 1 Leaving Bangkok and heading North to Kanchanaburi |
 2 Salt flats |
 3 Residents come here to buy salt. |
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 5 The Umbrella Market - People signal with umbrellas when the train is coming and then vendors are ready. Looks pretty busy! |
 6 First excursion of the day:: a coconut plantation and factory |
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 8 Picking baby coconuts for sugar |
 9 pushing the fruit through a tube in order to grate it |
 10 Coconut sugar |
 11 Coconut Wine (very sweet) |
 12 Mixing the carmelized coconut sugar |
 13 Coconut chews |
 14 Exit through the gift shop |
 15 Tourist trying out the ladder |
 16 A stopover where a bunch of floating markets converge. A break for necessities, gawking, maybe shopping, and for me I stopped and had a pretty good cup of coffee. |
 17 Next stop a very touristed version of the famous no-loger-used Floating Markets. Lots of hawking and 'made in China' tschotchas in the market. |
 18 This one is for real,to sell tea, not for transport |
 19 This one too. Behind her the boat is packed with paying passengers |
 20 Cutting and offering samples of pomelos out of the truckbed. Delicious. |
 21 Outside the Death Railway Museum |
 22 Pomelo |
 23 So cute |
 24 Outside the Death Railway Museum |
 25 Commemorates the 700+ US POWs killed building of the bridge |
 26 The train on the Bridge Over the River Kwai still operates twice a day (no longer from Burma, but from Kanchanaburi to Bangkok (I think). |
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 29 A Chinese resort hotel on the other side of the river. Seen while walking across it. |
 30 Arrived at a Hintok River Camp which will be our base for two days. |
 31 pretty cool! |
 32 Cocktails on 'my' porch |
 33 That bottle - called Thai Liquor - is really, really good rum. Cost $6 at the roadside liquor shop. |
 34 Was fun not getting lost finding our tents after dark. |
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 36 Today we go up to Hellfire Pass |
 37 But first a stop to learn about latax farming. This is Ton who manages the plantation. He is a refugee from Myanmar living in Thailand with his family. His daughter gets to to go Thai schools and when he has been here 10 years, he can have Thai citizenship and benefits. |
 38 Two thousand latex trees here. |
 39 how the latex is 'milked' - he goes to each tree every three days... |
 40 View from the top of Hellfire Pass |
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 42 part of the track bed that was cut - by hand - by the thousands of Allied prisoners of war. A few are still alive and have recorded very moving memories of the horror that they lived, worked, and died through. We walked the path with headphones and deep in our own thoughts. |
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 50 And here's where I seem to have left my favorite water bottle. |
 51 Respite on the water. A relaxing cruise to lunch on the little river Kwai. |
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 53 Lunch included morning glory greens cooked a 'special way'. |
 54 Back at the camp for a refreshing dip in a pool cut into the rocks. |
 55 Guess I was ready for my close-up |
 56 A new day, back on the road seeing rice fields on both sides - note they use 'water tractors' now ... |
 57 First stop today: the Grill Lady - a well known and very popular spot for locals to shop for BBQ |
 58 Grilled rice rats |
 59 Then New form of transport to get to our next stop, a water chestnut farm where, when I got bored, I photographed truchs and herons. |
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 61 Planting the newly picked water chestnuts in rice husks so will grow new crops. After 25-30 days they pick them us put them in the water. After 8 months can be picked up and eaten or sold. Special soil in Suchanburi |
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 66 Lunch with another 'difference' |
 67 Followed by a walk through a small market which seemed to be selling sugar rushes. |
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 69 And onto another river boat with lace curtains and an ornary driver since we were 5 minutes late. |
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 79 Two of the skipper's five wives - all live in this multi-roomed house. |
 80 Back to the market, this side had more protein. |
 81 along the highway |
 82 Entering Sukotai - dressed up for the Lunar New Year celebration |
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 84 And finally, the public park in the center of Sukothai - where, like most Thai cities and towns, the populace meets at 6pm to exercise. |
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 90 And a new day - we visit a Buddha factory - learn about and see molds, paint, materials, lotsa motor scooters, etc. |
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 97 And now the jewel in this particular crown - the ruins of the once-capital city of Sukothai Entering Sukothai Historical Park - a UNESCO site where there are remains of 21 temples. We are visiting three. Sukothai was the 3rd captial of Siam (15th century). |
 98 The first of three temples we visited of the ruins of the Si Inthrathit Kingtom This particular Buddha is 35 meters high and quite a stunning site to behold, both from a distance and close up. |
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 106 The second temple was Wat Sa Si - where the only walking Buddha exists - apparently The 'Chedi' (bell-shaped structure behind the Buddha) is in the Hindu style from Sri Lanka. |
 107 It's too big to walk from one temple to another. |
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 112 View from my room in Sukothai |
 113 Fancy restaurant with live demos of the traditional ways of food prep |
 114 and some entertainment too |
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 116 Preparing the offering signified by peeling back the lotus flower that accompanies the small bags of food - in the wee small hours |
 117 The monks are now assembled for their morning alms receiving |
 118 The monks approach and we are ready |
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 120 My turn |
 121 He will eat today. |
 122 and now they move on |
 123 After the monks and breakfast we make our way to a rural school. Since it is Christmas Day, we prepare one of our group to be Santa and carry all our gifts in a sack for the children. Though mostly Buddhist, the children know all about Santa and have English words for all the holidays, secular and Christian that they encounter. |
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 125 I think thay are interested |
 126 Though some are not sure |
 127 They choose - and I really admired the ones who took toothbrushes ! |
 128 And then we sang!! |
 129 After the school visit we were hosted for lunch by a family in a large home who clearly enjoyed this activity. They set up 'stations' where we brought our ingredients (pre-arranged and purchased in the local market - still having no language skills. |
 130 We were then each coached through the steps of preparing our own Sum Tom - my favorite papaya salad - with exactly the number of chili peppers we chose. (I like it spicy). |
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 132 They thenn insisted on group photos - so here is our whole group + Kathy on the right, our wonderful Trip Leader and three family members in the middle. Merry Xmas! |
 133 And now continuing our tour of rural Thailand, we stop at a Lotus farm - This smiling man is the owner and takes us through the processes of lotus harvesting. I listen some and look at the rice fields filled with birds. |
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 135 Lotus Seedpods |
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 137 On the road again we pass a herd of Water buffalo... |
 138 Then we stop at a Sticky Rice stand at a very rural crossroads. Different types are arranged in bamboo tubes for sale. |
 139 Different components make it sweet or savory. One eats it out of the bark - always with fingers. Next stop: Chiang Mai |