Date: 26th Dec 2012
Day 3: Bangkok & Krabi
Today I had to go to Krabi. I had a booked a night train.
Will talk about how to reach Krabi in the later part of the blog now I will talk about my visit to Queen Saovabha snake institute.
As usual I woke up late this morning and directly went for my breakfast as mentioned in my earlier blog food options for vegetarians were limited. Not so happy as I could not have a dig.
I had to pack my bag as I had to check out today. Packed my stuff, cleaned myself did a early checkout, dropped my bags at the concierge and off to sight seeing.
The Queen Saovabha snake institute is located in the pathumwan area. The closest access is MRT Sam Yan / BTS Sala Daeng.
I took the MRT and this was the first time I used a MRT in thailand. It is quite easy to use.
I have attached the link on How to use MRT in Bangkok . This proved quite useful to me.
The snake farm is about 10 minutes walk from MRT Sam Yan.
The institute is quite big and the snake farm is only a small part of it. You can easily locate the entrance to the snake farm if you keep walking on the left after you enter.
The entry ticket is THB 200 for the snake farm and the show. There are two shows in a day one at 11:00am and one at 2:30Pm.
The 11:00Am show is the snake milking show where the snake venom removal demonstration is done and the 2:00Pm show is the snake display show where different type of snakes are brought out of the cage and demonstrated.
I attended the 2:30Pm show and would say that it is highly recommended and knowledgeable. The snake are displayed so close to the audience only a small steel gate is in between the audience and the display area.
Few photos taken during the show
Going at least 10 min prior to the show is recommended as all the good seats would be taken early. I arrived a few minutes prior to the show and I had to squeeze my butt in the first row. Thanks to the lady next to me who didn't complain.
At the end of the show you get to take a photo with this.....
There is also a snake museum on the first floor which has lots of information about the snake life cycle along with models and many other useful videos displayed.
It was past 3:30 and I was finding a place to eat and on the opposite side of the street I saw lot of street stalls crossed the road.. not on the zebra crossing , not that I am law breaker but I couldn't find one. But I found no luck in talking to people making them understand that I wanted vegetarian.
I kept walking and walking then I found a big temple quite interesting one.
It was called as Wat Hua Lumphong.
I entered the temple and saw lots of cats in there( at least 10~15). I went near them to touch but they did not move away was quite surprised coz the cats I have seen so far in India ran away the moment they knew I was approaching them.
There were not many people in the temple and it was not touristy at all. In the main hall there was a large Buddha image decorated in gold. Looked majestic. On the outer area of the main hall there well lots of bells hung and circumference of the temple.
Also I heard that this temple accepts coffins as a donation for the burial of poor who cannot afford a coffin. You can also pay a small donation which they accept happily.
Next I hopped back in the MRT on my way to the hotel to collect my bags and directly off to the station.
I took the MRT again to go to Hua Lumphong station(also known as the Bangkok station) for my onward train to Surat Thani. It is a short walk from MRT to the Bangkok station no fear of getting lost as there are lot of signages. Just to be sure I kept tracing the path of a white guy who was also headed to the station. I should admit he was walking quite fast.
MRT Sam Yan and MRT Hua lumphong are one after other, I made the mistake of returning all the way to my hotel just to pick my bags. Instead I should have first gone to MRT Hua lumphong walked to the Bangkok station and dropped my Baggies there at a reliable bag point run by the station authorities for a small fee.
Now that I entered the station I was worried how I would find my train and platform number. Luckily there was a information desk where two uniformed men were guiding lot of foreign tourists. You just show your ticket and they guide you with all the details like platform number, coach number etc. Quite easy to locate and no fear of getting lost or taking the wrong train.
While I will make a separate post on how to book train tickets online.
And Yeah I forgot to tell you about my food quest, If you could read your way up this blog you would have noticed that I had skipped my lunch too. Ms. Tummy grumble couldn't find any vegetarian food in the station except for water, pop-corn and something called mee-korb that I managed to purchase with my broken Thai.
Will write further about my train journey in the next post
~Kei
Day 3: Bangkok & Krabi
Today I had to go to Krabi. I had a booked a night train.
Will talk about how to reach Krabi in the later part of the blog now I will talk about my visit to Queen Saovabha snake institute.
