Our destination was Chachoengsao province where the World Sand Sculpture Festival was held. I didn't know much about the exhibition but decided to join my friends. Why not? I was free anyway and it was just less than one hour ride from our residential area on Pattanakarn Road.

Funnily enough, the sculpture exhibition was supposed to be the main attraction of our trip but it turned out that the most enjoyable part was our visit to a local noodle shop and a walk along the market at Wat Luang Por Sothorn. In fact, we spent only less than half an hour at the exhibition (hope the artists don't read this blog!!!). Most of the time was spent taking photos of exhibited artworks.

Despite a few electronic fans, it was quite humid inside the tents where the sculptures are displayed. The second zone where there is extra light and sound presentation was cooler. I'm sure you wouldn't find it very comfortable staying longer in the tents.

The sculptures look great and the last zone in particular is quite interesting as the artists have gathered the world's major landmarks in one place. I saw a lot of family groups and many senior travellers who seemed to be enjoying posing in front of the sculptures. The exhibition is also friendly for wheelchair travellers as they can move around freely from the front gate till the end. It is ideal for kids and senior citizens to travel the world as well as Thailand -  all in about 10 minutes. As for the young kids, the second zone (where you see the exhibited works in colourful lighting) is recommended as it can give them some ideas of Thai culture. It brings to life the famous characters from famous Thai literature Phra Apai Manee and kids would be thrilled to see Mah Mankorn - a mixture of horse and dragon which is the vehicle of Sud Sakorn.

The major flaw of event is the lack of depth in the  exhibition. We felt that the artists had created such great works but the exhibition was rather flat. Considering its investment of Bt60 million, one part should have allocated for "behind-the-scenes" - how to make sculptures and the background of the 70 sculptors who create the 50 artworks. It could be a video or a slide show. That would have added an extra dimension to the exhibition.

Thanks goodness I've found the background at the official website. And if you're curious about who are those artists and how to build such great works, you can watch the video at the bottom of this blog. (My question is why can't they spend some money putting a few TV sets and show the video at the venue?)

And it was such a shame that TAT (who is our country's big ad spender) did so little to promote this event although it was dubbed the Southeast Asia's first. Why, why, why??

But on the brighter side: don't you think the photos are great? I liked the photo we took and I thought it was worth travelling to see the works. Now as we've been there, my suggestion is that you study the video and exhibition on the website before going there to witness the real things. Secondly, don't miss the chance to pay respect to Luang Por Sothorn and then take a tour to savour the delicious foods at the market near Wat Luang Por Sothorn - just take the exit on the side of the temple.

So we spent a lot of time at the market where fresh produce and ready-to-eat food and snacks are available. I had a cup of ancient-style Thai coffee for only Bt7. I bought lots of mangos and fish. Other friends also bought some food. It seemed we enjoyed the market much more than anything else on the trip.

The evidence? The car boot was full of food!!!!