Floating Market

After our earlier experience with the TukTuk we were apprehensive about taking one again but the price was certainly right. We agreed for the driver to pick us up the next day for a visit to the Floating Market. At $3 an hour we figured we could endure a few other sales pitches for the cheap ride and driver. Cheap ended up being the magic word of the day, mostly since the word was never used again that day.
We met the driver at 10:30 for our trip only it wasn't who we were expecting. A different man met us, Mr. Thom with a message from our expected driver that he was busy and to go with this guy, and the best part is and he had a real car, even better for $3 an hour. We climbed in and off we went.
The first thing to note is that this driver barely knew any English, so conversation was difficult. Then he was heading out of the city which turned out to be a 1 1/2 hr drive to the Floating Market. This $3 was stretching farther by the minute.

We stopped for gas along the way and the station had attendants that took some odd nozzle looking thing and plugged it into a pipe under the hood of the car. It turned out that the car didn't use liquid gasoline but ran on natural gas. The process was very similar to recharging a propane tank. I'd love to know what kind of mileage it got.

During the 90 minute drive we discussed why we were going to a market anyway. We didn't want to shop and we weren't even sure how we got signed up for a 3 hr round trip ride to buy something we didn't want. Oh well, we figured the worst case scenario would be 4 hrs of time for the driver so we were getting a $12 tour of the country side. Still not too shabby.
When we arrived at the parking area where we board the boats we were greeted with free drinks and information about the trip, including a monkey show and elephant rides. By this time we were getting nervous. This wasn't our first sales pitch. One thing we discovered was a free drink is usually followed by a hit to the wallet. We were right. Come to find out this free little boat trip through the market place to buy something we didn't want was supposed to cost $160 each! We declined! A price was offered without the monkeys for $145 each. We declined! Subtract the elephant rides, $130 each. We declined! We had budgeted a big ZERO for this boat ride and we sure weren't paying that kind of money. The price dropped to $ 100 each. We got up to leave. We went to our driver with the salesman in tow. And the bargaining continued. We were told how the company had to pay the drivers gas and time and toll fees. Aha!! We suspected as much! Finally the price was down to $50 and we decided to go on the float trip.

We begrudgingly got in the boat and started down the canal. We were in a network of canals with primitive homes and shops all nestled among the banks and water. The canals were barely wide enough at points for two very narrow long tail boats to squeeze by each other, and they networked back and forth like city streets. The closest thing we could relate to it was riding a log flume at an amusement park. But this was real life; people lived here and the smells proved it was no Six Flags. We both thought at first it was a sewage drain of sorts. As we rounded the first bend there was a booth on the edge of the canal that the boat floated up next to and the sales pitch began. Scented fans, wooden chop sticks and refrigerator magnets were but a few of the hundreds of little items for sale. No, No, No, No we kept responding trying to hold back the frustration of having just paid someone to put us smack dab in the middle of a market place. Now we were a true captive audience as the boat stopped over and over and the endless shops along the banks. Calendars, monkey carved coconuts, place mats; the items just kept coming and the booths never stopped.
We arrived at what they called a coconut sugar plant. We got out of the boat to see a table with some small coconut patties on it drying. So much for the factory tour, took about 30 seconds, but conveniently on the way back to the boat we got to pass through more shops. Pictures, incense, hats and sandals. Sandals?? Wait a minute, I had planned to buy some in Thailand anyway and found some I couldn't do without. I paid $10 and hurried back to the boat. We couldn't waste any time-there were more shops to see. Shirts, pouches, toys and jewelry. Does this place ever stop at night? These people were like piranhas eating on the captive 'flesh' of paper in our wallets.
The waterways finally broadened and then the floating vendors appeared. People floating in their boats with the freedom to paddle right up to offer you all their valuable treasures. Purses, kitchen supplies, postcards and food. Food huh? Well you got me again finally. We bought two things that are rarely ever found in the US. First was a sliced Pomello, which resembles a giant grapefruit but bigger and without the bitter taste. The second fruit was bright and had a similar taste and texture of an apple. The best I can remember the name was a Champu (sounds like shampoo) and I only remember that because I joked about it being used to wash our hair. No time to joke now, there is shopping ahead. Straw hats, dolls, wall hangings and statues. No, No, No lets go!

We reached a point where there was an old temple of sorts. We disembarked to take a few pictures then back to the canals and back toward the starting point, which of course meant passing all the same shops again. Leather goods, sunglasses, food and drinks. This time through we received less attention from the sellers so we could pay more attention to the environment. There were hundreds of small homes along the canals. Little kids were playing in the water or along the rickety walkways and women were washing clothes in the same water that smelled like their sewage. People were also washing themselves, and little baskets of toiletries including toothbrushes were sitting on the edge of the canal waiting to be used. One even contained a bottle of Oil of Olay. The trip back was entirely different as a whole world emerged along the banks of a nasty canal. These people were born here, lived here and died here. It was an unforgettable experience on many levels.
Back at the base we piled into the car and headed back to the big city.
Our moments of somber reflection were short lived as the driver was back to his old tricks and dropped us off at a shop in downtown Bangkok which we thought was a place to buy T-shirts. We were met at the door with beautiful young women in silk gowns offering free drinks! We looked at each other and both thought the same thing, RUN! It turned out to be an upper class jewelry store and we made it clear that we were not staying and walked out. We were back in the car before the driver could even collect his customer fee and were headed back to the hotel. We were so ready to get back to the hotel and away from sneaky drivers and sellers. Then we hit our final wall. At the hotel the drivers gave us his bill, $100. Of course that didn't go over well. We got the concierge at the hotel in on it and we debated back and forth and finally settled on $75. We were done with shopping, we were done with TukTuks and done with drivers and trips and about done with Bangkok altogether. Good thing we only have 28 more days to go. *sigh*