Indochina Express - Day 22 (Bangkok)

March 24

Well, we've reached our last full day in Asia. I think we've reached the sweet spot between "we didn't see enough after coming all this way" and "I'm worn out and just want this trip to be over". We are picked up at 9 AM at our hotel's dock by a long-tailed boat:

I'm not sure why they call them that because this is clearly a big-nosed boat with a very long prow. But maybe it is because the propeller is at the end of a very long rod.

We ride along the Chao Phraya River until we come almost to Wat Arun. We pass a number of boats and a Navy base before we turn onto the Thonburi canal:

We go through a lock into the canal itself. There are a lot of other long-tailed boats going in both directions, so this form of excursion is clearly popular with the tourists. It is a little weird flying along in this boat (which has a serious engine) through what are essentially people's backyards. Many of the homes we see have small shrines in the backyard to honor their ancestors. But there are also a lot of little shops. We stop at one for tea, to feed the local catfish and to look at knick-knacks:

After this stop, we pass an area with a lot of shrines. Since Thonburi was once the capital of Siam, this is not a surprise. We stop at a couple of them, including a huge temple with a big Buddha that is under reconstruction. Yokie tells us that this is a very prosperous temple and is important for training monks. Many patrons have donated their personal artifacts to make a small museum. We see everything from Chinese Ming-style pottery to Motorola flip phones. Upstairs is a fancy jade-colored stupa. Here are some pictures:

Shortly after we get back in our boat, we are approached by a woman in a smaller boat crammed with stuff to sell to foreigners that she encounters along the canal. But rather than trying to sell us anything, she takes out a machete, cuts the top off of four coconuts and hands them to us. Then she hands us a huge gift basket filled with flowers, fruit and a bottle of wine from our travel agent:

What a surprise! We stop for lunch at a restaurant/farm that grows its own organic fruits and veggies. The signs on the property explain that their ancestors have farmed the land in this neighborhood for more than 100 years and that this area was renowned for its fruit and gardens. But as the city encroached and the canal became polluted with factory runoff, most of the gardens and orchards died out. This family purchased an abandoned junkyard and have created a beautiful garden, but more importantly helped to reestablish the community that used to be here. All of the food is grown locally, and all of the employees live in the area. 

The food is delicious. We try a few different things including a peanut/coconut/coconut milk mixture that is served on two types of leaf with a piece of tomato. The staff also cuts up some of the fruit in our gift basket and we drink the wine along with our meal. There is too much fruit in the gift basket for us to eat before we go home and we can't bring it into either the US or Canada, so we send the rest home with Yokie. Here are a couple of pictures: 

We are supposed to go back to the hotel the way that we came, but Yokie thinks that it will be too hot on the water. So, she sends the long-tailed boat away and arranges for two taxis with air conditioning to bring us back to the hotel. Given the goal of the restaurant, it is fitting that Yokie, Beth and I get a taxi that is an electric vehicle! We have a good time discussing EVs with the driver on the 45-minute ride back to the hotel.

For dinner, we go to a restaurant on the river that we discovered during our walk the previous evening, and yes, we did have one more mango sticky rice! After dinner, we go across the street to the night market to try to get rid of most of our foreign currency. I know that it is customary to haggle, but when I ask one vendor how much the Thailand National Football (Soccer) Team jersey is, he says 250 bhat. That's only US $10 so it doesn't seem right to haggle for something that would cost $50-75 at home. Next, we find a place that has small wooden demons like you would find in a temple:

Our son Sean wanted some art from our trip. We see two we like. One would be perfect for Sean, and the other one would go well with our collection of carved masks from previous trips. The vendor quotes us 900 Bhat for one and 850 Bhat for the other. I look in my wallet, but after buying the soccer jersey, we don't have enough cash. He takes credit cards, but this would still leave us with cash we don't want to bring home so I tell him thanks, but no thanks. He immediately drops the price to 800 Bhat for each one and says that he will go to 1550 Bhat for both. I'm sure that he would have gone lower, but again, this is only US $62, so we agree to the price - a good ending to a great day!