Thailand; Bangkok – Amphawa Floating Market (2)

Hi! Still walking around the Amphawa Floating Market in Samuk Songkhram. It was in the evening where locals and tourists are out in full force to enjoy the scenery and also  having their dinner by the canal.

People are practically enjoying their meal next to canal while watching the boats going by.

Seats are provided (if you can get one) along the canal where you can enjoy your meals too. There’s a walkway along the canal (both sides).

Some of the food that I tried (can’t really remember what they are)

Lovely sight of people sitting on the sides waiting for their food from the boat food vendors.

Look at the pack overhead pedestrian bridge. People trying to get across while some are taking photos. So it does cause a massive human jam LOL!!!

Good? Well.. there’s more to come. This is only the beginning of the series of my journey in Amphawa Floating Market. Stay tune!!

Thailand; Bangkok – Amphawa Floating Market (1)

Hi!! Finally at the market. This is the other floating market that is near Damnoen Saduak Floating Market at Ratchaburi. This is Amphawa floating market is in Samuk Songkhram.

Nearly everyone; mostly locals and also tourist comes here, and it is opened on weekends only (lucky me!). It gives an impression of the canal way of live, where farmers in traditional clothing selling their produce unlike Damnoen Saduak, which is an afternoon market. So you can easily combine the two into a single trip (which I was doing. =) . It starts to get going around noon, but best time is after 3pm. Ok… enough. Let’s get going!

By the time I was there, it was already close to evening and the crowds were already there as seen below.

Lots of choices of food to admire and savor (Frankly, I cant recall the food or name of it as it was like 6 years ago).

Fried giant squid (looks familiar like the ones in Taiwan night market =) )

gosh.. look at the bridge!! Packed with people going in both directions; trying go across the canal.

Boat stalls along the canal side.

Want to see more? Well, there’s more. All you have to do is follow me and enjoy the trip. =)

Thailand; Bangkok – King Rama II Memorial Park @ Amphawa (3)

Hi!! Still with me? Great! Let keep on walking. As promised in my earlier posting, you will see more on the architectural of traditional building during King Rama II period.

Walking in the park…. I could help taking this photo. Look at those bananas hanging its’ stem. That’s a whole lot!!

There are lots of buildings built in the traditional Thai architectural style which you can enter and admirer in the interior and exterior…..

.. here’s another one.

and here”s another.

The pond where housed the statue of the legendary crocodile hunter from the King’s poem “Krai Thong”.

The park also housed  the ship used by a later King

Now.. let head to the other attraction in Amphawa. What’s that you may ask? It’s the floating market in Amphawa. Let’s go!!!

Thailand; Bangkok – King Rama II Memorial Park @ Amphawa (2)

Come on…. let get’s walking!!! =)

Let’s move on the the King Rama II Memorial Park. This park was established on 4.4 acres of land to commemorate King Rama II’s great patronage of Thai arts and culture as it is also the birthplace of King Rama II. Located in the Samut Songkhram province; one of the central provinces of Thailand. Neighboring provinces are Phetchaburi, Ratchaburi and Samut Sakhon. It is quite a big park where it is divided into 6 sections. So you can spent quite a while in there walking and enjoying the architectural buildings, gardens, riverside, and other decorations.

Inside the park are various place to see such as King Rama II Museum and buildings built in the traditional Thai architectural style which you will enjoy the ‘walk’ with me which you will see in the next posting.

In this part, I will just share more on the flowers that caught my eyes during the walk in the park. I will let the pictures tell the story. (saving my ‘breath’ for the next part. =P )

Enjoy them? Want to see a bit more of the part? Then… let’s go!

Thailand; Bangkok – King Rama II Memorial Park @ Amphawa (1)

Back with me? That’s good. We still have more to go and more places to see (and  eat too!) Where are we heading to if you may ask?

Well, we will continue to Amphawa which is a village West of Bangkok, close to Samut Songkhram. Canal-side way in Amphawa is a way of life and takes place along the waterfront walkways of Amphawa Canal, a small tributary of the Mae Khlong River. During weekend, locals and also tourist will flock here for the evening floating market. Big queues emerge along the canal’s bridges and walkways market. More on this in my next series (now you know my next series, right? hint! hint!)

A bit of summary of this series. In the Ayutthaya Period, Amphawa was called Khwaeng Bang Chang and it was a small community that flourished in agriculture and trade. King Rama II was born in Amphawa, his mother’s hometown, as his father was ruling the town of Ratchaburi. At his probable birthplace is now the King Rama II Memorial Park which we will be heading too.

