For the two months that I am away travelling, I decided to record my

Tuesday 6th of Otober

With a recently built airport (just three years old) and

an ultra modern public transport system, Bangkok's infrastructure

is developing rapidly and successfully.

I arrived in the evening, and Yehuda called me to ask how

I am managing my accomodation. Eventually I found a very reasonably priced

hotel for three nights in the Sukhumvit 26 area of Bangkok which is coincidently

very close to the dojo of Fukakusa sensei, who's dojo I was hoping to visit.

Tuesday 6th of October

The hotel St. James, where I stayed, is a very nicely furnished 3 star hotel.

For three nights and breakfast included, the total price was 7600 Thai Bam (about

150 euros), quite a deal. Included in this price was also a tour guide service.

My guide, Nancy, waited the next morning for me at the hotel and took me to

some of the buddhist temples in Bangkok. Bangkok is covered with these temples and

it is clear to see that the predominant religion is buddhism.

Later in the afternoon, after a jet-lag recovery snooze, I woke up to prepare for meeting

Fukakusa sensei and his dojo members. The Aikido group is mixed with different nationalities training together but also people of different Aikido origins, not only aikikai , were there.

These made the atmosphere of the training environment very open and friendly and

I felt immediately welcome as I entered the dojo. What was very noticeable in this dojo

was the respect that Thai people have for their royalty as the portraits of the king and queen

of Thailand were adjacent to the portrait of O-Sensei at the kamiza.

After the training, Yehuda and his son (who is also practicing Aikido) took me

to their regular pizza restaurant and Fukakusa sensei joined us later for pizza and beer.

Wednesday 7th of October

In summary:

A visit to the market.

A traditional Thai massage.

A ride on the Tuk Tuk.

More training with Fukakusa sensei followed by beer.

Bangkok is exciting, fun, interesting, full of history, the place to be in Asia!

Many thanks to Yehuda and Fukakusa sensei for the invitation to train and socialise with them.