Kanchanaburi – Floating market, Bridge over River Kwai and…a sugar factory.
I realise this is not a spelling bee, but how do you spell excitement? I’ll tell you.
s.u.g.a.r.f.a.c.t.o.r.y
Our anticipation on the bus journey to this monumental human creation (a rival to the seven wonders of late antiquity indeed) was ferverous and palpable. Ruth’s bladder almost succumbed to the suspense.
A factory producing sugar.
Sugar!
Factory!!
Sightseeing!!!
A strange combination involving connections my less imaginative brain would never have made.
Actually sugar can be quite interesting. Sydney Mintz, in his seminal text, ‘Sweetness and Power’ articulates the remarkable history of sugar – a tale intimately tied into slavery, colonialism and globalization, the confluence of which mutually constituted tyhe entities of Europe, Asia, and Africa and played no insignificant role in the industrialisation of Great Britain and the development of capitalism.
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Tags: Floating Market, Thailand, Travel
andrewlegon
I agree 100% with your feelings on the floating market and how mass tourism has destroyed the very thing that we backpackers were there to discover. You couldn’t have written my thoughts any clearer. Cheers!
– Greg
Hi Greg,
Thanks very much for your comment. I understand it is possible to stay overnight near the market and see it early before the tourist hordes arrive. Unfortuantely we did not have the time…but that is a heads up for anyone going in the future.
Andy
Australia??! Vietnam you moronic machine!