Tuesday, 7/27
DAMNERNSADUAK FLOATING MARKET
We, along with LOTS of other tour groups, took a long-tailed boat ride through the khlongs to the floating market.
Boats lined up to pick up passengers -- reminded me of water rides at amusement parks.
Khlong life -- we joked about how families living along the khlong have their own "driveway" for their boat, complete with a chain across it for privacy. We also joked about whether children who become old enough to "drive" get their first "used boat" or not.
Sight along the khlong
When we weren't stuck in a traffic jam (the boats actually
did a pretty good job of keeping distance between each other, although the
intersection was chaotic), we rode along at a nice speed. It created a nice,
cooling breeze that felt great.
We were dropped off along one side of the floating market
and shopped from the side of the khlong. It might have been fun to ride a boat
through the floating market to shop, but we didn't have time.
Besides the individual vendors along the sides of the floating market, there was also a large shopping area (one store?) on an elevated level. We used more of our Thai asking "Thawray kha" (how much?). The vendors would repeatedly answer us in Thai even though we didn't really understand what they were saying and had to think awhile to figure it out. We did get better as the trip went on.
Later, as we were walking back to our bus, we were
surrounded by kids selling pencils and various other trinkets. Amy told them
"May aw" (don't want) and one boy responded, "Aw"
(want). As the kids began to leave us, a man
started to approach us. Amy told him "May aw" also and he stopped, seemed a bit
surprised, said "Oh, very good" and turned and walked away. We giggled and gave
each other "high 5s" about that for awhile.
When we got to the bus, I purchased the souvenir plate with our picture in the
middle.
I am SUCH a sucker for these kinds of things!
