Plane, train, automobile, Khlong, Sky train, water taxi, tuk tuk…

We were back in Bangkok, this time for nearly 24 hours, and without planning it we managed to use just about every mode of transportation possible. Our flight arrived so late that we took a taxi straight to our hotel and called it a night. The next morning, we were pleasantly surprised to discover we were mere minutes from church. This chapel must have been an office building at one point, because it’s the only one I’ve seen with a concierge desk. Once again the talks and lessons were excellent, and this week we had the bonus of joining the members for a potluck lunch after church. I can’t tell you what the dishes were, but I can tell you they were delicious assortment of curries and mango sticky rice for dessert. During this, I asked the missionaries for the best place to buy ties and wasn’t disappointed, but we never could’ve found it on our own because it involved taking…”the Khlong”.

A khlong is actually a canal, and there are a few key ones cutting across central Bangkok that are served by boats acting as public taxis. A sweet couple escorted us across the street and down a hidden staircase to the narrow canal where we stood on a platform with a sign that looked very informative—if you spoke Thai. We waited for a few minutes and soon a khlong taxi pulled up. These boats were clearly custom-made for this; they were just wide enough for two to pass each other in the canal, and were just tall enough to go under the bridges. Some bridges were so low that the boat’s roof could be retracted down nearly a foot to squeeze underneath. They lowered the plastic tarp that encircled the boat to protect the passengers from spray and we climbed in to sit down on one of the benches. The couple told us to go 5 stops and with that, we were on our way, zooming down the canal. This quickly became one of my favorite forms of transportation. For 8 baht, you got a backstage “cruise” in central Bangkok with the locals. The tie lady was impressive for the sheer variety of ties and great prices, but no two were alike and I was after a matching set.

From there we took the Skytrain. I was impressed at the system’s cleanliness, and divided my attention between the Bangkok skyline and the screens in each car showing commercials. Bangkok truly exists on several levels, with elevated trains, overhead pedestrian walkways, elevated freeways, etc. Heaven help the person with a wheelchair, as elevators were hard to spot. We got off at the main river, Chao Phraya, and boarded a larger water taxi to go up the river. This seemed quite tame after our khlong adventure, but was still great and the scenery was much prettier. We passed several temples and other beautiful buildings before getting off at the royal palace. From there we walked a bit before taking a tuk tuk to see a Buddha statue over 32 meters tall at Wat Indravihan and the Golden Mount, an artificial hill containing relics of the Buddha. We’d been warned against tuk tuk scams, but our tired feet were grateful for the break and we actually wanted to visit a gem factory to see how gemstones are cut. We beat some of the notorious Bangkok traffic by taking a khlong taxi back to the hotel, only to have our regular car taxi get lost and stuck in traffic. We made it to the train station with just enough time to grab a quick dinner and some water before our overnight journey south.