Snake Show
COBRA SHOW THAILAND, DAMNOEN SADUAK, THAILAND – After shopping at the floating market, we proceeded to travel to a snake show. There are many of these types of shows in Thailand, but this one is supposedly famous. The show featured a variety of types of snakes, including a jumping snake and of course the King Cobra. The performers would do a variety of acts to show you how the snakes would react in various situations. One of the performers even wrestled three snakes at once. When it was time to put them away, he caught one in each hand and the third one in his mouth. While this show was extremely cool, I couldn’t help but wonder how safe we all were in the audience. There was only a small river of water and a one foot high wall that separated us from the snakes. The finale of the show was fight between a mongoose and a cobra. In the end the mongoose one and the owners of the snakes had to pry it off of the cobra, which was still alive. After the fight, the performers of this show, showed us how to extract the venom from the cobra. They then allowed each of the audience members to touch the cobra, which supposedly brought good luck. Just outside of the show, there was a small zoo, where you could see all of the various snake species that live in Thailand. They also had crocodiles and water monitors.
The Cobra Show
The jumping snake
snake #2
One man vs. three snakes
The end result
Extracting Cobra venom
King Cobra vs. a mongoose
The Floating Market
THE FLOATING MARKET, RATCHABURI, THAILAND – After riding the elephants we traveled to the floating market in Ratchaburi, Thailand. This market is world famous for the vendors that sit in small boats and float up and down the rivers selling fresh fruit, food, and other products. This market was originally part of a way of life for those living in the countryside. Today the market is more of a tourist destination. Tours are also given of the river. There is also a small market place that lines the river. These shops sell handmade pieces of art and other souvenirs. Outside of the market, people offer the chance to hold snakes or to feed a baby elephant.
The floating market
Baby elephant
A vendor on the floating market
Elephants
THE ELEPHANT VILLAGE, THAILAND – Our second stop was to the Elephant Village. Here we were given the opportunity to ride elephants. It cost 1,200 Bhat (approximately $40 USD) per person to ride the elephants. An additional 600 Bhat (approximately $20 USD) was required for bananas to feed the elephants. The elephants did not look that good, however, it was hard to see how they were treated. My guess is that they were not treated well, especially since they had no tusks. Two people were allowed to ride on each elephant and then a driver sat on the elephants neck to steer it. It was definitely an unique experience. We walked along a pre-determined path. About five minutes into the ride, the driver jumped off of the elephant and told us to sit just above the elephant. It was at this point that we were able to feed the elephant. Our elephant was definitely smart, he would take five steps and demand five bananas before he would move again. While we were riding the elephant our guide/driver took pictures of us on the elephant. Eventually the driver climbed back onto the elephant and and brought us through a small pond. At the end of the ride the driver tried to sell us ivory jewelry to “support the elephants.” We did not buy anything as it was morally wrong and illegal to do this.
Beginning of the Elephant Ride
Elephant Village
Elephant Ride
Elephant Ride
Feeding the elephant
Elephant Ride
Elephant ride through water
Train Market
TRAIN MARKET, THAILAND – Our second day in Thailand started with us meeting out tour guide and traveling an hour outside of Bangkok towards the famous floating market. Along the way we stopped in small town at a set of train tracks. Our tour guide wanted us to see another type of market, one that lined the sides of a set of train tracks. The people who worked this market, set up shop along the tracks. When the train came through they would quickly close up shop, once the train passed by, they would open up shop again.
The market lining the train tracks
The train
The market closing up for the train to pass by
Thai style chips
The Sky Bar, Lebua Hotel
THE SKY BAR – LEBUA HOTEL, BANGKOK, THAILAND – During our time in Bangkok, we had one night to truly enjoy the nightlife of Bangkok without having to worry about being out too late and getting up early. We decided that the best way to spend this night was to go to the highest bar in the city. This bar happens to be located at the Lebua Hotel and is called the Sky Bar. Many people may recognize this bar from the Hangover Part 2, which made it famous during the infamous breakfast scene between Mr. Chow and Leslie as the gang searches for Teddy. The bar is located on the top of the hotel and is extremely classy. A word of advice for guys is to wear pants, they won’t let you into the elevator if your not wearing them.
