A great Thai meal was served for breakfast. It had everything that makes Thai food great; coconut milk, chilli's, lemon grass, Thai basil, mushrooms ... It was delicious!
We caught the bus further out of town to visit Rai Khing Temple. No tourists go there and it is supposedly one of the best in Bangkok. It was a great experience to see it amongst locals who were going about their worship.
Next we started to walk towards Don Wai market. It was about 4km away and we were not certain we would have the time to get there and back. Are you sitting comfortably ... here comes an epic travel story of true kindness.
A lady pulled over in her car, didn't speak much English. She asked where we were going and we explained to the market. She said get in and I will take you. Wow, that's great, thank you. However not only did she take us, she escorted us around the market. When we saw something unusual she spoke to the stall holder and we were given a taster. She totally looked after us and paid for most things as she wouldn't accept any money. She bought us drinks, special coconut and banana food, bread to feed the enormous fish in the river and was going to take us on a 1.5 hour boat trip! Unfortunately we had to refuse as we didn't have enough time. We went back to the car, collected her son and husband and they dropped us off at a bus stop. When the bus arrived, they even helped check the bus was going to take us back to Bangkok! Wow, what an experience and one that we will never forget!
We ate a double lunch and caught a river boat past many of the Bangkok sights including the Grand Palace. We hopped off at Wat Arun, which is beautiful but full of tourists.
Afterwards we headed in a bus to the Winter Festival. A huge area of Bangkok is set aside for this spectacular event. People from all over Thailand come to the festival to show off their traditional clothing. Entry to the festival was one of the tightest security operations ever. Passports were shown, photographs taken, bags were checked, bodies were scanned. We were issued a sticker with a number and in we went!
There were people in beautiful costumes everywhere along with. singing, dancing, dragon boat displays, street food markets and little shops selling goods from all over Thailand. Theer were two marching bands, one all dressed in white and one in kilts playing bagpipes. There were actors and actresses posing for photos and a famous singer on stage. There was even people holding signs, which you followed, to get to your specific free shuttle buses at the end of the night. Very impressive indeed.
We made our way back to where we were staying on the bus followed by a short walk. The temperature was far cooler now, thankfully!
