Last week I went on an adventure with 'Take Me Tours'!
www.takemetour.com |
I’m not usually one to go on an organized tour (Kev usually organizes all that kind of stuff) but I wanna learn more about
Bangkok and explore every inch of this amazing city – so I signed myself up for a
day-trip! I was looking to do something a little different and something
further out of the city centre so I opted for the ‘ Food tasting & Boat Riding
through the Mangrove Forest’ tour – the tour was from
09.00-17.00 and cost 2,290bht (£50). My tour
guide ‘Pitipong’ collected me from Ekamai BTS station, a few stops from where I
live, and off we set...first stop Wat Sothon!
Let the adventure begin! |
Our first stop was Wat Sothorn - for those who are wondering what a Wat is?!? – it’s a Buddhist Monastery or Temple. Wat Sothorn is located on the Bang Pakong
River in the Chachoengsao
province, about 1hr 30min outside of Bangkok. This Temple is home to Phra Phutthasothon, or “Luang Pho Sothorn” who is considered to be one of the most respected Buddha images in Thailand. We first
went to the Old Temple that housed the Buddha where locals were placing
offerings of eggs, placing gold leaves on the statues and praying to the Buddha. We then visited the newer part of the Temple which which is massive and can be seen from miles around.
Behind
Wat Sorthon is a Chinese Temple that is also exquisite! The colours and statues
are a feast for the eyes. A big golden Buddha with a big belly sits in the
middle welcoming all that visit. It's very peaceful inside and you could spend hours admiring the gorgeous paintings.
Outside
the Temple, was a small food market and Pitipong treated me 'BBQ coconut
thing' - I forget the name of it, but it’s made from fresh coconut flesh,
coconut cream and palm sugar. It’s then rolled in a leaf, that’s only found in
that area (Mangrove Forest Leaf) and placed on the BBQ. I’m a big fan of coconuts so was super excited
to try it - it was chewy and very sweet - but yummy!
We
set off on the walkway to the Temple, kind of resembled a pier, and the cool
sea-breeze and bell sounds were calming and welcoming. People write their name on bells and hang them
in and around the Temple to bring them good luck – there are thousands of bells - the sound they make adds to this magical place! (sadly the pictures just don't do the Temple justice - but trust me - it's exquisite!)
There are two parts to the Temple that are full of beautiful Buddha statues. At the far
end of the Temple, facing out to sea, is a memorial for Prince Chumphon who was
considered a patron saint for anyone out at sea. The view from the Temple is spectacular, you can see all the way to Pattaya! Around the Temple are hundreds of 'golden mini temple looking things', these I am told are to hold your ashes when you pass, some of these have 'reserved' signs on them, and some are already occupied.
Outside this magical Temple is scene from an
old Thai story - Phra Aphai Mani. The characters pop out of the sea bed and it’s about a flute-playing
man, a pretty mermaid and an ugly giant lady. The short version of the story is...the
ugly giant lady falls madly in love with the flute-playing man and disguises
herself as a beautiful lady. The flute-playing man falls for her and they have a child. One day the flute-playing man realizes that his missus is
actually an ugly giant lady - he leaves her and falls in love in love with a pretty mermaid. Oh – so this flute he plays is
magical, so when the ugly giant lady comes to take revenge on the shallow flute-playing man that has left her for a pretty mermaid... he plays his flute
and kills her! (he must have been really out of tune!) Moral of the story - stay away from men who play the flute!
After a spot of lunch - since we were at the sea, what better place to get lunch than a seafood restaurant on the pier for some Crab fried rice! Yum!!! - we headed to the Naval History Park at Chulachomklao Fortress. The fortress is located at the mouth of the Chao Phraya River and played a massive part in protecting Thailand against it's French enemies in 1893. The HTMS Pinklao is stationed at the fortress, and is open to the public, to have a wonder and play 'Navy Navy'. We climbed around the ship for about 20 min, I had loads of fun pretending I was the captain and of course I just had to have a 'Titanic' moment! Out of nowhere massive dark, gloomy clouds arrive and we just made it back to the car before the heavens opened! Sadly we couldn't go on the walkways through the Mangrove Forest as it was near on flooding!
My 'I'm the Queen of the World' moment! |
Last stop of the day we headed to Paknam Pier and got the boat across the Chaoprays River (in the rain). We were on a smallish boat and I must say I was super impressed with the boat driver - he was very skilled at dodging the massive cargo ships along the way!. Once on the other side we we had a wonder around the Fresh Market! What a Market! Food galore! Anything you could think of - they had it! Fresh fruit and veggies, herbs, spices, meat and seafood galore! Massive prawns, bright green mussels, squids, crabs - if I was a massive seafood fan - this would definitely be the place I'd do my 'fish pie' shopping! There were also a few stalls cooking up some local delicacies and the smells were incredible!
Pitipong & Me! |
www.takemetour.com
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