This is a title that may interest you… Especially if you are used to this blog. First, what could be the connection between Thailand and our dear, very French Joséphine? And why this article? Well, as the title suggests, an episode of this famous series featuring Mimi Mathy takes place in Thailand. The idea here is to show you the filming locations of this episode, because I think that it may interest some people.
And also, I'm not going to hide it, I spent some time to find all these places, I said to myself, I might as well make the most of this time and share it with you. I said to myself in passing that it would allow me to try a different style of writing, halfway between a police "investigation" and a "cinema" review.
At the end of the article there is a link, which is not sponsored but follows an exchange of service.
Josephine, guardian angel: let's stay calm
Just to give you some context on how I got here, I was in "pause" mode yesterday, even though I work almost continuously every day preparing new articles for you. While browsing Facebook, I stumbled upon one of the Thailand-related groups I follow (you can also check out my Facebook group while you're at it) where someone was mentioning the re-airing of this episode, which brought back nostalgic memories of their trip to Thailand.
Since the series is at least somewhat well-known and followed, I was intrigued by how Thailand would be represented in this kind of production. I found myself, for the first time in my life, watching an episode of Joséphine, ange gardien…
Note that I used a particular Youtube video to watch the episode and do my research, which was not always easy given the quality of the latter (in addition to being noisy, it is in 4/3 format so a little crushed). It was only after having made all my screenshots and research that I came across a recent version in much better quality... And speaking of screenshots, I added yellow arrows to facilitate the correspondence between the series and the photos (yes, I really had time to "kill"...).
See the episode "Josephine, Guardian Angel: Let's Stay Zen" below; it's the 6th episode of the 14th season (corresponding to episode 68 overall). This is the video I used as a reference; I'm including it here so the times given in the article are accurate, especially since the higher-quality video is a cut version of almost 20 minutes (but if you're interested, it's here ):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJNo7gXHTxQ
I would like to point out that when I put photos side by side to compare, those from the series will be on the left while the photo from Google or personal will be on the right.
Filming locations in Bangkok
We begin with the first scene in Thailand, the airport. As the shot at 3:55 suggests, this is indeed the main airport, Suvarnabhumi , through which you arrive in Bangkok from Europe. All the opening scenes—Josephine's welcome, the escalators, and the exterior shot of the taxi departing—are all from this airport.
Next, we arrive at the police station scene. Since everything takes place indoors, it's difficult to pinpoint the location until now… As Josephine leaves, we see an exterior shot at 12:00. It's a bit late to pinpoint it, given that we don't see a name and police stations tend to look quite similar from the outside. I'll come back to that later.
Next comes the scene in the canals . That was easy. I recognized it immediately since it's the canal where the Artist's House is located (I've included a link here: Along the Khlongs – The Artist's House ). I can still picture the red statue on the bank and the bridge that connects the two sides of the canal, offering a view from which a short shot shows the boat navigating the canal (a low-angle shot).
At 14:25 PM, it's easy to spot. Those familiar with the area will recognize the back courtyard of the famous Wat Pho , where the reclining Buddha is located. I'll overlook the inconsistency in the shot where, at 14:25 PM, they're seen walking away from a chapel just to the left, which they then enter in the very next shot at 14:30 PM. As a side note, you can hear the monks chanting in this building at 17 PM. What Bastien's character says remains true; this is one of the oldest temples in Bangkok.
However, don't look for the statue of Mae Thorani (sometimes prefixed with Phra to emphasize her divine nature) at Wat Pho. The statue you see in the series was added there later. It's quite possible to find them in other temples or even elsewhere within Wat Pho. What is said about Phra Mae Thorani (in Thai พระแม่ธรณี), sometimes written Phra Toranee, is true. She is indeed an Earth goddess in Buddhist mythology who, by wringing out her hair, caused water to flow and drown Mara, a demon sent to prevent the Buddha from attaining enlightenment while he meditated under the Bodhi tree. However, it is pronounced Mai Thorani, not Mae Thorani as they say.
The next stop takes us to the Loy La Long Hotel . No cheating here, the hotel really exists and is located on the banks of the Chao Phraya River . It does indeed have a terrace with the view seen in the series. I'm also familiar with this hotel, as it's on my list of recommended accommodations in Bangkok . The entrance is behind a temple ( Wat Pathum Khongkha ), as Mimi's map briefly shows with two chedis behind her as she arrives.
For the next few minutes, we only return to places already seen, again Suvarnabhumi airport and Wat Pho. We then move on to the rest of the action, taking place in the north according to the reality of the characters (see the next section).
