Samut Songkhram, the Train Market and the Floating Markets

Source from YouTube

Perhaps you have seen the above video somewhere on the social media, but you do not have any idea where can you witness this? Now it's the right time reading this blog!

To visit this market, visitors may take BTS towards Wongwian Yai station and go to the Wongwian Yai Railway. You can buy ticket from this railway station heading to Maha Chai station at Samut Songkhram. The train runs multiple times daily and it would take about 1 hour to reach Samut Songkhram. Once you drop off the train, you may wait for 10-15 minutes before the train depart back to Bangkok, and you would be able to witness the amazing scene as in the video!

Here I was, at the Maha Chai Maeklong station!

Walking along the market, you would be amazed by how the locals doing business right beside the railway track. The market was fully shaded, which you would hardly notice the railway when you were walking inside the market.

The name of the market is dtalat lohm hoop, which means "market of umbrella closing". When the train horn was alerted, the locals started pushing their umbrella to close it, leaving the crops unmoved. You would be fascinated by how agile they were in closing the umbrellas, it just took them seconds to complete the process!

Now the train was already in sight! 

Tips: There will be a lot of crowds trying to take photograph and video of train arriving & departing, so beware of people pushing around. Keep yourself a distance from the railway to prevent accidents from happening. Safety first!

Beware of pickpockets as well!

Next stop, we went to Khai Bang Kung, a navy camp built during the King Taksin the Great after the second loss of Ayutthaya to the Burmese. King Taksin the Great relocated his navy here and a year later, he reclaimed back Ayutthaya and this place was abandoned for the next 200 years until the government built a shrine in memory of King Taksin the Great. 

One of the attractions in Khai Bang Kung was the Muay Thai statues built beside the shrine of King Taksin the Great. 

Many visitors love to be photographed beside the statues, mimicking the Muay Thai moves displayed by the statues.

 Next to Khai Bang Kung was the Wat Bang Kung, which was a temple built when King Taksin the Great occupied here in 1767. Something should not be missed would be the small chapel covered in the roots of banyan tree. The visitors may find the sitting Buddha statue covered in gold leaves within the chapel.

After visiting Khai Bang Kung, we drove towards Amphawa, the floating market that we were anticipated of going. As the Amphawa floating market only opens after 4 p.m., we stopped by another attraction nearby the area, which was something rare in this Buddhist country.

Navity of Our Lady Cathedral, built in the 18th century by Archbishop Paul Sulmon, funded by his brethren in France, Board of Foreign Mission Club from Paris and Rome, as well as the Christians from Bangkok. Seeing Buddhist temples are normal in Thailand, but not a church.

The interior of the church was remarkably beautiful, with stain glasses from France decorating the walls. There were also beautiful statues, meticulously crafted as described in Bibles.

Outside the church, visitors were able to find the statue of Jesus Christ teaching under the tree.

Sorry if my descriptions were incorrect for the church, as I am not a Christian and I do not know much about the teachings from Bible.

Before reaching Amphawa Floating Market, we stopped by another attraction, the King Rama II Memorial Park. This is just a stone throw away from the floating market, and the 4.4 acre park is a project to honor King Rama II, and it is recognized by UNESCO. This was the birthplace of the King Rama II too. There were some architectures such as main hall, as well as men's and women's dormitory, which show the way of life of people during that era.

It was quite a coincidence which we came across a cultural event in this park. There were some kids performing traditional Thai dance within the park.

Many visitors actually heard more about Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, which is located nearby Amphawa Floating Market. This is due to Bangkok has plenty of day trip package to Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, and usually the foreign tour groups also arrange a session to Damnoen Saduak Floating Market in their Bangkok trip itinerary. Damnoen Saduak Floating Market opens from 7:30 a.m. and closes at around 12:30 p.m. while Amphawa Floating Market opens after 4 p.m. till late. Amphawa Floating Market is more visited by the locals in the earlier years, but nowadays it has gained popularity among the foreign visitors as well to pay here a visit.

This landmark showed that we were 0 km from Amphawa Floating Market, and we were 69 km from Bangkok.

In Amphawa Floating Market, visitors were usually overwhelmed by the crowd of boats selling their products, from raw products (vegetables, fruits, etc.) to cooked products.

You could see the boats gathered around the staircases, where the trades usually happened.

Visitors could eat in the shops on the banks of the rivers, as well as eating straight on the staircases right after you purchase the food. There was no rules here saying you must eat on the table!

Visitors usually come for shopping, enjoying local delicacies, and there is another attraction within the floating market. The fireflies! 

