Oh My Travels: One Sunday in November...

*UPDATE APRIL 2016 - WE HAVE SINCE REALISED THAT RIDING ELEPHANTS, OR VISITING ANY SHOW THAT USES ELEPHANTS, IS A BIG NO-NO. SEE OUR AFFILIATED SITE FOR DETAILS AT WWW.SUSTAINABLESIAM.COM*

Our friends P and P invited us along for a one day tour on a Sunday last month and here's some of the highlights from it. E and I went to Siam BTS station for an early pickup (6:30 am) but it was worth it!

First stop, Dumnoen Saduak Floating Market in Rajburi province, west of Bangkok. Although this floating market still has farmers selling their goods on the canal, a heavy tourist trade has deeply routed itself changing the people's way of life and their surroundings. It is, however, still a stunning place.

P and P...

On our way to the 'Venice of Asia'...

And as we peek through the resident's wooden stilted houses we see some dancing practice as we head upstream...

Curiosities ogling at curiosities...

And we hit the beginnings of the market ten minutes later..

Some fine Thai silk where the shop owners literally drag your boat in on using a hook...

We had to get a pic of our boatman. This chap, probably about 80 years old, was half-cut from a whole bottle of Thai whiskey at 9:30 in the morning. We were subjected to a constant cackle of verbal abuse he directed towards the other boaters and on more than one occasion we barged into other boats trying to sell their wares. If there was ever a captain who could easily take on Jack Sparrow, call this chap.

And we make our way down some dark alleys with nothing but a the smell of incense and our boatman's whiskey infused breath...

A slight detour...

Ah, lunch. I bought some pretty decent (and surprisingly cheap) spring rolls off this fella...

"Get out of the ******** way you ****" said our boatman. Ah, so peaceful.

Traffic jam on the canal. We sat in this spot for twenty minutes to get to the drop off point under that white lookout point...

That dark fruit you can see is called Mangosteen. Delicious. At the front of the boat is some Durian - the renowned stinky fruit that is banned in all hotels due its pong.

Absolutely stunning.

I think she'll be around for a long while yet...

After the floating market (and after E and I picked up a plate with our photo on it!) we went to pay for a show where men narrowly escape death everyday. The Snake Show. If anyone reading this post is into animal rights, you can either look away now or write to the Thai government. I won't post more than one picture of this particular section of the show as it can get quite disturbing (some visitors walked out). A glass box is placed on the stage, a meerkat (renowned for it's snake killing skills) is put in the box. And then a massive cobra is slotted into it. A five minute fight ensues, which is actually quite amazing to watch. Don't worry, we believe the venom glands have been taken out of the snake, although the poor meerkat did receive a couple stabs from the snake's fangs.

These guys throw a massive python around and generally piss it off. The chap on the right narrowly missed a jab to his face a second after this photo was taken.

This guy took on three highly poisonous grass snakes...

Catches one with his right hand, then with his left...

And, by doing a sort of cartwheel, catches the last one with his MOUTH.

We haven't got a picture of it but when he came round for tips his face was covered in scars. Next time you have a 'bad day at the office', think of him.

On to the workshop, where you can see skilled craftsmen turn teak wood into furniture with the most intricate designs. As you can see from the photo below, the artists first attach a pencil drawing onto the wood and painstakingly cut it into a 3D vision of beauty.

You can also buy life size wooden elephants. Man not included.

Or you can splash out (about 2 grand) on this wooden rocking chair. Lady not included.

Naturally, the first thing you want to do after browsing some of this furniture is to go and see some elephants play football...

...after walking past these cute little cats first. I feel sorry for the guy who has to unchain them at the end of the day.

At the elephant show we were shown how the ancient Thai's caught wild elephants to be used for farming and as war machines in battle. Essentially they train the tame elepahnts to run along side a wild one and throw the hoop round it's foot.

And before you know it, you have a powerful animal to help you lug wood around the farm.

And to play football in front of tourists.

Rooooooney!!!

They all stir up the crowd ahead of the match with some pretty impressive tricks...

And it's kick off...

After the game, we were shown a reenactment of the Thai-Khmer war in the 15th century. Elephants were mainlly used to charge and break up the front line ranks of the enemy.

Weary soldiers come to E for some grub...

On to the alligator show, where more men risk their lives daily. This was truly unwatchable at times becuase occasioally, much to the surprise of these brave souls, the croc would snap it's jaws shut a bit too soon after they released their heads.