So, there's a time jump, as we return to Bangkok while Josephine calls Bastien, who is still in Bangkok. He's on the bridge with the large white arch spanning Sathorn Avenue . It's next to the Chong Nonsi BTS station ; it's a well-known spot in Bangkok, so easy to recognize.
Another short jump forward in time and we arrive at 45:49, with a shot showing Bangkok with greenery in the foreground. It's a view of Lumphini Park , probably filmed from the Sofitel So, which had just opened a few months earlier. The name has since been simplified to SO/BANGKOK . The next short shot is an aerial view of the Saphan Taksin Bridge, the departure point for many to board the Chao Phraya Express . Judging by the angle, it must have been filmed from the top of the CAT Tower (the equivalent of France Telecom, now Orange). At 45:52, everyone will recognize the famous Wat Arun, located opposite Wat Pho.
Then comes the scene of Bastien's delirious outburst in the bar/restaurant. And when he steps out onto the street, with that low-angle shot, I immediately recognize RCA (Royal City Avenue) . It's a street that's especially busy in the evenings because of its many bars and nightclubs. And the scene takes place precisely at the Old Leng RCA , whose wooden facade is recognizable, next to a Triumph motorcycle dealership.
The entire following scene, with the brief police chase, takes place around Bangkok's old quarter. It's in the area known as Rattanakosin, behind the Grand Palace . More specifically, it's the small Phuton neighborhood, recognizable by its period house facades. Everything happens on Phraeng Phuton Road , and while Bastien turns left on the screen, the next shot is actually still on the same street… When he turns into a small side street at 48:42, we're actually just on the other side of the small square in the center of this neighborhood. The following shot is consistent; we're still moving around the same square.
At 49:39, we pass on the neighboring street of Phraeng Nara, where we can recognize (with a good eye) a facade of an old building, once the residence of a prince. At 49:47, they leave the alleys of Phuton a little and pass on Atsadang Road, where we can see on the other side of a canal the building housing the Ministry of Defense. Then the end of the chase brings us back to Phraeng Phuton Road, this time in front of the Red Cross building located there.
As they drive towards the police station around 50:13, a shot of a street in Bangkok is shown. Since the elevated metro line is visible, and it curves, we can recognize Naradhiwas-Rajanagarindra Avenue. As you might have guessed, due to production costs, it's next to the arched bridge I mentioned earlier in the scene with Bastien in front of a Thai band. Furthermore, the following shot confirms this, as we see Sathorn Avenue , perpendicular to Naradhiwas. The shot is taken from the arched bridge, which makes sense from a production standpoint, but doesn't take into account any logical geographical connection to the previous shot.
We come back to our police station. The first exterior shot at 50:48 still doesn't help me... At first I was ready to give up, after all, it's just a police station, there's absolutely no point in specifying which one it is... But I'm stubborn and for the gesture of this treasure hunt, I'll give you the answer. The "deliverance" comes at 54:52, where we clearly see an exterior shot of the police station. It's very blurry given the quality so I can't make out the letters very well, but we can still decipher a little, especially with the presence of the letter three times
D
ngo nguu – a letter is always associated with an object or animal to facilitate learning, and here nguu means snake. Based on this premise, I first checked the list of Bangkok's different districts , called Khet (the equivalent for the provinces of Tambon ) . Nothing matched. So I turned to the sub-districts, called Khwaeng (a list of which you can find here) . And there it was, Bingo again! I saw Thung Song Hong, in Thai ทุ่งสองห้อง. Everything matched, so there it was, our famous police station: the Thung Song Hong Police Station. While checking, I came across a photo showing the old facade (the sign has since changed), and it was confirmed.
And here again, you will see that there is a production logic! First, the next shot at 56:10 is still an exterior of Suvarnabhumi International Airport. 57:30 also, it is indeed the Suvarnabhumi counters. Same for the discussion at the café, where we see the logo The Miracle, even if it is normally more of a lounge room (private waiting room) than a small café like that. By the way, the anecdote of the doctor at 58:48 remains true, the health system in Thailand is excellent.
It's the next shot at 59:39 that brings me back to this production logic. This waiting room is not at Suvarnabhumi, but at Don Muang, the old main airport. I imagine that filming permits in this area must have been easier or only possible at this location. As we see pink seats, we can even specify the area in question, it is the waiting area for boarding gates 41-46. The stairs and the exterior scene were also filmed at Don Muang, I confirm that this kind of authorization would have been complicated at Suvarnabhumi which is practically moving 24/24.
