Bangkok

I enter Bangkok and … what a surprise, here I have to speak Latvian again…

😉
Well, since my Myanmar’s friends, the travel company and the local ministry have postponed my entry permit for 9 days, I have figured out that I’d better spend this time here in the company, rather than in loneliness. And who else, if not my beloved wife, is ready to cross the half-world to enjoy the warmth together with me, as soon as I call her. Well, yes, – it comes to my mind on Friday, Agnese wakes up with tickets on her phone on Saturday, everything is arranged with taking care of Rudis on Sunday, on Monday she is going to Turkish birds and on Tuesday we already embrace each other at Bangkok airport, where proudly, contrary to all the rules, I roll with my bike to meet her. So we are going to enjoy the sun and rain here, for about a week, together … 

;)))
But the Latvian does not end there. We decided to start our own Thai tour with the visit to brother of one of my friend’s father, Maris. All over the world, I like to meet the compatriots who spend their lives or at least some of it abroad. Primarily because Latvians have to keep together, but in general, this is how I usually get to know a lot more about places where I am. People living here for years, have a much better understanding of what and how is happening in this place, how it can be explained, what should be tasted and what needs to be seen. Usually it is much more valuable information than the one available in the tourist guides. All his life, even since the Soviet era, Maris has been a professional musician with a basic specialization in the contrabass play. For many years, he has been playing in the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra; more than ten year ago he was invited to give the advice to Thai people about how to create a serious orchestra. But then in 2000ies, as he arrived, he had received more and more job offers, and so he stayed here. As he says, it’s just for work, because he considers and always sees Latvia as his place of residence! For many years now, he is the Professor at the Music College of the largest Thai institution of higher education. When we arrive at Salaya, 30 kilometers from central Bangkok, we meet Maris right in the college, where his students have the exams that day. According to him, this is not only the largest musical education institution in Thailand, but is also perhaps very remarkable for its size and teaching staff on a global scale. We walk a bit around the college, listen to the students’ music play and, of course, the main trump card against all other similar learning places in the world, is a newly built concert hall with more than 2,000 spectator places, within this college site. Well – when only will our politicians put aside their internal bickering and something similar will become possible also in Riga? We repine a bit about it, but soon we change to more fun topics and go to have some beer. What else Latvians could do when meeting…
Thanks to Maris for a nice welcome. Thanks for introducing a genuine Thai massage, targeted to the local audience but which he has organized for us in the nearby massage salon. Thanks for introducing local bikers and their tavern, where among the other delicacies we enjoy TomYun soup, the most tasty from all we have ever tasted before. Maris has to go on a long flight back to the homeland early next morning, here the work is finished for a while, his students have learned the contrabass play and have passed the exams. We agree that we’ll surely meet sometime again and split each to his own direction – Maris brings our greetings to Latvia, and, in turn, we have to study a lot more here in Thailand!!!