Category: travel

As you may already know, I use to draw during my trips. I have been creating travel books for several years now. I would like to share with you my latest travel to Thailand (it was the last time that I took plane and traveled far). It was just before the health crisis that we are still going through… In fact, it had already begun, but I was not yet aware of the seriousness of the situation and of the magnitude that it would take in the coming weeks and months… It was February 2020…

So let’s travel a little in Thailand thanks to my notebook… before we could soon go again to discover the world!

Excerpts from my travel book in Thailand

I draw my travels in watercolors

First step: Bangkok

We have made our first walk through Bangkok by night, through the Khao San Road area. Many street vendors offer skewers and other tempting dishes. The olfactory sensations are contrasted: it alternates between the foul scent of the street and the delicate fragrances of Thai food. The day after our arrival, we have walked to discover the flower market. Saleswomen are spending their days putting on (not pearls!), but flowers, to make crowns for temples.

Our visit to the city continues to a colorful long boat, on the canals called the khlongs. We feel like in an Eastern Venice, with multicolored gondolas! The houses are authentic wooden huts on stilts. The laundry is hanged to the windows. The vegetation is lush. Golden temples scattered here and there. It’s nap time. People living here are swinging around in their hammocks. Only a few goannas are awake and waiting for their prey in the shade…

The next day we visit the Wat Pho temple, a complex of buildings with colorful roofs (not always tasteful!) and chedîs (bell-shaped architecture).

A multitude of golden Buddhas smiles at us in each of the temples. The lying Buddha (45m long!) is really impressive, and seems stuck in his little home!

Second step : Sukhothai

We flew to Bankgok-Sukhothai. On arrival, the airport was tiny! A beautiful traditional wooden building, planted in the middle of coconut trees!

Visiting the ancient city of Sukhothai is absolutely charming. We ride our bikes to wander among ruins; remains of red brick temples, immense chedîs, Buddha sculptures in the middle of palm trees, and other exotic vegetation. The place is almost empty… We fully appreciate visiting this UNESCO site without the hordes of tourists that it should attract in normal times…

Third step : Chiang Mai

We have 200kms to travel by bus to reach our next stop: it will take us 5 hours and a half! I have not yet specified that the driving of Thai people is veeeery cool compared to other countries! As much for taxis, buses or tuk-tuk!

The geographical location of Chiang Mai is central to visit many nearby sites. We start at Doi Suthep Temple, 15 km away. As soon as you leave the city, the road climbs very strongly, and you find yourself surrounded by dense vegetation. The temple is located at 1500m altitude, it is cool here! To reach the temple, we have to climb the 300 steps of the magnificent staircase (the railing is none other than the body of a giant dragon!). The decoration is very rich: gold is omnipresent! The large central chedî is also made in gold!! The pilgrims go around it three times with a flower in their hand, then prostrate themselves before Buddha.

We will discover the next day a village Hmong: Doi Pui, which is located in the surrounding mountains. The place is a little sad. Houses made of cheap materials; wooden walls, dried palm roofs for the prettiest, but for most corrugated sheets…

No tourists here yet, but we find ourselves in a village full of gift shops… Many fresh and dried fruits (dried strawberries and mangoes, yummy!), traditional Hmong costumes add to the usual memories. We’re in the country, chickens and roosters are roaming free. I enjoy drawing the pretty embroidered outfits of the villagers. What patience work all these embroideries by hand…

The experience of Thai massage!

It is hard to come to Thailand without testing Thai massages! We choose an address recommended by a touristic guide. It is really professional. They wash our feet with salt and lemon. Then they give us loose clothes. The massage is far from relaxing! It feels more like an osteopathy session! She massages me with her whole body, makes me take very special postures… Anyway, I know what Thai massage looks like now!

Local market experience

I love to stroll through the markets of all the countries I visit. We always discover unknown food or objects. The olfactory, sound and visual environment is full of surprises! We leave to the Warorot market. It is really typical. There are only local people. You can buy everything: fruits and vegetables of course, but also dried fish (beware of smells!), spices, golden buddhas, shoes, clothes, beauty products and jewelry! The restoration is done directly on site.

We buy some very typical souvenirs, tomorrow we go back to Bangkok, and the day after tomorrow in France. A last little sketch near the hotel before leaving:

So, I hope I have made you travel a little with these excerpts from my travel diary!

Did you know that these travel books are the source of my wedding books?

It was in 2014, for my brother’s wedding, that I created my first wedding book!

Would you like to see what it looks like in the “wedding ” version?

Drawings of my road trip in my travel book

A French artist on the American roads!

As you may already know, I have been creating travel books for many years, during my travels in Europe, America and Asia.