Filming locations in the north
And the first map of the airport is indeed Chiang Mai. However, the nighttime map of the hospital is not. If we look at the facade partially visible at 26:13, we see the word "hospital" (โรงพยาบาล in Thai) plus a few letters. Typing โรงพยาบาล+ลำลู (hospital + the visible letters) into Google Maps, it shows Lamlukka Hospital , located in Pathum Thani, a suburb northeast of Bangkok. Looking at the few photos available, this seems to match.
The next few shots, around 26:20, clearly show a temple. This is the main temple in the heart of Chiang Mai's old city, Wat Chedi Luang . As it's filmed, it looks like a road is passing by, but it isn't. In reality, it's inside the temple grounds, so people don't just walk around there in the middle of the night…
For the hotel that we see just after, I knew I was defeated…. The clues are too thin. I could have recognized this said because I stayed a lot in Chiang Mai but there, I do not recognize the visible facade especially since it is not necessarily in Chiang Mai itself. There are so many establishments… I searched by typing several variations of the style “hotel chiang mai façade teak”, also in English. Some hotels came up but they were not these ones. By the way, it made me find some beautiful hotels that I share with you above:
- The rim chiang mai (this is the one that stood out the most but it doesn't match in the end)
- YAANAND COME Village Hotel
- Sibsan Luxury Hotel Rimping
This seemed all the more plausible to me since it belongs to the same group as the hotel located right next to the main filming location in the north (at the elephant camp), the Sibsan Resort & Spa . But it still doesn't quite add up...
Which brings me to the part on the road, where, I'll tell you right away, it won't be like this sequence. It's still rare to come across so many elephants on the side of the road and even less so plows pulled by oxen... However, it gave me a big clue. They filmed near an elephant center, that's obvious, given the rest of the episode, but since it's not common, it was mostly near a place offering rides on plows pulled by oxen, logical. Before finding the road precisely, I first had to target the camp in question, used for the plot around Romane.
Once that was done, it was relatively straightforward. Since filming locations were designed to avoid excessive movement, for reasons of time and cost, I suspected that a whole series of shots would be filmed in the same area. And by doing so, I could easily find the temple visible at 29:25; it's Wat Mae Ta-Man . This leads me to clarify that, contrary to what has been said, it's not Mae San, which also exists, but is located in the Lampang region, a little further south. In this case, it takes place along the Mae Taeng River, an hour north of Chiang Mai.
As everything fits together, the following sequence showing a village with long-necked women takes place in the village of Ban Huay Pa Rai . The village is simply listed as Karen Women's Village on Google Maps, 1 km from the temple and the elephant camp. It's a somewhat "controversial" village, since the women are refugees from Burma. Without Thai citizenship, they have no other choice but to live in these sorts of villages, a bit like human "zoo" villages… I'll come back to this in a dedicated article.
And we arrive at the elephant camp, which centers the plot on Romane. It was the hardest to find because there could be multiple possibilities. And it was the most important to find because of this filming logic exposed until then. By finding the camp, I was able to deduce the other places until finding the road itself above. Given the large number of elephant camps and the few wide shots, I had to dig a little deeper… But I'll explain the reasoning. First of all, we come to our oxen pulling carts, my initial clue. The second clue is that we see in some shots concerning the river next to the camp, bamboo rafts navigating (I know it's furtive if you don't pay attention).
However, there are essentially two possible rivers for this. One south of Chiang Mai, the Mae Wang River, near Doi Inthanon , and the other to the north, the Mae Taeng River . Both areas have elephant camps and sanctuaries. From there, I started searching Google Maps for potential locations. Knowing that the area bordering the river is mountainous, this eliminates the flat sections of the river. Conversely, there also needs to be space for the camp, so areas where the river winds between two mountains are not feasible. With these factors in mind, I was leaning more towards Mae Taeng than Mae Wang, which was also my initial intuition. I had hesitated a bit and taken a look along the Ping River, not far from Mae Taeng, which remained a "possible candidate," but I had to face the facts: it wasn't there. As a reminder, Mae Taeng is where the famous Elephant Nature Park is located , with a valley containing several camps and the river running along the mountainside on the other side.
Thankfully, Google Maps being such a great tool, I eventually stumbled upon a 360° image taken right by the river, next to an elephant camp I'd been eyeing. And while the angle wasn't quite right, many other elements matched. Since I later located the temple and saw the Karen village based on this suspicion, I had little doubt that it was the right place. Other scenes further along the way would confirm my discovery. And the result is that it was filmed at the Maetaman Elephant Camp & Bamboo Rafting . I should point out, though, that it's not the kind of camp I would recommend visiting.
