Thailand Filming locations: Joséphine, ange gardien – let’s stay zen (episode in Thailand) Travel to Thailand, Travels 4.5 (2)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 calmJust to put it in context of how I got here, I was in "pause" mode yesterday, while I work almost continuously every day to prepare new articles for you. Hanging out on Facebook, I came across one of the groups dedicated to Thailand that I follow (you can also take a look at my facebook group by the way) with a person mentioning the rebroadcast of this episode, which therefore revives memories of their trip to Thailand with nostalgia.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 "Jospéhine, ange gardien: restons zen" below, it is the 6th episode of the 14th season (corresponding to episode 68 in total). This is the video that I used as a reference, I put it here so that the times given in the article correspond, especially since the best quality video is a truncated version of almost 20 minutes (but if you are interested, it's this way):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 BangkokWe start with the first scene in Thailand, the airport. As the shot at 3:55 suggests, this is indeed the main airport, Suvarnabhumi, by which you actually arrive in Bangkok from Europe. All the scenes at the beginning, the welcome of Josephine, the escalators and the exterior shot of the taxi leaving are indeed from this airport.We then arrive at the police station scene. Since everything is happening indoors, it's hard to tell where it's happening so far... As Joséphine goes out, we see an exterior shot at 12:00. A bit tight to find since we don't see any names and the police stations tend to look the same from the outside. I'll come back to that.Then comes the scene in the canals. There, it was easy. I recognized it directly since it is the channel where it is located the artists' house (I'm giving you the link here: Along the khlongs – The Artist House). I see again the red statue on the edge and the bridge that joins the two sides of the canal and allows you to admire the view with which a short shot shows the boat navigating on the canal (low-angle view).Here we can clearly recognize the bridge on which the young woman was in the series.At 14:25 p.m., it's easy there too. For those who are used to it, we recognize the backyard of the famous Wat Pho, where the reclining Buddha is located. I'll skip the inconsistency of the shot where at 14:25, we see them moving away from a chapel just to the left, which they actually enter in the next shot at 14:30. As an aside, in this building, you can watch the monks chant at 17 p.m. What Bastien's character says remains true, it is one of the oldest temples in Bangkok.On the other hand, don't look for the Mae Thorani statue (which is sometimes prefixed with Phra, to emphasize the deic character) at Wat Pho. The statue you see in the series was added to this place. After that it may be quite possible to come across some in other temples or even elsewhere in Wat Pho. What is said about Phra Mae Thorani (in Thai พระแม่ธรณี), sometimes written Phra Toranee, is true. She is indeed a goddess of the Earth in Buddhist mythology who, by wringing out her hair, made water come out to drown Māra, a demon sent to prevent the Buddha from reaching enlightenment when he meditated under the bodhi tree. On the other hand, it is pronounced Mai Thorani and not Maé Thorani as they say.The sequel takes us to theLoy La Long Hotel. No cheating, the hotel does exist and is located on the banks of the Chao Phraya. There is indeed a terrace with the view that we see in the series. I also know this hotel since it is in the list of hotels that I recommend for sleep in bangkok. The entrance is behind a temple (the Wat Pathum Khongkha), as briefly shown in the shot of Mimi with two chedis behind her upon arriving on site.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).The hotel on the banks of the Chao Phraya.We therefore make a time ellipse since we return to Bangkok while Joséphine calls Bastien, then still in Bangkok. The latter is on the bridge with the large white arch, spanning Sathorn Avenue. It's next to the Chong Nonsi BTS station, it is a fairly well-known place in Bangkok so easy to recognize.Another small jump 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 since then, as it is now called the SO/BANGKOK. The following short shot is an aerial view of the Saphan Taksin Bridge, the starting point for many to board the Chao Phraya Express boat. If I detail, given the angle, it must have been filmed from the top of the CAT Tower (the equivalent of France Telecom, well, Orange now). At 45:52, everyone will have recognized 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 this low-angle view, I recognize him straight away RCA (Royal City Avenue). This is a street that is especially busy in the evening for its many bars and nightclubs. And the scene takes place precisely at Old Leng RCA whose wooden facade is recognizable, with a Triumph motorcycle dealership next door.The whole next scene, with the little police car "chase" takes place around the old part of Bangkok. This is the area called Rattanakosin, behind the Palais-Royal. Precisely, it is the small district of Phuton, recognizable by its period house facades. Everything happens on Phraeng Phuton Road, and as Bastien turns left of the screen, the next shot actually still takes place on the same street… When he turns into a small street at 48:42, we are actually just on the other side of the small square in the center of this neighborhood. The next shot is consistent, we still gravitate around the same square.the place around which they gravitate.