You would hear the vendors shouting "hing hoy!" which they were selling the boat tour to see fireflies at 60THB per person. I am not sure what is the price now, but the price 60THB was back in 2011.

Visiting Samut Songkhram left a great impression to me especially the train market. Not to forget, this was the birthplace of the world's first recognized Siamese twins, Bunker brothers. There was a memorial of the Siamese twins in the town of Samut Songkhram, but I did not manage to go there. You may look for it when you are here!

Nakhon Pathom, the City with World's Tallest Chedi

After exploring Chaiyaphum, we challenged ourselves for an adventure. This time we came to Nakhon Pathom, a city 57 km West of Bangkok. The trip was truly bold, with only bunch of foreigners and no local friend around us, and no self-arranged transportation. Everything was done with public transport and limited Thai proficiency.

Firstly, to get to Nakhon Pathom we would need to get ourselves onto the minivan from Victory Monument BTS station. Get out from Exit #4, and look for the minivan heading to Kanchanaburi & Nakhon Pathom at the Ko Phaya Thai (blue) area. 

Credit to easymap.in.th to provide the guidance in English

When you purchase the ticket to Nakhon Pathom, the minivan will usually drop you along Route #4 Phetkasem Rd. and the minivan will proceed to Kanchanaburi. For your convenience, tell the driver that you are going down at Wat Srisathong, and from the junction you just walk for about 500 meter into the village and you will reach the temple after crossing a rail track. 

However, we were not doing it this way. The minivan dropped us in front of Big C supermarket along Route #4 together with some other passengers, and we went into the mall for toilet break & asked for the direction to the temple. The kind shopkeeper advised us on the bus number to ride on and then went out to the main road and wait for the bus heading to Bangkok (Sorry I could not remember the bus number, otherwise I would have put it here as guidance). When the bus came, we were the only foreigners on board. Ticket was cheap for the non-air conditioned bus to get us to our destination. The bus conductor was very friendly and tried to speak a little to us, probably she would never expect foreigners travelling on the local bus that she conducted. 

We came to our first destination of the day, the Wat Srisathong. This is a famous temple with Phra Rahu, the god of darkness. The Phra Rahu statue in Wat Srisathong at Nakhon Pathom, was said to be the largest in Thailand. The worshipers usually seek the blessings from Phra Rahu to repel the bad luck. 

The special things here were the offerings for Phra Rahoo. They were all in black color, which each of the offering carried different meanings. 

  

Even the roses and the incense stick were in black color.

After visiting the temple, we had our simple snack sold by the villagers nearby, which was one of the famous food in Nakhon Pathom - Khao Lham (coconut glutinous rice). Nakhon Pathom is famous for the coconut production, and thus the famous food here are related to coconut. There were 2 types of Khao Lham, which were the white glutinous rice and the black glutinous rice. The rice was cooked with the coconut milk in the bamboo stick over the charcoal top. We could smell the fragrance of the coconut even when we were still far from the stall. Khao Lham was very suitable for the people who have sweet tooth.

Under the soaring heat, coconut juice is the remedy. In this place, fragrant coconut are famous too. The locals drink coconut juice in 2 ways, some drink directly from the fresh coconut, while the others take the coconut to heat it on top of charcoal. This process made the fragrance of the coconut to be even more outstanding, and the coconut juice is much sweeter! You could feel the taste & fragrance are much more compact than fresh coconut.

Next, we took another local bus heading to Phuttamonthon. Over here, we would be able to see one of the tallest standing Buddha statue, and perhaps the world's tallest copper Buddha statue. The Buddha stands at 16 meter tall and looks over the large reservoir. The Buddha statue was built in 1957 to mark the 2500th year of Buddhism.

Phuttamonthon Buddhist park was a huge well-kept garden sit over 400 hectares of land, and the garden was landscaped tributes to the four stages of Buddha's life: His birth, enlightenment, teaching and nirvana. In the garden, we came across a cute little puppy, which each of us cuddling and playing with him before we left.

And, we faced a BIG problem. Phuttamonthon was more than 10 km away from the main road Route #4, and there were no public transport at all! As we were wondering how shall we get out from Phuttamonthon, suddenly, we saw a truck was about to leave the place. I quickly approached the driver and told him our situation and asked for advise on how to get out, and unexpectedly he offered us free ride to the town! Feeling grateful, all of us climbed to the back of the pick-up truck, and started our journey to the city center. What a wonderful and lucky day! 

After the truck-ride, we came to the most significant landmark of the city, the Phra Pathom Chedi. The temple is located right in the center of the city of Nakhon Pathom, and from here the public transport are easily accessible such as tuk-tuk and motorcycle taxi. The visitors are able to see this chedi from far, which stands at 120 meter high. 

