If you thought I’d given up on blogging my trip to Thailand, you’d be wrong! I had a few sewing projects to share, but since it’s Cancer season (and my birthday month), I’m back to reminisce on one of my favorite trips ever!
Our third day in Bangkok started bright and early as we had a day trip planned to visit the Maeklong Railway Market, the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, and Thailand’s ancient capital, Ayutthaya. I love going on guided day trips when vacationing because you get to see more of the country than you normally would, with less of the hassle of renting a car, planning an itinerary, pre-booking sites, etc. We chose a Get your Guide tour, but there are plenty of companies to choose from. Our tour left from the National Stadium BTS station, which is across the street from the MBK Center, an enormous mall with around 2500 stores. This becomes important later 😉.
After riding in a lovely air-conditioned minibus for 90 minutes, we reached our first stop – the Maeklong Railway Market. I absolutely LOVED this market! Situated right on the train tracks, this fresh food market has anything you could want. We got there early enough to do a bit of shopping before everything temporarily shut down to let the train pass through. While I didn’t buy any food, I gladly purchased some gorgeous silk scarves for gifts. There are tons of vendors hawking their wares and trying to get your attention, but there was a beautiful woman selling smoothies who was so nice and wasn’t yelling for business like everyone else. She saw us standing on the track trying to take a selfie and she offered to take our picture for us. Her smoothies looked great, her prices reasonable (50 baht/$1.50), and I loved her smile, so I bought a mango smoothie. She pulled out a chair for me to sit on while I waited for my smoothie (it was phenomenal) and as I sat, I heard the unmistakable sound of a train horn in the distance. By this point, my sister had ordered a dragonfruit smoothie and was sitting beside me. We sat, sipped, and waved as the train and its passengers rode by. It was a really cool experience that I highly recommend to anyone visiting Thailand.
Next up was a short 30-minute drive to the Damnoen Saduak Floating Market. Along the way, we made a brief stop at a roadside market for shopping and the restroom. It was one of those tourist trap places, where everything is overpriced and vendors try hard to get you to purchase something. Again, I hate this style of selling, so I bought nothing, but one cool element is that many of the wares were made of coconuts. Watch the short video to see all the ways Thai people use every part of the coconut.
Once we arrived at the Floating Market, we were quickly led to boats lining the canal. We climbed in and were ferried four people to a boat. I think this was the first time my height was an issue. I’m not super tall (5’7), but being in that cramped, tiny boat with my legs moving in various complicated shapes to remain decent in my dress and get comfortable was not ideal. The woman at the helm of our boat took us to various shops along the water, sometimes at our request and sometimes not. Even the slightest bit of interest on our part would cause her to pull into shops with food, clothing, gifts, and more.
Haggling is common and necessary in this market and I hate it. Blame my American-ness, but I don’t want to have to argue you down for an item we both know is overpriced; I’m perfectly fine not buying it. In the end, I did get over my annoyance and haggled the price of an adorable piece of schnauzer artwork. Originally, we pulled over just to admire the hundreds of doggie paintings, and I casually mentioned that I wish there was a schnauzer painting. The vendor overheard me and pulled a schnauzer painting from the other side of the shop. The original price was 3000 baht ($90), but I haggled my way closer to $50.
After the floating market, I was losing steam fast, but we still had lunch and another city to visit – Ayutthaya. Ayutthaya was once the capital city of Thailand. Nowadays, it serves mainly as a tourist attraction and UNESCO World Heritage Site. Much like the temple tours on day 2, it’s impossible to describe everything I learned and saw, so enjoy these photos instead.
Completely exhausted by our long day and a bit mentally overwhelmed by everything we’d experienced, we decided to decompress by having dinner at MBK Center. Our quartet split into two duos and my sister and I had yummy Japanese food. Shortly after placing our order with the waitress, a robot brought us our food. It was . . . interesting.
Once back at the hotel, I slowly started packing up. We had early afternoon flights to Chiang Mai and I didn’t want to rush in the morning. Once that was done, my body was completely drained, and I knew I needed a massage. There’s no way I was leaving Bangkok without get one of those famous massages – that’s just silly. Luckily for me, the lovely staff at Makkha Health & Spa Sukhumvit 24 had openings for me and my sister. Normally, they’d pick you up from the hotel, but since this was a last-minute, late-night appointment, we took a quick Grab to the spa.
The second we walked in, I felt calm. After a friendly greeting and easy check-in, we were served hot tea with a yummy cookie and warm towel. The massage was amazing. Sixty minutes flew by and my body felt as warm and loose and a cooked noodle. After the massage, they served us more tea and my first taste of mango sticky rice in Thailand. It was the absolute best way to end our day. We headed back to our hotel and completely crashed. It was then time for our next adventure: Chiang Mai – here we come!
