July 11 - Chao Phraya Tourist Boat
Today Sharon, Alan and I are on our own. It isn’t really scary, because we have ridden the sky train and the boat previously, and because Jane gave us a cell phone to use if we need help. We rode the sky train to the pier and purchased our boat tickets without incident. Our boat ticket will allow us to get on and off the boats up and down the river for the day.
We planned to explore a flower market, but the boat didn’t stop at that pier, so we regrouped and decided to visit Chinatown. We get off the boat and walked a short way and were in the middle of the Chinese area. The streets were crowded with people and street vendors. Small shops lined the streets and cars and busses were everywhere. The shops seemed to be arranged by type of material sold. We went through an area with all types of plastic packing material, another with many colors of plastic wrapping, on large rolls. There were plastics containers and sacks of all imaginable kinds. Alan had commented earlier that if you could get into the market for the many, many plastic bags we see holding everything over here, you could become quite wealthy. We saw a bakery and we purchased coconut macaroons and a small loaf of raisin bread. We stopped in a couple jewelry stores, but didn’t see anything we couldn’t live without and were unsure of the quality.
We walked back to the boat and decided to stop at the Queen’s Mother’s garden, but again the boat continued past the pier, so we stopped at the pier for Wat Po, where the Reclining Buddha resides. We walked to the corner where we could see Wat Po and were asked by a security guard what we were looking for. We had read on the internet that the Thai people were very friendly, but would not generally speak first. If someone did speak first they may be running a scam. I thought of this, but discounted it because it was a security guard. He told us Wat Po was closed until 2 p.m. for the monks to meditate, eat and rest. We thanked him and started to discuss what to do next. A man dressed professionally came up to us, said he was a teacher and asked if he could help. He said he wanted “No money, no money.” He asked for the map and started to write on it all the places we could visit while Wat Po was closed. He also said it would be open at 2 p.m. He talked about visiting the black Buddha, which is only open 7 days a year and this was one of those days. It was difficult to understand him, but as he kept talking and writing on the map, we were finally able to understand he wanted 50 baht to take us to these places. We said no, took back the map and went on our way. We were stopped two more times with stories that Wat Po was closed. The last one said we should look for a tuk tuk with a yellow license plate, then looked up and there was the tuk tuk he described. We again said no and continued walking. We get to the entrance and the Wat was open. A lesson for us!
The Wat was much different than the previous wat we had visited. The central feature was the pavilion housing the reclining Buddha. It took up the length of the building, and had mother-of-pearl inlay on its story-tall feet soles. We were required to remove our shoes to enter the temple. There were many other buildings and sites, but we didn’t hire a guide, so we were guessing about the meanings and uses. Of course, it was hot, so sauntering through was just fine.
After a restroom break, Joyce came out to find Alan surrounded by young Thai women! They were studying how different English speakers pronounced words or spoke different phrases. So Alan, was reading sentences, and telling them which way Americans phrased things. They were quite excited to find an American speaker. There are a lot of Australians here, and a large number of Brits, but evidently not many Americans.
As the boat crossed the river, Alan saw a restaurant, Black Canyon Coffee, Jane had talked about. We decided to try it. We discovered fruit shakes, like a fruit slushy in the US and very good. I’m sure we’ll be having a lot more of these!
We met up with Fred at FAO once again, and he directed us to the Turismo Office there to arrange our trip to Chiang Mai and Phitsanulok. We weren’t positive what we were going to do coming into the office, but we had a fine plan when we left.
Next we navigated to Sunny’s for our 2nd fitting of the clothes we had ordered. Sharon and I weren’t sure about Alan’s confidence in getting us there, but he was able to lead us straight there, without incident. I did get a bit nervous when it appeared that we had hit a dead end down what appeared to be an alley. Even more disconcerting was a group of men practicing their kickboxing skills at the end of that alley. However, there was a sign that said there was a shortcut to Khao San Road. So, up through a tourist office and copy shop we go, and right out on to Khao San Road! I don’t know why I don’t remember to trust his sense of direction.
