing my application for this exchange with Kemi and Sophia and it was fucking long time ago...
I am getting nostalgic, just like an old lady!

But anyway, now is time to travel a little bit. We (Frankou and myself) are going tomorrow to Ko Sok to do some trekking in the jungle ... I think it should be relaxing and cool. I read that it is one of the oldest forest in the world and hope that we will see much of the wildlife there ... I love wildlife ;)

I was trying to get some info about the situation in Bangkok today to catch up with the emptyness of this blog for a few days, but I don't get what is going on and I am really not sure that the Thai do either... it is a big mess in the parliament!
But at least everybody has been able to fly away, back to Europe or to Philippines or Australia and honestly (maybe also unfortunately) that's the only thing people here really care about, even the Thai in fact... most of them really just want and need the tourists to arrive eventually in order to make a little bit of money... We were in Bangkok those last days in Kao San road (the tourists area) and Path Pong (the sex area, so also very toutistic normally) and it is very empty!

Oh ... a nice christmas present for children :)

2008-12-02T23:51:00.000-08:00

Starbucks

2008-11-28T05:06:00.000-08:00

It is sometimes like this... you see something everyday during a long time and never take care about it and one day you read something about it, then pay more attention and make your own point about this thing which had just been a useless part of the decoration so far ..

That is basically what happened for me about "Starbucks" yesterday. Frankou and I went to a book store in BKK in the morning and were shocked about the number of books written during the last year about the Starbucks phenomenon! All the books seem to describe it as the typical success story, the guys who are said to manage to make every customer pay the maximum he would be willing to pay for a coffee: the poor paying for a normal coffee and the rich taking some extra stuff to reach the maximum price they would pay... I summarize but it is basically what is alledged about it with plently explaination and description of the marketing concepts serving this strategy.
We were already really skeptical about this theory!
Then we were in Sukhumvit, unlucky about our visit when we went by a Starbucks ... First of all we were surprised to find a Starbucks in such a removed area... we already thought that the omnipresent coffeeshop is maybe too omnipresent, it doesn't make sense! And we realized that both of us had almost never been in Starbucks... I used to buy some coffee for Sophia there in London, but that's it. So we went inside and begun to order...
WHAT A SHOCK ... it is fucking expensive :( I paid 185 bath for one iced tea (which was nothing more than a black tea with some ice in it... Frank had to add the sugar himself to make it taste ok) and one latte vanilla coffee small (I mean "tall" as they call it, but it is basically the small size! There again you feel fucked off).
So it took us 5minutes to decide to make a deal and promise that WE WOULD NEVER GO BACK TO A STARBUCKS, even with other people!!

Back home, my curious Frankou went to his favorite place in the world, the Internet of course, looking for some infos about the Starbucks phenomenon and he only found many articles in the news about the company having 97% less growth compared to last year and closing many of the "omnipresent" shops!

I discovered Starbucks yesterday, we found it was bullshit and today it looks like it is dead... funny story!

Thai style

2008-11-27T08:09:00.000-08:00

Ok so now after almost 4 months here I can say that Thai people deeply lack of any sense of criticism!

I don't want to draw too much easy conclusions but I am pretty sure that the situation of the country would be a lot better if the people were not so passive! (including the actual political crap!)

Thailand has many assets, the landscape is amazing, the weather is perfect, they can't complain about any dramatic historical background... but the people deeply lack of any sense of criticism, it looks like they never care, are always keen on being at disposal and would never ask to get more infos but instead will be glad to follow without understanding what is going on... It can be sometimes very upseting.
It might sound unfair and arrogant but I have unfortunately many examples and I think everybody would agree that Thailand is still not really mature... it just reflects the way the people are.

At AIT for instance, the professors are really not up to a MBA program (they arrive late on the day of the exam and don't even apologize, they arrive in class with no preparation and write their powerpoint while they speak to us...) and yet I have never heard a single student (apart from the exchange students, who complain but don't want to change anything as long as we are not ask to work more ;)) say anything. You could argue that i shouldn't criticize this tradition of respect to the elders in the Asian culture, but in this case I think they are not only very entitlled to complain but they should complain if they want AIT MBA to be one day in the Asian MBA ranking (yes becasue so far it is not even on the list!)
Last time in the van to Bangkok, the stupid driver drove too fast on a slow down (ralentisseur) and 5km further we had to stop on the high way because the tire was flat... Nobody wondered how long it would take and nobody even told the driver that he was stupid to drive so fast for the safety of everybody (I was so frustrated not to speak Thai!)
It is also very common that they don't explain you the plan, as they think that just like they would, you don't care either about it and will accept to follow without understanding the point.

I don't want to speak too much about it, because I don't know enough, but I think the actual political situation has also to deal with this. The majority doesn't care and therefore PAD people don't want to go for reelection, as they know that this majority will vote for the corrupted people who give them money. So the PAD people keep blocking the country (hoping the actual Prime Minister will resigned, but he doesn't) and nobody complains! It is the high season for tourism inThailand now and the economic damages will be huge! So for us it is increadibly strange that the majority doesn't manage to make its point. It doesn't make sense, that a few academic people can't be stoped... Even if they are right about trying to struggle corruption, it is not the problem here, what I mean is that they are still a minority, so they shouldn't be able to block the whole country by taking the international airport!

Of course I am far from being able to make a comprehensive analysis of the Thai society (which is anyway a lot too complex; I mean in how many country in hte world do you find three genders: male, female and lady boys?) The cultural differences are also VERY real and maybe i forget that in Europe people can also be very passive but anyway, I keep thinking that it could be worth it that they put their fingers out of their ass (translation of a french expression ;)!) and become a little bit more pro active!
Oh yes and nicer also... because if you still have this image of Thai people being very friendly and welcoming, just forget about it:( As a French I can't afford to criticize too much about it, but it is just a matter of fact, they can be increadibly ass holes!

But I still DO like Thailand!

Hair cut

2008-11-27T08:07:00.000-08:00

A lot too short, like always :(
I am deeply unhappy and I don't know if I should trust them (the hair dressers) for a blond color now ??!!
Fuck my life is complicated ;)

Exam at 4.30pm

2008-11-24T01:43:00.001-08:00

4.43pm, the teacher is still not there... lol
I love Thailand !!

professor by AIT are AWESOME

2008-11-18T02:52:00.000-08:00

I am right now in the middle of a passionating Marketing class with Dr Rian !!