The top of the bar offered breath taking views of Bangkok. After the filming of the Hangover Part 2 the bartender created a drink for all of the cast members called the Hangovertini and it is still available. It cost 490 Bhat (approximately $16 USD), a little pricey for a drink, but totally worth it. It tasted of cinnamon and apple and possible a few other spices, definitely a foo-foo drink but worth trying if your only in Bangkok once. The only downside was that the bouncers were very specific about where you could take pictures.
Sign Advertising the Sky Bar and the Hangover Part 2
Stairs where the Hangover 2 begins, sorry its blurry, I had to quickly shoot this photo.
The golden dome roof of the Lebua Hotel
The Hangovertini
The Sky Bar
View of Bangkok
View of Bangkok and Csao Praya River
James Fashion
JAMES FASHION, BANGKOK, THAILAND – The second store that our tour guide brought us to was James Fashion. James Fashion has been rated the number one tailor in the world by National Geographic. They also offer custom made suites, shirts and dresses. They even offered our group a student discount if we bought from them and free drinks. Again I thought this was a sham, but I looked at the materials they were offering and other people having suits made and decided to have some made. In fact everyone in our group got suites made. I bought two suites, two shirts and three ties for 15,000 Bhat (approximately $500 USD), an extremely good deal for custom fitted suites. Each person in our group was given their own tailor they showed us around their show room and we were able to choose they color and type of fabric that we wanted. All of the suites that I bought are wrinkle free. We had our measurements taken. The next day we went back and were re-fitted with the semi-finished coats and finished shirts.  The tailors then told us that they would deliver them in person to our hotel the next night before we left. They kept their word and arrived at 11:00 PM with our order. We tried them on and they fit perfectly. I was extremely happy with the quality and service that they provided and I would highly recommend them. They even keep your measurements so you can order another suite online if you are no-longer in the country and they will ship it to you.
The Royal Lapidary
THE ROYAL LAPIDARY, BANGKOK, THAILAND – Our first day of touring ended with our tour guide bringing us to two shops. Obviously the tour company received some sort of kickback if these companies sold something to us, but it was still cool to see another side of Bangkok. Our first stop was The Royal Lapidary. This store was actually a gem factory that is known throughout Thailand for its jewelry. It specializes in sapphire and ruby’s, but they also work with every other gemstone. At first I thought this was just a sham, but they allowed us to go into the factory and stand over the workers as they built various jewelry mountings and polished the stones. It was a neat process to see.
One of the workers making a ring
Wat Benchamabophit (The Marble Temple)
WAT BENCHAMABOPHIT, BANGKOK, THAILAND – Wat Benchamabophit also known as the “marble temple” was built in 1899 for King Chulalongkorn. The literal translation of its name is “temple for the fifth king.” The entire temple is built of Italian marble. The inner courtyard of the temple has over 50 different statues of the Buddha. The interior of the temple houses one larger statue of the buddha. The walls are decorated with various stupas that are found throughout Thailand. It should also be noted that all of the wall decorations are hand painted. The kings ashes are located beneath the statue of the Buddha in the main temple.
Wat Benchamabophit (the Marble Temple)
Singha guarding the main entrance
One of the many stupa paintings on the interior of the prayer hall
Buddha Statue in the prayer hall
Hand Painted Wall Decoration
Interior Courtyard
Roof detail
sweet sticky rice with banana and taro wrapped in banana leaves
St. Patrick’s Day
ST. PATRICK’S DAY, HONG KONG – Getting ready to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Hong Kong. This ought to be interesting…
Stories to come later
Til’ then enjoy some of my favorite Irish songs to help with your celebration…wherever you are in the world!
Dropkick Murphys – Going Out in Style
Dropkick Murphys – Shipping up to Boston
Flogging Molly – Drunken Lullabies
Flogging Molly – (No More) Paddy’s Lament
Flogging Molly – Requiem For A Dying Song
The Lost Traveler 