30th March 2012

Taking advice from Caroline of Life is Limitless, a travel blogger I met in Bangkok in NapPark, I decided to go on a River Cruise down Mae Nam Chao Phraya (the river that runs through Bangkok).

It was pure coincidence that Caroline and I met. We were sat round in the common room in the hostel and I mentioned that I run a travel blog. Caroline overheard and stopped me to check and added she ran a travel blog as well. Squeeee! Check her out..I mean her website! As she already done the job the previous day, I asked Anna, who I chilled out with at the hostel games and at the Skybar, if she wanted to come. Sure, she said! Matt said he was feeling too tired so he decided to stay behind.

Anna and I trooped to the nearest pier to the river whilst getting to know each other and starting up some banter. I regret to inform you that she was the recipient of some very bad jokes and chat up lines all day. But she said she loved them….I think.

Buying our all day river pass (150 baht – 3 Pounds), we jumped aboard (literally) quickly to sit down and watch Bangkok’s river shores.

After a nice relaxing boat ride, we got off at a pier to see the River Market and the Flower Market. The bustling people and the strong colours made it an experience on the senses!

Climbing back on the boat, again jumping onto it literally, we went further downstream to the end pier where we checked out a Wat dedicated to boat workers.

Scorching hot at this point, both Anna and I tried to challenge our minds by tricking it with sayings like, ‘oooh I could do with a nice warm roasting fire…..how about a woolly jumper?’ but that seemed to have the effect the other way! I know I’m hot, but there’s hot hot as well! As we sat waiting for the next boat, we couldn’t believe a little boy who was larking around over the side of the railing next to us managed to catch a massive fish with a piece of string with a hook on the end!

Jumping back on the boat, we accidentally got on the express boat that stops at only various piers but luckily we got the right pier to go to. We checked out Chinatown. And this was mad! If you ever want to find useless stuff. Go Here! There were gazillions and a man wanted to sell us a stick…literally.

Back on the boat again, we felt the heat getting to us again and decided that it’s time to go back to the hostel. After all, we did spend ages out there!

But if you ever want a relaxing day checking out the sights of Bangkok, I’d recommend the River Cruise, it stops off at major tourist spots such as the Grand Palace and Wat Arun.

Have you been on the River Cruise?