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Damnoensaduak floating market tourists Ratchaburi Thailand

Thailand 2010: Damnoen Saduak Floating Market tour, Cobra show… and leaving Bangkok

By Mithun Divakaran
/
Jul 27, 2011
/
Bangkok, Thailand, Travel

Date: 29th November 2010

My final day in Thailand… and I still made most of the time I had before flying out.

Even though I still had an entry ticket to DreamWorld theme park which I got for free via Cleartrip, I decided to chuck that and opted instead to do something I couldn’t do last year.

I booked myself for a floating market tour via the lady who owns Thai House Inn and she got it for me for ฿600 (Rs. 890/$20/€14).

Bangkok Rama bridge early morning Thailand — Left Bangkok at around 6am; headed to the neighbouring district of Ratchaburi, a 100km drive

Shrimp prawn farms outside Bangkok Thailand — Passed by a lot of shrimp farms. Turns out Thailand is largest exporter of such shrimps. (That explains the abundance of prawn crackers)

After an hour long drive, the van reached a canal where there were other tour groups gathered near some boats.

Floating market tour starting point boats Thailand — We would then be split up into groups for each boat

Canal longtail boat Bangkok Thailand — I grabbed the spot in front

Damnoen Saduak river taxi boats Bangkok Thailand — No roads from here on out, just canals all the way to the ‘floating’ market

River to Damoen Saduak floating market Thailand — It was a lovely morning ride

Damnoen Saduak floating village house by river Bangkok Thailand — It was a charming sight to see houses and entire villages live by these canals

Damnoen Saduak floating village river Bangkok Thailand — Kind of appears as though the ‘roads’ are flooded 🙂

Damnoen Saduak floating market sign Ratchaburi Thailand — That’s where we were heading

Once we reached the market, we got out of our boats and were informed by our guide that we had nearly an hour here. But, if we wanted to boat ride around the market, we would have to pay ฿50 (Rs. 75/$1.6/€1.16) and it was not included in the tour package. Obviously, none of us wanted to simply walk around the ‘floating’ market, so I paid up.

Damnoen Saduak floating market old boat lady Ratchaburi — I sat right in front again

Damnoen Saduak floating market paddle boats Ratchaburi Thailand — Mind you, there are many boats carrying tourists around the market all morning. The market closes by afternoon.

Damnoen Saduak floating market hats vendor Thailand — Plenty of hawkers (on boats of course) pull your boat over to try and sell you their wares

Damnoen Saduak floating market saffron spices Ratchaburi Thailand — A lot of the stuff for sale are souvenirs and other Thailand memorabilia

Damnoen Saduak floating market pork noodles Ratchaburi Thailand — No shortage of eateries as usual

Thailand souvenirs for sale floating market Ratchaburi Thailand — And as usual, you can haggle for a much lower price than what they initially quote

Damnoen Saduak floating market handicrafts Thailand — Even under a bridge there was no shortage of hawkers

Damnoen Saduak floating market insects bugs Thailand — From preserved animals…

Damnoen Saduak floating market snake Thailand — .. to even getting photographs with a massive snake. All available under the bridge.

Damnoen Saduak floating market coconut boat Thailand — Nicely shaven coconut 🙂

Damnoensaduak floating market fan hats hawker Thailand — After much pandering, I ended up buying two of these hats for my nieces. The hats can be folded into fans as well. Paid around ฿100 each.

Asian tourists floating market Thailand — Best advised to keep your hands inside at all time. The boats do ram into each other.

Damnoen Saduak floating market end Thailand — It was time to turn around and go back

Damnoensanduak floating market boats jam Thailand — This is what a floating market traffic jam looks like

And this is what it sounds like 🙂

Damnoensanduak floating market Durian Thailand — Durian. Ugh.

Damnoensanduak floating market hats hawker Thailand — Yes, lots of hats

After riding for around half an hour, we were dropped back on to the platform.

Damnoensaduak floating Thailand flag boat Ratchaburi — Continued taking photos on foot

Damnoensaduak floating market massage chairs Thailand — Yes, you can get a massage just about anywhere in Thailand

Damnoensaduak floating market paddle boats parking Thailand — How paddle boats are ‘parked’

Damnoensaduak floating market smaller canal Thailand — I would have liked to have gone through there

Damnoensaduak floating market food boat Ratchaburi Thailand — How heavy must the boats be to hold the weight of two gas cylinders?

