Monday 2 Aug 2004

(I deleted my other blogs... I'll just write that kind of stuff offline :P)

So.. this Monday was the compensatory holiday for Asalaha Bucha Day. In Thailand we are fortunate to have this kind of system. When a holiday (Buddhist and royal family-related holiday) falls on Saturday or Sunday (which are already dayoffs) then it will be compensated on the following Monday and/or Tuesday etc. Hehehe... so it's good for lazy staff like me... I heard that Indonesia will apply the same system (or has it already been applied?) .

We started from our place at 8.00, six people as previously planned. We rode on Olivier's car, 4 people at the back... a bit squeezed but it's OK ;P. It took us only about 30 minutes to Nonthaburi (north of Bangkok), where we stopped at a temple and caught our boat there. It costs 500 B (= 12 USD) for 3 hours ride (I guess the boat can accommodate up to 10 people, later on we saw that another place offers 350 B or approx. 9 USD for the same ride). I'll attach the picture later.

We stopped at some places in the Koh Kret (= Kret island). It is actually a man-made island, made by digging the earth (I forgot for what purpose &*$%! - forgetful me -), so some people refuse to call it an island. Below is some more info on the island.

Koh Kret, a tiny island in the Chao Phraya River, located in Nonthaburi Province. On this island lives a community of craftsmen famous for their distinctive style of pottery, which dates back many centuries. The potteries are known for their fine, red-black glazed surface and folk design. They are all hand-made piece-by-piece and you can see the process. People live on Koh Kret and nearby are the descendants of the ethnic Mon people who managed to retain the skills of their forefathers. This small community is also famed for making traditional Thai sweets. (http://www.circleofasia.com/bookings/ToursDetail.asp?id=TNBR0333)

Our friends bought hammock (made of water hyacinth), some earthenware decorations, small lantern, snacks, orchids... I think the prices are inexpensive. We had lunch at the "Khun Ael" restaurant at one of the piers.

Then we returned to the Wat (temple) where we began. The original idea was actually we will take the boat along the Chao Phraya river down to Bangkok. But seems like we took the wrong boat. But it's OK.

Then we decided to go downtown to Bangkok by car. To the Democracy Monumen area, parked the car, bought coffee at the 'Whale' kiosk (nice coffee, but no place to sit comfortably), then walked to Sanam Luang, the peripheral of Grand Palace, took the boat to Wat Arun (gosh it was a long walk). Then we took the taxi boat to Saphan Taksin BTS station (hehehe now I'm so fond of hyperlinking words in my posting :D). The boat was overcrowded, thank God we arrived safe and sound :D. It's the first time I took the boat when traveling to Bangkok (yes I've been dinner-cruising 3 times before, but they were special occasions), nice experience.

Then we took the BTS and went to Lumpini Park. Watched people exercising (jogging & aerobic). Then we took the pedal-boat *not sure if this is the right way to call it, a small, 2-seaters boat where you have to pedal to make it 'walk', again, I'll attach the pic later*. I bought bread to feed the fish, but no fish was on sight. Unfortunately it rained a little bit so we had to stopped earlier (after 15 minutes, out of the allowed 30 minutes).

Then we took a taxi and had dinner at a nice open-roof restaurant near the place where we parked the car (romantic, with a nice view of Bangkok!). The food was a bit expensive, but delicious. But I don't think I'll go there on my own. The first 3 storeys of the restaurant are used for some kind of pub and a bit gloomy. I think it is safe, but still I don't like it much.

We arrived home at about 10.00 p.m.