Due to the upcoming holiday and trips that are not offered everyday/night, I booked (stupidly) two excursions for us to do today! One was to the Train Market and then to the famous Thailand Floating Market. The other one was a Tuk Tuk at Night Tour of Sights (Sounds) and Food. So it was a VERY early start for us this morning! Luckily Room Service showed up on time and Andrew was able to get his coffee and pondering session in prior to walking to the mall next door where the 1st tour gathered.
I had booked a max 15 person tour for the Train Market/Floating Market as I find that going in a smaller van is easier on my body and also it is easier for me to keep with the group. Not sure what happened, however there were 29 people and all of a sudden a huge highway bus that showed up. Great! I just love climbing bus stairs! I knew that I was going to have to get from a platform onto a train however this was unexpected. Oh well, when in Bangkok, do as the Thai do and smile!
We were off to the Train Market first. I was not very impressed with the tour guide as he tried to convince the passengers on the bus to skip the train ride and just go to the market to see the train arrive. That ticked me off a bit as one of the reasons I selected this tour was so Andrew could ride a train! The tour guide let us think and decide what to do and I was REALLY glad when someone else said they wanted to take the train. He did say that if one person wanted to take the train we all had to and he stuck to his word. So we showed up at the train “station” which were a bunch of raised platforms and the road was closed to get to them. So we could not stay there and had to go to another “rural” station instead that the tour guide knew of. So here we were waiting for the train and I realized what a HUGE climb I was going to have to get onto the train! I just might need someone to propel me on to it. So the tour guide took my walker and Andrew helped me basically get up the straight up climb of 3 high steps. Hey, I can do a highway coach I can do this! A man saw me getting on and immediately gave me his seat which was next to his wife so we shared a seat and a window and both of us took pictures along the way. As we were on the 1st car of 3, sure enough people were out with their cameras and the awnings were rolled back so the train could pass through the market to its station. It was so cool seeing all the faces pass by us so happy to see the train!
Here is some information from the Thai Tourism website – Mae Klong Railway Market (Hoop Rom Market) is a local market in Samut Songkhram Province, commonly called Siang Tai (Life-Risking) Market. It is an amazing Thailand attraction, over a 100-metres in length, located next to the railway lines near the Mae Klong Railway Station. In the fresh market you can purchase seafood, vegetables, fruits, fresh and dried food, meats and other miscellaneous goods. Mae Klong Railway Market is open from 6.00 a.m. -6.00 p.m. The market is called Life-Risking because its stalls are next to the Mae Klong-Ban Laem railway, which is a short railway line where vendors at the market put out parasols or canvas mats next to the railway lines where visitors walk and do their shopping. When the signal of the arriving train rings (which happens 8 times a day), chaos happens: vendors will rush to close their parasols and canvas, along with clearing all goods that will obstruct the coming train. Once the train passes, parasols and canvas will be reopened as goods are again put into their usual place next to the railroad. The market, accordingly, is also so called Hoop Rom (Umbrella/Parasol-Closing) Market. The practice is usual for vendors and local people, but not for tourists who will definitely find the scene exciting and enjoyable at each visit.
So once we arrived, we got off the train and walked around for about 30 minutes before the train was going to depart. We were not departing on the train but got to watch it depart before walking to the bus to be taken to the Floating Market. As there is a road that also crosses in front of the train station, which has gates that come down (which is good as those motorcycle drivers did push the envelope at the end) and a police man stands there with flags – red and green – which are waved down the line for the train engineer to see that the train is now approved for departure. At the same time there was a mad dash behind us (where the actual market was) to wind in all the awnings and move things from the track. We never got to go into the market as it was way too packed for me and Hugo to manage.
Then it was a short walk to the bus and off we were to the Thailand Floating Market! I was looking forward to this one as it included a boat ride which I hoped would give me a different perspective on the floating market compared to what we experience in Pattaya.
At the Floating Market we were put 4 in a boat and I really lucked out with being put in the front our our boat! They were all really cute long tail boats, mostly padded by women, with 2 umbrellas to protect people from the heat. You also could rent an engine powered boat (which I thought took away from the cultural significance and beauty of the market with their stinky motors) however 95% of the people in the floating market were in padded boats. There were SO MANY vendors in this one that were only available from the boat! This surprised me compared to the Pattaya one where we were basically on a large dock with some people in boats on the side of the docks. Here at least 75% of the vendors you had to get to from the water – including the beer vendors – some of the most expensive beer is sold floating in that market! And of course there were plenty of traffic jams too. Check out the pictures below! Then further down I describe our next adventure on the Tuk Tuk’s!