My neighbours are playing games with puppets (in the same spirit as rubicube) and I am watching "How I met your mother"(yes hair can prove really usefull when it comes to hidding the headset in your ear!) ... but hopefully I stopped at the right moment, the hear the most shocking thing ever ...

The guy showed us a slide with four examples "something", "hsbc", "Enron" and "something else" and while he was comenting it, he stopped on Enron and said "ok Enron doesn't exist anymore" ..;
THE GUY HASN'T UPDATED HIS SLIDE FOR 7 YEARS lol

Frank, worse housewife ever

2008-11-17T09:56:00.000-08:00

if you need a housekeeper I really don't recommend Frankou ;)

I know that I am far from being good at keeping my room and stuff tidy but Frank should get the award ... I have laugh alone in my room while taking those pictures tonight after i came back from University while he was in Bangkok !

Enjoy it

Just in case you wouldn't recognise.. yes it is a room, where we try to live ... almost worse than by Camille and Stef, Guillaume you couldn't survive !

Jealousie

2008-11-16T01:37:00.000-08:00

I don't know who they are or how they manage to do this but there are some people of my age, doing any fancy activities in Bangkok, leaving in a master flat in Sukumvhit Soi 11 with view over Bangkok and giving major parties with hundred of people (it is not a joke, there was at least 100 people at this party yesterday) ...

So yes this is just an introduction to say that we went out yesterday evening for Typahine birthday and that after visiting two clubs, which both had to close 10 minutes after we arrived (due to the funeral of the princess "blabla", clubs were forbidden or anything this kind), we ended up in the flat of someone we never heard about before and had the lovely pleasure to meet two other groups from the AIT by chance ! Was a very nice evening... House/Flat party are always cool, all the more as the flat was really great :)
I have learnt to like all the guys (generical term including male and female ;)) at AIT and I am pretty sad, when I think that it is almost already the end of this episode of my life :(

Anyway, you all know the end of the story...I woke up with a bad headache this morning and don't have the motivation to do anything else than bloging and facebooking ... a classic !

10 days holliday

2008-11-14T19:32:00.000-08:00

I have a visa to stay 6 months in Thailand but I am supposed to go at the border to get an extension every 3 months. An other solution, as I am student is to go to the Immigration Office in Bangkok and pay 2,000 Bath...

As always, I was so well organised that I forgot to plan a trip abroad before the expiration of my 3 first months :(
The plan was to go to spend 10 days in the Adaman sea and I didn't feel like organising a trip to Cambodia or Laos for one week end instead ... so I paid !! That's amazing how it is really possible to buy everything in Thailand ...

Officially (for the professor) I was in a trip abroad for my visa extension, but eventually we stick to the plan and went to Adaman Sea for 10 days :)

Krabi and Railay 2 days
Ko Lanta 5 days
Ko Phi Phi 2 days

I have more than 500 photos to make you jealous but here is a selection ;)

But it was not as perfect as it looks like and I have learnt a lot during those 10 days:

- first lesson learnt - never ever let your laptop bag open during two days in a bamboo bungalow ... I indeed discovered that ants love computers !
I noticed after two days that my bag was full of ants, I took my computer out but it was fine, there was only a few of them on it... but after a few hours, there was still a few of them going around my Wind (my computer) and Frank the NERD told me that we should open it... He opened it and it was ok there was only a few of them and I was releaved, but Frank was sceptical (German ;)!) and wanted to took the hardware out to see under it ... and then it was the drama !

- second lesson learnt, travel guides are bullshit ! They describe Ko lanta and Ko Phi Phi the same way "nice island, cool for swimming and snorkling ..." but the two island have nothing in common, Ko Lanta is cheap and quiet, while Ko Phi Phi is awfully expensive and full of tourists ...
For the same price, here are the view we had from our room in Ko Lanta (first picture) and in Ko Phi Phi (second picture)

- third lesson learnt - exchange program are a very good idea ;) and the easter the country the better ;)

The cold season has begun !

2008-11-14T19:29:00.000-08:00

It is almost freezing, 5°C less than usually means that it can sometimes go under 25°C and we need to bring a sweat shirt with us sometimes lol

But anyway it is really getting even more difficult to take those f... cold shower :(

You find all you need in Chatuchak market ...

2008-10-29T10:09:00.000-07:00

... Back from Kanchanaburi on Sunday, we went to Chatuchak market and found plently of cool stuff to be the coolest guys in town ;)
When too much fancyness becomes a problem !!

Leonard is back with Tiga !!

2008-10-29T09:29:00.000-07:00

The worse post ever...

2008-10-21T22:39:00.000-07:00

Ko Tao with Frankou:
I would love to say something clever about it or at least interesting, I would love to organise well the pictures but I can't :( I have lost my mojo !!

But the photos are nice at least ... bouuuuh, I am not even the photograph !! snif :)

Bangkok with Frank

2008-10-20T18:41:00.000-07:00

We have spent the last week end in Bangkok with Frank and it is a cool city... There are many more things to do than I expected!
There are not only temples and street markets, in fact in the Siam area (the central Bangkok) you can find an incredible number of shopping malls, many (I really mean many!) restaurants and clubs but also museum and art galleries ... I haven't visit them yet, but Frank bought a BKK guide yesterday and some sounds pretty cool ! He bought it among many other things lol So sweet, he came back the hands full of bags and no money with a sorry face ... but it is just to difficult not to spend money here.
I didn't know about it but Bangkok is reagarded as a young city of fashion and there are also many young designers to be found in Sukhumvit ... I also have to check this :)

We also went to cinema last week, so that I could eventually watch "the dark knight" ... and I am really fan of the Siam Paragon cinema ! It is huge, luxurious and cheap (150Bath) and appart that you have to bring a sweat shirt because it is freezing as always, and that the sweet popcorn tastes like bacon, otherwise it is really nice and you can even have a gala in the toilets :)
http://www.siamparagon.co.th/v3/index2.html
http://www.paragoncineplex.com/intro/intro.php

Frank is now in charge of planing our going outs in BKK and I trust him, he will do this well :D

Student Village...

