Next Part Of Our Trip,

to the floating market, 

we stopped upstream of it, 

and admired the view, 

there is a boat service from here,

we soon arrived at the market, 

I climbed one of the platforms over the riverside, 

and zoomed in on Diana as she was watching the boats go by, 

the view from the platform,

from one or two to lots of boats in no time at all,

some of the vendors tie up at the boarding steps, 

which makes for a bottleneck at times as this is the most visited place here, with tourists boarding and alighting the boats, which of course is why the vendors are tied up here!

and in case you want to visit this is where we are, there is another floating market in Bangkok, but this is considered to be the bigger one of the two, 

Diana in one of her summer frocks, 

all set, 

and we are off, 

above us Swat, taking a photograph,

and giving us a wave, 

a big wave!

more vendors tied up in this area, 

some having a break,

a smile for the camera, Swat had hired a paddled boat rather than one with a motor, also we had the boat to ourselves, 

we moved out of the busy areas, 

looking at rural life on the water,

these the actual homes of the locals, 

some with gardens!

the motors on the motor boats are worth a look if you are not familiar with them,

they are in fact engines from cars or trucks, water cooled using the canal water instead of a radiator, the engine itself mounted on a gimbal so the propeller shaft can be lifted out of the water move left or right so as to give the boat steering, a neat idea, 

where the canals widen, there are often canal side bars/restaurants, 

a short cut through a smaller canal, 

and we are back, 

into another wide section, 

again with sellers moored, 

and a few slowly paddling along, next a surprise, 

Spiderman!

I think the term is 'organized chaos!',

we made our way past sellers, both on the water, 

and on land, 

pomelos, one of my favorite citrus fruits, but banned for me, one of the medications I am on reacts badly with grapefruit or pomelos, 

a land side stall, 

as we pass, 

some of the waterborne stores, 

as you might imagine, fresh fruit in abundance, 

we went past our embarkation point, 

where Swat was waiting, 

but we still had some waterways to explore, 

as well as vendors to look at, this lady looks familiar, could she be the same lady we photographed last year?

I will let you decide,

at this point on the canals, 

stalls line either side of it, 

porcelain, 

masks, 

rugs, 

butterflies and insects, 

we know when we are getting near one of these stalls, either the metal chimes, or wooden clicks of wind chimes, 

in the distance a interesting looking contraption, 

a hand operated lift for the boats, for storage or maintenance, 

as with all attractions except one to my knowledge in Thailand, whether private or government owned, there is always two tier pricing for tourists, to be fair here it is in the open, in Thai and English, many places signs like this are in Thai only, the nature reserves, both on land and marine are the worst, 10 times more for tourists! When Diana's family came out to visit some year ago when we lived in Thailand, if we were all Thai 20 baht each, for the 9 of us 180 baht, but of course we were not so 1,800 baht, ouch! worse still when we were on Koh Chang we went to 2 different marine reserves in the same day, 3,600 baht, double ouch! by now our tour had ended, 

so on to one of the bridges over a canal,

looking down on the waterway, 

we walked down onto the bank, 

where you can pose with snakes, bush babies and a few other assorted reptiles and cute mammals, 

hats, 

a very popular line when in a boat in the sun, 

often seen, coconut bowls and other items, 

the canal crowded again,

a vendor looking on, 

for us a cool snack, 

fresh fruits and sticky rice,

 

some of the vendors having a chat, 

the one serving hot food with a bottle of gas onboard, 

chop-chop!

we continued walking, across from us one of the restaurants filling up, 

this part of the canal,

always busy, 

we crossed another bridge as a paddled boat passed below, 

at this point the river widened, 

we were walking to a part of the original market, 

not so many boats in this area, 

we made our way past homes, 

until we arrived on a boardwalk, 

with shops, 

opposite the owners homes, 

the boat above, 

turning into one of the narrow canals, 

which was a little bit of a tight squeeze,

with a paddled boat already making its way into it, 

we continued our walk along the canal front shops, 

it was this part of the market that way back in 1983, that Duncan and myself went to, the part that everyone goes to now, was as far as I know, not built then, 

goods for sale everywhere, 

as we passed on the other side of the boardwalk the owners homes, 

up, 

and over another bridge, 

to a different section, 

this area had a very Chinese influence, 

and then I spotted something different, a boat with solar panels,

 

and a electric motor, 

and the lever that controls the forward or back speed of the boat, 

I mentioned the Chinese section, 

Diana is outside of one of the temples here, 

as Chinese, 

as you could get, but why?

because the Chinese, 

built the canals!

a few restaurants were also here, 

as we made our way past a huge stall, 

time for a pose, 

or two!

from the top of a bridge, 

looking down, 

the legend, 

we were now back on dry land, 

the restaurants here full,

but we took a short drive, 

to one we had visited with Diana's family last year,

this time the tide was out, 

and we were the only ones here, 

we chose a riverside table, 

and tucked into a tasty lunch before our return to Bangkok and our hotel.