Sleepy little Amphawa
Trip Start
Apr 25, 2008
1
17
24
Trip End
Jun 07, 2008
Amphawa,
Thailand
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
After our first sleep-in since we have been away (til 9.30!) we drove out to the touristy floating market (the one where all the tourists arrive from Bangkok by the busload, jump into a long boat, and get harassed like crazy but all the sellers in the boats that cruise along beside them trying to hawk off coconuts and touristy trinkets. We arrived in the last hour or so, after of the tourists had left. We just sat on the concrete pathway alongside the canal for an hour and watched it all go by. It was fascinating - but no where near as interesting our our smaller, local version of a real floating market in Amphawa.
We had planned to go back to the Amphawa market tonight so I could re-take some of my lost pictures, but alas, the market only runs on the weekend.
We drove around and looked a few temples that came back for an afternoon of lazing along side the river, reading and planning our next week.
Around 5pm we decided to wander our for something to eat - but couldn't find anywhere! This place really closes up during the week. So we jumped into the car and went looking for one of the resorts up the main river thinking that one of the would have a restaurant. Well, we drove for ages, and got incredibly lost. There are NO signs in English here (road signs, hotel signs, or restaurant signs) - so it really made it hard for us. And we couldn't find anyone along the road that could speak English.
We finally stumbled on a little restaurant alongside the river, by luck more than anything! The menu was completely in Thai and they couldn't speak English. So Debbie ordered Pad Thai (the only Thai words that she knows!) and I pointed to one of the pictures that looked sort of safe. It was really hard to know what I was going to end up with because the pictures were a bit fuzzy. Kind of like a Lucky Dip dinner! As it turns out, it was quite a tasty prawn curry, although it came with all sorts of unusual raw vegetables that I was a bit dubious about eating. (Mostly as they weren't peeled....).
For anyone coming to Bangkok and wanting a little get-away, I highly recommend a weekend stay at Amphawa. It's just lovely and relaxing, and the people very friendly. And very untouristy, in the western sense. Just don't forget your Thai phrasebook! I recommend the Thanicha Boutique Resort along the canal - very clean, very friendly and helpful staff - for about 800 baht a night or NZ$32. There is a website if you want to have a look : http://thanicha.com/ - click on the English button, then look at the Gallery section for photos.
Tomorrow - we are returning to Bangkok to return the rental car. Because we took longer to drive down from Chiang Mai than anticipated (due to us enjoying the places we stayed so much), we have now decided to forego the long drive down to Southern Thailand. Instead we will be flying to Krabi for a night, then moving on to start the 'island-hopping' phase of our trip.