2008-10-20T18:38:00.000-07:00

I have already been for one week in this new flat but I couldn't find the time to write about it !
It is amazing how I can get pleased with very little ... the flat is far from being nice, but it is so cool to have decent space to live in, to have a fridge when it is 30°C outside and to always have flatmates to converse with :)
By chance we are in the Student Village in front of Anais, Cosmes and Sebastien (three other french exchange students) and I can see Cosmes in panties every morning from my living room, hihi !

NICE !!!!

Welcome Frankou !

2008-10-12T20:47:00.000-07:00

Thai methods

2008-10-07T22:07:00.001-07:00

Hihihi ... those thai are really full of surprises !!

I don't know if you remember but I told you about the dog staying in my dorm, the awfull one with no hairs and full of disease ... well, it has been more than a month and it is still there :(
So for any reason today I got really sick of it and I called the security ! I thought that they would maybe come and bring it somewhere else or I don't really knew but I was hopping that they would find a solution !

How surprised was I when I saw the guy coming with a slingshot lol ... It was pretty efficient though, only one big stone on my poor stinky friend and it was running away ...

But as always in Thailand they have choosen the short term solution and I can't wait to see how long it will take for the dog to come back !
I told it to the guy and he answered, "no problem, no problem, call me again if it comes back !" (it was more "no worry, no worry, call, call", but I translated for you ;) )... lol It can last forever this story, I should better get used to this monster ... burkkk !

shopping in Bangkok

2008-10-07T21:33:00.001-07:00

This is all what you can afford in Bangkok for about 2,500 Bath i.e. 50€.
Last Saturday was shopping day for me, but unfortunately I forgot my camera and can't show how magic Bangkok is ... "magic" having here a very special meaning :)
It is very exciting because extremely big, crowded, polluted, with huge buildings and malls everywhere ... to sum up it is just a completely disturbing city !

So yes basically, the finance world is collapsing, the stock markets follow suit, Bangkok is heading to anarchy ... but as a long as I can shop, everything is fine :)

Muay Thai - Ratchadnoeon Stadium

2008-10-03T01:53:00.000-07:00

Thai Boxing is when the guys fighting on the ring weigh less than you ... but as long as there is blood, we don't care ... and there was :)
The ambiance is cool, all those thai people betting around the ring ! This is also Thailand ... everything is completely disorganized and I really don't think that someone really knows how it works, but at the end IT WORKS pretty well !!
It is the same at the self at lunch time: you have 50 to 100 people coming to eat and only one table in the middle full of dishes and 2 ladies giving you the rice and telling you the price of what you took ... you can't imagine how a mess it is lol but at the end everybody manages to eat in a pretty small amount of time !

So yes, back to Thai boxing, we went there with Patrick, Daniel, Markus, Tony, one Thai guy and one Chinese guy ... no I was not the only girl as "Honey" was also there ! Honey is a very long story, she/he is working at the University and spend her/his time calling Patrick hihi... there are bet on the fact that "it" is a lady boy, but I am not on my way to check ;) !

Sweet, they are making a big hug !!

Results of the test...

2008-10-03T01:18:00.000-07:00

I am almost disapointed ... I really thought I could eventually begin to write anything on this blog, but now for the respect of my beloved fans ;) I will have to keep to the very high level of litterature you are now used to :D

I was really pleased to see you commentaries you my lovely bitches and for this reason you can make a wish and I will realize it ... you can ask anything as long as it is feasible anf fun ... The best project will be rewarded by a Julie's special surprise :)

TEST

2008-10-02T04:24:00.000-07:00

By the way does someone still read this blog ? lol

"How I met your mother", season 2, episode 21

2008-10-02T04:16:00.000-07:00

Watch it !!
I don't want to spoil but Barney is awesome ;)

Parmesan & Wine "appéritif"

2008-10-01T02:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday evening Cosmes came back from one week in France for his exams with Parmesan cheese and red Wine ........ COOOOOOL

Nice evening and I was surprised to discover that I like people and most of them are really interesting ... I will maybe stop being mysanthrop ! No I am kidding I won't.
But at least it was cool:
Cosmes is a master in geopolitics of the Balkans and he explained us about the yougoslavian war!
The nerdi Aldrick eventually explained me how Internet works and I got it ;)
Ludo is fan of politics and it was a big debate about the choices of Sarkozy !
We also spoke about films, books, rugby (awfull), chests and sex of course ... definitely the kind of evening I love !!!

People are planing to go to Myanmar next month and Ko Tao this week end but I can't go with them ...

Here are the travels I have to do:
- Angkor in Cambodgia (for sure)
- Going down the Mekong river in Laos (would be cool)
- Krabi / Ko Phi Phi / Railay (for sure)
- Malaysia (would be cool)
- Kao Sok National Park (I really want !!)
- Koh Tarutao / Koh Lippe (would be cool)

-Berlin as soon as I am back in Europe to visit Guillaume and hsi huge flat near the gay clubs lol (He just explained me about it and I wanted to share this with you !!)

I am a lot tooo lazy to write the blog :(

2008-09-30T03:47:00.000-07:00

I have been sick, I have been working, I have been watching "How I met your mother" ... so nothing really sexy to tell on this blog and first of all my legendary lazyness is back !!

But I want to use the uselessness of this marketing class to give you Julie's feeling about her environment & life :)

First of all of course I have been quite schocked by the huge financial crisis which happens as a bad new for the soon graduated student that I am ... I even don't know if my offer by Barclays is still worth ...
I really can't wait to see if BNP will survive, if they don't I will make sooo much fun of Guillaume Finck. Most of you might not know him, he is a friend of mine from ESCP and he did two internships last year: one by BNP, one by Lehman Brothers and after Lehman if BNP also collpases I won't take this for a complete hasard :)!
Anyway I think it won't be that easy to find a job for next september ... and I wouldn't even have dared dreaming of such a good excuse for not beginning to work so soon ;) And if I really can't find a job then I will think about opening a Dunkin' Donut franchise in Paris... It doesn't make sense that we don't have them ?!

