December 21, 2024
COLON, PANAMA
We had last weekend in COLON, PANAMA. The town was right outside the port gates and there was a Supermarket, ATM's, shopping mall, Casino, Restaurants and several other specialty stores and local craft vendors, all an easy walk and they all happily accepted $US dollars. Most residents stocked up and did some Christmas shopping. Sadly, Colon's urban area is severally depressed, but the people are bright and friendly. After checking out the shops and getting some groceries, 4 of us, Bob, Sarah, Scott & I, decided to rent a cab for an hour and have a tour of the local sights and go over the canal bridge to see the beginning of the locks. The areas outside of town are lush, tropical and a lot is undisturbed,
View more
Wat Bang Kung Temple was a quick stop along the way to the Train Markets . What makes this unique is the Temple is completely enclosed by roots of four giant trees (a banyan, bodhi and others). From the outside, it looks like nature has swallowed the building. Inside the chapel is a golden Buddha image, that locals still visit to pray. It was quite active during our short visit there. The Temple dates back over 250 years and survived the Burmese invasion.
We picked Sunday, hoping for less traffic, to explore two famous Markets. First we traveled about 1.5 hours to the Floating Markets at Damnoen Saduak . We hired a driver with a van for the day, to take the group of us. Below is some of the interesting architecture along the way.
I was looking for a neighborhood to walk around in Bangkok , hoping to escape all the thousands of people and shady sex elements, that were all over the area ( Nana, Sukhumvit ), unfortunately where we booked our hotel, for supposed transit connivence. Shame on me for trusting others recommendations and not doing more research on my own, lesson learned! Thankfully Talad or Talat Noi provided that escape for me, for one night. Sadly we didn't make it there till after sunset, when a lot was closed. But I still enjoyed the quiet and chatting with Sherrie, as we explored the neighborhood's knooks and crannies.