Tuesday 10 July
We've booked a morning tour to visit Damnoen Saduak, Bangkok's famous floating market. While waiting, we get talking to 2 bubbly young Swiss girls, who are travelling together. I don't think they stop laughing and chatting for the whole time we are in their company - they are a real tonic.
The bus is an hour and a half late picking us up, and the driver really surly. Not an excellent start to the trip. He then drives like a man possessed, weaving in and out of the traffic as if racing in a Grand Prix - I just hope he has the same skills. What is it about minibus drivers? Eventually we arrive at our destination and the driver barks at us to "Go over there!"
Fortunately we are then allocated to an English-speaking guide who is in a much better mood. We are told that some years ago, the local villages near the canal didn't have roads connecting them - so the only way they could reach each other, was by boat. A bit like a miniature Venice, they used boats to to travel to the hospital, to get from A to B, and to trade their goods. Nowadays there are adequate roads, and the floating market exists purely for the benefit of tourists. There are many stalls selling souvenirs situated on either side of the canal, right up against the banks, and further back as well.
Our guide tells us that we can walk along the canal bank to see all the stalls, or we can pay 150 bahts ( £3) each to go down the canal by boat. Of course most tourists want the experience of going by the long thin wooden boats (rather like Venice's gondolas, only bigger). The canal is absolutely cho-a-bloc with these boats - it's amazing that they can move at all. However at the helm of each boat is a skilled boatsperson (usually an older woman) and the dexterity with which she steers the vessel, using only one paddle, is a joy to see. Reg notices that some of the boats have engines, which are adapted from old car engines. He also comments that where the boat has an engine - it's driven by man. As usual, the women are doing all the hard work! : - )
It's interesting to note that hardly any of the tourists buy anything at all from the stalls lining the canals - most people are just enjoying the experience, noise and bustle of a trip down a canal lined with souvenir stalls. How then do the stall holders make their money? I wonder if the people who make lots of money from tourists travelling by boat, share the takings with the stallholders - perhaps nowadays it's just one big organisation.
We remark how similar this boat trip is to a ride on the dodgems - it's just that the boats are travelling more slowly! Eventually the first half of our trip is at an end - and we alight from the boat. Where the boat docks is significant - really near lots of different small boats by the banks of the canal, selling fresh fruit and fried/barbequed food which local people are cooking on the boat. Reg, I and the 2 effervescent Swiss girls buy vegetable Spring rolls with a spicy honey sauce on them - they are absolutely delicious so we all buy more! This early lunch is followed by sweet juicy pineapple (ready cut up to eat) - the taste is out of this world, far superior to any supermarket pineapple in England. South East Asia is worth visiting just for the abundant selection of cheap, delicious fruits, some of which we've enjoyed, but still don't know what they are called.
The second part of our tour involves visiting the local "floating village" which comprises simply-built villagers' houses at the edge of the canal - some of which, perhaps for the enjoyment of the tourists, are bedecked with flowers. How do the villagers feel being gawped at continuously by tourists passing in boats? No doubt there's some financial benefit for them in all this - perhaps the villagers are the same people who are steering the boats and selling the souvenirs.
The minibus driver on our homeward trip is more careful and considerate, and we arrive back at the hostel in one piece, mid-afternoon. Today is sunny, but even on a cloudy day, the thick, relentless heat consumes you, making your skin wet and causing clothes and hair to stick to your body.
It's bliss to jump into the shower.
We've booked a morning tour to visit Damnoen Saduak, Bangkok's famous floating market. While waiting, we get talking to 2 bubbly young Swiss girls, who are travelling together. I don't think they stop laughing and chatting for the whole time we are in their company - they are a real tonic.
The bus is an hour and a half late picking us up, and the driver really surly. Not an excellent start to the trip. He then drives like a man possessed, weaving in and out of the traffic as if racing in a Grand Prix - I just hope he has the same skills. What is it about minibus drivers? Eventually we arrive at our destination and the driver barks at us to "Go over there!"
Fortunately we are then allocated to an English-speaking guide who is in a much better mood. We are told that some years ago, the local villages near the canal didn't have roads connecting them - so the only way they could reach each other, was by boat. A bit like a miniature Venice, they used boats to to travel to the hospital, to get from A to B, and to trade their goods. Nowadays there are adequate roads, and the floating market exists purely for the benefit of tourists. There are many stalls selling souvenirs situated on either side of the canal, right up against the banks, and further back as well.
Our guide tells us that we can walk along the canal bank to see all the stalls, or we can pay 150 bahts ( £3) each to go down the canal by boat. Of course most tourists want the experience of going by the long thin wooden boats (rather like Venice's gondolas, only bigger). The canal is absolutely cho-a-bloc with these boats - it's amazing that they can move at all. However at the helm of each boat is a skilled boatsperson (usually an older woman) and the dexterity with which she steers the vessel, using only one paddle, is a joy to see. Reg notices that some of the boats have engines, which are adapted from old car engines. He also comments that where the boat has an engine - it's driven by man. As usual, the women are doing all the hard work! : - )
It's interesting to note that hardly any of the tourists buy anything at all from the stalls lining the canals - most people are just enjoying the experience, noise and bustle of a trip down a canal lined with souvenir stalls. How then do the stall holders make their money? I wonder if the people who make lots of money from tourists travelling by boat, share the takings with the stallholders - perhaps nowadays it's just one big organisation.
We remark how similar this boat trip is to a ride on the dodgems - it's just that the boats are travelling more slowly! Eventually the first half of our trip is at an end - and we alight from the boat. Where the boat docks is significant - really near lots of different small boats by the banks of the canal, selling fresh fruit and fried/barbequed food which local people are cooking on the boat. Reg, I and the 2 effervescent Swiss girls buy vegetable Spring rolls with a spicy honey sauce on them - they are absolutely delicious so we all buy more! This early lunch is followed by sweet juicy pineapple (ready cut up to eat) - the taste is out of this world, far superior to any supermarket pineapple in England. South East Asia is worth visiting just for the abundant selection of cheap, delicious fruits, some of which we've enjoyed, but still don't know what they are called.
The second part of our tour involves visiting the local "floating village" which comprises simply-built villagers' houses at the edge of the canal - some of which, perhaps for the enjoyment of the tourists, are bedecked with flowers. How do the villagers feel being gawped at continuously by tourists passing in boats? No doubt there's some financial benefit for them in all this - perhaps the villagers are the same people who are steering the boats and selling the souvenirs.
The minibus driver on our homeward trip is more careful and considerate, and we arrive back at the hostel in one piece, mid-afternoon. Today is sunny, but even on a cloudy day, the thick, relentless heat consumes you, making your skin wet and causing clothes and hair to stick to your body.
It's bliss to jump into the shower.
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