Otherwise I went for the first time last week to a French restaurant in Bangkok (one of the most famous restaurant in Bangkok, but I learnt it too late and we indeed paid the price for it !), but was nice .. all the more as the owner told us where to find goat cheese :D We should have a cheese and wine evening this week end !
We have also found a huge mall with only imitation of shoes and bags for nothing and an IT mall where they have all possible DVDs for 100bth !!

Other high valuated information: I have been stunk about 50 times by mosquitos this week end, unfortunately I am not exagerating, I really count them and there are more than 50 of them ... yes i keep scratching and it looks very sexy !!

Getting cold in Thailand ... wtf is wrong with me !!

2008-09-17T21:43:00.000-07:00

I AM SICK :(
It is soooo not sexy !!!
I have no idea how I got it but I am really sick... i think it is mainly due to not sleeping enough and traveling seven hours in a fridge ! Yes cause the air conditioning in Thailand is a real danger ...
I blow my nose 1000 times a day and night :( and I look terrible !

I think it is nothing bad but I wanted to share with you the pleasure of taking cold showers when you feel sick and to have nothing to take a warm tea before going to bed :(

You see you don't have to be soo jealous, Thailand is not completely Heaven :D

Food.......

2008-09-15T05:05:00.000-07:00

Food is really good here and I shouldn't complain but honestly I dream of:

- Goat cheese, red wine and black chocolate
- Home made french fries
- a simple salad with toast of backed goat cheese
- home made chocolat cake
- PIZZA (any)
- home made pasta with delicious tomato sauce
- saucisson
- galette aux pommes de terre
- feta cheese and tomatos salad

.. I should better stop now before I start crying thinking that I won't get any before 4 months :(

On the road to Khmer citadelles...

2008-09-14T19:50:00.000-07:00

We were not sure what to do this week end and we decided that it was the perfect time to go to visit the ancient Khmer temples at the border with Cambodgia about 300 km east from Bangkok... Indeed you can read in all newpapers alert to huge rainfalls especially in this region and see many headlines about the revival of tensions between Cambodgia and Thailand because of a complicated issue about one of those temples lol Perfect timing ;)
I was in fact pretty stressed about this but it has rained only twice and not very much and the temple at stake was 200 km further from where we went !

The plan was: leaving on friday afternoon with Marine, Ludo, Aldrick and Typhaine, taking the bus to Nakhon Ratchasima, sleep there, rent motor bikes early on saturday morning and drive the about 100 km to the first temples, visit one or two of them, sleep there the first night, visit on sunday and then drive in the evening to Surin where I would take the bus back to Bangkok in order to be in class on Monday while the others would drive back to nakhon Ratchasima on Monday as they don't have class (200km on the highway :(, I was very happy not to do it !) and visit a few more temples in the North...

What happen: basically the same !! we were pretty good and very lucky .. because the bikes we rent were VERY crap but yet we didn't had too much problems (one of the tire get flat three times .. but every time we were lucky enough to find someone to repare it in 30 minutes for 20 to 50 Bth lol), we only had the map from Lonely Planet but we found our way pretty easily and the weather has also been perfect: cloudy enough not to get too much sun burn but it hasn't rained or at least it has always waited for us to be in the temples or in a restaurant ;)

The temples are nice but apart from one really impressive on a volcano it is not really worse so many kilometers ... however we ended up in very remote areas of Thailand and going through typical villages and driving through 80 kilometers of rice fields and countryside was really interesting !!
Here no way to speak english and we have proved very creative with body language to get food ;) What is amazing here is that even in the deepest areas we can find a much better road system than in my area in France ... the problem is that it is so good that everybody makes the most of it: on our motorbikes we met trucks, Buses (on the main roads), pick ups of course, but also bycicles, strange hybrids and of course farmers with their cows on the road side and plently of animals (dogs, cats, chicken and children lol no I am kidding children are really sweet here)
I didn't only feel geographically far from Europe but I also felt like I was doing a temporal travel back one century ago ! Appart from the fact that anywhere you go, you can find Coca Cola ... very impressive this company !!

view at the first temple from the volcano, Prasat Phanom Rung:

Aldrick & Typhaine; Marine & Ludo; Me & nobody :( lol

Perfect location for a paintball !!

Border with Cambodia at Prasat Ta Muan:

On the road:

This blog is definitely bad for my listening in class :D

2008-09-08T01:35:00.000-07:00

Political situation in Bangkok

2008-09-08T00:43:00.000-07:00

Samak Sundaravej is the actual Prime Minister in Thailand and has been in charge since January 2008. But he is accused of corruption and first of all of being a front of Thaksin Shinawatra a former Prime Minister now in exil in Europe (Manchester city).

Thaksin Shinawatra was in charge in 2006 when allegations of corruption began and lead to a call for re-election. Thaksin Shinawatra was then re-elected and therefore pressure went on, leading to a military coup on 19th September 2006.

Then I am not really sure what happened during the time the junta was in charge but I just understood that it leads to new democratic elections in december 2007, when Samak was elected. ( In fact it is just the proof of the failure of the coup as Samak has been elected with the votes of the rural people who were supporters of Thaksin before he was kicked out ... back to zero !!)

Now the protesters (People's Alliance Democracy, PAD supporters) are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej on allegation of corruption. The problem is that they don't care about the state of emergency and keep striking while Samak refuses to resign ...

There is a major debate about what would be the good solution ... some want Samak to resign but this would means that his government stays in charge, some think that he should disolve the assembly which sounds the most democratic solution but the problem is that his party is very likely to be re-elected, as most of the population from the province supports him and was also in favor of Thaksin Shinawatra...

