Bangkok - plan B day

Friday 8th July
The weather looked reasonable so we planned to get out of town and go and visit the old city about 2 hours out of town. All good we caught the 1st train to the main country station only to find there were only 2 seats left on the train we needed to take. Other options were to take a later train, slower train or hire a taxi for the day. Over coffee we decided to abandon that idea and make a Plan B. After ignoring all the touts offerring advice to us, we headed off on foot.
First up we walked to the river, about 2km and following the gps we wound our way through an industrial area. Almost all the shops were involved in machinery - some stacked high with auto gearboxes or old engines or brake drums or crankshafts or steel manufacturing. The shopkeepers were sitting on the sidewalk doing their trade so any walking had to be done on the street. Along every street there were mobile or stationary food stalls or carts, supplying food to the locals. Was a very entertaining walk.
Finally arrived at the river where we jumped on a ferry which was fully loaded with passengers but that didn't stop the small conductor yelling at Justin to move up the front. That was worth the 14 baht ticket fare by itself.
1st stop wqs the flower market which was already winding down, the peak trading hours had already passed. There was still an incredible array of both flowers and fruit and vegetable on display, quite a few we had no idea of what they were.
Back to the ferry, quieter this time with different conductor and we got off near a major train station and then made our way bay to MBK complex to check out a couple of shops before lunch. Purchases completed, we trained it back to Asoke station, near our hotel and found our way to a Japanese style restaurant which provided us with an excellent meal.
Then it was back to the hotel for a rest from all this walking, preparing to go to the markets in the evening.

Ross & Therrie spent their day checking out the shopping complexes and indulging in a foot massage before returning later in the afternoon, ready for the markets.
Just when we all got together in the hotel lobby tomleave, it started pouring with rain and as the markets are outdoor, we had to abandon this idea as well. As it was teeming down we only made it into a restaurant next door to the hotel where we sat upstairs and watched the rain beat down outside. No point going out now so we just had a nice dinner there before having an early night.

Weather was very warm (about 32C) and humid with heavy storm early evening.

Highlights
* Walk through the industrial area,
* The ferry ride (& conductor),
* Japanese style lunch,
* For Ross & Therrie it was some bargains and a foot massage.Read more