Thursday I get up at 5:00am, shower, read with my grandfather, and leave the apartment early so I can take pictures around the hospital property. After the others arrive and we participate in our morning worship and skype calls home, I again take to photographing my experience in Thailand. With a desire for adventure I ask Weechai if there is a map of Bangkla somewhere I can look at. After a difficult conversation where the words “mayor” and “municipal office” come up several times I give up and resign to taking pictures of Thai Country Trim. When I return to the hospital office Gai introduces me to a man close to my age, he is dressed nice, and holding a map and several copies of what looks like a tour book. The man is introduced as Tae. Tae is a tour guide for the city of Bangkla. He understands English and tough he has difficulty speaking he manages to offers to take me around the province of Chachoengsao. While I accept his offer I am uncertain, at the time, what I am agreeing to and think that he is offering to take me to meet the mayor.
With Gai as the driver and Tae as my personal guide we leave Bangkla (to my surprise) and drive to the capitol city of the Chachoengsao province… Chachoengsao. It takes me some time, and clarification by my grandfather, before I understand that the name of the capitol city in any give province is also the name of the province. Not long after arriving in Chachoengsao I am told to look out of the window to my left. Since arriving in Thailand I have seen many Buddhist temples, each time I point one out my grandfather he is quick to inform me that that particular Buddhist temple is not that big of a deal because there are many more like it all throughout Thailand. As I look out my window I see an enormous structure much larger than any temple I have seen thus far. Tae and I get out of the car while Gai parks. We remove our 
shoes and begin exploring the Wat Sothon temple. Several hundred people stand in line to purchase orchids or to pray inside the temple. I snap away picture after picture of the structure, the statues, and the people inside. As Tae attempts to explain to me the significance of the certain things in the temple I understand little and we both laugh at our lack of communication.
By the time we leave the temple it is time for lunch and we head to a small roadside café. On the way we stop to pick up two types of thai dessert kanom jaok and sticky rice. Kanom jaok is a mixture of coconut meat, flour and sugar that is placed in between two palm type leaves and cooked over a fire (I am not sure it is necessary to inform you that it tastes delicious since everything tastes delicious). At the café Gai offers to order for me and I accept. When our food arrives I am told my dish is tom yum with noodles and pork.
After lunch we stop at a roadside stand to purchase mangoes. It is difficult to find mangoes this time of year because they are out of season, so we jump at the chance to purchase some. At the stand we are told that the mangoes are not yet ripe and that we will need to wait until Saturday to eat them. We then drive to the 100 year market. The old market seems to be something out of a dream or a movie. As my camera clicks I notice there are not many merchants open and I am told that on Saturdays and Sundays all of the merchants are open and the market is busy.
On the short drive back to Bangkla we stop to see the golden temple that is being constructed (its not real gold). Every time I start taking pictures I feel Tae tugging on my sleeve and pointing something else out for me to take a picture of. When he wants to tell me about a historical fact or the purpose of any given object he asks Gai but instead of translating Gai helps him with his English so that he can tell me himself. After several tries I usually understand what he is trying to say.
On the back side of the Golden temple and across the river is a The Victory Statue of King Taksin the Great. Tae explains to me that the statue is built in honor of a great victory that took place on the spot over two hundred years before. The Thai people answered the call of King Taksin and rallied to fight the enemy (I am a little uncertain who the enemy was). In honor of the fight a pagoda was built (the spire looking thing) and the statue place inside of it.
Our final stop on the tour is at the Bat Tree. The Bat Tree is really a group of trees that surround a Buddhist temple. The trees have become home to hundreds of fruit bats. While my guide feels the necessity to point out every bat in each tree, I use my zoom lens to try to get the best shot possible. After searching the grounds and photographing many bats, the temple, and statues, we find a place to rest and enjoy coconut milk.
The coconuts are boiled in water then place in a fire to give the milk and meat a sweet taste. While I enjoy the treat I find the temperature of the drink a little odd, thinking to myself it would be better cold. After drinking the milk I am shown how to take the top from my coconut and scrape out the meat. While I apply my new skill with great success, Tae gets frustrated when his top is too large to fit inside the coconut. We all laugh as he abandons the top method and uses his fingers to gain access to his snack. As we drop Tae off at his office, the municipal building where the mayor works, we make plans to try to meet up before I return to the states and say goodbye. By the end of the day I have taken over five hundred pictures.Related Article:
2 comments:
OK. A couple things. The bats would fly over our house every morning and night headed back to and from the trees. As a child I was VERY scared of them, Granny told us "they carried rabies" and I was terrified of them.
The Mayor - yeah, I used to ride around on his shoulders when he was little guy and I was at his wedding. I love him dearly, and respect him like a father.
Have you see my houses? DONT miss seeing them. Look for my name in the tree.
You better quit eating so much or the plane home isn't going to hold you - and don't drink the water.
The coconuts are amazing - I used to climb up the trees and drop them down. Our gardner helped shuk them and we ate them just like you described, after we drank the juice. Ask them to make you some with custard baked inside. OMG
I want to be there so bad. Did you give Dui and Gift their presents>
I would like to exchange links with your site www.blogger.com
Is this possible?
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