Saturday (1/8) – Ricky’s Coffee (Bangkok):

Just sitting here sipping a ridiculously nice iced coffee while Ashlee is shopping down the road. It’s been a really pleasant morning. We made an effort to get an early start and we were up and down to breakfast by about 7:45am – unfortunately we both ate a few too many banana pancakes and we had to lay down for a bit before tackling the city.


After a bit of a rest and slathering ourselves in sunblock, we headed out for the first item on our morning’s agenda: hiring a long-tail boat to take us to one of the “floating markets” of Old Bangkok. Sometimes referred to as the “Venice of Southeast Asia,” Bangkok is criss-crossed with a fair amount of canals and waterways. Unfortunately as time marches on, the increased use of motorized vehicles and the roads they use have largely made the canals – and their accompanying river culture – irrelevant. Nowadays it’s mainly tourists being motored around on the water.


We got to the pier by 9:30am and had no trouble finding a willing captain to ferry us around for an hour and a half. Our worthy vessel was an aging Thai longtail boat driven from the rear by a tremendous outboard motor. While the boat had seats for up to 15 people, we had it all to ourselves.


We were blessed with perfect boating weather: sunshine with a few clouds and a wonderful breeze. The water itself had a nice healthy green hue to it and once we got into the canals with their lush vegetation, it felt sort of Disneyesque. Ashlee said it was a much better version of the Jungle Cruise.


Early in the tour we made a brief stop at the Royal Barge Museum – home to a handful of restored ships used by the royal family and the Thai Navy in ceremonial processions. Often carved from just one piece of wood, they were finely decorated with intricate designs. The bows of each boat were topped with fierce totems.


The rest of the time on our boat tour was spent wending our way through sleepy canals and old riverfront homes. It was all just really beautiful – the creaky old boat, the quaint little homes, the thick leafy plants, and the flowery bushes. We did have to stop twice and wait to pass through a locking mechanism. Inside the actual lock, it takes about 5 minutes for the gates to lower and the water level to adjust. When we were waiting in the first lock, we were huddled together with 3 or 4 other boats. As if to entertain us, a duck flew down into the water and swam around our boats preening for photos. People sort of oohed and awed until I looked away for a second and then heard a big splash, a loud quacking, and a several gasps from a nearby boat. Apparently a Thai from atop the lock thought the duck would make a good meal because he captured it in a net, pulled it out of the water, and carried it off. Poor, duck.

Can you see the duck?

Something else I noticed as we were tooling around the canals is how happy all the locals look. Ashlee says that Thailand is called the “Land of Smiles” and it definitely seems true about the parts we have seen. Now I don’t know how genuine the smiles are, but I much prefer them to the blank stares we often get in Mongolia. Even the animals seem happy. I think that’s the other weird thing that is drastically different from Mongol Land – there are dogs and cats everywhere and people are not throwing rocks at them.

Anyways, the initial reason for us to hire the longtail boat was for a lift to the “floating market.” Ashlee was particularly excited about it. Our shopping experience was a bit underwhelming, however, because our boat driver ended up pointing out a small floating dock with people eating lunch on it and he said, “Floating market.” As we prepared to get our shop on, he zoomed right by it without even stopping. I did manage to snap a photo or two. Oh well, we didn’t really need to seek out more chances to spend money – we’re doing pretty good with that on our own. Plus, it didn’t really look at all how Ashlee imagined it…


Our captain dropped us off on the pier right about 11:30am – just in time for lunch. Ashlee already had a place picked out and it was conveniently right across the street. It was a small café seemingly popular with the locals and serving a range of curries. Ashlee really enjoyed it, but I thought the portions were a little small. Ashlee will probably roll her eyes when she reads this.


That now brings me to my post-lunch coffee. On the way over here I stopped by a little massage parlor offering “fish massages.” Apparently you can stick your feet in a large tank and let a school of tiny fish nibble all the dead skin off your tootsies. Weird. Oddly enough, there is a sign warning you from sticking your hands in the tank because the fish will bite them.


Oh, Ashlee just showed up. We’re off now for an afternoon in China Town.