Some of the agricultural-based lifestyles the Thais employ are salt farming and the making of palm sugar. Salt is "farmed" buy flooding sections of land with sea water and allowing the water to evaporate. It's time consuming and can only be done at certain times of the year because of the rainy season which roughly corresponds to our spring.
Palm sugar is made similar to the way maple sugar is made. The sap from a certain palm flower is reduced to make a syrup, then cooked further to crystallize it. The crystallized syrup is poured onto to cheesecloth "trays" where it dries and can be crumbled up and used as sugar. The taste and texture are almost the same as maple sugar.
One of the traditions Thailand is attempting to revitalize is the return to floating markets. At one time, all marketing on the klongs was conducted by boat. Now, it's become something of a novelty.
Garnishing and vegetable carving has become an art form as this picture shows!
Roadside markets are still pretty much the order of the day, even in cities as large as Bangkok. Besides produce, meat and seafood are also sold in open-air markets. Supermarkets are in the larger cities, but most people still prefer to do their marketing on a daily basis.
It was a bit disconcerting for me to see unrefrigerated meat and seafood left out for several hours in 90 degree heat, but apparently the natives have developed an immunity to any bacteria. It goes without saying that we ate at reputable restaurants used to "picky" Americans!
Some of the other sights we saw was the location where the Bridge over the river Kwai was built. Although the bamboo structure depicted in the movie is no longer there, there is an iron railroad bridge in the original location. Nicknamed the "Death Railway" for the incredible loss of life from POW labor during World War II, the bridge was built to connect the Thai village of Kanchanburi to Burma (Mynmar). We were given ample time to explore on our own, and of course shopping headed the list! While I wasn't interested in urban shopping, the local stands had some great bargains. I'm not much of a haggler, but I got some pretty good deals!