Gretchen's Blog

I wake up around noon and decide to get dressed and head downstairs for a tour of Bangkok. I get the local canal boat tour. I had visions of some type of Venice Gondola ride but this is not the case.

Quite interesting, the (Mae Nam Chao Phraya) River through Bangkok is quite polluted; black, thick and smelly, as are the connected canals. Yet there are people who are fishing off the docks and from the houses which are on stilts in the water. While I was on the ride, I saw one women open her house door and toss out into the canal what looked to be a box that previously packaged a toy. I imagined it was a Barbie toy but it could have been anything. Just down the way, people were sitting in innertubes and kids were fishing off the porch. I wonder if anyone has tested the fish. Amidst this abject poverty were interspersed golden Buddha temples.

In the middle of the trip, a woman (no front teeth) in another small boat startles me by pulling down the plastic around the boat (it keeps the water spray off the people) and wants to sell me some cheap fans, pencils and general “stuff.” I don’t need anything but I buy some cute pencils for A for about double what I would pay in the US… helping the economy I guess. She also attempts to sell me a beer, which I decline. Then she asks me if I want to buy a beer for the boat driver. I turn and look at him and he is shaking his head yes for the beer. I buy him a beer and hope we don’t tip over, the water is nasty.

The tour guide stops at a Gemstore which she says the prices are set by the government. I get inside and check the prices; I think I can do better in the US. At least I know what I’m buying. I guess the guides get a cut of what you purchase; I don’t buy anything but feel guilty for no purchases.