Bangkok - Outside the City

For Day 3, we elected to take a tour out to the floating market about 2 hours west of Bangkok. We (really me) are not normally tour people, but we did this a few times on this trip. First, we couldn't rent a car (you need an international drivers permit, which I don't have) and you learn more about the people, the area, etc. since we had a guide. I think we could manage the navigation (we figured out Ireland after all) but getting in/out of Bangkok would have been a nightmare with the traffic and all of the maniacs on the road. This was much more enjoyable.

So we hopped in a van and headed west. Specifically, we went to Damnoen Saduak. Once out there, we jump in another long tail boat for a trip through the canals. Once at the market itself, we switch over to a small paddle boat to maneuver through the market. There are really two different parts of the market - the people floating in small boats (usually fruit or food or souvenirs) and the stalls on the sides of the canal. If you want something, your boat either moves over to what you want or they pass it across the boats (kind of like buying a hotdog at a baseball game back home).

I say that because a good portion of the time is spent wedged into a traffic jam of long tail boats (with engines going and props being raised and lowered in the water) and paddle boats trying to push through. Like many things, it would have been a lot better with 50% of the people, but you get through it. We tried a couple of things - some spice Thai pancake things, a pomelo (kind of like a grapefruit) and I had some sweet sticky rice with the best mango ever - all right off the boats. Walking through the market later, we were stopped by a fruit lady ended up trying all sorts of crazy Thai fruits like rambutan, lychee, jackfruit, and longan among some other stuff. But no durian as it was not in season. We ended up buying a kilogram of it just because she was so nice. I hope the people in the hotel enjoyed when we left it there (as we went to Cambodia the next day).

After the time at the market, we spent some time walking around the market and buying more stuff we didn't need (a recurring theme of the trip). After the market, we stopped at another temple (or "wat"). It was big and famous and frankly I don't remember the name - wat fatigue had already set in - there are thousands of temples in Thailand and they are all big and beautifully decorated. Despite that, they all start to look the same after a while.

The next day, we headed off to Cambodia and Angkor Wat.