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.The old building in question on Phraeng Nara Street.As they drive towards the police station at around 50:13, we see a shot on the street in Bangkok. As we see the overhead metro line, what is more with a curve, we can recognize Naradhiwas-Rajanagarindra Avenue. I'll give you a thousand guesses, production costs oblige, it's next to the bridge with the arch that I was talking about earlier with the scene of Bastien in front of a Thai orchestra. Moreover, the following shot confirms it since we see Sathorn Avenue, perpendicular to Naradhiwas. The view is also taken from the arch bridge, logical from a production point of view, but does not take any geographical logical consideration in relation to the previous plan.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 timesDngo nguu – a letter is always associated with an object or animal to facilitate learning, here nguu means snake. Based on this assumption, I first checked the list of different districts of Bangkok, what we call Khet for Bangkok (equivalent for the provinces of tambon). Nothing matches. So I fall back on the sub-districts, what we call Khwaeng (listed here). And there, Bingo again, I see Thung Song Hong, in Thai ทุ่งสองห้อง. Everything matches, so here is our famous police station, it is the Thung Song Hong Police Station. While checking, I come across a photo showing the old facade (the sign has since changed), it is validated.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 northAnd the first shot of the airport is indeed the one in Chiang Mai. On the other hand, the night shot of the hospital is not. If we look at the facade that we partially see at 26:13, we see the word "hospital" (โรงพยาบาล in Thai) plus a few letters. By typing on Google Maps โรงพยาบาล+ลำลู or hospital + the letters that are visible, it comes out to me Lamlukka Hospital, located in Pathum Thani, a suburb northeast of Bangkok. Looking at the few photos available, it seems to match.The next few shots, around 26:20, show a temple in full view. This is the main temple in the heart of the Chiang Mai old town, Wat Chedi Luang. As it is filmed, it looks like a road passes by like that, but it does not. In reality, it is the inside of the temple grounds, so you don't walk around like that at 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 HotelSibsan Luxury Hotel RimpingThe latter seemed all the more plausible to me as it is from the same branch as the hotel located right next to the main filming location to the north (at the elephant camp), the Sibsan Resort & Spa. But a priori it doesn't fit anyway...Wat Chedi Luang, one of the main temples in the old city.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 done, it is relatively a question of logic. The filmings being in order to avoid moving too much, for a reason of saving time and cost, I suspected that a whole series of shots were filmed in the same area. And by doing so, I could easily find the temple that we see at 29:25, it is the Wat Mae Ta-Man. Which makes me clarify in passing that contrary to what is said, it is not Mae San, which also exists, but is located in the Lampang region, a little further south. In this case, it happens along the river Mae Taeng, 1 hour north of Chiang Mai.As it all fits together, the next sequence showing a village with long-necked women takes place in the village of Ban Huay Pa RaiThe village is simply listed Karen Women Village on Google Maps, 1 km from the temple and the elephant camp. This is a kind of village that is a bit "controversial" since these are women who are refugees from Burma. Without Thai nationality, they have no choice but to live in these kinds of villages that are a bit like a human "zoo"... I will 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 basically two possible rivers for this. One south of Chiang Mai, the Mae Wang River, near the Doi inthanon, and the other to the North, with Mae Taeng River. And in both areas, there are elephant camps and sanctuaries. From there, I started to scan Google Maps for possible locations. Knowing that we can clearly see that the area bordering the river is mountainous, so that eliminates the parts of the river in the plains and conversely, there must also be room for the camp, so not possible in areas where the river meanders between two mountains. With these elements, it directed me rather towards Mae Taeng than Mae Wang, which was also my first intuition. I had hesitated a little and took a look along the Ping River, not far from Mae Taeng, which remained a "possible candidate", but I realized that it was not there. As a reminder, Mae Taeng is where the famous elephant park is located, the Elephant nature park, with a valley containing several camps and the river running along the mountainside on the other side.Luckily, Google Maps being a great tool, I ended up coming across a 360° image taken right on the river bank, next to an elephant camp that I had my sights set on. And while the angle doesn't quite match, many elements do. Since I later found the temple and saw the Karen village based on this suspicion, I had little doubt that this was not the right place. Other scenes further away would confirm my find. And the result is that it was filmed in Maetaman Elephant Camp & Bamboo Rafting. Afterwards, I want to clarify that this is not the kind of camp that I would recommend visiting as such.At 42:25, we are told that the characters must reach a hospital in Chiang Khong. This is a city that really exists, and is located in the Golden Triangle, where the action is supposed to take place. Chiang Khong is also on the banks of a river, the mythical Mekong. It is then possible to cross opposite to Laos, in the small town of Houai Sai and take