I walked back to the designated meeting point for our tour group. It was time to leave, so we all got back to our respective vans.

I was under the impression the floating market tour was over and that we would be on our long drive back. But no, instead, the van took us to a nearby Elephant Village.

Now, I had been to an elephant camp in Chiang Mai back in 2009 so I knew what to expect and more importantly, why they bring tourists here as ‘part of the package’.

Floating market tour elephant ride village Thailand — It’s ฿600 for an elephant ride -_-

Elephant village ride tourists Thailand — I wasn’t interested

Elephant village forest history Thailand — Instead, I sat at the cafe and read up trivia

After waiting for nearly half an hour for the few from my tour group who wanted to go for the elephant ride, we finally got moving again. Next up, the Cobra Show.

Cobra Show entrance ticket counter Ratchaburi Thailand — Again, they only drop you here, you still had the option to pay and enter

Even though I had seen videos from the ‘most exciting show in the world,’ I did not want to wait outside in the heat again. So I paid the ฿30 or ฿50 it was for the ticket and went in.

Cobra Show arena Bangkok Thailand — The arena inside (Panorama comprised of 6 shots)

They start off with the announcer welcoming everyone and explaining in fairly understandable English that the purpose of the facility is to ‘educate’ visitors that snakes are not all that dangerous as people make them out to be.

Cobra show extracting snake venom Thailand — A badass-looking Thai staff member showing us how they extract snake’s venom

The also bring around snakes to you in case you want to take photos with one around your neck. And since I hate snakes…

Cobra show Mithun snake around neck Thailand — I thought I’d give it a try 🙂

Cobra show python snake showing tourists Thailand — They have all kinds of snakes, like huge pythons as well

The ‘exciting’ parts kick in when they demonstrate how the trained staff catch snakes. Which has to be seen in action:

The guy also caught three cobras, one by one, which was quite impressive.

The excitement continues when they bring out a snake’s worst enemy in the animal kingdom, the mongoose — and then make the two fight.

Cobra show mongoose snake fight Thailand — “Snake, meet mongoose”

Cobra show mongoose snake fight tourism Thailand — “Snake… meet mongoose!”

Cobra show mongoose fighting snake Thailand — “Snake… snake…snaaaaake!”*

Cobra show mongoose not fighting snake Thailand — Introductions over I guess

Here’s a video of the mongoose fight some more:

Thirty minutes of, erm, animal cruelty, the show was over. The staff went around seeking donations from the visitors, and I tipped ฿100 to the guy who caught the snakes with his bare hands, because that’s quite some skill.

Outside, there have a mini-zoo with a few reptilian creatures.

Cobra show python tourist neck photograph Thailand — If you want photos with much bigger snakes, you can take them here

Cobra show Thailand snake park Thailand — But I wanted to sit in the air-conditioned van as it was quite hot!

I asked our guide if the ‘tour’ was over, but he said there was one final stop. Ugh.

This was some handicrafts showroom where they specialize in wooden sculptures.

Buddha statue wood carving Thailand — But I must say, quite impressive wood work (That sign seems a bit ironic btw)

Teakwood amazing woodwork craftsman artist Thailand — Scratch that, some *very* impressive wood work!

Teakwood detailed amazing woodwork craftsman artist Thailand — Wonder how many weeks it takes for such stunning works of art

Wooden elephant sculpture handicrafts Thailand — They’re all for sale but it’s not like they’re easy to fit into a suitcase and take back with you

Needless to say, none of these wooden sculptures carved out of teak wood come cheap. Most of them were in the thousands of dollars (yes, dollars, not Thai baht)!

Thai wood handicrafts showroom Thailand — They have a showroom with some smaller pieces of wood work inside

After another half-an-hour spent here, we headed back into our vans. I was finally done with the ‘floating market’ tour. As touristy as the above sights may seem, I still feel a visit to the floating market is a ‘must-do’ in Thailand. Damnoen Suduak is the most popular floating market, thus the hordes of tourists. There are a few other floating markets across Thailand.

