Day 2 - Part 1
Damnoen Saduak Floating Market
The first morning in Bangkok, we had a wake up call of 630 am to catch the early morning buses to the floating market, about an hour's ride from the bus station. GQ came knocking our door at 645 to make sure we're up; for the next few days his morning knock would be a regular fixture, probably put up to it by J. I got up first and bathed; the water was icy so i bathed really quickly (slipping on the murderously slithery bathroom tiles). By the time I was halfway dressed WC got up and started to wash up. At 7.10 we were kind of ready for a day out but then WC decided to change because she didn't want to wear her jeans to the market. THe whole bunch of J's colleague and friends waited half an hour for us and i think they weren't very happy.. Anyway we finally got down and met them. I was enchanted at the sight of Khao San lying all quiet and pretty in the morning light; i thought it looked so much better than the noisy crowded chaos of the night before (pictures in Day 1's post). It was like seeing the street mellowed out and laid back after a night of debauchery, quiet in its hangover sleep.
Next, we split up into cabs and headed to the Southern Bus Terminal. We'd asked the guesthouse lady earlier how much we should bargain for a cab to the terminal and she said 80 baht. When we found a cab, the guy refused to use metre fare (i'll tell u why later) and he asked for 150baht. I wasn't happy but the negotiations weren't going anywhere and he made like he was gonna leave so we all got into his cab.
En route, there was a small jam right away and we were stuck waiting. I still thought we should have gotten a price closer to what the lady quoted. When the cab started moving again, I tried my luck again (yes, being a bit*h i know). I asked for 100baht and the temperamental driver suddenly pulled over to the road shoulder and said, we go find other car. J gave me a look, and told him it's ok we'll pay 150, then he continued driving.. if it can be called that. If i recall right it was short spurts of travellling followed by equal or longer amounts of waiting, then another short spurt and more waiting. Luckily i was listening to (nice!) thai songs on the thai station and didn't mind that much.
When i wasn't listening i was gawking at the many, sometimes bigger-than-life posters of King Bumiphol and other members of the royal family, scattered willynilly all over the place. Usually they're by the road, sometimes right smack in the middle of huge intersections. By the end of my Bangkok trip i'd grown quite fond of seeing that benevolent face everywhere and i wished we'd stayed long enough for the King's birthday party. He turned 78 on 5 dec to nationwide celebrations. funny, the posters didn't <em>look</em> 78..
We reached the bus station soon, and there were no sight of J's colleague & friends. They got a cab the same time we did so they should have been there. But after waiting, and waiting, and trying to call and failing, we walked all over the whole station (which was just like a bus parking place, and a small central building to buy tickets and food - Dunkin' Donuts!). Finally, after half an hour during which we had toilet breaks at the (empty) KFC, WC eyeing the corn sundae ice-cream, we gave up and boarded a bus heading to Damnoen Saduak. Not ten minutes later they called - just when we were pulling out of station. Giving it up as a lost cause amidst grumblings about waiting and miscommunication, we settled down for the hour plus trip to the floating market. We slept, mostly. Waking up half or quarter way to chat and see the scenery and sleeping again.
Awake and bored, i decided to refer to my ever present guidebook on Damnoen Saduak. Coming across a passage that alarmed me, I passed the book to WC n J to look (GQ never wakes up for all the bus rides - lucky guy). Apparently the book warned that buses will drop tourists at a different place than the locals, and then try to sell them ferry rides to the market. Even after we read about it.. we were still caught. After the rest of the bus got off somewhere, the bus went on to this empty waiting area (we asked but the lady conductor kept saying no not yet we haven't reached yet).
So there we were.. missing half the group and being coerced to buy a boat ride to, and around the floating market. With much difficulty we made them understand that we're waiting for four more friends. One skinny guy even said he could help us get to a phone to call them, but when he ran away and came back on his scooter, i gave J a disbelieving look and we told him no thank you we'll just wait. With sign language and broken english and much pointing and gesturing we finally got the point across, and collapsed in exhaustion onto the stone table and chairs to wait. And wait. And wait and wait and wait. And wait some more.
In boredom we played silly games..
"Superman, Spiderman, Wonderwoman"
"Whacking Hands"
I think the thais thought we were mad but who cared. And so we carried on for one and a half hours. By this time we were out of games and getting impatient; no buses had come on and the floating market was almost over (they have morning and afternoon sessions). So much for waking at dawn! Finally we couldn't take it and we told the thais we'll take their ferry, on condition that we don't stop at all of the other 'attractions' besides the floating market. They jumped at the chance and shortly we were off.
View from the front of the boat
Floating along.. The nearer in front, the funkier the hair..
