Today, we were tourists.
Our day started with breakfast at Baan Unrak Bakery, run by the Baan Unrak Children's Village NGO, which operates an orphanage and women's weaving mission. The display counter would have fit right in one of the chinese pastry shops along Balestier Road, with the typical 3 level clear glass shelves. The baked goods that filled the shelves, however, were classic British pastries, including Carrot Cake, Bagels, Lemon Cake, Chocolate Cake and various bread rolls. There was even a soup of the day, which was none other than Carrot and Coriander.
After breakfast, we continued walking on to the village centre, where we stocked up on more daily essentials and a watermelon (a house gift for our dinner host). We then took the motorcycle taxis back to the guesthouse, holding on for dear life as our 2-wheeled taxis hurtled down the slope, dodging the odd dog lying sleepily along the road.
Our next activity of the day involved exploring Sangkhlaburi, by canoe. Facing the guesthouse that we are staying in is the sangkhlaburi lake, across which spans the Mon Bridge, connecting the Mon minority (originally Burmese people who are now Thai) with the Thai village of Sangkhlaburi. We had the opportunity to walk across what is the longest hand-made bridge in the whole of Thailand, from which young boys like to jump off from.
We then paddled across the lake to the Sunken Temple, a Buddhist Temple that was partially submerged when a reservoir was built. At the end of the August, the water level is still relatively high and only the top 1-2 m can be seen.
By the time we reached back after 4 hours of canoeing, Lynette and I were redder than lobsters. (Yuhan got away with putting SPF130 sunblock)
We discussed the upcoming programme before heading off to dinner, the first hot meal of the day.
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