The journey back into the city took a lot longer for me as I was going to be the last one dropped. I eventually got down at MBK to have lunch… at KFC.

KFC seaweed flavour chicken Bangkok Thailand — Last year, KFC Thailand introduced a sweet ‘n’ spicy variant of their chicken, and it was my last meal before leaving. This year, KFC introduced a seaweed infused variant. It was alright, better than last year’s sweet ‘n’ spicy.

With my final meal in Thailand complete…

Siam Paragon Krispy Kreme line Bangkok Thailand — Oh for god’s sake Thai people, there’s NOTHING special about Krispy Kreme!

Anyway… I headed back to Thai House Inn to pack up and check out. I sat down for a bit before stepping out again, but this time, without my camera bag for a change. I wanted to give my shoulders a rest after the nearly two weeks I strained them. I walked further down from Nana BTS to see whether there were better sub-฿1000 accommodation available so that next time if I do choose to stay in the Sukhumvit area, I don’t have to stay to at Thai House Inn.

Hopefully, next time I’m in Bangkok, if I don’t have much shopping to do, I’ll stay in Khao San road.

At around 5:30pm, I took the BTS to Phaya Thai station. They had only recently opened the new skytrain link directly to Suvarnabhumi airport, saving passengers both time and money.

Phaya Thai airport line BTS station Bangkok metro — The Phaya Thai airport link station

Phaya Thai airport link to Suvarnabhumi BTS station Bangkok — And as an introductory offer, the ticket to Suvarnabhumi was a cheap ฿15! I paid nearly ฿500 last year for taxi!

The journey took just 30 minutes. Clearly a better option for those with less luggage. I was early enough for my 9:20pm Thai Airways flight to Bangalore.

Suvarnabhumi airport metro BTS entrance Thailand — The entry into the airport from the BTS station is at the basement

Walking up to the departures section, I was quite stunned to see just about every Indian passenger heading back to Mumbai with a massive LCD/plasma TV in tow. It’s as though everybody knew how much to pay off the Mumbai customs officials upon arrival.

Quite ridiculous really, especially seeing many of them pleading with the check-in personnel not to impose excess baggage charges… because some of them were (unsurprisingly) way over the allowed limit!

After checking-in, I headed to the VAT (value added tax) refund office to declare my purchases and get my VAT refund forms stamped by the officials. Then came the rather long queue at immigration.

Thai sculpture Suvarnabhumi airport gates — Passport stamped, I was through

I checked out the Duty Free, bought two bottles of liquor that my friends requested (prices and selection are fairly good here) and then went to the VAT refund counter to get my cash refund. Submitted my form and got 7% of the total value of my purchases back in cash. I mentioned this last year and I’ll mention it again: for the VAT refund, one needs to shop at stores that participate in the VAT refund scheme for tourists. Upon purchase, you will get a VAT refund form from the store and it’s only upon showing that same form at the airport will you be eligible for a refund. You can’t simply show a bunch of store receipts and expect a cash refund (‘cos I’ve seen people do that).

Sitting at my gate, I had plenty of time for a flashback. Another trip to Thailand that didn’t feel ‘complete’. Had I successfully covered the big lantern release in Mae Jo, Chiang Mai, I would have scratched North Thailand off my list and only focused on South Thailand for my next visit.

I wasn’t even in the best of health the first week, which sucked. Still… all I can say is that I did the best I could and I hope my readers enjoyed this series.

So until Thailand 201_, it’s back to India for now! 🙂

Previous posts in this series:

Thailand 2010: Gurdwara Siri Guru Singh Sabha, Sampeng Market, JJ market (again)

Thailand 2010: Back to Bangkok — Chinatown, Patpong, Platinum Mall and Chatuchak Market

Thailand 2010: Pattaya — Beach road, Viewpoint, Jomtien Beach, Walking Street

Thailand 2010: Golden Triangle in Mae Sai; Chiang Rai’s White Temple (Wat Rong Khun)

Thailand 2010: Heading to Chiang Rai by bus, Wat Jedyod and Golden Clock Tower

Thailand 2010: Last day of Loi Krathong; Sunday Grand Parade (Day 4, Part 2)

