The Rose Garden

Posted by Kira.

If you’re going to Bangkok and you want to learn about the Thai culture, I would definitely recommend going to the Rose Garden. I went there and we did so many really awesome things.

When the taxi pulled up, we got out and walked to a booth to get tickets. Then we went over to a station where people were doing a dance with bamboo sticks. Here’s how it works: two people are across from each other holding two long bamboo sticks, one in each hand. Then they move the sticks in a pattern that is too complicated for me to remember, and another person jumps in and out of the sticks while they are being moved. My mom tried it and I have to say she did pretty well. That was a fun dance.

The next station was super cool too. When my family and I walked up we saw little fish being woven out of long, thin leaves green as treetops. I was amazed by all the little creatures that were made out of just some leaves! I would tell you how he did it, but to tell you the truth, I don’t think I could remember up to three minutes at the most!

Then we walked a couple steps to a station that told us all about rice and showed us the way it was grown. They also showed us how they used a machine that was handmade out of bamboo to take off its husk. Adam and I tried to use the machine, too. It was pretty fun.

The next station wasn’t my favorite, but Adam and my dad sure liked it. It was Thai martial arts. We saw two people fighting when we walked up. One was using a wood stick and the other had a block of wood tied to his arm so he could block the stick when it swung at him. After watching a couple rounds, Adam and Dad tried it. They got some help from the two people that knew how to do it, but other than that, they did really well.

Next was the flower skewering. People use them for offerings to Buddha. First, we sat down and watched the women do it for a little bit. Then they asked us if we wanted to try. We all said yes and they told us the way to skewer the flowers onto the thin wooden sticks with a point on the end. Then we tried it. When we started, my mom and I were doing one together and Adam and Dad had their own. The one I started out with was too hard, so Dad let me finish his. They looked very good when they were finished. I liked that station.

The next couple of stations all had something to do with Thai arts. We walked up and in front of us was a long, loud squirming line of children. Shouts rose from their mouths. As we stood there, I could tell they were all waiting to make clay pots. This was one of the art stations – pottery. Like I said, there was a LONG line of children so we had to wait a while. We decided, since it was taking so long, we could walk to the next station and look around while we waited. The station we walked to was umbrella painting. The station I was most excited about ever since I saw the picture of it on the brochure. Unfortunately, when we walked up we saw a sign that said you had to pay if you wanted to paint an umbrella. I was very disappointed.

We waited there, wondering what would happen next. At least I wondered what would happen next. Then, after about a minute, a lady asked me if I wanted to try. She said I didn’t have to pay because I was only painting a tiny bit and it wasn’t on an umbrella, it was on a piece of paper on top of the umbrella. I quickly nodded my head and in a flash I had a brush in my hand with royal blue paint on the tip of the golden bristles shimmering in the sunlight. It looked very easy to me and I started right away. As I painted, I kept making mistakes and my mind was telling me “Maybe this isn’t so easy,” but I kept trying. After making two messy flowers, I decided it was too hard. Then a lady came over to the umbrella station and said the pottery station was empty. “Yay!” I said to myself. We rushed over to the pottery station with the lady and told her we wanted to make pots.When we finally settled down at the pottery station, I told Adam he could go first even though I really wanted to. When he sat down, the lady took off her shoes and spun the wheel with her bare feet. Then she told Adam to gently put his hands around the clay. Then she told him totake his hands off and she finished the pot. Next it was my turn! She did the same thing to me, but she made it a different shape. When she was done with mine, she handed it to me and I put it in the sun for it to dry as I walked to the next station.

When we walked up, we saw fabric being made out Thai silk. Oh, I forgot to tell you, this station is silk processing, as the people who work at The Rose Garden call it. It was very interesting how they made the fabric plaid with only black and white threads of silk. But that wasn’t the only interesting thing, definitely not. What I found most interesting was the way they get the silk. First they collect the silk worms’ cocoons and put them in a large silver pot of simmering water with a frame over it. The frame had two wooden bars across it, one at the top and one at the bottom. The bar at the top had a spool on it and the bar at the bottom had a small hole in the center. First, she spins the spool which draws the thin threads from the cocoons through the hole. When they go through the hole, and get twisted into one string of silk and she pulls it until the cocoon has no more silk and puts the string in a basket for someone to dye and make into fabric.