As usual I woke up late this morning and directly went for my breakfast as mentioned in my earlier blog food options for vegetarians were limited. Not so happy as I could not have a dig.
I had to pack my bag as I had to check out today. Packed my stuff, cleaned myself did a early checkout, dropped my bags at the concierge and off to sight seeing.
The Queen Saovabha snake institute is located in the pathumwan area. The closest access is MRT Sam Yan / BTS Sala Daeng.
I took the MRT and this was the first time I used a MRT in thailand. It is quite easy to use.
I have attached the link on How to use MRT in Bangkok . This proved quite useful to me.
The snake farm is about 10 minutes walk from MRT Sam Yan.
The institute is quite big and the snake farm is only a small part of it. You can easily locate the entrance to the snake farm if you keep walking on the left after you enter.
The entry ticket is THB 200 for the snake farm and the show. There are two shows in a day one at 11:00am and one at 2:30Pm.
The 11:00Am show is the snake milking show where the snake venom removal demonstration is done and the 2:00Pm show is the snake display show where different type of snakes are brought out of the cage and demonstrated.
I attended the 2:30Pm show and would say that it is highly recommended and knowledgeable. The snake are displayed so close to the audience only a small steel gate is in between the audience and the display area.
Few photos taken during the show
 |
| Naja Naja @ King Cobra |
 |
| Siamese Cobra |
Going at least 10 min prior to the show is recommended as all the good seats would be taken early. I arrived a few minutes prior to the show and I had to squeeze my butt in the first row. Thanks to the lady next to me who didn't complain.
At the end of the show you get to take a photo with this.....
There is also a snake museum on the first floor which has lots of information about the snake life cycle along with models and many other useful videos displayed.
It was past 3:30 and I was finding a place to eat and on the opposite side of the street I saw lot of street stalls crossed the road.. not on the zebra crossing , not that I am law breaker but I couldn't find one. But I found no luck in talking to people making them understand that I wanted vegetarian.
I kept walking and walking then I found a big temple quite interesting one.
It was called as Wat Hua Lumphong.
I entered the temple and saw lots of cats in there( at least 10~15). I went near them to touch but they did not move away was quite surprised coz the cats I have seen so far in India ran away the moment they knew I was approaching them.
There were not many people in the temple and it was not touristy at all. In the main hall there was a large Buddha image decorated in gold. Looked majestic. On the outer area of the main hall there well lots of bells hung and circumference of the temple.
 |
| Around the temple |
 |
| Actual Buddha image inside the temple |
Also I heard that this temple accepts coffins as a donation for the burial of poor who cannot afford a coffin. You can also pay a small donation which they accept happily.
Next I hopped back in the MRT on my way to the hotel to collect my bags and directly off to the station.
I took the MRT again to go to Hua Lumphong station(also known as the Bangkok station) for my onward train to Surat Thani. It is a short walk from MRT to the Bangkok station no fear of getting lost as there are lot of signages. Just to be sure I kept tracing the path of a white guy who was also headed to the station. I should admit he was walking quite fast.
MRT Sam Yan and MRT Hua lumphong are one after other, I made the mistake of returning all the way to my hotel just to pick my bags. Instead I should have first gone to MRT Hua lumphong walked to the Bangkok station and dropped my Baggies there at a reliable bag point run by the station authorities for a small fee.
Now that I entered the station I was worried how I would find my train and platform number. Luckily there was a information desk where two uniformed men were guiding lot of foreign tourists. You just show your ticket and they guide you with all the details like platform number, coach number etc. Quite easy to locate and no fear of getting lost or taking the wrong train.
While I will make a separate post on how to book train tickets online.
 |
| Board on the train |
And Yeah I forgot to tell you about my food quest, If you could read your way up this blog you would have noticed that I had skipped my lunch too. Ms. Tummy grumble couldn't find any vegetarian food in the station except for water, pop-corn and something called mee-korb that I managed to purchase with my broken Thai.
 |
| Mee Korb in my hand and pop corn on my lap |
Will write further about my train journey in the next post
~Kei
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thankyou so very much for stopping by my blog.
Please feel free to share your comments/opinions/suggestions. I would be more than happy to hear from you....