Our last day in Bangkok, how time flies… We decided to go to the Rose Garden Riverside in Nakhon Pathom Province as it came highly recommended by a number of people, both locals and visitors to Bangkok previously. It was a double treat for us as we had the wonderful company of Lilian & her younger son Sean on the excursion!
It took us almost an hour’s drive to get to Rose Garden from Bangkok. We got there just before 11am. Note for future visits: get there earlier so you have a bit more time to take in the activities. The cultural activity stations around the Garden close at 12noon, so that staff can prepare for the afternoon program, which includes the elephant and cultural shows.
It was a very quiet day at the Gardens – there was no other visitor was in sight! This meant that we were able to get “private” demos and “try-outs” at all the activities , showcasing everyday traditional life in Thailand. Apparently there are 12 different stations. Here’s what we got to experience:
Bamboo Dancing – Only for the fleet-footed! Watch your ankles!
Thai Art & Craft: Making a fish mobile from palm leaves
Rice Farming – Back-breaking!
Garland Making – Such a delicate art… The Fruit Carving station had closed for the day…
Traditional Pottery – Sometimes you have to get your hands dirty to make something beautiful!
The people at the Gardens were very nice. Sean saw a little clay tortoise that this artisan had crafted and asked if he could have it. They gave it to him… along with an elephant for Audrey and a Ben10 Four-Arms figurine for Anthony. Such a treat!
Thai Musical Instruments & Dance Performance: Up-Close
Umbrella Painting – Pretty colourful umbrellas!
Traditional Weaving – So much work…
Silk Processing – Simply amazing!
Thai Traditional Kitchen & Coconut Shaving – Isn’t it great to see the kids helping out in the kitchen (and the adults helping themselves to freshly baked banana kuehs!)
And finally the ELEPHANTS! We fed these gentle giants a whole bunch of sugarcane & bananas! The kids were quite fearless!
We had a really fun time at the Garden… and the kids enjoyed the outdoors and clowning around with each other.
Here’s Anthony fooling around with the sugarcane – weightlifting a whole bunch and making a House of Sugarcane. Before sitting down to ponder the process of bathing elephants…..
And here is Sean, trying to make a human elephant – trunk and all, hahahaha!!
That’s a lot for an hour… we didn’t manage to catch the Orchid Nursery, Herbal Pavilion and Martial Arts/Sword fighting and the cultural show – more stuff for our next trip maybe!
**********
No comments:
Post a Comment