At the last station we didn’t do much. We walked to the Thai kitchen where they showed us the ingredients to make banana pudding. Then they gave us a sample to take with us and we walked off with the Thai creation wrapped in a banana leaf. When I took the first bite, it tasted so, so SO delicious! It was much chewier than I thought but I like chewy things. That was such good pudding!

If you ever went to the Rose Garden, you probably would of thought it was loads of fun, and I did. That’s why we decided to stay for the afternoon show that was all about the Thai culture. It didn’t start right then, so we had to wait for a few hours. First, we went to get lunch of course, but that wasn’t so interesting, just a regular old lunch. When we were done eating, we went back to where the show was. We were just staring at all the possible things we could do. There were little toy butterflies being sold, a baby elephant you could take your picture with, and much more. But what we ended up doing was taking our pictures with an animal. Not a baby elephant, an albino python!!

Adam and I were the only ones going. I once again told Adam he could go first even though I really wanted to, like at the pottery station. First, the guy took the snake and put it around Adam’s neck. I felt like just shouting out “Adam, what’s it like, Adam what’s it like?” but I didn’t. At least not out loud, I still really wanted to know. After about ten pictures and one or two videos, it was my turn. I was so excited I felt like I was going to burst with joy. I walked up and the snake coiled around my neck. Then the guy told me to kiss it and I did. It felt kind of strange to kiss a snake.Then my mom and dad took pictures and videos of me. The snake felt really soft because it had shed its skin the day before. I didn’t want to take my hands off of it! I was so sad when my turn was up. Luckily, the guy was telling us lots of facts about the python, so I got to feel its scaly skin a little longer. Sadly, it was time to leave the snake. I will never forget that python!

As we were walking towards a bench, something caught my eye. Elephants! “Maybe you can ride them”, I thought. I quickly told my parents and they said I was right. You could ride them! Adam and I were talking about if we should do it or not. It wasn’t even a question! After about five seconds, we decided we both wanted to. We asked Mom and Dad if it was okay and they said yes. We walked over to the ticket booth to get our tickets so we could ride the elephants. “This will be even better than the python!” I said. I was never so excited in my whole life! Well, maybe I was a little more excited once, but this was pretty close. Once we had our tickets, Adam and I rushed to the elephant. Unfortunately, we had to ride in a cart on top of it’s back, instead of riding on the neck. I didn’t really care. I just wanted to ride an elephant. To get on, you had to walk up stairs leading to the cart. When I got to the top stair, I didn’t want to step on the elephant’s back because I thought it might hurt the elephant. I tried to do it as fast as possible. I quickly sat down and smiled. I felt so happy. When the elephant took its first step it felt unstable, but after a while, I got used to it. We were only taking the elephant just around the garden, but it was still fun. When the ride stopped, I didn’t want to get off but I did anyway. What a fun ride!

Like I said, the real reason we stayed at the Rose Garden was to see the show, so we still had to do that. Before the Thai culture show, there was an elephant show. We rushed over to get our seats. The parts I liked the best were when the elephant danced to some music and after that when she sprayed some water out of her trunk. (I know the elephant was a girl because she didn’t have tusks.) I enjoyed that show. When the door opened, people swarmed the hole in the wall, pushing and shoving to get themselves to the best seats possible. Like you would imagine, my family members – me, Adam, Mom and Dad – were the patient ones. We managed to get four seats on the end of the fifth row, I think. Maybe the fourth row. The show started with several dances, a Thai wedding, and Thai martial arts. I didn’t have a favorite part. It was all great. When the show was done, we got our picture taken with some dancers, and then we walked out of the dark room. What a fun day! I’ll always remember the Rose Garden.