223. KHAO YAI, BANGKOK
go to -
https://youtube.com/shorts/dEwce3p1RRA?feature=share
If 'go to' fails...another video here...
What I came to see - the Maeklong railway market, a couple of hours drive from Bangkok, located in Samut Songkhram Province. It's touristy of course - passengers are chiefly tourists who buy a ticket from a terminus and the short ride ends at this market.
Near Maeklong market is this Amphawa floating market
An enterprising, entrepreneurial people. Abundant catfish are found in their numerous rice fields and drains, mudflats, throughout SEA
Sign of the times
I've long admired the creativity and craftsmanship of the Thais...
Flaming bush - these are dried twigs, spray painted...
He beauty naps as his parents tend to the sunflower field...
Khao Yai has nothing much to offer in the way of attractions, so their savvy tourism people created this theme park to look like a European town! What worked is, the cooler temperatures due to its higher elevation attract the weekend crowd from Bangkok. They have maintained the place well. For the foreign visitors, the place can be included with some other city for a short trip, for Singaporeans, it would be Bangkok where they may shop, eat and have massages at the end of the day...
This umbrella idea is simple and effective, it's been used in several towns/cafes in quite a few countries...
They use simple everyday materials much of which are recycled, for many purposes, much of it local...a creative lot. Our bureaucrats can only think of brass, bronze, steel, due to their big budgets and non-creative minds as they are number crunchers, their minds clogged with data and spreadsheets and algorithms
At this winery, they had planned to turn this into a lake. When lots more marble was unearthed they were intelligent enough to call in the experts to make a study of these rocks which turned out to be prehistoric, so they left it alone. I shudder to think what if something similar took place in SG, would the contractor have any idea, any questions at all? Nah. 'Get on with the job' is what he would instruct his workers, to break these smaller and clear to someplace...