Kanchanaburi

It's been many years since we've been to Thailand. Our last visit in 2011 was really memorable...especially staying in  a very remote village and visiting the wetlands in Pathalung.
This time we went because my dad requested us to come along to keep mum company while he played golf. I'm glad we went.

Never did it cross my mind to visit Kanchanaburi but there we were, on the first day taking a 2 hour train journey along the Thailand-Burma railway ( Death Railway)  from Kanchanaburi to Nam Tok. The day was hot and humid, only an old fan blowing in our carriage. We sat on wooden benches watching fields of sugar cane and tapioca, rice fields, and villages pass by. In the carriage, vendors walked by every few minutes selling banana pancakes, Thai goodies, drinks and dried produce. The train went over the bridge of River Kwai, passed many towns and finally slowed down as we rolled along the Wang Po viaduct, a long bridge that hugs a cliff on one side and the river Kwai on the other. We learnt that thousands and thousands died building this railway.



Second day we visited the Thai Burma Railway Centre and the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery
I highly recommend the Thai Burma Railway Centre. We learnt a lot of history there, and both Nel and Jo were intrigued by every picture and poster in that museum.

We also visited a waterfall at Nam Tok, and then spent two days in Bangkok where we shopped at Platinum mall, and walked a night street where Jo got her hair braided with blue and purple strands of yarn.
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Something  I posted on FB about a funny moment in Kanchanaburi...

 "We were walking on a street in Kanchanaburi when it began raining heavily. Taking shelter in a provision shop we tried to get a taxi home, but almost every public transport (truck n bike) that stopped by had wet seats. So for the sake of my mum, dear hubby went to the shop owner n asked if they could get us a cab. But unfortunately, hubby doesn't speak Thai, and the shop owner doesn't speak English at all. 

So dear husband, with big gestures said to the shop owner, "I want taxi, car...taxi...cover, no wet."
The shop owner smiled, and imitating hubby's big gestures said, "Ahh,..ok, taxi..." (motioning a big covered roof). 

A few minutes later, our COVERED taxi arrived....still a bike, but covered with plastic!! hahaha. :) What a fun, cramped, bumpy ride it was, mixed with occasional splashes of water from puddles and rain!! Haha :D 

Our Covered taxi.  :D

Our unforgettable bumpy, very tight, splashy fun ride!

@poundthegarlic.blogspot.com 2017

Shopping in Thailand

During our recent road trip to Thailand , I took time to indulge in some Shopping, since I don't do that very much back home. Shopping in Thailand is heavenly (if you can bear the heat and crowd). Things are amazingly cheap and usually of good quality.


However, I'm not sure if it's because of my Love for Colours, or Rush for time, or Food poisoning that veered my better judging skills, and I ended up with garments which would have me looking like either...... Ali Baba's apprentice,..... possibly Aladdin's other sibling..... or Sindbad the sailor.


Here's pics of some purchases

A very colourful patchwork pants (like Aladdin's). But I admit, I love this purchase. Unique, colourful, comfortable.

Something that looks like a pirate's pants? And when I wear it, I do look like a pirate.LOL..but rugged and comfy nevertheless.

This top, I like. Only 25RM (less than 10 USD).

Not sure why I bought this...it will be home wear but again, cotton and comfy for a hot day.

Bells for my ankles

and Shells for my top.

Ok, kidding. My children played with this when we stayed at the  village  in Thailand. They were creating quite a ruckus together with their cousins. Well, actually a pretty good drum percussion team, but I had food poisoning so it was ruckus to me. So to stop all that noise, I told my girls "Tell you what, stop playing that for now, but I'll let you take that back to Malaysia, where you can use it as your percussion instrument." So that's how I ended up bringing these shells back with me. (like we don't have them here! haha...)

There are several more other favourite purchases. But I shall stop this post here and enjoy the weekend with my gals. Oh..and we just bought Nel a brand new bicycle. Not from Thailand, but from here.