a cruise along the Mekong to Luang Prabang. Conversely, and this is clearly visible when the elephant crosses the watercourse upon arriving at the camp, it is clear that it is not a river, Mae Taeng being only a small mountain river. The two regions are not next to each other either, so don't expect to do this trip in 20 minutes by boat. Chiang Khong, is almost 300 km away and I doubt you will make the trip by water.And here again, the deduction of the filming location remains logical. On the images, we can clearly see that it is a lake and not a river. And that's good, looking at the map, we quickly see that to the 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, is therefore no doubt. For the anecdote, while it is very furtive, it is indeed the Thai actress who pilots the boat on the sequence in question, she had to learn just for a 2s 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.This is the plan of the hospital exit at 47:16 that was going to fill this lack of information. The view allows you to see the name better, I just had to enter the information on Google Maps and presto, it is the Burachat Chaiyakon Hospital. Everything matches, the overhanging roof, the appearance of the building, we see that the Thai flag has been replaced by a red cross to make it clear to viewers that we are 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.The top of the roof that tipped me off.Here we jump back in time again and arrive at 01:01:53, with the helicopter flight bringing the whole happy gang back to the North of Thailand. This shot is easy for me to recognize, because it's a place where I took Jitima for a drink one evening. It's a flyover of the hotel Dhara Dhevi Chiang Mai Resort, located on the outskirts to the east of Chiang Mai.The next exterior shot at 01:02:02 is a flyover of a temple overlooking a valley. I had a hard time locating it at first, but here too, I made the logic work. Since the previous shot shows an area located to the East, I was mainly looking towards the mountains to the East of Chiang Mai. Even if it is a helicopter and they could just as easily have gone quickly to another area. Even this strategy still paid off, since I finally identified this temple as being the Wat Phra That Doi Saket, located northeast of Chiang Mai. As the flight continues in this direction, it is therefore quite natural that the following shot at 01:02:31 shows us the lake located not far from there, Mae Kuang.Visually, I can't spot the H for the helicopter landing but I think it goes well at Chiang Mai airport. By the way, if you are ever interested in such a tour, you should know that it is possible (see here). On the other hand, it's obviously not cheap. For a 20-minute flight, it's 30 baht (around €000), 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 episodeI'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.So yes, I'm already nitpicking, but it's a detail that made me "get out" of this journey that was just starting. I like a film or series to be at least a little "realistic", at least within the limits of its universe (what we call the diegesis), because we agree that a guardian angel who snaps his fingers is not by default “real”.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).The police station scene with Daphné Hacquard trying her hand at Thai.For the rest, however, it makes me switch off even more... However, I managed to watch the whole episode but when I see the Thai policeman speaking French so well, sorry, but no... I understand that the target of this series is not necessarily the type to appreciate subtitles, but anyway, this "coincidentally" side, everyone speaks French (especially well) in Thailand, 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.Then comes the part about the north. Which begins with a nice caricature, as the characters talk about the poorly maintained roads going up towards the Golden Triangle, as if, moving further north, the general state of the roads would necessarily be more neglected… This is a situation that existed, that is undeniable, but more than 20 years ago! Now most of the roads are as spotless as elsewhere in the country. After the remark "they drive like crazy", it was valid everywhere as such (see my article on the driving in thailand).And it continues even more beautifully with this image representing the Thai countryside with elephants galore wandering along the roadsides and carts pulled by oxen... Okay, Northern Thailand is still the 60s according to them... Same with the village scene. I understand the notion of wanting to show exoticism, to exaggerate the features and really force the aspect, it's Asia, Thailand "those distant lands"... And so they stick ladies from the Padaung tribe (the famous " giraffe women") which believe me, are not common.A "giraffe" woman in a village in northern Thailand (this was 10 years ago).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 somewhat unusual article. While looking for a suitable image to illustrate this article, I came across the personal blog of the Thai actress playing Yindee, who posted in English, 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 are on the subject of travel and films, I suggest a site which contains stories from travelers, some of whom are in Asia (I saw Laos, Cambodia and Sri Lanka among others), enough to continue the journey: https://filmsdevoyage.comGood viewing !If you watched the episode, what did you think of it? Did you like the article? Vote on the article Note globale 4.5 / 5. Number of votes: 2 No votes yet. Be the first to rate this article! Did you like the article? Follow me on social media Urban exploration Mountain Nature and landscapes Temple Village 2 0 Roman 20/05/2020
