Family Thais: Floating Markets

It was 6:30 AM when I approached Starbucks. I felt like I was going on a blind date. I had to walk in and find someone I had never met or seen before. Nothing like walking up to a person and saying, "Are you so-and-so?" Luckily this was easy because there was no one else in Starbucks that early and I was finding another 23 year old white girl in Thailand.

I was meeting Courtney, a niece of someone else at my Aunt and Uncle's school. We were in the same boat: in Thailand for a few months, living with our relatives who have young children and wanting to meet a friend...if even for a day.

We had been emailing back and forth and decided to go to the Floating Markets. These, like the name suggests, are markets that are connected by small waterways and can be navigated through by boat. The biggest Floating Market is two hours away from Bangkok so we decided it would be easiest to visit there with a friend. The two hour distance and intense midday heat is why I was meeting Courtney at 6:30 AM.

We hopped in a taxi, destination the South Bus Terminal. With Bangkok traffic working against us it took nearly an hour and $6 to get there. A lady in red found us and brought us to the bus going to the Floating Market. The bus was relatively clean, had an air conditioner and was only 65 Baht ($2).

We spent a tired two hours on the bus. I couldn't fully fall asleep so I gave up and started eavesdropping on conversations throughout the bus...to improve my Thai! I couldn't understand much but I figure the more I listen the better I get. I eventually gave up on eavesdropping and decided to memorize some of the new Thai words I had written down instead.

At the end of the bus line we were the only ones still on the bus. A lady greeted us and tried to have us agree to by boat tickets for 600 baht each ($18): bogus. Courtney had done some research before the trip and said it should only cost us 100 baht each ($3). We kept walking, met a man and bartered the price down to 100 B each. We got on the long boat, just the two of us and our driver, and motored off down the river.

The color of the water was grayish brown and the breeze felt good on that 90+ degree morning. We navigated our way down the streets made of water and found our way to the main hub of waterways. There were tons of boats floating around, smacking into each other, trying to fit down this narrow path of water. It's sad though because I thought before going that it would be an actual market, when in fact it was a tourist trap on water. The boat driver must have special monetary compensation relationships with some of the vendors because he would stop us at certain stalls even though they were all selling the same thing. They would literally pull our boat in with a cane-like rod and shove objects in our face.

Despite their constant hassling it was a nice boat ride and an interesting concept. I would love to see a real floating market. Also I got to test out some basic Thai and drink chai yen (iced tea).

After we looked at enough touristy kitsch on land and afloat, the market started to pack up at 12:30.

The bus had dropped us off at a pretty remote place so we went back to the same spot and stood. The two blonde white girls clearly weren't locals so someone came up to us and directed us to the actual bus station. We got onto a bus directed to Bangkok, bus line 78: same same as the number outside the bus we took to the market.

When we walked into the bus it was a very different story. The first thing anyone would notice was the smell. I can only compare it with stale urine mixed with someone's morning breath, all which has sat in the sun too long. We sat down in our Lysol-worthy seats and then saw the floor move. There were bugs everywhere. No, it wasn't Fear Factor style, but enough to make anyone get the heebie jeebies (which incidentally doesn't translate in Thai.)

A woman approached us to sell us our tickets and said it was 80 baht...a nearly 15 baht increase! Sure it's still only $2.25 for two hours, but I'm thinking in baht here. How is a bus that is 200% more disgusting also more expensive? We received a completely different ticket than the one on the way there and went a different route back to Bangkok. Sketch.

After two hours of near-vomit-inducing bus driving we were back at the bus station. One taxi ride and a shower later I was back in my own bed, checking my Facebook and watching the previous night's Colbert Report online. It was fun, but felt good to be back.