Tourists visiting Koom Wimarn Din are welcome to try their hands making pottery free of charge.
For a change, let's start at Klong Khuen, a sub-district about 18 kilometre northeast of the Chachoengsao town. Here there is an interesting place called Koom Wimarn Din.
Founded in 2002 by businesswoman Pansa Singtokaew who has a passion for pottery, Koom Wimarn Din is a showcase of her creative uses of clay.
-This gift shop at Koom Wimarn Din has a variety of pottery on sale.
Her creations, neat and unique, have won all-round acclaim. In fact, provincial officials chose one of her works as a present for HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn when she visited Chachoengsao in 2004.
Buoyed by her success, Pansa turned Koom Wimarn Din into a tourist attraction. At the same time, she also let local housewives produce potteries here and sell them at the place's gift shop.
-Old shophouses at Talat Ban Mai market.
A convenient family outing, it features a mudbrick house and an area where visitors can learn to make pottery. Children particularly find it fun to turn clay into different figures.
Sitting on an eight rai plot, Koom Wimarn Din boasts an orchard where mango, pomelo, lemon and coconut trees are grown. There is also an open-air restaurant serving food, snacks and smoothies made from fresh mangoes from the orchard.
-An old-style shop at Ban Talat Mai.
"I want people to feel like they are visiting a friend's home up-country where there is space and lots of trees," Pansa said.
From Koom Wimarn Din, heading towards Chachoengsao town, you can have a quick stop at Paed Riu Ostrich Farm where a couple of the big birds are on show. There is also a shop selling ostrich eggs and meat.
Sand sculpture from epic Phra Apaimanee.
As you get closer to the town, you'll find Talat Ban Mai, a century-old market by the Bang Pakong River.
In its heyday the market was a bustling community of Thai-Chinese vendors but with roads replacing rivers as the main mode of transport, Talat Ban Mai went into a long period of decline. In 2004, however, local residents got together to successfully revive the old market they regard as part of their heritage.
-A Japanese sculpture at the Sand Castle.
These days Talat Ban Mai has become a tourist attraction, particularly for those craving the ambience of old.
The market is made up of wooden shophouses that flank narrow lanes. A vast array of goodies is available here, from delicious duck noodles and Thai desserts to pickled fruits and home-made chilly paste. Also on sale are handicrafts, old-fashioned toys and much more.
A good way of ending the trip to Chachoengsao is by visiting the town and dropping by at the Sand Castle on New Si Sothorn Road. It is an extension of the World Sand Sculpture Festival held at the end of 2007 wherein artists from several countries built replicas of famous global cultural icons such as the terracotta soldiers of Xi-an, images of geisha, Statue of Liberty, pyramids and Sphinx, the Temple of Emerald Buddha and mythical characters from Thai folk tales.
The display has now been turned into a permanent exhibition.
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