This is certainly a title that might pique your interest… especially if you're a regular reader of this blog. One might wonder what the connection could be between Thailand and our dear, very French Josephine, and why this article?
And as the title suggests, an episode of this famous series featuring Mimi Mathy takes place precisely in Thailand.
Since I'm curious, and I'm not going to hide it, I spent some time finding all the places visible in the episode, so I thought, I might as well make the most of that time and share it with you!
I thought in passing that it would allow me to try out a more "free" writing style, halfway between a police "investigation" and a "film" 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, even though I work 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 rebroadcast of this episode.
Several people mentioned that it brought back nostalgic memories of their trips to Thailand. And since the series is somewhat well-known and followed, I was intrigued to see how Thailand would be portrayed in this type of production.
I then found myself, for the first time in my life, watching an episode of Josephine, Guardian Angel…
Note that I used a specific YouTube video to watch the episode and do my research, which wasn't always easy given its quality. My timestamps are now useless since the video has since been removed, but I'm leaving them in anyway; they give an idea of the timing.
This is the episode "Josephine, guardian angel: let's stay zen", episode 6 of the 14th season (corresponding to episode 68 in total), however the video that I used for this "exercise" is now removed from Youtube (as well as another view after...).
Just to clarify, when I put photos side-by-side for comparison, those from the series will be on the left, while the photo from Google or my own photos will be on the right. I've also added yellow arrows to make it easier to match the series with the individual photos (yes, I really had some time to kill...).
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 its deity) at Wat Pho. The statue you see in the series was added there later. It's quite possible you might find similar statues 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 out 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 small 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; it's now called the 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 delirium in the bar/restaurant. And when he goes out into the street, with that low-angle view, I immediately recognize RCA (Royal City Avenue).
This is a street that is 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 easily recognizable, next to a Triumph motorcycle dealership.
The entire following scene, with the small police car chase, takes place around Bangkok's old quarter. It's in the old city, called Rattanakosin , more precisely behind the Royal Palace.
This takes place in 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 actually takes place still on the same street…
When he turns into a small 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 always moving around the same square.
At 49:39, we pass onto the neighboring street of Phraeng Nara, where, with a keen eye, one can recognize the facade of an old building, once the residence of a prince. At 49:47, they leave the narrow streets of Phuton and pass onto Atsadang Road, where, on the other side of a canal, one can see 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 now, it won't be like in this sequence. It's rare to see so many elephants on the side of the road, and even rarer to see plows pulled by oxen…
However, this gave me a major clue. They filmed near an elephant sanctuary, which was obvious given the rest of the episode, but since that's unusual, it was probably near a place offering ox-drawn plow rides, which made sense. Before I could pinpoint the exact route, I first had to identify the camp in question, which was relevant to the storyline involving Romane.
Once that's done, it's relatively a matter of logic. Since filming takes place to avoid too much movement, for reasons of saving time and cost, I suspected that a whole series of shots would be filmed in the same area.
And by doing so, I was easily able to 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's situated 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 that brings us to the elephant camp, which centers the plot around Romane. It was the hardest to find because there could be multiple locations. And it was the most important to find given the filming logic explained up to that point. By finding the camp, I was able to deduce the other locations, ultimately finding the road itself, as mentioned above.
Given the large number of elephant camps and the limited wide shots, I had to rack my brains a bit… But let me explain my reasoning. First, there are the oxen pulling carts, my initial clue. The second clue is that in some shots of the river next to the camp, you can see bamboo rafts floating by (I know it's subtle if you're not paying 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 . And in both areas, there are elephant camps and sanctuaries.
From there, I started scouring Google Maps for possible locations. Knowing that the area bordering the river is mountainous, this eliminates the sections of the river in the plains, and conversely, there also needs to be space for the camp, so it's not possible in areas where the river meanders between two mountains.
With all this information, it pointed me more towards Mae Taeng than Mae Wang, which was also my initial intuition. I hesitated a bit and took 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.
Fortunately, thanks to 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 had my eye on. And while the angle isn't quite right, many other elements match.
Since I later found the temple and saw the Karen village, based on this suspicion, I had little doubt that it wasn't the right place. Other scenes later on would confirm my discovery. And the result is that it was filmed at the Maetaman Elephant Camp & Bamboo Rafting . I should point out, however, 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 the legendary Mekong River. It's possible to cross over to Laos, to the small town of Houai Sai , and then take a cruise along the Mekong to Luang Prabang.
