In Search of Insects of the Edible Kind
Trip Start
Jan 06, 2010
1
11
Trip End
Feb 07, 2010
Bangkok, Thailand
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Our last two days in Bangkok we spent shopping, eating and swimming in the pool during the hot part of the day. The afternoon got up to 93 and humid, just too hot to wander on cement streets during the day. Our second night we decided to take a public bus to the Suan Lom Night Market (a huge market with all sorts of things to buy.) This turned out to be a bad idea--actually the time of day we decided to go was probably the biggest no-no--rush hour traffic. The bus crept along at slower than a slugs pace. We weren't sure where to get off so we asked the bus attendant to tell us when to get off. At some point she shouts at us and waves for us to get off the bus. So, we figure this must be the place. It turns out she got us off the in a dark, dingy, industrial part of town, 2 1/2 miles away from where we wanted to go. I finally figure out where we are and we find a tuk-tuk to agree to take us to the market. However, he spends the next half hour driving all over the area, down side streets through parks, around in circles basically--I think he was trying to find a back road way to get where we wanted to go and bypass all the traffic but, he kept getting foiled. Anyway, what should have taken a couple minutes, took us about 45 minutes. We did finally get to the market though. I think this was probably the biggest market I've been to and it had a lot of interesting merchandise. Of course there was the usual souvenir stuff but, also a lot of designer clothes, unique boutiques, many home decor stalls, antique reproductions, and unusual handmade items. Also tons of food stalls and a stage with live bands. Really a fun market to go to but, it was still so hot and with so many people wandering the market, it was stifling hot.
Our ride back was by tuk-tuk and I swear we had a race going on between three tuk-tuk drivers all heading to the same location. Dave thought it was a wild ride. Our tuk-tuk driver was zipping around left-to-right and tail-driving whenever possible. Of course, I've been on much wilder rides in India, but this was a new experience for Dave and he had a great time in the tuk-tuk. It took us about 1 1/2 hours to get to the market and about 10 minutes going back.
The next day we went to a weekend floating market. It wasn't exactly what we were expecting but was pretty interesting to see. There were lots of plants for sale here, including a lot of orchids. The canal was full of cat fish which they cooked for you right from the boat. They also had a stall where you could buy food pellets or bread to feed to the cat fish. You could either go buy long-tail boat and sally up to one of the boat vendors to buy something to eat, or do what we did, go buy public bus for 22 bht. There is a main floating barge with the boat vendors floating on either side. You can walk onto the barge and order from the boat vendors. There were little tables set up on the barge where you could sit to eat what you ordered. There also a number of stalls selling treats and sweets. I think there were more locals at this market than tourists. They treated it like a farmer's market or maybe going to a street fair in Seattle. It was pretty easy to take the public bus to the market and back. The bus attendants are pretty helpful most of the time.
This is our last day in Thailand. We fly out this evening with a 10 hour layover at the Incheon airport in Seoul, Korea. So, it's going to be a long two days before we get back to Seattle. We've had a fabulous time on this trip. We've had so many new experiences, it's been great. The Thai people are so helpful and friendly. I never felt concerned wandering the streets even when we were out late at night. It was pretty easy to communicate with people. You could always find someone who understood enough English that you convey what you wanted to say. Food was great, even though it was sometimes hard to get away from the tourist food. There are so many things to do in Thailand that you couldn't possibly get bored here. Our time here went fast but, I'm ready to head home, have some home cooked meals and sleep in my own bed.
Thailand would be hard to beat as a vacation destination but, Dave and I are already talking about where we should go next!
