Floating Markets and stupas

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Sawadee Kaa!

This morning, Mark was still feeling a little under the weather in the morning, so he rested at the hotel while Lynne went to the Floating Market at Damnoen Saduak.

Ms. Sammy and our driver, Mr. Odd (yes, that is his name!) picked Lynne up at 7:00am for our drive about 1.5 hours west of Bangkok. The Bangkok traffic is still amazing: on Monday morning, Lynne saw one tollbooth interchange that had a traffic backup of at least five miles. Fortunately, that was heading into Bangkok, and we were heading the other way!
We traveled mostly by expressway, and Lynne was impressed with the traffic control system of Bangkok. Ms. Sammy said that at most every exit, and even along the freeway at points, there are police officers to help direct traffic every day. In the city, there are also officers at almost every corner, and the traffic lights are turned off at rush hour so the officers can better manage the traffic flow. One other interesting (and new) addition at traffic lights in the city is a counter which tells drivers how many seconds are left before a light changes color. What a great idea!
We passed many salt fields and agricultural areas on our way to the floating market. The country is quite beautiful, with many lush trees, flowers, and palm trees. It is interesting to see small homes in disrepair contrasted with large, adobe California-style mansions.
The market was interesting, but more time was spent traveling in the car than at the market. Traditionally, tourists float down the klongs in small wooden boats that are rowed by a strong young man. Along the canals, many women have various fruits, vegetables, and handicrafts in their rowboats. They reach out, grab your boat, and ask you if you would like to purchase different goods. Many of the fruits are ones recognizable to us, but several are very different. Thailand has several different types of bananas in different sizes. Ms. Sammy said the very small ones (about 3 inches long) have a very different texture and taste to the bananas we are accustomed to in the US. Lynne decided to not try any today, however.
The handicrafts are quite nice. They had beautiful woven bags, silk clothing, teak sculptures, toys, tacky T-shirts, spices and herbs, copies of designer purses… and probably every product appears at least ten different places in the market. Negotiating is key. Ms. Sammy was very helpful in letting Lynne know what was prices were appropriate for the herbs and wooden dinner set she purchased.
Because of the popularity of the floating market, many local villagers have set up permanent stalls on the sides of the klongs. Between the different boats of floating tourists, the floating boats of saleswomen, and the stalls on each side of you, it’s quite daunting! The salespeople watch your eyes, and if you stare at something for more than a second, it is in your face, with “Madame, madame, lucky for you! Very good, I sell to you for 400 baht (that’s about $10)… you shake your head, they hand you a calculator and say “how much you buy,” always in a very friendly way. Lynne kept shaking my head as the ladies would drop the price, lower and lower, until you would arrive at a price for say $100 baht. IN general at this market, it seemed that the final price was 50% to 75% less than the original price… but Ms. Sammy said that at many of the other markets, the final price is usually about 30% lower than the original offer. Since this floating market is geared to tourists, the starting price is really high.
After floating through the market for about 25 minutes, Lynne walked through a few of the permanent booths in the market area. As she stepped into one aisleway with silk clothing, a woman walked up, said “let me show you pantaloon.” Within about 10 seconds, Lynne was suddenly wearing a pair of silk pants that were tied at her waist, then pulled down between the legs and wrapped up and around. They were very nice, but she really didn’t want to buy them. The woman said “$1200 baht,” Lynne shook her head and said “no, I do not need,” and the woman managed to keep dropping the price down to 300 baht (“lucky for me, lucky for you if you buy, good luck to you and to me, I lose money but get good luck if you buy…”) While she felt really bad, Lynne wasn’t sure if she had 300 baht to spend on the pants, so she apologized and left. She still feels guilty! So, word of advice to travelers - if you glance at pants, you might be wearing them in a few seconds and feel guilty not buying!

After the market, they traveled to see the largest stupa in Thailand. A stupa is a building that houses the ashes of the Lord Buddha. It was very big, and quite impressive to see. They included a replica of how the ashes are stored within the stupa (you cannot enter the stupa). King Rama IV found the original stupa a couple hundred years ago, and because it was in bad condition, he had this huge stupa built on top of it.

We passed several coconut farms on our way back to Bangkok, and met with Mark for lunch. He was feeling much better. We went to a restaurant at a mall called “S&P” for Thai and Japanese food. It was very good. The Thai lemongrass iced tea was delicious.

Our next stop was Tony’s Fashion House, a tailor shop. Mark ordered a new suit and tuxedo, along with several shirts. Lynne ordered a new dress. The quality is quite impressive, and the prices were amazing (with a bit of negotiation, of course… not as much as at the floating markets, but a bit of back & forth to get a good deal). We will return Tuesday for a final fitting, and they will deliver the new clothes to us in 48 hours. They put it in a suit bag, so we can carry it on the airplanes for our trip back home.

We retuned to the hotel, rested, and met our friends for dinner. More trumpeters are arriving for the conference here in Bangkok (which begins Tuesday). We hope to see many old friends. Tomorrow will mostly be conference events.

Wednesday and Thursday, Lynne will be at the Thai House, a Thai cooking school in rural Bangkok. Mark will attend the conference.

Until another day… sawadee kaa!

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Comments

[Marianna]

Hi Kids: This is a neat way to travel with you!!! Hope all is well and the camera is working out for you. Can't wait to see the pictures. I feel a "welcome home" party happening. Miss you both. ~M~