Bangkok working trip – visit to Railway Market & Floating Market

In my younger days, I fell in love with images of boats carrying colourful fruits, flowers and vegetables in floating markets in Thailand.  I thought these are common sights in Bangkok so I was suitably disappointed when there was none to be seen in the Chao Phraya river in Bangkok.  Only later I found out that these pretty sights are found outside of Bangkok.

After my visit to Ayutthaya, I made a trip to Damnoen Saduak Floating Market the following day.  As it is not easy to get to the floating market by public transport, I opted to follow a tour, which first took us to see the Maeklong Railway Market.  The market seems like any typical wet market in Thailand selling local produce but what’s unique is that the train runs through the market several times a day.

Some big shot was making a market visit on that day 

Within minutes before the train arrives, the vendors retract their awnings, and move their goods away from the track.  All the carts are equipped with wheels so that they can be pushed away from the track easily.

Tourists all ready with their smart phones, tablets and cameras waiting for the arrival of the train

Here comes the train 

For some goods displayed on the ground, the vendors don’t even bother moving them, as the train will just move swiftly above their goods.

Once the train’s gone, the vendors raise their awnings and push back the stalls to the original position.  And business is back to normal, all within five minutes.

We arrived at Damnoen Saduak Floating Market close to noon and even then, it was still jampacked with tourists.  Most of the things on sale are trinkets and souvenirs that can be found in tourist attractions in Bangkok.  It looks like the whole market is catered to tourists rather than an actual market for the locals. 

 

 

 

 

Massive congestion in the waterways

 

 

 

 

This is how the passenger boats are stored after the hordes of tourists left the market at about 2pm 

 

  We were also taken on a boat tour of the water village before leaving for Bangkok.

 

Bangkok working trip – visit to Ayutthaya

I have been to Bangkok numerous times for work – in fact, I was there three times this year.  While I’ve seen most of what Bangkok has in terms of tourist attractions, I’ve never been to Ayutthaya.  So on my last trip to Bangkok in October, I extended my stay to visit Ayutthaya.

I read in travel forums that it is fairly easy to get to Ayutthya by public transport, so I made my way to the Victory Monument BTS station, and took a minivan from there.  The trip took about one hour, at the cost of 60 baht (if I am not mistaken).  It was a wet morning and by the time I arrived in Ayutthaya, it was still raining.  The van dropped me at Wat Phra Mahathat instead of the drop-off point in town, saving me time and extra expense to get to the temple.  Wat Phra Mahathat is a large temple that was quite thoroughly ransacked and set on fire by the Burmese in 1767.  Its claim to fame is the tree that has grown around a Buddha head.

 

Across the road from Wat Phra Mahathat is Wat Ratchaburana, established in 1424 by a Siamese king who ascended the throne after his two elder brothers killed each other in a battle over succession to the throne.  The temple was built at the cremation site of his two brothers.

 

Upon exiting Wat Ratchaburana, I hired a tuk tuk for 200 baht/hour, as the other temples are quite far away and scattered.  Our first stop was Wat Lokayasutharam.  Nothing much remains of this temple except for a largest reclining Buddha statue in Ayutthaya made of bricks and mortar and covered with plaster.

We then crossed the river to visit Wat Chai Wattanaram.  This is the best preserved temple in Ayutthaya, and a visually impressive one with the principal prang standing 35m high on an elevated terrace with four smaller prangs on each corner of the terrace.  It was built in 1630 by King Prasat Thong to honor his mother.  Wat Chai Wattanaram was conceived as a replica of the Angkor temple. 

 

 

Wat Yai Chaimongkhol features a large reclining Buddha in saffron robes, and a huge chedi surrounded by statues of Buddha wearing saffron robes.

 

Wat Phra Ram, consisting of one huge prang and some smaller chedis.  It was constructed on the cremation site of the first Ayutthayan monarch, King Ramathibodi I.

Wat Phra Si Sanphet, the most important temple of Ayutthaya, is known for its distinctive row of three restored chedis containing the ashes of three Ayutthaya kings.  Housed within the grounds of the former royal palace, the temple was used for royal religious ceremonies.  It also served as a model for the Temple of the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok.

 Foundations of buildings in the Grand Palace

 

Next to Wat Phra Si Sanphet is the Vihara Phra Mongkol Bophit which houses a large bronze cast Buddha image.

Yiu Yiu’s 8th birthday celebrations

My first born turned eight on Nov 1.  We celebrated her birthday with family members and the babysitter’s family, as usual, accompanied by her favourite durian mousse cake.

Birthday girl

Our sinful spread of mostly meat and pasta

Eyeing her birthday cake.  We actually forgot to bring our own candles (which didn't come with the cake) so had to borrow from the restaurant :-)

With their babysitter - she probably spent more time watching them grow than I did :-(

One for the family

 

A couple of weeks before her birthday, she asked if we could have a small party at home so that she could invite some friends over and I resolutely said no…no way was I gonna kill myself planning for the party amidst a very busy period at work, as well as planning and working out the final logistics for our 2-weeks holiday in Australia.  She didn’t give up, and kept asking – along the way, her papa said “Do la, a simple one, since they may not be in the same class next year.  Just buy KFC and pizza.”  I finally relented, but I can’t bring myself to just settle for KFC and pizza.

I know I won’t be able to prepare a decent variety of food on my own so I started sourcing for a caterer who would take my small order (most caterers have a minimum order of 50 pax) of simple party food like spaghetti, sandwiches, yam cake and boxing chicken, while I added on some nuggets, sausage puff and fruits.

 

 

I also managed to get some party decorations, and put together enough cutesy stuff for party packs (since it was an all-girls party).  Next was to think about how to occupy the girls’ time at the party so I bought some felt craft materials, and hired a balloonist recommended by a friend after seeing my SOS message on FB J  And ordered some cupcakes as well.  All done in a few stressful days.

 

 

 

The birthday girl, meanwhile, had been gathering the phone numbers of the parents of several classmates from school and daycare whom she wanted to invite so I simply texted them the invitation.

And the party took place two on Sunday, two days after her actual birthday.

Girls busying themselves with the stitching up the felt pencil holder 

Balloons time

The balloonist facilitated some party games too

Singing birthday song

Yan Yan mutilating the fondant Hello Kitty

Birthday presents - mainly cutesy notebooks with lock, and storybooks 

Yiu Yiu's first gymrama grading cum competition

Wow! In the blink of an eye, this blog has been silent for three whole months!

(Dusting cobwebs off...)  Ok now, have many posts coming up...just hoping I have more time to edit all the photos to go with the posts.  Lets start with a simple one.

Yiu Yiu had her first rhythmic gymnastics grading examination cum competition yesterday.  She took part in only two out of three routines (free hand and ball) for her grade, Little Gymnast.  She almost didn't make it for the grading as she missed several classes in October as her daycare organized revision classes to prepare them for the year-end examination, which clashed with the timing of her rhythmic gymnastics classes.  After that, we were away for two weeks in Australia and she only attended three classes prior to the grading.  As such, she didn't have time to learn the last apparatus, the rope, and there are lots of room for improvement in terms of her techniques.  In any case, I'm pleased that she still gave it her best, and I am sure it was a good experience for her.

Practicing before her turn for the grading 

Here's the videos...you'll see that her timing was not aligned with the music, and she ended her routine before the music ended.

 

She didn't win any medals, which were awarded to the top five gymnasts for each routine, and overall score.  We still don't yet know if she passed her two routines - will have to wait for the organizer to tabulate the judges' score.

A shot with her coach and training partners 

Waiting for the results announcement