The global health crisis we are going through has changed a lot my travel plans … Now, if I plan to travel, I limit myself to trips in France.

So I have decided to take out my travelbooks, and share with you my biggest trip: my four-months road trip in the United States!

A camper-van trip across the United States

First of all I present to you our traveling companion which carried us for more than 15,000 kilometers.

It was an old machine which burned a LOT of gasoline … But it was really comfortable for traveling with my 4 months-old baby … and above all … its price was very interesting !!

For this long trip, we had decided to make a road-trip from Montreal (where we were living at that time), to go to the West passing Chicago, to discover Western parks, to reach California, to drive on the famous Road 66 to go back to Eastern, to visit Louisiana, and to go up to the North.

Here are my best travel sketches (and my best memories!).

I complete my illustrations with a few words extracts from my travel book.

Chicago

Chicago and its Cloud Gate sculpture in Millennium Park.

“The town and the little people we are, are reflecting in it. The sculpture is very popular: a crowd is gathered all around … it is difficult to take a picture … I take my pencils! “

Deadwood

Deadwood and its Western atmosphere! Go back to a century before, to the time of the gold seekers! A little bit touristic, but some buildings still have an old-world charm.

Mount Rushmore

“After a bend, the four pairs of eyes of presidents staring at horizon … It is a real impressive sensation to see them in real… Carved in a light rock, their faces have beautiful contrasts thanks to the morning light ”.

Arches National Park

“A winding road climbs among the blood-red peaks. There are many photographing breaks, we want to keep in memory all these oddly shaped rocks, this huge hanged rock, fairy chimneys, and of course, the stars of the park, those which bring curious tourists from all over the world: the famous, the incredible, the breathtaking arches! “

Valley of Gods

“Valley of Gods, a rough diamond untouched by mass tourism. Difficult to put words on a so hoped landscape that we finally have in front of our eyes … We appreciate to its full value the solitude of the place. Incredible evening in this grandiose landscape with fire tones »

Las Vegas

“Landscapes are desert and arid. Mountains of sand and a few rare green tufts showing a little plant life. Las Vegas is profiling in the distance, a two million inhabitants agglomeration , on a plain surrounded by desert mountains … The climate is stifling, we have the sensation of being in an oven … It is 46 °C in the shade…”

Bodie, a ghost town

“A city which had twenty thousand inhabitants at the time of the gold rush … A fire has destroyed Bodie in the 1930s, and she became a ghost-town in 1942. We discover abandoned houses, a saloon, a general store, a church, a school. Everything is in an exceptional state of preservation. We spy through the yellow curtained windows, the interior of each wooden house. Everything is covered by a thick layer of dust, cobwebs, wallpapers stained with humidity peeled off, mattresses with visible springs … In the kitchens, gas stoves in working order, glasses, plates, pots, tin cans still closed and abandoned children’s games … We have the feeling that people left in a rush, leaving everything behind, taking with them only a suitcase…”

San Francisco

The Golden Gate Bridge and Alamo Square, two must-sees in San Francisco.

Highway 1

“The Highway 1 which runs along the Pacific coast. Black rocks flowing into the ocean. The panoramas reminds me Brittany landscapes. The Pacific winds let irrefutable evidences of their violence on the cypress.” (No wind when I sketched these trees!!)

Santa Barbara Pier

The route 66

Return to Eastern : we join Route 66, with the famous Hackberry General Store.

“The owner’s 1957 red Corvette sits in front of a really cool store. Fifties atmosphere inside with the multicolored jukebox, life-size photos of Marilyn and Elvis, and license plates hanging on the wall. Outside, old, rusty American cars, and obviously vintage gas pumps! “

San Antonio

The “river walk” of San Antonio: A charming walk along green canals: we feel like we are in Venice, but with more greenery … the gondolas are just missing!

Louisiana

The last big step on our road trip is Louisiana. BIG crush!

Lake Martin

I loved the bearded trees in the “Bayou” on Lake Martin!

New Orleans

New Orleans is a very special city. A very European soul reigns in the city center … which is normal for a district called the “French Quarter”!

Oak Alley Plantation

Oak Alley Plantation, a former property built during the sugar cane plantation era. The mansion is grand and has served as the backdrop for many films, including “Interview with The Vampire”! We are admiring the famous alley of three-hundred-years old oaks that leads to the luxurious villa.

Cocodril

Cocodril is a village entirely built on stilts! I found its amazing, and very poetic, these colorful dwellings on legs!

Here, I hope I have made you travel a little with these extracts from my travel book!

Did you know that these notebooks are the origin of my wedding-books?

It was in 2014, for my brother’s wedding, that I have created the first wedding-book!

Would you like to see the “wedding” version ?!