Sharon's Big Adventure

Wednesday afternoon, I went with two other volunteers to the pool (a very nice, very long, very empty, public pool) and spent the afternoon reading and lazing in the sun. So Thursday, I decided I would do something a little more productive than work on my tan.

I left the house with a water bottle, a banana, directions to the nearest pier and a rough idea of where I wanted to go. After stopping in to check my mail at the very convenient, yet very arcade-like, internet cafe at the end of the road, I turned left and headed over the bridge. The bridge to the left of the entrance of our neighborhood is small and leads you over a canal (klong). As I was crossing, I spotted an iguana, about two feet from head to tail, lounging on the rail.

After the bridge, the sidewalk market begins. The side walk markets often have permenant shops in the buildings and tables selling almost anything you can imagine lining both sides of the sidewalk outside of the shops, their awnings meeting to form a covered walkway. The carts in this market sell everything from fruites and vegetables to shoes and calculators, to every imaginable peice of pig. It was interesting, but crowded and the smell of the meat was a little much for me. Next time, I may walk on the other side of the road.

I turned and walked down to the pier and paid my two bhat to get on the ferry to cross the river. Only when I was on the ferry, did I realize that there may be lots of ferrys with lots of destinations and not just simply "across the river". Deciding to try my luck, I stayed on, figuring that it had to stop eventually and when it did, I would get off and make my way back. Luckily for me, I had chosen correctly.

As the ferry made its way across the river, what appeared to be a river cruise boat passed with about 30 or 40 white farangs (foreigners) drinking mixed drinks. As we passed them by, I sat proudly in my two bhat ferry surrounded by Thai faces.

Once off the ferry, I walked into yet another street market - they are practically unavoidable, and was again greeted with a mix of shoes, clothes, nicknacks and freshly prepared foods. I made my way across the street - not an easy feat - and found that I was on the sidewalk in front of the Grand Palace. I had had no idea that we were so close. As I made my way up the side walk, a tuk-tuk driver pulled over and pulled out a picture of the grand palace, pointing at it and saying, what I believed to be "closed, closed" or I just may have heard this because I was expecting it. I said, "mai chai, ka," (No) and continued on my way. I had read numerous stories about the tuk-tuk drivers who haunt tourist areas waiting for the unlucky tourist who believes their story that the site they want to see is closed and allow the tuk-tuk driver to take them to another site where they are pressured into buying something (usually jewels) and the driver makes a commission. A few yards later, another tuk-tuk pulled up and the driver, with the same picture, motioned to me and aggressively stabbed at the picture and then at the sidewalk saying "Closed! Closed!" I realized that it was the same driver and that he had somehow made a u-turn and come all the way back in that short of time (the traffic along the sidewalk was moving away from me). I gave up Thai and simply said that I wasn't going to the Grand Palace; I had already seen it, ignored his admonitions and continued on my way. Little did the driver know, not only did I know enough to question his motives, but I am also extremely cheap and even if I hadn't guessed what he was up to, I wouldn't have paid him to take me anywhere anyway.

I made it to my destination, Kho San Road (which I had wanted to find to have an orienting point in the city) and headed back to the house. On the way back, I passed a park where they were holding a kite flying competition and the shy was filled with racing and twirling kites. I also passed a group of men playing what looked like an advanced form of hacky sack. Six or seven men stood in a circle and used their heads, feet and shoulders to try to get a ball about half the size of a soccer ball into a net approximately 10 feet above their heads. It was really neat to watch.

Back at the river, I got on the ferry across the river, noting the name of the pier (which I have promply forgotten) so that I could make sure I got on the correct ferry again the next time. This ferry took us directly across the river to a pier just South (north? east? west?) of the one that I had departed from. Not knowing if it would go on, or simply go back across, I got off (an adventure in itself to be sure you make it from the boat to the pier without steping through the crack between the tires that keep the boat from scraping against the pier). Once off the pier, I found that I had walked right into a fish market complete with buckets full of lots of exotic river life. There were buckets of fish, buckets of eels, buckets of sucker fish, and buckets of soft shell turtles. I wandered around, checking everything out, noting to myself to ask someone at the house exactly what fate awaited all of those little turtles.

I made it back safely in about 2 hours and 15 minutes, having enjoyed my walk, but making sure to note the numbers on the buses that passed our neighborhood to save my feet a bit the next time.