On the way to the Thale Noi wetlands we stopped roadside to view some of the traditional fishing methods practiced throughout SE Asia.

Here you can see a contraption that requires a person to walk out onto a board to lower the net down into the water. When the person walks off, the net raises back up with small fish trapped in the folds.

Thale Noi is reported to have the largest bloom of water lily and lotus in SE Asia. As you can tell from these photos, we weren’t disappointed. We saw thousands of flowers in the few hours we boated around the wetland.

We boated around the wetland and saw numerous bird species including purple swamp hens, cormorants, terns, kingfishers, pygmy goose, water cock, herons, and countless others.

Here you can see a Cormorant it a classic pose, “drying its wings”.

After a few hours of sightseeing we docked and had lunch. Our guides treated us to a few Thai folk songs and a Yellow Bellied Prinia landed on a nearby sedge and introduced me to its persistent song.

Late in the afternoon we went back to the dock from which we had started. We saw purple swamp hens up close, some of the most colorful and beautiful birds, traipsing through the lily pads feeding on plant material and invertebrates.

We also spotted this Painted Stork. If you look close you can see the top half of the beak is missing. It hangs around the park entrance and gets fed by a few locals.