Activities and Attractions in Thailand

Cultural Study

Courses in Meditation and Buddhism can give a great insight into Thai culture and a skill for life. For meditation sessions in English and longer, disciplined retreats, contact the World Fellowship of Buddhists. Non Thais are most welcome at the Northern Insight Meditation Center’s month-long retreats; at the strict Wat Pa Nanachat Beung Rai; at Wat Borvorniwesa’s retreats and Sunday sessions; and at the modern-minded International Dhamma Hermitage over the first ten days of each month. The latter two are most accepting of women; many wats are male-only.

Visitors also come to Thailand to study traditional Thai massage, a vigorous combination of yoga, reflexology, and acupressure. Popular training in English is conducted at Wat Pho and in Chiang Mai’s subtler style at centers including the old Medicine Hospital and Institute of Thai Massage.

The Art of Thai Food

Thai food is justifiably renowned for its quality and diversity – and for being as much a feast for the eyes as for the stomach. The simplest of dishes is often served with a carved carrot flower or a scallion tassel; a full-blown Royal Thai meal in a high-class restaurant may be accompanied by spectacular virtuoso fruit and vegetable sculptures. The cooking and presentation techniques of Thai cuisine are so respected that Bangkok’s celebrated cooking schools attract pupils from all over the world. For the majority of Thais, eating is an informal, social activity. Whether it is an important family occasion, such as a wedding, an impromptu outdoor garden party, or a colorful festival, food will play a central role. Many restaurants serving Northern khantoke dinners may be aimed at tourists, but the principle of communal sharing of food is genuinely Thai.

The Techniques of Thai cuisine – including the fruit and vegetable carving – can be learned at the cooking schools in the Dusit Thani and Oriental hotels and UFM Banking and Cooking School, and Community Services of Bangkok.

Damnoen Saduak Floating Markets

To get an idea of what shopping in Bangkok used to be like before all the canals were tarmacked over, make an early-morning trip to the floating markets (talat khlong) of DAMNOEN SADUAK, 60km south of Nakhon Pathom. Vineyards and orchards here back onto a labyrinth of narrow canals thick with paddle-boats overflowing with fresh fruit and vegetables: local women ply these waterways every morning between 6 and 11am, selling their produce to each other and to the residents of weatherworn homes built on stilts along the banks. Many of the women wear the deep-blue jacket and high-topped straw hat traditionally favoured by Thai farmers. It’s all richly atmospheric, which naturally makes it a big draw for tour groups – but you can avoid the crowds if you leave before they arrive, at about 9am.

The target for most groups is the main Talat Khlong Ton Kem, 2km west of the tiny town centre at the intersection of Khlong Damnoen Saduak and Khlong Thong Lang. Many of the wooden houses here have been expanded and converted into warehouse-style souvenir shops and tourist restaurants, diverting trade away from the khlong vendors and into the hands of large commercial enterprises. But, for the moment at least, the traditional water trade continues, and the two bridges between Ton Kem and Talat Khlong Hia Kui (a little further south down Khlong Thong Lang) make rewarding and unobtrusive vantage points. Touts invariably congregate at the Ton Kem pier to hassle you into taking a boat trip around the khlong network (asking an hourly rate of anything from between B50 per person to B300 for the whole boat) and while this may be worth it to get the less accessible Talat Khlong Khun Phitak to the south, there are distinct disadvantages in being propelled between markets at top speed in a noisy motorized boat. For a less hectic and more sensitive look at the markets, you can explore the walkways beside the canals.