Thailand 2010: Chiang Mai Zoo (Day 4, Part 1)

Thailand 2010: Chiang Mai Loi Krathong celebrations; first Grand Parade

Thailand 2010: Chiang Mai cooking class; Loi Krathong celebrations in Mae Jo, Sansai

Thailand 2010: First day in Chiang Mai for Loi Krathong; driving up Doi Suthep

Thailand 2010: Arriving in Bangkok and preparing for Loi Krathong in Chiang Mai

*Metal Gear Solid referance

Thailand 2009: Day 7 – Touring Koh Phi Phi (Maya Bay, Monkey Island & Bamboo Island)

By Mithun Divakaran
/
Jan 29, 2010
/
Krabi, Phi Phi Islands, Thailand, Travel

Date: Dec 19th, 2009

Woke up 6am, checked out and kept my bags at the reception. I got picked up at around 7am and the tour vehicle went around collecting the other tourists from different hotels who were all part of some day tour or the other.

The tour of Koh Phi Phi I had chosen was on a speedboat, thinking it would have been safer as supposed to taking a traditional longtail boat (the wooden ones commonly used as taxis and by fishermen).

Ao Nang beach speedboat tour — The first boat was our ride

Our tour group consisted of nearly 16 people and I walked rather hurriedly towards the boat in the hope of getting a spot right in front. Unfortunately, in that rush, I ended up dipping my camera bag in the water. (“Oh crap” moment #7).

Fortunately, the camera and lenses were safe. Only thing that got drenched was the manual and the battery charger (wasn’t too happy about that) which were placed in the front pouch. But because I had to stop a few seconds and assess the damage, a few managed to pass me by to get a spot right at front. Sucked.

Anyway, we set off after everyone put on their life-jackets. The tour boat had to pick up two more tourists from Railay which is a 5 minute boat ride from Ao Nang beach.

Railay West beach boat — Barracuda was the name of our tour company

Railay was another place in Krabi I planned on spending time at. It’s become a destination for rock-climbing enthusiasts…

Railay hill limestone rocks — … for obvious reasons.

Since we docked at the beach and the boat was stable for a few minutes, it gave me an opportunity to take out the Sigma 70-200 lens. Unfortunately, humidity had caused vapour on the filter and I made the mistake of trying to clean it with a wet towel — which only made it worse!

Railay hill, Thailand — It wasn’t misty that morning… the lens filter wasn’t clean

Railay beach rock hill — None the less, the “effect” still makes it look ‘heavenly’

We left Railay and headed off for our tour of the Phi Phi islands. On the way, we passed by Koh Kai (“koh” = “island”), famously called Chicken island.

Chicken island Koh Poda — Spot the ‘chicken’

Barracuda Phi Phi boat tour guide — The one in orange was our guide. I believe she was a woman.

A bumpy 30-minute ride later, we stopped at a quiet and less-crowded spot for snorkeling.

Koh phi phi snorkeling stop — Emerald green water… mmmmmmm 🙂

I had never tried snorkeling, so I put on the gear and got into the water (which was quite cold). I had my life jacket on so I just lay flat and put my head down under the water. My-GOD-the-water was so clear! It was an awesome feeling and wished I could have captured it on film — but I wasn’t going to risk my Canon 7D even though it was weather-sealed to a certain extent.

“Swimming with the fishes” was the only way to describe the feeling. There were so many in the water and the sun light making its way through the water and glistening off the fish scales made for a very pretty sight. I can’t wait to try out scuba diving!

Phi Phi may bay water fish — The fish… from above the water

After 30 mins or so, the tour boat moved on to our next stop — the famous Maya Bay. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I wanted to come to Krabi after watching The Beach. Even though the movie was mediocre (but the soundtrack awesome), I loved the fact there were beautiful paradise islands not too far away from India. In the film, the inhabitants of Ko Phi Phi Lee were only a few. The beaches were pristine, the waters clear and the sands were devoid of any litter. I was looking forward to visiting such places in this trip.

But…. things have changed since the release of The Beach apparently.

