We left at 6:30 a.m. to beat the traffic to do some touristy & not so touristy things. We had a driver from the university. We started at the floating market (pictured). You rent a boat & driver and go down the canal and stop at markets that are on the bank. People also have boats with their stuff in it for sale. Many people would yell “buy a hat, buy a hat”. Others had a big sheppard’s hook that they would drag your boat over to them. Some of these floating businesses were food vendors. They had propane tanks, grills, stoves, etc on them to prepare food for other boaters. The boats themselves aren’t any bigger than a canoe. This particular market catered to tourists, so the prices were higher. There were places for locals that were more reasonable. Sounds just like the States.
Next was a stop at a homestay (also pictured). This is where people open up their homes to let others stay for awhile. It is 300 baht per night, or $8.57 for an air conditioned room. Granted it was just a mattress on the floor, but the house was really nice and sat on the canal. There were miniature alligators in the water. Scary. Homestays are pretty popular in Thailand, and many of them are frequented by backpackers coming through the area. This particular one housed a tourism class from SWU (the university we are working at) who was there to lead programs for the people in the city. This is pretty unique in that programming is virtually non-existent, as I have mentioned.
We then went to King Rama II Memorial Park (pictured). There was an admission fee and concession stands. I bought a garden figurine that went to support the park foundation. All three are good sources of revenue for a park.
This whole area is quite different than Bangkok. It is beautiful, and in its infancy in terms of tourism. The floating market guy spoke English, Thai and 3 other languages, but much of the rest of the trip was in Thai. Things were not in both as much as in Bangkok.
Next was a stop at a homestay (also pictured). This is where people open up their homes to let others stay for awhile. It is 300 baht per night, or $8.57 for an air conditioned room. Granted it was just a mattress on the floor, but the house was really nice and sat on the canal. There were miniature alligators in the water. Scary. Homestays are pretty popular in Thailand, and many of them are frequented by backpackers coming through the area. This particular one housed a tourism class from SWU (the university we are working at) who was there to lead programs for the people in the city. This is pretty unique in that programming is virtually non-existent, as I have mentioned.
We then went to King Rama II Memorial Park (pictured). There was an admission fee and concession stands. I bought a garden figurine that went to support the park foundation. All three are good sources of revenue for a park.
This whole area is quite different than Bangkok. It is beautiful, and in its infancy in terms of tourism. The floating market guy spoke English, Thai and 3 other languages, but much of the rest of the trip was in Thai. Things were not in both as much as in Bangkok.
One last note: Dr. Klitzing & I ate jellyfish last night. The rule here is to try just one bite, That is what we did...just one.
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