Day 6 - Friday, February 18 - Floating Market / River Kwai

Good morning to all:

TODAY I LOST MY LIFE - MY DAYPACK WAS MISSING!

Since here in Bangkok, I carry my day-pack each and every day no matter where I go. In my day-pack at any given moment are the following:

my journal, (1) cliff bar in case of dire hunger (since here, it has melted, shaped and re-shaped many times), my passport, my plane tickets home, my Canon 35mm camera, a few rolls of 35mm film, an extra memory stick for my digital camera, a hat, whatever book I'm reading that day, Lonely Planet, a few maps, a small travel roll of Charmin, a 5-pack of Old Spice Cool Contact wipes, a small Thai Phrase Book and dictionary, and my "point-it-book". (The point it book is a tiny color paperback that has photos of anything you can possible imagine in case you really just need to point to something to get your point across.)

On my person normally is my wallet and my digital camera. (unless of course I have to hop on a motorcycle taxi in which case they get thrown into my day-pack)

I woke up at 6:20A to get ready for my tour. Was picked up at 6:50A SHARP and made a few stops to gather some other people. We were 9 of us in this little van going to the Floating Market.

The trip to the Floating Market was about 1.5 hours Southwest of Bangkok. I met Naita (sp?) from Switzerland and we talked most of the way. As we were nearing the market, we stopped at a Coconut Farm where they made SUGAR. This sugar is a bit different from the Sugar made from Sugar Cane. It's a little caramelly in flavor and it was pretty cool. I wasn't really paying atention to how they make it but I did see giant pots of coconut guts being boiled down and getting syruppy. There was a little gift shop with all sorts of things made out of coconut wood. The whole stop was about 30 minutes.

Ventured onward to the Floating Market. Arrived just after 9AM. This place is COOL and certainly something to be seen on your next trip to Bangkok. It's so hard to do it justice, but basically, here's the deal. The market is set up on a series of canals. There are locals, some in stationary boats tied up to the banks of the canals, and some are constantly moving around and weaving in and out of the canals. You can either walk on the banks of the canals and call over to a passing boat if you want to buy something or you can hop in a little bloat being steered, usually by an 80 year old local lady. In some of the boats there are local goods / merchandise. In others fruits and vegetables. The steerer of your boat is in the back so if she sees you are looking at something or making a purchase, she stays put until you are done. We bought some Thai grapefruit which was awesome. We also bought something that looked like a pear mated with a red delicious. That too, was pretty good. We ate Mangosteen's. (Until today, I didn't know mangos came in the jew and goyim version). We ate Dragon Fruit and lot's of other things that I can't pronounce or even know the name of. Our little boat ride lasted about 30 minutes. Between the buyers (SOME locals but mostly tourists) and the selling boats, the canals are packed and the boats are constantly bumping into one another.
It really is pretty cool. When we got off the boat, we walked around on foot for a while. At one point, Naita and I were taking photos of each other and we had each others bags. She was tring on some clothing and I was busing some crap made from Coconut wood. I was bargaining with the guy, and moved on after agreeing on a price that was half of what he originally quoted and I STILL think I paid too much.

About 10 minutes later, we met back up at another fruit stand selling some Thai bananas which I was craving since the second we got to the market. I asked for my bag so I could put my new purchases in and she had a blank stare on her face. She thought I had it. I thought she had it. I can't even begin to go into detail to describe the thoughts that rushed through my head. These canals go in different directions and I wasn't even sure where the last time I saw it was.

I FREAKED OUT - internally, of course. She thought I was being pretty calm but she had no idea what was racing through my mind.

I took a mental inventory of what was in my bag - I WAS FUCKED!

We both made a mad dash in the direction we thought we came from. We tried to trace our steps and neither of us really knew where we had been. It had now about 20 minutes since I had seen my bag and I really started feeling sick.

