Thailand - Saturday April 14, 2007

I could not sleep well for the first time since my stay here. Main reason was my unsatisfied dinner and I felt hungry at midnight. Finally it ended up in acidity and head ache. And this again troubled my sleep.

So, I had a couple of tabs for headache and acidity and slept for an hour after breakfast. We booked a River cruise trip for the afternoon in the ‘Chao Phraya’ River.

By afternoon I felt OK and we were picked up by our English speaking guide in a Toyota 12 seater Van. There were another two pickups and one was an Egyptian family who made us wait for some time and they didn’t even bother to say a sorry. Two guys spoke German and rest spoke English.

We reached the Pier half an hour early and thus got a chance to look around. There too was a shopping area which mainly sold antiques and paintings, which were obviously expensive.

We started our journey in a small boat. There were lots of buildings on both sides and our guide started telling what is what. He spoke in ‘OK’ English and thus it was understandable. There were lots of middle class people living on the banks of this river….there were many hotels, including a Hilton one….There were two ‘fully Teak wood’ houses owned by two rich. One was from print media. I don’t remember the other one…..there were many temples……a palace……the china town…..one very expensive condominium……and a floating market ……..



At a particular point, the boat stopped and they announced that we can buy bread for Bt.20 for a loaf and feed the Cat Fish. The belief is that your wish will be granted….so our guide asked us to have a wish and feed the fish. I too bought a loaf and no wish came into my head, it was just blank and happy. There were lots of fish and fishing is banned in this part. If we catch a fish or kill one, the fine is Bt.2000.



So many speed boats passed us splashing water….and real fun till now was the ‘songkran’ aspect. There were so many people on the banks with water guns, hose etc and poured water heavily on us. Nobody could escape and it really was fun. My son enjoyed this very much …..we both got wet from head to toe. ….passing boats also were equipped to pump water…..our guide managed to get one vessel and he too did his job well……

Then we stopped at one place and moved into a bigger boat. Here we were welcomed with all sorts of seasonal fruits like…jack fruit, pineapple, mango, orange, watermelon, dragon’s feet, lychee, guava and many others…..first they gave us a thai special juice and then the drink is as per our choice….they had coke, vodka, thai whisky, and some other juice……drinks were served mainly by a Thai Beauty. …and then started the water pouring again….they did not pour water on us, but the boat crews and guides and all those guys started pouring water at each other and one even placed ice cubes inside the T-shirt of somebody!!! It really was a fun time.

When the boat reached back, we became a lil disappointed coz, it wasn’t enough!!!

And the worst was, my wife slipped and fell down while stepping out from the boat!! Luckily, noting went wrong…. This is her second ‘trip’ after songkran started…

There is another funny thing that happened. I was wearing a colorful shirt which I bought from here at a bargain price. Many people wear variants of this type especially during weekends and during songkran. When I stepped out of the hotel, one of the hostesses told me it’s a nice shirt and I was happy about it. But after me getting wet, the shirt started shrinking on the spot and changed to next size….may be it’s a three in one….before wash its for me, after first wash its for my wife and after second wash it might fit my son!!!!

Today also we ended up in bread and buns, for dinner……..