Floating Market... and Tigers!
Trip Start
Aug 04, 2008
1
5
16
Trip End
Aug 21, 2008
Bangkok,
Thailand
Saturday, August 9, 2008
This morning, we weren't sure what to expect. We had wanted to book a spot on a bus tour that would take us to the Floating Market and Tiger Temple, but we had arrived home too late last night... and this morning, the "travel agent" working in the hotel lobby was late for work. Without getting in any dramatics, it all worked out... and by 8am, we had claimed our seats on a minibus, destined for the Floating Market.
I had only seen pictures of this market, an network of water channels filled with wide paddle boats... each with a woman/man with a Asian-style rice hat sifting through bushels of vegetables and fruits. It was the iconic image of Thailand. However, we had been warned in the Lonely Planet that this scene was now very different, and tourists now filled the boats and channels... no local did their grocery shopping this way anymore.
After a 90 minute bus ride in an overly air-conditioned van, we and 6 others hopped out of the van onto a small docking station. The dock was covered in tourists being led around in groups of 8. Slowly, we were all herded into these long, narrow 8-man power-boats, which were to zoom us down the river to the market. The boat ride was actually, a lot of fun. There'd be 3-4 boats zooming along past each other, big splashes of water, and the uneasy teetering of a boat crashing into oncoming waves. Nevertheless, 10 minutes later, we were herded off the boat and into a line up to buy tickets for the paddle boats.
Now, the paddle boat was an experience, to say the least. Our boat was being paddled by an elderly lady... in an asian-style rice hat... and the water channel, was PACKED with boats that were full of tourists. We could reach out and buy fruits and drinks from vendors in the boats passing by. With freshly opened coconuts in hand, we sipped as the others in our boat skimmed through the souvenirs.
Next, came the best pad thai, fried rice, and spring rolls that both Tracie and I have ever eaten. In all the meals we had in Thailand, and all the pad thai and spring rolls we ate along the way, nothing came close to the food we bought from a small food vendor in the food area of the market. However she managed to make it, I don't know... but it was probably the best meal we both had in Thailand!
By noon, we had perused the market, bought some souvenirs, and were speeding along in the bus to the next destination. "Speeding along" would definitely be the most accurate way to describe the ride. Our bus driver was cutting in and out of traffic, and gassing the pedal like he was trying to set a new personal best time. If we thought driving in the city was crazy, highway driving was out of this world! We're talking 300m from the intersection... light turns red... driver beeps his horn and steps on the gas! I should probably mention that the only seat equipped with a seat belt on this bus was the driver's seat... and he wasn't wearing it.
Our next stop was just some bridge and river... with some significance... which we didn't bother looking at. We meandered through the touristy area for a bit, and ended up back on the bus an hour later.
The high-lite of the tour was the next stop, the Tiger Temple. The "temple" was apparently run by monks, who lived with and raised the tigers from cubs. The temple grounds was essentially a large animal habitat, with wild pigs, horses, oxen, cows, peacocks, deer, and of course, tigers... which of course, were locked in cages.
These tigers would be let out for a few hours a day, under the supervision of the monks. Plenty of photo opportunities. We even saw two wild pigs humping... and took extended video recordings of it. The tigers that we got to pet were little cubs... really cool experience! As we were leaving the temple, it was feeding time for the animals. The tigers were already secured away, as trucks drove by dumping large plastic sacks of roots, squash, and various foodstuffs. The feeding frenzy that ensued was chaos! Bigger animals were budging the small ones out of the way, little baby pigs were navigating the long legs and grabbing scraps of food, noisy commotion all around, all while us tourists were standing amongst them just snapping pictures.
By the time we ended up back in Bangkok at the hotel, it was 7pm. We stopped in at an open-air street restaurant, on our way to get another massage. This time, we signed up for the 2hr massage, with 1 hr Thai massage followed by 1 hr foot massage... 450baht. Light of foot and leaving the massage place, we stopped in at an outdoor pub for a beer. A few beers later, we were getting up to leave... when we heard, "Rhaaaaeeeeennn!!". We both jumped around, and right in front of us, was a baby elephant walking down the street! It was being ridden by some small guy. It was pretty crazy! I think there might be some controversy about this practice, as we had some seen some signs early that we petitioning to stop this practice of riding elephants around the streets. Still, I got a blurry picture!
Long day. Bed time.
