Wednesday January 22, Bangkok to Cha-am, Golden Bhudda and Salt Farm

Our trip to investigate Culture and Technology has taken us to many interesting places.  On Wednesday morning we visited the Golden Bhudda which is 5.5 tons of gold! This Bhudda had been covered in cement, but when it was being moved an arm fell off exposing an inner Bhudda of gold! The technology required to make this is amazing, and it is believed it was made in the 13th or 14th century.

After visiting the Golden Bhudda, we continued on our way to Cha-am. We stopped on the way to visit a salt farm. The salt farm is made in fields that are close to the sea. Salt farms make a flat field, fill the field with salt water from the ocean, and then let it evaporate, leaving the salt behind. Farmers then scrape the salt up by hand and transport it in wheel barrow to bagging stations and onto trucks. We were told it takes about 2-3 hours to load one field of salt, but it is very challenging work.  Here are some pictures of the process:

I was very impressed by the hard-working, Thai salt farmers. Many of them covered their faces and arms with cloth to protect themselves from the corrosive salt. Farm laborers ( according to http://www.livingthai.org/how-much-is-the-average-thai-salary-per-month.html ) make about 6000-8000 baht per month, which is about $200 to $600 per month.  

After visiting the salt farm we continued on to a rest area where they had palm tree sugar and other desserts made from palm sugar available.  Our tour guide, Wassana, bought us some of the different treats to eat. We had tapioca pudding, palm tree fruit candy and more. 

In the afternoon we arrived at our beach resort, the "Long Beach Hotel". This was a very pleasant hotel a short ways from the beach and the warm water of the Gulf of Thailand. 

In the evening, many of us went to see 10,000,00 bats fly out of a mountain. In the video below you will see the bats forming a sinuous line of flying foxes. It was very impressive! 

All  in all it was a very interesting day.