Thailand trip - Day 2, Floating Market and Fishermen's Village - Bangkok

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Our wake-up call was promptly delivered at 05:30, as we were going to be picked up at 6:00 by Jerry, our guide for the day from Tour with Tong. We had chosen the Floating Market and Fishermen's Village tour: "Designed for ones who want something different. Go to see the REAL local life where river and sea meet together. Touch the way how fishermen earn for their living. Visit his farms and feed wild monkeys…lunch high in the middle of the ocean".
The evening before, Jerry had called and left us a confirmation message with his mobile number, which we found very reasurring. As I mentioned, we were actually "hangers-on" for a tour booked by Renate and Alex from Australia. Since Tong's tour prices are per tour, having a 2nd couple on the tour meant that all the prices were split - worthwhile for all of us.
The hotel had prepared us a packed breakfast (delicious sandwiches, freshly squeezed orange juice and water), and we also took some of our kosher food, brought over frozen from Israel, in case we got a bit peckish on a full day trip.
By 6:20 we were at the Pullman hotel, where Renate and Alex were staying, and we managed to get a quick tour of the spa and executive floor (lounge + suite) from one of the staff. It's a really beautiful hotel, and just 1 year old.
We met Renate and Alex, and found them to be about our age, and very easy-going. After nearly two days touring with them, I can safely say that we had a really enjoyable time, and we're very glad that we met them.
Our first stop was the Damnoen Saduak floating market, which took about 1 hour to reach. Hiring a boat for the five of us, we started out down the canals (or Khlongs, as they are called in Thai). Most of the market is pretty touristy, but it's worth seeing anyway. Jerry bought us yummy fried bananas and tiny coconut pancakes from the boat ladies, and David bought a tray of peeled pomelo - which was actually not as succulent and sweet as those we have in Israel.
At the end of this part of the trip, we returned to the floating market dock, where we realized why it had been worth getting up at 5:30 ... buses of tourists! We had gone through the market in absolute calm (apart from the market noise of course). With the tourist buses came lots of noise, and a mass of boats on the canals, so that they could hardly move.
After a 15-minute stop at the regular market around the dock, and a refreshing iced tea, we went back to the van. Ah, the van - we had booked a regular van, but were given a VIP van, which normally costs 500 Baht more, for the same price. It really was very comfortable, and for the grand sum of an additional 50 shekels (about $13 US), I would suggest that it's worth it.
Next we wer off to the fishermen's village, but on the way we made 2 stops - one at a farm where they make sugar from coconut flowers, and one where they do engraving in teak. At the coconut sugar farm, Jerry explained how the Thai's make sugar from coconuts, we got to taste some of the sugar, Alex got a chance to climb up a natural ladder made from a thick branch, and Jerry also gave us a lesson on the differences between the 1-legged and 4 (or 6) legged shrines outside houses, businesses and temples. The 1-legged shrine is in honor of Buddah, and the 4 or 6 legged shrines are in honour of ancestors. Both are there to ward off evil spirits.
The coconut sugar farm was ok - I got the impression that we were supposed to buy something, but there really was no pressure. However, the teak engraving place was really amazing. Firstly, the fact that the engravers manage to make such fantastic pieces of work, engraving huge lumps of teak into the most delicate designs, and secondly, some of the huge chairs and tables - mainly for putting in your back garden, which they have made there. Definitely worth a visit.
On our way from the Teak engravers, we had to drive through quite a few large puddles - we were getting closer to the coast, and the tide that morning had been high, so the road we drove along had been mostly flooded. By the time we got there, it was drivable, but you realised that every time the tide was high, these people were stuck in their houses!
Arriving at the village, we transfered to a fisherman's boat, and headed out along the khlongs. There wasn't a soul around, and it was very peaceful and tranquil. After about 1/2 an hour, we arrived at a clearing and stopped. The fisherman started to shout in some weird dog-like manner, and suddenly we were surrounded by swimming monkeys! I didn't know that monkeys could swim, but there must have been hundreds of them around us on the trees an in the water. We had paid 300 Baht in advance, to "order" about 10 kilo of small, very ripe, bananas, which we now pulled off the stalk, and threw into the water for the monkeys to catch and eat. The way they looked at us, caught the bananas, PEELED them, and then ate them, was very human-like (even the eating part looked just like kids stuffing their faces!!). One of the monkeys we saw was a mother, with a tiny baby holding on to her fur sides, and being nursed while the mother was jumping around trying to catch bananas! Most of the time, the baby was completely in the water, including its head, but I guess that type of monkey can handle it. The whole thing was a lot of fun.
We motored back towards the village, and then out to the open sea. After a few minutes we realized that we were actually in the gulf of Thailand, and not in the rivers any more. We got to see the actual fishermen's "plots" of land - when the tide goes out, the sea recedes, and you can see the mud flats and the bamboo fences around the plots of each fisherman. What they fish is mainly cockles, oysters and crabs. With the cockes and oysters, they buy the tiny spores from southern thailand (I think that's where), and then grown them to full size - having to wait 8 months for oysters and 2 years for cockles! We saw some of the crabs that they catch, among them a very strange-looking "horseshoe" crabs .
One of the things that was really strange was that the weather was so overcast that we couldn't see the difference between the horizon and the sea - it was all one large blob of white.
After drifting in the sea for a while, we turned back, and arrived at the dock at around 2pm.
We shared a very tasty lunch of pita and shwarma (small pieces of sliced turkey) with Alex and Renate, and started back to Bangkok.
Arriving back in Bangkok at about 4pm, we were dropped off at Siam Square, where we spent the next few hours exploring the Siam Square market, another floor at MBK (!), and the very up-scale Siam Paragon mall. Funnily enough, towards the end of the evening, while we were up in the Thai and Asian department of the Siam Paragon, we were surprised by Renate and Alex, who had also ended up there after relaxing at their hotel for a while. We were very pleased to see them again, and walked round the mall together till closing time (10pm).
Still feeling very proud of ourselves, we get a 150 Baht tuk-tuk back to the hotel, where we promptly collapsed in exhaustion.

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