Railway Market and going back to Bangkok

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Geo: 13.7308, 100.521

We went down for breaky and I chose my favourite spot to sit - at the front so you can see the passing traffic. Nana and Pa find it too hot here so sit further back in the restaurant (and nearer to the food for Pa!) Mum's bites, by this morning, were no longer bites but a rash that had spread over her tummy and was really itchy

It was time to leave. Nana and I walked down the lobby leaving Pa and Mum with the bags waiting for the bell-boys to come up; the lift opened to fifty people with suitcases literally standing right at the door and none were very keen to move to let us through. Nana checked us out only to be told that the room was missing a hair-dryer (that mum and I are 100% sure we never had) but there were two in Nana and Pa's room when Nana went up. Not long after Nana left Mum, Pa, our bags and the bell-boy arrived. At this time we were late for Mr Long, who was meant to be meeting us at 12:30 outside the hotel and I still wanted a photo of the four of us together.

Once everyone had returned Nana introduced us to a worker who I assume they have become close friends with over the years; we got her to take a photo of all of us ten minutes after our bus was meant to arrive. Pa decided that he would walk down to Mr Long's to see what was going on but we could already see that the bus was parked outside his shop, not waiting for us. Despite writing 12:30 on our receipt for when he was due and having a long discussion about the time with us he claimed that we agreed on 1:30. Nooy, one of his drivers met us at the hotel and said that her brother Elvis was on his way. Nooy took another photo of the four of us before disappearing after getting a phone call. Just before 1pm our bus arrived but Elvis had no time to talk- he had to pee and went sprinting past us. Once all our bags were loaded we thanked Nana and Pa and gave them a hug and kiss; it was very heart-warming to hear Pa say he would miss us and think about us every day; certainly not something I would ever even dreamt about him saying!

Our first stop would be the railway market, which was almost exactly half-way to Bangkok. On our way we passed a truck which had flipped and landed on a seriously awkward angle on the side of the road; Elvis said he had been driving from Phuket and fell asleep behind the wheel. As we turned onto a circular road Elvis pointed out that the pretty garden and building in the middle was the King's toilet stop on the halfway mark from Hua-Hin (his house) to Bangkok and could only be used by him and his family. After asking someone where to go (I think) we arrived in a car park opposite a temple which was not far from the market and we had 40 minutes until the train came at 2:40 (even though the timetable said 2:30). We walked across the road to the temple in an attempt to find the toilet, which we did despite no one talking English or any signs. Despite all the other toilets we've used being Western, these were squat toilets and were right on the wall meaning we had to squat on a really bizarre angle. The toilets seemed to be in the Monks' living quarters so I had no idea if we were actually allowed to use them and was quite scared.

Not even five minutes down the track we arrived at the market which was just across the road from Mae Khlong Station. Just like the name suggests, on either side of the badly built and dangerous looking train tracks were market stalls which were mostly fresh fruit, vegies and meat and despite being out in the heat and fumes all day it still looked fresher than what we get back home. Behind the stalls was an undercover market which was basically the same thing but incredibly hard to get into and not get lost in. We passed a creepy looking man who insisted that we stay inside while the train went past but that didn't tempt us, we wanted the adrenaline rush and good photo opportunities. The same man realised that we weren't staying inside so showed us where to stand so we had an alley to run into when the train passes because apparently the train came out quite far. With two minutes until the train arrived everyone was calm, cool and collected, there didn't seem to be any hint that a train might come through and ruin all their items. As if on cue all of a sudden everyone wheeled their tables back, which were all on little tracks, went and stood on the tracks to work together to get their shades in then went behind their stall, still with no sign of the train. Not even ten seconds later a horn sounded and a gorgeous vintage train appeared from around the corner. We had our cameras out and as the train came closer we saw that the guy was right, even though we were standing 1m back from the tracks we were going to get hit so we ran in and hid. A few moments later the train had passed us and before we could even get out of the alley all the tables and umbrellas were out; there was no indication that a train had just passed through. Some items were sitting on the ground leaning against the tracks but no one bothered to move them and as we found out there was no need to – the train was high enough for them to be left there.