It was cool! i sat in front so i got full favour of the view and strong wind giving me a groovy hairstyle. We saw everything by the sides of the canals we passed; houses, villages, shops, people, drains, trees & shrubs.. at some points the canal was really narrow/ shallow and the amazing guy did bouts of about-turn and skilful manouvering below poles and round tight corners. I told J their boat skills amaze me and he said this is like driving to them; figures. The guy kept stopping us at every shop by the water-road; we would say no and after a while of not looking he restarts the engine and goes our way. it didn't happen often enough to become irritating but it could have. we also stopped at a coconut house where they had handicrafts and gifts and foodstuff, all made from coconut ostensibly. i bought some snacks and the guy was sweet - he gave me a red square of colour paper, for luck and good wishes during your stay in thailand he says. it's just ordinary coloured paper, the kind we used to make small boats and planes with, nothing special, but it was a nice gesture all the same.
on we go. we encounter some boats on the way; not many cos the floating market was ending. finally we reached the main area. it was like a hawker on one side, next to the boats in the water that sold food and fruits and plasticware, and a stretch of shops on the opposite side of the klong? waterway? that sold scarfs and cloth and normal tourist gifts. we pleaded with the driver to give us 15 mins to eat so he agreed to wait for us and we hopped out.
the food was simple and delicious. we had small crispy griddle pancakes with cream and coloured sweet coconut shreds, and the rest had various noodles. i ate a plain noodle with triangular yellow pieces of fried flour (like something in yong tau fu without meat)- there was nothing but noodle and clear soup and the fried flour but it was great, flavourful and nice. the only complain, which WC made all the time, is that the thais eat very little - all the servings are like half of what you'd find here! most of the time we were just lightly full after meals and got hungry really quick, so we had half empty tums most of the time really. but it didn't interfere with the pleasures of discovering places so that was fine. and when we got a good meal it was all the more enjoyable for being good as well as filling, for a change.
While we were there, two school kids came up and asked if they could ask us questions. Soon there were a merry Q&A session going on, albeit not very smoothly. Their form teacher also came and talked to us, smiling. In the end we wrote down our names and nationalities and favourite food. i wrote fried chicken; i was dying to eat chicken for that one week in Thailand but i promised k i won't so i religiously kept to it. we took photos witht he kids and left; i felt rather like a minor celebrity, to the kids at least, down to the autograph session..
We hopped back onto the patiently waiting boat, and he brought us a short way to a place where he said we can take buses back to bangkok. so ended my visit to damnoen saduak.. it wasn't as spectacular as i'd hope it'd be - i didn't get any nice pictures, not enough boats - but it was unique and still an experience nonetheless. Next time, i'd like to try floating markets that are not too touristy, even if it means going a futher distance.
Ok i'll stop here. Next up will be our visit to city and the shopping district..
The first morning in Bangkok, we had a wake up call of 630 am to catch the early morning buses to the floating market, about an hour's ride from the bus station. GQ came knocking our door at 645 to make sure we're up; for the next few days his morning knock would be a regular fixture, probably put up to it by J. I got up first and bathed; the water was icy so i bathed really quickly (slipping on the murderously slithery bathroom tiles). By the time I was halfway dressed WC got up and started to wash up. At 7.10 we were kind of ready for a day out but then WC decided to change because she didn't want to wear her jeans to the market. THe whole bunch of J's colleague and friends waited half an hour for us and i think they weren't very happy.. Anyway we finally got down and met them. I was enchanted at the sight of Khao San lying all quiet and pretty in the morning light; i thought it looked so much better than the noisy crowded chaos of the night before (pictures in Day 1's post). It was like seeing the street mellowed out and laid back after a night of debauchery, quiet in its hangover sleep.
Next, we split up into cabs and headed to the Southern Bus Terminal. We'd asked the guesthouse lady earlier how much we should bargain for a cab to the terminal and she said 80 baht. When we found a cab, the guy refused to use metre fare (i'll tell u why later) and he asked for 150baht. I wasn't happy but the negotiations weren't going anywhere and he made like he was gonna leave so we all got into his cab.
En route, there was a small jam right away and we were stuck waiting. I still thought we should have gotten a price closer to what the lady quoted. When the cab started moving again, I tried my luck again (yes, being a bit*h i know). I asked for 100baht and the temperamental driver suddenly pulled over to the road shoulder and said, we go find other car. J gave me a look, and told him it's ok we'll pay 150, then he continued driving.. if it can be called that. If i recall right it was short spurts of travellling followed by equal or longer amounts of waiting, then another short spurt and more waiting. Luckily i was listening to (nice!) thai songs on the thai station and didn't mind that much.
When i wasn't listening i was gawking at the many, sometimes bigger-than-life posters of King Bumiphol and other members of the royal family, scattered willynilly all over the place. Usually they're by the road, sometimes right smack in the middle of huge intersections. By the end of my Bangkok trip i'd grown quite fond of seeing that benevolent face everywhere and i wished we'd stayed long enough for the King's birthday party. He turned 78 on 5 dec to nationwide celebrations. funny, the posters didn't <em>look</em> 78..