Honestly Thailand is really facing an impass. Here is a summary of different possible scenarios, that i could read in the news :
- a referendum BUT means waiting at least until october and it will be tough to agree on the terms of the paper
- Samak and his government resign, the protesters would be happy BUT it is not very likely to happen as Samak consider (and it is true) that he has a legitimate mandate
- Dissolve the assembly BUT as I explained already PPP is likely to win again (People's Power Party : only in Asia you could find such a name for a Party lol)
- Protesters won't stop, it is not even an option, they look really decided and they are even growing !
- MOST POSSIBLE, the government could be dissolved : "The Thai Election Commission recently ruled that the PPP committed electoral fraud during December's poll and should be dissolved...But it will probably take months before the Constitutional Court decides whether to accept the Election Commission's recommendation - and the current stalemate is unlikely to last that long"(BBC)
- it would also not be unsurprising that Samak tries to use violence BUT he would then loose credibility and support and the army won't necesseraly accept either !
- Pro-government supporters also begin to strike ... BUT in this case I don't go to BKK anymore cause the official name of this is civil war and it is not that SEXY :(
- Intervention of the King !!! I hope and think this will be the case ... Bhumibol Adulyadej is really revered across the nation and could bring peace back.

and because it is always classy to finish with a quote to foster my point :
"Our political system has been unstable all the time. So whenever there is a political crisis people expect the King to solve the problem." Prof Suchit Bunbongkarn

Feed back on Ko Samui

2008-09-07T23:50:00.000-07:00

Ok so i think you get the point, many nice beaches ... but apart from it not that much to do ! So basically we took a motor bike (I am becomin a real bikeuse !) and we went around the island, stoping at most of the beach to have a swimm and try the pancakes in the restaurants .. hihi

and just as masturbation for the end, a nice photo of me :D

I love Sunday :D

2008-09-07T06:23:00.000-07:00

I have been pretty motivated today !!
I woke up at 11am and as soon as 12am I was in the public bus to Mo Chit ... Public bus is quite an experience here but it is a lot better than one can imagine : Air Conditioning, not that many people (at least i could sit both ways), a little bit slow (about 1 hour to get to Bangkok) but I had time today and with a book and ipod it is more than fine) but first of all it is 21 Bt for 35 km!! I think those buses should be used as a definition for the word "cheap" ;)

I first went to visit Jim Thomson's House in central Bangkok. Jim Thomson was an American guy who came to Thailand after the second world war and decided to stay there and beginn to build a huge collection of thai and chinese objects. I don't really know why he is so famous but his collection is nice! I would have enjoyed if i wouldn't have taken the visit in French ... I ended up with an awfull french man (40/50 years old) and his prostitute (20 years old) and the guy kept saying "oh my god it is marvelous", which is always strange because you wonder if you should tell him to shut up or to ignore him or to accept to beginn a discussion with this complete disgusting stranger, as it is clearly what he is looking for ... don't worry I choose to ignore him :D He kept asking stupid questions, just as if he knew about thai art when it was obvious he didn't :( The worse is that i really think he was trying to sound clever... The only funny thing happened when he told me "oh I was there last year and the most beautiful thing here is this little statute of buddha overthere" and then the guide looked at me and said "it is not a bouddha, it is a monk !" hihi

Then Chatuchak Market !! Just great, my new addiction :D H&M in 10 times cheaper and a lot more choice ..

The way back was fun, 20cm of water all along the road .. I don't know if you can see from the picture, but definitely the road system here is a big joke lol

Spéciale dédicace pour Anne Flore ...

2008-09-06T21:14:00.000-07:00

Petit bilan sur la Thaïlande:

Ah non vraiment un vrai paradis:
les chauffeurs de taxi savent vous faire vous sentir en sécurité, les chauffeurs de bus ont une conduite délicate, le système sanitaire est d'exception, la conscience environnementale sans faille, les plages absolument désertes et sauvages, l'anglais est langue universelle, quant au temps toujours au beau fixe, les thaïlandaises sont très ouvertes à la western culture et sans discrimination par l'age ! la situation politique est d'une stabilité remarquable, la faune canine est également très vaste et palpitante pour qui recherche sur les maladies infectieuses ou dermatologiques, les gouts musicaux sont fort variés, le système autoroutier architecturalement très bien pensé et la pureté de l'air vous retire toute mauvaise conscience d'être un gros fumeur ;)

Non vraiment Anne Flore est tombé amoureuse de la Thaïlande et le départ à été très difficile, le simple fait de penser à se remettre au fromage, vin rouge, baguette et de retourner aux douches chaudes et propres lui a foutu le moral à zéro lol

Mais bon elle s'est nourrie de pancakes et donuts tout le séjour, a fait des siestes sur la plage, s'est balladé dans Bangkok, est tombée dans la jungle, a acheté pour 5 kilos de souvenirs et puis surtout à eu le plaisir de me voir pendant 12 jours... donc je pense qu'elle a eu un agréable séjour !!

Chang Mai with Anne Flore

2008-09-01T21:12:00.000-07:00

Chang Mai is really a nice trip to do !!

We stayed there only three days but we made the most of it !
We beginn with a rest in our lovely and very cheap French gesthouse that we found thanks to the Routard Guide ... C&C Teak House hosted by a thai/french couple. We then booked our Trekking for 2 days and went out for a Oil massage. There again the adress in the Routard guide was a good one : "Bor Nguen" for 300Bth you get a very warm welcome in a relaxing environment and the massage of course was great ... don't waste your money on cheap massage on the street or on the beach, it is sooo more worse in such institutes ;)

Friday and Saturday was in the Jungle !! We went with 3 other French bagpackers (Thomas, Marie and Karine. Karine is partner in a casting agency for advertisment in Paris and it was very interesting to speak with her ;) always work/ carrier oriented I am !!) There were also 5 Americans from New York of course and to add a litlle bit to the cliche they were all Law students lol and three hollander sisters were also with us and here again in order to confirm all the cliche ... Thomas got weed from the guide and only the French people and the Dutch girls smoked it :D

So we begun with an elephant tour ... i was glad to see elephants, to touch them (and their trunk .. hihi) cause they are soooo sweet but at the same time this kind of tour is really useless and ridiculous !

Then we went for a three hours walking trip in the jungle to get to the village where we spent the night... We had been started for 2 min when it started raining !! A huge thunder storm ... I really felt like in Lost ;) strangely enough I decided that I was Kate :D
Walking in the jungle is really a nice experience, it is amazingly beautiful ! and also fun, not to mention the moment when Anne Flore fell in the down !
I think I will try to do more trekkings but maybe with more hours walking. There are huge National parks in the South of Thailand that I really want to visit.