About 5 minutes later as we were frantically looking for the vendor where we left my bag, I felt a tug on my shirt and I almost turned around and slugged whoever it was that was trying to sell me something. Instead, I saw a little boy, the cutest little Thai boy, maybe 6 or 7 years old, holding my bag and offering it to me. He didn't speak English. I don't speak Thai so the only thing I could do was offer him the Thai bow of thanks and offer him 20 baht for his efforts. He wouldn't take it. I took a picture of him and wil always remember his little innocent face.

He returned my life to me.

I would forever be indebbted to this little boy who I would never see again.

We got back to the bus and ventured on. The next stop was the Kanchanaburi Allied War Cemetary. Buried here are thousands of Allied POW's who died in captivity during WW2.

Next stop was lunch. We ate at the C&C Guesthouse. They brought us plates of authentic Thai food and of course, like everything else, it was yummy. By this point, we were all buddies and were all exchanging stories of where we have been and where we were going next.

Nex stop was GREAT. This was a bonus. I wasn't aware we were going to a Tiger Conservatory. It was so HOT. The hottest day yet. We had to walk a while up a road to get to the conservatory. We arrived at a big iron gate and they let us in. There were some animals just grazing inches from us but they really had no interest in us. There were a few horses, some cows, some mangy looking elk-like animals and we just walked past. About 1/2 mile up the road, we came to our destination. It felt and looked like Africa! There was one section with some caged tigers. They were sleeping for the most part. A few of the guys from my van called me over to a different section where there were 2 tiny, 4 week old, CUBS in an open cage just hanging out. The monk who was monitoring them said we could go in and pet them. With absolutely no supervision, we were in the cage petting and playing with these 4 week old cubs. We were told to go further down the dirt path and follow the signs that read "Tiger Play". We walked down into what looked like the quarry where Fred and Barney worked on "The Flintstones". A few monks and a few "animal handlers" were hanging out with 2 cubs and 4 LARGE tigers. There was no cage. There was nothing between US and THEM. It was a wide open space and the "trainers" were taking people 2 at a time to pet, play with, and take photos with these enormous TIGERS! REAL LIVE TIGERS! I have some GREAT shots which I hope to post in the next few days. It was one of the coolest things I've ever done. For some reason, I felt safe. Maybe due to the fact that there were 4 monks there looking out for our well being.

We got back on the bus and headed to the River Kwai. At this point, I was hanging out with Will, Kate, and Vickie. Will and Kate are traveling together from Melbourne and they picked up Vivkie today on the bus. We got off the bus, went to the WW2 museum, looked and walked over Bridge over River Kwai, took some photos, and ran into some guy who was walking around with a 1 year old elephant selling bags of food to feed him for 20 baht. I couldn't resist. It was my first Thai encounter with an elephant and in the same day that I just played with TIGERS! Was I on Safari in Africa or in Thailand? Maybe it's one and the same. The elephant was awesome. I fed him a few bags of what seemed to be potatoes and a whole bunch of bananas. He didn't even bother to peel them, just at the whole damn bunch!

The bridge, although just a bridge was pretty neat. Lot's of history packed on this one little bridge. It is, after all, the Bridge on the River Kwai.

At this point, we were all exhausted, and although we had a great day, were ready to get the hell back to Bangkok. The ride home was forver and a day. Will, Kate, and I spent most of it talking about "The Amazing Race" (they are 1 season behind the US) and Survivor.

We said our goodbye's, exchanged e-mails, and parted ways.

Got back to Shanti, had some excellent Rice Soup and Red Coconut Curry and packed. Got my shit in order, settled my bill (3985 baht for 6 nights, 3 breakfasts, 3 dinners, lots of bottled water, and my daily fresh juice drink when I got back each afternoon), put my bag I was leaving behind in storage, had them order a cab for me (4AM PICK UP AT SHANTI - OUCH) and said goodbye to all the workers who made my stay as enjoyable as it was. I'll miss Shanti but will be back sometime at the end of my trip to stay a few final nights and reclaim my stuff in stoarge.

Tomorrow morning, I am taking a 6AM flight to Chiang Mai.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/south_east_asia/chiang_mai/