Klong Amphawa, The hidden treasure of Samut Songkhram
We were still in Samut Songkram province. We planned to go to King Rama II Park in the city of Samut Songkram. After we left the group of monkeys at Don Hoi Lord, we drove directly towards the King Rama II Park.
We drove across the bridge that crosses Klong Amphawa (Klong = canal) and saw an original atmosphere of the Thai village along the canal. Then we suddenly stopped the car and took my camera to the bridge. From my memory, I remember it is the location that I have seen in many Thai movies. Yes, it is this canal. This location is beautiful.
On the bridge, I looked around and stopped my eyes at a beautiful purple Thai and Chinese old style building. We agreed to visit that place. It was a primary school. We walked to the school and met the principle of the school, Mr. Sahut Deerod. We begged him to allow us to take pictures of the school atmosphere. This school is named “Lom Rak School”. The building is still made of wood in Thai and Chinese style. The building was original but newly painted with the purple colour. It was so cute.
After our conversation with the principle, he recommended that we walk along the Klong Amphawa because there still is an old style of Thai village atmosphere. He also told me that Klong Amphawa was a location for many of the movies.
We changed our mind to visit Klong Amphawa before The King Rama II Park. Klong Amphawa was a hidden treasure of Samut Songkram province that we cannot miss. We walked to the village. Most of the houses in the village was made from wood. Still many remain in the original style; only some new houses were built in the modern style. I thought that was the cause that destroyed the original atmosphere. The local villagers have tried to preserve this village as original as possible.
The villagers still used boat as a main transportation. This seems to be a Venice of Samut Songkram because in front of their houses is the canal. The water in this canal is still in good condition. Some local people told me that Klong Amphawa has the best water condition in the country. This atmosphere made me think of my childhood’s life. This was a good reminder. The old style shop here still sells the old style candies that we cannot find in Bangkok.
Aom bought 3 boxes of Black Cat Gum. Black Cat Gum is a chewing gum that come in the form of cigaratte like. When I was a boy, this gum was very popular among the children. We cannot buy this gum anymore in Bangkok because of the new era of gum comes to the city market with a big budget of promotion. The Black Cat Gum totally disappeared from Bangkok. So Aom decided to buy these gum for our memories.
I saw a lot of old style shop such as a “Show Huay” shop. Show Huay shop means the shop that sells everything that is necessary for the daily life. Today, the show huay shop in Bangkok was replaced by the modern retail store and super market. I also found the old style barber shop here. The barber chair was very old. It was great to see .
After 2 kilometres’ walk, we didn’t feel tired at all. This may be because of the village atmosphere along the canal. I think this can be one of your destination when you come to Samut Songkram. This destination is still not popular because of the lack of promotion. It is your chance to go there before it is popular. Try to ask tour guide or Tourism Authority of Thailand about “Klong Amphawa” at Samut Songkram province. This place can be your great memory from Thailand.