The village was a funny experience .. People living there are Chinese fleeing communism.. they are called New Thai, they don't have ID of course but the government allow them unofficialy to stay there. They have a few chickens, porks and corn fields.. as it is highly forbiden to cut any tree in this National park they put fire during the warm season, which can be very dangerous for tourists group, our guide explained !!
On a more trivial basis but interesting either, I noticed that all the Americans went to the shower as soon as we get to the village, while all the Europeans felt reluctant and evetnually I didn't even took a shower :D
After a few Singha beers, a few joints and of course a few discussions about politics in the USA (!!) we falled asleep but woke up really early thanks to the lovely chickens :)

The next day were waterfalls and rafting on the programm .. really nice of course and the jungle by nice weather is even more beautiful ! (I let you judge by yourself with the pictures !)
Thomas as been trying to learn Thai a little bit, so we practice with him and the guide and I begin to have some basics :)

Saturday evening was quiet with only a typical thai restaurant .. miammy and sooooo cheap !
and Sunday was dedicated to markets : I have spend quite a lot of money on food !!! It was of course only to get the opportunity to practice on Thai ;) I can now negociate on Thai and when you say that you are student in bangkok and that you can say the numbers in thai they are relly more willing to give you good prices :D I got also necklaces, t shirts, bouddha, scarfes .. to sum up, many things that I really don't need :(

We were supposed to go back by train but because of the events in Bangkok against the governement we had to take the bus.. I want to wait and have some more infos, but I will also try to write a post about those events and give you an insight from the heart of the issue.

oh yes by the way ... never underestimate the power of mosquitos in the North of Thailand even during day time !!!!!!!

My calendar...

2008-09-01T21:02:00.000-07:00

Eventually one month after the beginning of the class I have my final courses calendar ... and it is sexy :

Monday :
9-12 am Project Finance
1-4 pm International Environment of Business

Tuesday :
9-12 am Management of Innovation (completely boring ... I am actually writing this post during this class right now ! The professor has an awfull german accent in English and can't even do a proper Power Point presentation !)
1-4 pm Business Communication (until the 2nd of October !! and for good sake because the course is also a big joke !)
4-7 pm International Marketing & Export Management

Wednesday :
3-6 pm Brand Management

Thursday (only until 2nd October) :
9-12 am Business Communication

... so yes i will have pretty long week ends and plently of time to travel around :D

Sukkothai with Anne Flore

2008-08-31T17:36:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday evening we went to the new Bus Terminal of Bangkok in Mo Chit to take the bus to Sukkothai ... it used to be the Capital of Thailand before Ayuttaya and Bangkok and it belongs to UNESCO

We arrived at 5am walked along the high way and took an other bus to the old city where all the temples are. As recommended in the guide we found a nice guesthouse to take a breakfast and rent bikes !

We stayed there until 4pm and then took the bus to Chang Mai.

In half a day we really had enough time to see all the temples and visiting early in the morning is a good idea in this hot country ;)

Baiyoke Tower

2008-08-27T05:18:00.000-07:00

Also really worth to go to ! The photos are bad quality but from this tower you can see whole Bangkok and it s fucking HUGE !!

Again not the cheapest place to take a drink but for once it is nice ..

Siam Paragon ... The Thai Harrod's

2008-08-27T02:29:00.000-07:00

Anne Flore arrived on Tuesday morning and after my class we went to Bangkok ... we had a look in the Routard Guide to find good adress to eat and we saw about the "Gourmet paradise" ... and indeed it's a paradise ... you are lost in hte middle of hundred restaurants, stands and a huge supermarket!

In fact it is a kind of Harrod's with the big difference that here you can aford everyhting !! Really worth it ;)

You can find everything .. even german Wurst :D

But it is not the cheapest place to eat in Bangkok

Those French people ...

2008-08-26T21:35:00.000-07:00

Ok I now begin to understand why French have this reputation abroad ... arrogant, rude and selfish ...

It is the first time that I experience a group of french people among other nationalities ! I have already been abroad but I was alone.. here is completely different !

Yesterday I was in class of Business Communication and then Marketing with 8 other French (Marine, Aldrick, Ludo, Magda, Sebastien, Aurélie, Julien and Cosme) among a class of around 40 people ! We were at the back, all together and we couldn't prevent speaking during the whole duration of the class... I think the other students are really shocked that we behave such a rude way, at least the way they look at us let me think so...
All the Asian students of course but strangely enough also the German guys and the Dutch are really serious during the class or at least quite ...

The Asian student laugh at all the crappy jokes of the teachers, but I am not really surprised of it lol !

No what is really surprising is that for the first time in my life I was ashamed of belonging to the group of French people ..
Julien and Aurélie every time they were saying something to answer the teacher were speaking about France and French people even if the question had nothing to deal with European customers behavior ... it sounded sooo selfish ! and then the professor (who is a German guy) said that "in Japan young people are really respectful of their professors, while in France the teacher is the ennemy" .... oups he does hate us :( !!!!

French are really strange animals ... I think I will learn a lot during those 5 months !!
The professor showed us diagramms about country trends in terms of values .. (typical marketing studies..) and we are always away from the other European countries .. I will try to find more studies cause I am pretty surprised !!!

I spoke with a Thai guy at the end of the class and here is his impression about Europeans .. we are really cold at first time and it is difficult to break the ice but then we are really nice to hang out with ... Good point, cause on our side we are really not at ease with the way they smile to everybody with big "Hello" and "How are you" all the time on the campus ... It sometimes feels like we are in Disneyland with everybody happy and friendly !!

I am in class right now, so if I want to begin to stop being rude I must stop now ;)

Ko Chang

2008-08-25T02:42:00.000-07:00

We went to Ko Chang this week end, it is an island (bigger than Ko Samet) about 5 hours driving from Bangkok in the South East of the city....

Our master plan was to leave late so that we travel during the night and arrive early in the morning ... that's what we did, but 5 hours in a bus with freasing air conditioning makes it quite impossible to sleep :D So we arrived in Trat at 4 am with no idea how to get to the ferry and in the middle of a big storm ... At this point I really asked myself what I was doing here !!!

But eventually we found a taxi or I should say a taxi was waiting for us as the bus driver called a friend when he saw 7 Europeans getting in his bus ;) So we paid 180 Bath (less than 4€) each for 30 min taxi to go to the ferry + ferry go and return !!
But the wether was still awfull and we were a little bit tired ...

