Day trip to the Pottery Village

Our Saturday trip up the North part of the Chao Phraya river turned into a lot more then we expected. We'd simply wanted to take a boat to the Pottery Village island to see the local potters at work.

First we took the river boat as far as Nonthanburi, then walked around for a while debating how to get to the island. Eventually we shared a longtail boat with a group of Thai people. There were 8 of us heading for the Pottery Village and it took a good 30 minutes of noisy smelly driving to get there.

As we disembarked at the Pottery Village pier, the local Thai ladies not only helped us out of the boat but made sure that we knew the right time to be back at the pier, even though they didn’t speak any English. We had about an hour to tour the village which turned out to be too little. If we go again I'd want maybe 2 or 3 hours. But it certainly gave us a flavor of what it’s about and we will go back some time.

The island was settled by the Mon people in the 6th century, it’s the oldest earthenware settlement in the region. Also on the island is Wat Paramai Yikawat (or Wat Mon locally). It has a Mon style marble Buddha in the temple. Also on the island is a school for the Blind where they teach massage. I’ve heard that a massage from a blind person is incredible. The people were very friendly as are all Thai, but these seemed even more so if that’s possible. Much of the pottery was very touristy but there are some gorgeous pieces and I found it hard not to buy some for family and friends.

After the Pottery village we got back on the longtail boat and headed for home, or so we thought. Little did we know we’d signed up for the tour the Thai ladies had worked out with the driver! The next stop was a famous food center. It definitely had gorgeous Thai food. We purchased a curried chicken dish to try. The sales girls warned us ‘spicy, spicy’. And it was. But I managed a fair bit of it.

Off we went to our next stop, another Wat where the ladies again paid their respects to Buddha. Then back on the longtail boat for the final leg back to Nonthaburi to catch the Chao Praya river boat back to Banglampoo, arriving back at the Inn late afternoon.

That evening we went to the Dong Dea Moon pub and restaurant for Samsong and soda. A nice end to a lovely day.