Sunday morning after a breakfast of homemade buttermilk biscuits and French Press coffee, Tawn, Bob and I set off to Samut Songkhram province, some 90 km southwest of Krungthep, for a visit to Ajarn Yai.
You may recall that Ajarn Yai (literally, “Big Teacher”) is the retired director of the small elementary school where I volunteered as an English teacher back in 2006-2007. Because she was so welcoming both to me and my family and friends when they visited, I have stayed in touch with her. Every month or so she calls, eager to tell me that while she was out and about she saw a farang (foreigner) and thought of me. (The truth is, all of us white people really do look alike!)
One thing she really wants is to take a visit to the United States. As a young lady, she was accepted to study at a university in Michigan, but her parents felt it was too far to send a woman to study, so she instead attended school locally. She now has three Master’s Degrees, including one in Special Needs Education, and even in her retirement serves as a mediator for the local courts and also as part of an adult vocational needs training program in this rural province.
She still asks, though, when I’m going to take her to the United States to visit my family.
After a nice seafood lunch at a small, riverside restaurant, we drove to the community of Amphawa, where a popular weekend floating market is located nearby the birthplace of King Rama II. This market is supposed to be a nighttime market, but due to its popularity, by early afternoon the boats were out and tourists (almost exclusively Thai) were strolling along the crowded sides of the canal.
The area of the market has been expanded to the north, opening up more space for the overflowing crowds of tourists. Dozens of weathered buildings have been unshuttered, turned into restaurants, gift shops, homestays and boutiques. While this is good economically for the town, the crowds threaten to make the quality of life less pleasant and relaxed. Signs, both in English and Thai, have been put up warning people to be aware of pickpockets. Amphawa, at least this small section of it, may end up being a victim of its own success.
The heat was intense and muggy, no rainstorms in sight to offer so relief, so instead we ducked into one of these new cafes and enjoyed a shaved ice dessert. You could choose three “add-ins” from things like corn, Job’s tears, kidney beans, hearts of palm fruit, etc. These were topped with a mound of shave ice, a drizzle of flavored sugar syrup and, if you like, sweetened condensed milk.
Cool and sweet and tasty and refreshing…
After a bit more visiting we dropped Ajarn Yai off at her home and headed back up the highway to the Big Mango, glad to be in the air conditioning.
christao408 
It’s kinda sad that success can sometimes mean the downfall of a town or region. They lose that charm, the beauty and quaintness. I’m impressed with your friend – 3 Masters and still active in her retirement.
i love those ices… the last time i ate it was in Guangzhou. it was served in a plate like the japanese way of making it.
This is something that we never experienced while we were in Thailand…I will have to put it on my list of things to do if I ever manage to convince my husband to get on a plane and fly back to the land of smiles!!! Ruth Ann
How nice! 🙂
3 Masters degree? That is impressive.
that looks like a fun market to visit, but it is sad how success can make things overly-commercialized. your friend sounds like my mom; she has 2 masters and is working towards her phd now (she’s in competition against me!).
Such a great tribute to a wonderful lady! More power to her. Love the floating market. too bad about the pickpockets. We experienced that fear in Eastern Europe also. The shave ice on icecream cups with condensed milk sounds very refreshing and full of calories.
Development and commercialism really is a double edged sword. On one hand, some development and commercialism can make things better for people who live in that place. On the other hand, too much can cause a lot of other issues. It’s all about striking the right balance but that is difficult to do.What are Job’s tears?
@TheCheshireGrins – Job’s tears are a type of grain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Job's_Tears Very delicious and can be made into a nice salad.Yes, agree with you on the development/commercialism points. It is all about balance.@ZSA_MD – @Dezinerdreams – @ElusiveWords – Yes, she is a wonderful example of someone who, instead of lingering with regret over opportunities she was never able to take advantage of, has made the most (literally) of her circumstances and has devoted a great deal of her energy to helping others. Very inspiring person.@kunhuo42 – Awesome! Way to go for your mom. Who’s going to become the doctor first, you or her? And do you have some sort of wager, like, if she becomes a doctor first, you have to clean up your room? Ha ha…@yang1815 – Yes, when you make it here for a visit, we’ll take you.@Redlegsix – Floating markets are worth seeing for their uniqueness, especially if you can avoid the most crassly touristy of them.@marshmellowTM – In general, I like how so many Asian cultures have these shave ice type of desserts.
@christao408 – yay!!!
@christao408 – actually, my mom, my sister, and i are all competing to see who ends up with their phd first. there’s no real prize for winning, though; they think it’s not fair that i get to work on my degree full time whereas they have to work at the same time they are going to school, but my degree is also harder so i think it evens out.
@kunhuo42 – wow … I feel so intellectually modest compared to you folks.
@christao408 – Yea i miss Asia a lot, alot =(