This tour dropped us off at a mall downtown – which was strange as it was NOT the mall they picked us up at next to our hotel. Instead of it being a 6 hour tour it ended up being an 8 hour one so we got back at 4pm and our next tour we had to be at a BTS station (Skytrain) by 6pm. Now the BTS system is neither near our hotel or accessible and our hotel, the Royal Orchid Sheraton is between this mall and where we need to be met, across the river. So we hopped into a tuk tuk and got a ride to out hotel – quite fun to take during rush hour on a Friday afternoon with him weaving in and out of the traffic!
We got to our hotel and I received another message from the next tour and they said to PLEASE do not take a taxi to the BTS station, take the BTS instead as a taxi could take an hour or two depending on where you are coming from. It was now 5pm and we had no choice but to take a taxi! So in we got and off we went into gridlock traffic. We got stuck where we had to go 4 long blocks before turning to the right and on my Google Maps told me that once we turned right the traffic would clear. However we sat, I knitted up a storm, and we sat some more. Finally at 5:50 pm I called the tour guide and explained the situation and he said that there was another party who was running late too and do not worry. I had him talk in Thai to the driver as to exactly where to take us once we did get out of the traffic and that helped a lot. At 6:15pm we arrived at the BTS station. When the “meeting” person got to us he suggested that next time if you are going somewhere on the other side of the river take a boat across first and then take a taxi from there and it will be MUCH faster. That was logical! Why did the doormen at the hotel not think of that? Anyway, we met our Tour Guide, named Internet, “net” for short. And we were off in our Tuk Tuks for the evening! There are 6 of us so 3 Tuk Tuks and also Hugo is along for the ride too! The tuk tuks are used for these “Explore the City by Tuk Tuk” experiences and their roof was a bit higher and covered in see through plastic and all lit up compared to other ones! What fun to ride in these tuk tuks!
There are 7 stops on this “tour” – 3 of them food and 4 of them sightseeing. Our first stop was the local market where “fast food” was served. There are TONS of these little markets where people cook food for a very reasonable price (such as 30 bahts or $1.25) for each dish. Multiple dishes are purchased by single Thai’s and taken home to eat dinner as in general single Thai’s do not cook and do not like being in the kitchen when it is hot – which is during summer. The tour guide knew that I was gluten free to it was more of a watch others eat situation however she was so HAPPY to tell me when we came to a pancake stand that the pancakes are gluten free as they are made from rice flour! I took one look at the man pouring the pancakes and KNEW they were not rice flour only based 0 way too thick! So I mentioned to her politely that I think there are other ingredients and I am going to pass. So she asked the vendor and sure enough – it was a rice AND wheat flour recipe! Boy my spider sense was also working in Thailand and I trusted my gut!
Next we were off to see some temples which are documented below and then for dinner at a restaurant – did not take any pictures here… The tour guide now knew that I was VERY serious about being gluten free so she ordered me Pad Thai which I thoroughly enjoyed. The wife of one of the other couples was from England and she picked up when at the 1st markets that I had Celiac Disease right away. So when the two friends who were traveling together (other couple), when one of them said to me that I took a bit too much Pad Thai and did I know we were sharing it, the wife of the other couple said that it was the only dish I could eat and she will give me her portion. That made me feel good as really the Pad Thai had been ordered for me! Then to my surprise, “Net” had gotten me a chicken dish too but it had been placed at the other end of the table by mistake (the other people had 4 dishes plus rice to share) and when Net came by and saw this she gave it to me to eat. Unfortunately. I was hot, had eaten Pad Thai and did not have much room left for chicken! On top of that the chicken looked and tasted a bit suspect as it had a crunchy exterior. It had been pan friend and battered with rice flour I later found out!
So no need for chat time – we were then off to our next destination – the Palace and monument next to it – which was closed for the night. Then we went to the 24 hour Flower Market – what a production that is! I have NEVER seen so many flowers getting ready to be bundled and sold! The building just went on forever! So we went in one side, out the other side of a huge hanger like building in downtown Bangkok and then into and out of another one! Then the flower sales spread out onto the street… Eventually our tuk tuks picked us up and again we were off this time to our last stop which was Chinatown and where we would be getting our dessert! After driving into Chinatown through a bunch of back alleys which reminded me of walking around the neighbourhoods in Japan where every home seemed to have a family business out the back door, we arrived at our destination – the coconut ice cream cart! Wow – nothing like frozen coconut milk when it is 38 degrees F out with the humidity and 9pm at night! Even Andrew who does not like coconut ate some! Then we walked down the street, which I found quite sad at times (but did not take any pictures) as there was quite a line of people with various disabilities busking for money. We ended up at another stall where sticky rice and mango dishes were served and that was the encore to our evening – that was absolutely delicious too! Then we parted ways with Net and our tuk tuks took us back to our various hotels! What a long but fun day! Even Andrew, who is not always one to share his feelings. agreed!
