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Published: June 16th 2006
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From Hua Hin we caught a local bus to a place called Samut Songkhram where we were dropped off under a bridge on a road the same as the A12! Of course there were some sawngthaews awaiting. He tried to get us to take a lift for 300B to Damneon Saduak (the place we wanted to go) but we were not having that when we had just paid 80B all the way from Hua Hin! We know the deal.
Anyway we jumped in his truck just to take us into the town center so we could then pick up another bus.
In the center we found the bus station and found the bus we wanted. All this can be very daunting just being dropped off in the middle of no where or a busy city. This time we had no maps.
We then jumped on another local bus, no travellers in sight. On the bus we got lots of looks and smiles.
We made it to Damneon Saduak and got booked in to the only hotel, luckily it was nice. We then headed out for some food after the usual ritual of jumping straight into a cold shower as soon as
Tea time
The first time we have come unstuck in Asia so far. we find somewhere to live due to the imense heat and sweating carting our bags about.
We tramped about the streets but couldn't really find anywhere to eat, there were no places that had any english and people didn't really speak it either. So we were forced to go to the 7 11 and buy pot noodles and crisps/cake. We sat at a table on the path and ate our pot noodles. And even that was too spicey! After our appettising dinner we went for a long walk to check out the canals and see where the floating market was tomorrow because of course we weren't going to go on a tour.
After a lot of walking we headed back to relax in our air con room and read even more about travelling!
13.06.06
Today we had a great day!
Up at 6.30am to go to the floating market. We had read that if you want to experience the 'real' floating market then you need to be there early before all the tourist buses come at 9am. So we set off and walked along the canals in the direction of the floating market. Along the way the locals who
live on the canal were getting their shops ready, eating their breakfast (rice, curry, fish) outside, children were being taken to school on boats and people were washing their clothes and themselves in the canal. It was really quiet and a lovely walk.
On our way a young man stopped us so he could take our photo! (He must have seen us from our modelling days in oz!). He then asked for our e-mail address so he could send us the photos. Strange, but cool. Can't remember if we said before, but when I (Melissa) was waiting at the ferry terminal on Langkawi 2 young girls came up to me and asked if her sister could have a photo with me! ok.
Anyway we found the floating market. This too was quiet, only Thai people there buying fruit and veg from the boat sellers. We walked alongside of the canals rather than get a boat so we could see everything what was going on. It was really good. We really felt we were in another country and experiencing something quite different and exciting, especially as there were no other tourists or travellers about. We have found all the Thai people
to be so happy, helpful friendly and genuine.
We bought some fruit from a lady, who let us take her photo, it was a mix of local fruits that we haggled from 200B to 120B.
We walked around for ages just watching and snapping away.
We sat on a step by the canal and tried our fruit. A couple of locals came up to us and told us what we were eating and they showed us how to open the fruit, one lady selling hats lent us her knife. It was great! We tried mangosteen, dragon fruit and rambutuan They were all nice, but we really liked the rambutuan fruit.
Come 9am the place was noisy there were coach loads of chinese, japanese and a few westerners. They were all piled onto boats so there were more tourist boats than sellers, major traffic jams on the canal.
It was good to see the two sides of the market. When there were no tourists there and just Thais we didn't get hassled for anything, but as soon as it was full of tourists we got "look, look, cheap price, boat boat?"
We sat and had a soft drink by the canal
Floating market
It was great to mix with the locals, they looked so happy, cheerful and friendly. still just watching and taking it all in.
We then looked around the stalls on the side of the canals. Here we bought our second christmas pressie. The lady wanted 350B for 1 I(Melissa) haggled her down to 260B for 2!!! How good is that?! We then walked back along the canals to our hotel. We came across the same guy with his mum. So we had a chat and then he asked us to have a couple of photos with his mum! So we did.
Back at our hotel we packed and put ourselves on a bus to Bang Phae where we were dropped off on the side of a high way. Straight away we were pounced on, not by touts this time, but by friendly helpful locals and a policeman. We stood there and waited for about 15 minutes for our next local bus to take us to Kanchanaburi where the bridge over the river Kwai is.
We were thrown on the bus (they always seem to be in a rush getting you on or off buses) sat at the back next to a little old lady and lots of fruit and veg on the floor. No
air con on the local buses just fans attached to the ceilings and windows open.
A couple of hours later we arrived in our destination, found our bearings after a long walk about. We looked at 2 guest houses and then walked a long way to Apples Guest House where we stayed.
After food we walked around the town, saw the river Kwai and watched some cute little boys jumping off the bridge (a high one!) into the water and then climbing a tree back to the road to do it again. We got some info on tours we are thinking of doing.
We are currently sat in a bar (with a few odd characters namely fat white westerners being pervy with their Thai girls) Andy is watching Togo v South Korea whilst earwigging and I am using the free internet!
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Elly
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Sorry haven't left a message for such a long time! Still loving the blogs though! My brother is in Thailand at the mo. He and my cousin are just waiting for their visa's to Cambodia. I was reading that Andy hurt his left foot falling off a balcony in Ko Tao? Well my brother had a foot injury as well on the same island!! He's just shaved handle bars into his beard - looks like something off of YMCA!!! If you see him say 'hi!' The weather here is great at the moment, it's a shame I'm in a classroom all day AND it's report time! Not long now until your return? Looking forward to catching up when you get back. Take it easy, eL* xxx