At 42:25, we learn that the characters need to reach a hospital in Chiang Khong. This is a real city, located in the Golden Triangle , where the story is supposed to take place. Chiang Khong is also situated on the banks of a river, the legendary Mekong. It's possible to cross to the other side in Laos, to the small town of Houai Sai, and take a cruise along the Mekong to Luang Prabang. Conversely, and this is quite evident when the elephant crosses the waterway upon arriving at the camp, it's clear that it's not a river; the Mae Taeng is just a small mountain stream. The two regions aren't exactly close either, so don't expect to make this trip in 20 minutes by boat. Chiang Khong is almost 300 km away, and I doubt you'll be traveling by water.
And here again, the deduction of the filming location remains logical. In the images, it's clearly a lake, not a river. And that's convenient, because looking at the map, we quickly see that east of Mae Taeng, there is indeed a dam with a lake, Mae Ngat Somboon Chon . We can even recognize the roofs of the floating hotels bordering this lake, and one hotel in particular, the Pae Rim Tarn (เรือนแพริมธาร). Even the boat, with its flat roof, matches without a doubt. As an interesting side note, although it's very brief, it is indeed the Thai actress piloting the boat in the sequence in question; she must have learned just for a two-second shot.
The next scene takes place in the hospital. And there, it's the "magic of cinema" (it goes well with the theme!), since it doesn't take place in Chiang Khong or even in the north... Here too, I struggled a bit at the beginning, because it looks a bit like any small country hospital. But a detail at the very beginning of the shot at 43:36 gave me an important clue. Above the hospital, you can see the top of a building, with blue windows and a white border. The other obvious indication is simply the facade of the hospital displaying a name. However, with this shot alone, I was not able to find the place, because the quality of the video plus the fact that letters are missing because hidden by the pole, did not help me.
It was the shot of the hospital exit at 47:16 that filled in this gap in information. The view made the name much clearer; all I had to do was enter the information into Google Maps and voilà, it was Burachat Chaiyakon Hospital . Everything matched up: the overhanging roof, the building's shape, and you could see that the Thai flag had been replaced with a red cross to clearly indicate to viewers that we were leaving the hospital.
Here again, it is all the more coherent since the scene inserted between the beginning of the hospital and the exit, it is Bastien and his crisis of dementia, whose filming location is nearby (RCA), as mentioned in the paragraph concerning Bangkok.
We jump forward in time again, arriving at 01:01:53, with the helicopter flight bringing the whole group back to Northern Thailand. This shot is easy for me to recognize, as it's a place where I took Jitima for a drink one evening. It's an aerial view of the Dhara Dhevi Chiang Mai Resort , located on the eastern outskirts of Chiang Mai.
The next exterior shot at 01:02:02 shows an aerial view of a temple overlooking a valley. I had trouble locating it at first, but again, I used logic. Since the previous shot showed an area to the east, I was primarily looking towards the mountains east of Chiang Mai. Even though it was a helicopter and they could just as easily have moved quickly to another area. Even so, this strategy paid off, as I finally identified the temple as Wat Phra That Doi Saket , located northeast of Chiang Mai. As the flight continued in that direction, it was only natural that the following shot at 01:02:31 showed us the nearby lake, Mae Kuang.
Visually, I can't quite spot the "H" for the helicopter landing, but I think it's fine at Chiang Mai airport. Also, if you're ever interested in such a tour, you should know that it's possible ( see here ). However, it's obviously not cheap. For a 20-minute flight, it costs 30,000 baht (about €880), ouch.
The last half hour was spent between the elephant camp and the hospital, so I finished my "investigation". There you have it, you know all the filming locations!
Analysis and critique of the episode
I'll start in the order of what you can see when watching this episode. And I'll start with the plane scene. We can guess that it's a "studio" type plane used to film this kind of situation. Personally, I was shocked when I didn't see any screens. Even though this episode must have been filmed, according to my estimates, around February/March 2013 (with first broadcast at the end of 2013 and given the state of the vegetation in the north and the fog that we see on the aerial shots), any airline offers individual screens on long-haul flights.
Okay, I know I'm already nitpicking, but it's a detail that was pulling me out of this journey that had barely begun. I like it when a film or series is at least somewhat "realistic," at least within the limits of its universe (what we call the diegesis ), because we can all agree that a guardian angel snapping its fingers isn't exactly "real" by default.
When I arrived at the police station, I had doubts about the actress, who certainly has Asian origins, but her Thai accent caught my attention. I can tell you right away, Daphné Hacquard, the actress who plays Jeera, must have learned and pronounced some text in Thai, but I don't think she speaks it (I couldn't find any information about her origins...). Given the little dialogue she has in Thai, it's not particularly disturbing since no one in France will notice it (apart from Thais living in our country).