Walking up towards the inner courtyard of the chedi, we stopped by and worshiped the Buddha image together with the locals.

This massive chedi is the largest in the world, and you can see it from every corner of the city.

Visitors could walk around the chedi and admire the large golden Buddha image on the Southern side.

While walking around the inner courtyard of the chedi, the visitors could also visit the smaller temple halls located next to it.

Finally, we went to the last stop of the trip which was the Sanam Chan Palace, located 2 km West of the Phra Pathom Chedi. This beautiful place was previously the summer residence for King Rama VI. This palace was also a top choice for the university students from Silpakorn University adjacent to the palace, to take their graduation pictures. 

This place was built in 1908 but only had the housewarming party in 1917. The residence was the centerpiece in the style of European castle.

In front of the palace was a monument of Ya-Leh statue, which was the beloved dog of King Rama VI.

The trip ended with us taking motorcycle taxis to the minivan station, which we moved back to Bangkok. The trip made us to fall in love with Thailand even more, with so many kind and friendly people around. We were really thankful for all the kind people who had helped us all the way throughout the trip.

Next trip, the floating market trip with unexpected surprises!

Chaiyaphum, the Beauty of Siamese Tulip Blooming

It came to the third straight weekend that I traveled outside of Bangkok. This time, we came to Chaiyaphum province, which is located about 300 km Northeast of Bangkok. There is something not the be missed in this province, especially during the Thailand's rainy season from June to August, which is the annual Dok Krachiao Blooming Festival.

We planned our trip to Pa Hin Ngam National Park, which the famous Dok Krachiao Blooming Festival was held. The annually held festival attracted a lot of Thais to visit this chilling place, which lies on a plateau about 185 meters above sea level. As the road trip would take approximately 5 hours, we started our journey early in the morning, at 4 a.m. Visiting this place might be inconvenient for the tourists with public transport, as the location of the national park is quite remote. It would be easier for the tourists to sign up day tour from the travel agency in Bangkok, or get local friends to drive here.

As we arrived at the Pa Hin Ngam National Park, despite the gloomy weather, the crowd were already there. Let's take a group shot before the hiking trip!

Have you ever seen something cute like this? The mobile ATM! I was wondering were there no ATM theft cases in Thailand?

The Dok Krachiao (Siamese Tulip) welcomed us at the main entrance, with the big poster of the King of Thailand as the backdrop.

There were some fees collected for entry, which I forgot how much back then. Based on my recent research, it seems like nowadays foreign tourists will be charged for 200THB to enter. After crossing the ticket checkpoint, we would need to take a truck which dropped us somewhere higher altitude, and the hiking began after that.

Tourists may choose to visit the tulip field first (350 meter to the left) or to visit the cliff area (50 meter to the right). The hiking process would take a full circle and back to the starting point to get on the truck back to the entrance.

The weather was still gloomy when we started our hike but this never stopped us from hiking.

We first arrived at the Pha Hum Hod, which means the Testicle Shrinking Cliff in the Northeastern dialect. The idea was you would basically shrink your manhood when you were on top of the thin slab of rock on top of the cliff. This was the summit of Phang Hoei mountain range, 864 meters above sea level. Many people actually queued to be photographed on this rock, so did I!

What a spectacular view from the Pha Hum Hod with the sea of clouds!

Next we proceeded with the Thung Dok Krachiao, which we anticipated the field of the Dok Krachiao (Siamese Tulip). 

The rainy season came slightly earlier than the past years, and some of the tulips had already faded during the time of our visit. 

There were 2 types of Dok Krachiao which we could find here, the white color and the pink color.

The wild grown Dok Krachiao within the field

Next, we went to another attraction which gave the name for the national park. The highlights here were the strange rock formation, with different outlooks.

The chicken rock

This was a funny looking rock, with the best description to it. Mor Hum Tang was the name, and the meaning was the small rock of erected penis! What a funny name! 

The radar rock

The most famous rock at this area, the FIFA trophy looking rock!

After the Pa Hin Ngam National park, we moved on the another attraction in the area, the Phu Laenkha National Park. The main highlight here was the Stonehenge of Thailand, which we could see large rocks scattered in formation, resembling the Stonehenge in England.

  

There were names for each of the rocks here

One final shot of the day which marked the end of this exciting trip!

The trip was really an eye opener to me, which we would be able to witness the creation of the mother nature to those rocks, as well as the wild grown Siamese tulips. I was grateful to be here during the right season to get the opportunity to visit this gorgeous place in Thailand. Wonderful!