Bangkok Week 197 April 5, 2012 A busy weekend with mum and dad in Bangkok. Theme? Floating markets. View fullsize Friday night dinner at one of our favorite Bangkok joints, Seven Spoons. View fullsize The next morning, heading off on an adventure: to Taling Chan floating market! View fullsize Do they scream "tourist" or what? View fullsize Waiting for our boat tour to start. View fullsize You could buy tiny baby turtles to release into the water for merit. View fullsize And we're off! It's a 2.5 hour boat tour of Bangkok's surviving canal network, on the other side of the river. View fullsize The area was really interesting. The buildings were built like a normal community -- but instead of roads, there were canals! View fullsize One of the many beautiful houses we saw along the tour. View fullsize Mum is scared of... View fullsize ... the thousands of catfish flopping around outside our boat, waiting for food! View fullsize Dad decides to partake in the madness by buying a loaf of bread to throw in. View fullsize In it goes -- all in one piece. View fullsize A longtail boat parks... outside its owner's house? View fullsize We stopped at a local Wat. Here, applying the gold foil as part of the merit-making. View fullsize It takes a lot of focus to get it to stick properly. View fullsize Honing her skills. View fullsize And the tour continues. View fullsize This undulating sidewalk was taller in parts, so that boats could enter the side-canals and driveways. View fullsize We also stopped at an orchid farm, most of which was ruined during the floods. View fullsize None of the orchids was mature enough to buy yet. View fullsize But some of them were already beautiful. View fullsize I bet mum took over a hundred photos at that nursery. View fullsize She's gone cross-eyed from taking so many flower photos. View fullsize Back in the boat, heading back to our starting point. View fullsize It really was a long boat! View fullsize Now back on dry land, we stop to try some classic snacks. View fullsize This woman sold squashed, grilled bananas in a sweet syrup. Yum! View fullsize "Hey, these aren't bad!" View fullsize A late lunch at Dalad, our favorite local Vietnamese place. View fullsize Reaching over to her personal garden for some greens. View fullsize Chit chat, chit chat. View fullsize Another classy meal at Greyhound. View fullsize The next morning, we're off to Bangkok Tree House, in the green part across the river. View fullsize The ferry ride itself was only about 5 minutes, but we had to wait a while for everyone to board. View fullsize Something on the boat was awfully funny. View fullsize You can see the hotel from the boat. It's behind the old houses in the foreground. View fullsize Walking from the ferry to the hotel, through all the green. View fullsize And now we're off to another floating market. View fullsize What are they so intently looking at? View fullsize It's a two-toned lizard, who's obviously had some problems changing back to his natural color. View fullsize The market was very busy, but it's still fairly authentic (and not touristy). View fullsize Stopping for some icy drinks. View fullsize They put laughing gas in mum's smoothie. View fullsize Stopping to try some jackfruit. Much tastier than its outside would suggest. View fullsize And buying some of our favorite Thai-style Rice Krispies. View fullsize This woman skillfully makes pancakes for my favorite Granny's Hair dessert (โรตีสายไหม). View fullsize Mum was intrigued. View fullsize Mum puzzles over a peculiar palm fruit. View fullsize Here's a fruit that's new to me. View fullsize Mum has her first drink in a bag! View fullsize Now back at Bangkok Tree House, getting the official tour. View fullsize Mum likes the stairs! View fullsize Trying Sunday Brunch at their restaurant, Reflect. View fullsize The table we sat at didn't have any chairs! View fullsize The amuse-bouche was a tasty paste on a slice of juicy pineapple. View fullsize Ready for his eggs benedict, after waking himself from a nap. View fullsize The bill comes on a leaf. Cute. View fullsize Reflect is true to its name! View fullsize We decided to head back to the other side of the river on a river taxi. View fullsize A view from the hotel's little dock. View fullsize Our boat driver was shocked when he saw the 4 people we intended to fit in his boat. View fullsize Mum's having second thoughts. View fullsize That pretty much sums up the ride. View fullsize Holding on tight. Also, we're pretty squeezed in there. View fullsize We celebrated someone's 60th birthday at Rang Mahal, the poshest Indian joint in town. View fullsize Everything was delish. And super filling. View fullsize Went out to take some skyline photos afterward. It has a great rooftop view of the Sukhumvit-Asoke area. View fullsize A huge ice cream cake back at our place. It had (the right number of candles)/10. View fullsize It was so frozen that it took three sets of hands to cut and serve. View fullsize A picturesque sunset over Balikpapan, Indonesia. View fullsize Finally! Our tickets arrived! View fullsize Looking through mum and dad's photos from Singapore, over some gins and tonic. View fullsize Patiently waiting. View fullsize Dinner at our default middle eastern joint in Nana. View fullsize Another delicious meal.
