Floating Market at Bangkok - A photo Essay

Although I have made several trips to Bangkok in the past, I have never visited the famous floating market for one silly reason that I am too lazy to wake up early to go for shopping. Okay, I admit, I am not the shopping type too, but this is one of the ‘must-see’ tourist attractions, I had decided to make a trip this time.

It took us three hours to reach rural floating market of Damnoen Saduak situated 110 kms west of Bangkok. I started the journey at 6am, but reached only around 9:30am. (I am not an early riser, so I slept most of the way and missed out the fabulous view outside my window) Ah well!

By the time we reached, the sun was up, weather was warm, and some people had brought their umbrellas to float in shade

But the true fun is rowing in a paddle boat, freely down the river, surrounded by wooden houses and vendors on the either side, with hundreds of boats, paddling side by side, ready to bargain and sell.

There were some pretty houses on the route to the market, how interesting it is to sit in the balcony facing just waters...

 

Or watching the tourist from up above

The tourist seemed happy to just go clicking, they were sure they would find something different and some memories to take back home

For those who did not wish to go boating there was a market on either side and a bridge connecting sides, but the pretty sight was watching boats under the bridge

The water was dirty but nobody cared....we kept our hands closer to our body and water did not splash

Interesting part was the food stuff that was sold on land and also in boats

The boats rowed so close that we bumped many times

The vendors with fixed boats had a long stick with a hook, when our boat paddled closer to their stall, they gripped our boat with the long stick to bring it closer for discussion and selling

Those in larger boats could not shop, I think that was mainly for rowing experience

They bargain using their fingers, because they don’t speak English. But still it is easy to communicate with them

The woman cut fruits while she waited for some clients, she stored them in plastic bags

The man had a huge snake around his neck and he offered to rent it to a tourist for a photograph

There were pretty bags, I could not resist buying, but yes..I bargained too with just gestures

and Oh! lovely painting for sale too

I was veg on that day, so I just ate veg spring rolls with sweet sauce..it was delicious

It was lovely afternoon, enjoyed a lot...a great experience too...

Garachico – A picturesque suburb of Tenerife

Each time I come to Tenerife, this quaint little town, Garachico fascinates me.

I have blogged about this town several times.

Last year I made a general comment on castle ‘San Miguel Castle’

“Garachico was once a port where ships anchored but this port was completely destroyed during the volcanic eruption. However the castle with the stone doorway of ‘San Miguel Castle’ still stands there at the end of the promenade. This is the finest building, a 16^th century stronghold belonging to the Count of Gomera’ that survived a volcanic eruption in 1706 unscathed.”

Last week, I visited again and decided to walk inside the castle (which is now a small museum) to see the interiors of this stone structure. It was like entering a cave. It has windows on all sides. A big iron canon (with a thick layer of rust) stands in one corner, with its mouth jutting out of the tiny window. I could imagine the guards protecting their village in that era. There was a winding stoned steps leading up to the terrace of the castle. The view from the top was spectacular. Clean fresh breeze blowing over the vast sea and natural pools at the shores. On the other side of the castle lay a flowered lined motorway leading towards the by-lanes of the village.

I walked to the town square. People were in festive mood celebrating the annual festival ‘San Roque’. Every August, during the second week of the month, this village is glittered with music, dance and street market. There is no place to park. There were many people walking instead, their hips swaying slightly as they walk in a rhythm to the loud street music played at every food stall. The fragrance of freshly baked bread, pastries, cheese and roasted meat fill the air.

Farmers and artists display their products and handicraft stuff in their balconies and windows facing the road. There is procession during this festival, where people are dressed in their traditional clothes. They sing traditional songs, play the music on guitar and ‘Timple’. They bring along their farm products and their animals too and the prayers are offered to their deities.

What is interesting about is this village is the main square- ‘Plaza Juan Gonzalez de la Torre’. Numerous small red fishes swim in the small pond surrounding the fountain at the center of the plaza. There are wooden benches scattered all over the place where people gather in the evening for a friendly chitchat.

