Bangkok Boat Travel: Thonburi Canal Trip
Posted by Stuart at 07:39 PM on August 03, 2003Again today, on another one-day-weekend, I knocked a few more things off of my "To See" list, compliments of Piyawat's car. We drove across the river to Thonburi and parked the car at Wat Arun. As with many tourist spots in Thailand, there was an admission fee for foriegners. I refused to pay it (even though it was just 20 baht) and so we just looked at the temple from the other side of the fence. As my friends have told me, the temple is much more impressive when viewed from the river than when standing next to it.
In any case, we headed over the river back to Bangkok on a ferry, then boarded another boat to Tha Chang pier at the Grand Palace. From there we figured out how to take the boat taxi up the Bangkok Noi Canal. I had tried to do this with Rupert a year ago, but this time it helped to have a Thai person along. Even with Piyawat, it took us a while to figure out the system.
In any case, the ride up the canal on the Thonburi side was wonderful. All of the frustration with the crowds and the farang fees melted away on the river. After just a few minutes, it was hard to believe we were still in a city of 8 million people. Houses on stilts lined the wide canal and old men and women slowly padded small canoes selling food and other goods door-to-door (or, in this case, dock-to-dock).
The canal ride ended an hour later. We got out, found a nearby street vendor and had a delicious pad thai lunch. We then got back on the boat and headed back to Bangkok, enjoying the scenery and waving to children swimming in the canal as we went.
Once back to the car, we drove over to the Phra Sumeru Fort, one of the two sections of the old wall of Bangkok still standing. There is a nice park there now with an excellent view of the modern Rama VIII bridge over the river.
And, as always, pictures coming soon!
Good question about the double-pricing. Prices are usually higher for foreigners than for Thai people. The idea is that if you can afford it, you should pay more. And since most foreigners in Thailand can at least afford a plane ticket here, they can probably spend a few extra baht when they buy something.
As far as the national parks and other tourist spots go, the reasoning is that since Thai people pay taxes to the government, then they have already paid for admission. Foreigners have not paid for the upkeep of these places, so an entry fee is charged.
Of course this logic falls apart when someone like me pays taxes to the Thai government but still doesn't get any of the benefits. In any case, I find this practice to be very annoying, if not downright racist.
I looked at the pictures before I read this entry. I thought the canal pictures were in the country somewhere, NOT in Bangkok!!! Wow!!
What is the reasoning behind charging farang at the tourists sights and not the locals?? Is it ALL farang, or just American farang?
And I LOVED the picture of the bridge ... HOW COOL IS THAT ARCHITECTURE/TECHNOLOGICAL STRUCTURE? I have never seen anything remotely similar to it before!!!
Love you!!!