Agenda for today was to get over our comfort Bangkok zone and travel outside the city. Quite an interesting trip to the rurals and the local people were really helpful in guiding us about.
Trust me, I've googled up down left right for the cheapest route to go to Maeklong Railway Market and Amphawa Floating Market without a tour! 80 baht (to Maekleong only) vs 800 baht! A little out of the way but come'on, for that price difference?
First, take the BTS to Victorial Monument. Proceed to Exit 2 towards the minvan ticketing area situated right beside Century The Movie Plaza. There would be a crowd so no need to be scared of getting lost. There are different stores selling different tickets to many other places (which I've never even heard of), so be sure to ask around so the Thai people can direct you. Best way to go is, show them 'Maeklong Floating Market' instead of telling them since there may be a difference in pronunciation. There are designated departure timings so you can try and google online for it. After purchasing, be there early and stay near the counter so you can hear them calling for people to a particular van. The van doesn't really wait.
Duration was 1.5 hours, and they do stop midway to let passengers alight/board. The van we were on was pretty clean, phew. I was lucky to get front seat which was cooling and so comfortable that I dozed off while A was stuck at the back with the others, hot and she had to keep getting up to make way for alighting passengers. Poor her.
Finally we arrived!
*I'm missing a hand!*
Since they closed down the tracks for servicing, there's nothing much to see except experience the local life. We had a chill time following the tracks, and then headed off to Amphawa!
You must be thinking, where do we board the bus right? Luckily we made a note of where we alighted, and found our way back to the spot. There is no 'Bus Stop' signs unlike Sg. But, there's a police information counter. Normally one would be afraid to approach an officer right? We were so lost and unable to differentiate between the vans that we resorted to that. He was so nice and came out of his aircon room and help us to the minivan that'd bring us to Amphawa! Oh m gee. Mr. Nice guy! Another local also offered to help but as cautious ladies, we rather depend on Mr. Nice guy. Haha.
I believe the trip from Maeklong to Amphawa costed additional 30/40 baht? Being naive, we thought it's free because they didn't collect $ from us when we boarded. We were about to alight happily till the driver instructed us to pay. Lol, suaku sia both of us! (':
Remember to book your minivan bus tickets when you arrive! They're limited (or they said it's limited) and it'll follow a ticket sequence. Meaning to say, everyone who has a ticket will be sent safely back to Victory Monument, even if you miss your timing (I think). There'll be a crazy wait for the minivan even if you book yours at that timing. The ticketing place would be near where the earlier van dropped you at. For the price, I believe it's 90 baht for the return trip.
Welcome to Amphawa Floating Market!
(Her first floating market experience & I'm so glad to be able to bring her to one at least!)
This was the sunflower garden illustrated by the photo
In real life, WHERE'S THE SUNFLOWERS! And those in this photo were FAKE! *Roll eyes*
Anyways, the toilet near this Sunflower place was the cleanest! You'd have to pay 10 baht (I think). The toilets were hard to find, and the two toilets we found were ....... the kind like I-dare-you-to-pee-in-there. Lol it's really unbearable by our modern standards. I remembered we held our bladders back Victory Monument (because we had to rush for our minivan timing and Sunflower place was a long walk plus there's an insane crowd jamming the walkways), but we still shopped the night market (ikr, shopping more important than peeing), before grabbing a taxi back hotel to PEE. Haha, girls.
Anyways, two reason why I brought her here instead of Damnoen Floating Market 1. This girl is not a morning person and 2. Fireflies boat ride! I think I'm the one excited and made her stay for this ride because I've never seen fireflies before! Perhaps the only time I've been so happy to see insects? Lol.
Fireflies boat ride tickets are sold along the main stretch of Amphawa for 60 baht per person. The journey would be about 1 hr long. The first and only ride starts at 6.30 pm. Be sure to reach early to chope good seats!
Off we go!
Spot us in the dark lol
Apparently the ride wasn't disappointing! We managed to see Christmas trees (many fireflies) along the way, and our driver was pretty awesome because he drove up close to shore for us to see! The other boats were pretty far from shore so heng ah, we got the good boat driver. Anyways, it'll be too dark for the cameras to capture anything at all, so we just relax and appreciate things that only our naked eyes can capture. It was really therapeutic and glad that we stayed late enough for this ride.
Made a mad dash to catch our last minivan timing. So glad the outside-city travel was rather affordable, approx 200 baht p.p! Thank you, minivan company!
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