Floating Market and Cultural Village

This morning we visted the world famous Floating Market. It was about an hour and half drive from Bangkok. We negotiated for a 45 minute boat ride through the market, but we were having so much fun shopping and trying out all the different types of fruits and other foods we decided to go for a second round. Our Thai teacher friends, Yuwadee and Thamonwan proved to be invaluable as they are expert bargainers and made sure everyone got a good price.

In the afternoon, we went to the Siam Cultural Park. This amazing place is a large beautiful park with buildings and statues strewn along a paved path with bamboo light poles, while soothing Thai music plays from speakers shaped like tree trunks. Inside the buildings were wax figures of famous Thais, and of other famous people including Ho Chi Minh and Mother Theresa. The grounds included full-size samples of Thai styles homes from different regions in the country. Each home was furnished and included wax figures of family members in daily life. We particulalry enjoyed the figure of a teacher grading a huge stack of his students' notebooks.

We had an excellent lunch of noodle soups, pad Thai, and curry at the cultural park. On the way back to Bangkok, we stopped briefly as a small wat (temple). The inside was decorated from ceiling to floor entirely in dark teak wook, including intricately carved wall panels depicting scenes from the life of the Buddah. It was an amazing site.