Saturday we hired a driver to take us to Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, about 100 kms southwest of Bangkok, taking us about 2 hrs as the traffic is unbelievable. Our driver was a lot of fun and we were lucky to have Howard and Kitty to speak the language and translate for us. When we arrived at the pier we had a welcome drink - a straw stuck in a coconut. Our boat was ready for us so we hopped in and began meandering through the canals to get to the market area. The sight we saw was exactly like you see on postcards. There were wooden canoes loaded work fruits and vegetables paddled by Thai women wearing their wide-brimmed straw hats. There was chaos in the canals with boats everywhere trying to get by one another. You could stop at any of the souvenir stalls or wooden boat if you spotted something you were interested in. Howard and Kitty started buying fruits for us to taste. I'll need to ask the names of the fruits we had. Everything was happening so quickly, we had pictures to take, fruits to taste, sights to taken, our beer to drink, and resist the urge to start bartering for those souvenirs...OMG. That was something to experience. All too soon our boat ride was over and we were heading back to Bangkok to the Grand Palace.
The Grand Palace was the former residence of the King, today it is used by the King only for certain ceremonial occasions. The gleaming mosaic tiles, the gilded chedis, murals painted on the gallery walls, the manicured grounds and the statues of elephants and mythical beings made this an incredible sight. We weren't able to go into the temple as it was closed for a special ceremony, so we weren't able to see the Emerald Buddha, disappointing.
Howard, kitty, Fred & I took the subway to Sukhumvit 11 and met Leslie & Kannie for supper. This street is filled with many different bars and restaurants of any ethnic cuisine you could imagine. Had a great night visiting Les (former Inglis guy). What a small world...2 guys from our home area.
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