Yes, you can interpret that as you like. But, we certainly got more than we bargained for after we agreed to take a ride for 100 baht (AUD$5) to the floating markets and a temple.

Mick and I had headed off extra early on our first full day in Bangkok (as we had woken around 5am) to explore some of the local area near our hotel in the Sukhamvit area.

We’d spotted many of these vehicles (Tuk Tuks) along the roads already – this one featured in the photo to the left is actually a display at a nearby hotel.

Then we met this guy who told us that the shops would not be open until 11am, but he could take us to some that were open, where we could also see the floating markets and a famous temple.

Sounded like a great idea.

But, then we had to get into the contraption – pretty hard for Mick with his poor knees.

The driver was so excited.  I am sure he was thinking “Come in Spinner!”.

It wasn’t until later that worked out why.

After driving us through Bangkok’s morning peak hour traffic for almost 30 minutes, we arrived at this stop where our driver indicated we should follow him. There we met this woman who told us it would cost 2500 baht for the boat trip.

What boat trip???

We thought we were going to walk around the Chao Phraya River for an hour and then our driver would take us back to near where he found us.

Mick’s eyes lit up – he loves boats, but I thought the price was too steep. We agreed on 2200 baht (AUD$110) and our Tuk Tuk driver told us he would wait for the 90 minutes until we returned. The woman then hailed one of the boats waiting in the middle of the river and Mick and I climbed aboard.

Our driver was a very sprightly elderly man who knew a few words in English – like ‘temple’, ‘market’ and ‘dragon’.

And during the trip he would point and say one of those words. He wore no shoes and when we passed through the lock (photo on the left), he climbed around the side of the boat in order to tie off the anchor rope.

He took us along the canals where there were lots of homes built over the water. They were very simple homes, but whenever we passed by someone living in one of them they would smile and wave a welcome ‘hello’.

This one was immaculately cared for with lots of pots added for decoration. But, they weren’t all like that.

At one point we passed another boat with a woman who had a mini kitchen set up on her boat. Later we saw her pulled up alongside one of the homes selling some food to another woman.

The precursor to Uber deliveries.

Meanwhile, our driver continued to say ‘dragon’ and point at monitor lizards of all sizes – some we saw were as big as 50kg (we thought).  They were sunning themselves very close to these homes and I did not like the idea of them possibly coming inside.

The next attraction we had been promised was the floating market – and half-way through our ‘tour’ our driver pointed to several boats filled with ‘wares’. One of the boats approached us and a well-versed, English-speaking man offered us lots of goodies – which we declined. However he then suggested we buy a beer for our driver (for later) for 100 baht – which we did. And because we bought something, the salesman handed our driver a bottle of iced tea – he said it was ‘lucky for him’ to give something back.

Our driver was very proud of this enormous statue – Big Buddha – a well-known tourist attraction that was undergoing some serious maintenance.

Our time was running out, but apparently there was one more stop on our boat tour – the one we had been told was a must-see. It was the Wat Arun (Temple of Dawn). But it was here that Mick and I ‘pulled the pin’ and instructed our driver to take us back to our Tuk Tuk driver.

 

As we travelled along on the river and the canals we spotted several of these vessels that were attempting to remove the rubbish that was floating in the water. As well, there were smaller boats with 3 or 4 people using scoops (Mick spotted one made from the cover of an electric fan) to collect other rubbish.  From what we saw, it was a never-ending problem.

Safely returned to our pier, we were met by our driver who told us he was taking us to the MBK Centre – for lots of shopping, and only for another 100 baht. I’d read about the MBK and knew it was not what we were interested in, but at least we would finish our tour.

But, there was one more catch.. he had to go via his ‘sponsor’. I asked did this mean shopping and he explained it was a tailors. When he takes customers to the shop he gets paid 5 litres of fuel for his Tuk Tuk, even if we did not buy anything.

Mick had some shirts made last time we were in Bangkok, less than three years ago, and he definitely did not need anymore. So we were polite, but said ‘no’ to everything this man showed us. We were actually pretty pleased with ourselves because we usually find it hard to say no.

One good thing happened after we were dropped at the MBK Centre – we learnt how easy and cheap it was to use the skytrain. And, over the next few days we used it to get us around the city. At only 44 baht each way, it was a safer way to get us where we wanted to go.