We had to meet at 8:00am at the Saphan Taksin BTS station, which was a bit of a challenge, but we got a taxi, and since there was no traffic that early, we got downtown easily. We met up with the seven other kids and their families, and then we walked over to the boat pier. Our tour had its own longtail boats reserved, and they gave us life jackets for the kids, which was nice. The trickiest part was getting in the boat, since the tide was quite low, which put the boat a couple feet beneath the pier. It wasn't graceful, but we all tumbled into the boat, and no one ended up in the river. Once everyone was aboard, we took off at full speed. Vivian absolutely loved it. My mom was enjoying herself too.
We got off at the flower market. The kids had activity booklets and stickers. They had to find the various flowers and put the sticker in their books.
It was stiflingly hot in the enclosed market, but the flowers were beautiful. Some had already been assembled into bouquets and garlands,
but many were available loose in bags and buckets. Our guides picked up some of those, so that the kids could make their own garlands.
We left the market for a long table set up along the river walk. The breeze was wonderful, as was the iced coffee they brought for the adults.
The guides gave each child an alarmingly large needle, with string attached to the bottom and a pile of roses and dok rak, also known as love flowers because they can appear to be heart shaped. The children were supposed to do a pattern of one red rose to five dok rak. Vivian needed a little help getting started, but she soon shooed me away.
The children repeated the pattern three times, and then the adults helped them cut and tie off their three strands and attach it to a pre-made jasmine ring. Vivi was very pleased with the result.
After that we all got into tuk tuks which had been pre-booked by the company.
We got a fun tour along the side of the fruit and vegetable market, and then we emerged onto the main road leading up to the royal palace. Our trip ended at a beautiful wat.
The courtyard surrounding the main temple, was full of golden Buddhas holding the ashes of various illustrious Thais.
Inside the temple was the biggest Buddha of them all. Underneath it were the ashes of the current king's father.
The guides showed the children how to show proper respect to the Buddha.
Then one of the temple's monks came to tell the children about his life and answer their questions. His English was pretty good, but our guides also helped out.
It was fascinating, and the adults asked as many questions as the kids did. After we thanked the monk for his time, we went back out to the courtyard. The guides gave each child a lotus flower.
The children were supposed to learn how to fold back the outside of the lotus to reveal the flower in the middle. Vivian and several of the other kids were more interested in using the long lotus stems as swords and magic wands though, so I commandeered her lotus and took a stab at the folding.
Vivian was pleased with the result, snatched it, and went back to playing with her friends. There were a couple kids she knew from school, but she also made friends with some of the other kids on the tour.
After the temple, we got back in our tuk tuks and went to lunch at a restaurant known for its roti. You could see the cooking process from outside the restaurant.
Our guides took us upstairs to the air conditioned dining area, which was lovely. The children by this point had formed a unit, and they sat at a long table, while the parents were waved away to the smaller surrounding tables. The chicken roti was absolutely delicious. The tour company had also ordered kid-friendly dishes like fried rice and omelettes, neither of which my picky eater went for. Luckily, I had packed a bunch of snacks for her, so she was fine.
After lunch we walked back along the river inside the amulet market.
By that point, Vivian's lotus flower had fallen off the stem. She gave the flower to one of the other girls who was collecting them, and happily used the remaining stem as her magic wand. We didn't buy her an amulet, because she already has a very nice one that Young bought for her a while ago. The amulets are supposed to give you protection and good luck.
After a pleasant stroll along the riverside market area, we got on a regular river taxi boat to return to our starting point.
Back at the BTS stop, there was a man selling flower garlands with marigolds, and Vivian begged for one. Since it cost about 25 cents, I said sure. We got back in our taxi, and after a relatively quick ride home, we presented the flower garlands to Elena and Jeff.
You would think that would be enough excitement for one day, but less than two hours after we got home, Vivian went to a neighborhood birthday party. And that wasn't the end of it. Since it was the first Saturday of the month, that night was also a Secret Garden night. We wanted to show Mom the Secret Garden experience, so we picked Vivian up from the birthday party and walked over. She saw that her friends were in the giant bouncy slide castle, and took off to bounce for half an hour. The rest of us walked around and chatted with friends. Then we found a table and had dinner.
Elena wasn't very interested in dinner, so she wandered off with me following. Her confidence level was pretty high, because she didn't check once to make sure I was following her. She was very pleased when she found a flock of cement ducks to make friends with.
By seven though, we were all pretty much done. We got the girls bathed and in bed, and then finished off the crazy day with a much needed massage. It's a tough life living in Thailand ;-)
No comments:
Post a Comment