Despite the floating market being 18km away there was no sign of any other white people and from the smiles and looks we were getting you'd think we were the first white people to ever visit which is quite humbling. Mum and I walked back and across the road to the train station which was anything but impressive although it was 'real' - it hadn't been made for tourists or to impress anyone, it was small, old, dark, yet amazing. There were a group of Thai's (we assume) who were taking photos of the train but as we discussed, this didn't mean they were tourists. Thai's just like taking photos of themselves and me. Yes, I was asked to be in the photos and swing of the back of the train which was fun until my foot lost grip and I was left dangling there; very embarrassing. On our first trip to Thailand, my favourite purchase was a silver elephant bracelet which broke soon after I returned home. Every trip overseas I have been on since, I had searched unsuccessfully to find a replacement. Finally today, on our last day in Thailand, mum came across one in a market stall. I was very excited.

On our way back we bought a postcard and magnet, which was all the touristy items that they sold which again, shows that it's really not a tourist attraction. When we got back in the bus, Elvis a 40 year old guy, was listening to Justin Bieber song quite loud; I don't know what we were meant to think about that! On our way to Bangkok we stopped at a petrol station. Mum and I got something to eat while waiting. Back on the road Elvis said that in ten minutes we would be passing an elephant with three heads, despite us thinking he was saying three elephants, five minutes down the track we got stuck in traffic, a lot of traffic! It's common knowledge that there's a lot of traffic in Bangkok but I've never seen anything like this; it was insane. 2 hours later we got through and saw that someone had run into one of the barriers that go over roads and hold signs up; the car was no longer there but a crane was holding the metal sign up while heaps of other guys scratched their head wondering how they would even attempt to fix this. Three minutes later we finally past the elephant. We turned onto the road which our hotel's soi is off and past heaps of markets but unfortunately kept driving; twenty minutes later we pulled up outside our hotel a lot later than planned. We said goodbye to Elvis who was understandably itching to get back home. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the people who Mr Long was driving to the airport at 4:30, no way would they even fathom to add another two hours to their trip due to traffic, they would have been very pressed for time.

After checking in, organising our wake-up call and getting into our room we decided to go for a walk around before dinner. Despite the hotel being very modern and posh it seemed to be in a very dangerous area of Bangkok (think twice before booking into the Vismaya). We passed stray dogs, factories, collapsing tin houses and gangs of teens at dusk. We arrived at the little market which we felt safe in; I bought a top then we looked at the sky and decided it was quickly getting dark and we did not want to be walking back in the dark. We very quickly walked back to the hotel; I got in trouble for taking photos because it was slowing us down; we caught up with another family and stuck with them to keep safe but words cannot describe how relieved we were to be back at the hotel.

We sat down in the restaurant for dinner and shared chicken with cashew nuts and fried rice; which was a lot nicer than the food we got at the Grand Residence last time! We ordered banana splits with white ice-cream for dessert. We were approached saying they would be 15 minutes, which quickly turned into 'We'll do them now'- very confusing. We were served fried bananas and strawberry ice-cream which wasn't even the right flavour then to top it off we were charged for one fried banana! Mum had eaten half of hers and I didn't eat any! When we approached them they didn't apologise and went running into the kitchen to make our banana split, what we actually ordered but they ran out of bananas so we were given a free fruit platter of un-fresh watermelon, pineapple and possibly cantaloupe.

After dinner we went for a swim in the overlooked, shallow, cold pool but didn't stay long for all the reasons mentioned. Our room was nice and our beds were possibly more comfortable than mine at home!

Mums hives were a lot worse now – covering most of her body. She was worried about the long flight home with the itchiness as well as worried if anyone saw them, we might not be allowed on the flight.

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Comments

[Lyn]

The railway market sounds fascinating - hope your photos are great.