ESL Blogs

This is the continuation of my previous blogs of the same title.

1. My Bangkok Excursion - Day 1

2. My Bangkok Excursion - Day 2

My second day, well technically my third day, started very early. My friend had no choice but to be up very early because we had to be at the hotel lobby at 7.00 am for the trip to the Floating Market. We were told that the trip to the Floating Market was going to take only about 1 and 1/2 hour, but, honestly, I believed it was more than than.

It was an interesting road trip. Once, not far from what I believed was the King's Palace, we had to give way to hundreds of cyclists. It seemed forever, but I guessed it was only about 30 minutes. We only stopped twice, once for the travel agent to give us some briefing, and another time because the driver needed to re-fuel. The trip was uneventful, but it was nice to see the suburb areas of Bangkok. I don't see much of industrial areas but rather agricultural areas. 

Anyway, it was a relief to finally reached our destination. After another briefing by the travel agent, I had to admit it was very hard to understand her English, once I had to translate what she had said to a few of the people in the group, we were allowed to enjoy the time on our own. My friend and I decided to take the boat trip to enjoy the atmosphere and view of the Floating Market. The situation at the starting main market was a controlled chaos. Traders' boats were coming from every direction, but everyone was patient. Sometimes you had to wait for the other boats to pass you before proceeding with your journey.

Once in a while, the traders will stop our boat and offer us their wares. I didn't buy anything because most of the traders didn't put the prices on their wares, rather they were asking for us to put the prices. Since I'm not familiar with their wares, I don't know what prices to put, and I don't want to be cheated. Too bad. They should regulate the traders and insisted that they put the prices on their wares.

After the boat ride, we were bundled together for another boat ride. But this time it was speedier boat ride. We went through some canals, farms and local villages. I was nearly laughing all the way through the ride when my friend put her hands to her face, something like when you were watching horror movies. But for her, it may be a horror boat ride. You see, because of the speed of the boat, the water from the canal from time to time will sprinkle to your face. The water from the canal was really muddy, smelly and at other time slimy. It left you feeling itchy. 

I felt relieved when we reached our destination. Once the tour agent sorted out our arrangement, we went back to Bangkok. Another 1 and 1/2 hour ride. When we reached our hotel room, the first thing I did was to take a short shower. I don't want to feel itchy for the rest of the day.

We went back to yesterday's restaurant for our late lunch. This time, I ordered the famous green Thai curry. I was prepared to be hit with unmentionable hot spice, but fortunately it was not. Instead it was kind of sweet.

After that we went to Shilom Road. It was hard to hail a taxi that afternoon. First, Bangkok didn't have dedicated taxi stands, and second, some of the taxi drivers refused to take us to the Shilom Road. My friend and I wanted to buy the famous Thai silk. We took a taxi, and even though it's Saturday evening, the Bangkok jam never let up. When we reached the silk store, we were shopping crazy. I think I spent a small fortune, maybe worth a small country GDP, in that silk store.

I feel really exhausted after that morning excursion and the afternoon shopping crazy so that I decided just to relax in our hotel room.

~~~~~ To be continued Day 4 ~~~~~