However, the rest of the episode made me lose interest even more… I did manage to watch the whole episode, but when I see the Thai policeman speaking such good French, sorry, but no… I understand that the target audience for this series isn't necessarily the type to appreciate subtitles, but still, this "coincidentally" aspect—everyone speaks French (especially so well) in Thailand— is very unbelievable …
If only it had stopped at this particular character, well, why not. But when the boss arrives and he also starts speaking impeccable French… Well, then I burst out laughing. To be a little more realistic, and what is plausible here, is to have an interpreter. There are sometimes foreign volunteers who assist the tourist police and in certain police stations. This happened to me near Lumphini Park, when I had to ask for a paper after losing a ticket to exit the car park… My Thai was particularly shaky at the time, and as a matter of principle, I have a hard time wanting to speak English in front of Thais. And then a foreigner arrived, who happened to be, from what I remember, a French-speaking Belgian. That helps.
If we continue on this theme, a monk met by chance at Wat Pho immediately understands the direction Bastien is asking. Knowing that the monk in question seems to me to be a foreigner, it can then seem plausible that by chance he meets a French speaker, even if it remains a big deal…. On the other hand, the next monk in front of the statue of Mae Thorani, ditto, he speaks French, Thailand is really cool huh? And to add another layer, the young striking Bastien in the bar also speaks French. So yes, there are indeed French-speaking tourists or expats, but with this accumulation, I found this “ease” of language frankly abusive and not at all credible. English is already not always common, so French, I let you imagine the probability…
To get back to the story, we see the scene on the canal where Bastien takes control of the boat and changes gear and drives it like that straight away, as easy as taking control of a bike... hats off! But having tried, not to steal a boat, but a boatman once made me try to drive a long tail for a few hundred meters, I know it's certainly not as instinctive.
Next comes the section on the north. It begins with a rather caricatured scene, where the characters discuss the poorly maintained roads heading towards the Golden Triangle, as if the further north they travel, the general condition of the roads would inevitably worsen… This situation did exist, undeniably, but that was over 20 years ago! Now, most roads are just as good as anywhere else in the country. As for the comment "they drive like maniacs," that applies everywhere in general (see my article on driving in Thailand ).
And it continues with this image depicting the Thai countryside, with elephants galore wandering along the roads and carts pulled by oxen… Okay, so according to them, Northern Thailand is still stuck in the 60s… The same goes for the village scene. I understand the desire to showcase exoticism, to exaggerate features and really push the envelope—it's Asia, Thailand, "those distant lands"… And so they throw in women from the Padaung tribe (the famous " giraffe women ") who, believe me, are not exactly commonplace.
The next scene, I understand it even less… The car was in an accident, apparently several days ago… Well, so no one cares, we leave it there on the side of the road?? And what happens next? Well, strangely enough, it finally becomes at least a little coherent. Well, here again, Romane's girlfriend, Yindee, obviously speaks French, but since she's a veterinarian, we can imagine studying in France, why not, the same goes for the doctor. And, oh miracle, the electrician is the only person among all these Thais who finally doesn't speak French.
So, on everything else, the story is tied up in a certain logic and we get a little more into it. If we summarize, there are certainly inconsistencies and exaggerations, but the representation of Thailand remains a minimum respectable and fortunately does not fall too much into caricature. There are liberties in terms of locations of the sites, but that remains the "magic" of television, people are obviously not supposed to precisely locate all these places.
That concludes this rather unusual article. While searching for a suitable image to illustrate it, I stumbled upon the personal blog of the Thai actress who plays Yindee, who posted in English, along with some behind-the-scenes photos: https://maythaveeweiss.wordpress.com/tag/elephant-village/
If you like this kind of article format, feel free to submit your suggestions for films, series, we'll see if I ever get into the game of giving you other filming locations in this form! I'll end by mentioning that this is not the only episode to take place in Thailand. I saw that there was also the 6th episode but from season 11 (equivalent to episode 43 in total), entitled: On the trail of Yen (which has just been rebroadcast by the way). An adoption story that goes wrong, but I couldn't find the episode online by quickly looking. In any case, I'm going to wait for your feedback before tackling a possible sequel.
And since we're on the topic of travel and films, I'd like to suggest a website that features travelogues, including some from Asia (I've seen Laos, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka, among others), enough to keep the journey going: https://filmsdevoyage.com
Good viewing !
If you watched the episode, what did you think of it?