After the fitting, we hailed our first taxi on our own and made our way back to Fred and Jane’s for the evening.
We planned to explore a flower market, but the boat didn’t stop at that pier, so we regrouped and decided to visit Chinatown. We get off the boat and walked a short way and were in the middle of the Chinese area. The streets were crowded with people and street vendors. Small shops lined the streets and cars and busses were everywhere. The shops seemed to be arranged by type of material sold. We went through an area with all types of plastic packing material, another with many colors of plastic wrapping, on large rolls. There were plastics containers and sacks of all imaginable kinds. Alan had commented earlier that if you could get into the market for the many, many plastic bags we see holding everything over here, you could become quite wealthy. We saw a bakery and we purchased coconut macaroons and a small loaf of raisin bread. We stopped in a couple jewelry stores, but didn’t see anything we couldn’t live without and were unsure of the quality.
We walked back to the boat and decided to stop at the Queen’s Mother’s garden, but again the boat continued past the pier, so we stopped at the pier for Wat Po, where the Reclining Buddha resides. We walked to the corner where we could see Wat Po and were asked by a security guard what we were looking for. We had read on the internet that the Thai people were very friendly, but would not generally speak first. If someone did speak first they may be running a scam. I thought of this, but discounted it because it was a security guard. He told us Wat Po was closed until 2 p.m. for the monks to meditate, eat and rest. We thanked him and started to discuss what to do next. A man dressed professionally came up to us, said he was a teacher and asked if he could help. He said he wanted “No money, no money.” He asked for the map and started to write on it all the places we could visit while Wat Po was closed. He also said it would be open at 2 p.m. He talked about visiting the black Buddha, which is only open 7 days a year and this was one of those days. It was difficult to understand him, but as he kept talking and writing on the map, we were finally able to understand he wanted 50 baht to take us to these places. We said no, took back the map and went on our way. We were stopped two more times with stories that Wat Po was closed. The last one said we should look for a tuk tuk with a yellow license plate, then looked up and there was the tuk tuk he described. We again said no and continued walking. We get to the entrance and the Wat was open. A lesson for us!
The Wat was much different than the previous wat we had visited. The central feature was the pavilion housing the reclining Buddha. It took up the length of the building, and had mother-of-pearl inlay on its story-tall feet soles. We were required to remove our shoes to enter the temple. There were many other buildings and sites, but we didn’t hire a guide, so we were guessing about the meanings and uses. Of course, it was hot, so sauntering through was just fine.
After a restroom break, Joyce came out to find Alan surrounded by young Thai women! They were studying how different English speakers pronounced words or spoke different phrases. So Alan, was reading sentences, and telling them which way Americans phrased things. They were quite excited to find an American speaker. There are a lot of Australians here, and a large number of Brits, but evidently not many Americans.
As the boat crossed the river, Alan saw a restaurant, Black Canyon Coffee, Jane had talked about. We decided to try it. We discovered fruit shakes, like a fruit slushy in the US and very good. I’m sure we’ll be having a lot more of these!
We met up with Fred at FAO once again, and he directed us to the Turismo Office there to arrange our trip to Chiang Mai and Phitsanulok. We weren’t positive what we were going to do coming into the office, but we had a fine plan when we left.
Next we navigated to Sunny’s for our 2nd fitting of the clothes we had ordered. Sharon and I weren’t sure about Alan’s confidence in getting us there, but he was able to lead us straight there, without incident. I did get a bit nervous when it appeared that we had hit a dead end down what appeared to be an alley. Even more disconcerting was a group of men practicing their kickboxing skills at the end of that alley. However, there was a sign that said there was a shortcut to Khao San Road. So, up through a tourist office and copy shop we go, and right out on to Khao San Road! I don’t know why I don’t remember to trust his sense of direction.
After the fitting, we hailed our first taxi on our own and made our way back to Fred and Jane’s for the evening.
posted by Alan Welch at
7/11/2005 10:42:00 AM
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