Up the canal to the old capital

It wasn’t planned, but our guide suggested we take a boat tour along the Chao Phraya River. We got our own traditional boat and went down the river before we got into one of the canals, the Khlong Bangkok Noi, which flows into the Chao Phraya from the old capital, Thonburi. This was by far the most unique and exhilarating experience of the whole trip.

The canal is long and there are wooden houses built all along it. You can see gila monsters, big catfish, soup merchants on their little rowboats, children taking a dip, and monks looking out from their temples. The not-so-clean water splashes around, the floating vegetation covers the water and some people wave as you pass by. There are all sorts of houses, from the very humble to the extremely luxurious.

Nancy and Joe hadn’t had breakfast, so halfway through the tour they were starving. This was a lucky strike, since our guide knew just the place to eat around there. On the weekends, there is a floating market and the locals come to eat on this huge barge where you can find phat thai, shellfish, noodle soups and fresh-out-of-the-river catfish. We sat at a low table on the floor and ordered from almost every stand. Towards the end of lunch, the ice-cream man came by on his boat and we bought some coconut sorbet with peanuts. It was the cheapest and most delicious meal we had during our trip. Needless to say, we were the only non-Thai people on the barge…