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Up at 6, the mini bus to the floating market was to pick us up at 7 from the guest house. The journey was about 90mins to Damneon Saduak and a keen-to-learn-English South Koreen girl kept me occupied with endless chatter about where we were from/going, what eat ate/drank and much much more. This was unexpected but pleasant and took my mind off the erratic driving in and around the city.
On arrival, the market appeared a lot smaller than I had imagined and a walk from one end to the other and back took just 30 mins - our tour re-group wasn't for another hour. We took the time to walk the market again this time taking more in and trying hard to get some photos as good as the postcards I had seen but this was hard in the dappled lighting.
The was in which the vendors stooped over their goods from a cross legged position at the back of the boats was the most striking element of the whole experience. They used cut-open plastic drinks bottles on sticks to retrieve limes (or whatever their produce) from the front of their slim boat and passed them after inspection to awaiting customers on the steps along side. Money was also exchanged in this way.
Maybe a little overwhelmed by the market and heat, the only thing we bought was a drink. Chosen purely in order to find out what it was we watched the local lady pour a 'black jelly' into a cup, add crushed ice and a sugared liquid then mix it. We paid b20 for a refreshing slurp of the drink. The taste was quite bland but the texture was like frog spawn...we still don't know what this was.
The 'speedboat' trip (included in the excursion) took us away from the market through a network of river courses passing by many local river houses/huts. The views were pretty but the cleanliness of splashing water worried me. The wave from one local kid and one old guy made it enjoyable overall.
Optional entrance to the snake farm we arrived at was declined and we were in awe at the wood carving centre (next stop by mini bus) but bought nothing. On the trip back to Bangkok I was able to appreciate the surroundings much better (with Koreen girl franticly nodding in half-sleep state), we passed what we think were shrimp farms and rice fields - a nice teaser to experiences and sight beyond the city.
We spend the afternoon and evening chilling in our local at new siam guest house and enjoyed people watching at a bar we had passed quite a few times on the corner. Pad Thai again for tea and a chocolate pancake to ease my sweetness craving.
Today we woke late and spent a slow morning and afternoon reading and surfing for tips relating to our chiang mai trip and beyond. This was accompanied by a couple of iced lemon teas (my new favourite) and later a couple of beers. Math ate pork & veg on rice and me spicey papaya (which arrived as spicey shrimp) salad for lunch - both were very nice. The food is living up to its reputation. I think pad thai will be on the cards again for tea.
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olivettes
SANDRA jonesJONES
Food sounds delicious
I'm hungry reading about the food , there is a Thai restaurant around here somewhere must look it up - no sure if Ann Bob like Thai food tho. Know what you mean about the water quality around the built up areas - hmm -- if there are shrimp farms nearby shouldnt the water be good ?! or perhaps not .