Two Sore Backs

We did two tours in Bangkok.  The first was a bicycle tour with Co Van Kessel. It was quite an experience riding through the narrow streets and alleyways of Bangkok’s Chinatown and the flower market.  While some of us on the tour could take videos while maneuvering around, Val and I had both hands on the handlebars trying not to kill ourselves.

We did stop at a Buddhist wat, giving us time to get our phone out for a picture.

Near the end of the tour, we took a small ferry back across the river to our starting place.  Another chance to get the phones out.

The bike tour was a mixed bag. We covered a lot of ground and saw plenty of places and things we might not have otherwise.  But without time to stop at the interesting spots it was a bit frustrating.

The Bangkok Starters tour was more our style.  We wish we had taken it when we first arrived.

Our hotel was close to the BTS Skytrain – the Aria station – so we agreed to meet our guide Susie at one of the other stations.  It was in the middle of the shopping district, giving us a chance to talk about it and take a few photos from the platform.

The shopping district wasn’t part of the tour, but we did stop for a Thai tea from Cha Tra Mue.  It’s a bit sweet, but very good.

Next was the canal boat to Chinatown.

The canals are pretty narrow, and these things get going fast.  The pilots are very skilled.

Before we knew it we were in Chinatown.

While they are an amazing ingredient, we’ve learned there is a dark side to some of these mushrooms.  Much of the haze you see in pictures from Asia is due to smoke from deliberately set fires.  Initially we thought that it was mostly from agriculture, but we learned that much of it, especially in and around Chiang Mai, is from fires deliberately set in the jungle so pickers can harvest mushrooms from the burned areas.

In Canada, morels and other mushrooms are harvested from forest fire areas.  Let’s hope none of those fires were deliberate.

Lunch was going to be late, so we stopped for a snack. I felt like I was being watched.

Or maybe they knew what we were about to eat.

Then it was over to the flower market.  This used to be a wet market until it got too big, so they moved all the meat and fish to a different location.

After the flower market, we went to Wat Phra Chetuphon Wimon Mangkhalaram Rajwaramahawihan (!) to see the Reclining Buddah. Honestly, I have forgotten the significance of reclining vs sitting vs whatever. Sorry.

There were some interesting statues and gardens around the wat.

After the Wat it was a Tuk Tuk ride to the river to hop on a longtail boat for a canal tour. 

The longtails in Bangkok are amazing. They all have huge motor vehicle engines, no muffler, mounted at the front of, and balanced by, a long driveshaft and propeller.  We saw V-8’s, Turbo Diesels, you name it. 

They are incredibly powerful, and they look awkward as hell to maneuver, but these guys make it look easy.

We had this one to ourselves. It was quite a tour.

After the canal tour it was a Tuk Tuk ride to OV Kitchen which serves old school Thai dishes. As usual, it was delicious.

After dinner we took a quick selfie, said goodbyes, and called a Grab for the trip back to our hotel in Arie.