Hopefully everything went better then .. we found a nice beach to have a rest, then a really sweet hotel for 150 bath (3€) each for a night next to this beach and we went for a walk (3 hours .. I was exausted but it was beautiful and fun) to go to eat in the fishing village in the south !!

Then we end up in a very crappy area and decided to go back to our beach by hickjacking and we were lucky enough to arrive on time for the sun down :D

The other days we had to split the group as three of us took motorbikes to drive to the south east area but it was 70 km ie 140km in two days and i thought I couldn't do it, so we went to an other beach and went snorkeling the last day on an island opposite to ours ... I had the opportunity to play Tarzan, which I did very well :)

Ferry is a perfect place to sleep, trust me !!

On the campus

2008-08-25T02:22:00.000-07:00

Of course I am stupid and at first sight i thought it was a crocodile and got really scared but it is not ;)

Here is an oerview of the campus :
I don't have much photos yet, so it is not very representative. There is a lot more on the campus ...

2008-08-21T02:49:00.000-07:00

Tough day today...

Woke up at 7:00 am to queue for the Student Village. We have decided with Daniel and Fanny to take a flatshare together so that we can have a kitchen and bigger beds also !!
We won't know before the 29th if we get one, but it should be fine !!

Then I went in class for Business Communication, the teacher is a typical american guy and the class consists basically of a big One man Show ... but at least it should be really easy to validate !!

I have met really nice people there ...

... there was commentaries about everyone I met here, but now that they have the address I had to delete it ;) ..

So yes for a supposedly mysanthrop girl, I have met many people :D

Aldrick, Moi, Patrick & Typhain but I don't have photos of the others yet

We are having a very big Storm right now, big thunder ... and that's why I am writing sooo much ... brrrrr I am scared I want the arms of my doudou ;) but that's fine I will soon, cause he took his tickets and Frank will arrive on October in BKK !!
I forgot to mention it but of course I am highly happy :D

The plans for this week end is to go to Ko Chang !! juhuu leaving with the last bus at 00:00 to get there early in the morning, take motor bikes and drive south to the beach through a nice "randonnée" according to lonely planet ... and coming back on Sunday night ot be in class on Monday morning :( I won't sleep much and I hate that !

Ok it is definitely not really a tough day, but compare to the rest of the week it is : class, queuing this morning, storm and then bus tonight, it is !! ;)

As Anne Flore is arriving on Tuesday morning I might not give any news during a few days.. most of you just don't care but I prefer letting you know anyway !!
We have planed to go to Sukhotai, then Chang Mai and then Ko Samui and Ko Tao .. should be intense in 12 days !!

I discovered a new desert here, the girl called it "PongHon Sai sai", no idea how to write it but this will be my new addiction I think .. I also love their sticky rice with coconut and Mango ;)

But don't thing that everything is nice.. look at the picture below:

A full market of dry insects .. hummm

Ok then shower, backing and let's go...

Beautiful creature next to my room ....

2008-08-20T02:58:00.000-07:00

This campus is really cool ... I have a new friend living next door ;)

It is just awfull, when I went out of my room this afternoon what a pleasant surprise to discover one of the ugliest creature that God has ever done lol
No in fact she (she is a female dog) is almost sweet but has probably all the possible dog diseases .. especially skin problems lol

I took a picture for you :D

Tesco Trip

2008-08-18T09:03:00.000-07:00

I could explain you about the trip this week end to Ko Samet, but it would be boring ! We went to 10 exchange students from the campus to the island this week end, it was really great : sun, beach, parties, motor bikes, great fun .. but apart from a few sun burn, i don't have anything special to mention :(

On the contrary, about the trip to Tesco this evening I can say a lot !!!! I am really not proud about it, as I really could be dead right now but we get through it and I made a deal with myself that I won't listen those stupid french ever again ....

So, I was told this week end that there is a Tesco supermarket really near to our campus !! The french people who told me this were really proud of explaining how nearer it is than the one we went to and in order to emphazise this, they said that it was possible to get there by bike ... You have to be aware that the road out of the campus is a 8 lines road, 4 lines high way and 4 lines normal way but in Bangkok they drive as speed (see the picture below)!! Therefore I asked them if they were sure and they said yes of course it is five minutes away and there is a road you can drive on...

Then ok and we (with Daniel the German guy) took our bikes instead of paying 50 bath for a taxi (25 each which means less than 50 cents !!) ...

BUT it turned out that the road on the side was just the "security" way and that the 5 minutes way was 5 kilometers :(

We drove at least 15 minutes on this way with all the trucks and busses passing us very fast and then I get really crazy and SCARED and I asked to go back ... we tried an other way and end up in a ghetto ie a closed area where I almost get bitten by a dog and where all the local guys were looking at us and saying some probably not so nice things :( ... so eventually we had to do the way back on the high way, the wrong way round (cause we couldn't get on the other side) and without light !!!
Of course we would have never done this in Europe and just because everybody is doing this here (and many die everyday of course but they don't have any choice !) we just did it too !! amazing how stupid i can be.. I am happy that they don't jump from the bridge cause i am sure we would try it too .. pfff

But now I am fine and can't wait to see the people who told me this to share my feelings with them ...

bouhhh it was sooo scary !!!

Campus Overview

2008-08-17T07:39:00.000-07:00

SOM = School of Management ... wouahhh !!

We just had the introduction today and I still have no idea what I will be studying here lol (starting on monday !)

They just spoke for one hour about attendance but I know from experience that the more they speak about it, the more you can afford not to attend ;) ... at least I will soon know about it ..

Otherwise we had the first party yesterday... as you can imagine very big one : put thousands of Asian on a campus and you will have a very hot ambiance !! We were maximum 50 at the bar including 30% European... all the other came for the free dinner, took bag with them and bring the food home - it is quite arrogant from me to laugh about it, cause of course it is all about money and they don't have but it still remain strange to see them at the end of the buffet struggling to feel bags with food... (even stephanie and camille wouldn't do it :D) all the more as there is no fridge in the rooms hummmm ;) - anyway they came for this and then just went home ... It will be quite difficult to meet them !! shame :(

During the orientation day, all the speakers insist on the importance of having fun, not working too much and meeting other people ... it sounds really strange, when you remember that at your orinetation day in France they only insist on "don't get drunk to much and please work a litlle bit" !!
So yes I guess it is why everybody speak about culture differences !!!

