Breathe In, Breathe Out

We knew we would be arriving in Bangkok in the middle of the night and so intentionally planned a light first day. Who am I kidding, the entire trip is lightly planned. Anyway. We booked our typical walking tour for 3 in the afternoon (Chris will be telling you that story in another post) and had the vague idea of checking out what some random internet video called the lung of Bangkok.

I’m reasonably certain that internet video was wrong and absolutely no one uses that phrase because multiple locals gave me a “appease the crazy tourist” look when I talked about it. According to Google Maps it’s really called Sri Nakhon Khuean Khan Park and Botanical Garden. All I knew going into it was that it was this big park kinda sorta in the middle of a huge city with ponds, boardwalks, bike/walking trails, etc. I knew it was an island or a peninsula (update: peninsula NOT island) on the other side of the river and I confess to thinking that the park was the entirety of the island/peninsula. I was definitely wrong about the size of the park.

We were weirdly well rested and so decided to walk to the park. Okay, the reality is that the only way to get there was via bus and the bus system is still unapproachable on day 2 (as I write this). Plus, walking lets you see the city sites and, in our case, pretend you’re a local and walk to work. Side note, we seem to be in a very business area of the city – many embassies are just down the street so, in theory, that’s why there were so many suits at the beginning of our walk.

The walk itself was different but not overly memorable until we approached the river. Google Maps navigated us into an actual neighborhood. Oops. Hello neighbor! and the locals kindly pointed us towards the boats. Okay, the kind old women mixed up left and right but come on! The only English they spoke was “boat” and “right”. Close enough! They were very thoughtful and we knew that it wasn’t the direction we were originally headed.

My dear reader, to get to the ferry in Bangkok requires faith. Faith that the Google Map gods wouldn’t lie to you (they will) and that this cafe/restaurant thing at the riverfront may actually get you where you want to go. Trust the journey!

I am so happy to report that the man I assumed was sharing a meal with his friends at the local cafe was in fact a ferry boat driver. I have to say that the word ferry does not do this justice. I’ve lived in Seattle for a few years now and ferries are pretty ubiquitous there. However, a ferry in this case is NOT something you can drive a car onto. It isn’t even a fully docked boat. It’s a tiny boat (in this case; there are bigger ones in future posts) that just uses the engine to hang out at the dock and pick up/drop people off.

Trust the journey! I asked the usual how much and where to but I have no idea how much English this man spoke and, not only do I not speak Thai, but I still (on day 2) have not downloaded Google Translate. I know. I know! I’m going to fix it I swear!

It was 20 baht per person (I confirmed with a local that this is normal! Yay!!!) and he took us across the river (double yay!!!). Let me tell you dear reader that the adventure just began at this moment. Yeah sure. The walk to the dock was a mini adventure and actually finding the ferry driver seemed like a side quest but getting to the other side of the river? This was no longer a side quest but a full-blown quest with treasure untold waiting to be discovered!

The boat ride itself was rather uneventful as was departing from the boat. However, the neighborhood, I’m not joking, the neighborhood was unlike anything you’ll find in the US. Okay fine. Perhaps areas like it exist somewhere but I’ve never seen it. The homes here are in true swamp land connected to the main road via concrete catwalks. I’m not sure if they have electricity but I’m reasonably certain, based on the water stations, that, they don’t have running water. Home after home after home after home with basic needs (per US standards). My mind was blown.

Not too far from the boat dock, Chris heard a sudden rustling in the water. He looked down and found a giant lizard! Today I learned that my husband is not at all fond of these critters, I believe he called them “dinosaurs” at some point, and so I made it my solemn duty to point them out to him throughout the remainder of our journey!

We had another oops with Google Maps taking us down a concrete catwalk into someone’s home but she kindly shooed us away and we checked in with Apple Maps to find the right path. The right path was a lot busier than the previous ones. These paths are raised concrete sidewalks. We were walking 4 ish feet above the swampy marsh. But this is also the road to people’s homes and they need to get from point A to point B, which means motorcycles. They truck down these paths at a pretty good clip and they go in both directions. It’s not a wide path but I can confirm from observation that it is in fact wide enough for 2 motorcycles to pass if they’re both careful. That said, I still have to wonder how often the bikes/riders tumble into the water.

We eventually made it to the park and rented bicycles to explore the area more efficiently. The woman at the bike rental place was trying to be nice to Chris and led him to a bike for tall people. Turns out that it only had 1 gear and no brakes but the seat was raised for his long legs.

We were off! There was a huge gate with a guard. I’ve no idea why there was a guard. The park was free (I asked) and I’m not sure the guard did much but play on his phone. Not a bad gig to be honest although it might get boring after a while.

The park was very similar to what I’ve experienced in the US and in Europe. There were paths, places to stop and explore, scenic overlooks, etc. We saw a few more of the giant lizards (monitor lizards?), a man feeding what I think was puffed rice to fish and turtles, and tons of birds. It was cool. It was also super impressive how remote it felt. We really weren’t that far from the city but you could only occasionally glimpse the tops of a few skyscrapers and you barely, if ever, heard noise from cars or planes. It was quite lovely.

We explored our fill, returned our bikes, petted the bike shop cat (he loved belly rubs!!!), and were off to find a different ferry back to the city proper. According to the map in the park, this one had what looked like more traditional (aka normal to my messed up American brain) ferry boats. Spoilers: it didn’t.

The walk to the ferry took us past a few exciting things such as the Siamese Fighting Fish Gallery (closed) and a petting zoo/farm experience with a wooden “trojan horse”, ostrich, and children-eating dragon structure. This last was very much open and I really want to know what the kids got to see once they entered the mouth of the dragon. Also, what was it like to be inside the horse?! I’m so jealous of those schoolkids.

We approached the river and it started to look more and more like the ferry docks I’m used to as there were lots of parked cars and motorcycles. It really felt like an area where the people took the ferry to/from the city and left their vehicles on the peninsula because it was cheaper. Yeah, no. This ferry has the same tiny boats we first road in to get to the peninsula. Each holds about 4 people and is fun to get in and out of. Experience!

We made it back to our hotel for a brief AC break before heading off again for our tour with Artty.