Ban Lum Phueng

By far this one was the best day of our trip and incidentally the longest.

After some revigorizing breakfast in the morning we met Nok again and this time using a van headed to our first stop for the day Maeklong railway market. We arrived there around 9:10am with the train scheduled to turn up at 9:45 so we have enough time to go for a wonder to get some fruits and see what was on offer. The products ranged from fruits, raw meat, poultry, fish, frogs, etc.

At 9:45am a siren marked the arrival of the train, we had a good spot thanks to Nok and at this stage there more tourist than customers and the place was packed. The train was rather intimidating, no much room between our faces and the train so we sort of petrified as the train passed, an incredible experience.

After the train experience we went to the Damnoen Saduak floating market, that even though touristy still remains as one of the most photographed places in Bangkok. It took less than half an hour trip an then on one side of the highway we stopped to get on the boats. The boats run on canals passing through coconuts and bananas plantations before arriving to the markets where mostly souvenirs, fruits and hats were on sell. The views were so captivating and a delight for my camera. Yovanna got a hat and as suggested by Nok we got a Mango /rice dessert and Thai noodles.

Leaving the floating market it took ys close to two hours to get to the bridge over Kwai river. Nok gave us a bit of history debrief about the significance of the railway and the bridge during WWII and then we had some photos on the bridge. Ximena also had time to get a picture with the local leopard.

Next stop was the famous tiger temple and their tamed beasts. Approx 30 minutes from river Kwai. This is like a mini rural zoo with wild pigs, buffalos, deers running freely around tourist but the highlight were the tigers. At the "canyon" there are two options for photos with these animals: free photo of each person at the time or group & individual photo for 1,000 thb, we opted for this second option so we were all together and also to save time. Getting the photo taken proved to be good fun, Ximena was a bit scared of the big cats but she was eventually excited too.

We left the temple and went to Saiyok Elephant Park for another must do while in this area, elephant ride. The ride lasted some 20 minutes but it was terrific, well not for my wife that was in panic. The trainer was spot on and let us ride on the neck of the elephant.

Our last stop was a parking bay to feed monkeys but the little creatures had left for the day, maybe next time.

It took us 4 hours to get back to Bangkok, that far we were!!!! but the day was worth every single penny. After saying bye to Nok we promised to be in touch.

We still have a day an a half in BK that were always planned for my wife's shopping.....Read more