A big iron gate on one side of the plaza caught my attention. On the side of this huge gate is a plaque. I went up to read the plaque placed on a barbed gate

Behind the gate, there are stone steps leading down to the beautiful botanical garden called ‘Parque de la Puerta de Tierra’

The valley has been converted into a beautiful garden with neatly manicured trees. I wish they had installed some railings for support during climbing up the stairs. There were too many steps to climb and one needs stamina to enjoy solitude of this place. But it was very peaceful and picturesque.

I am never tired of visiting this place. There is so much to do, if nothing else, just go fishing? Yes, I blogged about that too…

“First thing that caught my attention were the rows and rows of boats parked side by side at ferry wharf. Creatively painted with bright colors and designs, they were a welcomed distraction.”

Modern civilization has not yet touched this rural suburb. There are no tall buildings or any fancy malls. This is a beautiful village with cobbled streets, centuries old stone buildings, tradition and culture retained and some of those quaint houses with beautiful patios, now converted into rural hotels. Here people can spend few days, away from hustle and bustle of the society, close to the nature, transported into the 18^th century…..

Exploring Lanzarote part 5

During my visit to Canary Islands, I decided to spend a week in Lanzarote. I had a choice to go by air or by sea. There is a boat service 'Armas' that can be used to hop between island. I used it to go to another island, Gran Canarias, and also wanted to go by this boat to Lanzarote as well, but it takes more than five hours by sea and the timings were late at night, therefore I decided to go by air, Binter airways, and reached the place in 45 minutes.

This island is very different from other islands. While Tenerife and Gran Canarias are very green and colorful, this island in comparison is very brown and hilly.

85% of Lanzarote is a protected area, full of lava from volcanic eruptions with only a narrow tar road for traffic to move at a slow pace….it seemed like I was on an outer planet...

At some places, it was too scary with open craters and lava stone. I was tempted to pick up some rock from the path, hoping to hit a fortune, but nobody is allowed to pick up the stones :))

You can imagine the strong winds in these open spaces, it is impossible to stand straight without support, hair are mess, skirt is flying high up (ha! ha!) Lava sand slapping against your face while you look for a comfortable posture to be able to click a picture...oops!

Some of the craters of the volcano Montana de Fuego ("Mountain of Fire") are still active, and have temperatures as high as 400 degrees. 

There are different shapes of hills and rocks, At one place I saw this rock that looked like a cloak.... I craned my neck to see if Virgin Mary was inside...

Even though it is so isolated, a nice smooth road is built for motorway which was quite narrow at some places but very safe.... When the driver took a steep turn, I was busy praying for my safety....

We passed through the tunnels, through narrow paths and through dangerous slopes but had an experienced driver who knew the road well enough to drive carefully...

In the place like this, what can one possibly grow? just algae? But farmers are intelligent and they have turned part of the island into green zone by using stones as barriers to control against the strong winds and have put soil in blocks....

 Some part of the island had large salt pans using the sea water

A milk diary had their goats in their farm

We passed the village that has 1000 palms. Legend has it that for every male child born in the village, one palm tree was planted and for every female child born the village, two palm trees were planted ...

The part of the island that is developed for tourist is beautiful. Tourism is the main industry here and paths next to sea shore are converted into beautiful promenades where you often find musician performing for a fee. I often went down the path and sat down on the rocks to read a book

What is peculiar about Lanzarote is that the houses are just one level and are white in color with green windows. This combination of white and green is uniform throughout the island except in the main town which had multiple story government offices and banks and colorful buildings.

During the day one can spend the day at the beach but in the evening, it is a pleasant walk by the seashore, there are many restaurants along the promenade. I used to sit for hours sipping coffee in the cool sea breeze and do people watching.

The other islands are so close by that they are visible from the sea shore. 

Fuerteventura is just 20 minutes boat ride from Lanzarote. There is Isla de Lobos on the other side of Fuerteventure.

From the north of the island, I could see another island called Graciosa. The island looked bare but there was a cluster of hotels closer to the beach

More details on points of visit in Lanzarote
Exploring Lanzarote part4: 'Jameos del Agua' Caves in Lanzarote

Exploring Lanzarote: part 3: 'EL Golfo' in Lanzarote

Exploring Lanzarote: part 2: 'The Mountain of Fire' In Lanzarote
Exploring Lanzarote: part 1: 'Camel Ride at Timanfaye National Park' in Lanzarote