We reached the bus station soon, and there were no sight of J's colleague & friends. They got a cab the same time we did so they should have been there. But after waiting, and waiting, and trying to call and failing, we walked all over the whole station (which was just like a bus parking place, and a small central building to buy tickets and food - Dunkin' Donuts!). Finally, after half an hour during which we had toilet breaks at the (empty) KFC, WC eyeing the corn sundae ice-cream, we gave up and boarded a bus heading to Damnoen Saduak. Not ten minutes later they called - just when we were pulling out of station. Giving it up as a lost cause amidst grumblings about waiting and miscommunication, we settled down for the hour plus trip to the floating market. We slept, mostly. Waking up half or quarter way to chat and see the scenery and sleeping again.
Awake and bored, i decided to refer to my ever present guidebook on Damnoen Saduak. Coming across a passage that alarmed me, I passed the book to WC n J to look (GQ never wakes up for all the bus rides - lucky guy). Apparently the book warned that buses will drop tourists at a different place than the locals, and then try to sell them ferry rides to the market. Even after we read about it.. we were still caught. After the rest of the bus got off somewhere, the bus went on to this empty waiting area (we asked but the lady conductor kept saying no not yet we haven't reached yet).
So there we were.. missing half the group and being coerced to buy a boat ride to, and around the floating market. With much difficulty we made them understand that we're waiting for four more friends. One skinny guy even said he could help us get to a phone to call them, but when he ran away and came back on his scooter, i gave J a disbelieving look and we told him no thank you we'll just wait. With sign language and broken english and much pointing and gesturing we finally got the point across, and collapsed in exhaustion onto the stone table and chairs to wait. And wait. And wait and wait and wait. And wait some more.
In boredom we played silly games..
"Superman, Spiderman, Wonderwoman"
"Whacking Hands"
I think the thais thought we were mad but who cared. And so we carried on for one and a half hours. By this time we were out of games and getting impatient; no buses had come on and the floating market was almost over (they have morning and afternoon sessions). So much for waking at dawn! Finally we couldn't take it and we told the thais we'll take their ferry, on condition that we don't stop at all of the other 'attractions' besides the floating market. They jumped at the chance and shortly we were off.
View from the front of the boat
Floating along.. The nearer in front, the funkier the hair..
It was cool! i sat in front so i got full favour of the view and strong wind giving me a groovy hairstyle. We saw everything by the sides of the canals we passed; houses, villages, shops, people, drains, trees & shrubs.. at some points the canal was really narrow/ shallow and the amazing guy did bouts of about-turn and skilful manouvering below poles and round tight corners. I told J their boat skills amaze me and he said this is like driving to them; figures. The guy kept stopping us at every shop by the water-road; we would say no and after a while of not looking he restarts the engine and goes our way. it didn't happen often enough to become irritating but it could have. we also stopped at a coconut house where they had handicrafts and gifts and foodstuff, all made from coconut ostensibly. i bought some snacks and the guy was sweet - he gave me a red square of colour paper, for luck and good wishes during your stay in thailand he says. it's just ordinary coloured paper, the kind we used to make small boats and planes with, nothing special, but it was a nice gesture all the same.
on we go. we encounter some boats on the way; not many cos the floating market was ending. finally we reached the main area. it was like a hawker on one side, next to the boats in the water that sold food and fruits and plasticware, and a stretch of shops on the opposite side of the klong? waterway? that sold scarfs and cloth and normal tourist gifts. we pleaded with the driver to give us 15 mins to eat so he agreed to wait for us and we hopped out.
the food was simple and delicious. we had small crispy griddle pancakes with cream and coloured sweet coconut shreds, and the rest had various noodles. i ate a plain noodle with triangular yellow pieces of fried flour (like something in yong tau fu without meat)- there was nothing but noodle and clear soup and the fried flour but it was great, flavourful and nice. the only complain, which WC made all the time, is that the thais eat very little - all the servings are like half of what you'd find here! most of the time we were just lightly full after meals and got hungry really quick, so we had half empty tums most of the time really. but it didn't interfere with the pleasures of discovering places so that was fine. and when we got a good meal it was all the more enjoyable for being good as well as filling, for a change.
While we were there, two school kids came up and asked if they could ask us questions. Soon there were a merry Q&A session going on, albeit not very smoothly. Their form teacher also came and talked to us, smiling. In the end we wrote down our names and nationalities and favourite food. i wrote fried chicken; i was dying to eat chicken for that one week in Thailand but i promised k i won't so i religiously kept to it. we took photos witht he kids and left; i felt rather like a minor celebrity, to the kids at least, down to the autograph session..
We hopped back onto the patiently waiting boat, and he brought us a short way to a place where he said we can take buses back to bangkok. so ended my visit to damnoen saduak.. it wasn't as spectacular as i'd hope it'd be - i didn't get any nice pictures, not enough boats - but it was unique and still an experience nonetheless. Next time, i'd like to try floating markets that are not too touristy, even if it means going a futher distance.
Ok i'll stop here. Next up will be our visit to city and the shopping district..
posted by daa | 2:24 am
1 Comments:
heya, thks for coming n reading at all! ;) sorry my updates are so longwinded, i cant write concisely like u journ pple.. lols
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