Conversely, and this is quite evident when the elephant crosses the stream upon arriving at the camp, it's clear that it's not a river; the Mae Taeng is merely a small mountain stream. The two regions are also far apart, so don't expect to complete this excursion in a 20-minute boat ride. Chiang Khong is nearly 300 km away, and I doubt you'll be making the journey 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 25,000 baht (about €660), yes, quite a bit…
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 general critique of the episode
I will begin in the order of what can be seen by watching this episode.
And I'll start with the airplane scene. It's pretty obvious this is a "studio" plane used for filming this kind of situation. Personally, I was surprised not to see any screens. Even though this episode must have been filmed, according to my estimates, around February/March 2013 (with the first broadcast at the end of 2013, and given the state of the vegetation in the north and the fog visible in the aerial shots), any airline already 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.
Upon arriving at the police station , I had my doubts about the actress. While she certainly has Asian roots, her Thai accent struck me. I can tell you right now, Daphné Hacquard, the actress who plays Jeera, must have learned and recited lines in Thai, but I don't think she speaks it fluently (I couldn't find any information about her background...). Given how little dialogue she has in Thai, it's not really a problem since no one in France will notice it (except for Thais living in our country).
However, the rest of the episode made me lose interest even more… I did manage to watch the whole thing, but when I saw 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, everyone speaks French in Thailand (especially so well)" aspect is very unbelievable …
If it had stopped with that one particular character, fine, why not. But when the boss arrives and starts speaking impeccable French too… Well, that's when I burst out laughing. To be even slightly more realistic, and what is actually plausible here, they should have used an interpreter.
Sometimes there are foreign volunteers who assist the tourist police and in certain police stations. This happened to me near Lumphini Park when I needed to get a document after losing my parking ticket… My Thai was particularly shaky at the time, and as a matter of principle, I find it difficult to speak English in front of Thai people. And then, just then, a foreigner arrived, who, if I remember correctly, happened to be a French-speaking Belgian. That helps.
Continuing with this theme, a monk encountered by chance at Wat Pho immediately understood the direction Bastien was asking for. Given that the monk in question seemed to be a foreigner, it might seem plausible that he happened to meet a French speaker, even if it's a bit of a stretch…
On the other hand, the next monk in front of the Mae Thorani statue, same thing, he speaks French, how wonderful Thailand is, huh? And to add insult to injury, the young man hitting Bastien in the bar also speaks French. So yes, there are indeed French-speaking tourists or expats, but with this accumulation of examples, I found this "ease" of language frankly excessive and not at all believable.
English isn't always widely spoken to begin with, so you can imagine the probability of French being uncommon...
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 northern section.
It begins with a rather simplistic caricature, as 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 certainly existed, that's undeniable, but that was over 20 years ago! Now most roads are just as good as anywhere else in the country. Better yet, they're often dual carriageways.
After the comment "they drive like maniacs", that's true everywhere as such...
→ see my article on driving in Thailand ).
And it continues even more with this image representing the Thai countryside with elephants galore strolling along the roads and carts pulled by oxen… Okay, Northern Thailand is still the 60s according to them … Same for the village scene.
I understand the notion of wanting to show exoticism, to exaggerate the features and really push the aspect, it's Asia, Thailand "those distant lands"... And so they stick you with ladies from the Padaung tribe (the famous " giraffe women ") who believe me, are not commonplace.
The next scene, I understand even less… The car was in an accident, apparently several days ago… Okay, so nobody cares, they just leave it there on the side of the road?? Judging by them, Thailand is a bit of anarchy…
And what happens next? Well, strangely enough, it finally becomes somewhat coherent. Again, Romane's girlfriend, Yindee, obviously speaks French, but since she's a veterinarian, we can imagine her studying in France, why not? The same goes for the doctor. And, lo and behold, the electrician is the only one of all these Thais who doesn't speak French.
So, in all other respects, the story unfolds with a certain logic, and we become more invested. To sum up, there are quite a few inconsistencies and exaggerations, but the portrayal of Thailand remains at least somewhat respectable and thankfully doesn't descend into caricature, especially after the first half of the episode.
There are liberties in terms of the locations of the sites, but that remains the "magic" of television, people are obviously not supposed to pinpoint all these places precisely.
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 and series; we'll see if I get into the spirit of sharing other filming locations with you in this way! I'll finish by mentioning that this isn't the only episode set in Thailand.
I saw that there was also the 6th episode, but from season 11 (equivalent to episode 43 overall), titled: On Yen's Trail (which was just re-aired, by the way). It's a story about an adoption gone wrong, but I couldn't find the episode online in a quick search.
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?