But I met a few afghans, a few thai and many Indians who were so crazy on the dance floor !!! hihihi It is definitely a very international campus or at least Euroasian campus, cause don't expect to see a black guy or a south american but more than 30 nationalities is not bad...

Here is an overview of the campus, bad quality sry : ok the video is not even uploading :(

First impression of Bangkok...

2008-08-13T09:45:00.000-07:00

After two hours of Bus (of course we didn't took the good one at first try ;) it would have been too easy ! You have to remember that here we just speak with signs cause they don't speak english and I have learnt that when they say "ji ji ok" it doesn't mean , IT DOESN'T MEAN that they understood and you can't be sure that what they said was right !! ) but anyway after two hours of bus (with air conditioning) we arrived in the west part of Bangkok, the touristic part with most of the temples and the backpacking markets & hotels !!

Everything cheap, you all know about it, we went to Grand Palace and Wat Poh, had nice green curry for less than 1 €, cocktails for the same price ... all those things are typical ones i don't need to tell you ...

But the funny thing is that this morning we went to have a breakfast and I went to the toilets ... I noticed thqt the door was difficult to close but I forced it cause I am always optimistic ... but when i wanted to go out, it was just impossible ... I tried, I forced but no way, and in Bangkok the slightest effort and you r wet !! it was at the end of a corridor so I couldn't call people to come and nobody was coming... so I had to get out through the trap at the bottom of the door ... you have to imagine me destroying the door (in plastic hopefully !)and then crawling on the ground to get out ;) Was quite funny !!!

Otherwise nothing really noticeable happened :(

But Bangkok is a really crazy city and I can't wait to descover it better !!

Today is orientation day ... I forgot to register so i will have to wake up really early to do it before ... I don't understand I spend my time planing and organising and i always manage to miss half the thing !! don't make sense at all !!If you have a theorie let me know ...

They don't speak english ...

2008-08-11T07:14:00.000-07:00

Ok, so yesterday I wasn't sure but now I am : most of the Thai of course don't speak or understand english !!! It makes sense.. why should they speak english when nobody does in my own country, especially in my country :D

I didn't take the exchange in Mexico because I was scared not to understand spanish good enough, I think it wouldn't have been worse lol

It will make things quite funny !

We went to buy bikes today but then we had to come back and it was too far and too dangerous to bike back to the campus ... so we had to ask a taxi ! But when he doesn't speak english how to explain that he has to wait for us until we get the bike ... we eventually met a girl who explained him in Thai and when we came back there were 5 people waiting for us taking the bikes and everything ... we were the big attraction of the moment .. sehr peinlich ;)

But at least we now have bikes to go around the campus, which is really huge but beautiful .. no photo to provide, but soon !!!

OMG ...

2008-08-10T07:21:00.000-07:00

Oh My God, I am quite impressed cause it could have been really worse than this !!

Nothing lost, nothing important forgotten, not even had to run to take the plane...
The travel was really ok, I had to pass before everybody at Roissy Charles de Gaulle (but you know me, I did it really discretely) because otherwise it would have been just to get the plane even if i was there one hour in advance ... Air France is french organisation so I am not that surprised :D

KLM is very nice for its tall blond stewardess with blue eyes but otherwise the food is not that nice and hollandish as a language is really strange (not to say ugly !!) But I managed to sleep and after a few over queuing at the arrival, the AIT volunteers were there waiting for us. Over queuing because i had to queue twice: Indeed, I had forgotten to fill in a form in the plane and after queuing 20 minutes the lady told me to go get a paper and come back !!!!! No idea why everybody did fill this form and I didn't... I saw people doing it but it didn't get to my brain that maybe i should do it too ... strange life !!

So now i am in my tinny little ugly room lol without air conditioning and I am just thinking that I will try to spend as much time as possible outside :D
No I think everything will be fine ! Tomorrow I will go with my new friend - the only guy I met for the moment is a German guy ... those Germans won't let me alone !! ;) - and so we will go to buy bycicle and go around the campus which is quite big !!

...

ok then let's go :-/

2008-08-07T13:27:00.000-07:00

Unbelievable :
I managed to put everything I need in only one luggage and I am under the 20 max kilos !!! big victory !!
I hope it is the sign of the beginning of a huge sucess story !!!

I would love to write some more but i am highly stressed right now and prefer going to read Nietzsche ... lol

PS: Let's attribute the uselessness of this message to the high level of excitation !!

See you from BKK

Fucking Blog !!

2008-08-06T13:10:00.000-07:00

That's it, I know I have absolutely nothing to say, that nobody will read this and for good sake cause it won't be of any interest ... but anyway I am still writing this blog...
Just because I know it is essential to keep my statut of very highly cool person ;) unbelievable !

Oh yes and just to add a little bit to the already ridiculous situation .. I have to write in English, not only because it is so fancy but because I have friends all around the world and I don't want anybody to feel frustrated !

You have all understood thanks to the very original tittle of this Blog that I am going to Thailand for 6 months :D I am smiling just to reassure myself because in fact I am just highly stressed:
- Malaria
- Dengue Fever
- Hepatitis A, B, C and maybe even some new ones
- Japanese B Encephalitis
- Meningitis
- snakes
... and of course our favorite sun burn and DIARRHOEA are waiting for me !!!!!

oh yes I forgot about plane crash ...

But if i get through this it should be rather nice, I just read the guide of the AIT (Asian Institut of Technology) http://www.ait.ac.th/ and the swimming pool, the tennis and squatch courts, the new restaurants look really fine !!!

I really can't wait to see how I will manage in this new environment ! After a very succesfull year :
- forgot my luggage at the airport in Munich, (very romantic story by the way but quite stressful :))
- lost twice my credit card and company pass
- misread my contract for London and thought I was twice as much paid as i really was (just awfull story !)
- Took an unfurnished room in frankfurt and had to sleep on the ground for three months cause I misunderstoog AGAIN !!
- bought a guide on amazon for Amsterdam but took the wrong sending options and got it after the trip !

... and unfortunately so many other little adventures (if you remember some more feel free to add them on commentaries!) ,

So yes after this succesfull year, i really can't wait to see how i will survive in BKK ...
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