We drove past this local market on our way to the Floating Market. I took this shot to capture the omnipresent motor bikes. They were everywhere you looked.
The market's popularity has drawn vendors to set up shop over this operational rail line. The stalls were set up for quick removal for incoming trains.
We passed endless salt fields on our drive.
The first stop of the day was at a traditional farmhouse. Our guide demonstrated coconut cream, sugar, and syrup production.
The worker scooped coconut syrup into huge buckets.
Shoes are removed before entry into any house because the floor is used for all parts of life - eating, lounging, sleeping, etc.
We took long speedboats through the canals into the Dumnoen Saduak Floating Market.
I sat in the very front of the boat...
...and there's Katie a few seats back.
A lot of the boats had the same things on offer - lots of mysterious fruit! Katie and I tried dragon fruit, pummelo, sweet apples, and lychies.
We were wall-to-wall (or boat-to-boat) people as we made our way through the market. The gondolas did not feel all that secure but I'm not sure it would be possible for one to tip given their close proximity.
Another shot of all the people - and this was early in the morning before it got too busy!
Here we are in our own private paddle boat. We were held a bit captive to the sales pitches as our driver would steer us towards certain boats/vendors and we were subject to her decision to pull away.
We tried the coconut milk but did not appreciate its taste.
These fancy Chinese hats fold up into a single stack or can be held open halfway and used to fan yourself.
This intricately designed table was one of many wonders at the Rim Klong wood carving market.
There were so many people carefully chipping away at gigantic masterpieces of incricate jungle scenes, elephant wall hangings, etc. Katie and I fell in love with elephant lamps in the shop and splurged to take them home as souvenirs.
Next we visited Prapatomchedi, the largest "first" pagoda in Thailand.
This standing buddha at the entrance was very significant as it stood above the King's ashes. The majority of people we saw around Bangkok were wearing yellow in honor of the King's birthday and 60th Anniversary which is remembered weekly on Mondays. Other colors are suggested to be worn on other days.
We stumbled upon this Reclining Buddha at the pagoda, which was smaller but similar to the famed Reclining Buddha at Wat Po, which we visited the next day.
Here's the head of the Reclining Buddha.
After lunch, Katie and I hammed it up for a photo shoot around the Rose Garden.
Katie's swinging around poles through the roses. Ouch! Those thorns are prickly!
Katie shows off a litchie - a grape-like consistency white jelly fruit inside a funky prickly outter shell.
Floating markets everywhere! There were more fruit boats at the Rose Garden.
The Rose Garden also included a short elephant show and opportunity to pose with the elephants.
Same elephant, different girl.
And here we are together, on either side of the perfectly poised elephant. They are really well-trained.
Did you ever see so much liquid leaving an animal at any one time? It was like a hose turned on full blast.
The Thai Cultural Show was very commercialized, but this guy got right into beating the drum with conviction and force.
We got a second sample of Thai kickboxing, though this round seemed a bit more staged.
The Thai wedding ceremony was among the more interesting inclusions of the cultural show.
The entire community seemed to join together to celebrate the wedding with live animals and food and dancing.
These long fingered ladies were common in the cultural shows.
Here the couples are dancing through very quickly moving bamboo slats.
That evening we were treated to more "culture" with a free Thai dinner and Thai classic dancing at our hotel, the Indra Regent. We sat barefoot with our feet dangling over the edge of the elevated floor covered with cushions. We saw both couples from our table many times subsequently.
We had a sampler platter with soup, roast beef, stuffed pork omelette, fried fish with spicy and sour sauce, yellow coconut curry with jasmine rice, and Thai sweets and fruit. We ate with gold silverware and had fancily folded cloth napkins placed onto our laps.
The girl on the furthest right was most intriguing to watch as she was clearly double-jointed.
The costumes were ornate, but in general the evening consisted of slow, repetitive dancing and we felt hostage to the torture.
We were eager to escape and were the first to leave. I think we hit our threshold for culture that day, as everything else was a 'must-see' but we really no longer cared.