On the way to Amphawa, we stopped at the handicraft center. They specialized in (cute) miniature figurines from…

Cute little Muay Thai boxers ….

to cute little small and colourful food

Aren’t they adorable?

Outside the Handicraft center, they have lots of flowers and orchids. So, if you are a flower lover, you will definitely enjoy the view.

Lovely right? Well… if you like what you see .. then keep following me. =)

Thailand; Bangkok – Visit the Tree Temple, Samut Songkhram Province

My journey in Thailand continues. Leaving Wat Nong Hoi Temple, we headed to another temple in the Samut Songkram district in the Amphawa province. This temple is not in a building but within a tree or I can say covered with large trees. It is the Tree Temple or famously known as Wat Bang Kong Temple.

The main attraction is the chapel overgrown by Banyan trees including the sacred Bodhi tree where the roots are so thick that almost completely cover the building. So it is hardly recognizable any building there except except from the behind.

The chapel is normally know as Bot Prok Pho, ordination hall covered by Bodhi tree, even though the actual name of it is Bot Luangpho Dam. There is a large Buddha statue, where mostly every visitor will come to pray and place incense sticks and rubbing gold leaves.

Another view from the outside with large Banyan tree roots engulfing the temple.

Aside from the temple, next to it was the camp of king Taksin during an attack by the Burmese army in 1768 know as Bang Kung Camp.

The camp is still considered a symbolic bastion of Thai warrior strength. This is evidenced today by a statue of King Taksin flanked by life-size statues of Chinese warriors.

Dozens of life-size statues of Thai kick-boxers can been seen on the grounds in different Muay Thai moves.

Enjoying is so far? Well.. no time for rest. Now heading to the next destination……..

Thailand; Bangkok – Visit the Wat Nong Hoi Temple, Ratchaburi Province (2)

Thanks for staying with me on the trip to Wat Nong Hoi Temple. Going slightly further from the foot of the hill, we reach went up Nong Hoi hill.

It was a beautiful sight from the top of the hill as seen in the pictures below.

the other side…..

Lord Buddha enshrined outside of the Wat Nong Hoi Temple.

After that, we parted for the next destination. Saw this bus which I believe is a common sight in Thailand.

Where to next you may ask? If you want to know, then follow me. =)

Thailand; Bangkok – Visit the Wat Nong Hoi Temple, Ratchaburi Province (1); Thanks to all my readers and followers. Another landmark achieved for my blog; 50,000 views and 6,000 followers.

Welcome to my next series in Thailand. Before I continue, I would like to thank all my readers and followers for helping this blog site hit another landmark. My blog has already hit 50,000 views and still growing, and also the number of followers has grown up to 6,000 since it’s first went live in Nov 2012. Again thank you to all for making this happen and keeping me going.

OK…. back to my posting. Hope you enjoyed my series on the Damnoen Saduak Ratchaburi floating market and also fruit orchard visit. If you have missed the earlier series, here are the links; Thailand – Bangkok, Visit to Damnoen Saduak Ratchaburi Floating Market and Thailand; Bangkok – Visit to a Fruit Orchard in Ratchaburi Province

Moving on, I headed to the next stop which is the Wat Nong Hoi temple in Ratcthaburi province. This temple built in on Loire Valley and it rumored to be one of the sacred place in Thailand.

Here are the flights of stair up…….

Entrance to the temple.

.. lots of devotees coming to pray.

Giant bells along the walk way in the temple

Guan Yin or Goddess of Mercy giant statue in the temple

On  the next part… we headed up Nong Hoi hill. What do get to see there? If you want to know, then follow me on this journey. =)

Thailand; Bangkok – Visit to a Fruit Orchard in Ratchaburi Province

After our visit to Damnoen Saduak Ratchaburi Floating Market (if you have missed it, do look at my earlier posting before this), we went to a fruit orchard in the Ratchaburi province. .

Grapes?? It was a nice sight as I never thought that I could find grapes in Thailand. Yes! In the Ratchaburi Province, you can find fruit orchard that grows grapes.

The other fruit that is famous here is the coconuts. Walking in the coconut orchard….

They are really low and you can literally pluck the coconuts from the trees.

Fresh coconut water right from the orchard…

…. they also have dragon fruits. Yup.. weird looking plant if you may say so.

Ok… enough of  the fruit orchard. Where off to now? Want to know…. then follow me on my next series of my journey in Bangkok.