Friday, 28 March 2008

Nakhon Si Thammarat - Home of the shadow puppets

IMG_1645 We crossed the border into Thailand and after a 7 hour journey, made it to the town of Nakhon Si Thammarat. They don't get a lot of foreign visitors in Nakhon Si Thammarat so as we went past, the locals came out of shops to look and wave at us.
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Nakhon Si Thammarat is famous for being one of the last places left in Thailand where the ancient art of producing shadow puppets continues, they're produced by hand from cow hide. The shadow puppet master is quite famous and performed for the king of Thailand, we got to watch a short show.
IMG_1658 Thailand's quite a culture shock compared to Malaysia where most people spoke English and the Malaysian language used the normal alphabet. Getting dinner at the night market involved a lot of hand gestures. Getting around is also a bit strange as they use săwngthăew, which are trucks with benches in the back and work like a cross between a bus and a taxi.

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