Damnoen Saduak and The Grand Palace

I talked with the hotel front desk the night before about heading up to see the floating village and market, and they said they would hook me up with someone to show me around. This morning I met my guide, she showed up in her own car and flashed an official Thailand tourism badge. I can only hope that she takes me to the place she had it made, they did nice work, and I have always to be an FBI agent, truth is out there. Anyway, she turned out to be a great resource and this was a great day. It was about an hour away by car and we stopped at a rice field and then sea salt farm, both provided a background in to a Thai’s daily life. We also passed through a number of small towns, it was high tide for this one.


Buddha is big around these parts and as we had some time in the car I decided to ask her what is Buddha and what does it mean to be a Buddhist. Her English was OK but it was still a slow going conversation. However I found it extremely insightful, in fact I have even picked up a book on the subject. I won’t go in to all the details here but I did find two interesting things I never knew before. First, they don’t have what the west would consider to be a God, Buddha was simply a man just like everyone else. No magic tricks like walking on water or resurrecting the dead. Second, Buddhism is more of a philosophy and way of life, they believe that our minds and thoughts define our surroundings and reality. I found this particularly interesting in that the last few years there have been a number of books and films released on the same concept, probably the most well known, the documentary “What the bleep do we know?”. Our next stop was at a coconut factory where they produce everything from coconut sugar, to coconut wood chips for fires.


As well as grow orchid flowers, however I was unable to get the reason for this. I was told but it broke down in the translation.


We then moved on to catch a longtail boat and worked our way through the canals of the floating village on our way to the market, passing house after house, and even a few floating “7-11” stores.








We then reached the floating market which blew my mind. There was everything including hot meals cooked right in the boat and traffic jams.








It was nice to have a guide to point out what food was tasty and what food was somewhat adventurous. Everything was awesome until I asked for one of the more adventurous fares, which turned out to be some kind of eel in a very hot sauce that was hot going in and hot going out. Throughout the entire trip I tried to eat as many new things as possible (stuff I would never find in the states) and this was the only thing that gave me a little trouble in the morning. I also finally got my chance to try some Durian fruit, for those unfamiliar with this fruit I guess it can best be described as smelling like vomit on a hot summer day and has a raw meaty texture. However if you can turn off all senses other then taste it’s not too bad.




We then went and saw some locals along with their pet elephant. They have pet elephants just like we have pet dogs.




We then stopped at a local wood carving shop where workers chisel away at wood with little hammers and picks, spending over a year for a single piece. The detail is amazing and my camera can’t do it justice. They were a little pricy but I’m kicking myself for not buying one and figuring a way to ship it back.






We started early in the morning and still had a lot of daylight left so I asked her about seeing the Grand Palace. I was thinking that I was temple’d out but it turned out nothing compares to the Grand Palace, if you only see one thing in Bangkok go see the Grand Palace.




















Unfortunately you are not allowed to bring cameras inside, its too bad because it is simply mind boggling to see the Buddha and all that surrounds them. I guess the best way to put it is to imagine Jesus Christ in Las Vegas, then multiple it by ten. This place is known for the Emerald Buddha, this image was the best I can do. If you look at the “No Camera” sign on the right and then go up to the left you can catch a glimpse of the Emerald Buddha. They actually change his outfit depending on the time of the year, Summer, Spring / Fall, and Winter. It was a little chilly today so he was wearing both his winter and spring / fall outfits.


After hearing about my previous viewing of the “Sleeping Buddha” she wanted to make sure I saw the real one, so we made a stop there.




It was getting late and I needed to meet the rest of my party as up until now I have been traveling by myself, but she wanted to show me one last place, and I’m glad she did. This is another place that did not allow cameras inside. It was a jewelry store, jewels are a major export for Thailand and this place was crazy. There are guards with machine guns all over the place. You basically walk in and are assigned a sales person who walks you through a short movie and then through the workshop so you can see how they are made. Then you can mingle with their other clients sipping fine wine and cognac as you browse their endless lanes of display cases. Again I’m kicking myself for not buying anything as the prices were right, however I was having more fun just watching some of their clients, trying to guess what line of work they were in, but then realized it’s probably better I don’t know.


We had originally agreed on 3000 Bhat for the day, however all the stops, all the information, and the quick lesson in Buddhism, and I tipped her an additional 1500 Bhat, meaning the whole day cost me about $125 USD, worth every penny. It was time to check out of Shangri-la and head over to the Shanti Lodge to meet everyone, or so I thought. When I got there I found out that only Grace (Bethany’s sister), her mom and dad, step mom, and sister and brother were the only ones there. Trent and Allana arrived shortly after me. Apparently everyone else’s flight got delayed or changed. I was text’ing Kyle but that last I heard their flight was delayed in to Taipei. I would later find out that he lost his cell phone someplace. Kyle and Bethany did arrive later that night along with Carrie, and his folks made it the following morning, along with Luke, Joanna, and Kristine. Adam and Krista would join us a day later.

A coup recently over threw the Thai government and declared martial law, thus the security at Shanti Lodge was tight.


This is the door to my room, and for you not so smart people out there, this means at night when you are sleeping your door is pretty much unlocked. If it was locked you would be locked in, so the pad lock was only when you are out for the day. It would not have mattered though as you could easily bust through the paper (or more literally wicker) thin walls. So thin that I was woken up around 2am when the couple one room must have lost something in their bed as they were sure moving it around alot. Actually Shanti Lodge was awesome and Kyle and Bethany could not have picked a better place for everyone to meet. This was the classic back packer hostel complete with two community showers that only served up cold water, one toilet, one male / female urinal, and at best 2.5 English speaking employees. My room had a nice air conditioner.






And a bed, complete with bed bugs. I never knew these bugs actually existed until the next morning when I woke up and my legs were covered with what looked like mosquito bites, but they did not itch.


My western prejudice kicked in here, like all places you have to take off your shoes before going inside. Shanti Lodge was wide open to the street and you basically left your shoes out on the street for anyone to take, but they were always there the next morning. I would come to find out that the Thai people are some of the nicest people I have ever met. For example if you ask directions they don’t just tell you how to get there but they will walk with you to make sure you make it there safely. A shot of the restaurant in the Shanti Lodge.