Floating Market -Road Trip Thailand Part 3

Another amazing place to visit, a floating market of course. Lots and Lots of good food, which I didn't dare to try, because unfortunately I'd eaten something wrong the day before and was down with horrid food poisoning. Some pictures below. Hope you read  Part I  (A Remote Village and SongKla) and Part II (Patthalung, amazing beautiful wetlands) of our road trip. Part II (Pathalung is especially beautiful.)

Sunrise in Patthalung -Road Trip Thailand (Part 2)

 This post is a continuation of our Road Trip to Thailand. Click Part I to see pics from the first part of the trip when we visited a beach and a remote village. Then there's Part III which consists just a few pictures from a  floating market  May take a while load because of the pictures.)

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Patthalung (located about 2 hours from HatYai) is an amazing amazing Wetlands. You have to visit the place to understand the beauty that I'm talking about.

The View as we approach Pathalung

While on the very very long bridge, we saw these buffaloes grazing on the wetlands. A large part of Patthalung is like this, patches and patches of wetland. Beautiful scene.

The best time to see glorious Patthalung is very early in  the morning. I'd recommend waking by 5am, and being on the boat by 6am, no later.

Sunrise here is VERY breathtaking. As we were on the boat ride, I just enjoyed the cool morning breeze and the beautiful sunrise. The feeling of watching such beauty is beyond words...

On our boat journey

Our boat man took us past fields and fields of lily pads, and at 6am in the morning there are just so many species of birds everywhere! See the Egret on the lily pad?

Water Lillies bloom as the sun rises

upclose

We also sailed past areas like this, and some areas where there were water plants growing very close on both sides of the boat..all made a very interesting journey. Lots of fisherman up very early on the wetland

A Fisherman's Net

I think this man was catching crabs

One of the most exciting parts of the boat trip was when we came up close to these water buffaloes. Actually they were everywhere and our children were just thrilled with excitement. :) So was I! Oh yeah.

more of em...on these little pieces of land



Local children

If you venture beyond the main tourist street, you'll find a whole village on water.
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linked at Happiness is

All pictures copyright of Martha @ Poundthegarlic.blogspot.com

A Road Trip-Southern Thailand (Part I)

Just last week we were on a road trip through Thailand. How fun it was! I won't write much (and I'm still recovering from food poisoning) but here are some pics from the first and second day, where we drove from HatYai to Songkla, and then to a remote village on the third day. (may take a while to load, many pictures.)

TutTut in HatYai. We did go on a ride, just for fun.



See these insects? Three brave people ate them. Jo, Lo and I. We didn't get food poisoning from these by the way. And yes, they were crunchy and delicious! haha..



We had a really DELICIOUS dinner by the beach here where we celebrated my dad's birthday.



As we were wondering by the beach in SongKhla, Jo jumped into the water, and found this live starfish!!! It's legs were still all wriggling. Children had a fascinating time touching and feeling it before letting it go.



Here you see them all running, coz a fisherman came by and made waving signs with his hands. We looked out to sea and saw a school of Dolphins!!! Ah how EXCITING! we followed them for a while till the dolphins disappeared further out



2nd day we headed for this very very remote village. See our children running already? :)
I'm glad then when we arrived, some of our children said "Mum, This place is LOVELY!" That was wonderful to hear. :)



This is the house we stayed in. See the large water jars? The villagers use these to collect rain water for drinking purposes. No boiling or cooking, just drunk straight as it is.



late 80's and going strong!



River beside the village. My children and cousins spent many hours running around, chasing chickens, disturbing the cows and watching stars at night.



Padi fields everywhere surrounding the village. The tall palms are Sea Coconut. Villagers plant them to mark land borders

The room where we stayed, where we were swarmed by 100's of mozzies. Umm...whatever repellent we bought from pharmacists certainly DIDN'T WORK!

A family on this machine which is used to plow the land

this farmer kept smiling everytime he passed us by. See how the Egrets are swooping in looking for food



The 5 exploring a Tiger Prawn Farm

On Route to Patthalung we stopped by to visit a friend's aunt.

NEXT STOP  Patthalung  (BEAUTIFUL, AMAZING WETLANDS!) followed by a floating market