an excursion of average proportions

Mariela, Alyssa and I have decided to rate our excursions based on their success levels.

Today's trip received an 85%. Not bad. Way within passing range.

Mariela and I took a ride on the mighty Chao Phraya River today. I researched day trips within an easy distance of Bangkok. Getting to Ko Kret - an island to the northeast of Bangkok where the Mon people make their signature pottery - sounded simple enough.

We live across town from the river. Taking the bus is the most affordable option, so we walked to a bus stop and waited for number 16 for at least half an hour. We finally caught our bus on a street a little further down. We rode for about 20 minutes and got off on Sam Sen Road.

It was clear we weren't in a tourist area. We were the only western faces around. We wandered through some food vendors and noticed the prices on Sam Sen were lower than on our street, probably because a lot of farangs live where we do.


Some helpful folks pointed us toward the pier. We walked through more vendors selling big bags of bread crusts for 15B. Curious. When we got down to the pier, we could see why. There were swarms of huge fish in the water below. People would toss handfuls of crusts into the water and watch the fish go crazy.

We waited a long time for our boat. The ride probably lasted another 30 to 40 minutes, but it was pleasantly cool out on the water. If we lived nearer to the river, the express boats would definitely be my preferred method of transportation. At the last stop, we disembarked and waited for a bus to take us nearer to the island.

We were dropped off near an old, decrepit temple that looked nothing like a place to catch a boat. We stopped the first passerby and held out a piece of paper with "Ko Kret" written in Thai. She pointed us in the right direction. The ferry stop was through another temple's grounds. Pretty soon, we were on Ko Kret.

I don't know if my estimates add up, but all in all it took us four hours to get there.

We looked at a tiny wat (temple) a few yards away from where the boat dropped us off, and then meandered through the market. It was nice, and had some of the same handicrafts we'd seen at the Made in Thailand expo. There were lots of delicious-looking food options, but when we saw sticky rice with mango, we couldn't resist. Yum.

Later, we went back to the same food stand and bought a bag of yellow, coconut-topped cakes baked in little cups made from banana leaves. They were tasty, too.

We spent nearly three hours there before the sun and walking around wore us out. I had read that we could get a bus back to Bangkok, but that we might have to ride the BTS Skytrain after that.

We took the little ferry boat, walked through the temple and the old, defunct temple, and back out onto the road where we could catch a bus. Luckily, we saw "Victory Monument" listed as a stop on the side of bus 166. We live within walking distance from Victory Monument, so we wouldn't have to spend any extra money on the BTS. Joy! We hopped on and settled in for what we thought would be an hour-long ride. In 25 minutes, we were at our stop. Another 15 minutes of walking, and we were home.

We laughed when we thought about the four hours we spent getting there. Hence, we felt it necessary to dock 15% off our trip's score.

Tonight we ate mediocre Mexican food at Charley Brown's. It was like being home. We went to The Australian afterward to hear a band that covers popular songs. One of the singers was the most spastic dancer I've ever seen. And he was able to sound exactly like Chris Martin from Coldplay. I'm talking dead on. Ten points for him.