Woke up early and decided to take our time to getting to our meeting place for the bike ride. Afterall, we did have three hours to get there! We experienced the skytrain during rush hour. Talk about a clown car! We were jam packed in there! We had decided to take a taxi once we arrived at a stop closest to our meeting point, but there was so much to see as we walked that we decided to keep walking, and before we knew it, we were there! No before getting a little lost, of course. We were walking down one alley way full of locals just living their daily lives. The alley way got narrow and more narrow and the distinction between road and living space became more and more blurred. A few times I wanted to turn back around to the main road and find another way to where we were going, but the Thais kept encouraging us to keep going, we were headed in the right direction. It felt like we were walking through their houses at times! Eventually we made it to our meeting point with an hour to spare! We rested, examined our map, and had a light breakfast before our tour guide approached us. There was a Canadian, an Australian, and an Italian joining us for the tour. Now our adventure begins!
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The wires are such a scary mess, and everywhere.
We were walking on an overpass crossing a busy street.
Could have easily reached out and touched the wires.
You could barely see through them to the street below! |
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| A scary underpass we walked through... and lived to blog about! |
Orathai, our tour guide lead us through a local market to get to the train station. There was raw meat and fresh meat (as in jumping, hopping, and squirming about) all around us. She tried to get us to try one of these delicacies, but we all politely declined! We wait about 15 minutes for the train, then hop on. The train ride took about an hour and was an experience all by itself. We got to see more Thai life along the railway and khlongs. There were also several Thais selling all sorts of foods and drinks walking up and down the aisles. Orathai was able to get us to try a coconut treat. I am not a fan of coconut, but this tasted nothing like coconut and I was hooked. I even went back for seconds!
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| Live crabs. On a stick. Apparently you eat them this way?! |
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| Oh, all the beautiful colors |
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| Those would be flies all over this raw meat sitting out in the heat. Yikes! |
When we arrived at our destination, we got fitted to our bikes. These were no mountain bikes. They were a little old, and included baskets on the front and most had little bells. Of course we had fun ringing the bells! Our tour lead us through winding roads, shrimp and fish farms, rice fields, and local life. Orathai made several stops to point out local foliage, let us sample or smell different plants, like lemongrass. We stopped at a local watering hole for some refreshments about midway and were as fascinated with the locals there as they were with us. Towards the end of the trip we stopped at the mayor's house and had a delicious lunch! It was about another 15 minutes of riding back to train station, then we headed home.
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| Country Side Bike Tour |
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| Delicious meal. Again, beautiful colors! |
When we got back to the hotel a shower and nap were a must! Of course, yet again, we slept much longer than intended and didn't wake up until 10-11 pm. We asked the front desk where we should head to walk around and get something to eat and they suggested Patpong. They call a cab for us and we are on our way. After being harassed by several men on the streets offering Matt menus that did not have food advertised on them (think red light district) we sought sanctuary in a bar while contemplating what some of the 'items' on the other menus could be. We listened to some music, ate some snacks, drank some beer, and just people watched while sitting outside. All in all it was a good night. There were many street stalls set up selling all sorts of goods and Matt and I picked up some shirts for the kiddos. We found another bar, an Irish pub, that had a great corner location and decided to sit down for a few drinks for more people watching. However, we were quickly approached by a waiter who pointed out it was after 1am (which is when the bars close). Holy moly it was 1:15. Where does the time go? We grab a cab and head home!
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