Well, after Chiang Mei we returned to Bangkok and spent the last two days before the convention touring with our friends we met through a GSE exchange 5 years ago. Sine, Tum, and their baby boy Tyme. We checked back into the Imperial Queens Park Hotel, and met them the next morning. It was May 1st, Labor Day, a national holiday so the traffic was very light as we motored north to the floating market.
It was about a 45 minute drive. This area of extensive canals was dug by hand many years ago at the order of the King of Thailand as a reclamation project to provide more irrigated land. Now it is home to a waterborne community. The market is quite a tourist trap, but with our wonderful guides, it became a cultural and historic experience!
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| This was a little more typical. |
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| Some places you could walk! |
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| This lady looked familiar, but I couldn't place her! |
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| The heart of the market. |
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For 200 BOT, you could wrap the snake around your neck
and take as many pictures as you wanted! |
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| This boat was deep frying bananas. I would hate to spill that thing! |
We rented a "long tail" boat, and the four of us toured the canals for about an hour. The boats are pretty unique. Narrow and long, with a car engine mounted on a gimbal in the rear. The propeller shaft is very long (depending on the size of the boat) and comes directly out of the transmission. The driver steers with a long "tiller" attached to the engine. The whole assembly moves as one. The driver can change the depth of the prop simply by pushing down on the tiller, even raising it completely out of the water when desired.
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| Took this with my phone of me and our host Tum. |
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| A long tail comes blowing around a blind curve right at us! |
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Our driver claimed to have driven Nicholas Cage around
in the film "Dangerous in Bangkok". I have to admit,
he had style!! |
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Not all of them were this pretty, but here is the engine of a
typical long tail. I think its a 4 cylinder car engine. |
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You can see how he steers. This one was a straight six
cylinder I think! |
We made one stop at a central area and learned how they make coconut sugar, while we did a little shopping (well, Kim did some shopping). The canals were lined with little shops right alongside the canal, but inaccessible other than by boat. Also, many shops were in boats. Produce, meats, cooked food, and merchandise (read that souvenirs) all bobbed along as boats of tourists (some powered, others paddled) crowded through the area. It was really packed in some areas, and I wondered how the long tail drivers kept from slicing other boats to splinters with their powerful spinning propellers.
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| Sine and Tum, our hosts and tour guides! |
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A coconut flower cut and tied, ready to drip the syrup in a
container. |
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| The young man is fitting a container under the cut flower. |
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| Here they are boiling the coconut syrup, to make sugar and candy. |
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| Some coconut art for sale. |
Homes lined some of the canals, as well as coconut, banana, and palm groves. Some of the homes were up on the canal edge, but others were on stilts, in the bayou style we saw so much of last year in Louisiana. There were some places that I would call Thai-Cajun, and I expected someone on the porch barefoot and sawing a fiddle!
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| Could be a fiddle player in there, don't cha think? |
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| Now that's Thai bayou living if you ask me! |
After the market we visited Wat Bang Kung. This temple is completely encased by a huge banyan tree. Lots of people worshiping there. Also on the site were probably near 100 life size statues of Thai Boxers in various positions. Apparently the compound used to be a military camp. The boxing statues were fascinating, and showed all of the Thai boxing "moves"!
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Worshipers pay homage by pasting small and very thin pieces
of gold leaf on the ancient Buddha image. |
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| The banyan tree completely covers the small temple. |
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| The corner of the stucco structure. |
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| The entrance. |
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Soldier and cannon out front of the former military compound.
I would not want to mess with this dude, especially with
that blade! |
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| Looks like navy seal training! |
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The guy on the left has ducked the kick, and is taking the guy's
knee out....ouch!! |
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| A good old inside right uppercut! |
Finally, we headed into the city. We went to a commercial center downtown right off the BTS elevated train (I am guessing that stands for Bangkok Transit System). The area has been beautifully redeveloped into a modern shopping area that I am sure is second to none in the entire world. It was truly beautiful as the sun set in the evening sky.
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| Ornate overpasses are very common. |
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| Bangkok. |
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| 7 Elevens are ubiquitous here! |
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| I'm lovin' it! |
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| A Hindu temple adjacent to the downtown shopping area. |
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| Art on public display. |
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| This fountain changed colors every few seconds. |
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| A wide mall, and the Bangkok skyline at twilight. |
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| More nightline! |
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| This area was recently repaired after protests and riots a few years ago. |
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| Back on the BTS, headed for our hotel!! |
What a day!!
That's All!