Ko Phi Phi Lee Maya bay crowd — This is Maya Bay now

Turns out I’m not the only one who watched The Beach and was inspired by it to visit Thailand. 🙂

The place was crowded! Most of the visitors are from Phuket and there were more than 20 boats at any given time docked on the shores. Our stop was for around 30 minutes, so I could wade through the hundreds of people and check out the place as much as possible.

Many Chinese/Taiwanese/Hong Kong/Japanese tourists were excitedly posing under these phallic stalactites.

Our tour guide even asked if she/he could take a photo with me citing we were “matching-matching”.

Phi Phi Maya bay Mithun — I’m guessing it was because of the ‘orange’

Besides tourists, there really isn’t much on Maya Bay. Its a protected reserve and there is just one shack serving drinks and toilet way in the back.

A brief video (you may choose 720p or 1080p for Hi-Definition quality):

Despite the crowds, you could still make out how beautiful Maya Bay is. It would have been nice if I could come by private boat early in the morning or at sunset and spend some quite time alone here.

After half-an-hour, we moved just a bit away from all the boats for some more snorkeling.

Phi Phi Maya bay snorkeling — Lying flat and staring under water is fun

We left Maya Bay and moved on to our next stop — another location which was featured in The Beach. Seriously, half the tour was based on “how this is where Leonardo DiCaprio did this”, “here is where Leo jumped into the water” etc. What Dil Chahta Hai did for Goa, The Beach did for Ko Phi Phi.

Koh Phi Phi lagoon — Leonardo DiCaprio was here too

A brief video of the lagoon:

After taking a round inside the lagoon, we then made our way to Tham Pya Nak, a.k.a Viking Cave.

Viking cave Koh Phi Phi — We were told a few people actually live in there

No, the vikings never made it to Thailand, but you can read about why it got that nickname here. Found inside are swift’s nests which people collect to be used in Bird’s Nest Soup, a Chinese delicacy.

We couldn’t go inside as it is restricted to tourists mostly because of the disturbances caused by chatter and flash lights that annoy workers and the bats that reside in the cave.

So we moved on to our final stop before lunch — Monkey Island.

Koh Mak Monkey island — Monkeys inhabit this island… thus the name. Duh.

At around 12:30, we headed for Phi Phi don, which is the only commercial region of the Phi Phi islands. All the hotels, stores, internet cafes and markets are located on this part of the island.

The buffet lunch was at some restaurant and it was… meh. Didn’t have much ‘cos it wasn’t really palatable. The lunch is included in the tour fare and there were dishes in both veg and non-veg (though, as with all of Thailand, more options in the latter).

Phi Phi Don view — Phi Phi Don: The view from the restaurant

We had around half-an-hour to kill after lunch to walk around Phi Phi Don, which is what I did.

Phi Phi Don fisher men swordfish — Yummm… (yeah, yeah.. go away PETA!)

Phi Phi Don Finding Nemo restaurant — Poor Nemo. After all his father went through.

Phi Phi Don town store — Man with evil stare: “You better buy banana”

By 2pm, we left Phi Phi Don and made our way through slightly rough seas (best not to eat much when taking a speedboat) and it for a bit, it looked like it was going to rain.

Our final destination on the tour was an hour-long stop at Bamboo Island.

Bamboo island beach — Now I know what it feels like to be on the set of LOST

This is what I wanted to see in Thailand. This is the kind of place I wanted to spend an entire day at. Sit on the beach under a shade and just stare into the sea.

But all I could think about was how sad I was in knowing I had only hour here. I didn’t even feel like walking a bit to explore the island and find the bamboo trees inside, which is where the island get its name. I wanted to soak in as much of the shore as I could. There weren’t many people on our beach too — the way I liked it.

Even the rocks looked unique.

Bamboo island panorama — (This is a panoramic photo comprised of 4 shots)

As it neared time for us to leave, I recorded some videos (which I didn’t even feel like setting up the tripod for) and then headed back to the boat.

Mithun at Bamboo island — The lack of smile is due to: a) very sunny b) very sad to leave

With that, the one day tour of the Phi Phi islands came to an end. It really is a beautiful place and it was exactly how I pictured it to be. (Minus the crowds). But the next time, and there will be a next time, I’m just going to come here on a longtail boat. It may be slower, but it will be a lot less bumpy than the speedboat.